Chapter 3 Flashcards
change perceptions of the past to be able to make future changes
The Past: Transforming Perceptions of Social Reality
If past is unknown to audience?
i. Describe “misery, suffering, privation, anguish, and despair – a past no one wants to repeat”
ii. Revivalist and resistance movements portray a glorious past
Social movements work largely to change perceptions of the present
The Present
Naming
Storytelling
Songs
Theater
a. Need to find right words (and images) to make ideas relevant to audiences, thus using ______ as a strategy to show how others should understand the world
Present (Naming)
i. Some stories are realistic, while others are mythical
ii. “the imagery, emotions, and values appealed to . . . make [stories] a powerful means of portraying a reality . . . different from the institutional version” What intensify s this?
Storytelling, primary strategy in the present
GORY PHOTOS
Institutions are leery about the power of music
songs
Used to tell it like it is
Theater
in the rhetoric and practices of institutions
Emphasize Inconsistencies
requires urgent action to “do something now before it is too late”
the future
Perfect space/time promised land
Utopian
Perfect Time of Peace and Happiness
Millenium
Future as bright and full of hope
Utopian and Millenium
A future of despair
domino theory
slippery slope
apocolyptic appeal
that one right, power, possession, place, value, or virtue will fall after another until all is lost”
Domino Theory
We are sliding into future problems
Slippery Slope
Ultimate ending of the world
Apocalyptic appeal
view the past as a paradise lost that is worth resurrecting”
Revivalist
movements view the present as a paradise achieved and see social movements and institutions as threats to this way of life”
Resistance
portray a problematic present caused by “an intolerable past and argue that the future” will be better if the movement is successful
Innovative
led by persons who perceive themselves as dispossessed
a. Portrayed “as innocent, blameless victims of oppression”
b. Rhetoric “addresses self-esteem and self-worth”
c. Work to develop “new self-identities and self-definitions”
d. See selves as brothers and sisters, united
Self Directed altering self perceptions
are led by persons not dispossessed, but are working on behalf of the dispossessed
a. Rhetoric aimed “at affirming a positive self-esteem” in the dispossessed
b. Members see themselves as saviors of the dispossessed
c. See selves at the top of the hierarchy
d. “Members implicitly and explicitly contrast social movement organizations according to longevity, size, activities, effectiveness, and victories”
e. Celebrate unity thru their struggle to help others
Other directed focus of VICTAMIGE of other…altering self perceptions
the principal goal or demand of social movements, the primary challenge of movements to institutions, and the most central obstacle leaders of movements must overcome
Legitimizing the social movment
- The ego of protestors is important because they are challenging powerful institutions
Altering self perceptions of protestors
terministic control
control language and meanings
a. “Social movements must identify with fundamental societal norms and values if they are to transport themselves from the margins of society to the centers where legitimacy resides”
i. Link selves to values of “equality, justice, and dignity”
ii. “Many protest songs are modeled after or sung to the tune of traditional religious hymns”
coactive
control “attitudes and emotional attachments”
Moral Suasion
Question legitmacy of social movment
Strikes, boycotts, sit-ins, demonstrations, symbolic acts, and violations of ordinances and laws to reveal the inconsistency (and therefore illegitimacy) of values and established procedures, customs, and laws
CONFRONTATIONAL STRATEGIES
- Involves selling the movement’s ideology
Prescribing courses of action
’a set of beliefs about the social world and how it operates, containing statements about the rightness of certain social arrangements and what action should be taken in light of these statements’
ideology
one-term sums of an orientation
Ideograph GREEN BLACK POWER
a. Typically talk about “who” in terms of everyday people
Grassroots
Ways to legitimize?
Moral Suasion, reward, control, identification, terministic control
“violates the mystery and reveals the secret that it maintains power, not through moral righteousness but through its power to kill”
Overraction (confrontational)
Steps to mobilize for action
Organize and unite discontented
energize the discontented
pressure the opposition
gain sympathy
social opinion leaders such as judges, politicians, business executives, clergy, sports figures, and entertainers who can help legitimize a movement in the eyes of the public by appearing at rallies, marching in demonstrations, speaking in favor of the cause, donating money, and so on
Legitimizer
`1. Justifying setbacks and delays
a. “Every social movement attempts to establish we-they distinctions, . . . to instill strong convictions about accomplishing goals, . . . and to preach or imply that its ends justify any means necessary . . . to bring about or to resist change”
b. Persuasion used to maintain order in the movement “and to respond to actions that embarrass the movement and threaten its support”
2. Maintaining viability of the movement
a. “More rhetorical energy may be expended on fund-raising, membership drives, acquisition of materials and property, and maintenance of movement communication than on selling ideologies to target audiences and pressuring the opposition”
b. Too much early success may harm the organization in that persons lose enthusiasm for more change
3. Maintaining visibility of the movement
a. Use “ceremonies, funerals, annual conventions, and anniversary or birthday celebrations to remain visible and to stoke the agitational fire”
b. Work with institutions to create memorials to former leaders
Sustain Social Movement
