Chapter 16

1. Chapter 16 Social Movements, Technology, And Social Change

2. Chapter Outline • How Societies Change • Social Movements • Technology

3. Social Changes in the Last Decade • The fall of the Taliban • New drugs to treat AIDS • Wireless computer and communication technologies • War and malnutrition in many developing nations • Destruction of the Amazon rainforest • An epidemic of repetitive stress disorders linked to computer use.

4. Collective Behavior and Social Movements • They are related in two ways: • Social movements need and encourage collective behavior to keep issues in the public eye. • Collective behavior can be part of a repeated mass response to problematic conditions and may be a force in mobilizing social movements.

5. Gap between Expectationsand Rewards

6. Theories of Social Movements • Relative Deprivation - reconciliation of what people have and what they expect. • Resource mobilization - social movements happen when groups are competing for scarce resources. • Political process - a social movement requires political opportunities and the belief that change is possible.

7. Relative-deprivation Theory • Can provide an explanation for social movements occurring when objective conditions are improving or showing a major improvement over the past. • Because this theory relies on the disorganizing effects of social change, it is often referred to as breakdown theory. • Assumes that in normal circumstances society functions smoothly.

8. Relative-deprivation theory Two major criticisms • Empirical evidence does not bear out the prediction that those who are most deprived will be the ones most likely to participate in social movement. • Fails to specify the conditions under which relative deprivation will lead to social movements.

9. Resource Mobilization Theory • Social movements develop when organized groups compete for scarce resources. • The spark for turning deprivation into a movement is not anger and resentment but rather organization. • Similarly, the building blocks of social movements are organized groups, not alienated, discontented individuals.

10. Political Process Theory • A social movement needs two things: • political opportunities • preexisting organizations that can provide the new movement with leaders, members, phone lines, copying machines, and other resources • an “insurgent consciousness.” • the individual sense that change is needed and possible.

11. Frame Alignment Four mobilization strategies to attract new members: • Frame bridging - targets groups with similar interests. • Frame amplification or consciousness raising.

12. Frame Alignment • Frame extension - attempts to include more issues and problems in the original frame. • Frame transformation - convincing people that their previous views are wrong while calling them to “salvation” through a newer and truer perspective.

13. Social Movement Outcomes

14. Outcomes of Social Movements Four possibilities: • A full response to the movement’s goals. • Goals co-opted while the SMO is discounted and dismissed. • Goals pre-empted and adopted by those in power. • Total failure.

15. Three Conditions for a Countermovement • The original movement should have achieved some measure of success. • The original movement, threatens the self-esteem, values, and interests of a significant number of people. • Those who feel threatened also feel they can enlist powerful allies.

16. Social Movements and the Media Four factors are critical for media coverage: • Dramatic, visible events like demonstrations may interest the media. • Use of authoritative sources (like government officials). • Timing. • Access to news nets.  

17. Theories of Technologically Induced Social Change • Structural-functional theory sees social change as evolutionary and adaptive. • Conflict theory focuses on power and social change.

19. The Sociologist’s Contribution • Study of conflict resolution and techniques for negotiating peaceful settlements. • Developing social justice perspectives. • Modeling practical development strategies.