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Chapter 16

Lucy Dorlus

Actualizada 13 de Agosto de 2017

Transcripción

Chapter 16:

Social Change in the Global Community

Introduction:

Social change often follows the introduction of a new technology, in this case the computer. Social change has been defined as significant alteration over time in behavior patterns and culture (W. Moore 1967).
But what constitutes a “significant” alteration? Certainly the dramatic rise in formal education in the last century represents a change that has had profound social consequences

Social Movements

social movement to refer to an organized collective activity to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society
To Functionalist, even unsuccessful social movements have a function, they get people thinking.

Social Movements

Relative Deprivation Approach

Relative deprivation is the perception you might experience in your own life; the conscious feeling that things in one's life are not as good as they should be.

For example, you may be content with your pay until you find out your co-workers who does the same job gets paid more than you. This may inspire you to ask for a raise.

Allthough relative deprivation can spark the need for change in a group, in order for discontent to be channeled into a social movement, the relatively deprived must believe that they have a right to something better and that things won't improve through conventional means.

Karl Marx noted if workers felt oppressed it would spark a revolution.

Resource Mobilization Approach

A movement that can effectively mobilize resources, both human and financial, has a better chance of success
Successful movements need money, political and media connections and people willing to work long hours with no pay.
Resource mobilization refers to how social movements use these resources.
If a group is unable to manage resources effectively, it is unlikely to be successful

Resource Mobilization Approach

New Social Movements

The leaders and members of new social movement groups are generally not class-concious workers, but middle-class people.
The term new social movement is used to refer to organized activity that addresses:
values
social identities
improvements in the quality of life

New Social Movements

Communications and the Globalization of Social Movements

Today, through global text-messaging and the Internet, social activists can reach a large number of people around the world almost instantaneously, with relatively little effort and expense. The Internet's listservs and chat rooms—a form of social networking—allow organizers of social movements to enlist like-minded people without face-to-face contact, or even simultaneous interaction (Calhoun 1998; Kavada 2005).
Facebook campaigns, Twitter and Instagram #hashtags

Theories of Social Change

Evolutionary Theory

Evolutionary theory sees society as something that is constantly changing and moving in a definite direction.
Evolution theory today has inspired sociologists to examine the behaviorial linke between humans other animals.

Functionalist Perspective

The equilibrium model assumes that in the face of social change, eventually all elements of society will come to a broad agreement on values and goals
According to Talcott Parson's equilibrium model, when change occurs in one part of society, adjustments are made in another part so that balance is maintained.
Four mechanisms through which societies change and maintain stability
Differentiation
Adaptive upgrading
Inclusion
Value generalization

Conflict perspective

They propose that social institutions and practices persist because the status quo is maintained by powerful groups.
The place great emphasis on stability by emphasizing the importance of disruption and the ability of individuals to come together and change society.

Conflict perspective

Resistance to Social Change

Because people with a disproportionate share of society's wealth, status, and power are likely to suffer from social change, they have a stake in maintaining the status quo. Such people, whom Veblen called vested interests, will resist change.

The period of maladjustment when a nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions is known as culture lag.

We are living in a time of sweeping social, political, and economic change—change that occurs not just on a local or national basis, but on a global scale

Global Social Change

The recent past has been a truly dramatic time in history to consider global social change.
Recent events: the collapse of communism; terrorism in various parts of the world, including the United States; major regime changes and severe economic disruptions in Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; the spread of AIDS; and the computer revolution. Just a few months after her remarks came the first verification of the cloning of a complex animal, Dolly the sheep.

Global Social Change

Technology and the Future

Computer Technology

Computer technology has come to play an increasingly large part in societies around the world.
The Internet was originally created to help U.S. military and government continue operating after a nuclear attack. Now its available to everyone!
Computer technology are generally considered to be a good thing, but they can have negative consequences for society as well.
For example, robots replacing humans

Privacy and Censorship in a Global Village

Businesses and government agencies use technology to track our online activity
Today, new technologies like robots, cars that can park themselves, and smartphones with map applications are bringing about sweeping social change. While much of that change is beneficial, there are some negative effects. Recent advances in computer technology have made it increasingly easy for business firms, government agencies, and even criminals to retrieve and store information about everything from our buying habits to our web-surfing patterns. In public places, at work, and on the Internet, surveillance devices now track our every move, be it a keystroke or an ATM withdrawal. At the same time that these innovations have increased others' power to monitor our behavior, they have raised fears that they might be misused for criminal or undemocratic purposes. In short, new technologies threaten not just our privacy, but our freedom from crime and censorship (O'Harrow Jr. 2005).

Biotechnology and the Gene Pool

Advances in biotechnology have spurred social change and allow us to do a number of significant but controversial things include:
selection of sex of fetuses
create genetically engineered organisms
clone sheep, cows, and other animals
Advances in biotechnology have raised difficult ethical questions about genetic engineering.
Globalization has increased the international migration of laborers, producing a new kind of immigrant.
Transnationals are immigrants who sustain multiple social relationships that link their societies of origin with their societies of settlement.