Social Movements in Comparative Perspective
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this political science course on how social movements form, grow, and win or lose. The syllabus centers on twentieth century U.S. cases, including the civil rights movement, unemployed workers' movements, welfare rights organizing, the pro-choice and pro-life movements, and the gay rights movement, then sets several of these against comparable movements abroad to test what explains success and failure. Materials include a full reading list drawn from social movement theory and case studies, along with assignments built around comparative analysis of specific campaigns. The course treats contested issues like abortion politics as material for analysis rather than advocacy, asking students to weigh organizational strategy, political opportunity, and framing across movements with very different goals. No video lectures are included, but the syllabus and readings are complete enough to work through independently, with a certificate not offered since this is a self-paced OCW course.