Social Movement
You need to select a social movement Links to an external site.that you would like to profile. A social movement is
“an organized activity in which people set out to encourage or discourage social change”
(Macionis 2013). Examples of social movements include attempts to abolish the death
penalty; the push for increased science, technology, engineering and math courses in
school; the pro-life and pro-choice movements; the marriage equality movement; efforts to
have contested illnesses recognized; the push for size acceptance; the right to die
movement; and efforts to create environmental justice*.
Once you have selected your movement, spend some time researching the movement
using the web and/or the library. Additionally, you need to contact at least one participant
in the social movement and conduct an informal interview. You might also consider
participating in at least one event** related to your social movement in order to collect
ethnographic data based on your observations. The more research that you do and the
more involved that you become, the better your profile will be. Your task is to utilize the
research you conduct to develop a social movement profile that addresses all of the
following:
- Detailed description of the social movement’s goals and tactics. {What change are
they trying to make happen or stop from happening? How specifically are they
going about this?}, - Detailed description of the research that you engaged in to learn about the
movement., {What did you do to research this movement? Who did you speak with?
Did you participate in any way? If so how?}, - Is the movement you selected typical or atypical of the sociological understanding
and description of social movements? Why or why not? Be specific., - Is this movement effective? Why or why not? What could they do to increase their
effectiveness?, - Which classic sociologist do you think would be most likely to join this movement
today? Why?,
*Please note that the list I’ve provided and the examples I’ve listed are by no means
exhaustive. There are literally thousands upon thousands of social movements focused
on all different types of issues and working in a myriad of ways. I encourage you to select
something you genuinely feel passionate about as it will make this task both easier and
more enjoyable.
**Virtual events are acceptable in light of COVID-19.
Profile Guidelines
- Your profile must be well-written meaning it must utilize full sentences with proper
grammar, spelling and punctuation. - Your profile should be thorough, addressing all of the components detailed above.
- Your profile should demonstrate that you actively and thoroughly researched the
social movement that you have profiled. - Any sources that you utilize must be properly cited.
- Your profile should be at least 1000 words.
