4th Quiz

Social movement organization

(a single social movement group) within the social movement sector is competing for your attention, your time, and your resources.

Social reform

A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements.

Exurb

As the suburbs became more crowded and lost their charm, those who could afford it turned to the exurbs

Social change

Collective behavior and social movements are just two of the forces driving social change, which is the change in society created through social movements as well as external factors like environmental shifts or technological innovations.

Acting

Focus on a specific goal or action, such as a protest movement or riot.

Preliminary stage

Later sociologists studied the lifecycle of social movements—how they emerge, grow, and in some cases, die out. Blumer (1969) and Tilly (1978) outline a four-stage process. In the preliminary stage, people become aware of an issue and leaders emerge. This is followed by the coalescence stage when people join together and organize in order to publicize the issue and raise awareness. In the institutionalization stage, the movement no longer requires grassroots volunteerism: it is an established organization, typically peopled with a paid staff. When people fall away, adopt a new movement, the movement successfully brings about the change it sought, or people no longer take the issue seriously, the movement falls into the decline stage. Each social movement discussed earlier belongs in one of these four stages. Where would you put them on the list?

Crowd

People who exist in the same place at the same time, but who do not interact or share a sense of identity—such as a bunch of people standing in line at Starbucks—are considered an aggregate, or a crowd.

Climate change

Refers to long-term shifts in temperatures due to human activity and, in particular, the release of greenhouse gases into the environment.

Suburbs

Suburbs are the communities surrounding cities, typically close enough for a daily commute in, but far enough away to allow for more space than city living affords.

Institutionalization stage

The movement no longer requires grassroots volunteerism: it is an established organization, typically peopled with a paid staff.

Metropolis

Together, the suburbs, exurbs, and metropolitan areas all combine to form a metropolis.

Decline stage

When people fall away, adopt a new movement, the movement successfully brings about the change it sought, or people no longer take the issue seriously, the movement falls into the decline stage.

Frame alignment process

With so many similar diagnostic frames, some groups find it best to join together to maximize their impact. When social movements link their goals to the goals of other social movements and merge into a single group, a frame alignment process (Snow et al. 1986) occurs—an ongoing and intentional means of recruiting participants to the movement.

Flash mob

a large group of people who gather together in a spontaneous activity that lasts a limited amount of time before returning to their regular routines.

mass

a relatively large number of people with a common interest, though they may not be in close proximity (Lofland 1993), such as players of the popular Facebook game Farmville.

Public crowd

an unorganized, relatively diffused group of people who share ideas, such as the Libertarian political party.

Expressive crowd

are people who join together to express emotion, often at funerals, weddings, or the like.

Social movement

are purposeful, organized groups striving to work toward a common social goal.

Casual crowds

consist of people who are in the same place at the same time, but who aren't really interacting, such as people standing in line at the post office.

Pollution

describes when contaminants are introduced into an environment (water, air, land) at levels that are damaging.

Megalopolis

huge urban corridor encompassing multiple cities and their surrounding suburbs.

Human ecology

is a functionalist field of study that focuses on the relationship between people and their built and natural physical environments (Park 1915).

E-waste

is the name for obsolete, broken, and worn-out electronics—from computers to mobile phones to televisions.

Collective behavior

non-institutionalized activity in which several people voluntarily engage.

NIMBY

or Not in My Back Yard, is the name for a movement of engaged citizens who are mostly protesting something objectionable that will happen to them, rather than its existence at all.

Gentrification

refers to members of the middle and upper classes entering city areas that have been historically less affluent and renovating properties while the poor urban underclass are forced by resulting price pressures to leave those neighborhoods. This practice is widespread and the lower class is pushed into increasingly decaying portions of the city.

White flight

refers to the migration of economically secure white people from racially mixed urban areas toward the suburbs.

Environmental racism

refers to the way in which minority group neighborhoods (populated primarily by people of color and members of low socioeconomic groups) are burdened with a disproportionate number of hazards, including toxic waste facilities, garbage dumps, and other sources of environmental pollution and foul odors that lower the quality of life.

Environmental sociology

studies how humans interact with their environments.

Modernization

the process of adapting something to modern needs or habits.

Urban sociology

the study of the social, political, and economic relationships in cities, and someone specializing in urban sociology would study those relationships.

Coalescence stage

when people join together and organize in order to publicize the issue and raise awareness.