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Social Movements | ||||
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Examples of Social Mvmts | ||||
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Socio Historical Analysis of Social Movements | ||||
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Social Movement Orgs (SMOs) | ||||
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Interest Groups | ||||
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New Social Movments' (NSMs) | ||||
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Non-Governmental Orgs (NGOs) | ||||
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Similarities btwn Soc Mvmts & Collective Behavior | ||||
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Differences btwn Soc Mvmts & Collective Behavior | ||||
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Types of Social Movements | ||||
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1. Transformative Mvmts | ||||
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2. Counter Mvmts | ||||
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3. Redemptive Mvmts | ||||
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4. Reformative Mvmts | ||||
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5. Revolutionary Mvmts | ||||
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6. Alternative Mvmts | ||||
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Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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Ridicule as Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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Co-Optation as Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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The TVA & Organizational Co-Optation | ||||
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Social Control as Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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Formal Social Control as Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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Violence as Social Control & Resistance to Soc Mvmts | ||||
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The Importance of Soc Mvmts | ||||
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| For many social theorists, social change & social mvmts are part of a historic, dialectical & mutually reinforcing relationship | |||||
| The dialectical & mutually reinforcing relationship btwn social
change & social movements is seen in the demographic change of
- the Baby Boom, - the relationship btwn it & the post WW2 growth of higher ed, - both of which spawned student activism around Civil Rights, Vietnam, the Womens' Mvmt, & the Env Mvmt |
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Alain Touraine (1977, 1981) developed an analysis of historicity in soc mvmts examining why there are so many more mvmts in the modern world than there were in earlier times |
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| In the pre modern era, i.e. before the industrial revolution, soc mvmts as we know them were rare | |||||
| There were few soc mvmts because:
- authoritarian regimes brutally oppressed any dissent; - there were generally only two classes, & the lower class had virtually no power or resources; - communications & transportation were difficult making it difficult to consolidate people, their resources & power; & - any significant trend toward a soc mvmt was usurped & developed through political systems, i.e. the Crusades |
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| What are now known as the core nations transitioned from traditional societal forms to modern industrialized forms; from agricultural feudal economic systems to industrial econ systems; & from authoritarian kingdoms to democracies | |||||
| Modernization, industrialization, secularization, & democratization have all allowed such social forces as soc mvmts, dissent, & individual & group deviance to flourish | |||||
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In the modern era, individuals & grps know that social activism can be used to achieve social goals & reshape society |
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Nations that have not experienced modernization, industrialization, secularization, & democratization are more likely to oppress soc mvmts, dissent, & individual & group deviance |
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Social mvmts are more common in core nations than in peripheral & semi peripheral nations |
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Social mvmts are more common in democratic societies than authoritarian nations |
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In core nations, interest groups become more common & far more diverse, & social control weaker, which makes it easier for people to organize against conditions or ideas they oppose |
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Democracy allows interest groups to flourish & become more diverse whereas authoritarian regimes view social movements as a threat & use techniques such as surveillance & imprisonment to immobilize them |
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Modernization, including industrialization, makes the authoritarian practices of surveillance, imprisonment, harassment, assassination, deportation, etc. more difficult to carry out because people have resources to fight such tactics |
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| The former Soviet Union's authoritarian regime kept many social forces under it's control | |||||
| When the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, Eastern European & Central Asian nations & regions underwent rapid social change | |||||
| In general, Eastern European nations have become more democratic unleashing a wide variety of ethnic, religious, & nationalist mvmts | |||||
| In general, Central Asian nations have become less authoritarian than the former Soviet Union & have developed theocracies | |||||
| Historically the major social mvmts which developed in the US include the Labor mvmt, the Civil Rights mvmt, the the Anti War mvmt, the Womens' mvmt, the Env mvmt, & others | |||||
| The major, early soc mvmts in the US have become institutionalized in that they are widely practiced, important, necessary, & taken for granted part of modern soc structures | |||||
| Some contemporary mvmts include the Nuclear Freeze mvmt, gay rights, intl human rights, animal rights, consumer rights, & others | |||||
| An important quality of soc mvmts today is the development of the soc mvmt industry | |||||
| As the early soc mvmts became institutionalized, they developed the soc mvmt industry which functions both to support &, to a limited extent, create soc mvmts | |||||
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The soc mvmt industry offers ready made, for sale support knowledge tech, process tech, & physical tech on the production of ideology, soc mvmts, etc. |
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Soc mvmts are highly networked in that many work together & support each other |
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Non governmental organizations (NGOs) are closely related to soc mvmts, but are more likely to be engaged in direct assistance or support to a particular class or group of people |
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| NGOs will often try to minimize their ideology in order to raise $$ to support their assistance efforts | |||||
| NGOs & soc mvmts both utilized the soc mvmt industry | |||||
| Soc mvmts, the soc mvmt ind, & NGOs all form a network, which is tightly linked to govt | |||||
| Redclift and Benton (1994) note that little attn is paid to inter soc mvmt relationships; i.e., the extent of soc mvmt cooperation, conflict & it's effect on the shape of society | |||||
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| Often "young" or new soc mvmts appear to have no organization in that they seem to be a group of individuals committed to a goal who occasionally get together to pool resources |
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| Young or new soc mvmts w/o any formal org may be understood as a network, or a peer network |
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| Soc mvmts which are peer networks are little different from a circle of friends who pursue their goals of intimacy, entertainment, except that soc mvmts pursue soc mvmt type goals |
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| But the word 'movement' in social movement denotes that they are usually composed of many individuals or groups working toward some common goal & that most successful mvmts are led by one or two large orgs, but there may be dozens of smaller ones as well |
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| The 3rd wave feminist movement that began in the US in the 1970s included feminist orgs such as NOW, the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), & the Am Assoc. of University Women (AAUW) |
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Formal & informal orgs w/in a soc mvmt often coordinate w/ one another, share resources, personnel, etc. & form coalitions to increase their power & visibility |
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Because of this network quality of all soc mvmts, some sociologist consider them to be mere collective behavior, little different from a mass of people, while other social scientists consider them to be unique, more organized, & institutionalized in society |
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| Soc mvmts often engage in lobbying as does an interest group; however, soc mvmts are more than interest groups in that they engage in a much wider array of behaviors | |||||
| Professional soc mvmt orgs often employ interest groups, marketers, pollsters, fund raisers, mgrs, & other experts, on their behalf | |||||
| See Also: Interest Groups | |||||
| The label 'new social movements' (NSMs) is given to the newest forms of soc mvmts like the civil rights mvmt, womens' mvmts, env mvmt, etc. to differentiate them from older forms of soc mvmts such as the Crusades | |||||
| See Also: New Social Movements' (NSMs) | |||||
| Non-governmental Orgs (NGOs) are a new form of new social mvmts that are a hybrid btwn charities & service orgs & soc mvmts that perform some of the tasks modern society often attributes to govt | |||||
| Non-governmental orgs (NGOs) are sometimes branches of soc mvmt, sometimes just ind orgs, that perform services that are traditionally done by govt | |||||
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The similarities btwn soc mvmts & collective behavior are all derivative of the fact that they both perform non institutionalized tasks, i.e. they function in spheres of society that are outside of the norm | ||||
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The differences btwn soc mvmts & collective behavior are all derivative of the fact that soc mvmts are more formally organized & col beh is more organizationally fluid | ||||
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An interest group is organized to pursue specific interests in the political arena, operating primarily by lobbying the members of legislative bodies |
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| In the recent past, interest grps were almost exclusively lobbying grps; however, today interest grps engage in an entire range of tasks that support lobbying | |||||
| Interest grps often engage in public education in order to raise awareness of their issue, to mobilize their constituency, & to oppose counter-interest grps positions | |||||
| Public education is often tied to issues around particular candidates & thus interest grps now are, in effect, campaigning for the candidates of their choice | |||||
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Interest grps today often lobby a legislative body, & more recently have also become involved in the public & admin rules making process |
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Interest grps today have also become involved in the implementation of admin rules & serve as watchdogs on govt activities |
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In order to accomplish the tasks of lobbying, public rules making, admin rules making, & rules implementation, interest grps must raise money & thus they have a strong public relations branch to educate their constituency & raise money from that constituency |
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Interest grps may be distinguished from social mvmts in that most social mvmts have or employ an interest grp to impact govts at the admin level, the legislative level, the executive level, the judical level, & so on |
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Interest grps may be linked to a soc mvmt, but they may also be much narrower focusing on just their one issue |
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| Political movements would be a subset of a soc mvmt in that soc mvmts define a new way of thinking/world view/ideology while political mvmts generally try to reflect existing world views | |||||
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Soc mvmts do cognitive praxis in that they produce innovative knowledge claims, while interest grps generally only represent existing knowledge claims |
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| Soc mvmts often employ, hire, or ally interest groups, lobbying groups & other similar types of orgs | |||||
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| Soc mvmts are like col beh in that... |
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| - participants in both do unusual & unexpected things that they would not do if they were not participating in the mvmt |
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| - social norms governing the behavior of the participants in both soc mvmts & col beh are new & in flux |
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| - participants in both do things & hold norms that go against social norms & expectations |
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| - participants engage in non-institutionalized behavior that may be considered odd or deviant |
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| - the existence of a soc mvmt, as opposed to the action of an institution, may be relatively short lived, i.e. a few months or years as is the case w/ a fad | |||||
| - both begin in relatively the same manner in that, an object of attention or precipitating situation brings like minded people together | |||||
| Soc mvmts alter people's behavior just as much as any form of col beh | |||||
| Protests, sit-ins, petition drives, etc. are not part of everyday life for most people, but these things are typical in the daily life of soc mvmt |
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| Participants in a soc mvmt may break laws, challenge authorities, & even publicly denounce powerful people or institutions |
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| It is the perception that participants' behavior is "odd" or "wrong" that links soc mvmts to other types of col beh |
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| Like any other form of col beh, soc mvmts engage in group deviant beh |
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| Important theorists like Turner & Killian, & Smelser note that the behavior of soc mvmt participants is fundamentally different from the behavior of nonparticipants |
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| Fads, crazes, riots, & soc mvmts all entail people acting in ways that they would not act if it were not for a common group definition of the situation & social influence from other group members |
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| Participants in fads, crazes, riots, & soc mvmts are all motivated in that, their participation serves some purpose for them |
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| Participation in any of these forms of collective behavior helps to reduce some anxiety or strain w/in the situation or society |
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| For many social theorists, there is little significant difference btwn soc mvmts & col beh, i.e. btwn a radical protest org & the Y2K hysteria |
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| Soc mvmts are different from other forms of col beh in that they are organized, often into formal orgs, that in the case of the labor mvmt, the civil rights mvmt, the feminist mvmt, & the env mvmt may be thought of as being institutionalized |
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| Most collective behavior is unorganized, or at best a loose network |
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| Riot participants might cooperate for a short time period, but it is usually more of a free-for-all than an organized event |
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| Typical col beh leadership comes & goes quickly, if it exists at all in that, whoever manages to grab a crowd's attention can influence the entire group's behavior |
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| Soc mvmt participants are often given specific tasks to perform & their may be a carefully designed strategy |
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| Leaders of soc mvmts create jobs & make careers out of leading specific orgs dedicated to the cause of the mvmt, e.g., the NRA, Tea Party, Right to Life, AFL-CIO, NAACP, NOW, Sierra Club, etc. |
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| While participants in a soc mvmt & a fad appear the same in that they may both engage in unusual behavior to pursue their goal, the soc mvmt participants are usually part of a large org that has, at a minimum, given them tactical & strategic goals |
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| Soc mvmts are more deliberate than other forms of col beh in that they are intentionally created & participants carefully decide whether or not to join |
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| Col beh is less deliberate than soc mvmts in that col beh episodes occur w/o anyone planning them ahead of time |
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| Soc mvmts have pledge drives, membership drives, etc. |
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| Soc mvmts seek publicity as a means of achieving their goal, whereas participants in a fad or craze may seek publicity, but usually such exposure is secondary or simply gives the participants vicarious rewards |
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| There is little deliberate behavior in most col beh |
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| Soc mvmts are much more long-lasting or enduring than other forms of col beh & indeed the labor mvmt, the civil rights mvmt, the feminist mvmt, & the env mvmt may be thought of as being institutions, i.e. part of the fabric of our social life |
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| A riot may last for minutes, hours, or days & a fad may last for a few months or a few years while soc mvmts may endure for decades, if not indefinitely |
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| Many soc mvmts only last for a few weeks or years if they fail to gain a constituent base, or if they achieve their goal |
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| Soc mvmts that seek to change an entire society often last for decades | ||||||
| Soc mvmts become rooted in major orgs like the AFL-CIO, et al, utilizing letter head, multiple office suites, large staff, & have budgets of millions of dollars | ||||||
| The goals of many soc mvmts are difficult to achieve & long-range in nature so they form w/ the knowledge that it may take generations to achieve | ||||||
| Col beh is characterized by its brevity |
FB MC TF /\ |
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| TRANSFORMATIVE MVMTS ARE SOC MVMTS WHICH AIM TO PRODUCE MAJOR PROCESSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGHOUT SOCIETY | |||||
| Trans mvmts strive for thorough-going change in the society or societies of which they are a part | |||||
| The objective of transformative mvmts is to change or oppose some current social condition or other soc mvmt |
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| The trans mvmt is the most common type in most industrialized nations & includes such important mvmts as the civil rights mvmts, the women's mvmts, the gay rights mvmts, the antinuclear mvmts, the env mvmt, & the peace mvmt |
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| Many transformative mvmts are also reform mvmts in that they seek soc change, but some transformative mvmts only protest, demonstrate, or raise awareness of a current social condition or other soc mvmt, & do not seek or accomplish soc change |
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| The social change aimed for by trans mvmts are cataclysmic, all embracing, & often violent |
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| Examples of trans mvmts include revolutionary mvmts, some radical religious mvmts, millenarian mvmts |
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Trans mvmts are often called protest mvmts because protest is often their most utilized & effective method of achieving their goal of societal change |
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| TRANS MVMTS ARE IMP BECAUSE THEY ADDRESS COLLECTIVE ISSUES, I.E. ISSUES THAT CANNOT BE ADDRESSED BY INDIVIDUAL ACTION | |||||
| Trans mvmt are esp important because they often address those social issues that cannot be changed by individual action | |||||
| C Wright Mills makes a distinction btwn personal troubles & public issues in his development of the concept of the sociological imagination | |||||
| See Also: The Sociological Imagination | |||||
| Personal troubles are those to which we must look the the individual for the solution | |||||
| Public issues are those to which we must look to society, in all of its manifestations: govt, the family, the workplace, etc. for the solution | |||||
| For Mills, it can be very difficult to tell the difference btwn personal troubles & public issues | |||||
| Because of the difficulty of telling the difference btwn personal troubles & public issues we often say that a person needs wisdom, vision, consciousness, a sociological imagination, etc. in order to make this complex judgment | |||||
| The difficulty in determining the nature of social problems can be seen in looking at an unemployed person in that we must look at the persons' motivation & personal skills, as well as the level nature of unemployment | |||||
| In the social problem of unemployment after we have examined all the factors affecting a person or a given population, we can then make our judgment as to whether the problem is a personal trouble of a public issue, & more importantly, determine the appropriate path to a solution | |||||
| Since the US is the most individualistic society in all of history, we tend to view problems as personal troubles | |||||
| Reasons for personal troubles are often called excuses, even though some of these, such as a physical disability, are viewed as legitimate by society | |||||
| Reasons for public issues are often called explanations | |||||
| Individualizing is the tendency to view a problem as a personal trouble regardless of whether it is a personal trouble or a public issue | |||||
| Collectivizing is the tendency to view a problem as a public issue regardless of whether it is a personal trouble or a personal trouble | |||||
| TRANS MVMTS RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS, EDUCATE THE PUBLIC, CREATE PUBLIC WILL FOR CHANGE, & THUS OFTEN HOPE TO FOMENT CHANGE THROUGH POLITICAL ACTION, OR OTHER LARGE SCALE ACTION | |||||
| An example of social issues as opposed to personal issues would be energy policy (often addressed by the env mvmt) in that while I can individually conserve energy by turning down the thermostat, drive less, buy a more fuel efficient car, etc., these individual changes will only marginally change my energy consumption | |||||
| In order to significantly change my individual energy consumption, society wide changes are needed such as an alternative energy infrastructure (wind, solar, etc.) & mass transit is needed | |||||
| The purpose of trans mvmts is often to create enough consciousness, i.e. public will, to raise the issue on the political radar | |||||
| When trans mvmts have raised the issue on the political radar, because of powerful entrenched interests, it still often takes decades for the govt / political system to change | |||||
| The vegetarian mvmt is not a trans mvmt because individuals are quite capable of becoming vegetarian on there own, though undoubted such a mvmt would have society wide impacts of the ag & food production industries | |||||
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| Counter mvmts are social mvmts who seek to undo social change or to oppose a transformative or reformative mvmt |
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Counter mvmts are also known as regressive mvmts because they often seek to take society back, or regress, to an earlier type of social system, undoing the social change instituted by a trans mvmt |
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| Counter mvmts form directly in response to a trans mvmt |
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| Reactionary reformative mvmt are counter movements & they usually form immediately after a progressive mvmt has succeeded in creating changes w/in a society | |||||
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An example of a counter mvmt is the antifeminist mvmt, which opposes recent changes in the role & status of women & urges them to remain at home & take care of their children rather than seek outside employment |
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| An example of a counter mvmt is the Ku Klux Klan, various neo nazis, & racist "skinhead" groups which believe in white supremacy & favor return to strict racial segregation |
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| The Ku Klux Klan was created in the South after the Civil War to fight the social changes that were taking place | |||||
| An example of a counter mvmt is the anti gay rights mvmt which opposes legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation |
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| Other examples of a counter mvmts are the anti feminist mvmt, militant right wing mvmts, Drunks Against Mad Mothers (DAMM), smoker's rights groups, etc. | |||||
| Counter mvmts form to fight social change to return society to the way it was before those changes took place | |||||
| DAMM seeks to relax some of the recent drunk driving laws & penalties & to return people's attitudes to be more accepting of drivers who have a few drinks | |||||
| Some counter mvmts form in opposition to the general culture & structure of society such as the Rainbow Family, or a group is even more loosely organized, hippies | |||||
| A typical counter mvmt are reformative or transformative because they seek to reverse some specific social change that they oppose | |||||
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Almost any transformative mvmt that becomes large & influential generates a counter mvmt (McAdam, McCarthy, & Zald, 1988) |
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Counter mvmts develop among groups whose interests, values, or ways of life are challenged by the original transformation |
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Counter mvmts & trans mvmts often engage in efforts to capture the support of public opinion (McAdam, 1983) |
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Opposing interactions btwn opposing mvmts often become a long term, sustained process in which each mvmt reacts & responds to the actions of the other (Meyer & Staggenborg, 1996) |
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The action - reaction interaction of trans & counter mvmts can be seen in the struggle btwn the pro choice & the pro life mvmts in the abortion debate |
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Redemptive mvmts are social mvmts which seek to rescue individuals from ways of life seen as corrupting |
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Religious mvmts are redemptive mvmts in so far as they concentrate upon personal salvation |
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Religious mvmts are soc mvmts which relate to spiritual or supernatural issues, which oppose or propose alternatives to some aspect of the dominant religious or cultural order |
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| Redemptive mvmts want to create a dramatic change, but only in some individuals' lives | |||||
| The goal of redemptive mvmts is the complete transformation of certain people | |||||
| The target audience of redemptive mvmts is narrow & specific | |||||
| Redemptive mvmts want to totally change the lives of their followers | |||||
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The line btwn a redemptive religious mvmt & a mainstream religion is usually one of institutionalization & general acceptance by society |
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The line btwn a redemptive religious mvmt & a mainstream religion can be seen in any of the mainstream religions today, including Christianity, which were originally opposed by general society, but then became accepted & institutionalized |
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Many redemptive religious mvmts never become accepted by society & either fade away or remain marginal sects or cults |
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| Examples of redemptive social mvmts include any religious mvmts that actively seek converts, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses & certain Christian fundamentalist & Baptist congregations | |||||
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An example of a redemptive mvmt is the Pentecostal sects which propose that individuals' spiritual capacities & development are the true test of their worth (Schwartz, 1970) |
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Redemptive mvmts include many religious sects, & even some relatively institutionalized churches, that nonetheless oppose some element of the dominant religion or culture |
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Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, & Mormons are relatively institutionalized but are not part of mainstream religious mvmts |
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Some redemptive mvmts combine a religious message w/ political protest, such as the Nation of Islam, aka the Black Muslims, the Catholic liberation mvmt in So Am, et al |
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Liberation theology is a redemptive religious mvmt concentrated in Latin Am Catholics |
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Other redemptive mvmts include the Unification Church, aka the Moonies so named after Rev Sung Yun Moon, the Hare Krishnas, & the Scientologists, as well as mvmts w/in major religious orgs such as the Pentecostal mvmt w/in several Protestant denominations & the Catholic Church |
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These groups want to totally transform the lives of the individuals they "save," but the only way to be saved is to join the mvmt |
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Those who join are transformed, but the rest of the population of the world remains unchanged |
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Redemptive mvmts don't want people to change just one set of attitudes or beliefs, they want them to become a part of the group in every way & to take on evangelizing as a way of life |
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Members of redemptive soc mvmts believe they are changing the world one person at a time |
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The Promise Keepers, a religious based, men only mvmt, swept the US in the 90s |
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The Promise Keepers are one of the most recent redemptive mvmt in the US |
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The Promise Keepers transform the lives of those men who paid a fee to learn how to be better Christian husbands | ||||
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Reformative mvmts are soc mvmts whose objective is to achieve some limited reform, change an entire community, & sometimes, but not often, remake the entire society |
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| Reformative mvmts are probably the most common category of social mvmts in American society | |||||
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Reformative mvmts are a type of transformative mvmt |
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Reformative mvmts often concern themselves w/ specific kinds of inequality or injustice |
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A reformative mvmt strives to establish new policy in, for example, the env, foreign affairs, or for a particular racial or ethnic grp |
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A reformative mvmt does not strive to eliminate or remake social institutions |
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| The goal of a reformative mvmt is to change society's attitude about a particular topic or issue | |||||
| Reformative mvmts do not want to destroy or replace the existing order | |||||
| Reformative mvmts want the existing govt, or society in general, to change in some specific way | |||||
| Examples of reformative mvmts include mvmts against racism or anti-abortion groups | |||||
| Reformative mvmts can be progressive, meaning that they seek to make a change, or reactionary, meaning that they seek to resist or reverse a change | |||||
| Reactionary reformative mvmts are counter movements & they usually form immediately after a progressive mvmt has succeeded in creating changes w/in a society | |||||
| An example of a reformative mvmt is Mothers Against Drunk Driving ( MADD ) which began its push against drunk driving in the 1980s & 1990s | |||||
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As a reformative mvmt, MADD sought to change laws & attitudes of law enforcement officials, politicians, & citizens toward drinking & driving |
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MADD succeeded as seen in the increased likelihood of authorities & people in general seeing drunk driving as a major crime rather than a minor infraction |
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The suffrage mvmt, the civil rights mvmt, & the feminist mvmt are progressive reformative mvmts |
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| The suffrage mvmt, the civil rights mvmt, & the feminist mvmt all sought the change of society in one relatively specific area such as women's right to vote, racial discrimination & segregation, or gender discrimination | |||||
| The white supremacy / white separatist movement, the antifeminist movement, & militant right wing mvmts are examples of reactionary reformative or counter mvmts | |||||
| See Also: Counter Mvmts | |||||
| Whether reformative mvmts are reactionary or progressive, they want to create what they call a better society | |||||
| Reformative mvmts believe that one specific change is the key to improving every other aspect of society | |||||
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Revolutionary mvmts are soc mvmts whose objective is to achieve some radical change, & remake the entire, or most of society | ||||
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Revolutionary mvmts are a type of transformative mvmt |
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A revolutionary mvmt hopes to achieve radical change through the elimination of old social institutions & the establishment of new social institutions |
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| Rev soc mvmts want to completely destroy the old social order & replace it w/ a new one | |||||
| The goal of a rev is the total transformation of society by destroying the old govt & replacing all current leaders | |||||
| Rev are the most threatening to existing social order, authority, & power | |||||
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Sometimes revs have specific goals, sometimes only vague utopian dreams | ||||
| Rev is an important example of mass protest operating outside orthodox political channels, but there are other, limited situations in which uprising or outbreaks of social violence occur in the actions of street crowds or mass demonstrations | |||||
| Social mvmts, i.e. loose associations of people working collectively to achieve shared ends, play key roles in revolutions | |||||
| The existence of soc mvmts which receive mass support is a defining characteristic of revolution | |||||
| As w/ any mass action, soc mvmts come into being in many other situations besides those of a rev mvmt | |||||
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See Also: The Forms of Revolution | ||||
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Revolutionary mvmts are rare compared to transformative or reformative mvmts |
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Revolutionary mvmts usually occur when a series of reform mvmts have failed to achieve the objectives they seek |
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There are "militia groups" in the US who believe the fed govt is evil & want to overthrow it |
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The Montana Freemen could be considered rev soc mvmts |
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| Many soc mvmts have actually led to real social & political revs in their society | |||||
| Most revs intend to create a better society by replacing the power structure w/ one based on different principles | |||||
| The nature of revs have changed over time being extremely rare throughout most of history, then occurring sporadically in the early-industrial era, & these becoming plentiful in the industrial age | |||||
| See Also: The History of Rev | |||||
| Many countries have also experienced unsuccessful revolutions, including Chile, Argentina, Hungary, etc. | |||||
| While rare, revolutions do occur & are usually historic in nature as seen in countries as diverse as the US, Russia, France, Cuba, China, Iran, Mexico, Zimbabwe, & the Philippines | |||||
| The English Parliamentary Rev in the 1500 & 1600s, the French anti-monarchist mvmt beginning in the 1700s & continuing through the 1800s, the Russian Rev, the Communist Rev in China, & Fidel Castro's socialist mvmt in Cuba all succeeded in completely destroying the existing power structure & replacing it w/ a new idealized social order | |||||
| Almost all 20th C revs occurred in developing societies such as Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Vietnam, Cuba, & Nicaragua, not in industrial nations (Moore, 1965) | |||||
| The Revolutions that have had the biggest impact for the world in this century were the Russian Rev of 1917, Chinese Rev of 1949, & while the Cuban Rev was less important, it has had a greater impact because of the Cold War & geo-politics | |||||
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Alternative mvmts are soc mvmts whose objective is to bring about change by securing partial change individuals |
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Alt mvmts do not aim to achieve complete alteration in people's habits or lifestyles, but are concerned w/ changing certain specific traits |
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| Alt mvmts want to create change in some peoples thoughts or behavior in specific areas | |||||
| The goal of alt mvmts is to change the way specific groups think about a particular behavior or category of behaviors | |||||
| Alt mvmts are not concerned w/ topics outside of their stated focus | |||||
| Generally alt mvmts are not threatening to the established social order because they only want certain people to change & only in one particular way | |||||
| Just because alt mvmts are not threatening to the established social order does not mean that they cannot be extreme | |||||
| Some alt mvmts are considered mainstream because they are not extreme, while others are considered radical because they advocate extreme change even though that change is limited & applies to only a small group of people | |||||
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Examples of an alt mvmts include Alcoholics Anonymous, the health mvmt, abstinence groups, or any group that is concerned w/ changing one characteristic of people |
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| Orgs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education ( DARE ) Program & Students Against Drugs & Alcohol ( SADA ) exist to keep the young from getting involved w/ drugs & alcohol | |||||
| DARE & SADA aim at one specific segment of the population ( children, teens, & young adults ) & only seek change in one aspect of their behavior & attitudes, those related to drugs & alcohol | |||||
| While DARE is widely accepted in society, groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA ) is not as widely accepted since its agenda is considered to be more radical | |||||
| A typical alt mvmt is not concerned w/ issues outside of their specific focus | |||||
| Neither DARE nor PETA tries to change people's religious beliefs, exercise habits, or dental care practices because they have a specific area of interest & that is where their focus stays | |||||
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| It is in the nature of society, in conflict, that while there is always change, there is also always resistance to change |
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| While people in soc mvmts who seek to change some aspect of society, there are alwys people who do not want the movement to succeed & in fact most soc mvmts are in the minority in that they are foisting change upon the majority of society who either resists or, at the least, is uncommitted & uninvolved |
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| If a majority of participants in society want a change, usually society evolves to that position w/ or w/o the aid of a soc mvmt |
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| The greatest resistence to soc mvmts usually comes from those who benefit from the status quo, or if the mvmt fails |
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| Resistance to a soc mvmt often includes political or social leaders |
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| In the past soc mvmts encountered resistance largely from already organized groups such as big business against the labor mvmt & the KKK against the civil rights mvmt |
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| Today, new soc mvmts such as feminism & the env mvmt must struggle w/ counter mvmt, i.e. mvmts that organize specifically to foil a soc mvmt |
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| Society resists soc mvmts in ways not found w/ other forms of col beh |
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| Revlutionary mvmts meet the greatest reistance but society is also resistant toward some reformative & redemptive mvmts such as the gay marriage mvmt & the polygamous Mormon sects |
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| The greater the change advocated by the goals of the soc mvmt, the greater it goes against the goals of society, the greater the resistance the soc mvmt is likely to encounter |
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| The methods used to resist soc mvmts include ridicule, co-opting, formal social control, violence, & counter mvmts |
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| Ridicule is to laugh at; make fun of; mock, or point out a ridiculous quality of |
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| Ridicule can be effective in resisting a soc mvmt when a mvmts leaders, followers, tactics, & / or goals are belittled |
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| The ridicule lowers the credibility in the eyes of the general public & thus reduces the changes of enrolling any new members |
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| Talk shows, comedians, political cartoonists, commentators, opposition leaders & members may ridicule soc mvmt leaders |
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| Ridicule may make the leader look like a buffoon, or a greedy manipulator, may make the participants look like mindless fools, or make goals look unrealistic, trivial, foolish, or short-sighted |
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| All of the techniques or ridicule & resistance serve to disarm the soc mvmt & make it less effective in achieving its goals |
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| Ridicule, as opposed to serious discussion, has the advantage that it appeals to emotions & distracts the general public from looking at the real issues |
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| Because ridicule is non-logically, emotionally based, it does not have the test of truth in that who can argue w/ the accusation that they are a buffoon? or that their goals are just plain silly? etc. |
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| Soc mvmts & politicians in general often use ridicule to achieve their goals |
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| Leaders of parties, soc mvmts, campaigns, etc. often ridicule each other |
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| Ridicule, emotional attacks, arguments that cannot be truth tested are easiest to notice when reading any publication that caters to a particular political orientation because, in effect, "they are preaching to the choir" |
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| Ridicule in particularly prevalent in newsletters published by counter mvmts, on talk shows, etc. |
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| Participants in the soc mvmt who are exposed to the ridicule then pass it on to the general public |
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| To "co-opt" means to commandeer, to take over & secure for oneself for one's own purposes or to lure an opponent to one's own side |
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| In soc mvmts, an established, relatively powerful group or org neutralizes a soc mvmt org through what looks like cooperation, but is unequal cooperation |
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| Co-optation is a common form of organizational change as delineated in a famous study by Phillip Selznick on the TVA & various orgs in it's network |
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| See Also: The TVA & Organizational Co-optation | |||||
| Co-optation can be accomplished in THREE ways, by either forming a group w/ a similar name & purpose, or by tempting leaders & members to join a new group, or my "infiltrating" the group & diverting or watering down its goals, or effectiveness |
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| A. A group can form an org w/ a similar name & similar goals to the soc mvmt it hopes to co-opt |
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| Forming a similar group can confuse the public, who confuses statements coming from both groups |
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| For example, manufacturers have formed orgs like the So Cal Air Quality Alliance & the Am Crop Protection Assoc. |
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| The Western Fuels Assoc., a group of electricity & utility firms formed the Greener Earth society |
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| The Greener Earth Society furthers the notion that CO2 does not cause global warming & are actually good for the env |
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| The names of these groups create the impression that they are part of the env mvmt when they are part of the resistance to the env mvmt |
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| B. Co-opting can be done by convincing leaders to quit or to join the opposition |
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| Leaders of soc mvmts may be driven by righteousness, but they may also seek wealth, fame, glory, power, etc. |
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| Leaders whose goals are less than righteous are often persuaded to join the opposition through offers of money, high-status jobs, etc. |
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| Leaders may even be convinced that they will be able to do more good working w/in the system than against it | |||||
| Either way, the credibility of the leader & their soc mvmt is often harmed | |||||
| Candy Lightner founded MADD but later accepted a job for a lobbying firm that worked for the Am Beverage Institute | |||||
| C. Co-opting can be done by infiltrating the movement w/ new members in the hopes of diverting goals or decreasing effectiveness | |||||
| Co-opting members may actually be sympathetic to the opposition & effectively be 'traitors' or 'spies' | |||||
| Co-opting members may actually be sympathetic to the the group they are infiltrating but believe in less radical, i.e. more moderate goals, & hope to shift the mvmt to more of a compromise strategy | |||||
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| - Project: Co-optation in Everyday Life |
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| Co-optation is a common method of launching a attack against a soc mvmt is through co-optation | |||||
| See Also: Resistance to Soc Mvmts | |||||
| Philip Selznick wrote the book TVA and the Grass Roots (1966) which clearly defined the process of organizational co-optation |
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| The TVA Act, 1933, creates a govt agency w/ responsibility for the TN Valley & thus the project is run by neither local, state, nor fed jurisdiction |
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| The TVA had a hierarchy of Goals / Responsibilities including...
- flood control & navigation - providing electricity - developing nitrate properties, that is, fertilizer |
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| The TVA was to be decentralized in that decisions were to be made at the grass roots level, i.e. local orgs & citizens were to participate in decision-making |
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| Co-optation & the TVA |
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| Co-opting is the 'Process of absorbing new elements into leadership or policy-determining structure of an org as a means of averting threats to its stability or existence' |
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| Co-optation is a two way process where the org itself is changed & it changes it's environment, including other orgs |
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| The org itself (TVA) is affected by the new elements |
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| The TVA was co-opted (diverted) from it's major goals of recreation, forestry, & farm oriented goals |
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| But the TVA affected, co-opted, the local bodies' & individual's goals in return |
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| Often inclusion of one grp meant the exclusion of another |
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| Co-optation occurred when particular groups, i.e. the ag extension service, the land-grant colleges, & the Am Farm Bureau Federation gained power, & the black colleges, the non-farm bureaus, & other fed govt farm programs lost power |
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| Co-optation is not cooperation in that these orgs should have all worked together |
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| Orgs are geared to self-preservation & one way they do this is by controlling their env, & other orgs are part of the env |
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| The control other orgs in an organizational network is a type of control of the env & thus co-optation is a type of control | |||||
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Thus an org designed to be a change agent can do that, but often change occurs in unforeseen ways | ||||
| The TVA worked w/ some other govt orgs, & worked against many others | |||||
| TVA outcomes: | |||||
| The farmers who were better-off to begin w/ got more aid than before while the farmers who were less well-off to begin w/ got less aid | |||||
| Recreation areas were given over to private businesses which emphasized profit over preservation | |||||
| Forests were logged | |||||
| The TVA got cooperation on flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer run-off from formerly reluctant orgs | |||||
| Selznick concludes that such an accommodation was the only feasible one: it helped save the major programs | |||||
| The TVA was co-opted to give up control of aid programs, recreation programs, logging programs & more in exchange for flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer run-off from formerly reluctant orgs | |||||
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LEGITIMATE FORCE |
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| Social mvmts or any individual, group, or org that is pushing for soc change often meets resistance from existing social agents |
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| Change agents & mere deviants want changes or the freedom that social & political leaders do not want |
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| The methods of formal social control include legitimate force, law & ordinances, & informal sanctions |
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| Legitimate force is the force yielded by police, national guard, the army, etc. |
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| The police et al can be ordered to use legitimate force to quell any public activity |
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| As long as the force is not blatantly excessive, most citizens will not question the tactic of the police et al using legitimate force |
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| Social control agents can use force legitimately, but any force on the part of social mvmt members will be perceived as illegitimate |
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| Police can physically push protesters out of a park, but protesters cannot legitimately push the police at all |
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| Authorities use of force is seen as legitimate as long as it stays w/in certain bounds allowing appointed officials to use the police & other agents of control, w/in limits, for their own purposes |
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| LAWS & ORDINANCES |
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| The most common use of social control is not physical, it is the norms of laws & ordinances |
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Leaders of soc mvmts & other deviants are often arrested for minor crimes that usually would not result in arrest for the average citizens |
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Public nuisance & disturbance laws, noise ordinances, & loitering laws are applied selectively against soc mvmt leaders, members, deviants or whomever authorities target |
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Jaywalking laws are rarely enforced in normal life, but may be used against protesters, street people or other deviants |
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Cities pass ordinances again signs in particular areas, limiting the number of people as a group on sidewalks, etc. | ||||
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Obscure fire codes may be used to shut down a soc mvmts headquarters |
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| Any soc mvmt, deviant, or other social actor that the authorities do not like will likely find itself the target of all of these tactics & more | |||||
| The authorities technically do not violate any laws when they use this kind of tactic against anyone, but many argue that they are violating the spirit of the law & are exercising an abuse of power | |||||
| It is difficult or a soc mvmt to maintain momentum when it must worry about harassment from law enforcement officers & state prosecuting attorneys | |||||
| Such harassment can even bring the participants of a soc mvmt closer together & increase their passion | |||||
| Constant legal harassment makes it difficult for members of the mvmt to get anything done | |||||
| Ideally all groups would receive equal protection under the law but in reality groups that upset or anger social control agents are likely to receive little or know protection & face a great deal of harassment, resistance, & even imprisonment | |||||
| Physical violence is the most extreme form of resistance to deviance, including soc mvmts |
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| See Also: Violence | |||||
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| Violence is the most extreme form of social control |
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| Violence is frequently used as resistance to soc mvmts & deviance in general or anyone or any group or org that goes against the norms of society |
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| Violence here must be distinguished from legitimate force which is violence, legally implemented by the police, military, or other authority of the state |
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| Violence must be understood as being "illegitimate" when the state, i.e. society does not sanction it; violence is force carried out unofficially by members of a society |
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| In the sociological sense, violence must be understood as being "informal or formal" |
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| Informal violence is perpetrated by individuals operating on their own or by relatively small informal groups such as a mob, or a lynch mob |
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| Formal violence is perpetrated by individuals, groups, orgs, etc. who operate as part of an org that is not sanctioned by the state, but may be tolerated by the state, e.g. the KKK |
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| Violence against soc mvmt leaders, deviants, or others who are going against the mainstream of society is all to common |
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| Violence by the state should be, & usually is the last resort while violence is all too often a first line of defense against, soc mvmt leaders & members, deviants, etc. |
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| When an individual decides that abortion is murder, & they see that the state is not punishing the abortionists, their logic may be to take the law into their own hands in the form of violence |
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| When an org sees gay marriage as a threat to society, & sees the state not preventing it, their logic may may to take the law into their own hands in the form of violence |
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| In the past 20 yrs. several pro-life individuals have killed, injured, or attempted to kill doctors, nurses & women who are involved w/ abortion |
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| The use of violence as intimidation is a typical rationale for those who try to resist soc mvmts |
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| Blacks were often lynched by white mobs in w/ the goal of scaring all blacks into submission of Jim Crow laws |
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See Also: The KKK | ||||
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Pogroms, violent riots of intimidation are the most extreme form of violence against soc mvmts & deviants, lynchings & assassinations are the next most extreme, & beatings & threats re the least extreme but much more common | ||||
| Sometimes violence is part of an organized effort, formalized violence, from a countermvmt such as the KKK or the Pinkertons | |||||
| The KKK, the White Citizens' Council, et al have perpetrated formalized, organized violence against blacks, & a few whites, to resist the social change of increased civil rights for blacks & others for over 100 yrs. | |||||
| Informal violence can be carried out by authorities who operate outside of the bounds of the law | |||||
| See Also: Police Corruption | |||||
| Many people in the early labor mvmt & the civil rights mvmt experienced undue force at the hands of the authorities, & it still happens today | |||||
| In May of 1970, the National Guard shot thirteen anit-war protesters at Kent State, Ohio & four died | |||||
| An investigation tried to determine if this was a legitimate or illegitimate use of force in that none of the rioters were armed, but public property was being destroyed, but not by these students | |||||
| Illegitimate violence is less common in the US than some other nations | |||||
| While video & legitimate witnesses have made the use of illegitimate violence less common, it still occurs | |||||
| Violence is more likely to occur where there is less democracy & human rights | |||||
| In Tiananmen Square in 1989, Chinese troops killed dissidents | |||||
| Salaam Hussein gassed Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s | |||||
| Stalin sent millions of people to their deaths in the gulags in the SU in the 1920s & on | |||||
| The goals of individuals, countermvmts, authorities who use legit or illegit force, informal or formal violence are the same when they use violence: to resist a soc mvmt, a deviant, or anyone going against the norms of society, to intimidate them, or to punish or kill them & eliminate the threat | |||||
| When violence becomes wide-spread, & organized or sanctioned by the state, it may be thought of as terrorism or state terrorism | |||||
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| - Project: How Has a Soc Mvmt Affected Your Life? |
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| - Project: The Types & Importance of Social Movements |
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| Soc mvmts can influence history, the way individuals live, societies live, & even world events |
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| Soc mvmts that become large orgs, or institutions are the instrument through which people, groups, orgs, nations influence other people, groups, orgs, nations |
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| Soc mvmts have even destroyed societies |
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| The Prohibition Mvmt got alcohol totally outlawed in the US from 1920 to 1933 |
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| The Nazi mvmt in Germany began as a workers' soc mvmt & led to the destruction of much of Europe |
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| MADD led the fight against drunk driving & has impacted much of the US adult entertainment industry, the alcohol industry, the police, & all of the drinking public |
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| When a soc mvmt sweeps through society, it tends to influence the judgment & perceptions of many people |
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| W/o soc mvmts, change would be much more gradual & more in the control of the elites |
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| Prior to the modern era, most soc change occurred only at the behest of the elites as seen in the history of feudal Europe, ancient China, & Rome where change came in the the form of new leaders, leaving life much the same for the masses |
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| Soc mvmts have increased the ability of the people to foment change in their own society by several factors |
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| The importance of soc mvmts is recognized in the US Constitution in the Bill of Rights in the right of assembly, the right to free speech, the right to a free press, & more; & these rights have been modeled by many other model democracies |
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| While all people have the right to vote in a democratic society, elected officials do not always do what people want them to |
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| The labor, civil rights & other mvmts show that public authorities can be mean-spirited, shortsighted, or just plain stupid |
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| Gov Wallace lied to Pres Eisenhower about his true intentions on desegregation & he ordered the state Nat Guard to block school doors |
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Soc mvmts make it possible for citizens to change policies created by dictators, elected officials, elites & others in power | ||||
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Before the advent of soc mvmts, the masses of people had proportionally little power | ||||
| See Also: The History of Soc Mvmts | |||||
| Not all soc mvmts create "positive change" for the positiveness or negativeness of a given change must always be determined in light of the predominant norms of society; never-the-less, some changes lead toward greater freedom & democracy, such as the civil rights movement, some lead towards less as w/ the Nazi mvmt, & the positiveness of some are still in debate today as in the labor mvmt, the feminist mvmt, & the env mvmt | |||||
| Some mvmts are trying to better society while others are trying to exclude others from opportunities or liberties & some just want to change things back to the way they believe they used to be | |||||
| The importance of soc mvmts is in many ways similar to the importance of orgs & bureaucracy in that all of these social entities allow individuals to have a voice, exert power, & change history, demonstrating the synergy of collective behavior | |||||
| An old proverb holds that 10 sticks bundled together are stronger than 100 sticks that are not | |||||
| In soc mvmts, grps, orgs, bureaucracy we see that the whole is greater than the sum of its part | |||||
| See Also: The Importance of Orgs in Society | |||||
| Soc mvmts are important because as seen in the history of soc mvmts, soc mvmts are nascent societal institutions, i.e. soc institutions such as the media, ed, rec, religion, etc. all begin as soc mvmts & then become accepted parts of society, & eventually become routinized & institutionalized | |||||
| Soc mvmts are important because they allow people on the bottom of the stratification system to collectively exert more power & influence in society than their status & class positions would normally allow | |||||
| Soc mvmts are important simply because they are a tool for social change | |||||
| Soc mvmts are an effective balance to the power of govt; they are a conduit through which power, info etc. can be channeled to govt so that a public debate can occur on the merits of the proposed change | |||||
| If the media is the "fourth estate" of a democracy, i.e. the fouth branch of governance, then soc mvmts are a "fifth estate" in that it would impossible for society to effectively function if soc mvmts were suppressed | |||||
| The fourth estate is a name often given to the newspaper / media profession | |||||
| Among the members of the fourth estate are those who gather, write, & edit the news for the press | |||||
| Some people use the term to refer to journalists in all news media | |||||
| The phrase fourth estate is believed to have first been used in writing by Thomas Babington Macaulay | |||||
| In 1828, he wrote in an essay that "the gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm" | |||||
| Macaulay was adding a term to those already used for the three estates, or classes, of the English realm | |||||
| These were lords spiritual, lords temporal, & commons | |||||
| The three estates later came to stand for govt, while reference to a fourth estate described any other influential body in English political life, such as the army or the press | |||||
| Soc mvmts serve as "watch dogs" on the govt & the media, each focusing on its own area of expertise | |||||
| Soc mvmts are valuable sources of info & constituents for both the govt & media | |||||
The End
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