Social Movements and Change Flashcards
Grade 12 · Social Studies · Flashcards
Key concepts for understanding how social movements form, organize, and achieve change in 12th grade Social Studies.
Flashcards
- Social Movement
- Sustained collective effort by organized groups to bring about social, political, or cultural change outside normal institutional channels.
- Resource Mobilization Theory
- Movement success depends on mobilizing resources: money, organizational infrastructure, media access, and members.
- Political Opportunity Structure
- The political context — openness of institutions, allies in power, electoral cycles — that shapes a movement's chances of success.
- Framing
- How movements construct a persuasive narrative about injustice and needed change to recruit participants and build coalitions.
- Civil Disobedience
- Open, nonviolent, deliberate violation of an unjust law to protest it; actor accepts legal consequences.
- Boycott
- Refusing to buy or use a product/service as economic protest to pressure change; e.g., Montgomery Bus Boycott, grape boycott.
- Relative Deprivation Theory
- People join movements when they feel deprived relative to a comparison group — a 'revolution of rising expectations.'
- Coalition Building
- Uniting diverse groups around shared goals to build broader political power; essential for large-scale reform.
- Counter-movement
- An organized movement opposing another movement's goals; can slow or reverse social movement gains.
- Movement Spillover
- The spread of movement energy, tactics, and networks to inspire related movements for other causes.
- Insider vs. Outsider Tactics
- Insider tactics work within institutions (lobbying, legislation); outsider tactics apply external pressure (protests, strikes, boycotts).
- Labor Movement
- Collective organizing by workers to win better wages, hours, and conditions; achieved 8-hour day, child labor laws, NLRA, OSHA.
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