CHAPTER 17: SOCIAL CHANGE: COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY

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CHAPTER 17 SOCIAL CHANGE COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR,
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY
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COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

• Collective behavior is the spontaneous and
  unstructured behavior of a large number of people
  who may violate traditional or conventional norms
  and values.
• It is an act rather than a state of mind.
• It varies in its degree of spontaneity and
  structure.

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Structural Strain Theory

• Macro-level factors encourage or discourage
  collective behavior.
• Structural conduciveness involves social
  conditions that allow the behavior to occur.
• Structural strain occurs when an important aspect
  of a social system is seen as causing problems.

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Structural Strain Theory

• Growth and spread of a generalized belief occurs
  when people begin to see an event as a widespread
  problem.
• Precipitating factors include an incident or
  dramatic experience that triggers an event.
• Mobilizing people for action occurs when leaders
  emerge
• Social control happens when opposing groups try
  to prevent the action.

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Rumors, gossip, and urban legendswidespread
  beliefs
• Rumorunfounded information spread among people
  in rapid fashion
• Gossipthe act of spreading news about other
  people's personal lives
• Urban legendsstories that supposedly happened to
  people

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Discussion

• Why do rumors, gossip, and urban legends exist?
• Why do they have the power they do?

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Panic and Mass Hysteria
• Panic involves a collective flight from a real or
  perceived danger in an irrational way.
• Mass hysteria involves an intense, fearful, and
  anxious reaction to a real or imagined threat

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Fashions, Fads, and Crazes
• Fashion is a temporary standard of appearance,
  thinking, or behavior that enjoys widespread
  acceptance.
• Fads spread rapidly and enthusiastically but last
  for only a short time.
• Crazes become all-consuming passions for a short
  period of time.

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Application

• Is it fashion, fad, or craze?
• For a few months, many people were trying the
  South Beach diet.
• One Christmas, most American children desperately
  wanted a Cabbage Patch doll.
• In recent years, many women have been getting
  color highlights in their hair.

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Disasters are unplanned and unwanted occurrences
  that cause widespread damage, destruction,
  distress, and loss.
• Disasters can be due to social causes,
  technological causes, or natural causes.
• Disasters often inspire organization rather than
  chaos.

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Discussion

• Why does a particular event cause panic sometimes
  and organization other times?

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Publics, Public Opinion, and Propaganda
• A public is a collection of people who are
  interested in a particular issue.
• Public opinion involves a verbalization about a
  matter of concern and involves controversial
  matter.
• Propaganda is the presentation of information
  designed to influence others.

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• Crowds are temporary collections of people who
  are geographically together and share a common
  interest.
• Crowds vary in their goals, motives, interests,
  and emotions.

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Varieties of Collective Behavior

• A mob is a highly emotional and disorderly crowd
  that uses force or violence against a specific
  target.
• A riot is a violent crowd that directs its
  hostility at a wide and shifting range of targets.

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Application

• Identify the type of collective behavior.
• A group of people gathered to peacefully protest
  the war in Iraq.
• A group of people rampaged through a city
  neighborhood smashing windows in many stores.
• People gathered in a designated shelter during a
  tornado.

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SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

• A social movement is a large group of people who
  are organized to promote or resist some social
  change in society.
• Social movements are organized, deliberate, and
  structured.

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Types of Social Movements

• Social movements are classified according to
  their goals and the amount of change that they
  seek.
• Alternativeaimed at changing people's attitudes
  and behaviors in a specific way seek limited
  change among some people. Example Alcoholics
  Anonymous

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Types of Social Movements

• Redemptiveseek to create dramatic change in some
  peoples' lives. Example a Christian
  fundamentalist group
• Reformativeseek to change everyone on a
  particular topic. Example the Civil Rights
  Movement

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Types of Social Movements

• Resistancereactionary movements that seek to
  block change. Example anti-abortion movements
• Revolutionarywant to destroy a social order and
  replace it with a new one. Example the French
  Revolution

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Types of Social Movements
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Application

• Identify the type of social movement.
• A white supremacy group
• A militia group that declares the existence of a
  new nation
• People involved in practicing yoga

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Why Social Movements Emerge

• Mass Society Theory suggests that social
  movements offer a sense of belonging to people
  who feel alienated and disconnected from others.
• Relative Deprivation Theory argues that people
  react to what they think they have relative to
  others.

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Why Social Movements Emerge

• Resource Mobilization Theory focuses on the need
  for organization and leadership to advance a
  cause. Movements also need money and equipment.
• New Social Movements Theory emphasizes the
  linkages between culture, politics, and ideology.
  Recent movements have attracted relatively
  well-educated, affluent people who seek to
  promote the rights of all people.

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Application

• Identify the social movement theory.
• Many well-known actors organize to end world
  hunger.
• A movement is successful when it is led by an
  experienced former businessman.
• People join social movements when they feel they
  deserve better than they are getting.

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The Stages of Social Movements

• EmergencePeople are upset about some social
  condition and want to change it.
• OrganizationActive members form alliances, seek
  media coverage, develop strategies, and tactics.
• InstitutionalizationThe movement becomes more
  organized and bureaucratic.

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The Stages of Social Movements

• DeclineIn the last stage movements may
• become interest groups and part of society's
  fabric
• be co-opted by government or other groups
• become distracted
• experience fragmentation
• be repressed

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The Stages of Social Movements
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Discussion

• What makes a social movement successful?

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TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE

• Technology is the scientific application of
  knowledge for practical purposes.
• Computer technology began in 1887 and has become
  more pervasive and sophisticated over the years.
  Robots have been developed that can perform
  human-like functions.

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Technology and Social Change

• Biotechnology is a broad term that applies to all
  practical uses of living organisms in the
  biological sciences.
• Genetic engineering involves technologies that
  can change the makeup of cells and move genes
  across species boundaries.
• Stem cell research involves self-regenerating
  cells found in embryos, umbilical cords, and
  parts of adult bodies.

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Discussion

• Why is biotechnology controversial?
• Should there be limits on the use of
  biotechnology?

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Technology and Social Change

• Nanotechnology involves building objects and
  substances one atom or molecule at a time.

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Benefits and Costs of Technology

• DNA testing is used in
• detecting, apprehending, and prosecuting
  criminals
• providing people with information about
  predispositions for diseases.

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Discussion

• What are the potential problems with the use of
  DNA testing?
• Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

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• Privacy issues result from the use of computer
  and communication technologies.
• Computer information is not always removed before
  the hardware is reused.
• Information is collected about people as they
  search the Internet.
• Insurance companies have accessed information
  about individuals' purchase of prescription
  drugs.

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Discussion

• Should we be concerned about the amount of
  information that is available about each
  individual?
• What can be done to protect privacy?

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Benefits and Costs of Technology

• The digital divide refers to the division between
  the "haves" and "have-nots" in access to
  technology.
• Seventy percent of Americans use the Internet
  compared with 5 of Africans.
• About 61 of lower-income American adults use the
  Internet compared with 93 of higher income
  adults.

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Some Ethical Issues

• Cultural lag describes the gap between material
  culture and nonmaterial culture. Technology
  changes before attitudes.
• Information is available before the guidelines
  regulating its use.
• Biomedical technology is available before an
  understanding about the effects on human life.
• Technology is most available to the wealthy.

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Some Ethical Issues
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Discussion

• How can we ensure that technology is used
  responsibly?
• Is it possible to develop guidelines for the
  development of new technologies?

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Internet Connections Quick Links

• The Snopes.com Urban Legends Reference Pages
  archive is an expansive source of data that
  includes history and debunking of, and
  information on hundreds of urban myths ranging
  from autos to weddings http//www.snopes.com
• Remembering the Flint Sit-Down Strike, 1936-1937
  is an online multimedia exhibit that examines one
  of the most celebrated events in the history of
  the American labor movement. The audio timeline,
  brief essays, and slideshow provide an excellent
  description of topics such as the preexisting
  conditions in the General Motors plants, the
  organization of the strikes, the discriminatory
  wage system, union demands, and the aftermath of
  the events http//www.historicalvoices.org/flint
• WholeHealthMD.com is a good example of a
  contemporary healthy-living movement in the
  United States that continues to grow. The site is
  "dedicated to providing the best in complementary
  and alternative medicine" that has been reviewed
  and developed by board-certified doctors. The
  Healing Center and the Healing Kitchen sections
  are particularly enlightening http//www.wholehea
  lthmd.com
• The Evolution of the American Conservation
  Movement explores the emergence and development
  of conservationism between 1850 and 1920. This
  excellent archive contains 62 books and
  pamphlets, 140 Federal statutes and Congressional
  resolutions, various Presidential proclamations,
  170 prints and photographs, and 2 motion
  pictures http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/con
  shome.html
• To find out more about propaganda, take a look at
  Propagandacritic.com. This site reviews several
  propaganda strategiessuch as name calling,
  euphemisms, and appeals to plain folksand
  showcases examples of historical wartime
  propaganda, as well as contemporary examples from
  organizations such as the John Birch Society and
  the Democratic National Committee
  http//www.propagandacritic.com
• Unbeknownst to many, the American suffragist
  movement began hundreds of years before U.S.
  women finally won full voting privileges in 1920.
  A History of the American Suffragist Movement
  offers an informative timeline of womens and
  African Americans struggles for this basic
  democratic right http//suffragist.com/timeline.h
  tm