9.6: Student Resources

Key Terms/Glossary

• Collective action - Any activity in which coordination by and across individuals has the potential to lead to achievement of a common objective.
• Common pool resource - Something provided to some or all in a society; it is nonexcludable but rivalrous in consumption.
• Cooperation game - A strategic scenario illustrating how players have incentives to work together or not work together to realize common goals.
• Diffusion - The spread of an idea, movement, tactics, strategies, and other resources across international borders.
• Framing - The deliberate representation of a concept or problem to resonate with intended audiences.
• Free rider problem - Occurs when an individual who seeks to benefit from the gains achieved by others but does not contribute to the achievement of those gains.
• Information and communication technologies (ICT) - Platforms which provide the means for members of a social movement to communicate with one another and intended audiences. ICTs can include radio, television, social media platforms, and so forth.
• Social movement - A subset of collective action in which a group of people outside of established political institutions organize to achieve an objective.
• Structure - Social forces which constrain the choices available to an individual or group at a given time; the broader social context within which action takes place.

Summary

Section 9.1: What is collective action? What are social movements?

Collective action is any activity in which coordination by and across individuals has the potential to lead to achievement of a common objective. Collective action can lead to the provision of public goods, collective goods such as common pool resources, or private goods. Social movements are a subset of collective action and comprise political activity outside of established institutions.

Section 9.2: Frameworks for collective action

Collective action is challenged by the free rider problem as well as problems associated with coordination and cooperation. A simple cooperation game can illustrate the incentives for noncooperation. There is a “logic” to collective action whereby small groups united by an overarching goal are more likely to organize collectively. Yet mass collective action is possible and has occurred repeatedly. Factors that promote collective action include trust between participants, the possibility of repeated interactions, and long time horizons.

Section 9.3: A framework for explaining social movements

One framework for understanding social movements focuses on three major factors: opportunity, organization, and framing. Social movements are more likely to prevail when there is a “political process” or opportunity structure that supports the realization of the movement’s goals. While the emergence of a political opening is key, a social moment cannot be sustained without strong organizational structures in place, and these can draw from organizations which pre-date the social movement. Social movements must frame the goals of their movement to mobilize people at an individual and societal level. International influences can also support or thwart a social movement. Finally, tactics matter. Empirical research comparing nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns has found that nonviolent campaigns are nearly twice as successful as their violent counterparts.

Section 9.4: Comparative Case Study - Workers’ movements in Poland and China

Two communist party-led states, Poland and China, experienced significant labor movements. The Solidarity labor union in Poland led a decade of resistance activity (1980-1989) which culminated in the turnover of state power from communist party rule to liberal democracy. In reforming China (1978-present), the labor movement remains fragmented and decentralized, with the Chinese Communist Party firmly in control of labor organizations. Applying concepts from social movement theory, it appears that political opportunity and organizational and mobilizational capacity differed significantly across these cases.

Review Questions

Please select the most appropriate answer for each of the following questions.

1. Which of the following are NOT characteristics of a public good?
   1. It is nonexcludable, meaning you cannot exclude anyone from enjoying it
   2. It is nonrival, meaning my enjoyment of that good does not affect your enjoyment of it
   3. It is common pool, meaning common to all
   4. Some public goods are provided as a result of collective action
2. Which of the following is an example of free rider behavior?
   1. In a group living situation, I wait for others to clean up the shared living area
   2. In a workplace situation, I let someone else clean up the work sink area
   3. In a study group, I wait for everyone else to post their study notes to the shared study space and don’t post any
   4. All of the above
3. Which of the following are factors that can help explain the emergence and success of a social movement?
   1. Framing
   2. Political opportunity
   3. Organization and mobilization
   4. All of the above
4. True or false: Research has found that social movements which rely on nonviolent tactics are twice as successful as social movements which employ violence.
   1. True
   2. False
5. Which of the following are factors that can help explain the success of Poland’s Solidarity movement compared to China’s labor movement? (Select all that apply.)
   1. Framing
   2. Political opportunity
   3. Organization and mobilization
   4. International support

Answers: 1.c, 2.d, 3.d, 4.a, 5.b and c

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Consider a simple cooperation game in which two players can choose between cooperating and betraying the other player. Apply the dynamics of this game to a real world situation and map the choices of “cooperate” and “betray” onto the choices facing actors in this situation. Do we observe cooperation in your chosen real world situation? If so, why? If not, why not?
2. Research a social movement of interest to you. What were the objectives of that social movement? Were they met? If so, was this due to the social movement occurring during a time of political opportunity?
3. Present an example of a powerful frame employed by a social movement. Why is this frame powerful? Who is the audience (or audiences) and why might this framing of the problem resonate with them?

Suggestions for Further Study

Books

• Ash, Timothy Garton. (1983). The Polish Revolution: Solidarity. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
• Chenoweth, Erica and Stephan, Maria. (2011). Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Gallagher, Mary Elizabeth. (2007). Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China. Princeton University Press.
• Han, Hahrie, McKenna, Elizabeth, and Oyakawa, Michelle. (2021). Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• McAdam, Doug, Tarrow, Sydney, and Tilly, Charles. (2001). Dynamics of Contention. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Ostrom, Elinor. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Tarrow, Sidney. (1994). Power in Movement: Collective Action and Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Articles

• McAdam, Doug. (2017). Social Movement Theory and the Prospects for Climate Change Activism in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 20: 189-208.
• Walder, Andrew. (2009). Political Sociology and Social Movements. Annual Review of Sociology. Vol. 35: 393-412.

Datasets and websites

• China Labour Bulletin. Interactive maps of protests in China.
• Mapping American Social Movements Project. University of Washington.
• Nonviolent and Violent Campaigns and Outcomes (NAVCO) Data Project.

Podcast

• How Narrative Drives Movements. Activist Marshall Ganz describes the essential role of storytelling in leadership and organizing. Harvard Kennedy School PolicyCast.