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Political Opportunity
Political opportunity theory, also known as the political process theory or political opportunity structure, is an approach of social movements that is heavily influenced by political sociology. It argues that success or failure of social movements is affected primarily by political opportunities. Social theorists Peter Eisinger, Sidney Tarrow, David S. Meyer and Doug McAdam are considered among the most prominent supporters of the theory. Description Three vital components for movement formation are the following: # Insurgent Consciousness: certain members of society feel deprived, mistreated, and have grievances directed at a system that they perceive as unjust (see also deprivation theory).Ryan Cragun, Deborah Cragun, et al, ''Introduction to Sociology'', Blacksleet River, Google Print, p.233-234/ref> When a collective sense of injustice develops, it motivates people to become movement members. Movement activists do not choose their goals at random, but the political context ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Movements
A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may involve individuals, organizations, or both. Social movements have been described as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and advantaged elites". They represent a method of social change from the bottom within nations. On the other hand, some social movements do not aim to make society more egalitarian, but to maintain or amplify existing power relationships. For example, scholars have described fascism as a social movement. Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protest
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. When protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as civil resistance or nonviolent resistance. Various forms of self-expression and protest are sometimes restricted by governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. Specialists in the field are political scientists. History Origin Political science is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political institutions, political thought and behavior, and associated constitutions and laws. As a social science, contemporary political science started to take shape in the latter half of the 19th century and began to separate itself from political philosophy and history. Into the late 19th century, it was still uncommon for political science to be considered a distinct field from history. The term "political science" was not always distinguished from political philosophy, and the modern dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Movement Impact Theory
Social movement impact theory (otherwise known as outcome theory) is a subcategory of social movement theory, and focuses on assessing the impacts that social movements have on society, as well as what factors might have led to those effects. Background Social movement impact theory has been studied far less than most other subcategories of social movement theory, mostly due to methodological issues. It is relatively new, and was only introduced in 1975 with William Gamson's book "The Strategy of Social Protest", followed by Piven and Cloward's book '' Poor People's Movements''. In his groundbreaking study, Gamson studied 53 social movement organizations from between 1800 and 1945, and collected data regarding their success. Among Gamson's most important findings were that organizations which attempt to displace a specific person in power are almost never successful; that movement violence is a symptom of success (not a cause of it); that bureaucratic organizations are more lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legal Opportunity Structure
Legal opportunity structure or legal opportunity is a concept found in the study of law and social movements. It was first used in order to distinguish it from political opportunity structure or political opportunity, on the basis that law and the courts deserved to be studied in their own right rather than being lumped together with political institutions. Legal opportunities are made up of: access to the courts, which may be affected in particular by the law on standing or ''locus standi'', and costs rules; 'legal stock' or the set of available precedents on which to hang a case; and judicial receptiveness. Some of these are more obviously structural than others - hence the term legal opportunity is sometimes preferred over legal opportunity structure. Legal opportunity has been used as an independent variable to help to explain strategy choice by social movement organisations (SMOs) - e.g. why SMOS adopt litigation rather than protest or political lobbying as a strategy. Other va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opportunism
300px, ''Opportunity Seized, Opportunity Missed'', engraving by Theodoor Galle, 1605 Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances — with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term can be applied to individual humans and living organisms, groups, organizations, styles, behaviors and trends. Opportunism or "opportunistic behaviour" is an important concept in such fields of study as biology, transaction cost economics, game theory, ethics, psychology, sociology and politics. Etymology In the early 19th century, the term "opportunist" as a noun or adjective was already known and used in several European languages, but initially, it rarely referred to political processes or to a political tendency. The English term "opportunism" is possibly borrowed originally from the Italian expression ''opportunismo''. In 19th-century Itali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solidarity
Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics. Still, solidarity does not reject individuals and sees individuals as the basis of society. It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one. The term is generally employed in sociology and the other social sciences, as well as in philosophy and bioethics. It is a significant concept in Catholic social teaching and in Christian democratic political ideology. Although closely related to the concept of charity, solidarity aspires to change whole systems, not merely to help individuals. Solidarity is also one of six principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and International Human Solidarity Day is recognized each year on December 20 as an international observance. Solidarity is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collective Behavior
The expression collective behavior was first used by Franklin Henry Giddings and employed later by Robert Park and Ernest Burgess, Herbert Blumer, Ralph H. Turner and Lewis Killian, and Neil Smelser to refer to social processes and events which do not reflect existing social structure (laws, conventions, and institutions), but which emerge in a "spontaneous" way. Use of the term has been expanded to include reference to cells, social animals like birds and fish, and insects including ants. Collective behavior takes many forms but generally violates societal norms. Collective behavior can be tremendously destructive, as with riots or mob violence, silly, as with fads, or anywhere in between. Collective behavior is always driven by group dynamics, encouraging people to engage in acts they might consider unthinkable under typical social circumstances. Defining the field Turner and Killian were the first sociologists to back their theoretical propositions with visual evide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MoveOn
MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressivism in the United States, progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest and most impactful grassroots progressive campaigning communities in the United States, with a membership of millions. MoveOn did not endorse a candidate during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2020 presidential primary campaign; it then endorsed and actively supported Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election, general election. MoveOn endorsed Kamala Harris, the then-current Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States, as the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party nominee for president in the 2024 United States presidential election, 2024 presidential election. Rahna Epting has been Executive Director of MoveOn Civic Action and MoveOn Politic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Tilly
Charles Tilly (May 27, 1929 – April 29, 2008) was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian who wrote on the relationship between politics and society. He was a professor of history, sociology, and social science at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1984 before becoming the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. He has been described as "the founding father of 21st-century sociology" and "one of the world's preeminent sociologists and historians." He published widely across topics such as urban sociology, state formation, democracy, social movements, labor, and inequality. He was an influential proponent of large-scale historical social science research. The title of Tilly's 1984 book ''Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons'' is characteristic of his particular approach to social science research. Early life and education Tilly was born in Lombard, Illinois (near Chicago). His parents were Naneth and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collective Benefits
A collective benefit often benefits more than one person at the cost of an individual acting to obtain the benefit. It is common that an individual may benefit from a collective act without contributing to it. Collective benefits can non-competitive and inclusive if the availability of the benefit does not diminish from the use of one actor. An example of this type of collective benefit is social capital. However, they can also be exclusive if the benefit is not available to all networks of relation, such as a pure public good. References {{reflist Economic sociology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Structure And Agency
In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. ''Structure'' is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. '' Agency'' is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. The structure versus agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure. Structure, socialization and autonomy The debate over the primacy of structure or of agency relates to an issue at the heart of both classical and contemporary sociological theory: the question of social ontology: "What is the social world made of?" "What is a cause of the social world, and what is an effect?" "Do social structures determine an individual's behaviour or does human agency?" Structural functionalists such as Émile Durkheim s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
