Module 4: [Sep 22-Oct 4] Collective action in the US civil rights movement. Group civil rights archival project due Fri Oct 8, 6p.

Sep 22 (W): 8. An insider’s story of collective action in the civil rights movement: Rep. John Lewis.

- John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One (Marietta, GA: Top Shelf, 2013), and March: Book Two (Marietta, GA: Top Shelf, 2015).
- NOTE: there is no PDF provided for these volumes, but a single copy of both books is available for free online through the Emory Library (requiring login through an Emory portal), and both can also be ordered via Amazon (Book One and Book Two) for a total of about $18.

Sep 27 (M): 9. Case study: the Freedom Summer project.

- Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 3-5, 66-115, McAdam.pdf

Sep 29 (W): 10. Collective action, racial justice protests, and voter mobilization drives. Case studies: the Black Lives Matter movement and Black Voters Matter in Georgia in 2020-2021.

Oct 4 (M): 11. Collective action to organize workers, in traditional work and in the ‘gig economy.’

- Steven Greenhouse, “In Florida Tomato Fields, a Penny Buys Progress,” New York Times (Apr 24, 2014), Greenhouse.pdf
- Arvind Magesan, “Uber Drivers Strike: Organizing Labour in the Gig Economy,” The Conversation [blog] (May 6, 2019), Magesan.pdf
- Optional: David Weil, “How to Make Employment Fair in an Age of Contracting and Temp Work,” Harvard Business Review (Mar 24, 2017), Weil.pdf
- Current events resources we may discuss in class:
  - Michael Corkery and Karen Weise, "Amazon Workers’ Union Drive Reaches Far Beyond Alabama," New York Times (Mar 2, 2021)
  - Noam Scheiber and Kate Conger, "Fight Over Gig Workers Persists Despite Win for Uber and Lyft," New York Times (Nov 11, 2020)
  - FFP video: https://youtu.be/Ny9YaJczqjY
  - FFP partners: https://www.fairfoodprogram.org/partners/

Discussion: anytime until the start of the first class session in the next module, post in the Module 4 Discussion Thread if you have questions about the readings, want to highlight a current events example of a point that is related, or to react to another's student's post constructively. Or post your 'muddiest point' - something that confused you most from one of these class sessions. This is optional but will count towards your participation points for the whole semester as noted in the syllabus.

Recordings: Session 8 (Sep 22); Session 9 (Sep 27); Session 10 (Sep 29); Session 11 (Oct 4)

Your workflow for any upcoming session:

Look at the learning objectives and discussion questions for the next upcoming session
Do the readings for the upcoming session before it meets
Revisit the learning objectives & discussion questions - can you meet or answer them?
Check in on the module discussion thread: post questions, or comments - Module 4 Discussion
Attend class and participate
Check back in on the same module discussion thread: post about your 'muddiest point,' the issue or idea you were most confused about from the past session, or a follow-up comment you want to make in response to something that came up in discussion
...and this module ends with an assignment, the Group Civil Rights Archival Project, due Fri Oct 8, 6p.

Rare Books Library Links and Resources: Rare Books Library Resources

In Session 8 We Will...

Describe the US African-American civil rights movement from the perspective of a single activist, John Lewis
Analyze Lewis' experience and relate it to our course concepts and theories about the origins of, challenges facing, and organizational techniques of collective action

Session 8 Discussion Questions

Why did John Lewis get involved in the civil rights movement? Think about this from his perspective: his personal background, the injustices he observed on a daily basis, and his family upbringing and formative ideas and experiences. But also think about this from the collective action theory perspective: if we were to generalize from his case, what would we hypothesize about why individuals engage in costly and risky collective action?
What challenges and obstacles did John Lewis face in his civil rights activity, and did the movement as a whole face? What were the sources of those challenges/obstacles (whether from his own family, costs to his personal life, or externally-imposed hazards)? What costs and risks did he face? How did those costs evolve over time, if at all, and why?
What organizational strategies did the civil rights movement use, and did John Lewis advocate, for overcoming these obstacles to collective action? How well did they work?
What were the long-term objectives of John Lewis' civil rights activity and the civil rights movement more broadly? What strategy did he and the groups he was involved with use to try to achieve those objectives? What tactics were used, and why? How effective were those tactics, in your estimate?
What differences of opinion within the movement, as discussed by John Lewis, existed regarding those tactics (or longer-term objectives)? How were those differences resolved, and why?
Would John Lewis' mode of 'open expression' fit with Emory's Open Expression Policy today?

In Session 9 We Will...

Describe the Freedom Summer collective action and mobilization campaign
Identify challenges facing such collective action efforts, and organizational techniques useful for confronting those challenges, esp. given diversity among a group's membership and high stakes risks
Use this case to analyze and evaluate course concepts and theories of collective action

Session 9 Discussion Questions

What was Freedom Summer? Who were the participants? What did they do? Why did they volunteer and remain? (What distinguished the volunteers from the no-shows?) Why did SNCC structure this volunteer campaign this way in particular?
What challenges/obstacles did collective action face here? How did the group organize itself to deal with those obstacles, and how well did that work?
What explains the (courageous) behavior of the local Black population the Freedom Summer volunteers were seeking to get registered? How did the local white supremacists try to intimidate them? Why did people take risks to register, host volunteers, etc.?
What tensions and difficulties did the group members face in their dealings with one another? Racism & multi-racial composition; sexism. Did the group adopt any measures to grapple with these difficulties and overcome them?
What difference did this collective action effort make, in the end? Evaluation.
What impact did participating in Freedom Summer have on the participants themselves? Can you make a generalizing hypotheses from this?
Is a “Freedom Summer”-type campaign of some sort, perhaps on a different issue or problem, needed today, in your view? Would it work if tried the same way?

In Session 10 We Will...

Learn about the activities of Black Voters Matters, a voter registration and mobilization group in Georgia - and the Black Lives Matter social movement
Draw on this case study to make broader inferences about optimal organization & techniques for mobilizing mass collective action in different circumstances

Session 10 Discussion Questions

What is the group Black Voters Matter? How is it structured, led, organized? What are its resources, in terms of personnel, money, etc.? What are its aims & methods?
Evaluate BVM's impact: was it successful in the 2020-2021 election cycle? How would we know, if so? Which of its methods had the greatest impact on its mobilization success? What role for persuasion as apart from informing as apart from mobilizing?
Compare the BVM aims & methods to those in the 1950s/60s civil rights movement, such as in John Lewis' autobiography. Lewis, in 1961, favored direct action over voter registration and mobilization. Was he right, then, from the standpoint of his aims and objectives? What is the relative place of direct action vs. voter mobilization in the progressive playbook today, or more generally?
Aldon Morris compares the Black Lives Matter movement to the historical Civil Rights Movement (CRM). In the process, he talks about the resource mobilization explanation, the political process explanation (dominant in McAdam's work, among others), and his own indigenous perspective argument. What are the assumptions and arguments of each perspective, and how do they differ from one another, in understanding why social movements like BLM occur and how they might influence outcomes? What role do emotions play in explaining group and individual behavior in Morris' treatment - and emotions of what sort?
In what ways is the BLM movement different from the 1960s CRM? How has collective action thrived - if you judge that it has - in the BLM context despite those differences? Given your answers, to what degree do you think will BLM make a lasting difference for racial justice in America, and why?

In Session 11 We Will...

Apply our course insights about collective action to labor organizing and unions.

Session 11 Discussion Questions

What are the shared and conflicting interests of workers, and in what ways does labor mobilization, union formation, and collective bargaining fit our concept of a public good or collective action problem? What constitutes ‘cooperation’ and ‘defection’ here, and what are the incentives at work for individuals?
Florida tomato growers:
- What were conditions like “before”? Why were they this way? Challenges for workers and collective action?
- How did workers successfully form the CIW and FFP? What led to the industry accepting this standard? Why did producers and retail buyers concede to participate?
- What is the FFP, and how does it work?
- Why would producers comply? Why would buyers comply?
- Role of information for final consumers? Are consumers willing to pay a premium? Are they well informed and capable of discriminating in the marketplace? How is this enforced? Role of state/government in doing so, or does it need a government actor willing and able to enforce?
- Q: is this model portable to other industries, places? Uber drivers? Starbuck’s baristas? Domestic service workers? Etc.?
- Q: how would increase in tomato imports (from Mexico) affect these workers’ arrangements?
Labor rights in the modern economy – service sector, contract work, gig economy?
- What is the nature of 'gig work' and why is it a problem for workers?
- What happened re: Uber and Lyft in CA? How might this law help drivers there?
- How do you go about successfully mobilizing gig workers to promote shared worker rights concerns in today's economy, given all the challenges stacked against it? Dispersed members, not in contact with each other daily, not a legally recognized workplace union, contract workers, high turnover of workforce, etc.
- Would this Uber model work successfully for other industries? What presumptions does it make about the role of government, importance of consumer preferences/awareness, participation of powerful buyer companies, distribution of market power among producers/employers?

Additional Resources

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