DOC PREVIEW
UW-Madison SOC 220 - Movements and their Targets and Opponents

This preview shows page 1-2 out of 5 pages.

Save
View full document
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 5 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 5 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 5 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience

Unformatted text preview:

1Tactics, Strategy and the Interactions Between Movements and their Targets & OpponentsA continuum of tactics• Education, persuasion (choice of rhetoric)• Legal politics: lobbying, lawsuits• Demonstrations: show numbers or intensity of concern (marches, rallies, petitions)• Economic pressure (Boycotts, selective buying)• Confrontation, disruption, civil disobedience (Sit-ins, occupations, illegal gatherings)• Property damage • Violence against personsInteractions• What the movement does is always in interaction with the target/opponent• Strategy = overall plan for how chance will occur– Persuade power-holders to act differently– Change public opinion– Disrupt normal business, force change– Seize power• Always complex, fluid, evolving– Movements always use a mix of tactics, generally have multiple leaders, groups, agendas• Outcomes always depends on characteristics of the power-holder as well as of the movementTactics Use Power & Resources• Sheer numbers of people• Military capacity: weapons, armies• Wealth, control of land, means of production• Environmental constraints of your home territory• Control of means of communication• Symbolic authority: religious, cultural, politicalSocial Organization Matters• Social & political organization within groups affects capacity for action– Geographic concentration/dispersion– Governmental organization– Cultural/religious similarity or difference. Language.• Relations to third parties who may favor one side or the otherEducation, persuasion• Give people information, make appeals to commonly-held beliefs, values (framing and rhetoric)• Strategic use of language: choose how to say things in ways that will lead others to agree • Depends upon being permitted to communicate– 1950s, advocating homosexual rights was defined as illegal violation of obscenity laws– Politically repressive regimes may prohibit any public opposition– Need cooperation of mass media to communicate to larger public2Responses to persuasive strategies• Intense repression: prohibit speech entirely, drive it underground– Strong block to mobilization if you cannot even discuss an issue except with trusted intimates• Free speech conditions: not overtly repressed. Responses in general order:1. Ignore (+ standard disinformation)2. Ridicule, trivialization3. Rebuttal, debate4. Adopt successful movement rhetoric, repackage to make your points in a new wayExamples of rhetorical adaptation• Mid-1960s, White racists abandon attempts to publicly justify White domination & segregation; employers abandon attempts to justify employment discrimination– “state’s rights” OLDER rhetoric– “reverse discrimination” OR “preferences” OR “traditional way of life”– Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. against affirmative action• Religious opponents of pornography adopt feminist arguments about violence against women; some abortion opponents adopt similar rhetoricPetitions, lobbying, court cases• Stay within the legal bounds of the state• Democratic, legal institutions are a product of past struggles, have not always been available; product of franchise + court system• Adapt to specific political/legal environments• May include “behind the scenes” lobbying for particular bills (e.g. disability rights) OR professional legal strategies (e.g. civil rights)• All ethnic minorities in US have used legal tactics. Constraints, interactions for legal strategies• Ability to use these strategies depends upon social location & available laws/institutions• Opponents generally can use them too• Most commonly successful when the movement has some elite backing (splits in elites) OR there is pressure from disruption or electoral strength• Court cases require legal training, legal standing: tend to reinforce professionalization in movements• Lobbying is most effective by full-time lobbyists. Demonstrative & Economic Tactics• Marches, rallies, vigils– Power of numbers, “demonstrate” your support +willingness to be in the street, visible– Evolved with franchise & democratic elections• Hunger strikes, immolation & other symbolic extreme actions– Willingness to incur sacrifice takes on a moral standing– Cultural understandings essential• Boycotts & selective buying– Refuse to buy (use service): demonstrate economic power.– A coercive strategy, but does not break a lawResponses to demonstrative tactics• If they are illegal or disruptive, they are more threatening; present a greater potential challenge, imply the possibility of stronger resistance• Public tactics: do they get media coverage? Try to ignore, trivialize.• Time, place, manner restrictions: limit disruptive potential• Boycotts: “tough it out.” – Make secondary boycotts illegal, make it illegal to advocate a boycott (MLK jailed)– Make it illegal to organize an alternative (e.g. transportation system in Montgomery)3Confrontational tactics• Goal is to disrupt without being violent• Strike & sit-down strike: keep the employer from running the business • Civil disobedience: disobey an unjust law, e.g. sit-in at lunch counter, freedom ride, marriage license for gays, weave textile in India• Direct action: skirt the edge between legal & illegal. Occupy a public place, march where not permitted, rally at someone’s home. Try to cause trouble.• Make the opponent look bad if they overreactThe question of “violence”• Both strong and weak groups can use it• Property damage: is disruptive, a direct coercive tactic– Often the weapon of the frustrated, disempowered– However US history has many cases of White majority destroying the property & community of minorities• Violence against persons– Traditional peasant attacks on the oppressive landlord– Lynching, mob violence: usually the weapon of the strong, the majority (Gamson’s research)– Some terrorism is the weapon of the weakResponses to Violence & Property Damage• DO often spur reforms, can be effective. But they also increase repression.• Most often the weapon of the strong– Much more use of violence in the US by White supremacists than my minorities– Majorities are less likely to be repressed when the use violence, more likely to get away with it• Weak groups that use violence are more likely to be violently repressed– A dangerous tactic is to TALK violence without the ability to back it up. “Talk loudly and


View Full Document

UW-Madison SOC 220 - Movements and their Targets and Opponents

Documents in this Course
Latinos

Latinos

3 pages

Load more
Download Movements and their Targets and Opponents
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Movements and their Targets and Opponents and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Movements and their Targets and Opponents 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?