Sociology of Social Movements and Social Change

How do cultural diversity and inequality influence the potential of social movements to promote social change on the local ground and in global arenas of political and media debate? In a moment where right wing political parties mobilize cultural difference as a threat, social movements around the globe try to build coalitions across social differences to address global collective action problems including climate change and ethnic or religious conflicts. How and to what extend do engaged citizens and the current progressive movements succeed to reach out to ordinary people to build broader coalitions? How do they use digital media networks and everyday politics to support minorities, migrants and refugees? This course provides a sociological introduction to the study of culture in protest movements, including debates about social class and group culture, race/ethnicity, gender/intersectionality, nationality, language, and religion. First, we will investigate culture within transnationally operating non-state organizations such as NGOs and activist groups. Second, we will look at culture as a set of discourses and practices analyzing news media framing digital media, narrative, and translation practices used by radical movements. Lectures and research presentations in this course will allow students to gain an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective on culture, protest movements, and social change focusing on case studies including the refugee solidarity movements in Europe and the resistance against Trump, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, as well as the Arab Spring, Occupy and Indignados movements.