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LIBRARY RESEARCH GUIDE (consider making an appointment with Emily Keller)

LSJ 491/POLS 447: Social Movements in a Global Context

Instructor: Jonathan Beck
Office hours: Tuesdays 2:30-3:30 and Thursdays 10:00-11:00
E-mail: jcbeck@uw.edu

Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30-2:20 in Raitt 109

Why do people rise up in protest to demand change? Most of us go about our daily lives obeying the rules and those who enforce them, even when we experience things that feel unfair or unjust. Most of the time, people do not band together to organize collective action. At key moments in places throughout history and the world, nonetheless, people have defied these patterns to push for change from within a social movement.

Women's rights advocates in Iran have risen up in 2022 to resist the Iranian government. Activists in the movement for Black lives organized for years before a mass wave of protest in 2020 that spanned the world. Student activists work in countries around the globe to advance their visions of a just and democratic society. 

In this seminar, "Social Movements in a Global Context," we will consider key theoretical debates in social movement research alongside our study of historical and contemporary social movements in both democratic and non-democratic contexts. Why do movements emerge (and more often not), how do they work, are they uniformly good, and can they enact meaningful change? 

Course assessment will be based on engagement (incl. group discussions and acting as class discussant once during the quarter), field notes, a case study project, and student presentations of their case studies.