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Sociology 432: Social Movements
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Doug McAdam,
This is an excerpt from a chapter in McAdam's book on the civil rights movement.
So, it is unlike many of the other readings which follow a conventional
journal format (theory - methods - results - conclusion; see my notes
at the beginning of
Tarrow, "Cycles" ).
The question McAdam is implicitly addressing is:
Why did the Civil Rights Movement occur in the 1950s and 1960s
and not earlier?
Concepts and theory
This is one of the clearest statements of a resource mobilization
perspective on social movements
(see also the Jenkins and Perrow
article on the grape farmworkers.
McAdam later tried to distinguish his theory from a conventional
resource mobilization theory
by emphasizing more how the process of social movement
protest depended also on changing tactics (see his
Tactical Innovation ),
and on the government responses
(see Barkan, "Legal Control") not just on the resources that movements
were able to mobilize.
Although there is nothing explicit here about discontent and deprivation,
the evidence McAdam reviews here is a valid indictment against
discontent theories. But see
Useem, "Prison Riot" )
for an anti-resource mobilization, pro-discontent theory.
Also, Kurzman on the Iranian Revolution offers a contrast to a
resource mobilization perspective.
Methods
McAdam is just borrowing secondary historical sources here.
Results
McAdam reviews several historical trends, all of which he argues contributed
to the possibility of African American protest. These developments are
causally linked to each other -- it's not just an unconnected list.
The first changes McAdam talks about caused the next set of changes and
those changes caused the changes he discusses in the end.
- Farming.
What is the 20th century
evidence about the prevalence of farming among African Americans
in the South? What caused the changes?
- Urbanization.
What happened during the 20th century to the proportion of African Americans
living in the rural South? What caused these changes?
- Lynchings.
What happened to lynchings during the 20th century? Why?
- Occupational and economic changes.
How did African Americans in the South benefit from urbanization and
agricultural changes?
- Other urbanization benefits .
How else did the shift from cotton farms to urban centers make it more
possible to organize a protest movement?
The final set of three factors are the most immediate determinants of the
civil rights movements. But it is important to realize how these three were
made possible by the above changes.
- Black churches:.
What are the advantages of urban churches over rural churches for organizing
social protest? How did the size of black churches change before the
1950s?
Think back on what else we have learned about the civil rights movement
(e.g.,
"Eyes on the Prize" )
and reflect on why the changes in Southern Black churches were so important
to the later growth of the movement.
- Black colleges:.
What happened to enrollment in Black colleges during the 20th century?
What were the sources of this growth?
Why was the growth in Southern Black colleges was so important
to the later growth of the movement?
- The Southern NAACP:.
How did the NAACP grow during the 20th century in numbers?
in geographic location?
Conclusions
What's your one-line summary of McAdam's contribution?
| Last updated September 8, 2005 |
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