And Community Change - SUNY Morrisville

SOCI 360

SociAL MovementsAnd

Community Change

Professor

Kurt Reymers, Ph.D.

sociology.morrisville.edu

1. How connected are we? Network Theory

- or - ‘Six Degrees of Separation’

Through a chain of just five or six people, anyone in the world can be linked to anyone else.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) or “Social Network Theory” more generally, is an area of sociological study emerging in the 1970s (long before Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace existed). [cf. Wellman, Castells, Haythornwaite)

What is the value of social network analysis? - careers might emerge as a result of social networking;

- neighborhood watch groups are an example of networking; - terrorist movements can be tracked and better understood

through SNA.

- The Internet is both a technical network and a social network.

Metcalfe’s Law: As you add members to a network one

by one, it’s value to each member grows exponentially.

Groups offer comfort in the anonymity they allow us and the reassurance that we get from shared agreements on our socially constructed realities (like statuses and roles).

The price we have to pay for that comfort, however, is CONFORMITY. The less we conform the greater our chance of ostracization (expulsion) from the group.

Even in small groups we are prone to conformity. How is group conformity created?

a. GROUPTHINK (Irving Janis):

The tendency of “in-group” members to conform and think alike, resulting in a

narrow view of some issue.

NEGATIVE SIDE OF GROUPTHINK

Group members ignore “objectivity” (their own free will) and human

reason.

Examples (Political/Scientific/Military examples):

- The ‘Bay of Pigs’ invasion (1961);

- The Challenger space shuttle accident (1986);

- The War in Iraq - missing WMDs (2003).

b. Famous social-psychological experiments in conformity:

i. Asch Line Experiment (1951)

ii. Milgram Shock Experiment (1961)

iii. Zimbardo Prison Study (1971)

3. Della Porta: Networks (Chp 5)a. Social networks are both created by and a cause of collective action. (p115)

b. Social networks are responsible for 60-90% of recruitment for religious, political, and environmental activism.(p117)

c. Radical activism requires more numerous and more durable personal connections. (p117)

3. Della Porta: Networks (Chp 5)d. Problems with network focus:

i. takes away from important cultural messaging; (p121)

ii. networks are not a total explanation for mobilization

(p122)

iii. Costs/risks of deviant behavior can be a stronger predictor of participation than network ties (p125)

3. Della Porta: Networks (Chp 5)e. Types of Networks:

i. Exclusive affiliations- Demand large commitments, long novitiate; the

greater the degree of “symbolic incentive”, the more exclusive the movement.

ii. Multiple affiliations- Open commitments more likely, integrate different

areas of a movement; important to mobilization of resources.

3. Della Porta: Networks (Chp 5)f. Movement Subcultures:

i. The Political and Private Intersect

- Adherence to a movement may go beyond (and even

conflict) with traditional political motivations; the movement becomes a “lifestyle choice” rather than a temporary statement.

ii. Virtual Networks- Virtual networks have been proven to have a variable

impact on movement organization and success.