Sociology Test 6
Emergent Norm Theory (dynamic exchanges) - Sociological Approach to Collective Behaviour
- Emergent norm theory views crowd behaviour as neither irational (as contagion theory asserts) nor deliberate (as convergence theory argues) but rather as the result of dynamic exchanges between participants. -Therefore, the group's actions are influenced by eisting norms and values but open to new norms should the group believe they are neccessary - However critics point out that the theory has limited ability to predict hwo groups wil behave because they are so many variables at work
Contagion Theory (irrational) -Sociological Approach to Collective Behaviour
- French sociologist Gustave Le Bon was the first to apply social psychology principles to undertand why people behave in differently when they are in groups that when they are alone - The theory's basic assumption is that the group exerts a powerful influence on the individual - Argues that when people gather in crowds, an indivudal loses his or her conscious personality and has it replaced by an uncilvized and barbaric "collecive mind" - Argues the irrationality of the crowd was contagious and created a type of excitement believed that the irratioanlity of the crowd was contagious and created a type of excitement that was similar to a hypnotic effect Three Contemplentary Factors: anonymity (people have to feel that they are lost within the group), suggestiblity (anonymity makes people more suggestible to the collective will) and contagion (with the other two factors present, it becomes increasingly likely that "mindless" emotional activity will spread through the group)
Neoevolutionary Theory
- Gerhard Lenski highlight the role of technology in assisting human beings with their subsistence needs -Argues that social change is multilinear, continuous, and fluid
Globalization and Inequality
- Globalization has created massive wealth in parts of the world and crushing poverty in others - The incomes of the world's richest 85 people combined are greater than the incomes of the poo rest 3.4 billion people combined International Labour Organization Report 2013: - 375 million workers earned less than $1.25 a day - 839 million (almost 28% of all workers) earned less tan $2.00 a day - 5 out of 10 people are in vulnerable employment situations 5 out of 10 workers live in poverty
Governments (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Governments with strong political leadership can mobilize large-scale efforts to alter the character of a society i.e. health care reform, human rights leglisation
Social Movements
- Highly structured, rational and enduring form of collective behaviour - Established to stimulate change Four Characteristics of those who Participate in Social Movements 1. They have a shared common identity 2. They act at least partly outside of traditional political institutions and use protest as one of their primary forms of action 3. They rely on non-institutionalized networks of interaction 4. They reject or challenge dominant forms of power
Ideas (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Ideas have the power to inspire social change i.e. Enlightenment ideals: free will, evolution, democracy and freedom
Economic Competition (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Industrial Powerhouses i.e. the emergence of China and India as industrial powerhouses has led to a reordering of global capitalism -Competition can inspire innovation and progressive social change, but it can also create very clear winners and losers
Rumour Type 1: Gossip
- Intimate and personal comunication meant to be entertaining and enjoyable. -While gossip is intended be an enjorable sharin gof everyday information, ruumours help to explain and provide meaning to ambigious situations
New Social Movements
- Originated during the social uprisings of the 1960s. - New social movements, including environmental, peace, feminist, gay and civil rights initiatives, were seen as distinct from old social movements, such as trade union and labour movements and as representing a distinctly North America approach. - More globally focused than
Modernization Theory
- Proposes strategies for economic growth and political stability - Assertion that since industrialized nations are doing so well, poor countries should naturally want to be like the -Argue modernization is an inevitable, irreversible, and linear process from traditional to modern society - The intent of modernization theory then is to explain and promote the transition from traditional to modern society - Promotes use of foreign capital to jump-start process of industrialization - Advocates diffusion of Western values -Eurocentric and ethnocentric - Routed in neoclassical economics
Technology (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Provides means to achieve given end or result - Inspire a great deal of social change that accumulates
Fashion
- Refers to a social pattern that appeals to a large number of people (i.e. clothing, music) A social pattern that outwardly expresses an individual's identity as being "with it"
World Systems Theory
- Shifts focus away from dependent relationships toward investigation of economic and political hierarchy that links all economies into global system - World's capitalist economies ca be understood as a system linked by international division of labour and a dispersal of raw materials necessary for industrial growth Core = wealthy countries with developed economies Periphery: Poor countries that are exploited for their raw materials by core countries Semi-Periphery: Peripheral countries moving toward becoming core, or core countries in decline - Driven by the exploitative logic of capital accumulation, the capitalist world system creates global inequalities based on the domination of Global South countries by Global North coutnries
Craze
- Similar to a fad but usually represents a more intense emotional connection to the phenomenon at hand. i.e. Justin Bieber - Beliebers
Ideational Culture
- Sorokin's term for a society driven to seek and achieve spiritual goals - Each civilization emerges from a state of chaos with a coherent set of spiritual beliefs that give it strength and purpose
Sensate Culture
- Sorokin's term for a society that interprets the social and physical world through the senses - Ideational cultures are religious, yet, over time, people's faith begins to falter and they transition into what Sorokin defined as a sensate culture
Absolute Poverty
- The failure to meet the basic needs of life including adequate food, shelter, and clean water. -Determining the level of absolute poverty is usually achieved by calculating the cost of buying a minimum diet of essential foods and the fuel needed to prepare it. If they cannot afford this minimum diet, they are said to exist in absolute poverty.
Relative
- The inability to secure goods and services required to live a life equal to working-class standard. - Thus those who cannot maintain a minimum standard of living equal to their working class neighbours are considered poor. - Measurement of social inequality - In theory, the absolute definition of poverty allows for a reduction of poverty without changing the income distribution.
World Trade Organization
- The third pillar of the Betton Woods economic program was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), formed in 1948, it was renamed the World Trade Organization in 1995. - The intent of the WTO was to promote fair trading practices between nations. - Primarily the WTO manages trade disputes between countries when one party feels that it had been the victim of unfair trading practices
War (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Warfare a prime inspiration for technological development i.e. gunpowder and nuclear weapons
Foreign Aid
- Wealthy countries in the Global North provide a great deal of financial support to poor countries in the Global South - In the 1970's the united nations resolved that developmental aid should account for 0.70 percent of gross national income and by 2012 only five countries met that target - For most countries the aid parameter set out by the United nations was a distant goal
Criticism of Evolutionary Theory
1. there is no evidence to suggest that all traditional societies were alike and when societies do change, there does not appear to be a fixed set of stages through which they pass 2. It is not necessarily trye that societies progress over time
Mob
A crowd that gathers to achieve an emotionally driven goal, confronts it and then fades away
Protest Crowd
A deliberately assembled to rally for social movements to demonstrate public support for these movements i.e. 1963 Civil Rights Rally in Washington DC
Environmental Racism
A form of discrimination against minority groups and people form poor countries who are subjected to a disproportionate share of environmental hazards and polluting industries. - Bullard found that toxic waste facilities in Texas more likely to be located in predominately black and latino residential areas - "treadmill of destruction"
Formal Social Movement
A large, well-integrated and established organization with bureaucratic procedure i.e. green peace
Luddites
A loosely bound group of displaced textile worker who destroyed the new machines that put them out of work in the early nineteenth century.
Disaster Behaviour
An unexpected event that causes extensive damage to people, animals and property i.e. floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural or human disasters - At times, large disasters can result in a breakdown of traditional sociopolitical guidelines that can leave people feeling overwhelmed, demorialized and depressed.
Crowds
An unorganized collection of people who gather temporarily for a particular cause and are united by a common mood
Trick-down Theory
Argues that society spend less time focusing on the poor and concentrate on simulating economic growth that will ultimately benefit everyone
Cyclical Theory
Argues there is an ebb or flow through time according to a series of endless cycles
Collective Behaviours
Behaviours that occur when people come together to achieve a meaningful short-term goal. i.e. Demonstrations in Tahrir Square
Defining Poverty
Cannot define poor as simply those who do not have enough money, conflicting opinions on "enough"
Convergence Theory (deliberate) - Sociological Approach to Collective Behaviour
Convergence theory argues that the group is not he source of negative, irrational bahaviour but instead that such behaviour appeals to a particular type of person i.e. Soccer hooliganism
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund with a current membership of 187 countries, was established to promote international monetary stability to foster economic growth and to provide assistance to poor countries. - Built on the mandate of neo-liberalism
Universal Evolutionary
The assertion that all societies progress in the same manner
Unilineal Evolutionary Theories
The assertion that there is only one path through which an organism or society can evolve.
World Bank
The world bank is made of 187 member states, and was created to help rebuild Europe after WWII. By the late 1950's, however, Europe's reconstruction had been completed and so the World Bank began to pay attention to the needs of the newly liberated colonized countries in the Global South. - Operates under the asssumption that building infrastructure is the best way to help poor countries achieve economic growth and prosperity.
Vested Interests (Opposition to Social Change)
Veblen's term to describe why privileged members of society resist social change. Veblen argued that since many in the leisure inheritance, these people would resist any change as it might cost them their lives of privilege.
Global North
Wealthy industrialized countries in the north hemisphere. i.e. Western Europe, Canada, U.S., Australia (exception) and Japan - As a rule states in the global north are democratic and technologically advanced, high standard of living, well-educated, access to health care and clean water, stable political structures - Colonization allowed countries in the Global North to dominate and alter the existing economic, political and cultural structures in their colonies for their own gian
Rumour Type 2: Urban Legend
- A short, persistent, nonverifiable tal with an ironic or supernatural twist that are spread by word of mouth, either personally or through alternative means such as email
Fad
- A short-lived enthusiastically embraced cultural phenomena. - According to Lofland there are four distinct types of fads: object fads, idea fads, activity fad, personality fads
Pitirim Sorokin (Cyclical Theory)
- According to Sorokin the most influential elements of culture are those that relate to people's inner experiences - their ideas, passions, and emotions
Demographic Shifts (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Aging population i.e. the growing population of healthy seniors who are well into their eighties has resulted in changes to mandatory retirement legislation as well as greater public awareness fo such issues as long-term-care requirements - Immigration and migration i.e. societies need to adjust for people's preferences, more species in schools for ESL students and urban planning to provide a sense of community within large cities/
Conflict Theory
- Argue that since the rich and powerful maintain their control over society to benefit their interests, anything that challenged the status quo will be resisted - Although Marx accepted a broad evolutionary path along which societies develop (ancient to feudal to the capitalist) he did not believe that each was necessarily an improvement over the earlier form. True equality only possible in the final stage of communism - Marx viewed social change as an active revolt against oppression and exploitation.] - Conflict theorists view conflict as inevitable and necessary to inspire social changes that will inspire social changes that will ultimately rid the world of inequality
Dependency Theory
- Argued that underdevelopment was the inevitable outcome of long-term inequality between advanced and less developed nations - Argued that economic relationships that existed between Western Europe and the rest of the world were grounded in exploitation - Colonialism destroyed existing social structures and created the conditions for lasting dependency on colonial powers - Western capitalist development perpetuates underdevelopment in the Global South
Relative Deprivation Theory
- Argues at the origin of many social movements resides in the discontent of those who are dissatisfied with their present condition. - Feelings of deprivation can also arise when groups perceive that they are not being treated fairly by society around them
Treadmill of Production Theory
- Assert's that captialism's insatiable quest for profits and economic expansion is at odd with protecting the environment
Origins of Globalization
- Beginning in the 16th century, Western European nations developed economic systems that were based on market principles, whereby goods and services were produced and exchanged for profit - As the merchant class continued to expand and grow wealthier, demand for exotic goods from other areas of the world increased. - To feed this growing desire for foreign goods, many European nations began colonizing the Americas, Africa and Asia
Pitirim Sorokin
- Believed that social change occurred by moving back and forth between these two opposites; in other words, as a scoiety moves in one direction, the attraction of the opposing force becomes stronger until the society reverses course
Eco-feminism
- Combines feminist and ecological insights into the exploitative domination of women and nature by en - Ecofeminists point out that oppression of women and destruction of the environment are both products pf a masculine orientation to the social and physical worlds - Modern patriarchy devalues both women and the environment Cultural Ecofeminists: challenge patriarchal assumption, argue that gender roles are learned and therefore open to change, and promote human ideals of all people Bioprospecting: occurs when companies search in poor or indigenous areas for new biological entities that they can exploit Biocolonialism: occurs when Western companies exploit indigenous areas and express a dominant-submissive relationship Biopiracy: Unauthorized appropriation of tradition biological and genetic knowledge, resources, and practices of indigenous peoples
Globalization
- Describes the worldwide exchange of money, goods and services as well as the socio-cultural changes that occur with increasing trade and human contact - Responsible for severing social arrangements based on geographic location as a result of accelerating transnational flows of people, images and informal
Physical Environment (Inspirations For Social Change)
- Diverse environments often inspire social change - i.e. cold climates in Canada inspired Aboriginal people to alter their material culture (the development of warm winter clothing) as well as their social behaviour (sharing of food among families to protect against starvation)
GDP Per Person
- Each persons's share of the countries economic activity - Per person distribution far lower in Global South than Global North - Data also suggests there may be extensive economic activity in a country but this does not necessarily mean that everyone shares equally in the prosperity
Globalization Today
- Economies are more interdependent and integrated - Advances in communication technologies have made the world an increasingly smaller place -Global development has created vast chasms between the rich and the poor around the world
Homogenization of Cultures
- World dominated by Western mass media, run risk of losing cultural diversity as people around the world strive for the American dream - We can see more of the world and how others live - Culture no longer ties to town, cities or nations - Some cultures become indigenized (incorporate new cultural values and messages into the local culture) - Cultures react to exposure for dominant culture and create hybrid cultures that maintain some traditions and incorporate new ones as well, but do so within their own cultural context - Cosmopolitanism: seeing culture as fluid, which helps resist cultural homogenization
Collectivity
-A substantial number of people who join together on the basis of loosely defined norms. - Collectivities generate little solidarity or loyalty, usually last a short while, have no defined boundaries, recognize few leaders and display only a basic division of labour between members
Social Movements (Inspirations For Social Change)
-Emergence of grassroots movements proves that when ordinary people come together to fight for or against something, tremendous social changes can occur. - Characteristics common to all successful social goals and active engagement with existing political power structures to facilitate the achievement of these goals
Political Process Theory
-Emphasizes dynamic relationships between social movement organizations and larger economic and political reality in which they operate. - Political systems be they local, provincial, or federal, all have varying appetites for social movement initiatives and thus engender different levels of political oppurtunity
Resource Mobilization Theory
-Investigates how members of social movements must secure money (for salaries, promotional members), time (for both paid staff and volunteers), and assistance from outside agencies, politicians and media. - Resource mobilization theorists suggest that successful movements are those that can effectively acquire and manage these key resources
Mass Society Theory
-Suggests that forces of industrialization and urbanization, as well as the sheer size and pace of our contemporary world, are diminishing our ties to those around us. - People are left feeling alienated, vulnerable to manipulation by elites and prone to extremist social movements
Life Cycle of Social Movement
1. Emergence/Incipience: During this initial stage of development, the movement is unorganized and does not have a clear leadership or direction. 2. Coalescence: As the movements and matures, it begins to define itself and develop a strategy to achieve its goals. During this stage, the movement starts to gain some momentum and to attract new members. To manage its growth, the group begins to establish a formal organization in order to develop a strategy and coordinate public demonstration. 3. Bureaucratization/Institutionalization: Incorporates some bureaucratic organization to manage its affairs. Usually that involves hiring a staff (in contrast to earlier volunteer supported), establishing a formal hierarchy of paid leaders, and moving to a full-time office space. 4. Decline: Most are temporary and either collapse from internal or external pressures
The Life Cycle of Social Change
1. Innovation: something new that inspires social change (e.g. cell phones 2. Exponential Growth: The adoption of a new technology or behaviour by the majority of the population. 3. Saturation: The point at which a new technology or behaviour becomes a part of everyday living
Social Change is Most Likely to Occur When
1. The change originates within what are seen as cutting-edge sources (e.g. fashion shows, academic research findings) 2. The change addresses a strongly felt need among the public 3. The change is material rather than nonmaterial (e.g. subsidizing the costs of alternative fuels versus brochures promoting the benefits of mass transit) 4. The change is broadly compatible with people's existing values (e.g. recycling programs succeed because people's environemntal areness is rising)
Principles of Environmental Justice
1. To guarantee the right of environmental protection 2. To prevent harm before it occurs 3. To shift the burden of proof to polluters 4. To not make it necessary to prove intent by those who discriminate 5. To redress existing inequities
Flash Mob
A planned gathering of large numbers of people for a brief and predetermined period of time. Most of these flash mobs are organized on social media
Publics
A public is defined as an accumulation of people who have defined political interest for meeting and who are organized by a common mood. - The collective experience is intended to establish a new norm, law, policy or practice that would would guide people's behaviour and actions
Religious Movement
A social movement grounded in a spiritual or supernatural belief.
Informal Social
A social movement that emerges to challenge a specific local issue
Reactionary Movements
A social movement that emerges when groups resist an event or devision they feel they cannot tolerate. These movements appeal to people who are uncomfortable with the way things current;y are and fear what the future might hold.
Revolutionary Movements
A social movement that seeks a complete reorganization of society
Reformists Movements
A social movement that works within the existing social structure to improve society.
Riot
A type of acting crowd that involves public disorder, and directs its hostility toward multiple targets, moving from one to another in unpredictable ways. i.e. LA riots after Rodney King was beat
Blumer's Four Types Localized Collectivities
Casual Crowd: A chance collection of individuals in the same location at the same time i.e. people at a shopping mall Conventional Crowd: A collection of people who gather for a structured social event. People who attend these events generally behave in ways that are appropriate to the given activity. i.e. weddings, ethnic festivals and hockey games Expressive Crowd: A collection of people who gather intentionally to express their emotions i.e. Gay Pride Parades, Funeral Acting Crowd: A collection of people who gather to express anger and direct it outwardly at a specific person, category of people, or event.
Individuals (Inspirations For Social Change)
Certain people can inspire social change through their personality, charisma ad conviction i.e. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi
Functionalism - Social Change
Change occurs through a process of differentiation - According to Parsons the emergence of a social problem indicates that the social system needs to make adjustments in order to regain a state of equilibrium Equilibrium theory - Hold that changes in one part of society require changes in other parts in order for society to return to its natural state of balance and harmony Critics: social chanegs amount to far more than a simple adjustment
Social Change
Changes in the typical features of a society (e.g., norms and values) over time.
Social Behaviours
Collections of people who are organized to bring about or resist social change
Social Movements
Collections of people who are organized to bring about social change. These movements generally emerge from grassroots organizations that operate outside existing social power structures.
Dispersed Collectivities
Collectivities in which the members are in different places at the same time - 5 types: rumours, mass hysteria, fashion, fads and crazes
Localized Collectivities
Collectivities in which the members are located in each other's immediate physical presence i.e. crowds, demonstrations, riots
Transnational Corporations
Large corporations based in one country with overseas operations in two or more countries.
Collective Behaviour
Occurs when people come together to achieve a single and meaningful short-term goal that may inspire social change
Mass Hysteria
Occurs when people react to a real or imagined event with irrational or frantic fear i.e. Orson Welle's the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast on October 1938. The play, presented in the form of a newscast, was broadcast across the United States and depicted a Martian invasion.
Global South
Poor countries in the World i.e. Asia, South America and Africa - Crushing inequalities left behind as a result of colonialism made a realistic alternative to capitalism and socialism impossible - Lack financial, industrial and technological infrastructure necessary to develop their own competitive economies Newly Industrialized Countries: Poor countries that are beginning to industrialization i.e. South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Digital Immigrants
Prensky's term for people who grew up before digital technologies became commonplace.
Digital Natives
Prensky's term for people who grew up with digital technologies
Value-Added Theory
Six Conditions Must Be Met Before A Social Movement Can Begin Condition 1. Structural Conduciveness Condition 2: Structural Strain Condition 3: Growth and Spread of a Generalized Belief Condition 4: Precipitating Incident Condition 5: Mobilization for Action Condition 6: Social Control
Evolutionary Theory
Sociologists use evolutionary principles to explain social change Auguste Comte: saw societies evolving from the theological and metaphysical to ultimately arrive at a scientific or positive position Emile Durkheim: like Comte argued societies inevitably become more complex, which many interpreted as European societies being the more complex, and the most highly evolved Herbert Spencer: argued that society was similar to a living organism with interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to achieve a common end *all proposed unilinear and universal evolutionary theories
Rumour
Specific information passed from person to person that lacks reliable evidence. Rumours play an important role in the emergence of other forms of dispersed collectivities (mass hysteria) because they can spread rapidly through a circle of friends, a community , or even the world via the internet
Factors Contributing to Globalization
Technological Change: - Accelerates globalization - Historically, container shipping most important Political Change - After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most countries around the world saw that capitalism and democracy were the only viable economic and political options for participating on the world stage - Claims that globalization enhances the spread of capitalism, but also spreads Western ideal of democracy. Economic Change - Expanding trade and the emergence of international banks banking.
Defining Global Stratification
The new global order increasingly defined according to countries wealth or poverty. First World: referring to a country as first world is to buy into the assumption that it is the best. While these nations are certainly strong economic forces in the world today, contemporary scholars are uncomfortable with the designation of some countries as "first" since this implies that all other countries are lagging behind Second World: largely used to describe countries of former Soviet Union. Since the fall of the USSR, the term second world is rarely used. Command economy: An economy in which the state, rather than market forces, manages the production and distribution of goods. Third World: Underdeveloped, undeveloped or developing are terms that were used to suggest lack of any economic talent, imply a Western bias.
