Tuesday/Thursday 1:00–2:20, 1210 Weill Hall

Instructor: Devin Judge-Lord, , 715-204-4287

This class explores political science and sociology research on how protests and social movements affect policy, focusing on 20th and 21st-century movements in the United States. It covers opportunity structure, movement organizations, issue framing, coalition building, the relationships among movements and political parties, and the role of social movements in democracy. It also explores the role of movement art in policy debates. Applying theories of policy change to a cause of their choosing, students will create and curate movement art, culminating in an exhibition at the end of the semester.

This is a small upper-level seminar that requires coming to class prepared to discuss the reading. No skills or prior experience with art required. There are no quizzes or exams. Assessment is based on your ability to articulate research-based theories of change and thoughtful engagement with the ideas in the reading and with feedback on your writing and art.

In 2026 and 2027, this class will be a collaboration with UMMA staff and their American Sampler exhibit, and our class will meet at the museum during class time on several occasions throughout the semester.

Links to course resources:

🚧 Syllabus updated: January 27 2026. The current version is here. 🚧

🗺️ Objectives

This class aims to empower students to shape policy debates from outside the halls of power. At the end of the semester, students will

  1. Understand the historical context of various 20th-century U.S. social movements and their impact on policy
  2. Understand leading social science theories about the conditions under which social movements are likely to affect policy (and when they are not)
  3. Understand how researchers study the impact of social movements and advocacy strategies
  4. Be able to frame policy issues and communicate in ways we would expect to mobilize support and unsettle opposition

It covers research on the policy effects of various movements such as the marriage equality movement, the living wage movement, the Tea Party movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-communist movement, the environmental justice movement, the anti-war movement, the new right, and certain aspects of labor and suffrage/feminist/women’s movements.

∴ Course Philosophy

In designing this course, I proceed from several premises:

  1. It is worth knowing the history of our current policy debates and the ideas and values that the rhetoric of these policy debates evokes.

  2. It is more interesting to explore deeply rooted ideas and see them in rhetoric than to stay at the level of rhetoric. This class is about politics and policy as well as rhetoric and communications. I don’t want us to limit our thinking to what plays well in current mass media or elite discourse. I want you to develop a position on how you think politics should be reshaped. Then, let that inform your analysis of and contributions to political rhetoric.

  3. Individual action is good but insufficient; collective action (and thus politics) is required. This class is in the public policy school, and I am a political scientist. We are here to learn about the many ways social movements impact (or fail to impact) policy, not argue about whether policy and politics, in general, are useful for solving problems.

🏛️ Learning Environment

Learning from each other is only possible if we show the respect due to our fellow citizens of this class.

To realize this goal, I expect us to respect our colleagues and cultivate inclusive discussions. This means that we must be careful not to mislead, degrade, interrupt someone who does not speak as much, or enforce hierarchies based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender expression, sexual orientation, or ability.

📜 Ford School and University of Michigan Policies

Ford School Inclusivity Statement: Members of the Ford School community represent a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. We are committed to providing an atmosphere for learning that respects diversity. While working together to build this community, we ask all members to:

  • share their unique experiences, values, and beliefs
  • be open to the views of others
  • honor the uniqueness of their colleagues
  • appreciate the opportunity that we have to learn from each other in this community
  • value one another’s opinions and communicate in a respectful manner
  • keep confidential discussions that the community has of a personal (or professional) nature
  • use this opportunity together to discuss ways in which we can create an inclusive environment in Ford - classes and across the UM community

Being a constructive member of a diverse community is always a learning process. The University has many resources to help us in this endeavor, including a glossary of terms.

Ford School Public Health Protection Policy. In order to participate in any in-person aspects of this course—including meeting with other students to study or work on a team project—you must follow all the public health safety measures and policies put in place by the State of Michigan, Washtenaw County, the University of Michigan, and the Ford School. Up-to-date information on U-M policies can be found on the U-M Health Response website. It is expected that you will protect and enhance the health of everyone in the Ford School community by staying home and following self-isolation guidelines if you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.

Student Mental Health and Wellbeing. The University of Michigan is committed to advancing the mental health and wellbeing of its students. We acknowledge that a variety of issues, both those relating to the pandemic and other issues such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, and depression, can directly impact students’ academic performance and overall wellbeing. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and/or in need of support, services are available.

You may access the Ford School’s embedded counselor, Paige Ziegler (pziegler@umich.edu), and/or counselors and urgent services at Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and/or University Health Service (UHS). Students may also use the Crisis Text Line (text ‘4UMICH’ to 741741) to be connected to a trained crisis volunteer. You can find additional resources both on and off campus through the University Health Service and through CAPS.

Student/Faculty Interaction Best Practices. We strive to ensure a safe learning environment free from gender-based and sexual harassment, sexual violence, retaliation, and a hostile environment based on discrimination and intimidation. We make the following commitments:

  • To conduct office hours with the door open unless the student requests a closed-door meeting;
  • To document meeting times with students so that this record can be reviewed.
  • To meet students individually only at university venues;
  • To conduct off-campus meetings only at places where alcohol is not served;
  • To communicate electronically with students only on university platforms and not on social media, text, or non-university apps.
  • For more information on resources for reporting sexual misconduct, please see the faculty senate best practices for faculty interactions and U-M’s page on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: The University of Michigan recognizes disability as an integral part of diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable educational environment for students with disabilities. Students who are experiencing a disability-related barrier should visit the Services for Students with Disabilities website. They can be reached at 734-763-3000 or ssdoffice@umich.edu. For students who are connected with SSD, accommodation requests can be made in Accommodate. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your SSD Coordinator or visit SSD’s Current Student webpage. SSD considers aspects of the course design, course learning objects, and the individual academic and course barriers experienced by the student. Further conversation with SSD, instructors, and the student may be warranted to ensure an accessible course experience.

Important

If you require accommodations from SSD, please start that process quickly because it takes time.

Academic Integrity: The Ford School academic community, like all communities, functions best when its members treat one another with honesty, fairness, respect, and trust. We hold all members of our community to high standards of scholarship and integrity. To accomplish its mission of providing an optimal educational environment and developing leaders of society, the Ford School promotes the assumption of personal responsibility and integrity and prohibits all forms of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and misconduct. Academic dishonesty may be understood as any action or attempted action that may result in creating an unfair academic advantage for oneself or an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for any other member or members of the academic community. Plagiarism involves representing the words, ideas, or work of others as one’s own in writing or presentations, and failing to give full and proper credit to the original source. Conduct, without regard to motive, that violates academic integrity and ethical standards will result in serious consequences and disciplinary action. The Ford School’s policy of academic integrity can be found in the MPP, BA, and Ph.D. Program handbooks. Additional information regarding academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and misconduct and their consequences is available at U-M’s academic-policies page.

Use of Technology: Students should follow instructions from their instructor as to acceptable use of technology in the classroom, including laptops, in each course. All course materials (including slides, assignments, handouts, pre-recorded lectures, or recordings of class) are to be considered confidential material and are not to be shared in full or in part with anyone outside of the course participants. Likewise, your own personal recording (audio or video) of your classes or office hour sessions is allowed only with the express written permission of your instructor. If you wish to post course materials or photographs/videos of classmates or your instructor to third-party sites (e.g., social media), you must first obtain informed consent. Without explicit permission from the instructor and, in some cases, your classmates, the public distribution or posting of any photos, audio/video recordings, or pre-recordings from class, discussion section, or office hours, even if you have permission to record, is not allowed and could be considered academic misconduct.

Please review additional information and policies regarding academic expectations and resources at the Ford School of Public Policy.

See the end of the syllabus for information about our commitment to best practices of instructor/student interactions.

📵 Technology in Class

No backlit screens in class (except as an accommodation via the UM Services for Students with Disabilities office). Research shows that they inhibit learning1 and distract your colleagues. This includes iPads and other tablets with LCD displays. Out of respect to the instructor and your fellow students, put your phone and smart watch away for the duration of class. You will not receive participation points for classes where you are on a screen during class time without permission.

E-readers like Kindle, Nook, or Kobo that use electronic paper (“e-ink”) rather than an LCD screen are allowed in class. Ask me if you would like to borrow one for the semester to use free access to digital copies of the assigned books via the Library.

️ Tools That Generate Text

You learn by doing work, and I assess your learning by the work you do. You may use tools to help craft your writing, but you must learn the crafts of constructive critique and persuasive writing to succeed in class. To add value to any employer or cause, you must craft arguments and recommendations that are significantly better than they would get by asking a SALAMI. I expect the same.

Text extruded by large language models (LLMs) is, by construction, derivative of patterns of words already linked together on the internet. In some sense, everything we do is derivative of our experiences, but the generative process is very different for thinking subjects (you) than for a pre-trained language model. Language models are [excellent at helping us conform to grammar conventions2 but incapable of producing original critiques. If they produce something that sounds insightful, it is only because we are able to assign meaning to the strings of words they extrude. (It also probably sounds right because it resembles things already written by a human on the internet.) Language models have no sense of meaning and cannot judge the consistency, coherence, or logic of an argument. I expect the work you produce to be yours and for you to stand by it as an intellectual project. No LLM can help you justify your thought process and reasoning. LLMs have no thought process and do not reason. Language is always in flux, but I see “reasoning” and “intelligence” are misnomers when applied to LLMs.

Beyond grammar conventions, I am not yet sure if LLMs are a helpful tool for the craft of persuasive writing or for learning this craft. I worry that they may constrain creativity by focusing our attention on problems and solutions that already exist and have already been frequently linked in the source material on which the LLMs are trained. Additionally, in many fields, including political science, rich white men are disproportionately the authors of the source texts. Uncritically using LLMs trained on biased source material risks reproducing those biases.

I basically agree with your colleague, Siena Beres, that the university pushing you all to use chatbots is very likely not all it is hyped up to be. Some shortcuts are helpful. Some cause you to miss out on the important parts of the journey.

Good policy and political strategy rest on good evidence. LLMs can fabricate evidence. Even when the sources are real, unless it is an exact quote, LLMs cannot guarantee a reasonable link between a claim and a source (LLMs don’t reason), only a statistically probable word order. Extruded text is often sensible, but there is no guarantee. Be careful. Work submitted with fake sources or made-up facts will get a 0 for similar reasons that other forms of academic dishonesty make work worse than worthless.
Thus, references must be hyperlinked whenever possible; I will check to make sure sources of evidence are used appropriately.

If you use people or tools other than your brain and spelling/grammar checkers to string words together, you should be prepared to comment on what you used them for, what they got right, and what they got wrong.

I reserve the right to discuss your papers in length with you if I have concerns that technological crutches are hindering your learning.

🛠️ Tools That Generate Images

I am more optimistic about the value of image-generating tools for this task because they require more thought and instruction from you. Like LLMs, they are essentially a tool of collage.

You are totally welcome to use image-generating tools at any step of your creative process.

However, as the artist, you are responsible for understanding your source material. Thus, you should be able to comment on where the imagery is derived from and what it evokes. A reverse-image search of discrete portions of generated images may help you better understand the source material for the collage that a computer generated for you.

You will probably want to come up with any words you want to appear on your posters yourself (for reasons discussed above).

Please also be mindful of the environmental cost of computation. Many things we do affect other people and places. Using computers in data centers to generate images is likely one of the most impactful things you may do.

🪶 Assignments

Credit hours will be earned by attending two classes of \(1.3\bar{3}\) hours each, reading and preparing written work outside of class for 6 to 9 hours per week, and a series of incremental assignments building to an exhibition of original art and accompanying theories of change.

A key part of the process will be critiquing the work of others. Detailed instructions for each assignment are available in the assignment guide.

Most weeks, the assignments are incremental steps to your project.

Most drafts are ungraded (you get credit just for submitting something) and designed for you to get feedback on your work.

All assignments are to be submitted on Canvas.

Due Dates

Discussion question posts are due Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m.

All other assignments and critiques are due Thursdays at 7 p.m.

Important

There is an incremental assignment building to your final project due almost every Thursday.

Below is the schedule of due dates.

Introductions (1%)

  • Week 1: Introduce yourself to the class with a short (20-30 second) video—feel free to be creative (1%)

Inspiration

  • Week 1: A list of six policies you would like to see changed, three organizations working to create each policy change, and one example of art or graphic design from each organization. (1%)3 The plan is that you will work on these for the rest of the semester, so pick causes for which you want to make art!

6 policies

  • 3 organizations are working to create each policy change
    • 1 stable URL to an example of ephemera from each organization’s effort to change that policy

(a total of 18 examples of art or graphic design aimed at policy change)

See template for this assignment in the assignment guide

The aim of this assignment is

  1. To start thinking about policy changes that you might work to advance
  2. To start to understand the organizational vehicles (Week 8) operating in that political space
  3. To generate a corpus of example art aimed at policy change for the class; the rest of the assignments will be about creating your own.

Find your voice - 27% of final grade

In the first third of the class, you develop exhibition ideas and attempt to write a theory of change for each. (See a visual representation of this process here)

  • Week 2: Six 200-word theories of change (see assignment guide) for each of six of the ephemera from week one, one for each policy (1%)
  • Week 3: Six original draft sketches or rough ideas, one for each policy + a 200-word theory of change for each + annotated bibliography in footnotes (1%)
  • Week 6: Peer critiques (2%)
    • UMMA visit
  • Week 5: Four revised sketches, one for each four policies + a 200-word theory of change for each + annotated bibliography in footnotes (20%)
  • Week 8:
    • Meet with me about your ideas (part of the previous assignment grade)

Craft your message - 27% of final grade

In the middle third of the semester, you will narrow your focus to two ideas and get more feedback as you workshop them.

  • Week 9: Six revised sketches, three for each of two policies + a 300-word theory of change for each policy + 150 words for each sketch + bibliography in footnotes (1%)
    • Workshop at UMMA
  • Week 10: Peer critiques (2%)
  • Week 11: Six revised sketches, three for each of two policies + a 300-word theory of change for each policy + 150 words for each sketch + bibliographies in footnotes + updated revision spreadsheets (20%)
  • Week 12:
    • My feedback on your work

Hone your critique - 23% of final grade

Through further rounds of revision, you will develop your final exhibition.

  • Week 13: Six revised sketches for one policy + an exhibition-formatted 300-word theory of change + 150 words for each sketch + citations in ENDNOTES + updated revision spreadsheets (1%)
  • Week 14: Peer critiques (2%)
    • Present at UMMA
  • Week 15: Final exhibit + updated revision spreadsheet (20%)
Note

I am mostly grading on

  1. How you responded to feedback
  2. How you engage with theories of policy change in the readings (and other academic readings you may do)

Late Submissions

Because nearly all assignments are either revised versions of previous submissions that someone else must review on a tight timeline or peer reviews that your peers depend on in order to make revisions on a tight timeline, late work is not an option.

  • If you do not submit a revised version on time, I will resubmit your previous version for review on your behalf. This will make sure you still get feedback on your work. If you submit by the end of the week, I will award partial points, but your reviewer is not expected to wait for the revised version to submit their review.
  • Late reviews are unfair to your classmates. If you do not submit a peer review on time, I will submit a review on your behalf, and you will not receive points for that review.

Under extenuating circumstances, I will attempt to work out an alternative review cycle. This is much easier if I am the one reviewing a draft than if it is a draft submitted for peer review.

Participation

21% (21 classes X 1% per class - 2 pass days + 2 facilitation X 1% per class)

  • Discussion posts about at least one of the readings are due by 7 p.m. on Canvas Mondays and Wednesdays weeks 2-14. Late posts are not counted. Posts should be no more than 150 words and include (1) a one-sentence summary of Your understanding of the argument(s) relevant to your question(s), (2) What you think about the argument(s), AND (3) Question(s) about the reading(s) that merit further discussion. When there are multiple readings, you need not ask a question about every reading, but do focus on the more substantive readings. Quotes and citations don’t count toward the word limit.
  • Participate in class discussion. Attendance is required. You must let me know ahead of time if you must miss class.
  • Summarize the discussion questions posed on Canvas for one class (2-3 minutes)
  • Summarize what we have learned and how we have refined the points of debate at the end of one class (2-3 minutes)

Sign up to summarize questions or what we learned here.

Note

Discussion questions are graded on a 0-3 scale.

Advice on writing good questions from Professor Rohde:

Questions should model good intellectual practice; that is, not just a one-sentence question, but a few sentences providing some important framing or context. This could include, for example, an explanation of why the question is important (the stakes), an elaboration on the nuances of the question, etc. Reference to specific language in the text(s) is encouraged, and quotes are welcome. For material on the syllabus, simply cite the author and page; for materials beyond the syllabus, please include a full reference.

Types of questions:

  • Clarification/Comprehension (e.g., What does X mean? — This should not be answered with a quick internet search — an internet search yielding contradictory plausible answers is evidence that it is a good question)
  • Analytical/Interpretive (e.g., How does X evidence relate to Y point?)
  • Synthetic/Evaluative (e.g., Are you convinced by the author’s argument that X? ) If you choose this question, be sure to say why the argument is provocative or has important implications. If you think a statement is obviously correct or trivial, then it is not worth discussing whether we agree with it.
  • Connective/Comparative (e.g., How does X’s argument compare to Y’s we read last week?) If you choose this question, point us in the direction of some key similarities or differences.
  • Provocative/Argumentative (e.g., Doesn’t evidence X undermine author’s point Y?!)
  • Applied/Extended (e.g., Does X point help explain current problem Y?) If you choose this question, be sure to indicate why or how the comparison is relevant. I.e., don’t use this as a mindless invitation to extend an analysis across policy problems.

Make-up policy

You get two days to take a pass on posting a discussion question and/or participating in class. Even if you are taking a pass on participation, I hope you will still come to class. If you are taking a pass and don’t want me to call you into the conversation, just let me know ahead of time.

Beyond your two pass days, you may make up two additional days:

  • If you know that you will miss class, write a 1-page reflection on the readings and share it with the class with your discussion post.
  • If you unexpectedly miss class, post a 1-page reflection on the readings **AND schedule a time to discuss the readings with me** (ideally, during office hours)

Beyond four missed classes (two passes, two make-ups), I only allow make-ups in very extenuating circumstances. Participation is a core part of this class, and the entire class is deprived of your perspective when you are not with us.

📚 Required Books

We will read most of the following books. As no back-lit screens are permitted in class, a physical copy to bring to class will be helpful. However, if money is tight, free PDFs are available via the library website.

Woodly, D. (2011). The Politics of Common Sense: How Social Movements Use Public Discourse to Change Politics and Win Acceptance. Oxford University Press

Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making by Deborah Stone (any edition)

Skocpol, T., & Williamson, V. (2011). The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. Oxford University Press.

Additional Books

Physical copies of these are less critical, but we will also read several chapters from:

Schlozman, D. J. (2015). When movements anchor parties: Electoral alignments in American history. Princeton University Press.

Heaney, M. T., & Rojas, F. (2015). Party in the street: The antiwar movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11. Cambridge University Press.

McAdam, D. (1999). Political process and the development of Black insurgency, 1930-1970 (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Dwidar, Maraam A. (2024). Power to the Partners: Organizational Coalitions in Social Justice Advocacy. University of Chicago Press.

Woodly, D. (2022) Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements. Oxford University Press.

The other readings will be available for free online (you may need to go through the library website for journal articles) or on Canvas.

Non-assigned books you may find useful

  • The Social Movements Reader by Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper
  • Rethinking Social Movements Structure, Meaning, and Emotion by Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper
  • The Political Power of Protest: Minority Activism and Shifts in Public Policy by
    Daniel Q. Gillion
  • Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward
  • Politics is for Power by Eitan Hersh
  • Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
  • Politics: The Central Texts by Roberto Mangabeira Unger (1997, Verso Books)

ℹ Resources

Art Making

Practical guides

American Government Module

If you are looking for more foundation in how government works, the Ford School organized an Intro to American Government Module taught by Political Science Ph.D. candidate Ciera Hammond:

Social movement topics not covered by this class

Sports

Organizing

Leadership

Present-day movements in the United States

Movements outside the United States

📖 Reading by Week

Each week’s required readings are indented and marked with a grey sidebar. I also often note “resources” or “further readings” with bullets—these are not required readings.

There are some questions we will ask of every reading:

  • What is the author’s argument?
  • What do you think about it?
  • Does it apply elsewhere?
  • What does it imply for what we should do?

Come to class ready to answer these questions.

If you hit a paywall on a link from the syllabus:

  1. Look to see if it says (Canvas->Perusall) next to it. These readings should be on Perusall If they are not, please let me know ASAP.
  2. Make sure that you are logged in to get library access to journals. You can also search for the journal on the library website.
  3. If 1 & 2 don’t work, please let me know ASAP so that I can make sure you all have access. Sometimes, paywalls don’t pop up for me because of some cached credentials, and I don’t realize that the content is paywalled. You should not pay for any of the online content for this course. There are many “further” readings, and some required readings (especially the longer academic articles) say “skim.” Here is advice on how to read political science from Amelia Hoover Green and how to skim from Jessica Calarco.

Week 2: Orientation

Tuesday: Introductions and Syllabus Review

Please read the entire syllabus before class—this is your chance to ask questions about the assignments and readings.

Thursday: in-class best-practices exercise

  • What are you hoping to get out of this semester?
  • What aspects of the discussion environment will help achieve these goals?
  • What has been your personal experience with protest, social movement discourse, and policy? What motivates you to do something? What makes you not want to get involved?

To Discuss: Carpenter, Daniel. 2023. “Agenda Democracy.” Annual Review of Political Science Vol. 26:193-212 by Daniel Carpenter

Week 3: Opportunity Structure and Issue Framing

  • McAdam uses a framework developed in the context of explaining successes and failures of the civil rights movement to diagnose the climate movement. This is the sort of analysis of movement prospects that I hope you will learn to do in this class.

Tuesday: Opportunity Structure and Mobilizing Structures

To Discuss: Schlozman, D. J. (2015). When movements anchor parties: Electoral alignments in American history. Princeton University Press. (Introduction, p. 1-13, and Chapter 2, Political Parties and Social Movements, p. 14-49) (Perusall)

To Discuss: McAdam, Doug. 2017. “Social Movement Theory and the Prospects for Climate Change Activism in the United States.” Annual Review of Political Science 20:189–2008

Thursday: Issue Frames and Common Sense

  • Optional background: Stone, Chapters 1 and 7

To Discuss: Chapter 1. Deva Woodly. 2015. The Politics of Common Sense: How Social Movements Use Public Discourse to Change Politics and Win Acceptance, Oxford University Press. (Perusall)

Week 4: Efficiency and Welfare

Tuesday

  • Optional background: Chapter 3-4: Efficiency and Welfare

To Discuss: Woodly: A Tale of Two Movements - Living Wage

Thursday at UMMA

Review American Sampler

Brows

Week 5: Equity and Equality

Tuesday: Marriage Equality

  • Optional background: Stone, Chapter 2: Equity

To Discuss: Woodly, A Tale of Two Movements - Marriage Equality

Thursday:

To Discuss: Woodly, Chapter Four: The Discursive Architecture of Resonance

Week 6: Theories of Change

Tuesday

To Discuss: Woodly, Political Acceptance and the Process of Political Change

To Discuss: Woodly, From Marginal to Mainstream

Movement demands (Sanders 1999; Htun & Weldon 2012; 2022; Sinha 2016; Thurston 2018; Forrester 2022; Tarrow 2022)

Thursday

Guest speaker

Week 7: The Tea Party

Woodly, Schlozman, and Skocpol & Williamson have contrasting perspectives on the Tea Party. Woodly focuses on its impact on discourse. Schlozman argues it is a party faction more than a movement. Skocpol & Williamson focus on grass-roots organizers.

Tuesday

  • Optional background: Stone, Chapter 5-6: Liberty & Security

To Discuss: Woodly, Conclusion: After Acceptance - the Tea Party, Occupy & Prospects for political transformation (p. 209-220)

To Discuss: Schlozman, D. J. (2015). When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History. Princeton University Press, Chapter 10 (242-256)

Thursday

To Discuss: Skocpol, T., & Williamson, V. (2011). The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican conservatism. Oxford University Press. Introduction, Chapters 1 (p. 3-44)

SKIM Do Political Protests Matter? Evidence from the Tea Party Movement The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 128, Issue 4, November 2013, Pages 1633–1685 https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjt021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cvJDmJF_6Y

Week 8: Organizing Vehicles

Tuesday: Social movement organizations, grass roots, and grass tops

Stone, Chapter 10: Interests

Skocpol, T., & Williamson, V. (2011). The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican conservatism. Oxford University Press. Chapter 3

Strolovitch, Dara. 2006. Do Interest Groups Represent the Disadvantaged? Advocacy at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender. Journal of Politics.

Thursday: Coalitions

Dwidar, Maraam A. 2024. Power to the Partners: Organizational Coalitions in Social Justice Advocacy. Chapters 1 and 8

  • Hojnacki, Marie. 1997. Interest Groups’ Decisions to Join Alliances or Work Alone. American Journal of Political Science.

  • The P3 Lab. 2023. Designing Resilient Coalitions.

  • Skocpol 2006

Week 9: Tactics

Tuesday: Protest

Gillion, D. Q. (2013). The political power of protest: Minority activism and shifts in public policy. Cambridge University Press. (p. 1-38)

When Protest Makes Policy: How Social Movements Represent Disadvantaged Groups by Laurel Weldon, Introduction and Chapter 1

Gause 2022, Chapter 1, The Promise of Protest

SKIM Wasaw (2020) “Agenda Seeding: How 1960s Black Protests Moved Elites, Public Opinion and Voting”

Thursday: Art (Meet at UMMA)

Reading TBD

Week 10 Civil Rights

Tuesday

Stone, Chapter 15: Rights

McAdam, D. (1999). Political process and the development of Black insurgency, 1930-1970 (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. (pgs. TBD)

Thursday

McAdam, D. (1999). Political process and the development of Black insurgency, 1930-1970 (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press. (p. TBD)

Week 11: Anti-communism | Anti-war

Tuesday: Anti-communism

  • Optional background: Stone, Chapter 16: Powers

Schlozman, D. J. (2015). When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History. Princeton University Press, Chapter 4 (77-107)

Thursday: Anti-war

Heaney, M. T., & Rojas, F. (2015). Party in the street: The antiwar movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11. Cambridge University Press. (p. TBD)

Guest speaker

Week 12: Climate and Environmental Justice

Tuesday: Environmental Justice

People of color [raised] social justice concerns such as self-determination, sovereignty, human rights, social inequality, loss of land base, limited access to natural resources, and disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards and linked them with traditional working-class environmental concerns such as worker rights and worker health and safety to develop an environmental justice agenda. (Taylor, p. 1)

To Discuss: “Race, Class, Gender, and American Environmentalism. US Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-GTR-534” (2002) by Dorceta Taylor (1-41)

Thursday: Climate Justice

Week 13: Movements & Democracy

Tuesday

Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements by Deva R. Woodly, Introduction + Chapters 1-3

Thursday

Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements by Deva R. Woodly, Chapters 4, 5, and Conclusion

  • Lisa Disch. 2011. “Toward a Mobilization Conception of Democratic Representation” American Political Science Review Vol. 105, No. 1 doi:10.1017/S0003055410000602

Week 14: Final Presentations

Tuesday

In Class Presentations

Thursday at UMMA

Week 15

Tuesday: Wrap up

More Information on Student Instructor Best Practices

We will conduct office hours with my door open unless you request otherwise.

Students who wish to have confidential conversations with me may schedule a private meeting via Zoom or may ask to have a closed-door meeting. But this closed-door meeting must be made on your request in writing, even on the spot. I will never suggest a closed-door meeting myself because of the power dynamic.

We will document all pre-scheduled meetings between the instructor and the student via Google Calendar (or other software) and/or university email.

Students who email to request an office hour appointment should expect to receive an email confirmation or a Google Calendar (or other software) invitation from me, or, upon my email confirmation and request, may send me a Google Calendar (or other software) invitation for this meeting. The purpose is to provide a permanent record of the meeting and to ensure that all class activities are documented and transparent. Students who choose to drop by for informal meetings are welcome to do so, but there will be no documentation provided. (See above for open-door policy.)

We will choose meeting locations and conduct meetings with student and instructor safety in mind.

We will ensure that all individual meetings between the instructor/student will take place at university venues.

We will ensure that all off-campus meetings, trips, or events engage with the course material.

Off-campus meetings will not involve alcohol or take place at locations that serve alcohol. If the class goes out for a meal, it will be at a cafe or restaurant that does not serve alcohol. The location/day/time of any off-campus meetings between the instructor and students will be documented in Google Calendar (or other software).

We, the instructors, will conduct all individual communications using the University platforms of email, Canvas, Slack, or Piazza, with the caveat that we may use non-university platforms set up by students (such as GroupMe) only if they include all students in the class.

There will be no instructor-student private communications on any non-University platforms, such as social media, GroupMe, WhatsApp, etc.

For more information on resources for reporting sexual misconduct, please see the faculty senate best practices for faculty interactions and U-M’s page on Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct.

Footnotes

  1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18300101?via%3Dihub, https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.527 https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/6z5pa_v1↩︎

  2. I recommend https://app.grammarly.com/↩︎

  3. Most organizations have an email list—I suggest signing up, both for the assignments in this class and your future career.↩︎