Social Change Movements - Essay Example

Social Change Movements Social movements are basic avenues by which social change takes place. a. What are social movements? Explain the varioustypes of social movements and the origin or causes of social movements. Social movements refer to the ongoing and goal oriented efforts, platforms or vehicles designed to push for change in societies or communities. They challenge status quo in attitudes, methods, institutions or ways of life (Brinkerhoff et al., 2013). The main purpose of social movements is to create new and better, world, institutions or ways of living. Such social movements include but not limited to The Occupy Movement, Landless movements in Brazil, The Environmental Movement in United States and the famous Civil Rights Movement which started in 1955 and ended in 1968. The key ingredients of social movements are the unity of intention and purpose driven by collective and innovative behavior. To achieve the social change different tactics are applied depending on the desired level of change. Such tact includes but not limited to lobbying legislators, demonstrations, organizing educational meetings or applying armed resistance among many others. Social movements may cause social disorganization and discontent. On the other hand it may usher a new of thinking or a new political regime or a new and better world. The new things may include better access to health care, improved political representation and democracy or cleaner and conducive environment among others. i. Social movements Social change movements can be categorised based on number of factors such as degree of change needed , type of change , methods used to create change as well as range and the level of society affected. There are four main categories of social movement namely; alternative, reformative, redemptive or revolutionary social movements. Alternative social change movements are movements that affect small changes in individual attitudes, beliefs and/or activities. Gay and lesbian movements as well as anti-vaccination movements are examples. Reformative social change movements are movements that affect a society or community and bring about small or minor changes thus leaving most of its social structure intact. Such movements’ intention may be to bring about shared power of control among different interested parties. Examples are health care reforms and animal rights movements. Redemptive social change movements are movements that apply to few individuals but bring about radical or fundamental changes to individual attitudes, beliefs, and activities. An example is a religious cult movement. Finally, revolutionary social change movements are movements that affect societies or communities and they bring about gigantic changes. They are often disruptive in nature as they seek to overhaul a whole system and gain exclusive control. An Arab Spring is an example. ii. The origin or causes of social movements. Social movements are caused by many factors among them; feelings of frustration associated with perceived or real inequalities, unresolved grievances, exploitation or crisis. These perceived situations form fertile ground for insurgent consciousness. Furthermore, competition for resources due to increasing population pressures may also cause social movements as advocated by the conflict theory. Congestion in towns or cities that may lead to inadequate supply of basic necessities like water and housing may cause social movements because people may feel that their needs are not being addressed by the current political class. Finally, environmental degradation resulting from industrialization may bring about pollution or desertification and many environmental movements are emerging to address the named problems. b. Personally, are you a part of any social movement or have family/friends who are involved in a social movement? I am not involved in any social movement but some of my friends are. One is involved in The Environmental Movement and three are involved in The Womens Rights Movement. Environmental movement advocates for preservation of natural environment and the planet earth as a whole while the Womens Rights Movement advocates for non-discrimination of the female gender. c. Which social movements do you see as the most influential in causing social change? The most influential social movements in my view are reformative social change movements and revolutionary social change. Revolutions have worked in African countries like Egypt and Libya where political regimes have been overthrown. Recent time example is the Arab Spring wave movements. Reformative may also work because most authorities readily accept them as they are not disruptive to their status quo but rather involve some give and take. 2. Revolutions have served as rapid and fundamental transformations of society. What are revolutions? Explain the elements of revolution, relative deprivation theory, system disequilibrium theory, resource mobilization theory and structural theory. Under what conditions do you believe revolution could occur in the US? a. Introduction Revolutions are goal oriented and ongoing efforts at grassroots that begin in the hearts of individuals who demand change. Revolutions are designed to attain radical changes in a societies or communities through various methods. The ancient revolution is the agrarian revolution and most recent revolutions were seen in Arab countries such as Libya and Egypt. Agrarian revolution brought about improved methods of farming while the revolutions in Arab countries brought about change in political regimes. i. Elements of revolutions First element of revolution is commitment. People who advocate for social change must demonstrate their commitment to approach things differently in terms of their efforts, time and resources. Second element of revolution is music or motto. Music is sung by the participants so as to encourage themselves to move on. An example is Free America. Third element of revolution is ideologies or dreams. People must believe in something. There must be an idea or a dream of improved situation in future. Fourth element is the existence of a coherent message from the leaders and its followers. Fifth, for a revolution to work there must exist foot soldiers. These are people who can be trusted and are able and willing to spread the message. Final element in this discussion is leadership. There must be specifically well trained leaders to interpret and advance the message as well as provide guidance to the foot soldiers and other followers. The leaders must be able to plan and deliver their messages at appropriate and opportune times. ii. Revolution theories Relative deprivation theory explains that people cause revolutions because they feel deprived or they perceive that they are receiving fewer resources than what is due to them as compared with the past or with other members of the society. It is even worse if those who feel are deprived believe that their misery is caused by unfair treatment. The theory assumes that under normal circumstances, societies are stable and that revolutions occur when there is skewed and rapid social change across the society. It also assumes that revolutions cause disorganization or disharmony. However, the theory has its share of criticism. It is a fact that most people who caused social revolutions are not necessarily deprived but affluent members of the society. Furthermore, some of the people who cause and drive revolutions may not even be part of the people who feel deprived. Secondly, the theory fails to specify conditions under which revolutions occur. System disequilibrium theory stipulates that a society is a system comprising of four subsystems namely; Social, economic, technical and management- institution systems. Social and economic are considered primary while technical and management- institution systems are considered political and cultural entities. Changes in any of the system may have impact on the others and that equilibrium in the system is realized through information, energy, authority and legitimacy. It further add that social equilibrium may is achieved through role differentiation. Resource mobilization theory explains that revolution arise due to competing interests between organized groups in the society. Political opportunity and resources are main concepts used in this theory. Political opportunity is about improved democracy and representation. Resources include both material and non-material things such finance and moral commitment respectively. According to the theory, revolutions occur when people perceive that they are not given political opportunities or/and that they are receiving fewer resources than they should. According to Rose and Ebaugh (2009), revolutions may result from changes in resource allocation, group organization or perceive opportunities. The theory stipulates that organization structures serve as impediments to resource allocation. It also argues that a balance between cost and benefits bring about rationalization. This means that people will cause revolution only when they can establish that there will be more benefit than costs. Structural theory explains that under normal circumstances communities function smoothly or harmoniously. It views social movements as abnormal part of the society, which results in discontent and disorganization. The theory points out that revolution occur as a result of rapid social changes, which may cause psychological imbalance of certain group of people. The problem with the theory is that it does not clearly indicate how psychological imbalances translate into collective action. b. Conditions that revolution may occur in the United States The introduction of new bills and laws, which people perceive as a contravention to the American Constitution may cause revolutions in the United States. A case in point is new legislation that banned ownership of some guns as well as the institution of mediums of public surveillance. This saw President Obama’s approval rating reduced and people demonstrated in Washington D.C demanding for reforms. 3. Technology and innovation are important aspects in understanding social change. What is innovation and what are the sources of innovation? What are the structural conditions that make innovation likely? What is diffusion and how is it related to innovation? Also, explain the characteristics of innovation and its relation to communication and mass media. Innovation is a term used to refer to the process or an act of transforming a method, invention or an idea into a life changing phenomena, where value will be created to satisfy a specific need. The act of innovation involves conscious and deliberate application of imagination, knowledge and initiative. Innovation can either be revolutionary or evolutionary. It is evolutionary when it is done continuously or incrementally while it becomes revolutionary when it is done abruptly and in huge doses thus become disruptive. There are many sources of innovation. Innovation is brought about by the unexpected event which could be a success or failure. Disagreements, unmet need, new knowledge and changes in the industry structures, demographics, perception meaning or mood may bring about innovation (Drucker, 2012). a. What are the structural conditions that make innovation likely? There are a number of structural conditions that make innovation likely. First, a decentralized structure is important so as to encourage people to exploit their potential. Second, there should be adequate resource to support innovation this include both material such as finances and non-material such as moral commitment. Third, skilled, experienced and adequate human capital may easily promote knowledge acquisition and application. Fourth, there must be tolerance to failure and willingness to take risks. Innovation has inherent risk of failure and innovators must be assured of conducive environment to try their new ideas. Fifth, good communication infrastructure is key as it ensure that innovators communicate and disseminate ideas easily. b. What is diffusion and how is it related to innovation? Diffusion is a process of adopting new methods, ideas or institutions. Diffusion is promoted by communication and access to information and requires development of a plan that address critical factors that address critical factors in the design and marketing of the innovation. c. The characteristics of innovation and its relation to communication and mass media. The first characteristic of innovation is relative advantage. This refers to how improved a situation will be when something is improved as compared to the present. For example, an improved digital mass media such as website with added features may result in access to accurate, complete and timely information. Secondly, compatibility is critical for success. This is where an improved website provides information that meets the needs of the intended audience. If the audience likes photographs, then the website needs to provide space for adequate photographs. Third, the improved website needs to be simple enough to allow quick access and navigation. This is because complex website slows down access to information. The fourth characteristic is trail-ability. People or intended audience need to be able test or explore information before they can commit to paying for paying for it. Fifth characteristic of innovation is observer-ability. The benefits of accepting services of the website need to be clear to the people. This is because some people rely on seeing other people using it before they use it. 4. We can’t understand the nature of social change in the US without understanding its global context. What is development, the 4 dimensions of development, economic development, social development, political development and development and families? a. Development- According to Jain et al. (2014), development refers to real increase of per capita income as well as improving economic welfare of persons over a long period. Development is realized when there is balanced growth and good governance as suggested by Purvis and Grainger (2013). Development is about improvement of living conditions of people in a given population. Economic development refers to the increase in gross domestic product per capita. A figure obtained by estimating mean income received by each person of a given country in United States dollars (Grainger, 2013). Economic development is a precursor of development. Social development on the other hand refers to improved quality of life as a result of access to quality healthcare, good nutrition and good security. This is measure by increased life expectancy. Social development contributes to economic growth. According to Jillson (2013), political development can be defined as the capacity of citizens to express their interests as preference freely and to question various proposition of state without fear of victimization. It is also defined a situation where political leaders and other leaders have greater public accountability and transparency to its people/ citizens. There has to be participatory and representative civil society, political process as well as civil and political rights (Brown, 2008). Boss et al (2008) states that family development is about establishment of marriage, having and rearing children and preparing young adults to form their own families. Family development is about proper child socialization that enables children to live productively and responsibly in future. Development facilitates children to acquire skills and knowledge, which enable them adopt positive attitudes and expectation in life thus become successfully integrated into new social relationships. b. What are the theories of development and globalization? Globalization theory was derived from world-System theory, which results from reaction to modernization theory. It emphasizes that economic and cultural interactions drive globalization. According to Antropologia globaliză, globalization may either be horizontal or vertical globalization. Horizontal globalization is perceived as external that considers geographical expansion while vertical globalization refers to unification of spaces. These include aspects as spiritual integration of communities. According to Ritzer, main characteristic of globalization is that globalization makes the world increasingly uniform. The facilitators of globalization are access to global communication through internet or television among many other channels. c. What is globalization and the social responses to globalization? Caselli (2012) argues that globalization is a process where ideas, practices, decisions or methods have the power and impetus to cross regional and national boundaries to other nations or places and cause impact. Globalization is facilitated by radios, televisions, letters, music, movies/films, social media and food among many others. d. Finally, what does human progress have to do with globalization issues? Globalization has facilitated transfer of technology and good practices from one country to another. For example, invention of a new drug in one country is vital in the treatment of same disease in different countries. Therefore, globalization has brought about improvement of environment and human welfare because it promotes access to opportunities for income generation, education and health care services among many others. e. Personally, how are you affected by global social change? Global social change has enabled me to access quality education and better health care services. References Boss, P.,Doherty,, J. W., LaRossa, R., Schumm,, R. W., & Steinmetz, K. S. (2008). Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methods: A Contextual Approach. Springer Science & Business Media. New York: Brinkerhoff, D., Ortega, S., & Weitz, R. ( 2013). Essentials of Sociology. (9th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Brown, D. C. (2008). The Road to Development is Paved with Good Institutions: The Political and Economic Implications of Financial Markets. Eisenhower, USA: ProQuest. Caselli, M. ( 2012). Trying to Measure Globalization: Experiences, Critical Issues and Perspectives. 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