Social Movements

Full hour:

Reporters (in order of appearance): Ashley Benoit, Anita Kalaitzakis, Faryn Tobler, Kristina Garcia, Arjun Singh

Producers: Steve Burns, Maria Spiridigliozzi

We’re looking at past social movements as well as a current campaign happening today. Social movements have the power to dramatically change the world we live in, from slave liberation to Vietnam protests to today’s Occupy Wall Street movement. Various social movements have had a profound impact on society throughout our country’s history, which may be why they’re still used as a way to provoke change today.
Their ability to incite change can come in many different forms. This morning we’ll explore the common threads between some of these social movements, and check out what made them different. We’ll talk with historians and people who are still working today to bring change.

We’ll start with the social movement that created not only a division but a whole new country. Ashley Benoit will tell us how the anti-slavery movement came about and why it cut so deep into our country.

Anita Kalaitzakis will give us some insight into the womens’ rights movement, which arguably started with a convention in 1848 but is still going on today.

Next, Faryn Tobler discusses what it was that started the African-American civil rights movement, and how today’s leaders feel about the outcome.

After that, Kristina Garcia will tell us about the anti-Vietnam protests, which brought a whole new generation of Americans concerns into the forefront.

Finally, we’ll explore the movement of today. Arjun Singh will discuss how Occupy Wall Street started, and what about it has made it so unifying for the country and world.

We’ll then discuss social movements as a whole with a man who knows them well. David Meyer studies social movements for a living as a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. His most recent book is the politics of protest. He and I talked about why we protest and what makes some movements more successful than others. We’ll also find out his take on where the occupy movement could be headed.

For more exclusive interviews, check out our Exclusive Interviews page, located on the top of the home page.