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SOCIAL CHANGE

changes aren’t permanent

but change is

What societal changes have occurred in your lifetime?

The Transformation Over Time of the Institutions and Culture of Society

• Institutional and cultural change is the rule, not the exception

• Change is constant yet is rarely under complete control (intended and unintended consequences) and rarely fully understood

• Occurs on micro and macro levels

Causes of Social Change

• Environmental and Population Pressures

– Natural disasters; changing food supplies

• Cultural and Technological Innovation

– Automobiles, cell phones, medical treatments, economic systems, religions, etc.

• Social Movements

– Civil Rights, Women’s, Environmental, Labor, etc.

“You must bethe change

you wish to seein the world.”

-Gandhi

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“Powerconcedesnothing

without a demand.”

-Frederick Douglas

Social MovementsIt’s up to us

What are Social Movements?

• Loosely or tightly organized collective efforts by relatively powerless groups to affect social or political change operating outside of institutionalized political channels.

– (e.g. Civil Rights, Global Justice, Women’s Movement, Environmental, Labor, etc.)

Key Characteristics ofSocial Movements

• Operate primarily outside institutional political systems

• Arise due to a group’s exclusion from “normal” institutional political channels

• Are always resisted by those in positions of power and privilege (when it’s a movement that threatens said power and privilege)– (People in power prefer we go through

institutionalized channels —voting, lobbying, the courts, etc.—because the people in power run those channels)

Goals of Social Movements

1. Redistribute material resources more equitably– E.g. Labor Movement, Occupy Movement

2. Gain full citizenship– E.g. Civil Rights, Women’s, Gay Rights Movement

3. Re-define society’s values, norms, and priorities– E.g. Environmental and Anti-War Movements,

Tea Party Movement

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How do powerless peopleexercise power?

Source of Social Movement Power

• How do powerless people exercise power?

• By withholding their consent!

– Refusing to participate in everyday life

– Denying others their labor (your labor)

– Most effective when done collectively

Why is withholding consent or refusing compliance so powerful?

Powerful people only have the power we allow them to have when we comply.

So who is the realsource of power

in society?

Movement Tactics and Strategies

• Civil disobedience– Purposefully and openly violating the law

• Street protests– Marches, parades, rallies, etc.

• Strikes– Refusing to work to force employer to concede

• Boycotts– Refusing to shop, buy, or patronize a targeted enterprise

• Property destruction– Intentional damage done to public or private property

• Violence – Use of physical force or coercive power against another

Elite Responses to Social Movements

• Repression

– Using violent and non-violent means (e.g. arrests, intimidation, military force, etc.)

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Elite Responses to Social Movements

• Repression

– Using violent and non-violent means (e.g. arrests, intimidation, military force, etc.)

• Co-optation

– Taking over issues or leaders by adopting movement issues or recruiting its leaders

“And as they took it over, it lost its militancy….Why, it even ceased to be a march.It became a picnic, a circus.Nothing but a circus, with clowns and all. …”

-Malcolm X

Elite Responses to Social Movements

• Repression– Using violent and non-violent means (e.g. arrests,

intimidation, military force, etc.)

• Co-optation– Taking over issues or leaders by adopting movement

issues or recruiting its leaders

• De-legitimizing Strategies– Applying labels like “communist,” “terrorist,” or

“radical” to leaders or movement goals to undermine legitimacy of movement demands

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Elite Responses to Social Movements

• Repression– Using violent and non-violent means (e.g. arrests, intimidation,

military force, etc.)

• Co-optation– Taking over issues or leaders by adopting movement issues or

recruiting its leaders

• De-legitimizing Strategies– Applying labels like “communist,” “terrorist,” or “radical” to

leaders or movement goals to undermine legitimacy of movement demands

• Covert Efforts– To infiltrate or sabotage through use of FBI, CIA, or paid

informants to undermine movement organizations

The US Government was likely responsible for killing MLK

What do/can Social Movements Accomplish?

• Specific policy changes

• Changes in legal codes

• Shifts in attitudes, norms and values

• Often inspire counter-movements

– (e.g. Conservative backlash to Women’s Movement)

Why are Social Movements Important Sociologically?

• Represent efforts to re-define social reality from the bottom-up

• Expose the normally hidden dynamics and structures of power in society

• Demonstrate that otherwise powerless people are able to “act back” and influence society