Social movements

Social Change, Collective Action, and Social Movements

Evolutionary social change

An evolutionary view of social change implies a gradual transformation through a series of stages of increasing complexity (as distinct from the revolutionary view of social change, which assumes that a revolution is necessary for social change to occur).

Social Revolution

A social revolution involves a fundamental change in social practices (as distinct from a political revolution, which involves the overthrow of one type of political regime by another).

Toffler’s Three Waves of Social Development

Agricultural age (began about 10,000 years ago)—Social Significance: people moved away from nomadic wandering/hunting to villages and cultures.Industrial age (began in the eighteenth century)—Social Significance: People began to leave the peasant culture of farming to work in city factories with machinery.Information age (current era)—Social Significance: Wealth is increasingly contingent on the possession of knowledge/information.

Table 18.2 Access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Figure 18.1 Number of Stations Owned by Top Five Companies

Social Change

As defined by Wilbert Moore, social change is the “significant alteration of social structures” where social structures means “patterns of social action and interaction” (Moore 1967: 3)

Cultural Lag

The phenomenon whereby cultural elements, such as religious beliefs, change more slowly than structural elements, such as technological innovations.

(The term cultural lag was coined by William Ogburn.)

Attempts to explain social change

In the nineteenth century, attempts to explain social change were prompted by increased information and curiosity about so-called “primitive” societies, which raised questions about the nature of “modernity” and the direction of human development

Social evolutionary theories

Viewed social change as advancing gradually through certain basic stages of development, such as from “military society” to “industrial society,” and from simple agrarian forms to more complex industrial-urban onesDeveloped in the nineteenth century by Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim

Theories of revolutionary change

Emphasized increasing conflict among different parts of society—particularly different economic groups (classes)—as the fundamental source of social change

Mainly associated with Karl Marx

Criticism of early theories

Twentieth century sociologists criticized the early theories for attempting to explain too much—to be claiming to have discovered a kind of universal pattern of development

Max Weber, for example, warned against generalizations of this sort

Modern industrial society

Both Karl Marx and Max Weber viewed modern industrial society as a socioeconomic system in which the manufacturing firm was central.

Karl Marx

For Marx, the factory was important as a prime example of the methods used by capitalists to make a profit out of combining machinery and workers to produce goods for sale; it was a means of concentrating and organizing labor

Max Weber

For Weber, the manufacturing firm typified the modern form of organization, which was highly rational and bureaucratic

Post-industrial Society

Daniel Bell popularized the concept of post-industrial society in the early 1970s

The term signifies an intermediate stage between industrial society and a future form of society, the precise nature of which was still to be established

Bell’s three social spheres

Social (or techno-economic) structure

Polity, i.e. the state and political institutions

Culture

The axial principles of each sphere

Social (or techno-economic) structure efficiency

Polity, i.e. the state and political institutions equality

Culture self-realization

Daniel Bell

Bell’s main concern is with the conflict between the techno-economic and cultural realms

Bell discerned the emergence of a postmodern culture based on consumerism, “concerned with play, fun, display and pleasure” (Bell 1976: 70)

Manuel Castells

Three types of social movements and identities that can be generated in response to the globalization of information flows:

Legitimizing

Resistance

Project

Legitimizing movements and identities

As described by Castells, social movements that are generated through institutions of civil society that are outside of the state, yet have legitimate access to state power

Resistance movements and identities

As described by Castells, social movements that are based on the identity of excluded groups (i.e. racial and ethnic minorities) and are the product of resentment toward dominant institutions and alienation from mainstream ideologies

Project movements and identities

As described by Castells, social movements that use available cultural resources to create new identities that redefine one’s position in society and try to change the overall social structure (e.g. the women’s movement and environmental movement)

Key Characteristics of Social Movements

An informal network of interactions among activist groups, individuals, and organizations

A sense of collective identity

Engagement in political or cultural conflict over social change

Collective Behavior

As defined by Neil Smelser, “mobilization on the basis of a belief which redefines social action” (1962: 8)

Resource Mobilization Theory

Developed by John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. ZaldAssumes that social movements and individuals always operate on a rational basis and make rational choicesTreats social movements as if they were companies in search of investors

New Social Movements Theory

New Social Movements theory is interested in the analysis of culture and meaning in social movements

Globalization

As defined by David Held, “Globalization may be thought of initially as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual” (Held et al. 1999: 2).

Study Questions

What is the difference between evolutionary and revolutionary social change? Are they mutually exclusive? How is social revolution different from political revolution?What are Alvin Toffler’s three “waves” of social development? Briefly describe each of these stages by identifying its dominant form of economic production, its basis of wealth, and its social significance. Which stage are we in now?

Study Questions (continued)

What is Wilbert Moore’s definition of social change? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this definition? Why is social change so difficult to define?


What two types of theories of social change emerged during the nineteenth century? Who are the major theorists associated with each theory? Which one describes development in terms of evolution, and which one in terms of revolution?


What events prompted the first attempts to explain social change in the nineteenth century? How were the first theories of social change criticized by sociologists of the twentieth century?


How did Karl Marx understand the role of the factory in modern capitalism? How did Max Weber understand the role of the manufacturing firm? Does the information society constitute a radical break from the modern society that these two theorists describe?


Name the three social spheres described by Daniel Bell. What is the axial principle of each sphere? According to Bell, what conflict characterized the transition to postmodernism?


Briefly describe Manual Castells’s three types of social movements and the corresponding identities generated in response to the globalization of information flows. Which one is he most optimistic about in terms of its ability to bring about substantial changes in the information society?


What are the key characteristics of a social movement? What is the difference between social movements and collective behavior?What is the central insight of resource mobilization theory? Why is it considered a form of rational choice theory? What is the major problem with resource mobilization theory?


What is David Held’s definition of globalization? What are the main criticisms of this definition ad of globalization in general?

Education

Social movements