Module 12 Flashcards
Social Change
-Shifts in norms, behaviors, or ideas within or across societies
-Social change is complex and varied according to sociologist
-Social change has often both positive and negative effects.
-Social change is constant in modern societies
-Can take place on micro or macro levels
-Central question sociologists ask
~Why do societies change?
~How do societies change?
Collective Behavior
-Involves activity among large numbers of people, often spontaneous, and sometimes controversial.
~Also occurs in highly regimented social context when order breaks down
~Example
*Arab Spring movement
-Reactions to provocative or seemingly innocuous situation
~Seemingly spontaneous, reflects group response to larger social conditions
Six Forms of Collective Behavior
-Riots
~Illegal, prolonged outbreak of violent behavior by large group against individuals or property
~Example
*Prison riot
*Urban street riot
-Panic
~Massive flight from something feared
~Example
*Radio broadcast of H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds
*Y2K
-Fads
~Temporary, highly imitated outbreaks of mildly unconventional behavior
~Example
*Hipsters, Crocs
-Fashion
~Somewhat long-lasting style of imitative behavior or appearance
*Success can undermine conventional ideas of attractiveness
*Well-organized efforts of design manufacturing, marketing, media
*Example
**Chic or classic style
-Craze
~Intense attraction to an object, person, or activity
~Example
*Justin Bieber
*Twilight fandom
-Rumors
~Unverified information transmitted informally, usually originating from unknown source
*Alport and Postman: Rumors reflect belief system of those passing them along
*Tap into collectively held beliefs, fears, hopes
*Example
**Pizza gate in Washington D.C.
Social movements
-Are conscious, concerted, and sustained efforts by individuals or groups of people to change (or preserve) some aspect of their society
~Define problem and solution is a process known as “framing”
~Collective actions taken to bring about or resist social change, largely operating outside existing institutions, like courts and legislatures
~Example
*Courts and legislature
-All social movements require leaders, resources, and some type of organizational form
~Engage in
*SYMBOLIC ACTION: spreading the message
*INSTRUMENTAL ACTION: goal oriented
Types of Social Movements
- Reformist
- Communitarian
- Revolutionary
- Rebellion
- Reactionary
Reformist
-Seek change within existing economic and political system
~Address legal institutions
~Example
*Women’s suffrage
Communitarian
-Withdraw from dominant society and create own ideal communities
~Example
*1960s commune movement
~Religious communitarian movements more enduring that social ones
Revolutionary
-Seek to fundamentally alter existing economic, political, social system, vision of a new social order ~Clear targets *Unjust government ~May see violence on one or both sides ~Example *Arab Spring, South African apartheid
Rebellion
-Seek to overthrow existing system but lack plan for new social order
~Effective mobilization difficult
~Example
*U.S. slave rebellion
Reactionary
-Seek to restore earlier social system along with traditional norms, values that accompanied it ~Often based on mythical past ~Aris in reaction to social change that threatens or replaces old order ~Countermovement or resistance movement ~Example *KKK *Tea Party *The Alt-Right
Stages of Social Movements
-Emerge ~Coalesce *Bureaucratize **Success **Failure **Cooptation **Repression **Go mainstream ***Decline
Social Movements
-Social movements are a central source of social and political change. In the U.S. movements are at least partly responsible for most of the progressive laws of the past century.
~Women’s right to vote
~The right to organize unions
~Civil Rights for people of color and women
~Same sax unions
~GI Bill
Demography
-The study of populations
~As nation-states emerge, governments sought to measure and take account of various characteristics of their populations
~Demographers use statistics they gather from official surveys, census, and from birth and death records
~Population patterns are governed by three factors
*Birth
*Death
*Immigration
Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
-The average number of children produced by women of childbearing age in a particular society
~Replacement level fertility is 2.1
~Global TFR was 2.4 in 2012. Varies greatly by country
*High-income countries: TFR 1.7
*Middle-income countries: TFR 2.6
*Low-income countries: TFR 4.1
Mortality
-The number of deaths in a population
~Infant mortality rate
~Life expectancy
Infant mortality rate
-Number of infants who die during the first year of life, per 1,000 live births
Life expectancy
-The average number of years a person is expected to live
~USA life expectancy by year (both sexes)
*2014: 78.9 years
*2015: 78.8 years
*2016: 78.6 years
~First tow years consecutive decline since 1962 and 1963.
*Drug overdose deaths, many of which are opioid-related
Rate of Population Growth or Decline
-A measurement of population growth calculated by subtracting the yearly number of deaths per thousand from the number of births per thousand
~Food supply grows arithmetically
*1:2:3:4:5
~Exponential population growth
*A geometric, rather than linear rate of progression, producing a fast rise in the numbers of a population experiencing such growth
**1:2:4:8:16:32:64:128
Doubling time
-The period of time it take for the population to double
~World population is growing exponentially
*1800- 1 billion people
*1950- 2.3 billion
*2012- 7 billion people and growing
*2050 9 billion expected population
Demographic Transition Theory
-An interpretation of population change, which holds that a stable ratio of births to deaths is achieved once a certain level of economic prosperity has been reached
~The transition from high to low birth and death rates
~Intervening period of rapid population growth caused by earlier and more rapid decline in mortality (that fertility)
The core driver of Demographic Transition Theory
- Industrialization (associated social and economic development or modernization)
- Motivated the reduction in family size
- Seen as inevitable, unilinear, and irreversible
Stages of Demographic Transition Theory
Stage 1: High birth rate and high death rates
~Both balance each other out. This has been the pattern for most of human history
-Stage 2: High birth rates but death rates start to fall
~Rapid decline in the death rates, people live longer because of improved healthcare and sanitation. Population growth high
-Stage 3: Birth rate drop to levels similar to the death rates
~Establishment of public institutions, disease control, and immunizations, reliable food availability and distribution
-Stage 4: Population begins to shrink
~Associated with post-industrial society, Delayed marriage, declining birth rates, etc.
The Second Demographic Transition
-Predicts the evolution of rich industrialized nations with very low fertility and the diversity of union and family types
~Primary drives of this phenomenon is the inevitable shift in attitudes and norms in the in the direction of greater individual freedom and self actualization
*Changes in norms: shifts from altruistic to individualistic understandings
*Greater female emancipation and individual autonomy
Common characteristics of the second demographic transition
- Sustained sub-replacement fertility
- Multitude of living arrangements other than marriage
- The disconnection between marriage and procreation, and no stationary commitments
