Social Movement Theory Responses-Jeffrey Chase

1. What is the point of Social Movement Theory (SMT)?

      The point of Social Movement Theory (SMT) is a guide to scholars as they attempt to understand the complexities of social movements and the relationship that they have with the various actors involved. SMT helps to explain how those actors can produce social change by acting in their own rational interests.

2. Is there any reason we couldn't use the same analytical frameworks to study, say, the American Civil Rights Movement and movements for political change in the MENA region?

      Social Movement Theory could be used as a framework to analyze both the American Civil Rights Movement and the movements for political change in the MENA region. There is the same underlying rationality present in both movements. SMT accounts for the different results and methods of these differing movements. Even though some scholars see SMT as not being as applicable to the Middle East as it is to other Western movements, this view is only the result of the fallacy of Orientalism. The differences in the movements are not a result of people in MENA being fundamentally different from those in the West, it is because of the different conditions. These conditions, such as poverty, the limited ability of the government to provide for its people, and authoritarian government systems as mentioned in Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa. These conditions alter the incentives that are considered in rational choices, so they do need to be factored into the analysis of the MENA movements.

3. What use can Social Movement Theory be in understanding the success of Islamist movements?

      Social Movement Theory can be useful in understanding how the strength and ability of the states that they took place in, how the acquiring of funding and resources, and the other rhetoric that was present in the region affected the actions of the Islamist movements.