ECTS:

5

Code:

ΚΥ0806

Cycle / Level:

Undergraduate

Compulsory / Optional:

Compulsory

Teaching Period:

Spring

Course Content:

The emergence and development of new social movements (ecological, feminist, peace etc.), during the last four decades changed the form and content of political and social collective action and created the need for new theoretical approaches. The course focuses on theories of collective action and social movements. Emphasis is placed on contentious politics theory and the theory of new social movements that constitute the two dominant contemporary research programs. The theoretical and research tools of these two theories are used to analyze contemporary social movements.
We examine the following particular topics:
– Definition of social movements
– Comparison between old and new social movements
– Theories of collective behavior(Blumer, Gurr, Davies, Merton)
– Marxist theories of collective action (Lenin, Luxemburg)
– Rational choice theory (Olson)
– Resource mobilization theory (Μc Carthy – Zald)
– New social movements theory (Touraine, Μelucci, Οffe, Habermas)
– Political process approach (Μc Adam, Tarrow)
– Frame analysis (Snow, Benford)
– Contentious Politics (Tilly, Tarrow)
– Contemporary social movements (movement against the neoliberal globalization, square movements, occupy movements)

By the end of the unit students are expected to be able to: - identify the key questions of the contemporary research on social movements, - understand the theoretical and epistemological differences of the research programs that have been established for the study of social movements in the last 50 years, - recognize the influence of social and political context to the dominant theories - use basic research tools of the contemporary approaches - analyze the main features of contemporary social movements.