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Global Studies (GLST) 611

Social Movements (Revision 1)

View current syllabus

Delivery Mode:Individualized-Study.

Credits:3

Course Author: Debal SinghaRoy is from Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, where he coordinates a diploma programme in Women's Empowerment and Development, course on Social Problems in India and also MA programme in Sociology (under development).

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Program: Master of Arts Integrated Studies

**Note:Students in Group Study courses are advised that this syllabus may vary in key details in each instance of the course. Always refer to the Moodle site for the most up-to-date details on texts, assignment structure, and grading.**

Introduction

In recent years, as you may be aware, the study of social movement has emerged to be an area of crucial significance not only to the students of sociology, political sciences, history economics, government and development studies but also among the policy planners and political leaders. Over the years new perspectives have emerged both to understand and accommodate social movement in the social science discourses on social change, social transformation and social development. This course endeavors to develop an understanding of social movement in terms of various intellectual traditions, emerging concepts and theories of social movements by examining the contemporary literatures. It also examines the various dimensions of social movements in the context of globalization, resurgence of grass roots mobilization, formation of new identities among the marginalised groups and introduction of a new perspective on social development by the state. Besides analyzing the phenomena of social movements, their dynamics and transformation this course will also present several case studies as illustrations to the specificity of these movements.

Course Structure

This course is divided into three interrelated thematic Blocks.

BLOCK I: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

BLOCK II GLOBALISATION AND INTERNATIONALISATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

BLOCK III LOCALIZATION OF GLOBAL ISSUES: PERSPECTIVES FROM WITHIN

Course Objectives

This course aims to

  • Explain the concepts and perspectives on social movements,
  • Discuss the origins, ideologies, organizations, leaderships of social movements
  • Describes the processes of change and transformations in social movements
  • Elaborate the issues of new collective identities and the emerging patterns of collective mobilizations in the social movements
  • Examine the distinctions between the old and new social movements,
  • Narrate the processes of globalisation and internationalization of social movements, and
  • Explain the various specificity of localized issues in the social movements based on selected illustrations.

Evaluation

To receive credit for this course, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete the assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least 60 per cent. The Master of Arts-Integrated Studies grading system is available online at the MAIS home page. Please note that it is students' responsibility to maintain their program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.

The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.

Course Activity Weighting
Learning Journal 20%
Literature Review 15%
Research Essay 45%
"Take Home" Final Exam 20%
Total 100%

Course Materials

Textbooks

  • Chandra, Bipan. Indian National Movement: The Long term Dynamics. New Delhi: Vikas, 1996, 1988. (Reproduced with permission by Athabasca University.)
  • Desai, Ar. R. "Chapter Eighteen, Rise of Political Movements as the Expression of Indian Nationalism." In Social Background of Indian Nationalism. Popular Prakashan, 1988. (Reproduced with permission by Athabasca University.)
  • Singharoy, Debal. K. Peasant Movements in Post Colonial India: Dynamics of Mobilisation and Identity. New Delhi: Sage, 2004.

Athabasca University Printed Materials

Reading File: The Reading File contains selected articles from various sources that are required reading for this course.

Course Guide: The Course Guide contains the course objectives, reading assignments, course part introductions, online activities, assignments, and other information that you will need to complete the course successfully. The "Study Schedule" identifies the course activities and assignments that you are to complete each week.

Athabasca University Online Materials

Course Home Page: You will find your assignments and links to submit your work to your professor on the course home page.

Athabasca University Library: Students are encouraged to browse the Library's Web site to review the Library collection of journal databases, electronic journals, and digital reference tools: http://library.athabascau.ca.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

Opened in Revision 1, January 1, 2007.

Last updated by MAIS  09/15/2014 10:01:25