The other day while I was driving there was a forum discussion on NPR titled "Voice's: Listening, Connecting and Amplifying".... (I took some notes, while driving, so they are a little hard to discern). The jist of the discussion was looking at different routes of technology and how different 'voices' are being heard, which one's we need to listen to more consistently and what the future of communication looks like.
At one point one of the speakers was discussing the idea similar to that which we have discussed in class about setting up a social discourse. He was specifically referring to "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. He was making the point that 20 years ago no one knew really what global warming was or had an opinion on it. The fact that Al was able to A. make a 'power point' B. present it to an audience and C. was able to mass produce and sell it has created a whole new social discourse about global warming.
AND as we said in class this is one form or part of social movements.
One other interesting comment:
In class we have briefly mentioned facebook as it pertains to social movements, just a fact from this forum over 11 million youth have been mobilized by facebook in the past year.
Interesting to note: today while I was at work a man in his 40's and I were talking about the election and he made a comment (he has lived in Harrisonburg for a while, and drives for FedEx) that it seems like way more college students are interested and involved in this election that he has remember in past one's. We talked about a number of reasons for this including the difficulty and un-security in the job market, as well as the general appeal of Obama...just interesting to note his observation and the facebook statistic.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"Harland county USA"
After reading the Thompson, the Rose articles there were a number of interesting connection between these theories and the movement in Harland county.
The biggest dilemma I had was without know exactly whether the movement was "successful" it was hard to judge which theories applied.
so I decided to look at more as a blend or spectrum.
We have talked about in class the difference between new and old movements. It was interesting to see Rose's theory delve deeper into new v. old and middled-class v. working class. He talked about the effect of the production process on the structure of social movements. Dependent upon your class, and place in production process determines your values and willingness to mobilize for a specific movement.
This brings in the idea of rules and legitimacy from Thompson. He says that rules define what actions mean, and the key process looks at making these rules seem "natural" to a group. (p. 380) I think that one way in Harland county that the organizers of the group made this happen was exemplified in the conversation with the police officer in NY, he is shocked by the condition that the Harland miner work in and under.
This conversation also represents and important point in Rose's article, that is the idea that class cultures evolve as historical conditions change and as people's strategies develop in response to members of own and other class over time.(474)
Again without knowing all of the details of the ending of movie, I think that the by appealing to another class through more broad interests (as apposed to narrow material ones') such as general safety on the job, health care for one's self and family or general satisfaction for one's job the Harland county miners will be much more successful in mobilizing people from their own class structure as well as others. Rose points out the difference in structures as such (p476)
Professional: Working:
mid-class regulated by direct reward/punishment system
specialized skill search for autonomy results in daily battle with authority
autonomy
flexible work place
desirable environment
Thompson talks about making rules seem natural as a way to manipulate movement, Harland's miners appealed to the professional or middle class (and those who represent them) by saying, "hey, these are the things that you expect everyday you go to work. We don't get any of them. This isn't just about money, it's about human rights."
As Rose states on page 488. "class delineates the form a movement takes", thus the Harland miners movement is most similar to a Class-Culture movement.
After reading the Thompson, the Rose articles there were a number of interesting connection between these theories and the movement in Harland county.
The biggest dilemma I had was without know exactly whether the movement was "successful" it was hard to judge which theories applied.
so I decided to look at more as a blend or spectrum.
We have talked about in class the difference between new and old movements. It was interesting to see Rose's theory delve deeper into new v. old and middled-class v. working class. He talked about the effect of the production process on the structure of social movements. Dependent upon your class, and place in production process determines your values and willingness to mobilize for a specific movement.
This brings in the idea of rules and legitimacy from Thompson. He says that rules define what actions mean, and the key process looks at making these rules seem "natural" to a group. (p. 380) I think that one way in Harland county that the organizers of the group made this happen was exemplified in the conversation with the police officer in NY, he is shocked by the condition that the Harland miner work in and under.
This conversation also represents and important point in Rose's article, that is the idea that class cultures evolve as historical conditions change and as people's strategies develop in response to members of own and other class over time.(474)
Again without knowing all of the details of the ending of movie, I think that the by appealing to another class through more broad interests (as apposed to narrow material ones') such as general safety on the job, health care for one's self and family or general satisfaction for one's job the Harland county miners will be much more successful in mobilizing people from their own class structure as well as others. Rose points out the difference in structures as such (p476)
Professional: Working:
mid-class regulated by direct reward/punishment system
specialized skill search for autonomy results in daily battle with authority
autonomy
flexible work place
desirable environment
Thompson talks about making rules seem natural as a way to manipulate movement, Harland's miners appealed to the professional or middle class (and those who represent them) by saying, "hey, these are the things that you expect everyday you go to work. We don't get any of them. This isn't just about money, it's about human rights."
As Rose states on page 488. "class delineates the form a movement takes", thus the Harland miners movement is most similar to a Class-Culture movement.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Post one
After going through the reading a number of thoughts and questions have come up for me, most of which have to do with the book (Della Porta and Diani, and the Jasper article on the role of emotion in social movements and protesting.)
At first I had a really hard time getting through Della Porta and Diani (from here on referred to D&D for typing purposes). The explanations and organization of all the different theories or methods which social movements are studied was difficult to get through; which is unfortunate because i think that the evolution of this study (as well as the youth of it) is very interesting.
After muddling through the first chapter, the second was MUCH better, The use of the specific example in the front was a great way to remember the chapter and topics discussed in it as well as a great on going example!
It was in this chapter that I also had some question and more so some relating experiences?
First, the overall topic of the French example (unemployment) really struck a chord with me. Last year in my 248 class we had a group come and speak to us about unemployment in the US. The presentation was phenomenal! This was not a group of yuppies trying to help people for the sake of looking good, not a church group looking for handouts and not some board looking for a vote. This group was found by and for the homeless and unemployed; they focus on mobilizing their "constituency" to protest and lobby local officials in DC to get change for their movement. The stories of these people were amazing.
A specific quote really reminded me of these people, "Mobilization provided a challenge to the image of unemployment as an individual problem and consequently the social stigma attached to it."(pg 34)
This group shared their very personal stories to us (as well as in their newspaper written by local homeless and unemployed persons, and given or sold to the public in DC, money going to their cause) in order to show people that their situation was on some level and individual struggle, but also one inextricably linked with the social struggle of our society.
In class we talk about whether or not a movement is successful, well this one is (or at least i think so) my views and beliefs on homelessness and unemployment are changed, and my actions have also been affected (the last time is was in DC I met one of the paper vendors, bought a paper and proceeded to explain the cause to my boyfriend and later my family)
The other reading, by Jasper discussing the emotions of protests was also just very interesting. I thought that our discussion in class about why people join movement was very relevant because I believe (as Jasper says) that emotions and social movement are inextricably connected. As I was reading that article I thought about something that I did today, while in Petsmart I donated a dollar to local a.s.p.c.a. Why? well first I am an animal lover, and knowing that their are people out there who hurt or mistreat animals angers and saddens me, thus making me much more willing to act (not to mention and commercial with Sarah Mclachlan with all the sad animals, kills me every time!). So this article also seemed to hit home on the level.
Finally I just had a question or thought I guess about emotions during an election year. While for the most part I avoid political conversations like its my job, listening to them can be fascinating. People get so fired up about someone they don't know, or about one little fact. Also the use of fear in campaigning, and the sense of membership and affiliation (like Jasper discussed about neighborhoods) how that fluctuates or doesn't during an election year?
At first I had a really hard time getting through Della Porta and Diani (from here on referred to D&D for typing purposes). The explanations and organization of all the different theories or methods which social movements are studied was difficult to get through; which is unfortunate because i think that the evolution of this study (as well as the youth of it) is very interesting.
After muddling through the first chapter, the second was MUCH better, The use of the specific example in the front was a great way to remember the chapter and topics discussed in it as well as a great on going example!
It was in this chapter that I also had some question and more so some relating experiences?
First, the overall topic of the French example (unemployment) really struck a chord with me. Last year in my 248 class we had a group come and speak to us about unemployment in the US. The presentation was phenomenal! This was not a group of yuppies trying to help people for the sake of looking good, not a church group looking for handouts and not some board looking for a vote. This group was found by and for the homeless and unemployed; they focus on mobilizing their "constituency" to protest and lobby local officials in DC to get change for their movement. The stories of these people were amazing.
A specific quote really reminded me of these people, "Mobilization provided a challenge to the image of unemployment as an individual problem and consequently the social stigma attached to it."(pg 34)
This group shared their very personal stories to us (as well as in their newspaper written by local homeless and unemployed persons, and given or sold to the public in DC, money going to their cause) in order to show people that their situation was on some level and individual struggle, but also one inextricably linked with the social struggle of our society.
In class we talk about whether or not a movement is successful, well this one is (or at least i think so) my views and beliefs on homelessness and unemployment are changed, and my actions have also been affected (the last time is was in DC I met one of the paper vendors, bought a paper and proceeded to explain the cause to my boyfriend and later my family)
The other reading, by Jasper discussing the emotions of protests was also just very interesting. I thought that our discussion in class about why people join movement was very relevant because I believe (as Jasper says) that emotions and social movement are inextricably connected. As I was reading that article I thought about something that I did today, while in Petsmart I donated a dollar to local a.s.p.c.a. Why? well first I am an animal lover, and knowing that their are people out there who hurt or mistreat animals angers and saddens me, thus making me much more willing to act (not to mention and commercial with Sarah Mclachlan with all the sad animals, kills me every time!). So this article also seemed to hit home on the level.
Finally I just had a question or thought I guess about emotions during an election year. While for the most part I avoid political conversations like its my job, listening to them can be fascinating. People get so fired up about someone they don't know, or about one little fact. Also the use of fear in campaigning, and the sense of membership and affiliation (like Jasper discussed about neighborhoods) how that fluctuates or doesn't during an election year?
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