 This is a study guide for Chapter 3 of Sociology for Optimists by Mary Holmes, published in 2015 called Freedom. Please note that these study guides are meant to point out some important concepts of interest to introductory students. These are not designed to be thorough or provide an in-depth discussion. Material will be skipped or barely discussed while other concepts will be given more emphasis than the chapter may have given them. Also note that the purpose of this book is to look at ways in which sociology can provide a basis for optimism. So discussions of pessimism and optimism will be central in this guide. When people discuss freedom, there is often a distinction between the freedom to do what we want or the freedom from bad things such as hunger, poverty, and fear. Often what we want is constrained by the desire to protect us from those bad things. This can be seen as a constant struggle to not letting the civilizing process of learning to live together slip into a form of social control. Norms and sanctions help us shape our expectations and keep us from hurting each other, but these norms and sanctions can also create limitations on individual pursuit of freedom and happiness to the benefit of more powerful groups. One of the greatest sources of conflict between freedom to and freedom from centers around the question of who is legitimately allowed to commit violence and who is not. Sociological study of both government and criminal violence questions this legitimacy, especially when it goes too far. We can also approach understanding freedom by studying expressions of freedom. Sexual freedom is probably the most frequently cited expression. This includes questioning of the state's rights to limit who we marry, who we have sex with, and what we do in the privacy of our bedrooms. However, this also includes the ways in which sexuality is constructed as binary with accompanying roles of masculinity and femininity. Young people are often the leaders in fights for freedom and conversely are often constructed as seeking individual freedom only. Studying how young people organize collectively both on the micro and macro level gives us insights into both individual expressions of freedom and the collective resistance to limitations of freedom. Finally, when we study freedom, we are often concerned with the struggles for freedom. Such struggles can be seen in the study of deviant behavior as well as efforts to resist on an individual level. Breaching norms while being the definition of deviance is often the most common source of social change and creator of more freedom. Of course, sociologists have more experience in studying large collective social movements than they do in studying personal resistance. The heart of most collective struggles is the desire to break free of oppression. Understanding what freedom is and how freedom is limited by power is key to most social movements. Thus, sociologists are in the best position to understand social movements of the past in order to inform social movements in the present and future. Often, the expectations of protesters and collective resistance are idealized and difficult to measure. However, sociologists can measure change. This can be important in helping members of such social movements understand their successes rather than seeing themselves falling short of their expectations. Major social change can take a long time and often feels like it isn't going to happen. Also, major social changes can seem to happen in an instant, even though the long haul in the years leading up to a so-called sudden change have just as much to do with the change as the events immediately before the change. Sociology can help sort out these nuances and give a clearer picture of how to affect change in the future. Another aspect of engaging in resistance is simply the joy of being part of something greater than oneself. This is often overlooked but can be seen with sociological imagination. Simply being able to express oneself can be empowering. Social protest often gives voice to people who have no other way to say what they feel and what they need. Many collective actions involve creativity, celebration, and artful expression. These should not be overlooked as worthwhile experiences in and of themselves. By only measuring success based on outcomes, we miss a micro-level change in how people come together. This is experience that can stand alone as shaping human interaction and behavior in positive ways. So where is the optimism? Well, sociology offers, first of all, primarily the study of social change. The more we understand about how change happens, the more we can guide future attempts to create a better society. Sociologists also have studied the nature of power. Power is cooperative. Leaders require followers. While many are coerced into doing things they'd rather not do, resistance is often in the form of being uncooperative, which breaks down and shifts power. This is the basis of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience. Rather than confronting power with violence, the protesters simply refuses to obey. This forces power's hand. If enough people do this, it can take the power away from the enforcers. Sociologists have studied the power of the state and the extent to which systems of power rely upon oppressive practices to stay in power. These critiques help people see the costs of limitations of power and can help persuade people to resist and those in power to change their ways.