Application: Collective Action for Social Movements

For every historical figure known for making significant, if not revolutionary, shifts in society, there were many people working in support of addressing the same social issue. It is a disservice to the person and his or her peer activists to ignore the many individual contributions that result in and depend on social change. Having a good understanding of the history of social movements is essential to creating social change today. For this assignment, you explore an example of social change from history and consider the individual and collective roles involved.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Read Loeb’s reflection on Rosa Parks (2010, p. 1) in the Learning Resources for an example of individual versus collective efforts to promote social change.
Use the Walden Library to research and locate an article on one of the following social movements: African American civil rights, Chicano movement, American Indian or ”Red Power” movement, women’s rights, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights, or disability rights.
As you review selected resources, look for both direct and indirect references to the human resources required to transform this issue into a movement.
The Assignment:
Write a 2-page analysis responding to the following questions:
What did the collective effort accomplish that an individual could not?
In what ways does group involvement cause these movements to be sustainable or have long-lasting impact?
Include one reference from your selected resources on a social movement and two references from this week’s Learning Resources using proper APA citation.
Loeb, P. R. (2010). Soul of a citizen: Living with conviction in challenging times (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Chapter 2, “We Don’t Have to Be Saints” (pp. 42–63)
Gladwell, M. (2010). Small change. The New Yorker, 86(30), 42–49.