American Social Movements

Catalog description

Social movements and protest have become permanent features of the contemporary social landscape, constantly challenging political institutions and other forms of institutional and cultural authority. These challenges to authority emerge both in contexts where there is little hope for people to gain redress through more conventional means for affecting change, and in democratic contexts where we would expect more readily available direct routes to influence. In this seminar, we examine how and why movements emerge and develop, and what kinds of influence they might create.