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Social Movements (350-0-20)

Instructors

Daniel Encinas Zevallos

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-435: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

Why do people rebel and challenge authority? What drives ordinary citizens to take to the streets, and what are the political and social consequences of their actions? This course explores a broad range of phenomena within contentious politics, with an emphasis on social movements and protests. Students will learn to distinguish among different forms of contentious politics and develop an academic vocabulary to describe and analyze them. The course engages both classic and contemporary theories to understand the causes and consequences of collective action. Adopting a global comparative perspective, it examines case studies from multiple regions of the world.

Learning Objectives

  • Distinguish between key concepts in contentious politics, including social movement, protests, and revolutions.
  • Critically evaluate major theoretical perspectives in the social sciences on social movements and contentious politics.
  • Design a final project that integrates concepts and theories from the course and applies them to real-world cases of social movements, protest, or other forms of contentious politics.

Teaching Method

Lecture, group work, and discussion section

Evaluation Method

Participation: 10%
Case Presentation: 20%
Midterm Exam: 20%.
Milestones for Final Paper: 15%
Final paper: 35%

Class Notes

This course adopts a global comparative perspective

Class Attributes

Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area