You need to select a social movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_movements
Links to an external site. that you would like to profile. A social movement is “an organized activity in which people set out to encourage or discourage social change” (Macionis 2013). Examples of social movements include attempts to abolish the death penalty; the push for increased science, technology, engineering and math courses in school; the pro-life and pro-choice movements; the marriage equality movement; efforts to have contested illnesses recognized; the push for size acceptance; the right to die movement; and efforts to create environmental justice*.
Once you have selected your movement, spend some time researching the movement using the web and/or the library. Additionally, you need to contact at least one participant in the social movement and conduct an informal interview. You might also consider participating in at least one event** related to your social movement in order to collect ethnographic data based on your observations. The more research that you do and the more involved that you become, the better your profile will be. Your task is to utilize the research you conduct to develop a social movement profile that addresses all of the following:
1. Detailed description of the social movement’s goals and tactics. {What change are they trying to make happen or stop from happening? How, specifically, are they going about this?}
2. Detailed description of the research that you engaged in to learn about the movement. {What did you do to research this movement? Who did you speak with? Did you participate in any way? If so, how?
3. Is the movement you selected typical or atypical of the sociological understanding and description of social movements? Why or why not? Be specific.
4. Is this movement effective? Why or why not? What could they do to increase their effectiveness?
5. Which classic sociologist do you think would be most likely to join this movement today? Why?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_movements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_movements
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_movements
*Please note that the list I’ve provided and the examples I’ve listed are by no means exhaustive. There are literally thousands upon thousands of social movements focused on all different types of issues and working in a myriad of ways. I encourage you to select something you genuinely feel passionate about as it will make this task both easier and more enjoyable.
**Virtual events are acceptable in light of COVID-19.
Profile Guidelines
● Your profile must be well-written meaning it must utilize full sentences with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
● Your profile should be thorough, addressing all of the components detailed above.
● Your profile should demonstrate that you actively and thoroughly researched the social movement that you have profiled.
● Any sources that you utilize must be properly cited.
● Your profile should be at least 1000 words (about 4 pages). Less than 1000 words will result in point deduction.
