Deviance and Counterculture Subculture Counterculture Deviance Social control Subjective (chủ quan) Statistically Harmful behavior A sub-group that does not challenge mainstream society *Frankfurt school* A sub-group that challenge mainstream society Ways of thinking and acting that are subject to social control Counterculture is often seen as deviant They ways in which members of social groups express their disapproval of people and behaviors This helps sociologists avoid certain problems as they look at the issue of deviance Criminals, child-molesters, drug addicts, alcoholics, mental ill people => labeling of these as deviant is subjective* Labelling attributes a moral stance to the observed behaviors A deviant behavior is a behavior which is uncommon Murders, rapist, thieves. - Many non-harmful members of society are labelled deviant by society and many even suffer harming themselves from the more numerous, mentally ill, homosexual, transgender, mentally delayed 3 theories of deviance Strain theory “Social structure and anomie” – Robert Merton – 1938 Strain theory: deviance emerges when there is a lack of fit between cultural goals, and the means to achieve these goals - Anomie: normless, lack of ideas, lack of purpose - Robert Merton focusses on marginalized economic class as the main source of strain – noting that deviant behavior is most common amongst that group - Also there are more types of strain than just not getting what you want in life - => escape from a negative condition (abuse) - Loss of something of social value (a child forced to move) Deviance could emerge when: 1. A social structure encourages people to seek objectives that are not actually available to them 2. People seek escape from a negative condition 3. People have lost something of social value 5 ways of adjusting to situations: 1. Conformity (tuân theo): most common. Accept as legitimate both the culturally approved goals and means of achieving these goals E.g: Strive for material success by working hard, trying to get a good education. 2. Innovation: accept the culturally legitimate form of success but reject the conventional way of achieving success E.g: Bank robber, drug dealer 3. Ritualism: some go through the motions, accepting the means to achieve goals, but are not motivated by the goals themselves - Cultural Support theory E.g: mechanically doing your job but not motivated to do more because you know it is futile to try 4. Retreatism: adjusting to strain by dropping out of the system. Losing confidence in it and your ability to function in it Alcoholism, drug addictions, unemployed lethargy. Retreat into alternative lifestyle (counterculture) 5. Rebellion: Perform acts intended to replace the current cultural goals and means with new ones E.g: political activist or domestics terrorist People learn mainstream norms through communication E.g: we are in university because we’ve learned to value this sort of practice as part of our life cycle People learn deviant behavior from others as well E.g: norms that justify stealing at work Our society is culturally complex – we are taught not to steal, but sometimes we justify deviant action – convincing ourselves that the rules do not apply to the situation Has been more successful than strain theory in explaining “white collar crime” But, when researching, it is difficult to get people to admit to having deviant values Also, focusing just on values can obscure other reasons (strain) for deviance Control theory Assumptions: humans are greedy, hurtful and deceitful Lying and cheating are the easiest ways to get what you want Sexual excess and drug abuse are more enjoyable than studying and working hard They will engage in deviant behavior whenever they can get away with it How cult seduce Network of “conventional others” The tighter and more numerous networks you have, the more social control is exerted, the less likely deviant behaviors will be Notice: there is no way to separate “control” from “cultural learning” and “social inclusion” So, your acceptance of or the other of these theories depends on your assumptions about human behaviors 1. Boundaries: cult, unlike most modern phenomena, have a closed boundary. You’re either in or out. This creates passionate solidarity. The Firewall - Cult build a protective barrier - Only those committed and close to the core are fully in the know - Outsiders are kept largely in the dark - The firewall is also an information firewall Only those inside knows the truth. Outsiders should not be listened to Big Brother - Cult define “what we’re not” - A common tactic is to define a big enemy in the outside world - Attacks from the outside only reinforce the paranoia External vs Internal communications - Members have privileged information - Communication is intimate, extensive, frequent - Outsiders are often fed a completely different story 2. Initiation Selecting recruits - Cults focus not on “who we can get” but “who is ready” - People going through dramatic life change make excellent recruits, new students, recent divorces - 85% people who join a cult do so through a friend of acquaintance Batting the hook - No-one wakes up one day and says “I know, I’ll join a cult” - Cults use bait which is invite you in for an innocent, worthwhile purpose with high prosperity for repeat visits – like a course - During this course, you are initiated to a world view that says “learning the ways of this cult is the real purpose of my life” Love bombing - A key human need which cults meet is belonging - Here everyone suddenly loves and accepts you! - Only those cult members who have shown an aptitude for attracting and reassuring potential recruits are included in these introductory sessions; and a relationship is build across a series of convivial social meetings Matriculation - This is a critical process and is carefully managed - You can’t just walk in and “join” – you have to be invited, and experience an initiation - This is the “brainwashing” stage; intense; isolating; aimed at breaking you down, getting you to internalized and identify with certain problems, then building you back up as a believer 3. Customs Pyramid: - Cult know that treating everyone the same means making no-one feel special or motivated They act as an emotion pyramid scheme; self-sustaining and administering through many levels Communication is mainly vertical Duties - Cults keep people busy (too busy to stop and think) - Duties: do the leg work, recruit, improve at whatever needs fixing, sell crafts,… - Idleness is a sin! The most common complaints of an ex-cult members is not the spiritual content, so much as that all their spare time is devoted to work, like mending the Kingdom hall roof and trudging from doorstep to doorstep 4. Ideology The leaders/the apostles - Cults tend to be personality cults - The leaders’ story is the story of the cult, their word is law. - Access to the leader is an exclusive reward to the higher ups - These acts as apostles, evangelists and gatekeepers The word - Cult have their own vocabulary, way of speaking - This has a powerful effect, words are concepts are thoughts - Cults also foreclose awkward debate with “wise saying” Belief system - Cults are masters of disciplined, simple formatting - Part of their appeal is a simple black-and-white view of reality, far from mess of real relationships and life conflicts - A constant repetition of the same format displaces all else with this simple core; chanting, recruiting, committing, … The rules - Arbitrary restrictions and rules, oddities and experiences reinforce a way of life “through the looking glass” - And ritual experience underline the otherness of this world - Cutting ties with your mundane old existence is key to making this alternate reality the reality Families, love and relationships Structure Structure/Agency Family ↓↑ Terms Pattern of authority Nuclear family Politics Economy Culture •Monogamy: married to one person •Serial Monogamy: have sex with 1 person at a time, following by another •Polygamy: more than one partner –Polygyny: more than one wife (fairly common) –Polyandry: more than one husband (Toda of India) Group marriage: Rare (Kurnandaburi of Australia) Patriarchy: rule of the father (Chế độ phụ hệ) - Reinforce through institutions such as law, school, government and culture - Appx 5000 years old Matriarchy: rule of the mother - Almost as early societies, 2000 BC until 2500 BC – Mosou (China), Iroquois, exists in all continents but Europe - Origin: Western Europe - Marriage by choice and based on romantic love - Man and women with strict gender role - Children are socialized and cared for by only this man and women (not neighbors, extended family, government) - The house is private domain of the family - Other members of the community or even extended family are just visitors and are not involved in childcare, cleaning, family business Is it natural? - Structural functionalists use biological determinist arguments to say YES - Conflict theorists and social constructivists say NO Gender division of labour Man Work man can do Male children Woman Female children Hunting/ Gathering families Industrialization/ Capitalism (Europe & Britain) - Labour Labour power Future labour Nurturer of man’s labour power Nurturer of future labour power Future nurturer Norm in human history (99% of history) 5-30 people Line between family and community is blurred Private/public not clear Social/economical/political networks based on kinship This type of family has existed in non-hunter gathered societies as well Change to industrial capitalism from agricultural feudalism was called “The Great Transformation” – Karl Polanyi Changed family structure 1500 – 1920s: colonialism - Triangular Trade (1800s – Britain) Romance and Love (5th – 12th C) Enlightenment/ Capitalism/ Romanticism (16th – 19th C) Colonialism made capitalism and industrialization possible in Europe (especially Britain) - Primitive accumulation - The new forms of family that emerged in colonials powers were transported to their colonies - Merchants: trade materials and amassed wealth during the colonial period - By 1800s, especially Britain, massive wealth had been amassed - Combined with “enclosure” and urbanization - Combined with technological innovations inspired by colonial conflict (especially steams) Industrial revolution - Idea of “romantic love”: end of the middle ages (5th – 15thC) - from “courtly love (12thC) Courtly love (tình yêu kiểu hiệp sĩ trung cổ) - Chivalrously expressing love and admiration; amongst nobility; not between married spouses - The lover accepts the independence of his mistress, tries to prove worthiness, by acting bravely and honorable and by doing whatever deeds she might desire; subjecting himself to a series of tests (ordeals) to prove to her his love and commitment Enlightenment (16th – Early 19thC) - Ideas of personal liberty, democracy, freedom from “custom”, rationality Capitalism (begin late 18thC) - Needed the nuclear family and individualism Romanticism - Artistic movement that focusses on individual emotion as the source of artistic beauty and creativity Canada divorce rates - 1st marriage: 50% 2nd marriage: 72% 3rd marriage: 85% Arranged marriage divorce rate: 5-7% Bruckner – 2013: Argues that marriage used to be sacred and love, unnecessary. Now love is sacred and marriage unnecessary. Love has triumphed, but may be causing unstable lives Decline of nuclear family - Modern capitalist system has declined Required stable nuclear family - Post-modern capitalism system has increased Required flexible individuals working multiple jobs Require very individualistic consumer Religion Region declining (Stephen Hawking 2011) Modernity’s Institutions (17th century – Europe) Colonialism (European – Catholics) Secularization thesis: rationalism will replace religion as science overcomes faith Problem: Both “rational” scientism and religion are ontologies (bản thể học) - It is impossible to disprove the existence of God, or prove that science is really “rational” and “Objective” - Stephen Hawking – 2011: Modern physics has proven both that all scientific observation is obscured by the observer’s bias, and that the universe, matter, time may all be created by something that looks like “collective consciousness” - 72% of Canadians believe in God, but only 45% attended religious service - Why has belief remained and attendance declined? 17th Century in Europe: e.g: all institutions were religious - Family, government, the school, hospital, church - Modernity has its own institutions that fulfil these roles - European colonialism was justified and perpetuated through religious *Atrocities were justified because non-Christian were not through of as being “fully human” European colonialism - Was the result of European political expansionism and the needs of a new capitalist system for more inputs and control over more markets - Religion worked conveniently as a way to argue that colonizers were justified - Colonized people where “heathens” and were therefore less-than-human and in need of saving Terror - Protestant vs Catholics - Irish conflict in much of the 20th century had a religious tinge - The 2001 attacks in the World Trade Centre were undertaken by Muslim extremists Politics and Social movement Politics - Power - Authority State The Process by which individuals and groups act to promote their interests, often in conflict with others (text, p. 348) It is also an arena in which people discuss, debate and transform each other’s interests and values The ability of a person or a group to achieve their objectives, even when opposed Power reflects the extend to which available resources both constrain and enable people’s actions Power also reflect the extent to which a person or group can impact the values and beliefs of others - Max the ability to exert power without the use of, or threat of physical force - Weber – claimed there were 3 types of authority 1. Traditional authority: - People obey because that’s the way things have always been done - Chiefs or elders in tribal societies, spiritual guides, priests, a father in patriarchal society - More powerful when it is grounded in a belief that it comes from a reverse spiritual source 2. Charismatic authority: - Based on the belief that an individual has exceptional qualities - Thought to be able to solve the problems beyond the capacity of ordinary people - May build strong followings - Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Oprah Winfrey 3. Rational-legal-authority: - Based on formally established rules, procedures and expertise in which a person’s acknowledge right to command is limited to his or her official position - Characteristics of bureaucratic institutions – those higher up the chain have more authority - CEO, economist, electrician, medical doctors, movie critics 4. Assertive authority (not claimed by Weber) - Individuals who make claims or suggest actions assertively in groups are often believed or followed because of the authority with which they suggest something - Most strong predictions by experts about politics, the economy, event sports are wrong - The predictions of such people are only slightly better than random guess - Weber – 1922: A human community that claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory - Residents consider this use of force acceptable when the leader calls on it and when it is in accordance with established rules (aka laws) - Nation Nation-state - Social movement - But legitimacy cannot always be assumed, therefore, many use another definition The state is that set of procedures, and organizations concerned with creating, administering and enforcing rules or decisions for conduct within a given territory E.g: Elections, lawmaking, judges Associated especially with the development of industrialized media A cultural community Benedict Anderson – 1989: An “imagined community” Some groups are marginalized in the cultural construction of the “Nation” Is the modern notion in which the idea of “nation” (cultural community) is used to justify a “state” and the “state” in turn protects the “nation” Palestinians, Quebecois: some nations, however, do not have states Large, informal grouping of individuals or organizations which work to carryout resist, or undo a social, economic, political or cultural change They are part of civil society 2 types: “Old” social movements - Based on economic depravation - E.g: Cuban revolution (1953-1959): labour movement - Goal: to take or substantially alter governing or corporate power “New” social movements - Based on identities, culture and non-economic factors - Example: gay rights, women’s rights, … - Goal: to challenge and change forms of governmentality – mostly through acquiring social, cultural, and financial capital - Political positioning Conservative (Conservative party) Neoliberal (Conservative party) Liberal (NDP) Governmentality: the ways in which those with more power manage and control the behaviors of others through the installation of beliefs, habits and laws which govern behavior Democracy is fine as it is (no issue of elite control) Government should be small and tax little Markets should be allowed to make resource allocation decisions for society - Just another name for the conservative position - Critical of elite control of the state Skeptical of the ability of unregulated markets to create social good Advocate more social programs and redistributive social programs Socialist (MarxistLeninist party) New socialist (No party in Canada) - Large state that controls most of the economy Should be democratic, but often seems to be dictatorial May only exist in North Korea and Cuba Radical decentralization of political power from central government to community groups These groups work in convert with less political powerful regional and federal government Regulate or utilize markets as required by the situation. Markets are used more than “old” socialism Begin to form in Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba Often related to “participatory democracy” and “community development” Population, Urbanization and Environment Population growth Environmental footprint Problems with urbanization Growth rate: - 8000 BC to 1 CE: 0.036%/year - 1 to 175: 0.056%/year - 175 to 1800: 0.44% - By 1960s and 1970s: 2% - Current: 1.2% Why the growth? - Advances in healthcare, agricultural, industrial revolution in England and then European colonies (white majorities) - In the 20th century, birth rate dropped in developed countries as life expectancy increased - Populations in wealthy countries impact the environment more per capita than those in poor countries Waste - Ontario residents, institutions and industries produce 12.4 million tons of garbage a year, the equivalent weight of more than 80,000 fully loaded Boeing 707 jetliners - Only 3 million tons are diverted from landfill sites into recycled goods, w about 6 million tons ending up in Canadian dumps (40%) - 4 million tons of waste is trucked annually from Ontario to Michigan, where the state government stated they will not accept - Ontario’s landfill will reach capacity in 20 years - Majority garbage are in packaging Smog and Pollution - Ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphates and particular matter, mostly generated by car - TPH estimates that 1,700 Torontonians die prematurely each year due to air pollution - Another 6000 people are admitted to hospitals - At least $150 mil in healthcare costs Gridlocks - Related to sprawl (urban expansion) - Travel time will double by 2031, freeway speed drop by 21% - 82-min average commute, doubled by 2031 Slums - Over 1B people live in slums - Urbanization in 3rd world is much faster than it was in Europe - Therefore cities are unplanned, underserviced, and informal - Urban slums are places of poverty but also places of innovations Urbanization Push factors: Farmers pushed off land due to: - Privatization (unequal land distribution) - Industrialization of agriculture (less workers) - Population growth - Environmental problems in countryside Pull factors: - Hope of jobs - Modern ideology - Industrialization of agriculture (larger food surplus) Urbanization rates - 1800: 3% of world population lived in cities - 1900: 14% 1. Curb III World Development - Problems: ethics, military repressions Poverty causes desperation and leads to environmental impact (Amazon deforestation) This is not a viable option 2. Curb Population Growth Problem: - Consumption is a bigger issue than population growth - Best solutions: promoting development, urbanization, self-reliance - Wealth-flow theory Solutions: - Solve poverty, educate, provide financial aids, child-quota laws 3. Reduce consumption, resource extraction, pollution - Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 found that technology cannot solve the problem - Instead: Strong political commitments Better environmental awareness Environmental friendly technologies Higher price for exploiting natural resources Reduction of consumerism Globalization and Social Change Globalization dimensions (4) - Political Economic Cultural Environmental Communication and travel has become advanced and cheap enough to have “shrunken the world” But Globalization is unequal. Certain groups of people benefit more than the other group of globalizations Historical processes Political globalization First stage - Colonialism (1500 – 1945) - Trade routes established all over the world as a result after late colonialism - Some benefitted more than others from this trade because it was colonial trade - A sort of free trade existed amidst severe military repression - 1914 led to War 1. Shrinking of the power of nations to govern their own territories (neoliberal policies in “economic globalization”) 2. Attempts in cooperation through international agencies based on UN (World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD, UNESCO) 3. Information technology increases trans-national communication in decentralized way - Global consumer, global citizen - International civil society Cultural globalization Economic globalization 4. Increased power of the market – translational corporations – setting policy agendas - Global financial speculators - Large corporations - IMF/WTO/WB - Global social movements - Enforced again by WTO/WB/IMF - Or bilateral/multilateral free trade agreements - Limited government control to protect national cultures from international media and business - Neoliberal policies - Enforced by WB/IMF/WTO (structural adjustments) - Global financial capital (aka “golden straightjacket”)- Thomas Freidman - Deregulation of market/Free trade/Privatization Inward looking national development Massive changes Positive aspects Environmental globalization Corporatocracy 1. Building internal and cohesive national identity (flags, transport, sports, ..) 2. Inward-looking economic policy (welfare state) - Making products for internal consumption - Limited trade (quotas, tariffs) - National provision of essential services (healthcare, education) - Early 1970s: oil shocks - Led to stagflation - Increased government debt (stimulus attempts) - Late 1970s and 1980s: government debt crisis - Welfare state could no longer be afforded - 1980s: Fall of Soviet Union - Rise of Neoliberal ideology Increase global understanding (culture, religion, people) Global migration Cosmopolitanism: Toronto has great food Social understanding/movements/social media May reduce global poverty Global South: cheap labour, low taxes, weak environmental regulation Global warming is a global issue Oil dependency: Ontario imports from Middle East, Alberta export to the world - - The rule of corporations 51 of 100 wealthiest economies in the world are corporations Media and Communications Communication Discourse - First need of human, human are the products of communication Communication systems (ways) determine the content Communication is capitalist – shaped by economic markets Largely produced by “cultural industries” We are largely controlled by large corporations – mindless, unthinking, automated consumers - Communicate in signs (semiotics) - Culture: product/content of communication - Human: product of communication A group of idea/understandings communicated through languages. Complex Sign = signifier + signified E.g: America (people think of freedom, rich, multicultural) Meme: an entire discourse/part of one (aka. Word, phrase, idea) Subjectivity Communication systems E.g: fake news, hipster A blank human space populated by discourses and/or meme - Richard Dawkins 1976 - You are a subjectivity, “machine for memes”, propagate memes and discourses - It’s the meme/discourses that are in control - Social and technical systems through which we communicate and organize our communication - Shape communication - Shape subjectivities - Nicholas Garnam – “cultural industries” ….produce and disseminate symbols in the form of cultural goods and services… as commodities Encoding/decoding Stuart Hall model Encoding - Dominant - Negotiated - Oppositional Global and Media Industries - 7% of global GDP Largest exports of USA Trade in cultural goods doubled over the last 10 years Increasing 10% per year “New Economy” – “Creative Economy” – all products are to a certain extent cultural (product packaging, ads, marketing,..) Why the economy cultural? - 1950s overproduction crisis Digital technology Extension of intellectual property law Humans are cultural creatures – not “selves” Liberal (neoclassical) economics Market efficiency - Standard way of analyzing all industries (cultural and media) Extension ideology of liberalism Free market distribution = most efficient use of resources and highest outputs - The most efficient producers with the highest quality products will be successful and the inferior will fail in any given market Only under these conditions: 1. Perfect competition 2. Perfect information 3. Decreasing marginal returns (no economies of scale) 4. Consumer sovereignty (chủ quyền) All are violated in cultural goods Imperfect information Increase Marginal Returns Market failure results Market always fail when the product has cultural content - Music, TV shows, films are heterogeneous (hỗn tạp) - Consumers cannot know if the music is the “best” unless they’ve heard all music in the world - 27,000 – 35,000 CDs are released yearly in US - 450 movies in US and 2500 (worldwide) yearly Economies of scale - Fixed cost > variable costs No Consumer sovereignty - Consumers tastes shaped by ads, other consumers Can be manipulated by the marketers Human identities/ideas/values/tastes formed through communication - Canadian Media empires (4) Culture industry Cultural industry creates - Many cultural products do not come to consumers They are controlled/chosen by people w money and power Unfair for cultural producers Unfair for consumers CanWest Global Rogers CTV globe media Quebecor Media Frankfurt school Cultural industries produce both cultural products and the culture Only 1 privileged – capitalist consumer culture Instrumental rationality – work efficiently to achieve ends Value rationality – decisions are based on what’s “right” Commodity fetishism – consumer goods give “supernatural powers” – sùng bái hàng hóa - Standardization - Data Propaganda Model - Pseudo-individualization – minor cosmetic changes makes us feel like we are expressing taste and desire Distraction – from inequalities and injustices Cooption – cultural resistance disappear $7B spent on cosmetics in US 2,500,000 lives could be saved from that money 400,000,000 people in Africa could have permanent drinking water Herman & Chomsky Applies in news/media 5 filters affect what’s being presented: - Ownership - Funding/Advertising - Sourcing - Flak (discredit) - Anti – “other”
