1. Together with a small group of your classmates, design a social movement to address an issue you identify as interesting and important. Consider, using information from the chapter, what you might need in terms of resources, how you might structure the organization of your movement, to whom you might appeal and how, and what obstacles you might encounter. Draw your plan on a sheet of paper and share it with others. How do they evaluate your plan? What kinds of comments, complements, and critiques does your plan invite? How might you revise the plan in light of these to make it more effective?

2. Referencing the Inequality Matters section on “Sports and Social Change” visit ESPN’s “Nine for IX” website. Choose one of the nine documentary films produced by ESPN to recognize the 40th anniversary of Title IX in women’s sports. The films Branded and Venus VS are highly recommended. After watching one of these films, relate it back to your understanding of Title IX in the chapter. Specifically, how did title IX impact the lives of each of these athletes? Explain.

3. Think about and list at least five “fads” prevalent today. How does each of the fads you identified illustrate (or challenge) the concept as described in the chapter? Do people engaging in the fads you listed seem to want to be different? What are they differentiating themselves from? Do you notice any patterns linking these fads together? Finally, of the fads you identified, which, if any, do you feel have the greatest likelihood of becoming fashions and why?

4. Choose a social issue of importance to you. Imagine that you are part of a social movement that is seeking social, economic, political, or other change related to your issue and is interested in telling others about the issue and recruiting others to the cause. One of the ways in which activists sometimes inform others is through demonstration signs. Make a sign representing your issue and bring it to class to share. Work on making the sign a good visual and textual representation of your issue that clearly and concisely tells your “audience” about the issue. Share your sign with others and discuss what makes an effective presentation of an issue in this format.

5. Research a social movement online. Pay particular attention to the slogans, signs, and symbols used by the movement. How is the movement using frame alignment? With what frame or frames are they trying to align? Does their framing change over time? Why or why not? Does this framing appeal to you? Why or why not?

6. Social movements and the media have taken center stage in our 21st century society. In the Discover & Debate box you learned about “hashtag activism.” Apply this concept to a recent interview in Contexts magazine with sociologist Steven W. Thrasher, and activist and writer Hari Zyad. After reading the interview, visit Zyad’s blog RaceBaitR. Read 2–3 of the submissions that interested you. What did you find that surprised you? Can you imagine creating a space like this to promote your own social movement or social theory to discuss some aspect of oppression in society? Finally, after reading some of these blog posts at RaceBaitR do you think it has been successful with challenging racism while at the same time allowing a safe space to “race bait?” Explain.