CH-15-16 Population, Health, and Communities – Sociology: A Brief Introduction : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 15 to 16 15 POPULATION, HEALTH,AND COMMUNITIES Contents: • Learning Objectives • Using Text Boxes to stimulate discussion • Classroom activities • Video suggestions • Key points from the text • Additional lecture ideas • Class discussion topics • Topics for student research • Additional Audiovisual suggestions • Additional readings • Thinking About Movies Learning Objectives: 15.1. Define the concept of demography. 15.2 Discuss the patterns of world population and Canadian population. 15.3 What are the fertility patterns in Canada? 15.4 Discuss social epidemiology and the various findings regarding the significance of social class, ace/ethnicity, gender, and age. 15.5 Discuss the sociological perspectives on health and illness. 15.6 Trace the historical development of health care in Canada, including present day alternatives to traditional health care and the role of government in health care. 15.7 Discuss how communities have changed. 15.8 Discuss urbanization and its consequences. 15.9 Discuss the various types of communities. Discuss the AIDS crisis from various sociological countries. Using Text Boxes to stimulate discussion: Sociology in the Global Community: Population Policy in China.. In 1979 in China, family planning officials started resorting to sterilization to enforce the government rule of one child per family. Since then, the government has quietly begun to grant exception to the one-child policy to adults who are only children themselves. In 2002 it extended the privilege to all families, but at a price. A new family planning law imposes “social compensation fees” to cover the cost to society of an additional child. The fee, which is substantial, is equivalent to 20 years’ worth of a rural farm family’s income. There are other legacies of the one-child policy. In the past, in an effort to ensure that their one child would be a male capable of perpetuating the family line, many couples chose to abort female fetuses, or quietly allowed female infants to die of neglect. As a result, among children one to four year old, China’s sex ration (the ratio of males to females) is now about 119 to 100 – well above the normal rate at birth of 105 to 100. The difference in birthrates translates into 1.7 million fewer female births per year than normal – and down the line, to many fewer childbearers than normal. Applying Theory: 1) How would a conflict perspective contribute to your understanding of the one-child policy in China? 2) What issues or topics might you raise as a sociologist examining this policy? Sociology in the Global Community: Squatter Settlements Squatter settlements are areas occupied by the very poor on the fringe of cities where housing is constructed by the settlers themselves from discarded material, including crates from loading docks and loose lumber from building projects. Applying theory: 1. Do you know of any squatters in your community? 2. Given the number of homeless people in Canada, why aren’t there more squatters? Social Policy and Health: The AIDS Crisis. Regarded by many as the distinctive plague of the modern era, AIDS certainly caught major social institutions – particularly the government, the health-care system, and the economy – by surprise when it was first noticed by medical practitioners in the early 1980s. It has since spread around the world. Applying Theory: 1) How would a conflict sociologist view the way health care in Canada is delivered? 2) Do you believe that the principles of the Canada Health Act (i.e., public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility) should be maintained? At what cost? 3) Should health care be a basic right of all people? Classroom activities: Community Theory and Simulation: The SimCity computer program for PC’s is wildly popular, and now has many variations (including one in which players create a simulated family). Ask students to talk about their experiences with such games, and what the games reflect about the real world around them. Urban and Environmental Problems: As the opening vignette about Toronto’s “Tent City” argues, most cities have some kind of environmental problem with goes in tandem with urban life. Ask the students to do a little bit of searching for an environmental problem in their area, or an urban problem. It might be a pulp mill that belches toxic waste into the air, it might be a rendering plant. It could be the layout of the city or town which forces certain patterns of living onto people. Ask them to research what programs, if any, exist at the federal or local level to ameliorate it. They can research the problem through newspapers, the web, local archives, news programs. This does not need to be a deep research paper – students can quickly find the information, or may know some of it already, because they live it every day. Video Suggestions: The Sterliziation of Leilani Muir (47 min., 1996, National Film Board of Canada). This video entwines Leilani Muir's personal search for justice with the background story of eugenics, a respected “science: during the early decades of the twentieth century. Eugenicists believed hereditary qualities of a race could be improved and physical and mental disabilities could be eradicated by controlling reproduction. In 1928, the Alberta government, supported by some of society's most prominent members, passed a Sterilization Act. By the time the Act was repealed in 1972, the lives of nearly 3000 individuals were irreparably changed. Included in the wide net of people considered "unfit" to bear children were new immigrants, alcoholics, epileptics, unwed mothers, the poor and Native people. Don’t Take My Sunshine Away (60 min., 1992, National Film Board of Canada). This film addresses the increasingly important issue of elder care by presenting model support programs in Sweden, Denmark, England, the U.S. and Canada. It focuses on the older people themselves, their housing and home care needs, and explores ways of providing necessary care without undermining self-respect. The film is a positive portrayal of aging, and generates a lot of discussion among younger people, who often hold different stereotypical views of “the old.” Race Against Time: the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa (48 min., 2002, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). The AIDS crisis in Africa is an epidemic of staggering proportions. Thirty-six million people are infected with the HIV virus worldwide, with over 25 million of them in Africa, and a staggering number of Africans - 17 million - have died. This film is about the inspiring work of Canadian Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa as he searches for solutions to the pandemic ravaging the continent. Into the Wild (Director: Sean Penn, 2007) Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a recent college graduate, rejects the consumerism and industrialism inherent in U.S. society. He gives all his money to charity, renames himself "Alexander Supertramp," and hitchhikes his way to Alaska, where he hopes to live in closer communion with nature. Along the way Alexander develops relationships with several people who try to convince him that he can't live in isolation from others. Adamant about his need to strike out on his own, however, he pushes on. His stubbornness ends in his tragic death. How Come You Walk Funny? (79 min., 2004, Symmetree Media, Toronto, Ontario). Takes us into a unique mixed-ability kindergarten class based on the Integrated Kindergarten Program (IKP) approach. It uses a 'reverse integration' setting that asks able-bodied children to meet children with physical challenges on their turf. Here teachers, parents and children try to revolutionize attitudes, social preconceptions, early childhood education theory and Canadian ideals of inclusion both within and beyond the classroom. Typhoid Mary: the Most Dangerous woman in America (60 min., 2004, NOVA in association with WGBH/Boston). In 1906 six members of a wealthy family contracted typhoid fever in Oyster Bay, Long Island. This is a dramatization of the outbreak and a profile of Irish cook Mary Mallon, known as 'Typhoid Mary'. Quarantined against her will, the story reveals the newfound power of health officials to protect the masses, often at the expense of personal liberties. Crapshoot: the Gamble with our Wastes (53 min., 2003, National Film Board of Canada). From the container: “Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions whether the sewer is actually compounding our waste problems. While scientists warn of links between sewage practices and potential health risks, activists, engineers and concerned citizens challenge our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?” Blue Vinyl (97 min., 2002, Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, Bullfrog Films). Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America's most popular plastic. Travelling the globe, they discover the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment. This film is part detective story, part eco-activism, and part comedy, but it succeeds brilliantly at showing the dangers posed by PVC at every stage of its life cycle, from factory to incinerator. Bacon, The Film. (51 min., 2002, National Film Board of Canada). Several years ago, large-scale hog producers and their political allies in Quebec decided to branch out into international markets. But bacon, like everything else, has its price. "Bacon, the Film" asks whether we have properly measured the social and environmental impacts of this proliferation of huge hog operations. Large amounts of liquid hog manure are spread over the land each year. The soil is already showing signs of sterility. Rivers are contaminated. Water, the very symbol of life, has itself become a hazard in some communities. The situation could be spinning out of control. Abandoned by the state, citizens' groups are making their voices heard and taking back democracy. An unexpected grain of sand in a machine well oiled by neo-liberal dogma, they are fighting to keep society on a human scale. Britannia, a Company Town (47 min., 2000, Screen Siren Pictures Inc. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada). From the container: An hour north of Vancouver on the Whistler highway lies the community of Britannia. Once home to the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth, Britannia is now almost a ghost town, tarnished by a run-down mine building and a legacy of environmental destruction. [The video] draws upon archival footage and residents' memories to paint an intimate, bittersweet portrait of this once flourishing community. Starting Over (1999, Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities). The women's and civil rights movements, begun decades earlier and as controversial as ever, continued to evolve during the nation's bicentennial period. This program focuses on the changing momentum of these movements while also looking at developing environmental movement spurred by the Love Canal disaster, the developing political power of Christians and gays, the controversies that arose over affirmative action and busing, the Iran Hostage Crisis and the development of OPEC. Jane Jacobs: Urban Wisdom (44 min., 2004, Princeton, NJ, Films for the Humanities). In this program, Jacobs shares her insights into urban planning by tracing the progression of ideas in her many famous books. Key points from the text: Use Your Sociological Imagination: Do you think that communities such as Tent City are an inevitable part of the big-city neighbourhoods? Community: In sociological terms, a community may be defined as a spatial or political unit of social organization that gives people a sense of belonging. Demography: Demography is the scientific study of population. The biologist explores the nature of reproduction and casts light on factors that affect fertility, the level of reproduction among women of child-bearing age. It draws on several components of population, including size, composition, and territorial distribution, to understand the social consequences of population. Demographers study geographical variations and historical trends in their effort to develop population forecasts. They also analyze the structure of population-the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of its members. (351) Malthus’s Thesis and Marx’s Response: The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus suggested that the world’s population was growing more rapidly than the available food supply. Malthus saw population control as an answer to this problem and argued that couples must take responsibility for the number of children they choose to bear. Karl Marx strongly criticized Malthus’s views on population. Marx believed that capitalism, rather than rising world population, was the cause of social ills. Studying Population Today: In Canada and most other countries, the census is the primary mechanism for collecting population information. A census is an enumeration or counting of a population. The Constitution Act of the Canada requires that a full census be held every 10 years to determine representation in the House of Commons. This periodic investigation is supplemented by vital statistics; these records of births, deaths, marriages, and divorces are gathered through a registration system maintained by governments. Elements of Demography: The birth rate (or more specifically, the crude birth rate) is the number of live births per 1000 population in a given year. In 2005, for example, there were an estimate 10.84 live births per 1000 people in Canada. The birthrate provides information on the actual reproductive patterns of a society. The total fertility rate is the average number of children born alive to any woman, assuming that she conforms to current fertility rates. Mortality is measured in several ways. The death rate (also known as the crude death rate) is the number of deaths per 1000 population in a given year. The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1000 live births in a given year. A general measure of health used by demographers is life expectancy, the median number of years a person can be expected to live under current mortality condition. The growth rate of a society is the difference between births and deaths, plus the difference between immigrants (those who enter a country to establish permanent residence) and emigrants (those who leave a country permanently) per 1000 population. Demographic Transition: Beginning in the late eighteenth century and continuing until the middle of the twentieth century, a gradual reduction in death rates in Northern and Western Europe occurred. While death rates fell, birth rates remained high; as a result, there was unprecedented population growth during this period of European history. Such changes serve as an example of demographic transition. Specifically, demographic transition is the change from high birth rates and death rates to relatively low birth rates and death rates. Demographic transition should be regarded not as a "law of growth" but rather as a generalization of the population history of industrial nations. The three stages of the demographic transition are: 1) Pre-transition stage: high birth rates and death rates with little population growth; 2) Transition stage: declining death rates, primarily the result of reductions in infant deaths, along with high to medium fertility—resulting in significant population growth; 3) Post-transition stage: low birth rates and death rates with little population growth. The Population Explosion: Apart from war, rapid population growth has been perhaps the dominant international social problem of the past 40 years. Often this issue is referred to in emotional terms such as the “population bomb” or “population explosion.” Such striking language is not surprising, given the staggering increases in world population during the twentieth century. The population of our planet rose from 1 billion around the year 1800 to 6.4 billion by 2005. A population pyramid or population structure is a special type of bar chart that distributes the population by gender and age; it is generally used to illustrate the population structure of a society. The Baby Boom: The most recent period of high fertility in Canada has often been referred to as the baby boom. The return of soldiers after World War II, high wages, and general prosperity during the postwar period encouraged many married couples to have children and purchase homes. The dramatic increase in births between 1946 and 1966 produces an age cohort in Canada, which would make up approximately one-third of the population. Use Your Sociological Imagination: You are living in a country that is so heavily populated that basic resources, such as food, water, and living space, are running short. What will you do? How will you respond to the crisis if you are a government social planner? A politician? Stable Population Growth: In the 1980s and early 1990s, some analysts projected that there would be relatively low fertility levels and moderate net migration over the coming decades. As a result, it seemed possible that the United States might reach zero population growth (ZPG). ZPG is the state of population where the number of births plus immigrants equals the number of deaths plus emigrants. Today, 78 countries – including all 42 in Europe – are showing a decline in population. An Aging Canadian Population: Canada became an “aged’ population according to census data in 1971, when 8.1 percent of Canadians were 65 years of age or older. According to population projections, the numbers of seniors in Canada could double in the next 25 years. Gender differences sharply punctuate overall rates of aging in Canadian society. Given women’s greater life expectancy, they constitute a disproportionate number of the aged. Social Epidemiology: Social epidemiology is the study of the distribution of disease, impairment, and the general heath status across a population. The Worlds Health Organization defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. Researchers in social epidemiology commonly use two concepts: incidence and prevalence. Incidence refers to the number of new cases of a specific disorder occurring within a given population during a stated period of time, usually a year. By contrast, prevalence refers to the total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at a given time. When incidence figures are presented as rates, or as the number of reports per 100 000 people, they are called morbidity rates. Social Class: Social class is clearly associated with differences in morbidity and mortality rates. Health Canada has identified 12 determinants of health, which include income and social status, employment, education, gender and culture. In Canada, Aboriginal women are affected by poor health to a much greater degree than non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women who, on average, have lower incomes, were almost three times as likely to report a heart problem in 1997 as were all Canadian women in general. As well, Aboriginal women have rates of suicide four times as high as those of non-Aboriginal women. Race and Ethnicity: Health profiles of many racial and ethnic minorities reflect the social inequality evident in Canada. The most glaring examples of the relationship between race and ethnicity and health can be found within Canada’s Aboriginal communities. The health of Aboriginal people reflects patterns of exclusion, past and present, that have limited and continue to limit their access to many of the social determinants of health – such as income, employment, education, and literacy. Gender: A large body of research indicates that, in comparison with men, women experience a higher prevalence of many illnesses, though they tend to live longer. Females born in 2004 have a life expectancy of 82.6 years; males born at the same time are expected to live for about 78 years. The difference in life expectancy between Canadian men and women has been attributed to such factors as risk-taking behaviour, such as drinking and dangerous driving on the part of males, levels of danger associated with male-dominated occupations, such as mining and construction; and women’s tendency to use health care services more often and at earlier stages of their illness. Age: Health is the overriding concern of the elderly. Most older people in Canada report having at least one chronic illness, but only some of these conditions are potentially life-threatening or require medical care. At the same time, health problems can affect the quality of life of older people in important ways. Arthritis and visual or hearing impairments can interfere with the performance of everyday tasks. Sexual Orientation: Since heterosexuality is assumed to be the norm in Canadian society, there is a lack of attention paid to gay and lesbians in health research. There is more research carried out on gays than on lesbians. Lesbians, then, face the combined effects of the sexism and sexual orientation as they relate to health research and provision of health care. Functionalist Approach to Health and Illness: The sick role refers to societal expectations about the attitudes and behaviour of a person viewed as being ill. Sociologist Talcott Parsons, well known for his contributions to functionalist theory, has outlined the behaviour required of people considered “sick.” According to Parsons, physicians function as “gatekeepers” for the sick role, either verifying a patient’s condition as “illness” or designating the patient as “recovered.” Conflict Approach to Health and Illness: Conflict theorists use the term medicalization of society to refer to the growing role of medicine as a major institution of social control. The social significance medicalization is that once a problem is viewed using a medical model – once medical experts become influential in proposing as assessing relevant public policies – it becomes more difficult for “common people” to join the discussion and exert influence on decision making. Viewed from a conflict perspective, there are glaring inequities in health care delivery within Canada. For example northern and rural areas tend to be underserved because medical services concentrate where people are numerous and/or wealthy. Similarly, from a global perspective, there are obvious inequities in health care delivery. Interactionist Approach to Health and Illness: In examining health, illness, and medicine as a social institution, interactionists generally focus on micro level study of the roles played by health care professionals and patients. They emphasize that the patient should not always be viewed as passive, but instead as an actor who often shows a powerful intent to see the physician. Sometimes patients play an active role in health care by failing to follow a physician’s advice. Feminist Approaches: Many feminist approaches to health and illness have pointed out a historical pattern of concentrating on women’s reproductive potential, overshadowing a diversity of concerns related to health and illness. Other feminist perspectives point out the need to recognize that patterns of women’s health and illness are as diverse as Canadian women themselves and that this diversity (e.g., poor women, immigrants, refugees, women of colour, lesbians, disabled women) must not be masked by talking about “women” as a universal category. Health Care in Canada: In 1947 Swift Current, Saskatchewan, became the first region in North America to embrace a public hospital insurance program, in which all of its citizens were provided access to hospital serves without direct payment. The following year, Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas introduced a program for the entire province, based largely on the Swift Current model. Ten years later, the federal government followed suit by introducing the first national hospital insurance plan in North America. The Role of Government in Health Care in Canada: In 1984, the federal government’s Canada Health Act became the basis for the administration of our healthcare system, known as medicare. The Health Act set out to ensure (in theory) that all Canadians receive access to hospital and doctors’ services on the basis of need, not on the ability to pay. The principles of he Canada Health Act are as follows: 1) Public administration 2) Comprehensiveness 3) Universality 4) Portability 5) Accessibility. Pre-industrial, Industrial, and Post-industrial Cities: The preindustrial city, as it is termed, generally had only a few thousand people living within its borders and was characterized by a relatively closed class system and limited mobility. The factory system that developed during the Industrial Revolution led to a much more refined division of labor than was evident in early preindustrial cities. The many new occupations that were created produced a complex set of relationships among workers. Thus, the industrial city was not merely more populous than its preindustrial predecessors; it was also based on very different principles of social organization. The postindustrial city is a city in which global finance and the electronic flow of information dominate the economy. Use Your Sociological Imagination: What would the ideal city of the future look like? Describe its architecture, public transportation, neighbourhoods, schools, and workplaces. What kinds of people would live and work there? Urbanization: The 2006 census showed that 80 percent of Canadians live in urban centres, compared with 78.5 percent in 1996. Urbanization can be seen throughout the rest of the world, too. Some metropolitan centres have spread so far that they have connected with other urban centres. Such a densely populated area, containing two or more cities and their suburbs, has become known as a megalopolis. Functionalist View: Urban Ecology: Human ecology is concerned with the interrelationships between people and their spatial setting and physical environment. Urban ecology focuses on such relationships as they emerge in urban areas. Early urban ecologists such as Robert Park and Ernest Burgess concentrated on city life, but drew on the approaches used by ecologists in studying plant and animal communities. Urban ecologists trace their work back to the concentric-zone theory devised in the 1920s by Burgess. Families and business firms compete for the most valuable land; those possessing the most wealth and power are generally the winners. Because of its functionalist orientation and its emphasis on stability, the concentric-zone theory tended to understate or ignore certain tensions apparent in metropolitan areas. As a response to the emergence of more than one focal point in some metropolitan areas, C.D. Harris and Edward Ullman presented the multiple-nuclei theory. In their view, a metropolitan area may have many centers of development, each of which reflects a particular urban need or activity. In a refinement of multiple-nuclei theory, contemporary urban ecologists have begun to study “edge cities,” which have grown up on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas, and are economic and social centers with identities of their own. Conflict View: New Urban Sociology: Drawing on conflict theory, an approach that has come to be called the new urban sociology considers the interplay of local, national, and worldwide forces and their effect on local space, with special emphasis on the impact of global economic activity. The new urban sociology also draws on Immanuel Wallerstein’s world systems analysis. Wallerstein argues that certain industrialized nations (among them, the United States, Japan, and Germany) hold a dominant position at the core of the global economic system. They view cities not as independent and autonomous entities but rather as the outcome of decision-making processes directed or influenced by a society’s dominant classes and by core industrialized nations. Interactionist View: Sociologist Louis Wirth argued that a relatively large and permanent settlement leads to distinctive patterns of behaviour, which he called urbanism. He identified three critical factors contributing to urbanism: the size of the population, the population density, and the heterogeneity (variety) of the population. A frequent result of urbanism, according to Wirth, is that we become insensitive to events around us and restrict our attention to the primary groups to which we are emotionally attached. Feminist Views: Feminist perspective outlining the ways in which gender intersects with the conditions of city life have long been absent from the sociological literature. Studies on urban life have generally neglected the impact of industrialization and urbanization on the lives of women – women in the private sphere caring for their children and those also employed in workplaces in urban areas. Central Cities: In terms of land mass, Canada is the second-largest nation in the world. Yet approximately two-thirds of the population is concentrated near the U.S. border on land that comprises a mere fraction of the nation’s total geographical area. More than half of Canada’s population is concentrated in four urban regions or central cities. Urban Dwellers: Many urban residents are the descendants of European immigrants – Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles, and others – who came to Canada in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With a “vertical mosaic” firmly entrenched in Canada, the cities socialized newcomers to the norms, values, and language of their new homeland and gave them unequal opportunity to work their way up the economic ladder. Suburbs: The term suburb derives from the Latin sub urbe, meaning “under the city.” Today, the term suburb generally refers to any community near a large city or any territory within a metropolitan area that is not included in the central city. Suburban Expansion: Suburbanization has been the most dramatic population trend in Canada throughout the 20th century. The suburban boom has been especially evident since World War II. Diversity in the Suburbs: The common assumption that suburbia includes only prosperous whites is far from correct. In the last 20 years, we have witnessed the diversification of suburbs in terms of race and ethnicity. The term ethnoburbia was coined in the 1990s by geographer Wei Li. Ethnoburbia refers to the growing trend toward ethnoburbs – suburbs that are ethnically diverse and contain a wide variety of income groups whose members are white-collar and well educated. Rural Communities: In 2001, 20 percent of the Canadian population lived in rural areas and small towns. As is true of the suburbs, it would be a mistake to view rural communities as fitting into one set image. In smaller communities, the construction of oversized malls (known as power centres) that usually contain large businesses, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, or Costco, can create its own problems. Rural communities that do survive may feel threatened by provincial and territorial governments that, in the name of fiscal responsibility, have cut such services as health care, education, legal and court services, and various other social programs in rural areas. Use Your Sociological Imagination: You have fast-forwarded to a future in which there are no central cities – just sprawling suburbs and isolated rural communities. What are the economic and social effects of the disappearance of the downtown area? Additional Lecture Ideas: 1. Japan: Where Have all the Children Gone? In 1997, Japan's total fertility rate was 1.39, making it, next to Germany's, the lowest fertility rate in the world. Putting Japan's fertility rate in the context of our own experience, Canada's rate, as of 2001, was 1.5. This rate, along with that of Japan, Russia, Germany and other European countries, is well below the replacement level of 2.1. The lowest figure ever reported was 1.28 births in West Germany in 1985. Conversely, the Hutterites, a North American religious sect, averaged 12 children per women in the 1930s by promoting early and universal marriage and by discouraging use of birth control measures. According to official population estimates, Japan's annual growth rate fell to its lowest postwar level between 1989 and 1990-just 0.33 percent per year. Population projections released in 1992 suggested that its population would actually begin to decline after 2010. Japan is already experiencing some of the demographic consequences typically associated with low fertility, among them a shortage of younger workers and rises in the cost of health care for the elderly. Indeed, Tokyo Shoko Research reports that whereas only 1 percent of successful Japanese businesses had to close in 1988 due to a shortage of labour, this figure had increased to 6 percent by 1990. Why has there been such a continuing decline in Japan's total fertility rate? While Japanese men continue to favour traditional gender roles both in the workplace and within marriage, an increasing proportion of Japanese women resent male dominance and view marriage as a "raw deal" that denies them of opportunities available to men. In 1970, only 18 percent of women 25 to 29 years old were single, but by 1989, 38 percent of women in this age group were single. Even among couples that do marry, work and financial pressures have contributed to lower fertility. "People feel so much pressure on the job that they work until nine, ten o'clock at night," observes Kunio Kitamura, a Tokyo obstetrician. "Then they have another hour and a half home on the train, because most people can't afford a house anywhere near the office. You probably can't get a seat, and the train is full of drunks, singing and throwing up. After all that, who has the strength to get in bed and make a baby?" (Schwartz, 1991:20). Sources: Carl Haub and Machiko Yanagishita. World Population Data Sheet 1995. Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 1995; Joseph A. McFalls, Jr., "Where Have All the Children Gone?" USA Today (March 1981): 30-33; Joe Schwartz, "Why Japan's Birthrate Is So Low," American Demographics, 13(April 1991): 20; and Machiko Yanagishita, "Japan's Declining Fertility: '1.53.'" Population Today, 20(April 1992): 3-4. 2. The Patient as an Actor Another aspect of the patient's "role," the patient as actor, is seen when he or she does not follow a physician's advice. The terminology of medical compliance (comply, obey, orders) is not socially irrelevant. But despite the connotations of such terms, nearly half of all patients stop taking their medications long before they are supposed to, some deliberately take wrong dosages, and others do not even fill their prescriptions. Noncompliance is due in part to the fact that when patients first see a physician, many have already adjusted to their illness or may have begun to receive some relief through self-medication. Patients may also be frustrated by unclear directions. Sociologist Irving Zola offers the following examples: 1. "Take this drug four times a day." Since this means taking it every six hours, must I wake up in the middle of the night? What if I forget? Should I take two when I remember? 2. "Use this pill only if you can't stand the pain?" What does "can't stand" mean? How long should I wait? Is it bad to take the pill? If I do take it, am I a weak person? 3. "Come back if there are any complications." What is a complication? Must it be unbearable? What if my fingers feel a little numb? Which feelings are related to my problem and which to my treatment? Is it my fault if there are complications? Communication is important in the doctor-patient relationship, and it is a two-way interaction. See Zola. Social-Medical Inquiries. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1983, p. 223. The aura surrounding medicine is partly due to physicians' skill and knowledge. But this is in a sense ironic, given the extent of self-medication noted in Chapter 12 of the text. 3. Professional Marginality: Chiropractors The chiropractic vocation occupies a marginal position as a profession. Chiropractors use manipulation of body structures, primarily the spinal column, to bring about healing. Some combine such manipulations with nutritional guidance and even acupuncture. Although they view themselves as professionals, chiropractors are not highly regarded by the medical profession in Canada. Some doctors go so far as to use the emotion-laden term quacks in describing chiropractors. Despite these charges, chiropractors resemble a profession in important respects; indeed, they resemble the medical profession. Chiropractors complete a four-year training program that culminates in the receipt of a doctor of chiropractic degree. Like graduates of medical schools, chiropractors belong to professional associations and publish specialized journals. Most establish private practices or work in small clinics. Interestingly, in contrast to the ambivalence held towards chiropractors by the Canadian Medical Association, certain physicians develop informal ties to chiropractors and refer patients to them. According to surveys of public opinion, chiropractic has lower status as an occupation than other medical specialties. Chiropractors do surpass subordinate medical personnel such as nurses and physical therapists in terms of both income and professional autonomy. Yet chiropractors have been excluded from government -funded health care in some provinces. In good part, this reflects the political power of the Canadian Medical Association and the continuing stigma it has attached to the work of chiropractors as well as the continued marginalization of the those medical services deemed to be" alternative". See George Ritzer. Working, Conflict and Change (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1997, pp. 192-193; Denise S. Akey (ed.). Encyclopedia of Associations, vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981, p. 818; Merrijoy Kelner and Beverley Wellman (eds.) Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Challenge and Change. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000; Walter I. Wardwell, "The Reduction of Strain in the Marginal Social Role," American Journal of Sociology, 61(July 1955): 16-25. 4. Who Will Bury Me? In many societies, the elderly look to their adult children for care during old age. This is especially true in developing societies that lack a network of social service agencies to provide basic assistance. But what happens to childless older persons in a preindustrial society? To study this question, anthropologist Laura Zimmer conducted fieldwork for one year among the Gende, cultivators living in the mountainous interior of Papua, New Guinea. Zimmer found that 18 percent of the Gende 45 years or older were childless. A commonly expressed concern among older persons is that when they die there will be no one to mourn their deaths or to see that they receive a proper funeral (known as kwiagi). Generally, childless elderly attach themselves to the families of their brothers, who serve as reluctant caretakers. While no formal adoption ceremony exists among the Gende, some childless persons adopt children of deceased relatives or of couples who have difficulty caring for their many children. Since the Gende were first contacted by Europeans in 1932, there has been a steady increase in migration away from their area, leaving more and more elderly Gende without children nearby. This has forced some older persons to migrate to cities and seek whatever work is available. Whether they migrate or not, many older Gende resent their children’s migration and accuse them of not caring about their parents. Clearly, as Zimmer has shown, modernization has contributed to the difficulties faced by childless elderly among the Gende. See Laura Zimmer, “Who Will Bury Me? The Plight of Childless Elderly among the Gende,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 2(January 1987): 61-77. 5. The Elderly in !Kung Society A case study of aging in a nonindustrial community is provided by Harriet G. Rosenberg (“Complaint Discourse, Aging, and Care-Giving among the !Kung San of Botswana,” in Jay Sokolovsky (ed.), The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives. New York: Bergin and Garvey, 1980, pp. 19-41). It is not always easy to accurately interpret the treatment of the elderly in another culture. For example, long-term observation research has focused on the !Kung, a nomadic hunting-and-gathering tribe in southern Africa. In the culture of the !Kung, sharp and constant complaints by the elderly are commonplace. In fact, by North American standards, the treatment of older people in !Kung society is rather favourable. The tribe’s elders are involved in their community’s social, economic, political, and spiritual life. Most of the respected healers, the crucial health care providers for the !Kung, are elders. In general, older people in this culture enjoy personal autonomy, respect, and a significant degree of control over their day-to-day lives. Care-giving is an integral part of the culture of the !Kung. Incapacitated elders are scrupulously cared for by relatives and the larger community. Only 10 percent of !Kung report that they have ever heard of an older person’s being abandoned. Moreover, the elderly are not made to feel that they are a burden on younger generations. They do not need to negotiate care as if it were a favour; instead, it is perceived as a right. If older people can no longer produce enough to feed themselves, they will be given the basics of life in this nomadic culture: firewood, water, and food. Why, then, are complaints by the elderly so common among the !Kung? The community appears to set such a high standard of care-giving, with each person ideally obligated to meet the needs of everyone else at all times, that no one can possibly meet this standard. Moreover, the !Kung, described by one researcher as “cranky, funny, and loud,” love a captivating story-even if it is a passionate, elaborate complaint that is not fully justified. Thus, when one elder, Kasupe, denounced his uncaring children, another tribal member observed that it was a “big story” (in other words, totally untrue). Rather than reacting angrily to this charge, Kasupe laughed, for he knew he had spun an enchanting tale that had captured the attention of listeners. 6. Exchange Theory Unlike disengagement and activity theorists, conflict theorists focus on the disadvantaged position of older citizens. Using an approach that has certain similarities to conflict theory, James Dowd attempts to answer the question, often overlooked by other theorists, of why the aged engage in fewer social interactions. The traditional explanations are that the elderly have poorer health and lower incomes than younger cohorts do, but these are not the only factors at work. To examine this question more fully, Dowd drew upon exchange theory, a general sociological theory first developed by George Homans and Peter Blau. Exchange theory contends that interactions among people are most likely to occur if all participants feel they are profiting from the relationship. Individuals and groups can benefit not only through financial rewards but also through receipt of love, approval, esteem, and other nonmaterial rewards. An implication of exchange theory is that those who cannot reciprocate fully within a relationship place themselves in a subservient position, both economically and socially. Thus, an employer and an employee exchange wages for labour; yet, in this type of exchange, employers are generally able to reinforce their superior position. The employer has the power to set limits for work performed and pay received. The employee can respond by withholding his or her labour but obviously pays the price in terms of lost income. In the case of the elderly, Dowd suggests that they function in an exchange relationship with younger people. However, the relatively low ascribed status of the aged limits their bargaining power. The elderly retire from the labour force and vacate their homes; in return, they receive the “rewards” of pensions. Dowd does not argue that such withdrawal from social roles is satisfying to the elderly, as disengagement theorists might. Rather, he views withdrawal as the eventual result of a series of exchange relationships in which the relative power of senior citizens gradually declines. The crucial element in this analysis is the assumption that the older persons are at a disadvantage within an exchange relationship. They are not necessarily poor, but their ability to accumulate additional financial resources is more limited that that of persons a decade or two younger. Furthermore, retirement rules, prejudice, discrimination, and declining health all limit the ability of the elderly to compete with younger adults. In this respect, exchange theory is in accord with functionalist and conflict theories-two approaches we have often found to be at odds. Functionalists view the withdrawal of older citizens as supportive of the needs of the young and middle-aged by allowing such groups to move into newly vacated positions of authority. Conflict theorists note that this withdrawal is far from voluntary. Rather, in their opinion, it is but one more example of the dominance of those with greatest political and economic power (young and middle-aged adults) over those with less power (the elderly). See Peter Blau. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley, 1964; Susan A McDaniel, “What Did You Ever Do For Me?” Intergenerational Linkages in a Reconstructing Canada" in Ellen M. Gee and Gloria Gutman (eds.) The Overselling of Population Aging: Apocalyptic Demography and Inter-generational Challenges. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2000:129-152; George Homans. Social Behaviour: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1961. 7. Generation Gap Sociologist Vern Bengston has noted that there are three types of generation gaps. The "great gap" position sees profound differences between younger and older people that cannot easily be resolved. In contrast to this view, the "gap is an illusion" position argues that there is no particular division among generations. A third approach to the alleged generation gap is known as the "selective and difference" position. It contends that generational conflict is marginal and that, in most respects, there is substantial solidarity and continuity of values among all age groups. While agreeing with the great-gap position that social change occurs rapidly in technologically advanced societies, advocates of the "selective" position argue that various age groups adapt effectively to change. Research on the generation gap has tended to support the "selective" view: Apparently, differences in values are found among generations, but they do not necessarily occur on all issues. Nor are these differences as striking as the great-gap position suggests. See Vern L. Bengston, Edward B. Olander, and Anees A. Haddod, "The ‘Generation Gap' and Aging Family Member: Toward a Conceptual Model." In Jaber F. Gubrium (ed.), Time, Roles and Self in Old Age, New York: Human Services, 1976, pp. 237-273. Also see Michael Adams, Sex in the Snow: Canadian Social Values at the End of the Millennium. Toronto: Penguin, 1998. 8. The Young and the Elderly Richard Kalish argues that, in many ways, the young and the old are faced with similar problems: 1. The young and the elderly belong to somewhat segregated groups. Both tend to be excluded from many social situations dominated by middle-aged people. 2. Both generations are, typically, poorer and are viewed as unproductive. The relative poverty of the young and old makes them weak and vulnerable. In addition, the members of each group are resented as "freeloaders" who allegedly live on a kind of charity supplied by families and government. 3. Both generations desire to be financially independent. The young wish to be independent of their parents, while the elderly want to be independent of their children and social service agencies. 4. Each generation has a great deal of unstructured time. Working-age adults structure their lives around their employment and child-rearing responsibilities. However, the young and the old have fewer responsibilities and more leisure time. See Kalish, "The Old and the New as Generation-Gap Allies," Gerontologist, 9(2) (1964): 83-89. Also see Susan A. McDaniel, “Intergenerational Linkages: Public, Family and Work.” In Aging and Intergenerational Relations; Policy Trends. Ottawa; Policy Trends Secretariat 9. Worried Well Myth It is commonly believed that older adults with no apparent evidence of ailments or pathology still worry about their health. Furthermore, these people are viewed as making inappropriate demands for health services. The potential policy implication is that these "worried well" have adverse effects on the fiscally out-of-control health care delivery system. Using data on 4,578 respondents in the four-wave Longitudinal Study on Aging, a team of sociologists has attempted to identify the "worried well." The worried well are defined as (1) worried about their health, but without known medical conditions; (2) worried about their health, but without functional limitations; and (3) worried about their health, but without either known medical conditions or any functional limitations. The researchers operationalize this definition using 11 indexes of health services utilization, measured over time, for treatment of conditions such as heart disease, hip problems, and Alzheimer's disease. Overall, about 9.5 percent of the respondents were classified as "worried well" by definition 1, 6.6 percent by definition 2, and only 2.8 percent by definition 3. The research question was whether any of these groups contacted physicians or hospitals or sought placement in a nursing home. The researchers found no consistent evidence to support the contention that these older adults who worry about their health but have no apparent problems make inappropriate demands for health services. The researchers note that the "worried well" myth may be perpetuated by the tendency to blame the victim. We assume the complainers are making demands on the health care delivery system and are therefore indirectly hurting us. Rather than focusing on the alleged demands of the "worried well," our attention should be focused on seeing that the "worried well" are better diagnosed. See Frederic D. Wolinsky, Christopher M. Callahan, John F. Fitzgerald, and Robert J. Johnson, "The 'Worried Well' Myth: Older Adults and the Use of Health Services." In Gary L. Albrecht (ed.). Advances in Medical Sociology. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1994, pp. 163-184. Also see Jim Harding “Mood-Modifiers and Elderly Women in Canada: The Medicalization of Poverty." In Kathleen McDonnell, Adverse Effects. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1986:51-86. 10. Systemic Model Some of Louis Wirth's colleagues at the University of Chicago shared his interest in the effects of urbanization on behaviour but came to somewhat different conclusions. William I. Thomas, along with Robert Park and Ernest Burgess, asked if a Gemeinschaft was ever truly characteristic of preindustrial societies. They proposed a systemic model of urbanism as resulting from a variety of factors, of which population size was only one. In their view, in order to understand urbanism fully, it is essential to examine the entire social system, including people's interactions, their participation in social institutions, and the influence of societal norms and values. For example, if one is a recent arrival to a city or if one's neighbours are constantly changing as people move into and out of the city, one's sense of community attachment and belonging will be reduced. The systemic model tends to emphasize geographic mobility, rather than community size, as a crucial determinant of community attachment. Family ties and friendships can overcome the anonymity of densely populated urban areas, but only if people have enough time to get acquainted and to maintain stable and supportive relationships. The research of John Kasarda and Morris Janowitz offers support for the systemic model. Over 2,000 adults in England were interviewed and asked if they felt "at home" in their communities, if they would be disappointed if they had to move away, and so forth. The researchers found that length of residence was a better predictor of community attachment than other factors were, including the size of a community's population. Subsequent study of 50 northern California communities by Claude Fischer also suggested that population size was not the central factor leading to feelings of alienation from friends and neighbours. We can better understand the evidence for the systemic model if we use the analogy of the classroom. Generally, educators argue that smaller classes promote a more personal relationship among students and faculty, an academic Gemeinschaft, in a sense. But suppose that in a 25-member seminar, 4 or 5 new students join the class every week, while a similar number drop the course. It will be difficult to develop any sense of community attachment. On the other hand, if a larger class of 60 students remains together for two years, everyone (including the instructor) will get to know each other fairly well. Thus, length of contact, as well as group size or density, can be a crucial determinant of social relationships. The data developed by Kasarda and Janowitz, as well as by Fischer, appear to lend greater support to the systemic model than to the linear-development model. For both Tönnies and Wirth, large industrial cities are characterized by anonymity and impersonality. However, these researchers may have given insufficient emphasis to the effects of large-scale migration on community attachment within urban centers. Therefore, if we wish to identify key factors that affect urbanism, we need to add mobility to size, density, and heterogeneity of population. Sources: Claude S. Fischer. To Dwell among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982; John Kasarda and Morris Janowitz. "Community Attachment in Mass Society," American Sociological Review, 39(June 1974): 328–339; Robert E. Park and Ernest Burgess. Introduction to the Science of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1921; William I. Thomas. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. New York: Knopf and Charles R. Tittle, 1927; "Influences on Urbanism: A Test of Predictions from Three Perspectives," Social Problems, 36(June 1989): 270–288. 11. Human Ecology: Housing in Japan In the text, the human ecological approach is illustrated on the macro level, as in urban spatial patterns. It can also be applied to the micro level—to social interaction along a block or residence hall corridor or even within a dwelling. Obviously, whether siblings share bedrooms has explicit and subtle impact on socialization patterns. Therefore, it is of more than passing interest to note that the typical Japanese household shares much less space than its counterparts in Europe, and even a smaller proportion of the typical household size in North America. Large numbers of Japanese commute long distances, and even in more rural areas, their macro spatial patterns reflect housing that is cramped by U.S. standards. Government regulations and tax laws keep housing prices astronomical by encouraging inefficient use of land and discouraging an active market in property. The dwellings are half the size of housing in the United States and getting smaller. One social impact is that Japanese rarely entertain in their homes; they have no room for guests. They gather in restaurants and other public places for social occasions. The master bedroom of a mid-level Japanese manager is smaller than the hallway in most homes in the United States. Why the long commute? Why don't Japanese businesses relocate in Japanese versions of "edge cities?” A major barrier is the tightly centralized control government bureaucrats maintain over the economy in Japan. Companies need licenses, approvals, and informal guidance to do just about anything. Therefore, they locate close to the various government ministries in central Tokyo. See James Sterngold, "Life in a Box: Japanese Question Fruits of Success," New York Times (January 2, 1994): 1, 5. 12. Apathy in the City In 1973, in Queens, New York, Kitty Genovese was attacked on her way home from work in the early hours of the morning. Wounded, she made her way into an apartment building near her own, only to be found again by her assailant, a small man in an overcoat. He renewed his attack, alternatively stabbing her and attacking her sexually. Kitty Genovese died on the way to the hospital. This case, though unfortunately not an unusual incident, received international attention. Why? There were a number of witnesses to the attack, people who saw or heard it from the vantage points of their own apartments. But 35 minutes elapsed between the beginning of the attack and the first call for help from any of them. Many other people condemned these onlookers for their unwillingness to become involved; however, a series of studies has documented the reluctance of people in general to take action in such situations. Bibb Latané, working with other social psychologists, created an experimental situation to clarify what motivates a person to become involved or remain aloof from people in need. The subjects, male students, reported to a room where they were to complete a questionnaire given to them by a female secretary. She then went into an adjoining room from which sounds could be heard indicating that she was climbing onto something to reach a high object. (The sounds the men heard were actually coming from a tape recorder.) Next, the subjects heard a crash followed by a cry and "Oh, my foot. . . . my ankle." Would the students come forward? That evidently depended on certain conditions that the experimenter varied. In one condition, the true subject was in the room with another "subject" who was a confederate in the experiment and showed no interest in coming to the aid of the "victim." In another condition, the subject was alone in the room. Two-thirds of the subjects who were alone came to the aid of the victim within one minute, but only 7 percent of the subjects tested with the reluctant confederate intervened. It seems that the presence of an unresponsive bystander strongly inhibits intervention; we take our social cues from others, including a cue to remain inactive in an emergency. In another study, the apparent "victim" was a male and the potential "Good Samaritans" were undergraduate women. A number of subjects took places in booths like those in a language laboratory, ostensibly to discuss college life. Shortly after the discussion began, the male confederate would reveal that he sometimes experienced seizures when under stress. Next, the "victim" would begin to stutter and stammer; then his microphone would become silent. In this experiment, too, the more people were present, the less help was given. These two studies help to explain, although they do not justify, the apparent apathy of the onlookers of Kitty Genovese's tragic death. Several of them explained that they would have called for help but assumed that others must already have done so. Perhaps most chilling was Winston Mosley's assessment of the bystanders: He commented that he knew no one would call the police; "people never do." Mosley should have known, since he was the killer. (However, he was eventually apprehended during a burglary, thanks to bystanders' involvement.) See Bem P. Allen. Social Behaviour: Fact and Falsehood. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1978; John M. Darley and Bibb Latané, "Bystander Intervention in Emergencies: Diffusion Responsibility," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(4)(1978): 377–383; Bibb Latané and John Darley. The Unresponsive Bystander: Why Doesn't He Help? New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1970. 13. The Making of a Canadian Suburb: The image of the North American suburb is inextricably tied to the post Second World Way period when returning soldiers and a revitalized civilian economy generated the baby boom and modern consumerism. With savings accounts of accumulated pay cheques from their time in the armed forces, one of the first priorities for many of these still young men was exactly that same as it would be for a young man with money today—a car. The shift from wartime to peace time production and the sudden demand created a backlog that took several years to clear, but by the end of the 1940s, the streets of Canada were full of young families with their own transportation. The combination of sudden explosion in birth rates and the increased level of personal mobility afforded by the newly acquired family automobile led to a consumer demand that was much more spread out that had been the case historically. It made sense that young couples looking for extra room to accommodate their growing families, with limited financial resources, would use the mobility their cars provided, to look beyond the traditional, unaffordable neighbourhoods to areas on the outskirts of the cities for a place to raise their children. In the 1950s, Canadian and American developers responded to the needs of this market and created the shopping mall and the modern version of the suburb. The mall, was an innovation in marketing that combined the convenience of the traditional main street with access to a range of new stores. The shopping mall arrived in the 1950s, made possible in part by the tremendous growth in that other ‘new’ phenomenon, the suburb. But suburbs were not new. Municipal records from cities like Montreal and Toronto and Hamilton reveal that the practice of buying cheap land just beyond the edges of existing development and constructing entire neighbourhoods en totale, had been going on since the turn of the Twentieth century. Districts like Lawrence and Kingsway Parks in Toronto, Westmount in Montreal, and Shaughnessy in Vancouver were all originally suburbs. The fact that they now sit well within what might be considered the city is a function of time and growth. The east end Hamilton neighbourhood of Union Park is another example of this process. Union part was conceived by Charles Dodge and James Draper, who in the late summer of 1900, bought the land and created the subdivision. Within eight years, all the property had been sold with the developers turning a substantial profit on their investment by charging $17 to $71 per thirty foot lot. The community, like most of the ones made possible by the automobile fifty years, later, was designed for the working class family. In Hamilton, these were families who earned their living at the factories which were spreading westward along the shores of Lake Ontario, and who, in almost half the cases, were immigrants. Reflective of the backgrounds of the potential residents, perhaps, is the fact that many of those blue-collar families took on the task of constructing their homes, themselves. Owner built homes often began with a single room, the kitchen, and grew only as the money for additional materials was saved up through frugal living. But the practice was frowned on by the authorities who saw the piecemeal purchase of materials and drawn out construction process as an inefficient use of resources. After the end of the First World War, when returning veterans created a housing shortage that would be mirrored by the experience of their children thirty years later, government attempted to address the stirring public unrest by funding ‘veterans housing’. This program, which offered low cost mortgages to servicemen and their families, was aimed at neighbourhoods like Union Park. Harris, Richard. 1994. “The Making of a Working-class Suburb in Hamilton’s East End, 1900-1945.” Journal of Urban History. Aug. 94 20, 4 486-512. Richard Harris, "'Canada's All Right': The Lives and Loyalties of Immigrant Families in a Toronto Suburb, 1900-1945," The Canadian Geographer/Le Geographe Canadien 36, no. 1 (1992): 13-30; Richard Harris, Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto's American Tragedy, 1900-1950 (Baltimore, 1996); Class Discussion Topics: 1. Birth Rate: See Richard A. Zeller, "On Teaching Sociology 101 Students about the Birth Rate," Teaching Sociology, 15(January 1987): 84-87. 2. Life Tables: This was developed by James H. Gundlach at Auburn University to give students an experience of creating life-table values for 20-year-olds. See Technique No. 38 in Reed Geertsen. Eighty-One Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts. Washington, DC: ASA Projects on Teaching Undergraduate Sociology, 1982. 3. Demographic Transition: Select one nation to represent each of the three stages of demographic transition (described in the text). Compare the age and sex compositions of these countries by means of population pyramids. What social factors help to explain the different population pyramids? The current United Nations Demographic Yearbook is the best source of easily attainable comparative data. 4. Class Project: Students might visit community family planning and birth control clinics in the area, learn what services each center provides, what the cost is to the clients (if any), who funds them, and if they service some segments of the population more than others. 5. Consequences of an Invention: Ask students to imagine that a pill has been developed for choosing the sex of one's baby. Predict the social consequences in the short term (more males?) and in the long term (a premium on females?). You may want to refer to Population Reference Bureau, "Boys or Girls? Parents' Preferences and Sex Control," Population Bulletin, 33(January 1978). 6. Population Pyramid: Consult current census data and construct an age-sex profile for your province and community. 7. Russia's Population Implosion: News reports have begun documenting a rising death rate in Russia, accompanied by a total fertility rate of 1.4, well below Japan's low rate. For supporting material, see Michael Specter, "Climb in Russia's Death Rate Sets Off Population Implosion," New York Times (March 6, 1994): 1, 4. 8. Stimulating Classroom Discussions about Generation to Generation: Questions for stimulating a classroom discussion about Sandra Martz and Shirley Coe's Generation to Generation could include these: Should grandparents be responsible for raising their grandchildren? Is it good for children to be raised by their grandparents? What are the alternatives? What are the benefits and drawbacks to the alternatives? What has led to the increased number of grandparents raising grandchildren in Canada? What is a "sandwich" generation? Are these generation to generation problems new? Are they a problem? 9, “Youth is Canada’s Last, Best Hope”: Have the class evaluate this statement. 10. Growing Old: Ask your students to bring up the subject of growing old at a party or some other social gathering and observe the reactions of those present. This experiment ought to demonstrate that people (especially young adults) in our culture show little interest in discussing growing old. 12. Age and Economic Hardship: An exchange of ideas about the relationship between aging and economic hardship can be initiated by using the following resources: John Mirowsky and Catherine E. Ross, "Economic Hardship across the Life Course," American Sociological Review, 64(4)(1999): 548-569; Susan McDaniel, “Women, Retirement, and Work in Later Life," in Rethinking Retirement: Social policy Challenges for the 90's, edited by Ellen Gee and Gloria Gutman. Vancouver: Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre; 1995:75-92; Susan McDaniel, "Serial Employment and Skinny Government: Reforming Caring and Sharing among Generations," Canadian Journal on Aging 16(3) (1997): 465-484. 13. Ageism and Age Inequality: See Technique No. 1 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993, p. 1. For another exercise focusing specifically on the disparaging stereotype of the sexlessness of the old person in our society, see Technique No. 60 on p. 103. 14. Ageism in Movies: See Bradley J. Fisher, “Exploring Ageist Stereotypes through Commercial Motion Pictures,” Teaching Sociology, 20(October 1992): 280-284. 15. Disability - An Exercise: Consider an aspect of life as a disabled person. Why is this aspect difficult? Is it solely because of the disability, or is it because of the way society is arranged? For example, is a special bus necessary to get to school because of a disability or because the school system does not have the right kind of buses? See The Disability Rag (March-April 1985): 7. 16. Shamanism: For a fascinating anthropological account of shamanism as an alternative health care system, see Michael Harner. The Way of the Shaman. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990. 18. Medicine on Television: Prime-time television does not offer the best lesson in proper health care. See George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, and Nancy Signorielli, "Health and Medicine on Television," The New England Journal of Medicine, 305 (October 8, 1981): 901-904. 19. Land-Use Map: Develop a land-use map for the community or neighbourhood near the college, noting, for example, such uses as public buildings, schools and churches, parks, single-family dwellings, multifamily dwellings, and businesses. The map can then be used to discuss urban ecology and community problems. 20. Community Awareness: How familiar are students with their University or college community? See Technique No. 47 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993, p. 83. 21. Neighbourhood Stabilization: Many colleges and universities are located in or near unstable urban centers. What steps can be taken to stabilize these communities? See Patrick G. Donnelly and Theo J. Majka, "Residents' Efforts at Neighbourhood Stabilization: Facing the Challenges of Inner City Neighbourhoods," Sociological Forum, 12(June 1998): 189–214. 22. Stimulating Classroom Discussions about A New Species of Trouble: Questions for stimulating a classroom discussion about Kai Erikson's A New Species of Trouble can include these: After reading the excerpt from Erikson's book, A New Species of Trouble, what common thread do you see running through these examples of floods, toxic poisoning, larceny, gasoline spills, and nuclear accidents? Are you familiar with other examples of the environment being negatively affected by overpopulation? Are you familiar with public and private efforts to avoid or eliminate disasters? How does consumerism relate to each of the disasters examined by Erikson? 23. Failing Canadian Farms: The battle between the ever growing urban population and those who work the land to put food on our tables is ongoing. Wilford’s classic is an eye opener, especially for concrete-bound city youth. See Wilford, Alen. 1984. Farm Gate Defence: The Story of the Canadian Farmers Survival Association. Toronto. NC Press. Topics for Student Research: Recent Developments in Canadian Family Demography: See Frank Travato, N. Lalu, and P. Krishnan (eds.). Canadian Studies in Population: Special Issue on Family Demography, 27 (2000), No. 1:1-263. Population Policy in Quebec: See Maureen Baker, "Family and Population Policy in Quebec; Implications for Women" Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 7 (1994)(1): 116-132. Health Care Policy in an Aging Canada: See Susan A. McDaniel," Health Care Policy in an aging Canada: The Alberta Experiment," Journal of Aging Studies 11(1997)(3): 211-227. Recent Developments in Demography: Consult the special issue of Sociological Quarterly, 37(Winter 1996), which contains articles on migration, fertility, and mortality. Accountability in Doctor-Patient Relationships: Physicians are considered professionals, but this does not mean that their clients do not mistrust their actions. See Michael Betz and Lenahan O'Connell, "Changing Doctor-Patient Relationships and the Rise of Concern for Accountability," Social Problems, 31(October 1983): 84-95. Epidemics: See "Epidemics and History." In Paul H. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. The Population Explosion. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990, pp. 140-146. Health Care in the Future: See Clement Bezold, "Your Health in 2010: Four Scenarios," Futurist, 30(September-October): 35-39. Care of Elderly: See Susan A. McDaniel, "Untangling Love and Domination: Challenges of Home Care for the Elderly in a Reconstructing Canada, Journal of Canadian Studies, 34(1999)(3): 191-213. Poverty and Health Care: See Jim Harding, "Mood-modifiers and Elderly Women in Canada: The Medicalization of Poverty," in Kathleen McDonell (ed.) Adverse Effects. Toronto: Women’s Press, 1986:51-86. Social Impact of Chronic Illness: Begin your study of this topic with the review essay of Robert Zussman. Contemporary Sociology, 25(March 1996): 143-148. Women and Aging: See Sharon McIrwin Abu-Laban and Susan A. McDaniel, "Beauty, Status, and Aging," in Nancy Mandell (ed.) Feminist Issues: Race, Class, and Sexuality, Scarborough: Prentice Hall Allyn and Bacon Canada, pp.78-102. Conflict Between Generations: See Leann M. Tiggers, “The Glass Basis of Generational Conflict in the 1980s: Analysis and Critique of the Ageist Agenda,” Journal of Aging Studies, 5(1)(1991): 1-10. Exploring Activity Theory Further: Gerontologist Mary Kouri notes that restless “young elders” today are rejecting the traditional retirement lifestyle of full-time leisure and are showing the way to re-engagement.” See Mary K. Kouri, “From Retirement to Re-Engagement,” The Futurist, 18(June 1984): 35-39, 41-42. Acting Your Age: Refer to Bernice L. Neugarten and Dail A. Neugarten, “The Changing Meanings of Age,” Psychology Today, (May 1987): 29-30, 32-33. Household Tasks in Later Life: See Russell A. Ward, “Marital Happiness and Household Equity in Later Life,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55(May 1993): 427-438. Philippines and Aging: See Lindy Williams and Lita J. Domingo, “The Social Status of Elderly Women and Men within the Filipino Family,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55(May 1993): 415-426. Housing Options for Canadian Women: See Marge Reitsma-Street, Housing Policy Options for Women Living in Urban Poverty: An Action Research Project in Three Canadian Cities. Ottawa: National Action Committee on the Status of Woman Company Town: A Canadian Icon: See Gordon Laird, “Closing Kemano,” Canadian Geographic, Nov/Dec2000, Vol. 120 Issue 7, p82, 14p Greenpeace: See Jim Bohlen, Making Waves: The Origins and Future of Greenpeace. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2001. Homeless and Social Movements: See David Wagner and Marcia B. Cohen, "The Power of the People: Homeless Protestors in the Aftermath of Social Movement Participation," Social Problems, 38(November 1991): 543–561. Human Ecology and Housing Development: See Theodore D. Fuller, et al., "Household Crowding and Family Relations in Bangkok," Social Problems, 40 (August 1993): 410–429. Living Wage: See Gene Koretz, “The Case for Living Wage Laws.” Business Week 4/22/2002, Issue 3779, p. 26. Segregation and Quality of Life: See Carol J. DeFrances, "The Effects of Racial Ecological Segregation on Quality of Life," Urban Affairs Review, 31(July 1996): 799–809. Environmentalism Beginnings: See Richard H. Grove, "Origins of Western Environmentalism," Scientific American, 267(July 1992): 42–47. Corporate Giving: See Ira Silver, “Strategically Legitimizing Philanthropists’ Identity Claims: Community Organizations as Key Players in the Making of Corporate Social Responsibility. Sociological Perspectives, Summer2001, Vol. 44 Issue 2, p233. 10. Walkerton: See Richard Schabas, “Public Health: What is to be Done?” Canadian Medical Association Journal, 5/14/2002, Vol. 166 Issue 10, p1282. Additional Audiovisual Materials: The Bronx: A Cry for Help (1990, 59m). This is an insider's view of the South Bronx by a filmmaker who has lived and filmed there over a 12-year period. This is not a sensational report about violence, drugs, and crime. It shows, instead, what life is like there for ordinary people who must worry about rents, landlords, medical care, and the city bureaucracy. Climate Change: Science vs. Politics (25m, colour, McGraw-Hill). This program explores the dynamic interplay between science and policy making. Though the world community has come to recognize the threat of global warming, the economic interests of each country have thwarted the development of a unified strategy. In Europe, environmental groups have despaired of relying on governments to take action. Instead, they lobby the banks to withhold financing from industries that contribute to the greenhouse effect. A Day at a Time (1992, 58m). Filmed over four years, this tape documents an extraordinary family, a family set apart by the fact that two of the four children are severely disabled with cerebral palsy. Despite their being wheelchair bound, they participate in school, community, summer camp, and church activities, thanks particularly to their mother, whose tenacity and charm have assured the children of the educational and medical benefits they need. Urban Elder (1997, 28m). Story of a First Nations elder who incorporates traditional aboriginal customs into the patterns of a fast-moving urban life. The “Headless Fatties” and their Health (2012, 2:04m, msnbc). This video from the Today Show draws attention to the systemic factors related to obesity. Help Me Die (1990, 60m). Probes the ethical and moral issues involved when a terminally ill patient asks a physician or family member for assistance in ending life. It considers hospice programs that practice passive euthanasia, permitting a patient to die with dignity. Money Talks (2007, YOUTube(trailor), 49:23m). This documentary exposes the tactics used by the big drug companies in order to maximize profits. The Pill (1999,44m.). Conceived as a solution to the population explosion, medical science risked lives due to inadequate testing on the drug's safety. The Status Syndrome (2011,YouTube, 10:29m). This documentary examines the link between status differentials, stress, and health. Temporary Dwellings (1992, 28m). This is a look at a group of Seattle's homeless community who took matters into their own hands and erected a series of large, tattered gray tents. Tent city was run by the homeless with firm ground rules: no drugs or alcohol, no weapons, no violence. All major decisions were put to a vote in this bold experiment in self-government. Tommy Douglas: Keeper of the Flame (1986, 57m). Chronicles the life of social democrat Tommy Douglas and his struggle to bring about social reforms in Canada, such as medicare. Unnatural causes: In Sickness and in Wealth (2008, Vimeo, 57:30m). This documentary examines the link between sickness/health and socioeconomic factors. The View from Here ( 2012, YouTube, 25:26m). This video features students ( at least one faculty member) on university campuses discussing their experiences with depression. Virtual Friends: Living in Cyberspace (25m, colour, McGraw-Hill). Relationships in the modern megalopolis: interpersonal or impersonal? This program investigates the new interactive society model in which physical neighbourhoods connected by proximity have been displaced by virtual neighbourhoods linked by technology. Topics discussed include the intimate anonymity of the Internet; the use of emoticons in e-mail; the growing importance of telecommunications; the Pavlovian response to a ringing telephone; and the relationship category defined as "familiar strangers." Additional Readings: Auger, Jeanette A. Social Perspectives on Death and Dying(2nd ed.). Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing, 2007. A Canadian perspective on death and dying. Brown, Lester R. (ed.) State of the World. New York: Norton, 1993. Brown offers an annual assessment of the environment and people's impact (both positive and negative) on it. Burke, M., J. Lindsay, I. McDowell, and G. Hill. "Dementia Among Seniors," Canadian Social Trends, 45, Summer; 24-27. Castells, Manuel. The Informational City. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell, 1989. A conflict theorist considers how the nature of space, place, and distance has changed fundamentally as a result of recent technological change. Beaujot, Roderic, and Don Kerr, eds. The Changing Face of Canada: Essential Readings in Population. Toronto: CSPI/WP, 2007. Two demographers and other contributors race how Canada’s population has changed dramatically over time. Bunting, Trudy and Filion, Pierre (Eds.) Canadian Cities in Transition: The Twenty-First Century. Toronto: OUP, 2000. Cockerman, William C. Medical Sociology, 12th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2011. A medical sociology text that examines the health care system in a number of countries, the social aspects of health and illness, and the social politics between doctors, nurses, and health care providers. . Decter, Michael. Healing Medicare: Managing Health Care System Change the Canadian Way. Toronto: McGilligan Books, 2004. This book provides a plan for the reform of the Canadian health care system, offering suggestions on how to ensure the system remains affordable and high quality. Ehrlich, Paul R., and Anne H. Ehrlich. Betrayal of Science and Reason. New York: Island Press, 1998. The authors examine what they believe to be "the rising antipathy toward environmentalism …'Brownlash' efforts, [they maintain], undermine and misinterpret environmental data and prolong the difficult search for solutions. Epp, Roger and Whitson, Dave (eds.) Writing off the Rural West: Globalization, Governments, and the Transformation of Rural Economies. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press: Parkland Institute, 2001. Mules, J., Picot, G., and Pyper, W. Neighbourhood Inequality in Canadian Cities. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2000. Kalipeni, Ezekiel, Susan Craddock, Joseph Oppong and Jayati Ghosh, eds. HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology. Oxford, UKL: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. An edited work covering a vast scope of HIV/AIDS-related topics and their impact on African nations. Karrow, P.F. and White, O.L. (Eds.) Urban Geology of Canadian Cities St. Johns, NF: Geographical Association of Canada, 1998. Kling, Rob, Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster (eds.). Post-Suburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II. Berkeley: University of California, 1991. This collection of 10 articles covers the latest developments in "edge cities," from taxpayers' revolts to industrial development. Lofland, Lyn. The Public Realm: Exploring the City's Quintessential Social Territory. Aldine de Gruyter, 1998. An examination of urban social life in public spaces that focuses on children and adolescents, violence and isolation. Gee, Ellen M. and Gloria M. Gutman (eds.). The Overselling of population aging: Apocalyptic Demography, Intergenerational Challenges, and Social Policy. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2000. This book makes the argument that population aging is being too much attention in the context of changing our social policies. The authors make the point the population aging is not a "crisis" or an apocalyptic situation. Gerhardt, Uta. Ideas about Illness: An Intellectual and Political History of Medical Sociology. NY: New York University, 1989. A scholarly and thorough examination of numerous models of health and illness that have been organized according to the three major sociological perspectives presented in the text and phenomenology. Huber, Peter W. Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Huber suggests that much environmental policy is now driven by the mistaken theory that environmental problems have mankind on the brink of a cataclysmic environmental avalanche. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. To Live Until We Say Good-bye. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978. A beautiful collaboration between Kübler-Ross, who has written several books that have changed the treatment of the dying around the world, and Mal Warshaw, a master photographer, who illustrated the book with touching pictures of the dying individuals that Kübler-Ross worked with directly. Mead, Margaret. Culture and Commitment. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. A study of the generation gap from a cross-cultural perspective. Nyden, Phillip W., and Wim Wiewel. Challenging Uneven Development: An Urban Agenda for the 1990s. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, 1991. A critical analysis of proposals to deal with the problems of central cities, with special emphasis on Chicago. Palen, J. John. The Urban World (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. A fine textbook on the sociology of urban and suburban areas. Palen concludes with an extensive section on urbanization in the developing nations of the world. Payer, Lynn. Medicine and Culture: Varieties of Treatment in the United States, England, West Germany, and France. A medical journalist examines the ways in which culture contributes to differences in medical care in four industrialized nations. Riley, Matilda White, Robert L. Kahn, and Anne Foner (eds.). Age and Structural Lag. New York: Wiley, 1994. Riley is one of the most respected authorities on aging, and she and her colleagues have put together an outstanding cross-cultural collection of articles on the demography of aging. Rogers Alisdair and Vertovec, Steven (Eds.) The Urban Context: Ethnicity, Social Networks, and Situational Analysis. Oxford, UK: Berg, 1995. Roseman, Curtis C., Hans Dieter Laux, and Günter Thieme (eds.). EthniCity: Geographic Perspectives on Ethnic Change in Modern Cities. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996. Examine race and ethnic relations in a variety of settings, including Black Africans in Paris and Aboriginal people in Sydney. Rossi, Peter H. Feeding the Poor: Assessing Federal Aid. New York: Aei Press, 2008. Schwab, William A. The Sociology of Cities. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992. A comprehensive urban sociology text that examines the city from ecological, Marxist, and social psychological perspectives. Smolan, Rick, Phillip Moffit, and Matthew Naythons (eds.) The Power to Heal: Ancient Arts and Modern Medicine. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990. An illustrated look at medicine as it is practiced throughout the world. Studlar, Donley T. Tobacco Control: Comparative Politics in the United States and Canada. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002. An examination of tobacco control policy from a regulation and taxation perspective, at different levels of government in each of the two countries. growth. Travato, Frank. Canada’s Population in a Global Context. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2009. Travato, Frank (ed.). Population and Society 2nd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2012. Twenty-three readings by Canadian and international scholars on a variety of population topics and issues. Weeks, John R. Population:An Introduction to Concepts and Issues (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2011. An introductory text covering population processes, population structure and characteristics, contemporary social issues such as household structure and urbanization, and methods to alter the course of demographic events in the future. Wolf, Susan(ed.). Feminism and Bioethics: Beyond Reproduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. This work focuses on genetic counseling and the debate surrounding genetic therapy and abortion to determine gender and disability. Thinking About Movies:__________________________________ Sicko ( Michael Moore, 2007) Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore tells the story of the American health-care system. The movie shows the enormous control that certain companies and individual have over peoples’ health care in the United States. The larger picture of the arguments presented by Moore are hard to ignore: systemic inequities affect the treatment that many groups of Americans receive or fail to receive. This film may be used to starting point for a discussion on health care reform introduced by Obama, commonly referred to as “ Obamacare.” For Your Consideration 1. According to the film, what is the relationship between social class and medical care in the United States? 2. Who, according to conflict thinkers, are in a position to define which people receive medical treatment? + 16 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, SOCIAL CHANGE, and the ENVIRONMENT Contents: ● Learning Objectives • Using Text Boxes to stimulate discussion • Classroom activities • Video suggestions • Key points from the text • Additional lecture ideas • Class discussion topics • Topics for student research • Additional Audiovisual suggestions • Additional readings • Thinking About Movies Learning Objectives: 16.1. Describe the approaches used to explain social movements. Explain the importance of gender in understanding social movements. 16.2. Discuss the three major theoretical approaches to analyzing social change. 16.3. Describe the influence of various factors that create resistance to social change. 16.4. Discuss the global nature of social change. Discuss the issues relating to privacy and censorship in a global village. Describe the issues surrounding advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering. 16.5. Discuss what impact social change has on the environment. Discuss issues surrounding the increase in transnational immigrants. Using the text boxes to stimulate discussion: Sociology in the Global Community: Women and the New Social Movement in India A variety of new social movements has emerged in India which deal with women’s rights, discrimination against the Dalitis ( untouchables), environmental issues, and farming problems. Applying theory: Why do you think so many of India’s women participate in new social movements? Describe their goals. 2. What would happen if “powerless” people in countries such as Canada and the United States formed a similar social movement Would it succeed? Why not? Social Policy and Globalization: Transnationals Globalization has changed the immigrant experience as well as the labour market. In this global framework, immigrants are less likely than they were in the past to think of themselves as residents of just one country. Transnationals are immigrants who sustain multiple social relationships that link their societies of origin with their societies of settlement. Sociologists did not begin to investigate transnationalism until the early 1990s. They are finding that new technologies which facilitate international travel and communications are accelerating the transnational movement of workers. As with other issues, sociologists differ in their opinion of transnationals, depending on their theoretical perspective. Applying Theory: 1) According to conflict thinkers, what role does globalization play in relation to the gulf between developing and developed countries? 2) Suppose you are an interactionist thinker. What topic of research might you construct relating to transnationals? Classroom Activities: Fads and Fashions: Without too much direction, ask the students to compile individual lists of current fads and fashions. Use the Think/Pair/Share technique to get students to think first on their own, and then in pairs, finally sharing with the class. Combine these into a larger list and have the class evaluate their responses. Participation in Collective Behaviour: Ask the class to discuss situations in which they found themselves participating in one of the major forms of collective behaviour listed in the text. How did they interpret their actions at the time? How do they interpret them now? Rumours: Ask students to share rumours that they have heard since being in college or university. Clarify the power that these accounts can sometimes have on behaviour. You could also lead into a discussion of urban myths. For more information, see the class exercise on p. 81 of Lewis, Jerry M. (1995). Tips for Teaching Introductory Sociology. Minneapolis, MN: West, 1995. Video Suggestions: Beyond McWorld: Challenging Corporate Rule (37 min., 1999, Vancouver, BC: Working TV). Provides a glimpse of the emerging movement against corporate rule. From teach-ins to sit-ins, students and youth are working with others to target and expose the corporate players behind government cutbacks and the private take-over of our public institutions and social programs. Designed to equip students and youth activists with the tools necessary to tackle the issues of economic justice and environmental sustainability in this era of globalization and corporate rule. Bye Buy World: The Battle of Seattle (12 min., 2000, RADAR Video Productions, Vancouver, B.C. Moving Images (distributor)). An explosion of anti-corporate sentiment filled the streets of Seattle in a united effort to stop the World Trade Organization from pursuing its agenda. Civil society organizations, labour unions, environmentalists and concerned citizens gathered together from around the world to participate in the "Battle of Seattle". This is What Democracy Looks Like (72 min., 2000, Co-produced by Seattle Independent Media Center and Big Noise Films). With more cameras on the street than any other media organization, the Independent Media Center (IMC) coordinated hundreds of media activists and collected more than 300 hours of video footage during the WTO protests. The film integrates the footage of over 100 videographers into a gripping document of what really happened on Seattle’s streets. The film cuts through the confusion and tear gas to paint an intimate, passionate portrait of a week that changed the world. Berkeley in the Sixties (117 min., 1990, New York, First Run Features. From the container: “… captures the decade's events, the birth of the Free Speech Movement, civil rights marches, anti-Vietnam War protests, the counter culture, the women's movement, and the rise of the Black Panthers- in all their immediacy and passion. Dramatic archival footage is interwoven with present day interviews and songs from the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Band and many others.” Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square (30 min., 1998, National Film Board of Canada). A visual autobiography offering one observer's view of China's Cultural Revolution and the years which followed in the New China. This film would also work for the chapter on Education, and also gives Canadian students a window into a different form of government than the one they assume is dominant. Key points from the text: Use Your Sociological Imagination: Do you see the widespread availability of music online as reinforcing a generation gap between a younger crowd that thinks music should be common property and an older faction that views music as private intellectual property? Social Movements: Sociologists use the term social movements to refer to organized collective activities to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society. Social movements imply the existence of conflict, but we can also analyze their activities from a functionalist perspective, which views social movements as training grounds for leaders of the political establishment. Relative Deprivation: The term relative deprivation is defined as the conscious feeling of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities. It may be characterized by scarcity rather than lack of necessities. A relatively deprived person is dissatisfied because he or she feels downtrodden relative to some appropriate reference group. A group will not mobilize into a social movement unless there is a shared perception that its relative deprivation can be ended only through collective action. Resource Mobilization: The term resource mobilization is used to refer to the ways in which a social movement utilizes such resources as money, political influence, access to the media, and personnel. Leadership is a central factor in the mobilization of the discontented into social movements. Karl Marx recognized the importance of recruitment when he called on workers to become aware of their oppressed status and develop a class consciousness. Marx held that a social movement (specifically the revolt of the proletariat) would require leaders top sharpen the awareness of the oppressed. They would need to help workers to overcome feelings of false consciousness, or attitudes that do not reflect workers’ objective position, in order to organize a revolutionary movement. New Social Movements: The term new social movements was introduced to refer to organized collective activities that address values and social identities, as well as improvements in the quality of life. Educated, middle-class people are significantly represented in some of these new social movements, such as the anti-globalizations movement. Use Your Sociological Imagination: Try to imagine a society without any social movements. Under what conditions could such a society exist? Would you want to live in it? Theories of Social Change: We defined social change as significant alteration over time in behaviour patterns and culture. Such explanations are clearly a challenge in the diverse and complex world we inhabit today. Nevertheless, theorists from several disciplines have sought to analyze social change. Evolutionary Theory: Evolutionary theory views society as moving in a definite direction. Early evolutionary theorists generally agreed that society was inevitably progressing to a higher state. As might be expected, they concluded – in ethnocentric fashion – that their own behaviour and culture were more advanced than those of earlier civilizations. Functionalist Theory: Talcott Parsons, a leading proponent of functionalist theory, viewed society as naturally being in a state of equilibrium. Therefore, according to his equilibrium model, as changes occur in one part of society there must be adjustments in other parts. Parsons’s approach explicitly incorporates the evolutionary notion of continuing progress. However, the dominant theme in this model is stability. Conflict Theory: Conflict theorists contend that social institutions and practices continue because powerful groups have the ability to maintain the status quo. Change has crucial significance because it is needed to correct social injustices and inequalities. In contrast to functionalists’ emphasis on stability, Karl Marx argues that conflict is a normal and desirable aspect of social change. In fact, change must be encouraged as a means of eliminating social inequality. Feminist Theories: Social change is the hallmark of feminist perspectives. Feminist sociologists, diverse as they are, share a desire to deepen their understanding of society in order to change the world; it is their desire to make it more just and humane. Confronting social injustice in order to promote change for those groups in society who are disadvantaged by their “social location” – their class, race, ethnicity, sexual preference, age, or global location – is a key feature of feminist perspectives. Interactionist Theory: From the interactionist perspective, people give meaning to events as they interpret their own “social reality.” Movements for social change, therefore, are not the results of external or objective factors, but rather, a social construction based on the meaning or interpretation the participants give to their actions. Recent theories, founded on the principles of symbolic interactionism, are based on the assumption that social movements involved participants, opponents, and bystanders engaged in a process that is interactive, symbolically defined, and negotiated. Resistance to Social Change: Efforts to promote social change are likely to meet with resistance. Social economist Thorstein Veblen coined the term vested interests to refer to those people or groups who will suffer in the event of social change. In general, those with a disproportionate share of society’s wealth, status, and power have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. Economic and Cultural Factors: Economic factors play an important role in resistance to social change. For example, it can be expensive for manufacturers to meet high standards for the safety of products and workers and for protection of the environment. Conflict theorists argue that, in a capitalist economic system, many firms are not willing to pay the price of meeting strict safety and environmental standards. They may resist social change by cutting corners or by pressuring the government to ease regulations. Resistance to Technology: Technological innovations are examples of changes in material culture that have often provoked resistance. The Industrial Revolution, which took place largely in England from 1760 to 1830, was a scientific revolution focused on the application of non-animal sources of power to labour tasks. As this enormous change proceeded, societies relied on new inventions that facilitated agricultural and industrial production and on new sources of energy, such as steam. In some industries, the introduction of power-driven machinery reduced the need for factory workers and made it easier to cut wages. Strong resistance to the Industrial Revolution emerged in some countries. In England, beginning in 1811, masked craft workers took extreme measures: they conducted nighttime raids on factories and destroyed some of the new machinery. The government hunted these rebels, known as Luddites, and ultimately banished some while hanging others. The term neo-Luddites refers to those who are wary of technological innovations and who question the incessant expansion of industrialization, the increasing destruction of the natural and agrarian world, and the “throw it away” mentality of contemporary capitalism with its resulting pollution of the environment. Globalization and Social Change: Maureen Hallinan, in her presidential address to the American Sociological association, asked those present to consider just a few of the recent political events (1997): the collapse of communism; terrorism in various parts of the world, including the United Sates; major regime changes and severe economic disruptions in Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; the spread of AIDS; and the computer revolution. In her address, Hallinan cautioned that we need to move beyond the restrictive models of social change – the linear view of evolutionary theory and the assumptions about equilibrium in functionalist theory. She and other sociologists have looked to the “chaos theory” advanced by mathematicians to understand erratic events as a part of change. Privacy and Censorship in a Global Village: New technologies threaten not just our privacy, but our freedom from crime and censorship. From a sociological point of view, the complex issues of privacy and censorship can be considered illustrations of culture lag. Sociologists’ views on the use and abuse of new technologies differ depending on their theoretical perspective. Functionalists take a generally positive view of the Internet, pointing to its manifest function of facilitating communication. Conflict theorists, in contrast, stress the danger that the most powerful groups in a society will use technology to violate the privacy of the less powerful. Biotechnology and the Gene Pool: Sex selection of fetuses, genetically engineered organisms, cloning of sheep and cows – these have been among the significant yet controversial scientific advances in the field of biotechnology in recent years. Today’s biotechnology holds itself out as totally beneficial to human beings, but it is in constant need of monitoring. One of the latest developments in genetic engineering is gene therapy. Such advances raise staggering possibilities for altering animal and human life forms. Social Change and the Environment: Sociologists and others may debate the potential impact of biotechnology, but technological change has already had serious environmental consequences. While environmental problems may be easy to identify scientifically, however, devising socially and politically acceptable solutions is much more difficult. Around the world, water pollution is a growing concern. Worldwide, over 1 billion people lack safe and adequate drinking water, and 2.4 billion have no acceptable means of sanitation. Globalization can be both good and bad for the environment. On the negative side, it can create a race to the bottom, as polluting companies relocate to countries with less stringent environmental standards. Yet globalization can have a positive effect, as well. As barriers to the international movement of goods, services and people fall, multinational companies have an incentive to carefully consider the cost of natural resources. Conflict View of Environmental Issues: Conflict theorists are well aware of the environmental implications of land use policies in the developing world, but they contend that focusing on developing countries is ethnocentric. These theorists point out that the industrialized nations of North America and Europe account for only 12 percent of the world’s population but are responsible for 60 percent of worldwide consumption, and, thus, a disproportionately large ecological footprint. Environmental Justice: Environmental justice is a legal strategy based on claims that ethnic minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards. The poor and oppressed continue to bear the brunt of environmental pollution. Feminist Views: Eco-Feminism: Eco-feminism forges an alliance between the environmental movement and he feminist movement, between ecology and feminist principles. Central t the core tenants of eco-feminism is the belief that, historically, men have dominated and exploited both nature and women. Women’s relationships with nature, eco-feminist contend, are not ones of domination, control and exploitative self-interest but rather of protection and nurturance. Interactionist View: Sociologists Clay Schoenfeld, Robert Meir, and Robert Griffin studied how environmental issues become the concerns of everyday citizens and how concern for an environmental issue one year (e.g., child labour or deforestation) may be supplanted by a different environmental concern the next year (e.g., public transportation or genetically modified foods). Use Your Sociological Imagination: Your community is designated as a site for the burial of toxic waste. How would you react? Would you organize a protest? Or would you make sure the authorities carry the project out safely? How can such sites be chosen fairly? Additional Lecture Ideas: 1: Categorizing Collective Behaviour Different types of collective behaviour can be distinguished by how coordinated the activity is—ranging from relatively unorganized activities such as public opinion to highly structured social movements. Unorganized, individualized activity Publics, public opinion | Rumours | Panics and crazes | Fads | Fashions | Crowds | Disasters | Social movements Structured, coordinated activity 2: Types of Crowds Since the term crowds embraces such diverse kinds of groups, sociologists have found it helpful to adopt a typology introduced by Herbert Blumer. Blumer differentiates between crowds on the basis of their purposes in gathering. The casual crowd has a momentary existence and very little unity. There is virtually no social organization, for example, in casual crowds that gather in front of department store window displays. Conventional crowds are groups such as spectators at athletic events or audiences at lectures or plays. While still relatively temporary in terms of duration, conventional crowds are governed by certain social norms. In most instances, it is considered acceptable to talk to one’s neighbour during a basketball game but not during a serious dramatic play. In the remaining types of crowds, the behaviour of participants is governed by new social norms, or what Turner and Killian refer to as emergent norms. Expressive crowds are temporary gatherings that provide for emotional expression and release. Examples include victory celebrations, religious revival meetings, and the annual Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. Interestingly, expressive crowds often have a shared style of dress, common chants and gestures (“we’re number one!”), and an understanding of the bounds of acceptable behaviour. Although such crowds may deviate from normal social conventions, as is the case with college fans who dance in the streets after an important football victory, they are generally not destructive or violent. An acting crowd joins in group action directed toward achieving some goal. Typically, this type of crowd feels dissatisfied and is quite volatile. An expressive crowd may also be angry, but an acting crowd transforms its hostility into action. While members of an acting crowd don’t necessarily approve of violence, they cooperate in such behaviour, or, at the very least, do not prevent others in the crowd from being violent. Thus, mobs and rioters are both considered examples of acting crowds. A mob typically attempts to accomplish a limited objective, such as beating up one person or storming one embassy. The indeterminate size of a mob means that some of the recent incidents of ‘swarming’ where one person is beaten by a group, a troubling phenomenon among youth, would qualify. Unlike mobs, rioters lack a sharp focus. Participants frequently have the same sense of injustice and collective outrage shared by members of a mob. However, rioters are much less clear on how to achieve their objective. Not surprisingly, then, there is often a common feeling after a riot that little has been accomplished. A 1981 survey of Liberty City residents found that most saw rioting as ineffective in leading to social change. Only 15 percent agreed with the statement “Blacks can only get ahead by fighting in the streets.” In the aftermath of the violent 1980 Miami riots, Blacks were no more optimistic about the future than they had been before the outbreak. See Roger Brown, “Mass Phenomena.” In Gardner Lindzey (ed.). Handbook of Social Psychology, vol. 2. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1954, pp. 847–854. See also Frederick Tasker, “Riot Flames Are Out, but Anger Smolders,” Miami Herald (April 12, 1981): 12. 3: Contaminated Coke and the Ethics of Rumour Research In 1976, a rumour surfaced in France that caused alarm among many major producers of beverages and food. Beginning then and continuing to the present, “the leaflet of Villejuif” has appeared all over France, to the extent that sociologist J. N. Kapferer has estimated that 43 percent of all homemakers have been exposed to it. The leaflet, whose origins are unknown, is a typewritten, one-page throwaway that identifies 10 popular products—such as Coca-Cola, Schweppes, and Martini—as containing cancer-causing additives. The leaflet says that although the foods have been authorized in France, the internationally famous cancer-research hospital in the Paris suburb of Villejuif—hence the term leaflet of Villejuif—has confirmed the contamination. No acknowledged health professionals subscribe to the warnings in the leaflet of Villejuif, and the hospital named has consistently denied the alleged dangers. However, it is the food producers who stand to lose as the leaflet continues to circulate, even showing up in translated form in other European nations. To study the leaflet's impact, Kapferer distributed 500 copies in the mailboxes of a middle-class suburb of Rennes, a French provincial town. One week later, 150 people were interviewed about their reaction. More than two-thirds indicated that they planned to stop buying the products listed. Kapferer and his associates let the interviewees know that the claims made in the leaflet were not true. Rumours are often interesting, and Kapferer was clearly pleased by the opportunity to do empirical research. However, criticism was quick to follow. For example, Tom Smith of NORC expressed the following concerns: 1. Only 150 subjects in the 500 manipulated households were told that the information in the leaflet was untrue. The people agreeing to be interviewed were the only ones warned that the information was false. 2. Even the 150 subjects who were later warned were subjected to a week of possible anxiety over alleged health threats. And once warned, they could still be upset by the manipulation or their gullibility. 3. Kapferer presented evidence that 70 percent shared the leaflet's misinformation outside their household. The researchers never told these others that the leaflet was full of untruths. 4. Also based on the follow-up interview, commercial interests did lose sales as a result, and were needlessly harmed. It also seems apparent that Rennes’ experiment violates the standards laid out in the Canadian Sociology Anthropology Association’s Standards of Professional Ethics. Any research which has the potential to harm participants would not be approved by any of the ethics review boards that are now found in every academics research institution in the country. Kapferer acknowledges the concerns but dismisses them, saying that he received the cooperation of the brands mentioned (including the legal departments) for the small-scale experiment. Indeed, the alleged "contaminated" brands funded the study. It is true that 350 subjects in the experiment were never told the truth, but Kapferer points out that this was also true for the vast majority of the 6 million households that had received the leaflet since it was first distributed in 1976. Further probing did not turn up any townspeople who were upset or overly anxious over the alleged health threats. Kapferer does share Smith's concern about researching the effect of rumours and wonders if it is possible without breaching some ethical concerns. See J. N. Kapferer, "A Mass Poisoning Rumour in Europe," Public Opinion Quarterly, 53(Winter 1989): 467–481. See also Tom W. Smith, "Comment," Public Opinion Quarterly, 54(Fall 1990): 463. See also Kapferer, "Reply," Public Opinion Quarterly, 54(Fall 1990): 464. 4: Exit Polling in the Former Soviet Union Exit polls have been a fact of life in the United States and other Western democracies for more than a decade. In recent years, such polling has been successfully conducted in certain developing countries, notably Mexico. But, in 1993, pollsters addressed the formidable logistics and methodological challenges of surveying a country as vast and politically chaotic as Russia. As television viewers in the United States have learned, exit polls allow the networks to project the outcome of an election long before all the ballots have been counted. Using sophisticated sampling techniques, interviewers question voters as they leave the polling places (hence the term exit polls). By studying voting patterns in selected districts, analysts can project the results for an entire city or state. Exit polling was introduced in Russia in 1993 when a referendum was held to determine the level of support for President Boris Yeltsin and his social and political reforms. Voter Research and Surveys (VRS), a polling firm based in the United States, drew on data from Russia's 1991 presidential elections to develop a representative sample of voters, taking into account such factors as administrative region, type of city or settlement, and political orientation. VRS found that Russian voters were quite willing to speak with interviewers, despite the fact that both democracy and polling are rather new to that country. Indeed, according to Warren Mitofsky, the head of VRS, Russian voters' rate of cooperation with pollsters was much higher than the rate in the United States. As in the United States, the exit polling in Russia proved to be fairly accurate. Early on the day of the referendum, based on initial analysis of survey data, exit polls began reporting a strong showing of support for Boris Yeltsin. VRS reported that 65 percent of voters had expressed confidence in the president, while a competing polling firm reported a 63 percent approval rating. The final returns of the referendum showed a 59 percent vote of confidence for Yeltsin. A second referendum question asked voters: "Do you approve of the government's social and economic policies conducted by the President and the Government since 1992?" In the exit polls, 56 to 58 percent of those surveyed voiced their approval, as did 53 percent of voters in the referendum. As in other countries, exit polls in Russia provided information about the preferences of particular types of voters that cannot be obtained from official vote tallies. For example, exit polls showed that support for Boris Yeltsin was stronger among younger voters and those with less education. Yet, even at best, exit polls reflect the attitudes of voters, who are not necessarily a representative sample of all members of a society. The top 40 percent of Russian adults who did not participate in the 1993 referendum are likely to be more critical of the government and its policies than the 60 percent who did vote. On all accounts, the initial exit polling in Russia was judged a success. The total cost was $40,000, about half the expense of a similar effort in the United States. Cooperation from voters was high, while interference from police, local politicians, and the traditional communist bureaucracy was minimal. The most serious difficulty faced by VRS was that Russia had a dated telecommunications system. Nevertheless, it is expected that such surveys will become more common in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Sources for the lecture include the following: Amy Corning, "The Russian Referendum: An Analysis of Exit Poll Results," RFE/RL. Research Report, 2(May 7, 1993): 6–9; Richard Morin, "Welcome to the World of Exit Surveys," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 10(May 3, 1993): 37; and Alexander Raht, "Yeltsin Receives Support in Referendum," RFE/RL News Briefs, 2(April 30, 1993): 1. 5: Why Do People Join Social Movements? There are numerous organized efforts in Canada to bring about or prevent social change. Why do people join some movements and not others? Are some factors more significant in explaining recruitment to one type of social movement as opposed to another? Sociologist James M. Jasper and Han D. Poulsen collected data at protests to learn more about why people join two different social movements—animal rights and anti-nuclear power. They sampled the people present at the protest at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in August 1984, and two rallies against the use of animals in experimental labs, one with about 1 000 participants and the other, relatively small, with about 100 protestors.. Some of the surveys were completed at the protest; others were distributed and returned by mail later to the researchers. At each of the three protests about one-third of the demonstrators completed the questionnaire. The activities at the three protests were similar: speeches accompanied by chanting or picketing followed by a small group of those present offering themselves for arrest by blocking roads or entrances. The duration of the events ranged from one to three hours. Based on the review of the literature, one would hypothesize that preexisting social networks are the most significant factor that leads new members to join together for a particular social cause. Beginning with Karl Marx, who outlined the necessary conditions for the proletariat to revolt, numerous social scientists have pointed out that the physical concentration or gathering of those with a common grievance is a prerequisite for social action. Thus previous personal contact with someone in the movement is hypothesized as the most important factor in explaining a person’s involvement. Prior activism or the value of political activity helps to make this contact more likely and increase the tendency to affiliate with a social protest activity. Jasper and Poulsen asked the protesters to estimate the importance of personal networks in recruitment activities. They found that the relative importance of social networks differed between the two groups. Very Important Somewhat Important Not Important Anti-nuclear sample 51% 29% 19% Animal rights sample 31% 22% 47% The hypothesis appears to be confirmed with the demonstrators against nuclear power but less so with animal rights activists. This latter group seemed to be motivated more by “specific events” that had caused them to act and to come to the protests even without friends. Among those in the animal rights sample, 72 percent had found “things they read” to be “very important.” For example one animal rights protester said, I remember my first photos of cats being tortured in experiments; it was at a table on Fifth Avenue in 1987. I didn’t know anybody in the movement—in fact I thought they were a bunch of weirdos. But they were right about animal torture. (p. 501) Even in sampling a third of the three relatively large protests, the authors acknowledge that a single group of protestors cannot fully represent an entire movement, so they went beyond their questionnaires and conducted interviews with people active in the movement and did content analysis of movement publications and leaflets. This all served to confirm that the network hypothesis held true for anti-nuclear power but not for animal rights activists, who seemed more affected by experiences or information they had come by personally. Both movements emphasize a human relationship with the environment and view technology as out of control, but the anti-nuclear power mobilization effort depended more on personal networks. While the presence of nuclear power is obvious—the familiar cooling towers and the occasional story (fictional and nonfictional alike) of a nuclear “disaster”—the symbols are not nearly as widespread as animals are. Eighty percent of the animal protesters had pets, compared to 61 percent of all U.S. households. Comparisons to their animal friends were obvious, as one New Jersey activist recalls: But I went by a table one day and saw these terrifying pictures. That’s what goes on inside our country’s best, most scientific labs? There was a tabby [cat] that looked just like mine, but instead of a skull it has some kind of electrodes planted in its head. I thought about that a little bit, right there on the street, and I brought home all their literature. I decided, that’s gotta stop (p. 506). What Jasper terms these “moral shocks” are the first step to recruit strangers into some types of social movements such as animal rights. He and Poulsen help us to better understand the many factors that are involved in social movement mobilization, which is a more complex process than one of friends simply recruiting friends. Sources: James M. Jasper. The Art of Moral Protest: Cultural Dimensions of Social Movements. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. M. Jasper and Jane Poulsen, “Recruiting Strangers and Friends: Moral Shocks and Social Networks in Animal Rights and Anti-Nuclear Protests,” Social Problems, 42(November 1995): 493–512; David A. Snow, Louis A. Zurcher, Jr., and Sheldon Ekland-Olson, “Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment,” American Sociological Review, 45 (1980): 787–801. 6: The Social Movement for Prostitutes’ Rights In the view of its supporters, prostitution is a service industry, and prostitutes are professional sex workers. However, prostitution is illegal in Canada and around the world. Prostitutes are often arrested, though their clients generally are not. Given the common stigma attached to prostitution, it is no easy task to work for the rights of prostitutes. COYOTE (an acronym for “Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics”) was the first and remains the best known of the prostitutes’ rights organizations in the United States. Established in 1973, COYOTE has grown into a national organization based in San Francisco, with branches and affiliates in at least 12 major cities in the United States and ties to similar organizations overseas. COYOTE and its allies advocate the repeal of all existing laws against prostitution, the reconstitution of prostitution as a credible service organization, and the legal protection of prostitutes as legitimate service workers. Activists in COYOTE view prostitution as a victimless crime (refer back to Chapter 7) and therefore favour full decriminalization of such consensual sexual activity. They flatly oppose legalization of prostitution, whether in the form of registration and licensing, special taxes, compulsory health examinations, or “red light districts.” COYOTE believes that any such regulations will inevitably perpetuate the stigma attached to prostitution while unfairly regulating what women do with their bodies. Sociologist Valerie Jenness suggests that COYOTE has had many successes. Among these are (1) holding conferences and leading demonstrations to raise public awareness concerning the rights of prostitutes, (2) persuading public defenders to assist women charged with prostitution, (3) pressuring government agencies to establish free health clinics for prostitutes, (4) building coalitions in support of prostitutes’ rights with certain feminist organizations, and 5) serving as a crucial link between sex workers and public health agencies as the AIDS crisis has intensified. By contrast, sociologist Ronald Weitzer points to the failures of the prostitutes’ rights movement. In his view, COYOTE and other activist groups have failed to shift public opinion (which remains hostile to prostitutes’ rights), there have been few significant legislative concessions, and movement leaders are rarely consulted by policymakers. Weitzer contends that the movement’s resource-mobilization efforts have been largely unsuccessful: The limited resources of activist organizations have not been supplemented by meaningful alliances with other social movements or more established interest groups. Nevertheless, Weitzer acknowledges that the prostitutes’ rights movement has enhanced the self-images of activists, while assisting individual prostitutes, attracting media attention, and winning certain legal battles. It is not easy to assess the success or failure of a social movement; indeed, sociologists do not agree about the criteria that should be utilized. In one study, sociologist William Gamson traced the activities of a representative sample of 53 social movements that emerged in the United States between 1800 and 1945. Gamson measured the relative success or failure of these movements by examining whether or not they gained new advantages and gained acceptance from their antagonists. He found that 31 of the social movements studied (58 percent) gained either new advantages or acceptance, while another 20 movements (38 percent) gained both. Judged against Gamson’s criteria, the prostitutes’ rights movement would thus far appear to be a movement (like 4 percent of those studies) that has not genuinely gained either new advantages or acceptance. Nevertheless, despite formal norms against prostitution and negative public opinion, the prostitutes’ rights movement has not disappeared, and it continues to work for what it sees as social justice. Sources: William A. Gamson. The Strategy of Social Protest (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990; Valerie Jenness, “Can COYOTE Guard the Chicken Coop? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Cincinnati, 1991; Jenness, “In Search of Legitimacy: Prostitutes’ Rights Organizations and Contemporary Feminism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Spokane, WA, 1992; Jenness. Making It Work: The Prostitutes’ Rights Movement in Perspective. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1993; Ronald Weitzer, “Prostitutes’ Rights in the United States: The Failure of a Movement,” Sociological Quarterly, 32(1)(1993): 23–41. 7: Steel Axes for Stone Age Australians Toward the end of the 19th century, metal tools began to filter into the territory of the Yir Yoront, a tribe of the Australian Aborigines. Of particular significance to the Yi Yoront was the introduction of the steel ax. While the Aboriginals themselves could not manufacture steel ax heads, a steady supply came from missionaries. Tribal members who attended mission festivals were presented with steel axes, but older members of the Yir Yoront shied away from such gatherings because of their earlier experience or knowledge of White people's harshness. Therefore, women and younger men were more likely to own a steel ax. Ownership of a steel ax emerged as a measure of status. This was especially significant because the stone ax had generally been possessed by elder males and thus was a symbol of authority. Other tribal members would have to come to an elder if they wanted to use a stone ax, but the possession of the superior steel axes by women and younger men changed all that. A wife or a young son, still uninitiated into adulthood, no longer need bow to the husband or father. Instead, the elder, confused and insecure, might have to borrow a steel ax from them. For the woman and boy, the steel ax helped establish a new degree of freedom that was readily accepted as they moved away from traditional values. Also, women, by virtue of ownership of this artifact of outside culture, had a trading power denied to older men. By the mid-1930s, the Yir Yoront maintained some of their Aboriginal identity amidst the increasing acceptance of European inventions and values, but the general passing of their culture led Lauristan Sharp to conclude that the Yir Yoront "has passed beyond the reach of any outsider who might wish to do him well or ill. . ." See L. Sharp, "Steel Axes for Stone-Age Australians." In Technological Change. New York: Russell Sage, 1952, pp. 69–90. 8: Changes in the Family: A Functionalist View In 1934 sociologist William F. Ogburn prepared a report for a Presidential Research Committee on Social Trends that dealt with the effects of social change on the functions of the family. Ogburn argued that the family has been altered by the process of differentiation identified by Parsons as an inevitable aspect of social change. Specifically, Ogburn discussed these functions of the family: 1. In colonial times the family carried out its economic function entirely within the household. But in the 20th century, while some Americans still bake their own bread or sew their own clothing, very few make their own soap or furniture, and family members no longer have to rely only on each other for economic security. 2. The family's protective function has been turned over to outside agencies such as hospitals, mental health clinics, and insurance companies. 3. The family once played a major role in religious life. For example, it commonly read the Bible and sang hymns at home. Today, churches, synagogues, and other formal institutions of religion have assumed this function. 4. Similarly, whereas education once took place at the family fireside, it is now the responsibility of professionals working in schools and colleges. 5. Even the family's recreational function has been transferred to outside groups such as youth organizations, athletic clubs, and community-sponsored recreation halls. The adaptive upgrading noted by Parsons is evident as the family's responsibilities are shifted to religious schools, day care centers, and even video arcades. 6. Ogburn identified a sixth function of the family, the conferring status, which has also been diluted in the 20th century. In the past, membership in a particular family largely defined one's status in a community and significantly influenced whom one would marry, where one would live, and what occupation one would pursue. Currently, owing to geographical and social mobility, the family plays a much smaller role in determining one's status and future within society. 7. Ogburn pointed to the status of the "family defunctionalization," the loss of functions of the family unit, as a factor contributing to marital unhappiness and divorce. But he stressed that the family retains responsibility for the function of providing affection. It offers warm, intimate interactions that contribute to individual satisfaction and societal stability. By giving companionship and emotional support to its members, the family reduces social isolation and serves the interests of the larger society. See Ogburn and Clark Tibbits, "The Family and Its Functions." In Recent Trends in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1934, pp. 661–778. 9: Resisting Social Change In 1994, Saudi Arabia took steps to ban satellite television dishes as part of efforts to defend its religious and social mores. A cabinet decree, carried by the Saudi Press Agency, banned the use, import, or manufacture of satellite dishes, microwaves, or any parts of either one in Saudi Arabia. The decree also said that "no person or company" has the right to deliver television satellite feeds to subscribers in the kingdom by any means. Violators would pay fines of between $26,666 and $133,333, and equipment would be confiscated. "The Ministry of Information will carry the responsibility of reception of external television broadcasts by international satellite stations and will deliver viewers in the Kingdom by a cable system according to the religious and social mores of the country," the decree said. In recent years, the use of satellite dishes spread in the conservative kingdom by viewers eager to see the Saudi-owned Arabic-language Middle East Broadcasting Company from London, CNN (Cable News Network) International, and the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). It was not immediately clear which services would be rebroadcast by cable. See the Reuters news report in The Daily Citizen, 1(March 11, 1994):13. 10: Amish and Social Change The Amish, numbering 100,000 people in the United States and Canada, are usually seen as resistant to social change. Traditionally, the Amish have taken great pains to stay apart from the world at large, not through self-segregation, but by rejecting many elements of 20th-century life (from radio and air conditioning to movies and jewelry). Nevertheless, the Amish must plan for and control change. Jerry Savells conducted observation research among eight Amish communities during the 1980s. He interviewed not only Amish people but also non-Amish who had regular contact with the Amish as merchants, mail carriers, delivery personnel, and the like. Although isolated, the Amish do not live in a social vacuum. Indeed, they are surrounded by cultural, economic, and political changes and regularly interact with farmers, business leaders, and real estate dealers. Reviewing Savell's research, we can identify the following areas in which the Amish accommodate social change but maintain the basic character, norms, and values of their distinctive subculture. • Employment. While the Amish seek to be self-supporting within their self-contained farmsteads, this is not always possible. Males sometimes commute to nearby towns or cities to accept employment. Occupations selected (i.e., carpentry or agriculture related) are not hostile to Amish culture and non-Amish drivers provide transportation. • Redefining boundaries. How should a subculture deal with innovations from the outside world when it is anxious to preserve its own character? How should it draw boundaries regarding what is acceptable? Some Amish people use cosmetics, but only creams; make-up would be considered too "worldly." Dairy farmers in the Amish community must use diesel power to supply their barns (not their houses) with electricity to meet government standards for proper refrigeration of milk that will be sold commercially. A few have taken this accommodation a bit further: They use generators or bottled gas to operate household appliances (but will not run electrical lines to their dwellings). Because of the hard soil in one area of Oklahoma, some Amish farmers began using tractors. As a result, other members of the Amish community left the area in protest. • Politics. While Amish read and subscribe to newspapers and news magazines, they remain politically uninvolved. (In one election that Savells studied, less than 15 percent of adult males voted.) The Amish believe that, as part of a church, they must remain completely separate from government. The Amish do not view change or technology as inherently evil. But they do see elements of technology, such as the radio or the automobile, as sources of temptation (especially for the young) that can lead to conflict and social disharmony. Nevertheless, the Amish realize that they must make compromises and, in some instances, work within the dominant culture of the United States. As one Amish man remarked, "You cannot put a ship in the middle of the ocean and expect the deck to always stay dry" (Savells, 1990:16). Sources: Jerry Savells, "Social Change among the Amish in Eight Communities," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, 13(July 1990):12–16; William M. Kephart and William Zellner. Extraordinary Groups: The Sociology of Unconventional Life-Styles, 5th ed., New York: St. Martin's, 1994; "Some Amish to Use Tractors; Those Opposed May Leave Town," New York Times (April 16, 1995): 20. 11: Public Opinion and Nuclear Power Sociologists Eugene A. Rosa and Riley E. Dunlap recently reviewed the trend in public opinion concerning nuclear power over the last 30 years. After the March 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and then after the April 1986 explosion of the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, there was a decided downturn in support of nuclear power. Skeptics said this attitude change would be short-lived. However, the sociologist found that the trends in the longest survey questions showed public opinion to be increasingly unfavourable to nuclear power. Solid majorities of the public oppose the construction of more nuclear power plants and are likewise opposed to siting them locally—the NIMBY (not in my back yard) phenomenon. Yet an equally solid majority believes that nuclear power should be and will be an important energy source in the nation's future. The researchers see this not as a contradiction, but as a pragmatic view on the part of the public to distinguish between nuclear power in principle and practice. Source: Rosa and Dunlap, "Nuclear Power: Three Decades of Public Opinion," Public Opinion Quarterly, 58(Summer 1994):295–325. 12: Futurists Futurists are people engaged in an organized study of the future. Futurist Herman Kahn once noted succinctly that in order to understand the future, "we find out what's really happening and then we try to analyze what that means." Social predictions can be made, in part, by assessing the social impact of technological and scientific changes. For example, in 1783 passengers traveled by stagecoach at six miles per hour. In 1883 they traveled on steam-powered railway trains at 60 miles per hour. Today, more than 20 million people travel routinely by plane at 600 miles per hour. Physicist and futurist Gerald O'Neill has estimated that in another 100 years, the typical passenger speed will be 6,000 miles per hour. We know that past advances in travel have facilitated cultural diffusion, immigration, political interdependence, and the rise of multinational corporations. It seems clear that further dramatic advances in transportation technology will reshape social relations and alter the major institutions of society. O'Neill believes that the five major sources of change in the 21st century will be computers, automation, energy, communications, and space colonies. The present generations of Americans have already been adjusting to rapid changes in the first four of these areas. Social change, whether brought about by technological advances or social movements, is a part of our present and will continue (if not accelerate) in the years ahead. Annually The Futurist publishes trends and forecasts for the United States or the entire world. See Gerald K. O'Neill. 2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. See also Merrill Sheils, "The Cracked Crystal Ball," Newsweek, 94(November 19, 1979):133–135. An interesting example of applied futurism is to consider what an emerging culture in a moon colony might be like. Futurists suggest that a large lunar base may be established as early as the year 2010. Once such space colonies have been established, a new type of human culture will inevitably develop. Management psychologist Philip Harris argues that we cannot simply impose one of earth's cultures in space. The particular demands of life on the moon, for example, will contribute to new lifestyles, new values, and even new religions. In initially adapting to their new environment, settlers on a lunar colony will experience the disorientation, confusion, and anxiety characteristic of culture shock. On the most obvious level, lunar dwellers will face the awesome (and perhaps unsettling) sight of the earth—visible from their new home and yet far, far away. Another severe adjustment will involve day and night; the moon has 14 earth days of light followed by 14 earth days of darkness. The first settlers may find it difficult to cope with "nights" that last for weeks. Indeed, Harris speculates that some will respond with manic behaviour similar to that exhibited by Swedes after the annual long periods of darkness in the Scandinavian nation. What of interpersonal relationships on the lunar colony? At first, these relationships are likely to focus around work responsibilities and professional positions, especially since most early settlers will be scientists, technicians, and communications experts. Over time, however, the colonists will have to decide whether to maintain the traditional norms of their native cultures regarding sexuality, family, and the like, or to turn to alternatives. If the lunar residents feel isolated from their homelands on earth, all relationships with other colonists may take on an unusually intensity. Moreover, given the likely importance of robotics on space colonies, human-machine interactions will become more significant than they have ever been on earth. Philip Harris predicts that the settlers may form emotional attachments to their robot helpers, especially as they become more humanlike. Finally, religion may well undergo changes on a lunar base. If the community has members from all over the earth, there are likely to be Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and adherents to other faiths thrown together in a demanding situation in which cooperative norms are essential. This may lead to a respectful religious pluralism, to evangelical efforts to convert settlers to one's faith, or to the emergence of a new religion—a "cosmic consciousness" that draws on all the current religions on earth and integrates them into a belief system focused on the universe rather than on a single planet. No one knows, of course, what directions life on a space colony may take. But futurists and planners must consider these questions now, drawing on the expertise of sociologists, psychologists, and other social scientists, so that some of the difficulties of space culture can be addressed before they arise. See Philip R. Harris, "Living on the Moon: Will Humans Develop an Unearthly Culture?" The Futurist, 19(April 1985):30–33, 35. 13: Virtual Reality Imagine putting on a helmet and stepping into a suit complete with gloves and shoes. You are cut off from the real environment around you; through technology, sensations are transmitted to your body so that you feel as if you are swimming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef or imitating a conversation with Mohammed or Jesus. Virtual reality is an interactive technology that creates an illusion of being immersed in an artificial world or being present in a remote location in the physical world (Rucker et al., 1992:25). Currently, virtual reality is utilized primarily as a form of entertainment. However, a 1992 murder trial used computer simulations to "show" the jury how the defendant allegedly committed the murder. Some observers expect that employers will someday use virtual reality to screen job applicants. Counselors, police officers, and teachers, among others, could be placed in virtual reality to test how well they perform in simulated work situations (Becard, 1993). We are only at the beginning of the possibilities and ethical dilemmas posed by virtual reality. This technological advance could be used to allow a person to indulge norm-defying or even criminal fantasies. Indeed, by the 1990s, computer software was available that allowed users to engage in activities that ridicule or trivialize women and minority groups. See André Bacard, "Technology and Society," The Humanist, 53(March–April 1993):42–43; Ruby Rucker, R. V. Sirius, and Queen Ma. Mondo 2000. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. 14: Perpetuating Stereotypes in Cyberspace Amid all the discussion about the wonders of the new electronic networks, some social questions remain. Initial observations suggest that many of the stereotypes persist. Amy Bruckman, Massachusetts Institution of Technology, has monitored gender roles on the Internet. She has observed that women are often treated as helpless. Bruckman logs on under different names or guises as part of her experiments at the Media Lab. When she logs on as a woman, male network users offer her technical assistance and then ask for sexual favours in return. She reports that once when she rejected a man's flirtations, she was accused of being a male in disguise. See Laurie Hays, "Personal Effects," The Wall Street Journal, (November 15, 1993):R16. Class Discussion Topics: 1. Collective Behaviour and the Arrival of a Monster: The alleged sighting of a monster in a small town offers the opportunity to test a theory of collective behaviour. See David L. Miller, Kenneth J. Mietus, Richard J. Mietus, and Richard A. Mathers, "A Critical Examination of the Social Contagion Image of Collective Behaviour: The Case of the Enfield Monster," Sociological Quarterly, 19(Winter 1978):129–130, 132–140. 2. Crowds: A lecture outline is provided on the topic of the sociology of crowds on pp. 53–55 of Jerry M. Lewis. Tips for Teaching Introductory Sociology. Minneapolis, MN: West, 1995. 3. Social Movement Organizations: See Technique No. 2 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993, pp. 2–3. 4. Social Movement Speaker: Invite a spokesperson for a local chapter of a local chapter of a national or international protest organization. Have the representative describe the social history of the movement. 5. Student Social Movements in Beijing: Studies of student social movements focus on campuses in the United States in the 1960s, but students are at the core of social movement participants globally. See Dingxin Zhao, “Ecologies of Social Movements: Student Mobilization during the 1989 Pro-democracy Movement in Beijing,” American Journal of Sociology, 103(May 1998): 93–99. 6. Stimulating Classroom Discussions about The Nudist on the Late Shift: Questions for stimulating a classroom discussion about Po Bronson's The Nudist on the Late Shift can include these: Do you use Hotmail or any other free e-mail system? Why do you use a free system rather than a system provided by your school or employer? How has e-mail changed your personal life? Your work life? Your school life? Are the changes brought about by the availability of e-mail functional or dysfunctional for society? What aspects of e-mail would interest an interactionist? 7. Universities and Social Change: What will universities be like in the year 2020? Although we are now there and we know, it is interesting to see what people thought and how accurate or inaccurate their predictions were. See Malcolm G. Scully, "Colleges to Be More Alike by the Year 2000, Researcher Says," Chronicle of Higher Education, 27(October 5, 1983:1, 14–15. 8. Modern Industrial Society: A Recent Development: See Technique No. 25 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993, p. 45. 9. The Next Hundred Years: For a series of futuristic articles on topics that include social class, life cycles, technology and childbirth, folkways, race and ethnicity, and gender, see the New York Times Magazine, September 29, 1996. 10. Virtual Reality: What are some of the future implications of virtual reality (V.R.) in various spheres of social life? • Economic. Sales of the units could be a boon, but if very realistic, V.R. could adversely affect tourist destinations as people choose the V.R. alternative. • Gender roles. Toys and most computer games generally reinforce traditional roles. Is there any reason to expect V.R. to be different? • Family. Family members may become preoccupied with V.R. to the exclusion of other personal relationships. With the advances in technology, could one recreate conversations with family members living or even deceased? 11. Telecommuting: Would students consider a job after graduation that cast them in the role of a telecommuter? Would this be a drawback or a plus as an aspect of potential employment? 12. Pollution and Technological Accidents: What is the potential tie between normal accidents and environmental pollution? 13. Norms and New Developments: How do we go about trying to establish rules for areas that represent unknowns in society at present? See Technique No. 16 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993, pp. 27–28. 14. Inequality: Review how technology may perpetuate social inequality between (1) rich and poor, (2) men and women, and (3) core and peripheral countries. 15. Privacy and Technology: How secure do your students feel when they are engaged in conversation? Consider the following varied settings: in the room, out on the sidewalk, in a mailed letter, in a telephone call, and using electronic mail. 16. Censorship and Technology: Are pornography and violence (however defined) more or less acceptable depending upon the media? Consider written materials such as books and magazines, public art in a museum or campus art gallery, television, motion pictures, and the Internet. Topics for Student Research: 1. Tiananmen Square: See “In Hong Kong, Tiananmen Square Memories Fade” Christian Science Monitor, 6/5/2001, Vol. 93, Issue 133, p. 7. 2. Anti-Nuclear Power Social Movement: See Gary L. Downey, “Ideology and the Clamshell Identity: Organizational Dilemmas in the Anti-Nuclear Power Movement,” Social Problems, 33(June 1986):357–373. See also the special issue of Society, (July–August 1981). 3. The American Jihad: See David E. Kaplan, Monica Ekman, Jonathan Elliston, Aamir Laatif, Michael Reynolds, Kit. R. Roane, “Made in the U.S.A,” U.S. News and World Report, 6/10/2002, Vol. 132, Issue 20, p. 16. 4. Disaster Research: See Dennis S. Mileti and Paul W. O'Brien, "Warning during Disasters: Normalizing Communicated Risk," Social Problems, 39(February 1992):40–57. 5. Disasters and Social Roles: See Gary A. Kreps and Susan Lonegren Bosworth, "Disaster Organizing, and Role Enactment: A Structural Approach," American Journal of Sociology, 99(September 1993):428–463. 6. Holy Wars: See Allan C. Brownfeld, “Religious Extremism and Holy War: Jews as Well as Muslims Must Put House in Order,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2002, Vol.21, Issue 2, p. 85. 7. Networking between Movements: See William K. Carroll and R. S. Ratner, “Master Framing and Cross-Movement Networking in Contemporary Social Movements,” Sociological Quarterly, 37(4)(1996):601–625. 8. Panics: See Alan Blum, "Panic and Fear: On the Phenomenology of Desperation," Sociological Quarterly, 37(4)(1996):673–698. 9. Participation in Social Movements: See Bert Klandermans and Dirk Oegema, “Potentials, Networks, Motivations, and Barriers: Steps toward Participation in Social Movements,” American Sociological Review, 52(August 1987):519–531. 10. Jihad: See Meenakshi Ganguly, “The Next Jihad?” Time Atlantic, 2/4/2002, Vol. 159, Issue 5, p. 48. 11. Secondary Analysis: See Ronald T. Wohlstein and Clark McPhail, "Judging the Presence and Extent of Collective Behaviour from Film Records," Social Psychology Quarterly, 42(1)(1979): 76–81. 12. Human Bombs: See Gal Luft, “The Palestinian H-Bomb” Foreign Affairs, Jul/Aug 2002, Vol. 81, Issue 4, p. 2. 13. Quebec Independence: See Barry Came, “The Battle for Quebec,” Maclean’s, 3/21/1994, Vol. 107, Issue 12, p. 12. 14. Canadian Nationalism: See Peter C. Newman, “Giving the Yes Vote its Flesh and Bones” Maclean’s, 10/5/1992, Vol. 105, Issue 40, p. 48. 15. Future Technology and Industry: See Alvin Jay Horman, "Designing Tomorrow," Society, 19(July–August 1982):72–74. 16. Information-Age Urban Centers: See Robert Atkinson, "The Rise of the Information-Age Metropolis," The Futurist, 30(July–August):41–46. 17. Privacy: See Michael Meyer, "Keeping the Cybercops Out of Cyberspace," Newsweek, 123(March 14, 1994):38. 18. Scientific Change: See Stephen Fuchs, "A Sociological Theory of Scientific Change," Social Forces, 71(4)(1993):933–953. 19. Sex on Computer Networks: See Barbara Kantrowitz, "Sex on the Info Highway," Newsweek, 123(March 14, 1994):62–63. 20. Social Change: A Classic Look: A community undergoes radical change in its basic economic institutions. See W. F. Cottrell, "Death by Dieselization: A Case Study in the Reaction to Technological Change," American Sociological Review, 16(June 1951):358–365. 21. Native Self-government: See John Geddes, “Northern Dawn,” Maclean’s 2/15/1999, Vol. 112, Issue 7, p. 26. 22. Surgery and Virtual Reality: See John C. Briggs, "The Promise of Virtual Reality," The Futurist, 30(September–October): 13–18. Additional Audiovisual Materials: Carbon Nation ( 2010, YouTube, 82:19m). This documentary film focuses on what people in communities around the world are doing to slow down or stop climate change. Children of Chernobyl (1993, 52m). This disturbing film reveals for the first time the true depth of the tragedy at Chernobyl through exclusive archival film and eyewitness accounts. It is a story of deception and cover-up on a grand scale. The true legacy of the disaster can be seen in the children's wards of hospitals. Total hair loss is one of the more visible signs. Sadly for the children, the number of cancer diagnoses is growing at an alarming rate. In some areas more than half the population has fallen ill. Climate of Change ( 2010, YouTube(trailer), 1:58m). This documentary film gives a glimpse into the strategies people are employing in an attempt to address global climate change, including the Global Seed Vault in Norway. Space Invaders: Strategies for Life in a Crowd (25m, colour, McGraw-Hill). In this program, the need for personal space is explored through the avoidance behaviours people employ to maintain a perceived distance from others, such as falling into a "middle-distance stare" in a crowded subway; the use of a proxy, like a jacket on a barstool, to reserve a place; the attitudes of drivers toward other cars on the road, which can lead to road rage; and the unconscious cooperation displayed in sharing public places. The phenomenon of crowd density, in which the rules of personal space are willingly suspended, is also examined. The Take: Occupy, Resist, and Produce (2004, YouTube, 87:00). This documentary by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis documents the movement of factory takeovers in Argentina . The Warriors of Quingang ( 2010, YouTube, 72:12m). This is a documentary is about villagers in a remote Chinese village who take on a large chemical company that is poisoning the local air and water. Additional Readings: Ayres, Jeffrey M. Defying Conventional Wisdom: Free Trade and the Rise of Popular Sector Politics in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. Bantjes, Rod. Social Movement in a Global Context. Toronto: CSPI/WP, 2007. In this book, Bantjes focuses on interpreting the resurgence in popular protest, emphasizing the global context. Bell, Wendell. Foundations of Future Studies: Human Science for a New Era. Vol. II: Values, Objectivity, and the Good Society. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1997. A look at the role of moral analysis as a necessary part of all human sciences. Brockington, Dan and Rosaleen Duffy. Capitalism and Conservation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Burdon, Roy. The Suffering Gene: Environmental Threats to Our Health. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003. An examination of the effects of a toxic environment on human genes. Carroll, William K (Ed.) Organizing Dissent: Contemporary Social Movements in Theory and Practice: Studies in the Politics of Counter-Hegemony. Second Revised Edition. Toronto: Garamond Press, 1997. Garner, Roberta. Contemporary Movements and Ideologies. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996. Provides a detailed introduction to social movements, with profiles of such efforts as feminism and environmentalism. Grace, Andre P. Lifelong Learning as Critical Action. Toronto: CSPI, 2013. An analysis of how adult education is being shaped by neoliberalism, globalization , and economic upheaval. Hessing, Melody, Rebecca Ragion, and Catriona Sandilands. The Elusive Land: Women and the Canadian Environment. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004. An interdisciplinary anthology that introduces readers to women’s experiences and perceptions of the natural environment. McNally, David. Another World is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Capitalism. Winnipeg MB : Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2006. ____________.Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance. Oakland CA : PM Press, 2010 Merton, Robert K. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1973. A collection of essays by the noted sociologist dealing with the normative structure and reward system of science. Murphy, Julien S. The Constructed Body: AIDS, Reproductive Technology, and Ethics. Albany: State University of New York, 1995. Looks at medical ethics confronted by new developments at the close of the 20th century, such as AIDS and new birth technologies. Raj, Rupert and Dan Irving (eds.). Trans Activism: A Reader and Practical Guide. Toronto: CPSI, 2013. Shalla, Vivian (ed.) Working in the Global Era: Canadian Perspectives,2nd ed. Toronto: CSPI, 2011. Contains readings on a wide range of topics including globalization and neoliberalism. Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2007. A look at the changing nature of contemporary life, with its impact on social behaviour and institutions. About Movies:__________________________________________ Manufacturing Landscapes ( Jennifer Baichwell, 2007) This documentary film describes the work of Edward Burtynsky, a photographer who chronicles the global social change that can be seen in the social impact of industrialization. Many of Burtysky’s images show mining operations gouging huge holes in the earth, chemical pollutants seeping into water sources, and massive factories spewing toxic wastes into the environment. This movie shows the impact of globalization on both the planet and humanity. It can be seen as a call to remedy global social and environmental problems. For Your Consideration 1. What are some ways the documentary illustrates the impact of globalization on the environment and society? 2. What are some actions that we as consumers could take to contribute to positive global social change? Instructor Manual for Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Richard T. Schaefer, Jana Grekul 9781260065800