Lecture 24

Question 1

What stories covered is determined by? (three things)

Answer 1

1. Who can buy the products and what events interest these people (stock marke
2. Soft stories and entertainment
3. Scandals and sensational stories
   ● The media agenda is also influenced by the corporate structure of media ownership

Question 2

What is important to note about media?

Answer 2

They are also businesses.

They write stories that give them most ad revenue

Question 3

What is New Media?

Answer 3

New media are defined as accessible on demand, digital, and is interactive, meaning users may comment and provide feedback.

● Social media is a new type of media
that allows for the creation and online
sharing of information in communities
and networks

Question 4

What is social media used for?

Answer 4

Social media is used mainly for interaction and are fulfilling important social functions.

● More and more people are seeking
companionship through social media

Question 5

What are some positive influences of the media?

Answer 5

● Youth today are more accepting of differences
● Less likely to alienate their peers
● Accepting of peers who are not heterosexual
● Strengthened relationships
● Feeling more included in communities
● Being able to seek help when needed
● Educational resources
● Political participation and social activism

Question 6

Positive social well-being associated with…

Answer 6

face-to-face communication

Question 7

negative social well-being associated…

Answer 7

online multitasking and uses of online technologies for communication

Question 8

Do people have a dependency on social media / phones?

Answer 8

Canadian MediaSmarts national survey of
over 5000 students (grades 4 through 11) found that “thirty-nine percent of students who have cell phones sleep with them in case they get calls or messages during the night

Question 9

What is the Digital divide? (within and between countries)

Answer 9

The inequality in terms of access to and use of information and communication technologies.
● Within a country, divides exists between individuals, households, and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels.

● Between countries, divide is referred to as the global digital divide; measures the gap between the digital access and use of technologies across countries.

Question 10

Which countries have technological access?

Answer 10

Western and “developed countries”

See noticeable lack in Africa

Question 11

How can we measure the digital divide (3 ways)?

Answer 11

1. Access (first level)
2. Inequalities experienced online (second level)
3. Different uses and degrees of digital capital can generate different forms of
   reward (social, personal, economic, political and cultural) and tangible outcomes to reinvest and use in the social realm (third level)

Question 12

What were early theories of collective behaviour?

Answer 12

Sub-type of collective behaviour along with panics, crazes, crowds, rumours, and riot

Question 13

How we behave in crowds is_________?

Answer 13

sharply different from how we behave in “normal” life

Question 14

What are Social movements?

Answer 14

sustained challenges to existing holders of power in the name of a wronged population.

● This population could , BUT doesnt have to, be a group who feels that its rights have not been respected.
● Members of movements engage in protesting, occupying buildings, sending emails to political leaders, and striking to achieve social change

Question 15

Charles Tilly theorized that social movements require five main elements:

Answer 15

1. Offering sustained challenge to power holders demonstrating commitment.
2. Engaging those with power by people with less power.
3. Representing a wronged population.
4. Disrupting the daily routines of power holders using tactics outside regular politics.
5. Depending on the worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment of its members (WUNC)

Question 16

What are “Contextual factors” in Social Movements?

Answer 16

broader structural and cultural conditions that facilitate and constrain the emergence and operation of social movements.

Question 17

What are “Dimensions” in social movements?

Answer 17

characteristic aspects of social movements,
such as organizational forms, leadership, tactical repertoires, collective action frames, emotion, collective identity

Question 18

What is the Collective action (free rider) problem?

Answer 18

People will avoid going to protests because they don’t believe they can make a difference by doing so.

● People tend to avoid participating in collective action because they still benefit from whatever is gained whether they contribute or not

Question 19

What does the Collective action (free rider) problem suggest?

Answer 19

This suggests collective action is unlikely to occur even when large groups of people have common interests

Question 20

Social movements often fight for
public goods, therefore…

(Non excludable and non rivalrous)

Answer 20

One person cannot reasonably prevent
another from consuming the good
(non-excludable) and one person’s
consumption of the good does not
affect another’s (non-rivalrous).

Question 21

Different methods of engaging in social movements vary along
two main dimensions:

Risk

Cost

Answer 21

The risk associated with the activity
● Potential participants must weigh what risks they are willing to
take for the level of risk they are comfortable with will determine
how or if they participate.

The cost of engaging
● Potential participants must think about how much in terms of time
and resources they are willing to incur in order to participate in a
social movement.

Question 22

What type of protest do more people engage in?

Answer 22

Petitioning

(Low risk and low cost)

Question 23

What is Structural Strain Theory? (Early theory)

Answer 23

Social movements emerge from grievances that people had in common

Structural conditions

Social tensions that bring deprivation
to people’s awareness

** Important: The same people that are marching are the people with the grievances

Question 24

What is Resources Mobilization Theory?

Answer 24

Move away from seeing protestors as insane

Violence is less an inherent quality of the mobilized people then an emergent product of the interactions between protesters and authorities (police usually start shit anyways)

• Rational actors
  
  • Group actors (like minded people)

Question 25

Successful Movements require…

Answer 25

● Material resources such as money, time of the members, property, and supplies
● Organizational skills
● Moral resources such as legitimacy, support, and celebrity do be successful
● Threat and opportunity – costs and benefits of collective action
● Grievances are not enough , precipitant events are not a condition for successful movement

Question 26

What is Biological Availability?

Answer 26

If they are physically available

Ex. ppl with kids are less biologically avalible

Question 27

How do Personal Ties contribute to social mobility?

Answer 27

If you have a lot of close friends involved in social movements, you are more likely to participate as well

A collective identity that comes from shared
attributes or experiences among a group is a prerequisite for collective action

Question 28

What are Identities in social mobility?

Answer 28

the names that people give to
themselves and others in the course of social interaction

Question 29

Social movements have better chance to access power when….
(3 things)

Answer 29

● Changes in existing political alliances
● Political conflicts among the elites
● When clear alliances could be made with existing political groups

Question 30

What are frames in social movements?

Answer 30

Gather events into meaningful sequences, and by doing so, organize experience and inform action

Both political elites and the collective actors who contest them use frames to explain their actions

To succeed, collective frames need to “resonate” with the prominent ideologies, values, and beliefs.
● Frames that manage to resonate are likely to be amplified

Question 31

Frames have three key parts

Diagnostic

Prognostic

Motivational

Answer 31

Diagnostic framing
- Defines a social problem by identifying it and its causes, and who is responsible.

Prognostic framing
- Proposes solutions to the problem, including strategies and tactics for implementation.

Motivational framing
- Motivates people to take action by calling them to participate in the movement.

Question 32

What is Description bias?

Answer 32

How the group and their actions are depicted

Tensions between being represented by media and misrepresentative
- Media often reports on violence, so might skew group as violent

Question 33

What is Selection bias?

Answer 33

Media editors must pick a limited number of events to observe and report

Involves media editors’ choices of a small number of protest events from a much larger pool.
● Media agents can influence the selection of event to cover, independent of an event’s
characteristics

Question 34

How does the media influence our interpretations of events?

Answer 34

The media sends signals about who is legitimate and to whom we should listen.

● The media coverage of protests tends to be limited, and when it does occur, negative.

● The media emphasize officials’ views and centre on individual-level explanations instead of the social explanations most movements try to convey.

● The media focus on the violence and drama, and “wackiness” of protest events.

Question 35

What is the Protest Paradigm?

Answer 35

● The specific way that the media tend to cover protest events.

● This template uses a particular framing and relies on official sources.

● Leads to delegitimization, marginalization, and even demonization of protestors

Question 36

William Gamson:

two different measures of social movement success:

Answer 36

1. Groups are looking for acceptance and to be seen as valid spokespeople for a legitimate set of concerns.
2. Groups are looking for new advantages, like laws, policies, or other gains