Social Movements Week Five

Quiz Five will open on February 21 and closes at 12:30 on Monday February 25.  You will have only one chance to take this quiz, please study the material in advance. Quiz Five is open in Social Movements.  This time I gave you 40 minutes, so the latest you can start is 12:30 on Monday.  You should study the powerpoint on Trends in American Society and the chapters in Turncoats and True Believers.  Many of the questions refer to the names of individuals discussed in the assigned reading in Turncoats which we have not yet discussed in class. 


Required Reading:
  1. Powerpoint on Trends in American Society (in SAKAI) - for a fuller explanation of some of the theories see Ted Goertzel, "Generational Cycles in American History"
  2. Generations (book by Strauss and Howe)  Wikipedia.  -  focus on the generations since the G.I. Generation
  3. Ted Goertzel, Turncoats and True Believers, Chapter Eleven.  In Sakai folder for Week Five.
  4. Ted Goertzel, Turncoats and True Believers, Chapter Six, Section on Ayn Rand and Objectivism.  In Sakai Folder for Week Five.  Pages 137-143 in the printed book, pages 17-25 in the manuscript.
  5. Introduction to Millennial Makeover.  In SAKAI/Resources/WeekFive
  6. Morley Winograd, A New Generation Portends Political Upheaval.  Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 8, 2008
Links, Supplemental Readings and Notes:

  1. Shooting at Northern Illinois University as a media event.
  2. New York Times Trends Article
  3. Newsweek:  1968, the year that changed everything
  4. Eco-Moms:  Saving the Earth Begins at Home
  5. Ted Goertzel, "Generational Cycles in American History"
  6. SDS  -  YAF   Wikipedia
  7. Port Huron Statement.  -  The Sharon Statement 
  8. Generations (book by Strauss and Howe)  Wikipedia.
  9. Powerpoint Presentation on "9/11 as a Turning Point in History
  10. Pew Research Report, "Trends  in Political Values and Core Attitudes"
  11. Ayn Rand VideoYippie VideoDan Rather punched in the stomachConfrontations in the StreetPhil Ochs
  12.  Gun Control issue on College Campuses in the wake of the Northern Illinois shooting.
  13. Ackmed:  The Dead Terrorist - courtest of David Sigwart
  14. A streaming video summary of a paper applying generational theory to the 2000 Presidential elections is available (requires Real Player).
  15. Theodora Stites, "Someone to Watch Over Me (On a Google Map)."  A slightly longer and more recent version in pdf format is in Sakai/resources/week five with the title RockMyNetwork.pdf.
In the book RAMPAGE:  The Social Roots of School Shootings, Katherine Newman offers the following "necessary but not sufficient conditions for rampage school shootings:
  1. The shooter's perception of himself as extremely marginal in the social worlds that matter to him.
  2. School shooters must suffer from psychosocial problems that magnify the impact of marginality.
  3. "Cultural scripts," - a prescription for behavior - must be available to lead the way toward an armed attack.  The shooter must believe that unleashing an attack on teachers and classmates will resolve his dilemma.  When we see films featuring macho heroes or villains who shoot their way to greater notoreity, we are looking at the traces of a cultural script that links manhood andpublic respect with violence. 
  4. The failure of surveillance systems that are intended to identify troubled teens before their problems become extreme.
  5. Gun availability, the ease with which young men can put their hands on guns.
Her book is based on a study of shootings in high school, especially the Columbine Massacre on April 20, 1999.  More recently, we have had shootings at universities, including Northern Illinois University last week and Virginia Tech last semester.  How do these fit her theory?  These college students seem to be more isolated, less a part of a school culture than high school students.  There is clearly a script here, not one tied to any ideological or political or religious goal, just personal frustration.  There is no social movement in the US that recruits these individuals and uses them politically, as jihadist movements do.