essay exercise social movements

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Question 1:

The Occupy Wall Street Movement is a current Social Movement in the U.S. Take a few minutes to review the following links to familiarize yourself somewhat with the movement:

Occupy Wall Street About Page (Links to an external site.)

Map: Occupy Wall Street, a global movement (Links to an external site.)

Occupy Wall Street In American History: An Interview With NYU Professor Robert Cohen (Links to an external site.)

  • First discuss what type of movement this movement is and briefly define the movement type that you choose. The options are:
    • Reform movement
    • Revolutionary movement
    • Religious movement
    • Alternative movement
    • Resistance movement
  • Now, think about the theories explaining social movements. Discuss which theory best applies to this movement and why. Be sure to give a brief description/definition of the theory. The social movement theory choices are:
    • Relative Deprivation Theory
    • Resource Mobilization, and
    • Frame Analysis
  • Then discuss how society has changed from before the movement to now, if at all.
  • Remember to give a brief description of the theory and movement type that you chose first.

Question 2

As we can see from the last chapter, Social movements and social change can result from many different efforts, but often, change is the result of a group or sometimes even one person who refuses to be a victim and instead takes action. One person who helped increase momentum of a movement is Wael Ghonim. Ghonim used Facebook to organize protesters against the Egyptian government in 2010/2011.

Read the following articles (feel free to consult other resources, but be sure to cite them) and:

  1. Give a brief summary/timeline of the events that led up to the 2011 Egyptian revolution, including Ghonim’s involvement.
  2. Discuss the government and other changes that resulted from the movement
  3. Discuss what type of movement this movement is and briefly define the movement type that you choose. The options are:
    • Reform movement
    • Revolutionary movement
    • Religious movement
    • Alternative movement
    • Resistance movement
  4. Now, think about the theories explaining social movements. Discuss which theory best applies to this movement and why. Be sure to give a brief description/definition of the theory. The social movement theory choices are:
    • Relative Deprivation Theory
    • Resource Mobilization, and
    • Frame Analysis

Timeline: How Wael Ghonim became one of the faces of Egypt’s uprising (Links to an external site.)
The Simplest Explanation of Egypt’s Revolution You’ll Ever Read (Links to an external site.)
Timeline of Egyptian protests (Links to an external site.)

Timeline of the Egyptian revolution of 2011

You will exercise your knowledge of social movements in this exercise. Be sure to answer in complete sentences with good essay structure.