Community Action or Involvement or Activism:

In the 1960’s, as a graduate student Barrie was politically active by joining the antiwar movement. She simultaneously studied the draft resistance movement which allowed for her to combine activism and research. She more recently combined these efforts by participating with the National Professional Association in women’s conferences.
When she left Brandeis University in 1971 she was in a conscious raising group called Bread and Roses, which was a women’s liberation group in Boston. When she began to teach at Michigan State University she worked with other feminists and fought to establish women’s studies programs. In her article A telling time for women’s studies, that the founding of The National Women’s Studies Association assisted their efforts in making women’s studies a discipline. She is still a part of this association today.
Barrie Thorne is one of the many founders of women’s studies and the women’s liberation movement, overall contributing greatly to the women’s movement. She is a passionate feminist. Her efforts in the women’s liberation movement helped her to create the women’s studies program at Michigan State. Also during her time at Michigan State she participated in local and national feminist activities.

Sources:
Barrie Thorne, “How Can Feminist Sociology Sustain its Critical Edge?” Social Problems(2006).
Thorne, Barrie. "A Telling Time for Women's Studies." (2000):