Social Movements: How Change Happens

• A. Resource mobilization
• B. Collective grievance ✓
• C. Political opportunity
• D. Free riding

Why: Collective grievance is the shared perception of injustice that motivates people to act together. Without a widely held sense that something is unfair and changeable, people are less likely to mobilize.

• A. The spontaneous anger of the public
• B. Access to money, organizations, networks, and leadership
• C. The moral righteousness of its cause alone
• D. A single charismatic founder

Why: Resource mobilization theory emphasizes that movements need tangible assets such as funding, organizational infrastructure, communication networks, and skilled leaders to convert discontent into sustained action.

• A. Free riding ✓
• B. Framing
• C. Cooptation
• D. Cognitive liberation

Why: Free riding, a problem identified by Mancur Olson, describes individuals who benefit from a collective good without contributing to its production, which is a major obstacle to mobilization.

• A. Demobilization
• B. Framing ✓
• C. Relative deprivation
• D. Institutionalization

Why: Framing involves shaping how problems are defined and presented, such as naming an issue as injustice and suggesting who is responsible, which helps turn private troubles into shared public causes.

• A. They guarantee that all members agree on every goal
• B. They provide trust, information, and recruitment pathways through existing relationships ✓
• C. They eliminate the need for any formal organization
• D. They prevent government repression from occurring

Why: Mobilization often spreads through existing ties such as friendships, religious congregations, and workplaces, which supply trust and personal invitations that make people far more likely to participate than isolated appeals.

• A. A formal legal complaint filed in a court of law
• B. A shared sense that something is unjust or harmful and should be changed ✓
• C. A written list of demands presented to a government
• D. A personal emotional reaction unrelated to any group experience

Why: A grievance is a perception that conditions are unfair or harmful. Scholars emphasize that grievances are widespread and common, so they alone do not explain when movements emerge; they must be shared and interpreted as collective injustice.

• A. Building physical structures for protest events
• B. The process of interpreting problems and mobilizing people by defining issues in meaningful ways ✓
• C. Recording protests on film for historical archives
• D. Securing official government recognition for a cause

Why: Framing is the strategic process by which movement actors identify a problem, assign blame, and propose solutions in ways that resonate with potential supporters. It helps turn private grievances into collective action.

• A. Diagnostic framing ✓
• B. Prognostic framing
• C. Motivational framing
• D. Demographic framing

Why: Diagnostic framing identifies the problem and who or what is responsible for it. Prognostic framing proposes solutions, and motivational framing provides reasons to act. Together these are the core tasks of movement framing.

• A. Grievances are always fabricated by movement leaders
• B. Grievances are typically rare and rarely felt by ordinary people
• C. Grievances are often widespread without leading to action, so framing and organization are needed to turn them into mobilization ✓
• D. Grievances only matter after a movement has already succeeded

Why: Many people experience injustice without protesting. Scholars therefore stress that grievances must be interpreted through framing, linked to networks and resources, and presented with a plausible chance of success before people mobilize.

• A. A physical border separating protesters from police
• B. Shared meanings that help a group see its situation as unjust and worth acting on together ✓
• C. An individual's private set of personal beliefs
• D. A government policy document outlining public order rules

Why: Collective action frames are shared interpretive schemes that legitimize a cause, identify injustice, and motivate joint participation. They turn individual dissatisfaction into a common understanding that supports collective mobilization.

• A. Spontaneous outbursts of collective anger
• B. Access to material, human, and organizational resources ✓
• C. Shared religious beliefs among participants
• D. Support from a single charismatic leader alone

Why: Resource mobilization theory holds that movements depend on access to money, people, facilities, and organizational networks, not just grievances or emotions.

• A. Activists who travel freely between movement chapters
• B. Individuals who benefit from a movement's gains without contributing to its efforts ✓
• C. Organizations that receive government funding without accountability
• D. Members who leave a movement once it becomes popular

Why: Free riders enjoy the public goods a movement wins (such as policy changes) while avoiding the costs of participation, creating a collective action dilemma.

• A. Government agencies that regulate protest permits
• B. Existing community groups, churches, and associations that provide ready-made recruitment and communication channels ✓
• C. Corporations that donate money to advocacy causes
• D. International bodies that monitor human rights abuses

Why: Movements often grow out of preexisting social networks, which supply trust, leadership, meeting spaces, and communication channels that make mobilization possible.

• A. Members lack any shared interests at all
• B. Individual members have little incentive to contribute since the benefits are shared regardless of their effort ✓
• C. Large groups are always more radical and therefore unstable
• D. Governments actively prevent groups above a certain size from forming

Why: Olson argued that when benefits are collective and non-excludable, rational individuals tend to free ride, making large-group mobilization difficult without selective incentives or organization.

• A. Demobilization
• B. Counterframing
• C. Framing processes or collective action frames ✓
• D. Co-optation

Why: Framing processes, central to the framing perspective, translate personal experiences into collective interpretations that identify injustice, assign blame, and suggest possible action.

• A. The internal leadership hierarchy that a movement builds to organize its members
• B. The external political conditions that make collective action more or less likely to succeed
• C. The financial resources a movement collects from donors and supporters
• D. The personal motivations that drive individuals to join protest activities

• A. A decline in the number of people willing to volunteer for a cause
• B. A split among elites or a shift in the ruling coalition's unity
• C. A rise in the price of printing protest flyers
• D. A decrease in media coverage of social issues

• A. Allies always replace the need for grassroots mobilization
• B. Allies can provide access to institutions, resources, and legitimacy that the movement lacks on its own
• C. Allies ensure that the government will never use repression against protesters
• D. Allies eliminate the need for the movement to define clear goals

• A. Closed systems always produce more successful movements than open ones
• B. Open systems with accessible channels for participation tend to offer more opportunities for movements to press their claims
• C. Political openness has no measurable effect on the emergence of movements
• D. Open systems prevent movements from forming because people feel their voices are already heard

• A. A period when government institutions become more responsive, divided, or vulnerable to pressure
• B. A period of steady economic growth with no political disruption
• C. A period when movement membership reaches its lowest point
• D. A period when all political parties agree on every major policy issue

• A. The long-term goal a movement hopes to achieve, such as ending a specific law
• B. A specific action or method used by activists to pursue their goals, such as a march, boycott, or petition ✓
• C. The collective identity and shared beliefs that hold a movement together
• D. The government response to protest activity, such as policing or negotiation

Why: Tactics are the concrete methods activists use to pursue goals, like marches, boycotts, sit-ins, or petitions. Goals are the desired outcomes, collective identity is the shared sense of belonging, and government responses are part of the political opportunity structure rather than the tactic itself.

• A. Tactics that intentionally interfere with normal routines or institutions to draw attention and create pressure for change ✓
• B. Tactics that rely exclusively on violence to force political concessions
• C. Tactics that are conducted only inside formal legislative bodies
• D. Tactics that avoid any contact with the media or the public

Why: Disruptive tactics, such as blockades, strikes, or occupations, impose costs on targets by interrupting ordinary activity, which can force attention and negotiation. They are not necessarily violent, and they often operate outside formal institutions.

• A. Because movements must weigh factors like resources, audience, risk, and likely impact when selecting which tactics to use ✓
• B. Because all tactics produce identical results regardless of context
• C. Because movements are legally required to choose only one tactic
• D. Because strategy is determined entirely by the opposing government

Why: Movements face constraints such as limited resources, the openness of the political context, the sympathies of their audience, and the risks to participants. Choosing tactics involves weighing these factors to maximize the chance of achieving goals, and different tactics have different effects in different settings.

• A. A single, fixed protest method that a movement uses across all campaigns
• B. The set of tactics that a given group or society has historically available and tends to use for making claims ✓
• C. A list of legal permits required before a demonstration can be held
• D. The total number of members who participate in a social movement

Why: Tilly's concept describes the limited set of collective action forms available in a particular time and place, which are learned and shaped by culture and history. Movements typically draw from this existing repertoire rather than inventing entirely new forms each time.

• A. A coordinated sit-in in which participants refuse to leave a segregated lunch counter ✓
• B. Armed resistance against security forces during a protest
• C. Sabotage of government infrastructure to halt public services
• D. Physical attacks on opposing counter-protesters

Why: A sit-in is a classic nonviolent direct action that disrupts business as usual through peaceful presence and refusal to move. The other options all involve violence or property destruction, which fall outside nonviolent tactics.

• A. Countermovement
• B. Movement allies ✓
• C. Bystander public
• D. Target institutions

Why: Movement allies are outside supporters who share the movement's goals and may provide resources, legitimacy, or access, without necessarily being members of the core movement.

• A. A movement that has completely disbanded after achieving its goals
• B. An organized group that mobilizes in opposition to a social movement's aims ✓
• C. A government agency that monitors protest activity
• D. A coalition of allied organizations sharing resources

Why: A countermovement is an organized opposition that arises in response to a movement, seeking to block its goals or reverse its gains, such as opposition groups that formed against civil rights and feminist campaigns.

• A. Opponents always provide funding to movements they oppose
• B. Opposition can raise public attention, strengthen group identity, and attract new supporters ✓
• C. Conflict eliminates the need for allies
• D. Opponents typically adopt the movement's goals over time

Why: Opposition often increases visibility and media coverage, helps unite members around a shared identity, and can draw in sympathetic people who view the movement as under attack.

• A. Allies always withdraw their support immediately
• B. The movement may be pressured to moderate its goals or lose its independent identity ✓
• C. Movement members are automatically barred from protest
• D. Opponents become less motivated to oppose the movement

Why: Alliances with established actors can bring resources and access, but they may also lead to co-optation, where the movement's demands are diluted to fit the ally's interests.

• A. People who actively join countermovements
• B. Audiences who are not directly involved but whose opinions and actions can influence a movement's success ✓
• C. Government officials responsible for policy implementation
• D. Movement members who have recently left the organization

Why: Bystander publics are the broader population who observe a movement without committing to either side; their attitudes and responses often determine whether a movement gains broader legitimacy and support.

• A. Mobilization
• B. Legacy ✓
• C. Framing
• D. Repertoire

Why: Legacy refers to the enduring consequences of a movement, such as new laws, shifted norms, or institutions created, which persist after active protest has faded. Mobilization describes gathering participants, framing refers to how issues are presented, and repertoire refers to the set of tactics movements use.

• A. A city council passing the exact ordinance the protesters demanded
• B. A politician winning an election after campaigning on a movement's issue, with the movement's ideas later shaping broader public debate ✓
• C. A company immediately reversing a policy after a boycott
• D. A court striking down a law that protesters had challenged

Why: Indirect outcomes are broader, less immediately traceable effects, such as shifts in public opinion, changed political agendas, or new political actors emerging. Direct outcomes are the specific, immediate policy or institutional changes that movements explicitly demanded.

• A. They always have too few participants to be noticed
• B. Opponents may co-opt their demands, or authorities may make partial concessions that defuse momentum ✓
• C. Protest tactics are always illegal and therefore ineffective
• D. Public opinion is never influenced by protest activity

Why: Movements often face co-optation, where elites adopt parts of their agenda while removing its transformative edge, or partial concessions that reduce pressure for further change. Protest is frequently influential, and many effective movements use legal tactics.

• A. Protesters physically attacking police officers
• B. A counter-mobilization by opponents that can reverse or slow a movement's gains ✓
• C. The rapid spread of a movement across international borders
• D. Participants withdrawing from a movement because they achieved their goals

Why: Backlash occurs when opponents organize in response to a movement's advances, sometimes producing policy reversals or electoral setbacks. This is an important consideration because movement success can provoke resistance.

• A. A single protest that ended with a brief arrest of organizers
• B. Changes in everyday attitudes and language around an issue, such as shifting expectations about what is acceptable in public discourse ✓
• C. A temporary spike in news coverage that faded within a week
• D. The creation of a short-term fundraising campaign

Why: Cultural legacies include durable shifts in norms, language, and taken-for-granted assumptions, which can persist for decades after a movement's peak. Brief coverage spikes and short campaigns typically do not produce lasting cultural change.