International Women s Day and Conformity

1. International Women�s Day and Conformity

2. Before it began On March 8th, 1857, women working in clothing factories organized a protest in NYC because of inhumane working conditions and poor wages. Police attacked the protestors Two years later in March these women formed a labour union to gain rights in the workplace

3. The Beginning On March 8, 1908, 15 000 women walked through New York City demanding shorter work hours, better pay, voting rights and an end to child labour. In May, the Socialist Party of America designated the last Sunday in February for the observance of National Women's Day. It was first celebrated in the United States February 28, 1909.

4. It Became International In Copenhagen, Denmark in 1910, socialist organizations from around the world met. Clara Zetkin, a German socialist suggested celebrating an international women�s day. No specific date was set. The day was established to honour the movement for women�s rights

5. The Triangle Fire In 1911, International Women�s Day was celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. March 19 over a million men and women rallied in the streets. Less than a week later the triangle fire took place in New York City There were protests including a silent funeral march of 100 000 people!

6. The United Nations proclaims a day for women In 1914 in March, women protested WW1 In December 1977 the UN General Assembly proclaimed a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace.

7. Conformity When a person adjusts her or his thoughts, feelings and behaviour to match the behaviour or standards of a group Scary examples of conformity: Over 900 members of the People�s Temple cult in Jonestown, Guyana committed mass suicide in 1978 under orders from their leader In 1994 and 1995, Solar Temple cult members in Canada, Switzerland, and France committed both murder and suicide

8. Why We Conform One reason we do what others do is because we don�t know how to act and think others have better information on how to act. This is informational social influence. This happens in ambiguous situations, crises, and around experts. Another reason we conform is to be accepted. This is normative social influence.

9. Gender, etc How do we conform to gender expectations? Discuss ways in which you conform to what�s expected of your gender and write down at least five of these in your journal. In addition, you can talk about ways you conform to your age group or Canadian society.

10. Social Consequences for Non-conformity What are social consequences for people who don�t conform? Social norms�the implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviours, values and beliefs of its members. Discuss: What are social norms in Toronto? If you�ve experienced different social norms somewhere else, what were they?

11. Social Consequences People who don�t follow social norms and conform as much as most people do are often misunderstood, excluded or stared at.

12. Modeling and Social Learning Theory Social learning theory�we learn social behaviour (like aggression) by observing others and imitating them Albert Bandura tested showed how this theory can work on children http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI

13. How to convince people to do something Door-in-the-fact technique�a technique to get people to comply with a request, you present people with a large request which you expect them to refuse and then a smaller more reasonable request you hope they will say yes to Why does this work?

14. Another technique Foot-in-the-door�a technique where you make a request small enough that people are likely to say yes and then make a larger request. Why does this work?

15. A third technique Lowballing�a salesperson gets a customer to agree to buy something at a low cost and then raises the price. Often the customer will still buy. Why does this work?