Social Change Explanations of social change What is Social Change? Social change refers to CHANGING the way a society is organized and the beliefs and practices of the people who live in it. (def. sheet) You can expect social changes to happen in your lifetime. What do you predict? In groups of two or three, discuss and predict what social changes you think could occur in the next 50 years. Be prepared to share your ideas AND reasons with the class. Some examples: Religion Politics The Environment School Parenting The workforce War Freedom Gender/sexuality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU Ten commandments for Changing the World! In the same groups, come up with a strong, short action statement and a quick explanation of an action and how it could change the world. Example: Challenge authority. Don’t be afraid to question authority. The ‘experts’ are proven wrong. They used to believe the earth was flat! We are going to come up with a list of ten (if we can!) and compare it to an existing list. Ten Commandments that can change the world 1. You gotta believe. Have hope, passion and confidence that valuable change does happen because individuals take bold initiative. 2. Challenge authority. Don’t be afraid to question authority. The ‘experts’ are often proven wrong (they used to believe the earth was flat!) 3. Know the system. Learn how decisions are made. How is the bureaucracy structured? Who are the key players? Where do they eat lunch? Go there and talk with them. Get to know their executive assistants. Attend public meetings. 4. Take action. Do something- anything is better than nothing. Bounce your ideas around with friends, and then act. 5. Use the media. Letters to the editor of your local newspaper are read by thousands. Stage a dramatic event and invite the media- they love an event that gives them an interesting angle or a good photo. 6. Build alliances. Seek out common allies. The system wins through ‘divide and conquer’ tactics so do the opposite! 7. Apply constant pressure. Persevere- it drives those in power crazy. Be as creative as possible in getting your perspective heard. Use the media, phone your politicians, send letters and faxes with graphics and images. Be concise. Ask specific questions and give a deadline for when you want a response. Stay in their faces. 8. Teach alternatives. Propose and articulate intelligent alternatives to the status quo. 9. Learn from your mistakes. You’re gonna make mistakes; we all do. Critique- in a positive way- yourself, the movement and the opposition. 10. Take care of yourself and each other. Maintain balance. Eat well and get regular exercise. Avoid burnout by delegating tasks, sharing responsibility, and maintaining an open process. Have fun! Remember, you’re not alone. Adapted from “Ten Commandments for a changing World” (2001) Anthropological view of social change Anthropologists would ask questions such as: what causes change in ‘developing countries’? Do international aid agencies work effectively? Is change in these countries even desirable? What can different nations learn from each other and how can they communicate effectively? Anthropologists believe that there are three major sources of cultural change. Invention: new products, ideas and social patterns that affect the way people live. Think of some examples of how inventions have changed our lives. Discovery: finding something that was previously unknown to a culture. Diffusion: spreading ideas, methods and tools from one culture to another. Think of some examples of when Diffusion has not worked or has not been welcomed. Watch “we were children” Complete chart with information from pages 41-63 of the text in duotang Psychological view of social change Focus on people’s behaviours and attitudes. Questions include: What must people to to change their behaviours?What factors make behaviour modification programs successful? Do people need help to change? What kind of help do people need? Are people more receptive to logical or emotional arguments? This is one theory that could be an IMPEDIMENT to social change or could HELP social change. Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance theory: when what you do conflicts with what you think. EXAMPLES??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp39qSdyTc4 (song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zP0FU46PcE (9/11) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo (Zimbardo) Read articles on Cognitive Dissonance and complete worksheets. Sociological view of social change Sociologists look at the shifts of attitudes and behaviours of whole societies. They want to know whether change is arbitrary, predictable or irregular. Leaders of Social Change On your chart paper; 1. come up with some names of people who are/were leaders in social change. Take some brief notes about them and what they did. Try to come up with at least five names. 2. make a list of personal qualities that you think a leader needs to facilitate social change. 3. outline some of the conditions in society that are needed for social change. 4. list some of the tools that people could use to facilitate social change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32GPv32hkHE http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/society/awards/2013/10 /2013-young-conservationist-of-the-year-linh-do Pay it Forward Watch movie ‘Pay it Forward” Do internet assignment- exploring grassroots movements and NGO’s Project- Leaders of Social Change See assignment (two library periods, three presentation classes) Social Change around the world- Spotlight, The fall of the Berlin wall. The Berlin wall existed from 1961 to 1989, when it was destroyed by German citizens. The wall was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls,[3] which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and that marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. In 1989, a series of political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc, associated with the erosion of political power in the pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left. Contrary to popular belief the wall's actual demolition did not begin until Summer 1990 and was not completed until 1992.[1] The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsqACUvNSgY Read article: The Berlin Wall: A Lesson in Change Complete article summary sheet Spotlight- The Arab Spring The Arab Spring is a wave of demonstrations and protests (both non-violent and violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that began on 18 December 2010 and spread throughout the countries of the Arab League and surroundings. Initial protests had slowed down by 2012. By December 2013, rulers had been forced from power in Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia, and Yemen; civil uprisings had erupted in Bahrain and Syria; major protests had broken out in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Israel and Sudan; and minor protests had occurred in Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Western Sahara, and Palestine. Arab Spring con’t The protests have shared some techniques of civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches, and rallies, as well as the effective use of social media to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of state attempts at repression and Internet censorship. Many Arab Spring demonstrations were met with violent responses from authorities, as well as from pro-government militias and counter-demonstrators. These attacks have been answered with violence from protestors in some cases. A major slogan of the demonstrators in the Arab world has been Ash-sha`b yurid isqat annizam ("the people want to bring down the regime"). Twitter Revolution The term Twitter Revolution refer to different revolutions and protests, all of which were coordinated using the social networking site Twitter to plan the protests, mobilize the demonstrators and update the news to all around the world: 2009 Moldova civil unrest, claiming that the elections, which saw the governing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) win a majority of seats, were fraudulent 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, also known as Green Revolution and Facebook Revolution, following the 2009 Iranian presidential election 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution, also known as Jasmine Revolution and Wikileaks Revolution, in which the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ended after 23 years Egyptian Revolution of 2011, in which the regime of Hosni Mubarak was ended after 30 years Euromaidan Revolution in Ukraine, beginning in November 2013. In the "Twitter revolution", the relationship between the new media and social movement has three distinct characteristics: 1) Twitter helps many different people interact 2) Using Twitter helped to control the situation through more communication 3) Twitter became a new form of social movement Positive influence According to the study of the Egyptian revolution, American Scholar Linz put forward that there are three ways affect collective action: Make the disgruntled citizens more coordinated take some public action; through the information cascade: improve the predictive chance of success Increase the other regional and global public attention. http://www.slideshare.net/AileenYe/the-arab-spring-and-socialrevolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpQC-DJL_Ho http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25212247 (ten unexpected outcomes of the arab spring) Bascha Posh Spotlight- Bacha Posh Read article on Bacha Posh, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html? pagewanted=all&_r=1& http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5w3_eFfz5E Bacha Posh- there is so much change going on in this situation. We would most likely think of most of this change as psychological but what about looking at this story from both an anthropological and sociological view point? Complete the organizer and discuss with the person sitting beside you. Be prepared to share your ideas. Wrap it up! Social change in Berlin occurred when the wall was PUT UP in 1961 and when it was TAKEN DOWN in 1989. Change affected the people of Germany in many ways including: economically (paying taxes), socially (finally seeing families again!), emotionally (where do we belong?)- and affected Germany as a whole who had to figure out how to reunify, affecting many many institutions. Social change occurred during the Arab Spring thanks to the use of social media sites like facebook and Twitter. These communication tools allowed people to communicate and gather together in a more organized way. The protests in the middle east during this time were generally successful, though there is still a lot of work to do. Search for a picture of an ostrich Search the definition of ‘technology’ Search for a picture of Jennifer Aniston Search for a video on youtube about sociology Wrap it up con’t Complete organizer for all three issues Article on technology in the class room and activity (test students to summarize a paragraph that I read to them while finding something specific on their phone and then without) Do #instafame survey. Find a picture of a penguin Look up the definition of technology Look up a photo of Jennifer Aniston from the Friends days Look up the definition of ‘rambunctious’ Technology as an agent of Social Change In groups, look through and make statistics on what you have found. Record information on the board an put all information together. We will eventually make statistics from all three classes. Write paragraph about findings. Record general impressions, critically think through results of information. #instafame activity – look through website and discuss http://www.hashtaginstafame.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trPh9E_8KbI Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) This theory was created by sociologists who subscribe to the social constructivist school of thought. Before understanding SCOT, we should understand social constructionism. Social constructionism is the sociological school of thought that looks at the development of how humans jointly understand the world. It assumes that meaning and significance are not developed alone, but in coordination with other people. The main assumptions are that humans make sense of their experiences by creating a model of the social world and how it functions; and that language is the most essential system through which humans construct reality. Now…how does this relate to technology?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkUlDxZNdOY (5 mins) SCOT con’t… SCOT states that technology does not determine human action but that human action dictates technology. The ways technology is used cannot be understood without how technology is used in a social context. The sociologists who came up with this theory are Weibe Bijker and Trevor Pinch in their 1987 book entitled The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Those who seek to understand the reasons for acceptance or rejection of a technology should look to the social world. It is not enough, according to SCOT, to explain a technology's success by saying that it is "the best"—researchers must look at how the criteria of being "the best" is defined and what groups and stakeholders participate in defining it. In particular, they must ask who defines the technical criteria success is measured by, why technical criteria are defined this way, and who is included or excluded. SCOT is not only a theory, but also a methodology: it formalizes the steps and principles to follow when one wants to analyze the causes of technological failures or successes. 10 pieces of technology that failed miserably! http://listverse.com/2013/01/12/10-innovative-pieces-of-technologythat-failed-miserably/ Interpretive flexibility Interpretative Flexibility means that each technological desgin has different meanings and interpretations for various groups. Bijker and Pinch show that the air tire of the bicycle meant a more convenient mode of transportation for some people, whereas it meant technical nuisances, traction problems and ugly aesthetics to other. These alternative interpretations generate different problems to be solved. How should aesthetics, convenience, and speed be prioritized? What is the "best" tradeoff between traction and speed? Definition of social groups The most basic relevant groups are the users and the producers of the technological artifact, but most often many subgroups can be delineated users with different socioeconomic status, competing producers, etc. Sometimes there are relevant groups who are neither users, nor producers of the technology, for example, journalists, politicians, and civil organizations. Public Service Announcements & Media affecting social change (Gangs) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2EgundG6bY&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL9 F1F057659969725 (United Way) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kdFd49mLxw partipaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXA4d1aU9RY (Give a hoot, don’t pollute) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZB7gSQRIuM Campaigns for social change- psa’s – study one in depth, figure out if/how it worked, how it changed society in some way and why Do a short presentation on it Make your own psa- how do you expect it to produce social change and why How is our behaviour changed by advertisers? What are the psychological theories behind this change?