Social%20Change%20and%20Movements

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Social Change and Movements

• John A. Cagle

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Dana Cloud Key questions

• How does social change happen?
• What has worked for social movements in the past?
  
• Are those strategies still valid in the present?
• What is the balance among rhetorical and other
  (economic, cultural, political) factors in
  determining opportunities for and outcomes of
  movements for social change?
• What are the usual stages of social movements and
  what are the rhetorical tasks of each stage?
• How have movements interacted with, built upon,
  and/or challenged other movements?

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• What various ideological camps are present in
  each movement and what rhetorical markers
  distinguish these positions?
• How do we know when a social movement has
  succeeded?
• What have been the relationships between social
  movements and mass consciousness, popular
  culture, and political and legal reform?
• What should be the role of scholars in evaluating
  and participating in social movements?

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Bowers Ochs Rhetoric of Agitation and Control

• Rhetoric is the rationale of instrumental
  symbolic behavior.
• Agitation exists when
• people outside the normal decision-making
  establishment
• advocate significant social change and
• encounter a degree of resistance within the
  establishment such as to require more than the
  normal discursive means of persuasion.
• Control refers to the response of the
  decision-making establishment.

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Two kinds of agitation

• Agitation based on vertical deviance occurs when
  the agitators subscribe to the value system of
  the establishment, but dispute the distribution
  of benefits or power with that value system.
• Agitation based on lateral deviance occurs when
  the agitators dispute the value system itself.

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French Ravens Bases of Social Power

• Reward
• Coercive
• Legitimate
• Referent
• Expert

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Critical variables

• Agitation
• Actual membership
• Potential membership
• Rhetorical sophistication
• Control
• Power
• Strength of ideology
• Rhetorical sophistication

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Generalization A

• An agitative group low in rhetorical
  sophistication uses the strategies of nonviolent
  resistance, escalation/confrontation, Gandhi and
  guerrilla, or guerrilla prematurely, before the
  possibilities of petition, promulgation,
  solidification, and polarization have been
  exhausted.

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Contributors to Intergroup Conflict

• Perceptual Differences resulting from
• Different Goal, Time, and/or Social Orientations
• Different Attitudinal Sets - competitive vs.
  cooperative and cosmopolitan vs. local
• Status Differences - rank and standing relative
  to others
• The Nature of Task Relationships
• Task Interaction - similar to interdependence
• Task Ambiguity - not understanding
  responsibilities and requirements
• Power Differences
• Lower power if group is considered substitutable
• How able a group can adapt to changes impact on
  that groups power
• Controlling and having access to resources gives
  a group power

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An Overview of Intergroup Conflict
Conflict Resolution Techniques
Dysfunctional Consequences
Changes between groups Distorted
perceptions Negative Stereotyping Decrease in
Communica- tions
Changes within group Increases in
cohesiveness Rise in autocratic
leadership Focus on activity Emphasis on loyalty
Problem solving Superordinate goals Expansion of
resources Avoidance Forcing Smoothing Compromise A
ltering human variable Altering structural
variables Identifying common enemy
Causes of Intergroup Conflict
either
Interdependence Differences in goals -Limited
resources -Reward structures Differences in
perceptions -Different goals -Different time
horizons -Status incongruency -Inaccurate
perceptions Increased demand for specialists
Functional Consequences
Awareness of Problem
results in
Positive movement toward organizational goals
Search for solutions
or
results in
results in
Change and adaptation
results in
Survival of organization
Intergroup Conflict
Action lines
Influence lines
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Managing Conflict Strategies
Intervention Styles
Assertive
Collaborating
Forcing
Partys Desire to Satisfy Own Concerns
Compromising
Unassertive
Accomodating
Avoiding
Cooperative
Uncooperatives
Partys Desire to Satisfy Others Concerns
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Conflict Management Strategies Tactics

• Avoidance Behaviors
• Direct denial
• Implicit denial
• Evasive remark
• Topic shifts
• Topic Avoidance
• Abstract remarks
• Noncommital statements
• Noncommital questions
• Procedural remarks

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• Cooperative behaviors
• Description
• Qualification
• Disclosure
• Soliciting disclosure
• Soliciting criticism
• Empathy or support
• Concessions
• Accepting responsibility

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• Competitive behaviors
• Personal criticism
• Rejection
• Hostile imperatives
• Hostile questioning
• Hostile joking or sarcasm
• Presumptive attribution
• Denial of responsibility

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Managing Conflict Strategies

• Confrontation Meeting - subgroups meet to
  identify conflicts and develop action plans to
  eliminate them.
• Third-Party Interventions - third party acts as
  mediator, arbitrator, or fact finder - generally
  done in union/management situations.

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Focus on Structural Mechanisms

• Hierarchy - senior individual coordinates the
  activities of two interacting groups, e.g.,
  Executive VP.
• Plans and Goals - that interacting groups
  understand and agree to.
• Linking Roles - person placed in a lateral
  position to act a conduit between groups,
  generally temporary function.
• Task Forces - groups generally made up of one
  representative from each group.

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• Integrating Roles or Units - e.g., a project
  manager who permanently links groups.
• Project or Product Structure - have people from
  different teams comprise groups to service a
  specific customer base.
• Matrix Organization - having people report to
  more than one boss, e.g., project manager and VP
  of RD.

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Kenneth Burkes Dramatism

• The range of rhetoric is wide.
• All life is drama.
• Drama features human motives.
• Hierarchy is fundamental to human symbolism.
• Rhetoric promises transcendence.
• Rhetoric is fueled by the negative.

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Burkes Dramatism

• The Act is the basic concept of dramatism.
• Action consists of purposeful voluntary acts
  motions are nonpurposeful, nonmeaningful acts.

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Symbolism

• The individual is a biological and neurological
  being, distinguished by symbol-using behavior,
  the ability to act.
• People are symbol-creating, symbol-using, and
  symbol-misusing animals.
• Burkes view of symbols is broad, including an
  array of linguistic and nonverbal elements.
• People filter reality through a symbolic screen.

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Rhetorical Analysis

• Kenneth Burkes Pentad act, scene, agent,
  agency, and purpose
• Pentadic ratios can be used to define the central
  relationship of any communication scene-act,
  scene-agency, scene-purpose, act-purpose,
  act-agent, act-agency, agent-purpose,
  agent-agency, and agency-purpose.