Chapter 18

Describe the sources of social change in society.

Describe the attributes and types of crowds. Know what the various dispersed forms of

collective behavior are. Describe the major types of social

movements. Understand the life cycle of social

movements. Explain the processes of cultural diffusion

and forced acculturation.

Social change and technological change are important topics because they constantly occur in societies.

DEF: Consists of any modification in the social organization of a society in any of its social institutions or social roles.

- Changes in shared values - Changes in patterns of social

behavior - Individual discoveries, acts, etc do

not constitute social change

Social change is often the result of collective behavior

DEF: the relatively spontaneous social actions that occur when people respond to unstructured and ambiguous situations.

- Collective behavior has the potential for causing the unpredictable, and even the improbable, to happen.

- Collective actions are capable of unleashing powerful social forces

Sources of Social Change Internal Sources of Social Change External Sources of Social Change

INTERNAL SOURCES Include those factors that originate

within a specific society and that singly or in combination produce significant alterations in its social organization and structure.

- Technical Innovation - Ideology - Reactions to institutional

inequality

Technological Innovation Technological change in industrial society is

rapid and has an effect on social organizations and institutions

Ideology Refers to a set of interrelated religious or

secular beliefs, values, and norms that justify the pursuit of a given set of goals through a given set of means.

Reactions to Institutional Inequality Groups within society who see themselves as

victims of unjust or unequal treatment demand social change

Conservative Ideologies Try to preserve things as they are

Liberal ideologies Seek limited reforms that do not

involve fundamental changes in the social structure of society.

Radical ideologies Seek major structural changes in society.

DEF: Changes within a society produced by events coming from outside that society

- Diffusion is an example of an external source of social change. (From CH 3) it is the transmitting of values, ideas, technology etc from one society to another

- Forced Acculturation is a social change that is imposed by might or conquest on weaker people.

CrowdDef: A temporary concentration of people

who focus on some thing or event, but who also are attuned to one another’s behavior.

Attributes of Crowds

Crowds are self-generating. (chaotic potential) Crowds are characterized by equality. Crowds love density. (reduced physical

distance) Crowds need direction. (leaders emerge)

Typology from H. Blumer (interactionist)

ACTING CROWD is a group of people whose passions and tempers have been aroused by some focal event, who come to share a purpose, and who feed off one another’s arousal, and can erupt into spontaneous acts of violence.

- A threatened crowd is an acting crowd that is in a state of alarm, believing that some kind of danger is present.

EXPRESSIVE CROWD A group drawn together by the promise of

personal gratification through active participation in activities and events

CONVENTIONAL CROWD A gathering in which people’s behavior

conforms to some well-established set of cultural norms, and gratification results from a passive appreciation of an event.

CASUAL CROWD Any collection of people who happen to be in

one place at the same time and focus attention on a common object or event.

Crowds, by definition, are groups acting together in one place for a limited time.

DEF: MASS - A collection of people who, although physically dispersed, participate in some event either physically or with a common concern or interest.

- TV Audience - Fads/Crazes - Fashion

A fad is a social change that is very short lived and rapidly adopted and ended. An especially short-lived fad may be called a craze.

Fashions relate to the standards of dress or manners in a given society at a certain time.

Fashions spread more slowly and last longer than fads.

RUMORS

Information that is shared informally and spreads quickly through a mass or a crowd.

It arises in situations that create ambiguity with regard to their truth or their meaning.

Rumors may be true, false, or partially true, but characteristically they are difficult or impossible to verify.

PUBLIC OPINION - Public refers to a dispersed collectivity of

individuals concerned with or engaged in a common problem, interest, focus, or activity.

An opinion is a strongly held belief.

OPINION LEADERS Socially acknowledged experts whom the public

turns to for advice. Each social stratum has its own set of opinion leaders

PROPAGANDA

Information or advertisements of a political nature, seeking to mobilize public support behind one specific party, candidate, or point of view

Mass Hysteria and Panic Occurs when large numbers of people are

overwhelmed with emotion and frenzied activity

MASS HYSTERIA - people become convinced that they have experienced something for which investigators can find no discernible evidence.

A PANIC is an uncoordinated group flight from a perceived danger.

Ex: the public reaction to the radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds.

DEF: A Form of collective behavior in which large numbers of people are organized or alerted to support and bring about, or to resist, social change.

Theoretical explanations of how social movements occur:

RELATIVE DEPRIVATION THEORY It refers to the situation in which deprivation or

disadvantage is measured by comparison with the condition of others with whom one identifies or thinks of as a reference group.

Assumes social movements are the outgrowth of the feeling of relative deprivation among the large numbers of people who believe they lack certain things they are entitled

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION THEORY

Assumes that social movements arise at certain times because some people know how to mobilize and channel the popular discontent.

- This presupposes that the discontent exists all along and needs to be mobilized or a movement to begin.

4 Types of Social Movements (Blumer)

1. REACTIONARY Social Movements Seek to return general society to

yesterday’s values and lifestyle

2. CONSERVATIVE Social Movements Seek to maintain society’s current values

by opposing change or the threat of change.

3. REVISIONARY Social Movements Seek partial or small changes within the

existing order, but do not threaten the existing order itself

4. REVOLUTIONARY Social Movements Seek to overthrow much of the existing

social order and replace it with another order.

- REBELLIONS – Are attempts to achieve rapid political change that is not possible within existing institutions

REVOLUTIONS – Are attempts to rapidly and dramatically change a society’s previously existing social order

- Political revolutions change the government structures

- Social revolutions change the society’s state and class structure

FIVE LIFE CYCLE STAGES: Social movements do not last forever, and may pass through all, or only some of these stages.

1. INCIPIENCY A movement begins when large numbers of

people become frustrated about a problem and do not perceive any solution to it through existing institutions.

2. COALESCENCE Groups form around leaders to promote

policies and to promulgate programs.

3. INSTITUTIONALIZATION Social movements become formal, rational

organizations and reach the peak of their strength and influence.

4. FRAGMENTATION The movement gradually begins to fall apart.

5 DEMISE The movement either becomes institutionalized

or fades away.

For the social movement you have been given describe which stage they are in and how you determined that they had gotten to that stage.

- Give indications that they had not made the next stage

- Give evidence they had achieved previous stages

Also determine whether they are reactionary, conservative, revisionist or revolutionary – support your answer.

GLOBALIZATION DEF: The worldwide flow of goods,

services, money, people, information, and culture. It leads to a greater interdependence and mutual awareness among the people of the world.

The concept of diffusion is applied to the world as a whole and is viewed as a routine part of the social world

Recall (CH 3) that cultural change comes from 3 main sources (innovation, diffusion, reformulation)

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE Technological innovation takes hold only

when there is a need for it and social acceptance.

- Technology itself is neutral; people decide whether and how to use it

DIFFUSION and REFORMULATION are much more common due to globalization.