SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Change- a means, a process, an end or even a social movement, a state of affairs involving a program, an ideology, a doctrine or a problem -involves comparison of past and present- equated with progress, but actually is only one of of its aspectsSocial Change-refers to any alterations in the patterns and regulations regarding social interaction within a sub-group in a society or within the entire society itselfIt can be manifested in the rise or fall of groups, communities or institutional structures and functions or changes in the statuses and role of members in the family, work setting, church, school, government, health welfare and other sub-systems of the social organizationSocial Structure is the framework of the society that is already laid out before you are born; It is the patterned relationships among people ex: student teacher relationships; the characteristics of groups all of which give direction to and set limits to behavior -the process is universal but occurs at different rates in different ways 4 levels of Human Action-individual personality-interaction among individuals-the group or social system-the cultural systemSources of Change-the physical environment-Population-ideas-events-cultural innovation, discovery;Invention, diffusion-human action-technology
THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Evolutionary Theories
These theories are based on the assumption that societies gradually grow and develop from simple beginning to even more complex form.
AUGUSTE COMTE believed that human societies evolve in a unilinear way that is one line of development that recurs in every society.
HERBERT SPENCER also claimed that Western races had survived and evolved to high levels that non-Western ones because they were better adopted to face the conditions of life.
Evolutionary Theories
MULTILINEAR EVOLUTION
Societies tend to move from small-scale to more complex forms. Change can take place in many different ways and do not follow exactly the same direction in every society.
Cyclical Theories
Focuses on the cyclical mature of change displayed in the rise and fall of civilizations over time.
The theorists focus on the conditions leading to instability but, in addition, are concerned with the processes whereby societies, cultures, or civilizations move along a pattern of growth, stagnation, and retrogression.
Cyclical Theories
Spengler
OSWARD SPENGLER declared that the fate of civilizations was a matter of destiny. He claims that civilizations are like biological organisms that go through a process of birth, maturity, old age and death.
Cyclical Theories
Toynbee
ARNOLD TOYNBEE believes that every society faces challenges posed first by the environment then later from the internal and external enemies and then the nature of societies response determines its fate.
Conflict Theories
Holds that the change is caused y tensions between competing interests in society.
Conflict theorists draw our attention to the fact that the cumulative effect of changes within the system may result in a change of the system.
Conflict Theory
Marx
KARL MARX believe that the character of social and cultural forms is influenced by the economic base of society particularly by the mode of production that is used by the relationships that exist between those who work for them thus history is the story of conflict between the exploiting and the exploited classes.
Conflict Theory
GEORGE SIMMEL claimed that conflict binds people together in interaction, although hate and envy may drive them apart, they cannot enter into conflict without interacting with their opponents.
Conflict encourages people of similar interest to bind together to achieve their objectives thus continuous conflict keeps a society dynamic and changing.
Conflict Theories
RALPH DAHRENDORF regards that all history is the history of class conflict as an justifiable and oversimplification.
He points to conflict between racial groups, nations, political parties and religious groups as examples involving units other than social classes which also lead to social change.
Functionalists Theories
Mainly focuses on social statics.
EMILE DURKHEIM examined several aspects of society by focusing in the function they play in maintaining the social order as a whole.
Functionalists Theories
Parsons Theory of Social Order
TALCOTT PARSON argued that the society is consisted of interdependence parts, each of which helps to maintain the stability of the entire system.
Functionalists Theories
Parsons Theory of Social Change
Parson came to see change as something that disturbs the social equilibrium but as something alters it, with the result that a qualitatively new equilibrium results.
He also acknowledge that changes may arise from two sources: inside and outside the society.
Functionalist Theory
Adaptation to the environment performed by the economy, by not any economic system, only capitalism can adapt to the environment.
Goal attainment performed by the government, pursuing liberal aims as defined by English and French thinkers.
Functionalist Theory
Integration (linking the institutions together) performed by the legal institutions and religion. But not any religion. Branches of the judeo-christian religions were the right ones.
Latency (pattern maintenance of values from generation to generation) performed by the family as an ahistorical basic human organization, and education.
Modernization Theory
Modernization theories may be distinguished from the various theoretical approaches of multilinear evolution of socio-cultural phenomena in that the latter mostly refer to primitive or historical societies and examine the origin and the development of certain elements of these societies with respect to their multilinearity.
Modernization Theory
Modernization theories are mostly concerned with certain aspects of industrialization in the First and Second World.
WILBERT E. MOORE (1967: 89) defines modernization as the total transformation of a traditional or pre-modern society into the types of technology and associated social organization that characterize the advance, economically prosperous, and relatively politically stable nations of the Western World.
Modernization Theory
NEIL J. SMELSER (1966: 111) says that the term modernization refers to the fact that technical, economic, and ecological change ramify through the whole social and cultural fabric.
Modernization Theory
The two most important, interrelated processes of change involved in modernization:
INDUSTRIALIZATION
DIFFERENTIATION
Contrast Conceptions and Theories of Social Change
Gemeinschaft
Gesellschaft
Contrast Conceptions and Theories of Social Change
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft was an attemp to answer (by Tnnies):
What are we?
Where are we?
Whence did we come?
Where are we going?
Gemeinschaft
A unity based on intimate personal living together (Worsely, 1980).
Organizing principle rests upon shared morals and sentimental bonds (Strasser & Randall, 1981).
Gesellschaft
Impersonal and limited contractual relations established as a result of calculation and reflection (Worsley, 1980).
Based upon the criterion of rational self-interest (Strasser & Randall, 1981).
Gemeinschaft vs. Gesellschaft
All intimate, private and exclusive living together . . . . is . . . life in Gemeinschaft. Gesellschaft is public life it is the world itself. In Gemeinschaft with ones family, one lives from birth on, bound to it in weal and woe. One goes into Gesellschahft as one goes into a strange country.
Gemeinschaft is old; Gesellschaft is new . . . . All praise of rural life has pointed out that Gemeinschaft among people is stronger there and more alive; it is the lasting and genuine form of living together. In contrast to Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft is transitory and superficial. Accordingly, Gemeinschaft should be understood as a living organism, Gesellschaft as a mechanical aggregate and artifact (Tnnies, 1955, pp. 37-9). (Worsely, 1980).
Durkheims mechanical and organic
Mechanical is defined as societies in which the social division of labor was not very marked in which there were few specialized roles exhibited a particular kind of social solidarity.
Mechanical social cohesion derives from a certain conformity of the behavior of an individuals to a common standard.
Durkheims mechanical and organic
Organic is defined as societies with a marked division of labor and a high degree of occupational specialization.
Mechanical vs. Organic
Durkheim saw mechanical solidarity based on the similarity of individuals, while organic solidarity is considered to be based on interdependence, arising out of diversity and complementarity.
Cooleys primary and secondary groups
Primary groups is characterized by intimate face-to-face association and co-operation.
Secondary groups are all those which are not primary.
MacIvers community and association
Community is any group of individuals living together in such way that they shared not this or that particular interest but the basic institutions of a common life.
The mark of community is that ones life may be lived wholly within in, that all ones social relationships may be found with in it (MacIver, 1937, pp. 8-9).
MacIvers community and association
Association is a group specifically organized for the pursuit of an interest or group of interests.
The difference is obvious, we contrast the business or the church or the club with the village or city or nation (MacIver, 1937, p. 11).
A social movement is an interrelated and coacting unity of persons with some degree of organizational continuity aimed to promote or to resist change in the society of which it is a part.
Directed toward the change of the established norms, values or, social structures.
It arises resulted from a stressful conditions in ones environment which cause unrest and dissatisfaction with existing conditions.
Giddens (1985) has identified four areas in which social movements operate in modern societies: 1. democratic movements that work for political rights 2. Labor movements that work for control of the workplace 3. ecological movements that are concerned with the environment 4. peace movements that work toward, well, peace
Three characteristics differentiate social movements from other types of collective behavior:
1. a higher degree of internal organization
2. typically longer duration, often spanning many years3. and the deliberate attempt to reorganize society itself.
TRADITIONAL APPROACH: COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR THEORY
Core assumptions:1. temporary nature of movements
2. Grievances/deprivation as impetus to movement formation and participation
3. irrational and violent
4. pathological explosion of participation, psychological response to mitigate societal strain
Herbert Blumer and Neil Smelser on CBT:
1. unpatterned, unpredictable mode of social action
2. dangerous threatening, extreme form of behavior
3. participants are irrational and violent
4. psychological response, triggered by social strain
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES
1. Break away from the traditional viewing of SMs
2. Denies centrality of grievances as cause of SMs
3. SMs are normal
4. Access and control over mobilization of resources as key to effective SM
RATIONAL ACTOR THEORY
Seeks to answer why people participate
All about incentives SM offers
Core assumptions:
1. basic units of analysis
2. movements are formed because it is a way to achieve incentives
3. preferences are given; bounded rationality
a. dilemma of collective action: individual non cooperation is rational
b. individual rationality can lead to collective disaster
c. individuals do not always act according to economic and self interested rationality: people join even without incentives
RESOURCE MOBILIZATION THEORY
Answers how people participate
Core assumptions:
1. emergence of SMs explained with resources available
2. elitist model of politics
3. movements measured by criteria of strategic effectiveness
4. SMs emerge from social networking
Principles
1. Importance of getting resources
2. outside groups role
POLITICAL PROCESS MODEL
SM emerges when political opportunities are open
SM activism is akin to political struggle
Core assumption:
SM with long-held grievances are crucial components but will only emerge if opportunity structure will allow it.
Key concepts:
1. Political opportunity
2. Political constraints
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM
Application of culture in analysis of SMs
Explains how movements are sustained over time
Shows framework on link on how culture is related to political analysis
The larger the movement, the larger is its influence in the mainstream
Framing
act of cultural appropriation
using existing social ideational social strains to galvanize activism
conception of reality and how we see it
Cultural resonance
1. tracing the roots of movements
2. expanding cultural opportunities as a stimulus to action
a. political opportunity doesnt say it all
b. importance of people
3. role of long standing activist sub cultures in social movement emergence
NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
result of the development of the postindustrial economy
unique and different from previous social movements of the industrial economy
concentrate not on issues of economic wellbeing, but on less materialistic qualities of lifeTypes of Social Movements
Social movements are classified along two basic dimensions:
Who is changed? and
How much change?
Four types of social movements are identified:
alternative
redemptive
reformative
revolutionary
Expressive Movement
=> it is not directed to bring about changes in power relations but is a kind of response to a sense of powerlessness or alienation and dissatisfaction
*Colorum Movement in Quezon Province led by Ruperto de Dios in 1902
* Lapiang Malaya movement by Valentine de los Santos in the 1960s
2. Reform Movement
=> directed at changing certain aspects of the social class structure or a segment of the power distribution of a social system
Common goal: existing social structure work more effectively extending certain rights and privileges to given groups
Seek to change only some segments of the society or to reaffirm its values
Consumers movement
Labor movement
Movement against discrimination of women
Students movement
Pro-life movement
Human rights movement
Movement for the Gunless Society
3. Rebellion and Revolutionary movements
=> aim to change the whole social order and replace leadership
=> occur in distinct ruling elite and are a result of oppression, conquest or colonization.
=> brought about by the:
Wide gap between the rich and poor
Widespread poverty and oppression of some social classes by the more powerful groups
Trampling on the rights of the people
Colonizing groups exploitation of a nations natural resources
Stages In Social Movements
Despite many differences that set one social movement off from another, all unfold in roughly the same way.
Researchers have identified four stages in the typical social movement.
Emergence
Coalescence
Bureaucratization
Decline
LOOKING AHEAD: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
It is suggested that the scope of social movements in the future will increase for three reasons:
women and other excluded categories of people are gaining a greater political voice,
technology of the Information Revolution means that anyone can stay abreast of political events,
new technology and the emerging global economy mean that social movements are now uniting people throughout the entire world.
Social Movements in the Philippines
Huk Rebellion
Communist Party of the Philippines- New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA)
Reform Armed Forces Movement (RAM)
Metro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
The February 22-25, 1896 Peoples Power RevolutionREPORTERS:
Robert Go
Paulo Javier
Jenny Navales
Cecil Cabiao
Airish Baquiran
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