CMST224--RHETORIC OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Short Cuts to:

OBJECTIVES: In CULTURAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, Marcy Darnovsky, Barbara Epstein, and Richard Flacks define social movements as "collective efforts by socially and politically subordinated people to challenge the conditions and assumptions of their lives . . . collective action becomes a 'movement' when participants refuse to accept the boundaries of established institutional rules and routinized roles" (vii). As the title indicates, this course centers on the "rhetoric" of social movements, not on social theories of how social movements take shape. Although we will spend some time early in the semester investigating sociological and psychological models of social movements, our main interest will be on the rhetorical influence, the symbolic "electricity," of social movements We will be more concerned with how social movements change the meanings of a culture's god terms ("ideographs") and on the impact of social movements on identity formation. We will be more concerned with the "effects" of the refusal to accept institutional rules and routinized roles than with the reasons why this refusal takes place.

Our class discussions will utilize rhetorical documents from the 1960s in order to provide an understanding of how social movements have function historically. However, I will ask you to work through documents of contemporary social movements (ones that you feel an interest or connection to) in some class discussions and in your essays. The idea is that by focusing on the 1960s, (1) we are able to look at a period with a great deal of social movement discourse to work with; (2) the discourse will be "alien" enough from us that we will be able to look at it with some degree of distance; (3) to the degree that present discourses are an effect of their historical usage, it will provide you with a better sense of how "we" became what we are now and how powerful discourse is.

The class is structured into three segments: (1) during the first several weeks of the semester, we will discuss theories of social movements and ways of thinking about their influence and the powerful of social institutions to control them; (2) we will spend the bulk of the semester on social movements discourse from the 1960s and tie those to the present; (3) finally, each of you (in pairs or alone) will present an analysis of a contemporary social movements.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Albert, Judith Clavir, and Stewart Edward Albert. Eds. THE SIXTIES PAPERS:  
	DOCUMENTS OF A REBELLIOUS DECADE.  (New York:  Praeger, 1984).
Bowers, John W., Donovan J. Ochs, and Richard J. Jenson.  THE RHETORIC OF
	AGITATION AND CONTROL.  2nd ed.  (Prospect Heights, IL:  Waveland 1993).
O'Neill, William L.  COMING APART:  AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF AMERICA 
	IN THE 1960S.  (New York:  Random House, 1971).

There will also be a course pack available to Campus Copy. I will also put these articles on reserve at the main library for those who would rather not purchase the pack..

GRADING:

Daily Schedule: 

Aug 27	Introduction to Course
Aug 29  Computer Lab meeting--1190 Garland/Short Paper Assigned.

Sep 01	Social Movements Defined.  McGee (ClassPak), B,O,J (Chapter 1)
Sep 03	Social Movements and Agitation.  B,O, J (Chapter 2)
Sep 05	Social Movements Controlled.  B,O,J (Chapter 3)
Sep 08	Social Movements and Music. (John English).  Short Paper Due.
Sep 10	Film "Berkeley in the 60s".  Aand A, pp. 2-56.  Assign Midterm.
Sep 12	Film "Berkeley in the 60s".  B,O,J (Chapter 5).
Sep 15	Civil Rights/Human Rights. B,O,J (Chapter 6).  A and A, pp.105-113, 119-125.
Sep 17	Martin and Malcolm.  A and A, pp. 126-149. Handout.
Sep 19	Panthers and more.  A and A, pp. 145-172, "Black Panther Newsreel").
Sep 22	Eyes on the Prize II, Vol. 1-2, discussion.
Sep 24	Eyes on the Prize II, Vol. 1-2, discussion.
Sep 26	Contemporary discussions of civil rights/human rights.
Sep 29	Antiwar/Student.  A and A, pp. 172-208.

Oct 01	A and A, pp. 233-271. 
Oct 03	Film, "Remember Mai-Lai".  Discussion.
Oct 06	A and A, pp. 274-309.
Oct 08	A and A, pp. 310-335.  Paper distribution.
Oct 10	Paper workshop/Review Session/Open.
Oct 13	A and A, pp. 336-356.
Oct 15	Midterm/Papers due.  
Oct 17	A and A, pp. 357-400.
Oct 20	Contemporary Antiwar/Student movement discourses.  Final Papers Assigned.
Oct 22	Counterculture.  A and A, pp. 401-427.  B,O,J (Chapter 4).
Oct 24	A and A, pp. 428-458.
Oct 27	Women's movement.  A and A, pp. 114-116, 459-477.
Oct 29	A and A, pp. 478-500.
Oct 31	A and A, pp. 501-516.

Nov 03	A and A, pp. 517-530.
Nov 05	Contemporary discourses of the women's movement.
Nov 07	Re-member the past.  (Echols, course pack).
Nov 10	Gay rights.  (Darcey, Windes, course pack).
Nov 12	Stein, course pack.
Nov 14	Slagel, course pack..
Nov 17	Contemporary gay rights discourses.
Nov 19	Open.
Nov 21	Open.

Dec 01	Presentation of final projects.  Rough drafts distributed.
Dec 03	Presentation of final projects.
Dec 05	Presentation of final projects.  Papers DUE.  
Dec 08	Presentation of final projects.

If you have further questions for me, feel free to call me (322-2988), email me, or go to my homepage to look at other courses I teach.