Social Movements and Social Change

Social Movements and Social Change Social Change: Modern and Postmodern Societies • Why do societies change? • How do social movements both encourage and resist social change? Social Change • Social change : the transformation of culture and social institution over time • Social change happens all the time – Society is not static. • Social change can be planned or unplanned • Social change is spurred by many different things, including changes in Demographics/Population, Technological advancement, inventions, diffusion of culture, the environment (ex. disasters) and also Social Movements • It’s often controversial/often people resist change.  Why might people resist change? Theories of Social Change • Structural functionalist perspective o Society as a well-oil machine • Social Conflict perspective o Society as a place of competition o Inequality and conflict within a society also produce change o Symbolic interaction perspective o Society is made up of millions of micro-interactions o Emergent norm theory asserts that, in this circumstance, people perceive and respond to the crowd situation with their particular (individual) set of norms, which may change as the crowd experience evolves. This focus on the individual component of interaction reflects a symbolic interactionist perspective. Social movements • Also called Collective Behavior; stems from the notion that social change comes from the actions of human beings • Groups of people who organize to act for change who seemingly might be powerless as individuals • Occur on local, national, or global scales  Seek to bring awareness to discrimination & injustices in society • Crowds Include : • Casual crowds consist of people who are in the same place at the same time, but who are not really interacting, such as people standing in line at the post office. • Conventional crowds are those who come together for a scheduled event, like a religious service or rock concert. • Expressive crowds are people who join together to express emotion, often at funerals, weddings, or the like. • Acting crowds , focus on a specific goal or action, such as a protest movement or riot. o Examples  Civil Rights  Feminist movement/Women’s Rights  Disability Rights  LGTBQ Rights  Environmental movement  Anti-war movement  Animal rights  Anti-circumcision movement  Pro-life or Pro-choice movements  Tea Party movement  Occupy movement  Sex education mvmt  Organic food mvmt  Fair trade mvmt  Immigrant Rights Types of Social Movements • Large Scale Change o Reformative social movements  Aim for limited change but target everyone o Revolutionary social movements  Most extreme  Working for major transformation of an entire society o Smaller Scale Change (Directed toward individuals)  Alternative social movements  The least threatening to the status quo because they seek limited change o Redemptive social movements  Target specific individuals and seek more radical change Social Movements Stages • Emergence (preliminary stage) • Coalescence • Bureaucratization/Institutionalization • Decline *Much of a SM’s success has to do with resources and support From the bottom up! Social movements • Resource Mobilization: acquiring both the assets and the know-how to use them to advance the goal of eradicating the social problem o Money from fundraising o Human power from recruitment Claims Making • The process of trying to convince the public and public officials of the importance of joining a social movement to address a particular issue • For a social movement to form, some issue has to be defined as a problem that demands public attention Claims making and Framing • Claims makers need to tailor their claims to a specific audience, thus “Framing” the argument. o Diagnostic framing: Providing the ground for concern: Giving information and evidence, assertions of fact about the troubling issue o Prognostic framing: Recommends changes, new policy: How to help the victims or protect society o Motivational framing: Appeals to values and emotions: A call to action, we need to do something about this now! Explaining Social Movements • New social movements theory o Points out distinctive character of recent social movements (post 1960’s) in postindustrial societies o Need to understand movements as they relate to current politics, identity, and culture.  There are many more kinds of social movements than in the past  Movements are typically national or international in scope and focus on quality of life issues (i.e. human rights) rather than solely about labor or economics  Examples: Feminist movement, Peace movement, Gay Rights movement, Environmental movement Modernity • Modernization happens as a result of Social Change • Modern societies often bring with them: o The decline of small, traditional communities o The expansion of personal choice o Increasing social diversity o Orientation toward the future and a growing awareness of time • Must be careful of ethnocentric bias that assumes modern societies are better