Class participation is an important part of the learning process.
We are trying to develop the analytic skills of evaluating
general social science conclusions about social movements by
testing them against specific real cases.
As in learning any skill, practice makes us better.
We practice these skills in class discussions so your participation
in class will make you a better sociologist.
Your participation is evaluated along two criteria:
Each class we review a reading or film, using the questions
on the class web pages (for example, on
Tarrow's discussion of cycles of protest.
You should come to class prepared to answer these review questions
as part of our analysis of the reading or film.
Students will be called on randomly to provide these answers.
Volunteered participation is also important. Especially useful for
class discussions are:
questions to clarify some idea introduced by the instructor,
by the readings, or by your classmates (i.e., if you don't understand
something you get credit for asking!)
examples, especially from your
adopted local social movement,
that illustrate a general principle we have been discussing or
even better may be a counter-example to the principle.
suggestions of other social science generalizations about
social movements.
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