Learning from Social Movements

This chapter begins by defining social movements and their sociological dimensions addressing key debates around the emergence and effectiveness of movements, resource mobilization theory, the radical flank effect, and political opportunity structures. The chapter then presents five historical social movements—civil rights, women's, labor, LGBTQ, and disability. For each movement, there is an overview of the movement, including historical context, key moments, tensions, predominant leaders, issues addressed, frames utilized, and the organizing strategies and tactics employed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the scope, impact, and limits of movements and their relationship to the practice of community organizing.