POLB91H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sidney Tarrow, Social Movement, Social Control
POLB91 reading – 2
Chapter 1
• Social movement = means of organising social change
• Charles Tilly says first sign where woman threw stones at tax collectors
• Petit movement = localised collective by ordinary people which the authorities
considered necessary and proper to end by force
o We wont consider this social movement today
o Unless more enduring part of a series of collective actions rather than one
incident
▪ Enacted by participants with common interests and distinct identities +
broader goals
• Repertoire of collective action → limited forms of protest are familiar at a given time
• Claim-making performances → engage using repertoire of collective action
• New repertoire of collective action → tactics such as large scale demonstrations, strikes
and boycotts. Cosmopolitan with protests often targeted at national rather than local
authorities
o Tactics of this were modular (they could easily be transported to many locales
and situations rather than being tied to local communities and rituals
o Ex. Boycott and mass petition
▪ 19th century abolition movement → boycott of sugar grown with slave
labour and sending petitions signed by large numbers of supporters to
the British parliament
• social movements still select tactics from same repertoire of contention established in
19th century
o these could change as political conditions change
▪ ex. Centralised nation states are replaced with transnational bodies. With
this, national social movement may become less effective form of
political organisation
contentious politics → social movements involve collective making of claims that if realised
ould oflit ith soeoe else’s iterests
• movement actors attempt to represent themselves publicly as worthy, unified and
committed
o movement campaigns = interaction among movement actors, their targets, &
public
• Sidney tarrow def of contentious politics approach = collective challenges based on
common purposed and social solidarities in sustained interaction with elites, opponents
and authorities
o Even actions by political actors within institutions
• Contained contention → by established political actors
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Document Summary
Cosmopolitan with protests often targeted at national rather than local authorities: tactics of this were modular (they could easily be transported to many locales and situations rather than being tied to local communities and rituals, ex. 19th century: these could change as political conditions change, ex. Centralised nation states are replaced with transnational bodies. Social movements = set of opinions and beliefs in a population which represents preferences for changing some elements of the social structure and/or reward distribution of a society. Countermovement = set of opinions and beliefs in a population opposed to a social movement. In this view social movements are preference structures/set of opinions and beliefs that may or may not be turned into collective action depending on pre existing organisation and opportunities + costs for expressing preferences. Social movement community idea that movements consist on networks on individuals, cultural groups, institutional supporters and political movement organisations.
