CIB #3: The future of CB

Today's post is dedicated the future of CB. Where is it going? What will our future hold?

We have yet a lot to learn about CB. There are many different areas that can be studied more in depth, providing us new ways to predict and ease collective behaviors and the strains and strengths that come with them. We also have a lot of preparation to do, in this country concerning the two topics I posted about earlier.

In the case of terrorism, we have a long way to go before the public can look upon this topic without too much bias. We need to move past this horrendous label of terrorists being "muslim extremists" and talk about the other forms of terrorism such as vigilante terrorism. We will most likely be seeing more terrorism among ourselves in the future due to the strain of our society. Different groups of people could be targeting other groups for terrorist attacks as means for avoiding the real problems within our society. We need to be prepared for this and realize that there is more than one form of terrorism, and that we will see more of it in one form or another.

In the case of revolution, as I said in my last post, we are nigh upon it. We have had great movements in our society, and many of them more frequent in the past generations. Movements and revolution start out of inequality and strain and we have plenty of it. Are we prepared for a revolution? Will the government help fix this strain or push us down? Then what will happen? The future of collective behavior, specifically collective violence, should really focus in these areas to try and answer these questions to best prepare our nation for great change.

We have many different and exciting times ahead of us. I am proud to live in the time I do to witness this change, no matter how hard and awful it is. After taking this class I am looking at society from a whole different level and while I am not always liking what I'm seeing, I do have hope.


So to end this CIB blog I wanted to post this video. We have a lot ahead of work ahead of all of us as individuals, communities, and a nation. Don't ignore the revolution when it comes. Don't ignore the inequalities and injustices that run rampant throught our society. Open your eyes, wake up and look around we can make a difference. As Gandhi said "What we do will be insignificant, but it is very important that we do it".

Thanks for staying tuned,

Alex

"Make A Move"

So are we lost or do we know 

Which direction we should go 

Sit around and wait for someone to take our hands and lead the way 

Cause every day we're getting older 

And every day we all get colder 

We're sick of waiting for our answers 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so tired of waiting, waiting for us to 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so sick of waiting, for us to make a move 

Are we meant to take the pain 

Should we sit around and wait 

Are we being saved

Or was I another lie you made to make us hate

Cause every day we're getting older 

And every day we all get colder 

We're sick of waiting for our answers 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so tired of waiting, waiting for us to 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so sick of waiting, for us to make a move 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

And we will never lose 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

it's time to make a move 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

And we will never lose 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

it's time to make a... move! 

It's not enough 

To let it run

Where's the truth

It's all wrong 

We're sick of waiting for our answers... 

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so tired of waiting, waiting for us to

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 

Yeah I'm so sick of waiting, for us to make a move 

Wake up, wake up, wake up

And we will never lose

Wake up, wake up, wake up

It's time to make a move

Wake up, wake up, wake up

And we will never lose

Wake up, wake up, wake up

Make a move (move, move, move, move)

CIB #2: Revolution

                                                                                                                                                                            





                          

Today I wanted to talk about Revolution as CB.

Everyday I wake up expecting a revolution. It's something that I have dreamed about as a kid and something I feel I will experience in my lifetime. I feel that we are going to see a popular overthrow of government to bring about change in the political, economic, and social structure of our society. What brings me to this conclusion?

The first thing I think about when I think about revolution these days is Structural-Strain Theory. This theory (also known as "Value-Added Theory"), brought about by Smelser, gives us 6 factors that lead to collective action. This can be applied to almost any type of collective behavior, however I think it is works very well to describe what brings about and begins a revolution.

The 6 factors of the Structural-Strain model are:

1) Structural Conduciveness - Does your government allow for collective action? We have definite freedoms in the constitution that refers to this so YES.

2) Structural Strain - various kinds of social problems in conventional social institutions that bring about anger and frustrations that manifest in the population.. There are many social problems and inequalities that are rampant through our society, especially since we have a capitalist system. The inequalities based on race, gender, and especially class create extreme amounts of strain. Does our society meet this requirement? YES

3) Generalized Beliefs - Explanations about a societies structural strain that help justify what measures are necessary to deal with it. The generalized beliefs I see in our society deal with those that want to end inequality and those that want to keep it. To be more specific, do we want to keep capitalism or do we abolish it for something else? Current political debates, media, and my own research have led me to believe that people are beginning to fall under one of these generalized beliefs. Do we meet this requirement? Yes

4) Precipitating Factors - factors that gain attention and bring awareness to the societal strain. These factors often elicit outbursts from citizens. Some precipitating factors I have seen in our society are the battles for basic rights (such as reproductive rights, marriage rights, heath rights). However, there might need to be a more specific or poignant episode to push for a revolution or further social action. Do we meet this requirement? Maybe.

5) Mobilization for Action - organizations and leaders must take a lead to organize the populous to social action. We have many organizations that are ready to defend the rights of citizens and those to defend the status quo.  Do we have organizations and leaders that can do so? Yes.

6) Social Control - This is a point where those in power will either work to and fix inequalities and strain
or try and stop social action without acknowledging the strain. Both have extreme consequences. This is the final action on social movement. Have we reached this point? Not yet. but we will.


Also Marx and Engels talked about the capitalist society in Barken and Snowden's "Collective Violence". They believed that capitalism leads to its own demise by growing and feeding on inequality and strain, thus making revolution inevitable. I believe we are witnessing the crux of our capitalist society's feast.

However, revolutions are often violent (maybe that's why when you google "revolution" you find pictures of fists). While I wished to be part of a revolution, I look forward with great excitement and hope, but also with caution.

The journal article I found was an article that further explores Marx's ideas on capitalism. The author researches the reemergence of Marxist ideals in our capitalist society. You can find the article here at the UI Ebsco or here at the author's website.

The first website I'm adding to this blog is for the movie "V for Vendetta" not only is it one of my favorites that I watch EVERY year, but it also points out everything I have talked about and more. It has a very poignant way to showing how a revolution can start. Check it out here and go rent it from your nearest video store!

The second website is amore in-depth look at Smesler's theory. You can find it here.


So that's why I wanted to talk about revolution and how it begins. A revolution is nigh, can you feel it?


And for my video:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. "

                                                                                                Thomas Jefferson







Till next time,


Alex

CIB #1: Terrorism

(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/13/14690045_3d40023e95.jpg)

The topic for this Critical Insight Blog is dedicated to Terrorism.

I wanted to cover this topic because it's a controversial topic that many people see through a lens of emotion. Instead, I want to look at it through the lens of sociology. Looking through the sociology lens is like putting yourself in someone else's shoes. In the context of terrorism, one person or societies "terrorist" is another person's or societies' "freedom fighter" as Barken and Snowden eloquently said in "Collective Violence: Sec. Ed". Depending on the context of the culture, society, and individual, terrorism can be positive, negative, or even both. So keep that in mind while reading the rest of this post. 

Terrorism falls under collective behavior (under the label of "collective violence") because terrorism is a form of violence that is done collectively (by a group, organization, or society) to create social change or hinder social change. Terrorism is different from some of the other collective violence behaviors because it uses unexpected violence as a way to coerce or threaten to promote change. There are many ways to do this, leading to many different forms of terrorism. Here's some a quick definition of some of the different forms:

Insurgent Terrorism is terrorism committed by citizens against their government to win political goals. While this is a great example of a revolution, we must remember that this would be a revolution with violence against the government to coerce and threaten for change.

State Terrorism is terrorism that is used by a government against it's citizens. Kind of like the government that is shown in the movie "V for Vendetta". 

Transnational terrorism is terrorism committed by individuals living in one nation against another. 9/11 would fall under this category. 

Vigilante Terrorism is terrorism committed by citizen's against other citizen's to express hatred for or to resist social change. The KKK is a good example of this form of terrorism.

Genocide also falls under the Terrorism umbrella. It is a systematic extermination of a while people based on their race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or another basis for discrimination.

Also something that Barken and Snowden pointed out was terrorism against women. There are many types of violence around the world and in our own country that specifically (or mainly) target women seemingly because they are women. Women overwhelmingly make most of  the targets of rape and domestic violence**. Domestic violence and rape our ways for someone to violently exert their power over another person and to gain control of them. Some sociology scholars see rape and domestic violence as a way for men to keep their control over women to continue the dominant supremacy of men.  If we look at domestic violence and rape this way this would fall under the category of vigilante terrorism. While I think that rape and domestic violence are often used in this way and create inequality between men, women, transgendered, and other folks, these issues are very complex in themselves. While I don't have an answer to give you, what are you thoughts on this? I'm really curious to know!

As part of the CIB post requirements I must post a journal article. The journal article I found was  abouty a study done to see whether people prefer "freedom fighters" over "terrorists" based on their social position (dominant culture vs. non-dom culture). The participants were given vignettes describing a situation for a "freedom fighter" and one for a "terrorist". The participants were then supposed to evalutate each. The findings showed that those in the non-dominant culture gave freedom fighters a more positive evaluation. The dominant culture gave terrorists a more positive evaluation than the freedom fighters! Take a look at the arcticle here and tell me what you think!

The two sites I found talk about counter-terrorism (actions taken to prevent terrorism) specifically relating to the U.S. 

The first site is for the Department of Homeland Security . It gives the U.S. definition of counter-terrorism and has tons of links for more knowledge.

The second is a link to the Patriot Act. This act was created to help prevent terrorism by giving the government lenience to infringe on citizen privacy. We talked about this a lot in my Poli-Sci class seeing if this is ethical or unethical, effective or not. What do you think? What would our government do to us if we decided to perform insurgent terrorism?

And for my video:

"One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist"

Till next time,

Alex

A Little About Me

Hey All,

My name is Alex. I'm a senior psychology and sociology major at the University of Idaho. I'm creating this blog for my SOC 313: Collective Behavior class. In this blog I'm going to cover some interesting topics about CB. I want to make this blog a sort of touch-and-go mecca of CB knowledge, so stay tuned for some awesome info!

While most of the posts are going to be my ideas, opinions, and what I've learned and deemed interesting, this is still a graded assignment and therefore there will be some extra things that might not exactly seem to fit or seem to much (bear with me!). For this introduction post I am supposed to tell you all a lil' about myself, sociology, and why I'm interested.

Sociology is the study of society and the things that make it tick (us!). As a psych student I tend to focus on the individual, but as a sociology student I tend to look at everyone as a whole. We look at institutions of family, religion,  media, education, etc., instead of just the individual.

The reason I decided to study sociology in-depth was because it made sense to me and it's extremely interesting (especially for a future social worker!). So far my favorite topics of sociology I've studied have been Gender, Race, and Domestic Violence. In fact, I've written another blog entirely dedicated to DV (if your interested you can find it by clicking my profile pick in the side bar). However, I am really excited about covering CB!

Well, I think that covers my requirements for this post! Before I leave I wanna leave this quote that one of my favorite sociology professors always introduces her class with. It's a quote I have come to live by, that motivates me to keep going, and that puts my entire philosophy on sociology in a simple, eloquent phrase:

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it"  -Gandhi




Talk to you all soon!