2 activism

activism

• An intentional effort to create change

  • Marx called this “praxis”

• Activism is one type of “collective behavior”

  • Other types include: crowds, panic, riots, fads, fashion, hysterical contagion (psychophysiological basis for peoples’ strange behavior, mass spread of psychogenic illness), scapegoating 

Recognize categories of physical world activism 

• Community building 

• Lobbying 

• Media activism–show people what’s going on for free 

• Propaganda 

• Boycott 

• Protest 

• Strike action

• Non-violent confrontation

• Violent confrontation

• revolution

Milbrath’s hierarchy — (Top) gladiatorial activities

1. Contributing time in a political campaign 

2. Becoming an active political party member

3. Attending a caucus or strategy meeting

4. Soliciting political funds 

5. Being a candidate or holding office 

Milbrath’s hierarchy — (middle) transitional activities 

1. Contacting a public official or a political leader

2. Attending a political meeting or rally

3. Making monetary contributions 

Milbrath’s hierarchy — (bottom) spectator activities 

1. Exposing oneself to political stimuli 

2. Initiating a political discussion

3. Attempting to convince others

4. Wearing a button or putting a sticker on a car 

5. Online activities 

Spectator activities — Clictivism 

• endorses/advocates by “liking” upvoting or unfollowing an activist post or blog  

• Individual is remote, detached

Spectator activities — Metavoicing

Sharing, retweeting, reposting, and commenting on another’s post. Reinforces ideas/values

• Impact is based on the size of the individual’s social network 

Spectator activities — Assertion

• Video, image, text

• The risk: individual content creators could go off message 

Transitional activities — Political consumerism 

Attempting to influence the activities or political stance of commercial organizations

Transitional activities — Digital petitions

• A response is guaranteed if a minimum number of citizens sign

Transitional activities — Botivism

• Applications that prod action, ask for money, share information, even respond to trolling

Transitional activities — E-Funding

• Providing revenue for a cause. Ranges from donation buttons and online auctions to hacking accounts and ransomware

Gladiator activities — Data activism

• Volunteers rescue, preserve, and disseminate open data when governments refuse to share data or remove it

Gladiator activities — Exposure

• Done by those with or without legitimate access. May or not be politically motivated

Gladiator activities — hactivism

• Hacking to achieve social or political goals. Exposes info, destroys data disrupts

• Social movement 

• An organized group that acts with continuity and coordination to promote or resist change in society 

• Most organized form of collective behavior 

• Aberle’s types of social movements

• Alternative 

  • Change one behavior, alcoholics anonymous 

• Redemptive

  • Personal transformation movements – hippie, new age, religion

• Reform

  • Social change movements – environmental, civil rights movements

• Revolutionary

  • Completely change society – reactionary movements, aryan nation 

• Resource mobilization theory – Mayer Zald UM

• Explores how movements gain momentum by successfully garnering resources, competing with other movements, and mobilizing their available resources

• Also notes how movements are connected to each other

• Mass society theory

• Modem anomie makes non-elite individuals feel alienated, and they are therefore more likely to take extreme action against elites 

• Relative deprivation theory

• Asserts that people will organize or join social movements in order to obtain things of which they feel they are being deprived that are considered essential in their society 

• New social movement theory – William Gamson UM 

• Stresses cultural factors rather than structural factors

  • The importance of meaning systems in mobilizing collective action

  • How new identities are formed within social movements 

Addams 

• 1860-1935

• Social change through service and reform 

• Working with immigrants, women 

• Social activist, founded hull house (food, shelter, education), chicago womens school

Addams themes

• America must raise our moral concerns from the personal level to the social (ethics)

• This requires a better understanding of others’ experiences: sociology can help 

• Economic deprivation in childhood skews the individual’s perspective 

• Our current mode of government is intended to enforce individual compliance with 18th century ideals. Instead, we need to examine the social factors that produce deviance 

Alinsky 

• 1909-1972

• Social change through confrontation and conflict 

• Father of community organizing 

Alinsky themes

• rules for radicals

  • Create mass organizations to seize power

  • Take hot, impulsive passions and turn them to calculated, purposeful, effective actions 

  • Use power for a more equitable distribution of the means of life 

  • The core truth of the activist: people have the power to act and will ultimately reach the right decisions 

  • All other truths are relative and changing 

  • The world is an arena of power politics moved primarily by self-interest. Morality is a rhetorical rationale for expedient action and self interest 

  • Organized religion is materially solvent and spiritually bankrupt 

Terry’s balance 

• MLK junior

• Who saw in Ghandi and Jesus a model for non-violent confrontation