Social Change is a groundbreaking exploration of social transformation from a conflict theory perspective, offering a deep dive into the historical and sociological analysis of leaders within contemporary social movements. This text-reader is an essential guide for those seeking to understand the dynamics of social change and the role of social actors in shaping the future.
Alicia Swords is Associate Professor at Ithaca College. She received her PhD from Cornell University in Development Sociology. She regularly teaches her departments Social Change course (SOCI-208) as well as course on Social Movements; Gender, Environment and Global Change; Global Sociology; Research Methods; and a first-year seminar called Stories for a Change. Her research focuses on social movements in the U.S. and Latin America, and she is the co-author of Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA (2010, University of Toronto Press).
Chapter One: Primitive Accumulation: Enclosures, Colonial Conquest, and Enslavement Chapter Two: Indigenous resistance on Turtle Island: Histories of resilience and self-defense Chapter Three: Slavery and Anti-Slavery Chapter Four: Industrialization and the Rise of Unions Chapter Five: Boom and Bust and the New Deal Chapter Six: Imperialism, Cold War and National Liberation Struggles Chapter Seven: Empire and Cold War Chapter Eight: The Black-led freedom struggle Chapter Nine: An old world is dying: Struggles of the Long 1960s Chapter Ten: Global Production and Survival Struggles under Neoliberalism Chapter Eleven: The digital revolution and emerging survival struggles
It is written in a clear, lucid style and grabs my attention immediately. Telling the truth about founding fathers and slavery from an Indigenous perspective, giving their rightful place to Black people as agents of history... well, its about time! Its just such a specific work of history. Brilliant work -- Rose, Kate * Draft Chapter Review * This textbook would be perfect for a junior or senior who is familiar or has a background in sociological theory. The reason for this is an understanding of sociology is required to understand concepts like conflict theory and its relationship to oppression within society This text goes more in depth about the struggles of black people and provides more examples of institutional racism. This text also covers topics like the second Digital revolution and red baiting which my current textbook does not cover. -- Omoregie, Jessica * Draft Chapter Review * I love how I dont need to situate a historical context for students when I read the text- it is very clear what was happening in the world at the time, so I can spend more time discussing the topics rather than setting the stage for my students. Honestly, this text is excellent, and I can see many upper-level undergraduates (and even graduate students) using this text to help fill in their own knowledge of social movements and providing historical context for their own research/theses/dissertations. -- Tesch, Brian * Draft Chapter Review * -Great layout of how the text is going to be different/distinct from other texts -I really like the approach laid out focusing on four main areas (manifestations of change; agents; direction; cases and concrete knowledge of scholars in the field) -The strong critique of Western Civilization as a measure for progress/social change make the text as having a critical approach and that makes it really different from most texts I have used. -- Ziwoya, Fletcher * Draft Chapter Review *
