Prepare a 3 to 5-page description of the collective action or social movement

Running head: Arab Spring 1

Arab Spring 9

The Arab Spring: A Brief Study of Social Movements

Student X

University of Maryland University College

SOCY 100

Professor David Huff

The Arab Spring: A Brief Study of Social Movements

On December 17, 2010 a young man in Tunisia stood in front of a local municipal office and set himself on fire, setting in motion a social movement that would lead to a series of uprisings that spread rapidly across Arab nations. Through his act of self-immolation, 27-year-old Mohammed Bouazizi became a martyr for those campaigning for social-economic equality. Since that fateful day in December 2010, the social movement, termed the Arab Spring by various western institutions, has taken hold in numerous Arab nations across northern Africa and the Middle East, often resulting in violent demonstrations and uprisings that have toppled several long standing regimes. The Arab Spring is a complex social movement with many facets, however, a cursory examination of the movement provides one with insight and understanding into the basic dynamics and variables that comprise social movements.

Arab Spring: A Brief Background

The Arab Spring, a term referring to the widespread string of uprisings across the Arab world beginning in 2010, was a social movement that sought to transform the political social, and economic landscape of Arab nations. Although the origins of the Arab Spring is a debated topic, many attribute it to the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in December 2010, which set off a series of demonstrations and uprisings in numerous northern African Arab nations, and eventually into middle eastern Arab nations.

It all began when Tunisian police harassed Mohammed Bouazzi, a street vender, and confiscated his cart of produce. After being denied an audience with the local governor the same day, Bouazizi set himself ablaze in protest of police corruption and his inability to earn a living because of social-economic inequalities. As news of Bouazizi’s self-immolation spread rapidly through various social media platforms, demonstrations and protests demanding the end of oppressive regimes began to sweep across Arab nations (Eldin & Salih, 2013). Within a year, the world would see revolutions that toppled regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, as well as violent civil uprisings in Syria and Yemen (Eldin & Salih, 2013). In addition, sustained protests have occurred in Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Oman, and Iraq (Eldin & Salih, 2013).

In many instances, authorities responded to Arab Spring demonstrations with violence, at times even employing pro-government militia. For instance, in Bahrain two protestors were killed in March 2011 when soldiers and riot police drove out protestors with the use tear gas and armored vehicles (CBS News [Video file], 2011). In Syria where anti-government protests began in January 2011, 136 protesters were killed on July 31, 2011 when Syrian tanks stormed several cities (Wemple, 2011).

To date, the Arab Spring resulted in regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. In other Arab nations, fallout from the Arab Spring has resulted in violent and prolonged uprisings or full-fledged civil wars, such as those seen in Syria and Bahrain.

Variables of Social Movement in the Arab Spring

The demonstrations and uprisings that began in 2010 and swept through Arab nations, toppling heads of state and bringing social unrest to an entire region, illustrates some of the basic elements of a social movement as described by theorists. Like other social movements, the Arab Spring utilized collective behavior to bring about social change. However, its specific goal of seeking radical social change classifies the Arab Spring as a revolutionary social movement, and it was only through the use of collective behavior that radical social change came to fruition.

A social movement refers to organized efforts by a group of people with common ideology to bring about social change through the use of collective behavior (Macionis, 2013). In the Arab Spring movement the world witnessed collective behavior in the form of crowds, mobs and riots that brought about desired social change in several Arab nations. For instance, in January of 2011, as the Arab Spring movement began to gain momentum, demonstrators in Cairo, Egypt gained control of Tahrir Square from the police after a lengthy conflict that left numerous wounded or dead. On February 11, 2011, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who spent almost 30 years in office, resigned as his presidency and fled Egypt after protestors marched on the presidential palace (Bly, 2011; Deeb et al, 2011). The riots and demonstrations in Egypt provide an example of the use of collective behavior by ordinary people to force social change (Macionis, 2013). While the Arab Spring provides numerous instances in which collective action is used to bring about social change, the radical goals of the Arab Spring firmly identifies it as a revolutionary social movement.

Revolutionary social movements are defined by Macionis (2013) as social movements that aim to bring about radical changes in the way of life for a group of people. Goodwin et al (2009) further define a revolutionary movement as “a social movement that seeks, as a minimum, to overthrow the government or state” (p.4). At its core, the Arab Spring was a revolutionary movement that championed the removal of oppressive and long standing regimes that enforced unjust social policies. Throughout uprisings across Arab nations, protestors demanded the heads of states to step down, as was the case in Tunisia shortly after Bouazizi committed an act of self-immolation (NPR, 2011). Even after the former Tunisian president Zine

el-Abidine Ben Ali reassured the demonstrators of forthcoming social change and announced he would not seek re-election, Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia (Anderson, 2011). As in Tunisia, Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi found themselves on the opposing side of a social movement that resulted in the dramatic end of their regimes. In the case of Libya, Quaddafi’s reign of four decades ended in his violent death at the hands of rebels (Anderson, 2011).

Through the use of collective action, the Arab Spring, a revolutionary social movement, brought about radical social and political changes throughout numerous Arab nations. Its goal of producing significant and radical social change clearly classifies the Arab Spring as a revolutionary social movement, and it was only through collective behavior and action that such changes were able to occur.

Applying the social-conflict theory to the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is a complex social movement with many contributing factors and understanding the causes of the Arab Spring would require in-depth knowledge of the historical, social, religious, economic, and political backgrounds of the nations involved. However, sociological theories of social change can often provide rudimentary understanding of the factors that lead to social change. In particular, the social-conflict theory of class society and the deprivation theory, when applied to the Arab Spring, highlights major factors that instigate social movement, leading to social change.

Based on ideas pioneered by Karl Marx, the class-society theory from the social-conflict perspective asserts that “inequality and conflict within a society” propels change (Macionis, 2013, p.442). The class-conflict theory further posits that even without hereditary monarchs, social elites exist in the form of those holding the majority of wealth and power (Macionis, 2013). In many Arab nations that were affected by the Arab Spring, wealth and power were held by a handful of elite groups that used that power to suppress civil rights and limit social-economic mobility (Anderson, 2011). Under Ben Ali’s regime, Tunisians endured years of government corruption, high unemployment, widespread poverty, and restricted “free expression” (Anderson, 2011). According Anderson (2011), a report from the U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia indicated that the majority of Tunisia’s commercial elite had familial relations with Ben Ali. This same pattern of political corruption and government inefficiency can be seen in Egypt during Hosni Mubarak’s decades-long regime. Under Mubarak’s leadership, government agencies were paralyzed with the inability to provide basic utilities and services to its citizens (Anderson, 2011). Like Tunisians, Egyptians experienced widespread unemployment, poverty, and a growing divide between the social classes (Anderson, 2011). These instances also illustrate the basic tenets of the deprivation theory. The deprivation theory posits that social movement “arises among people feel deprived of something, such as income, safe working conditions, or political rights” (Macionis, 2013). The relative deprivation expands on this theory by positing that of social movements are propelled into motion when people band together after experiencing relative deprivation, shared experiences of “perceived disadvantage arising from specific comparison” (Marcionis, 2013). The story of Muhammed Bouazizi, a catalyst of for the Arab Spring movement, is a poignant example of the deprivation theory and how relative deprivation set the stage for a revolutionary social movement. With little education, and limited means to support his family, Bouazizi felt hopeless when a municipal officials confiscated his property and left him with no form of recourse. In an act of desperation, Bouazizi set himself on fire, becoming a martyr for thousands of other people across the region that could relate to the same social injustices.

The class-society and deprivation theories aid in our understanding of the forces that ignite social movement. Through class-society theory we understand that social change can only occur with the existence of inequality and conflict. Class-society theory also postulates that social conflict is the result of social inequality in which a handful of elite hold the majority of wealth and power, and there is significant social stratification with wide gaps between social classes. Like the class-society theory, the deprivation theory asserts that social movement occurs when a group of people experience relative deprivation. In both instances, it is social-economic inequality and conflict that perpetuates social change through social movements.

Conclusion The cursory examination of the Arab Spring social movement provided an example of the complex nature of social movements. Through the application of sociological theories, perspectives, and concepts, one learns that social movements utilize collective action to propel change. In some instances, the underlying cause of social movements are inequality and conflict.

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