Professor: Raymond A. Eve, Ph.D.

Office: 442 UH

Office Hours: 4-5pm MW, and by appointment

Phone: 817-272-3764 (Professor's office)

or 817-272-2661 (Sociology office)

email:

Social Movements

Sociology 3324.001

Spring, 2011

MW 2:30-3:50 p.m.

Room 001 UH

Course website:

or just go to global-college.com and click a few links

I. Texts:

a. Kline, Benjamin. First Along the River. Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN: 978-1-4422-0399-0. Pub. date. 2011.

b. Goodwin, Jeff and James Jasper (eds). The Social Movements

Reader: Cases and Concepts. 2nd editon. Wiley-Blackwell

Publishing. 2010. ISBN: 978-1-4051-8764-0

c. There will also be a selection of a few readings. These will be available online.

I. Course Description:

The course will investigate the causes and character of social movements. Social movements can be defined as follows:

Loosely organized but sustained campaigns in support of a social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or values. Although social movements differ in size, they are all essentially collective. That is, they result from the more or less spontaneous coming together of people whose relationships are not defined by rigid rules and procedures but who merely share a common outlook or set of goals.

Collective behavior in crowds, panics, and elementary forms (milling, etc.) are of brief duration or episodic and are guided largely by impulse. When short-lived impulses give way to long-term aims, and when sustained association takes the place of situational groupings of people, the result is a social movement. Some examples would be: gay rights movement, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, anti-war movements, right to die movement, the environmental movement, etc.

We will examine a number of such movements and their evolution and operation in historical detail. Additionally, we will try to distill out certain common principles and phenomena, such as techniques for member recruitment and creating member commitment and control. We will examine factors that make movements successful or not – such as resource mobilization, chocie of tactics, presence of counter-movements, and the behavior of formal social control authorities (such as the police or military).

III. Attendance

Students attending regularly and otherwise showing motivation will receive more consideration than will those attending seldom.

IMPORTANT: NOTE THAT ARRIVING AT AN EXAM MORE THAN 10 MINUTES LATE WILL REQUIRE THE STUDENT TO SCHEDULE A MAKEUP EXAM AND PRODUCE A VALID REASON FOR MISSING/BEING LATE TO THE EXAM! OPTIONALLY, THE PROFESSOR AND STUDENT MAY CHOOSE TO IMPOSE A 10-POINT PENALTY ON THE EXAM.

IV. Grading Practices:

Your grade will be based on three typically non-comprehensive exams (counting 25% each) and a optional term paper of about 12-15 double-spaced pages (which will also count 25% of your final grade should you choose to write the paper).

I.e., if you choose not to write a term paper, your grade will be based on your average over three equal multiple choice exams. If you do write a term paper, the paper and each of the three exams counts as 25% towards your final grade. Each student is required to keep a hard copy of the paper, and to turn in their paper as a hard copy (i.e., not by email).

Reasons for excuses from exams must be very serious and should be checked in advance with the Professor. (Written medical excuses will be accepted).

Important dates:

Exam 1 = 25%/33% February 16th

Spring Break March 12th – 20th

Exam 2 = 25%/33% March 30th

Last day to drop a course April 1st

Term Paper = 25% (0ptional) April 20th (Due Date)

Final Exam = 25%/33% May 9th (2-4:30)

Important!!! Any assignments which are turned in late will have their scores reduced by 5% each day they are late unless the student has shown serious reasons in advance to the Professor for the delay.

VI. Disabilities:

If you require an accommodation based on disability, I would like to meet with you in the privacy of my office, during the first week of the semester, to make sure you are appropriately accommodated.

VII. Drops from the Roll:

The Professor will not automatically drop any student from the roll. Students wishing to drop must make their own arrangements to do so.

VIII. Academic Honesty:

Students are expected to conform to the university’s policy on academic honesty. That policy is clearly stated in both the undergraduate and graduate catalogs and should be reviewed by each student.

IX. Student Success Programs

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. They include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact the Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals.

X. Useful Computer Links

NetID - http://oit.uta.edu/cs/accounts/

MavMail - http://www.uta.edu/oit/email

Printing Quota - http://oit.uta.edu/cs/labs/printing

How To Take Good Notes:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/notes.html

OPTIONAL Term Paper

Sociology 3324 - Riots, Cults and Social Movements

Instructions for Preparing Term Papers

The topic must, of course, have something to do with either the study of social movements.

The paper should be no fewer than 10 pages long, nor more than about 12 - 15 (including references).

For purposes of the above, a "page" should be considered to be about 225 words (regardless of whether you are writing by hand or typing it out). Please have the paper typed if at all possible. If not, and you write your paper out longhand, please skip every other line, but a "page" is still to be considered as about 225 words.

You should reference your paper in detail. When in doubt, cite sources too often rather than too seldom. I don't care how you reference your citations as long as your system is careful and consistent. I strongly encourage the sociology majors to look at the inside cover of the American Sociological Review for the ASA reference format and follow it.

REMEMBER, TO PUT SOME SOCIOLOGY INTO YOUR PAPER! In other words, don't take a purely descriptive or journalistic approach. You need to discuss the behavioral and/or organizational dynamics of your subject matter. And don't forget about "classical" sociological variables like race, sex, age, rural-urban, social class, educational background, etc. in analyzing the topic of your choosing.

VERY IMPORTANT!!! Your paper should reflect the fact that you have taken this course! In other words, you want to use numerous specific references to course readings and lectures.

You should, in other words, make use of concepts, theories, data, authors, etc. that you have encountered in the course (or will encounter -- if you haven't yet finished the readings list). These should be the "tools" in your "analysis kit." Exceptions might be made, but check with the Professor before proceeding on such an assumption.

IF THE CONDITIONS OF THE LAST PARAGRAPH ABOVE ARE NOT MET, THE PAPER WILL NOT COUNT TOWARDS COMPLETION OF THE COURSE!!!

The student is responsible for keeping a backup copy of the paper, either in computer-readable format or on paper. The term paper must be turned in on paper, not by email!