Chapter 15
Social Change Social Movements The Environment 1
NYC Mosque Protest
This chapter asks you to start taking what you have learned and apply it to your life / the world around you. Sociology is not a bunch of vocab words in a text book; it is a way to look at and understand the world.
People in Egypt Protest then President Hosni Mubarak
Damaged Japanese nuclear reactor hit by the tsunami
Social Change:
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A shift in the characteristics of culture and society.
Social Change • Is a recurring theme throughout this semester: – Religion - Civil Rights (MLK) – Education – – Gender – Role of women (1920 right to vote) – Kent State –
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId= 126423778
– Social Change DOES NOT “JUST HAPPEN” 4
How Social Change Transforms Social Life Four Social Revolutions 1- Domestication of Plants and Animals (Nice Doggie)
2- From Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft (The Plow: Agricultural to Industrial Society)
3- Capitalism, Modernization, and Industrialization (The Steam Engine: Antagonistic relationship between workers and owners)
4-Conflict, Power, and Global Politics 5 Systems Theory) (The Micro-Chip: G-7, United Nations, World Bank, World
4 Theories that Explain Social Change
• Cultural Evolution
• Natural Cycles • Conflict over Power • Ogburn (Technology) 6
This table should be interpreted as “More” or “Less” rather than “Either / Or”
Conflict, Power, And Global Politics •
In our fast pace world we pay most attention to changes that directly affect our own lives or that make headlines.
• Mostly hidden out of sight- is one of the most significant changes of all. The shifting arrangements of power among Nations. • When technology changes, societies change • Colonialism – by the 16th century nations with most advanced technology exploited others to become rich. – G7 plus = Triadic division of the glob (Japan centered East), Germany/France centered Europe, U.S. centered Western hemisphere). – Canada, France, Great Britain, and Italy form G7 + Russia = G8. This group of nations sets policies to guide global economic affairs= goal is to continue global dominance.
Conflict, Power, And Global Politics • For Global Control, the Most Industrialized Nations require political and economic stability, both in their own backyards and in those countries that provide the raw materials essential for their industrial machine. With this idea in mind‌ why do you thing the U.S. was so interested in political issues of Kuwait, Iraq and Libya?
Cultural Evolution Natural Cycles Conflict Over Power Ogburn’s Theory
THEORIES AND PROCESSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
• Evolution can be Uni-linear (all societies follow the same path) or • Or Multi-linear (different routes lead to the same stage of development) • Tribal societies are assumed to have a primitive form of human culture
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• These theories have been rejected by sociologist because they assume that all societies follow the same path from simple to more complex or they make value judgments about diversity.
Natural Cycles • Civilizations are like organisms: They are born, come to maturity, then decline as they reach old age, and finally die. • Historical examples include: Egypt, Greece and Rome • Each civilization faces challenges to its existence • Oswald Spengler The Decline of the West Proposed that Western civilization has passed its peak and is on the decline. 1 2
• Civilizations don’t end in sudden collapse, decline can last hundreds of years
Conflict Over Power • Marx believed that each thesis (a current arrangement of power) contains its own antithesis (contradiction or opposition) • Dialectical processEach ruling group sows the seeds of its own destruction. 1 3
• Social change happens by 3 processes: & is based largely on technology 1) Invention – combining of existing elements and materials to form new ones
I died in 1959
2) Discovery – a new way of seeing reality 3) Diffusion – the spread of invention or discovery from one area to another can have extensive effects on people’s lives. (e.g. Columbus and rats / disease or Missionaries introducing axes to Australian Aborigines)
• Cultural lag – some elements of a culture lag behind the changes that come from invention, discovery, and diffusion 1 4
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How Technology Changes Society ď‚— Technology is: 1. The tools and the skills needed to make and use those tools 2. The skills or procedures needed to make and use tools
In postindustrial societies it greatly extends our abilities to communicate, to travel, and to analyze information.
The social significance of technology is not the apparatus but how technology changes our way of life.
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Cutting Edge of Change: Computers Changes to Many Social Areas
Reservations
Computers in Education – Distance Learning is becoming very popular in college
• Big Brother – people worry about their identity being stolen
Computers in Business and Finance – Businesses are wired to suppliers, salespeople, and clients around the country Changes in Warfare
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• Social Inequality – Computer technology could cause social inequalities between those who have the technology and those who don’t have the resources to obtain the technology
as a Political Weapon • Changes in technology allow people to connect and communicate.. Even get around government censors to organize mass protest and share pictures/ information with the rest of the world. – Examples: 2009 Iran protest of Election Fraud – 2011 Egypt, Libya, and The Jasmine Revolution Twitter blocked in China. “The Great Firewall of China” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/points-east/tweettwitter-blocked-in-china/article1164656/
2nd Wave Feminist Movement 1968
Vietnam War Protest 1969
A source of Social Change
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 1 9
Social Movements Social Movements - People Organizing to Promote or Resist Social Change Proactive Social Movements – some find a particular condition of society intolerable and the goal is to promote social change Reactive Social Movements – Some feel threatened because some condition of society is changing and they react to resist that change
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• Alternative Social Movement – seek only to alter some specific behavior (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union = Prohibition = No Alcohol) – http://www.wctu.org/
• Redemptive Social Movement – targets individuals but the goal is total change (e.g. Religious social movement that stresses conversion) • Reformative Social Movement – the goal is to reform some specific aspect of society (e.g. animal rights groups) • http://www.peta.org/
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Types of Social Movements Transformative Social Movement – seek to reform the social order itself (e.g. Revolutions)
Transnational Social Movement – wants to change some specific condition that cuts across societies (e.g. Woman's movement, environmental movement)
Metaformative Social Movement – wants to change the social order itself (e.g. Islamic fundamentalism) 2 2
Figure 15.2 Types of Social Movements Sources: The first four types are from Aberle 1966; the last two are by the author
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Examples of Social Movements: Critical Mass bike lift 2006 Budapest, Hungary
http://critical-mass.info/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20wxY-Obc7o
http://criticalmass.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_rides
Iran demonstrator s take to the streets to protest the results of the June 12th 2009 election. 2 4
Tiananmen Square 1989
Examples in: Literature, Art & Graffiti Influential protest literature : For example, Upton Sinclair's 1906 meatpacking industry exposĂŠ "The Jungle"
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Picasso's mural "Guernica" was his depiction of the Nazi German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War
Sydney Opera House 2003
Examples: Martyrdom
Historically, example of the noble torture victim appears in various cultures, from Native American tales to European Christian martyrs. Note: Unlike suicide terrorists, who give their life to take the lives of others, these individual protesters place only their own life on the altar of their cause.
Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, serenely posed in meditation on a Saigon street as the flames roll over his flesh- (1963, Vietnam) 2 6
Self sacrifice advances a cause in 2 ways. First, it makes a powerful statement about the severity of the situation. Second, it further ingrains the importance of the cause to its supporters
• The leaders of social movements try to manipulate the mass media to influence public opinion • Propaganda is the presentation of information in an attempt to influence people • The mass media are the gatekeepers to social movements and can sway people’s views on a particular topic • Sociology Sensitizes us to Multiple Realties for any topic there are competing points of view. 2 7
7 Techniques of Propaganda
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• • • • • • • •
Name Calling Glittering generality Transfer Testimonials Plain Folks Card Stacking Bandwagon (See Page 419)
Stages of Social Movements (Just like Religious Organizations, Social Movements have stages too…)
Initial Unrest and Agitation
Resource Mobilization Organization Institutionalization
Organizational Decline or Resurgence 29
• Globalization of Capitalism = Underlying today’s environmental decay. • Global economic production creates extensive pollution • Industrialized Nations = Slogan “Growth at any cost”
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“ In short, the ecological message is incompatible with an economic message that implies it is OK to rape the earth for the sake of profits” (p. 422).
Environmental Problems • Sustainable environment = a world system in which we use our physical environment to meet our needs without destroying humanity's future. Fossil Fuels – burning fossil fuels to run factories, motorized vehicles, and power plants has been especially harmful.
Greenhouse effect – burning fossil fuels releases gases allow sunlight to enter the earth’s atmosphere but inhibit the release of heat
• Acid Rain – Burning fossil fuels releases sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which react with moisture in are to become sulfuric and nitric acids
Environmental Problems
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12645522 5
South Korea December 11, 2007
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Environmental Problems • Global Warming – the buildup of heat causes global warming Environmental Justice – the minorities and the poor suffer the most from the effects of pollution as many toxic plants are located in the areas where they live Where is the landfill built?
Pollution: China pre-Olympics http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12638588
Disasters: Chernobyl http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/04/26/126281705/chernobyl http://www.afterchernobyl.com/
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The Worst Hazardous Waste Sites Note: These are the waste sites so outstandingly threatening to public health that they made the national priority list. New Jersey is in a class by itself. This small state has 20 more hazardous waste sites than its nearest competitor, Pennsylvania, with 96. .
The most industrialized Nations have become major polluters There is a lack of environmental laws in some of the Least Industrialized Nations and as a result chemicals can be produced that are outlawed elsewhere Basic concern of workers in least-industrialized nations is that they provide food for their families first and worry about environment later.
Rain forests – they have been destroyed and are essential for humanity’s welfare 3 5
Environmental Movement Rise of Green Parties – political parties whose central issue is the environment •
http://www.gp.org/index.php
Seek solutions in politics, education, and legislation Ecosabotage: Actions taken to sabotage the efforts of people who are thought to be legally harming the environment. Many are willing to break the law and go to jail for their actions
http://www.earthfirst.org/ http://ruckus.org/ http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/
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Video Clip
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Life “Off the Grid� "The grid" is a common name for the power grid-- the linked system that delivers electricity to the masses. A typical house is connected to power, natural gas, water and telephone lines. Going off the grid means shunning these public utilities in favor of creating your own energy. Some homeowners choose to be partially off the grid by supplying their own electricity and ditching their phone line, while relying on the convenience of city water and sewage. Others choose to live completely off-grid by digging wells or using a cistern system to collect water. A septic tank takes care of the sewage and, just like that, no more water bill
Video
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Environmental Sociology ď‚— Main Assumptions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Physical Environment a Variable in Sociological Investigation Humans One Species Among Many Human Actions have Unintended Consequences The World is Finite Economic expansion requires increased extraction from the environment Increased extraction of resources leads to ecological problems These problems place limits of ecological expansion Governments create problems by encouraging the accumulation of capital For the welfare of humanity, environmental problems must be solved. 39
Environmental Sociology Technology and the Environment: The Goal of Harmony Abuse of Environment Not Inevitable
Must Discover Ways to Reduce or Eliminate Harm to the Environment Controlled industrialization can enhance our quality of life; uncontrolled, it will destroy us. 40
“To understate the
matter, the Destruction of Our Planet is an Unwise Choice”
(Henslin, 2009, p. 447)
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