Definition of Social Movement and Neil Smelser's Predictive Theory

In the book March Book One the people of Nashville chose to stage the sit-ins to protest the segregation between blacks and whites. They chose to sit and wait to be serve and they wouldn’t leave until they were served. They had to learn how to protest without violence and spend many hours practicing by humiliating each other and learning how to protect themselves when attacked.

People fighting against injustices are something that happens every day it is inevitable unless the injustices cease to exist. As stated before social movements happen because of a certain injustice. This can be from people feeling oppressed from their race, sex, or sexuality. They have had many contributions to society mainly helping those and they get rid of oppression. While inspiring others who are oppressed as well to set up and speak up again their oppressors. Mainly helping other groups use the same successful tactic that other social group has done in the past or present. Some of these groups that are looked back upon on how successful their tactics were are the early Women's movement, Africa American movement, Chicano Movement, and

A social movement is defined as the gathering of people to change an element of society that they feel is not acceptable and cannot endure any longer. There are two primary types of movements: reactive and proactive. Reactive movements typically involved resistance movements and are a pushback or reaction to current social changes. Proactive social movements include reform and revolutionary social movements which are designed to bring radical social change and replace the existing structures with new ones. While these definitions remain constant, as social changes impact societies, many social movements may change labels. A proactive movement can become a reactive movement and vice-versa.

On February 7th, 1960, a week after the Greensboro sit-ins, The Nashville Student Movement had begun their first real sit-in. The objective of these sit-ins was to desegregate lunch counters in downtown Nashville. Book 1 goes into detail about the preparation for these sit-ins. Months before this

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

In the first presentation, I noticed an event called the Greensboro Sit-ins. This was a single event that sparked a nationwide movement and flood of support for the civil rights movement and the issue of business owners withholding service from those who were not white. On February 1st, 1960, 4 students of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a whites-only lunch table, requested service, and were then denied and asked to leave. When they left, they went to tell campus leaders what had happened and as a result gained people that wanted to participate in the sit-in. It is said that “the next morning twenty-nine neatly dressed male and female [NCATSU] students sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter,” the same counter where those first four students sat (NorthCarolinaHistory.org). After this happened, protests occurred each week and hundreds of students were showing up at Woolworth’s. Following this, more and more students from around the US were staging sit ins at segregated lunch counters as a form of non-violent protest against discrimination.

February 1st, 1960; the Greensboro Sit Ins; Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond. “Segregated conditions were as characteristic of Greensboro, however, as they were of cities with reputations for racial violence and intimidation.” The Greensboro Sit Ins made a huge impact not only in North Carolina, but along the Southeast states; thirteen states and fifty five different cities. This was where a group of four black male freshmen college students at A&T State University who

A social movement is a group of individuals that focus on political or social issues. Though this explanation appears pertinent, movements are rarely that simple. In the case of racial militancy, a social movement is characterized by the need for justice, preserving the community and the emergence of the New Negro. What distinguishes racial militancy from other groups is the inclination to question society and combat relentlessly for their objectives. Frequently this movement employed empowerment, unity, and a new identity to define their movement.

The Greensboro Sit-Ins were another way that people progressed the Civil Rights movement. These took place in North Carolina, in the year 1960. They had many people participate in this nonviolent protest. The interview with Franklin McCain states, “We actually got to the point where we had people going down in shifts” (My Soul is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered). The movement was

Blacks couldn’t use the same public places as whites, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools.Racially mixed marriage was illegal, and most blacks couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests. Jim Crow laws weren’t taken in northern states; however, blacks still experienced discrimination at their jobs or when they tried to buy a house or get an education.On February 1, 1960, African American students were denied counter service at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina because the policy was that only white customers could sit at the counter; African Americans had to stand. The next day they returned with more students and the peaceful protest called a "sit-in" was begun. Across the South, peaceful sit-ins by students took place in more than 100 cities in 1960. Although the protesters were beaten, and sometimes sent to jail, they continued to peacefully sit-in until they achieved their goals -- desegregation of places of public

Social movements have many different definitions. In his paper, Social Movements, James Jasper defines them as “sustained and intentional efforts to foster or retard social changes, primarily outside the normal institutional channels encouraged by authorities”. (CITE) In simpler terms, a social movement is a movement created by people who want a social or political change. A big part of social movements is resource mobilization theory. Resource mobilization theory states that social movements “succeed through the effective mobilization of resources and the development of political opportunities for members” (CITE). This means that if a social movement wants to be successful, they need to organize themselves so they can do things such as collect funds from constituents and elites, receive volunteers and members, and get their

Another significant transformation took place in the Civil Rights Movement in terms of its strategies. In analyzing this facet of the movement, we notice a great shift from nonviolent demonstration to forward, forceful action. Specifically, at the start of the Civil Rights Movement, lunch counter sit-ins were evident throughout the nation, as were Freedom Riders. Starting in Greensboro, North Carolina at a luncheonette called Woolworths, young black citizens would seat

SNCC was a group of young protesters that wanted change immediately. John lewis along with Diane Nash and other leaders created a group for non-violent protesting. They made the sit-ins at lunch counters so that African Americans could have equal rights in the diners. After a while many people started joining in the the sit- ins across the states. They may say that the sit-ins only played a small role in the Civil Rights Movement

Social movements are large groups of people who are usually without political power and influence that decide to promote or resist social change through unconventional means (Monnier, 2010). Social movements begin when there is a problem identified by a certain group of people. The group finds out who is responsible for failing to appropriately address their issues and at that point proceed to take action themselves. These movements can be violent or nonviolent when addressing the responsible parties. There are many types of social movements that include but not limited to civil rights, animal rights and environmental rights movements. The basis of these movements would derive from the conflict theory. The conflict theory

One would assume that in order to get a better understanding of the causes for “social movements” you would begin with motives derived purely from social factors. A majority of the early academic research on social movements are based on theories rooted around the concept that “groups” themselves drive the dynamics of social movements. Most of the early literature points to Collective Action Theory as the foundation of the academic study of social movements. The Collective Action theory, as defined by Gustave Le Bon, in his book Psychologie des Foules states, that societies are formed by small groups of intellectuals who impose their will on the masses. Groups of individuals take on mental unity and lose the ability to think rationally and morally when they are part of the masses (Oberschall 4-5). According to Touraine, for a social movement to take place there are four factors that define the circumstances. First,