History 266 February 4, 2002

Questions about women and social movements:

I. What is a Social Movement?

• What’s the difference between a social and a political movement?

o Does this relate to the usual divide between “public” and “private,” between “woman’s sphere” and men’s?

• Are social movements for only the nonpolitical?

II. Why study women in social movements?

· Do women participate differently in social movements?

· Do women participate in different social movements?

· What about movements in which only women participate?

· What about movements in which both men and women participate?

· Are women’s movements and feminist movements the same thing?

III. Do women, collectively and/or individually, exercise power/agency in social movements?

· In antebellum social movements?

· Do women have particular kinds of power/agency?

· Are all assertions of women’s agency actually part of social movements?

· Was witchcraft in 17^th century a social movement?

IV. What is meant by certain sociological approaches to social movements?

· “resource mobilization”

· “social constructionist”