End of year reflection

                As the year end many memories are flowing as if every moment was a single event. Even when there were moments in which what was learned seemed irrelevant or simple logic, it would later prove that it is actually present in everyday life. Many of the moments are the ones that can be treasured like the activities associated with the lessons and their importance. How and why crowds, teen’s, adults, and concepts in the social interest change.  The way that the different perspectives agree in the little details but disagree in the overall concept of the value of certain social components and dividers like mass media, health care, and other important and basic resources. This year a lot as been learned but the teaching technique was a balance of self taught and class review. As a student that believes that one can learn any information with determination and access to the internet I can conclude that the articles were a useful way to practice what was learned. Over all may this year be an example of how many other years can be done for this class for the exception of an increase of daily class involvement.  

Arab spring

The Arab spring is an example of how the pressed will innovate to ensure the needed change to regain their lost rights. This movement was a chain reaction that began in a small town were the corruption was to great which caused many more to rebel. This event can be explained by the conflict theory because the social difference over came many difficulties and even resembles the reasons for many other revolutions. The success of the movement can be seen as part of the relative deprivation theory but in reality it matches more with the resource mobilization theory because of how it was successful and the union of the different classes that felt the operation and used their resources to ensure the movements efficiently     

                The Arab spring was the result of a wide spread event in which a young seller burned himself because he could no longer withstand the corruption of the police. Based on the fact that the event was not reported many manifested with the discontent of not knowing why did they allow something so horrible to happen and in the end the authorities made a violent assault that was filled allowing many to see the corruption. The events inspired those with a higher social level to help them this lead to useful resources like intelligent people who had ideas of how to make the movement successful. The triumph of the movement lead to a similar revolution to happen in Egypt the largest difference was that not all had the access to the internet and cell phones. They were able to overcome the disadvantage as did all the other future movements.

                According to the conflict theory the oppression to a group by reducing the resources will lead to a revolution. This can be seen as each of these countries was depraved from freedom of speech and unfair treatment. This can be seen in the origins and the strengthening presses that helped the revolution to begin and to succeed. Over all the opening that allowed the Arab community to see how unfair they were treated was unmistakably the endurance that the dictators could not defeat the movement’s success. According to Marx the movement happened because those with recourse were not balanced with those that work.

The mobilization theory states that the success of a movement is directly dependent on the ability to move the resources that are people, smart people and other crucial components for a revolution. This is seen as the success was the communication between those that had a good concept of how to ensure the success of the moment and those needed to ensure. Even when Egypt did not have enough support from those that were able to have the needed knowledge were later helped by the original revolutionary movement.

The overall success proves that even when the connection disconnects us from others in real life it aids the connection to those who we would not expect help.  As the life’s were taken it is a reminder of how people are willing to sacrifice their lives to ensure freedom over the oppressing hand of corruption.  Even in the darkest moments there is light in the theories of who and why this movements start and end because they state we can all work for it. 

chapter 18 Social change and modernization

                The social actualization is the way many groups improve their interaction between individuals and moral standards. These improvements are made by social changes in the overall standards of the social life.  There are multiple theories of how this these changes begin.  In total there are four popular concepts of how and why society changes. Cyclical, evolutionary, equilibrium, and conflict are the four theories. Care less of why they change modernization has a process with two theories of how exactly it happens. In life there is always a consequence for every action for modernization it is the same some are beneficial others are in a grey area.

                                           

                Cyclical theory states that a social change is caused by a cycle of growth and de decay. This is a point of view of historians’, as it can be noticed throughout history. Pitirim Sorokin said that it was more of a fluctuation because of the different cultures: Ideational, sensational, and idealistic. He said it was because social desire to move to either culture causes change that is way it was a principle of imminent change. The evolutionary theory believes that this change is causes by the natural movement of society to become more complex.  The origins of this theory are from Charles Darwin, but the current theory believes there are exceptions of the step process social groups go through.

                In the equilibrium theory like the name it is theorized that the social equilibrium is like a living organism that tries to maintain a balance so that change is more of a process to restore the balance. The conflict theory is very different because it believes in the constant struggle between those that have and those that do. This means that there will always be a struggle that ends in conflict. Making social change to improve the unbalanced society.

                                                   

                The modernization theory consists in the concepts that industrialization is the first step to modernize the social structure of a country.  The world system theory is from the point of view of the economy. The core nation consists on the most power full countries and the peripheral nations are those that have a weaker economy with the middle nations known as semiperipheral. The consequences of modernization are increase in products and economical growth, yet the disadvantages are mostly alienation from physical interaction and a lack of human care.  

                 In the end modernization can bring many of the benefits we can’t even imagine living without. There are multiple reasons of way we change to obtain these benefits but in the end many values most be preserved to ensure less pointless conflicts arise when it is clear that it could be solved in one strike. The alienation from others is not what change should be used for instead it should be used to join people together to keep helping improve all the unbalances in this complicated society. Even from the economical changes it is important to remember that every aspect of society can improve over time as well as it can instead decline.               

chapter17 Collective behavior and social movements

                As society is the result of multiple individuals that interact together there is a social factor that consists on the union of a group of people that gather in a location, there are multiple of explanations for the gatherings. The reason of why this happens can depend on the different opinions and influences. The social movements that can be defined and explained by the gatherings and opinions, as well as classified.  There is a cycle to every successful movement.

                                    

                Crowd is the unions of individuals that do not necessary interact with each other like groups. Mobs and riots are groups of individuals that become violent. Panic is the response to a dangerous situation in a small area. Mass hysteria is the fear reaction spread over an area. Fashion and fad are trends that alter the opinion of the individuals in an area. Rumors and urban legends are stories to maintain a tradition and fear of doing immoral actions. Public opinion is the sum of the most common ideas. The contagion theory consists on crowds work because they attract people to give of their individualism. Emergent-norm theory instead teaches that crowds make norms and behavior pointless. Value-added theory says that the gathering creates new values to the participants.

                Reactionary movements are a response against certain movements that have started. Conservative is to maintain traditions or old norms and systems. Revisionary is to improve rules. Revolutionary is to change the system. The relative deprivation theory states that movements are caused because there is oppression and a neglecting to a certain group. Resource theory says that movements require moralization and money.

                                    

                There are four steps in the cycle of successful social movements. Agitation is the start when the purpose or inspiration for the change. Legitimation the process of turning the movement in to a respectable quest. Bureaucratization is the results of the movement were it becomes a law. After the movement is part of the laws more individuals can get us to the idea this result is known as institutionalization in which people no longer feel the change.

                In the social order it is complicated for equality this causes many to unite to maintain or change this order. The different types of unions as diverse as they are it are the result of the injustice and comfort of the world. Even as the way of change happens many react negatively or over react to the fear of everything being the way it discomforts them. The types of reactions are vast and have valid points yet the explanation can be confusing because some have holes to certain movements that started and ended decently without recourses or reason to occur. Forgetting this detail it is very common for a certain cycle to be followed which happens to every successful movement. Every movement that has success help advance society. That is why it is very important to allow change to improve the social system that governs multiple individuals who could have been oppressed.   

chapter 16 Population and urbanization

                The amount of individuals in a society is crucial to understand the future of a society the same as their location that determines how they separate and divide the social class. To start to understand the population is their change, which have been explained by Malthusian and demographic transition. Without controlling population the cities evolve. There is also an urban ecology and city life.

                To start measuring the population change the birth rate composed of the amount of live births divided by the total births times a thousand, this depends on the fertility and the fecundity. Death rate depends on the amount of deaths divided by the total population times a thousand that is made by infant mortality and the expectancy. Migration rate is made of the number of people that enter a country. When combined that gives the growth rate. Some countries have an exponential growth that doubles others stay the same in the worst case it decreases. Malthusian created a theory that dictates there will always be famine and a poor class because of the over population. The transition theory instead believes that for a society will improve its population growth after a 50 years with a good health care.

                                                  

                Many governments have notices that their population has a harmful change that has to be controlled. Many have an over population creating a need for family planning this can lead to a financial improvement caused by the lack of having to pay for more children than what they can handle. Other countries like Russia instead try to make people to have more children. As cities depend on location and number of individuals many cities  before industries were near bodies of water that could provide for the people. Now the new cities are around the preindustrial cities and use other methods to obtain water and no longer depend on the body of water.

                Urban ecology is the study of the interactions in urban areas that have divided the types of city structures. Concentric zone were the work is in the sector and in the outer layers there is the wealthier class. Sector model has work in the middle but the residential can varies. The multiple nuclei model is instead a mess with different areas and locations that do not always work. There are three theories of how to explain the social life. Urban anomie were people fight because of the small and compacted society, cosmopolitan were people can actually work together and subculture were people join based on common interest.

The population of an area is never constant of peaceful because of how the social structure based on the economy alters values and ideals. People need to reproduce to maintain the human race but the poor class is the one that ensures low prices which in term causes them to have more children to share the burden even when it only creates more poverty. We need change. Change only happens when people want and understand the change that is needed. 

chapter 15 Science and mass media

                Information is an important aspect of society because it gives insights of the advances and problems of society. One of the most rapid growing means to discover information of the world is science. The history of science that leads to multiple changes of social structures and relations is fundamental to understand the present science. With these new systems and during the renaissance the mass media grew in an exponential form. The only negative are the terrible side effects like the jealousy and inequality.

Science started in Greece with math, physics, astronomy, and biology/medicine. After the fall of Rome the Catholic Church and the economy silenced the scientific research.  the renaissances began a resurgence of science with  the scientific method and gained power after the 1800s with the industrialization. Modern science has multiple branches and specialty, norms are expected to be followed and has a scientific community to ensure norms were followed during experiment before being accepted. These norms are the judgments based on creating equality ,Organized skepticism: All scientist discoveries can be questioned and re-test, Communalism: the discovery belongs to the scientist society and will be shared in the scientist society, Disinterestedness: scientist must look for the truth not individual gain, Counter norms: if the research has a controversial or not well defined the research will be judged by mental state.

                                                

Mass media: method to communicate that reaches multiple individuals. Writing and paper: Sumerians with writing, Egyptians with papyrus. The printing press in Europe in 1400ad. The industrial age: the industrial age multiplied the speed of the printing press and soon after the news paper, radios, and movies. Computer and information society: the invention of the internet caused the creation of digital society that exchanges information and social economic activities. The mass media of the usa is Print media: news papers books and magazines, Audio: sound records, and radio, Visual media: movies, television, CD’s, and videocassettes, Online media: anything that is found. Convergence: areas with “media convergence” that is where to areas of media colliding and combines.

The problems of science are Fraud: researchers fake or tamper their results, Competition: the desire to obtain fame and money causes scientists to block their information that way no one can copy their experiment, This causes rushed research. Matthew effect: the credit of the experiment goes to the most famous member instead of the group. Conflictive views: different theories on reality are used in some experiments that alter the method and ideas. The perspectives of mass media are Functionalist: society runs smoother because individuals know what is happening, and Conflict: distract individuals with merchandise reducing the possibility that individuals notice and do something about the inequality. Which cause a knowledge-gap: caused by the economic difference this is known as digital divide. The mass media is known for children having access to violence, less contact with others, and a decrease in social capital. It also makes a spiral of silence: were a group silences those with different opinion and allows Gatekeepers to select only a part of the information to be.

                                 

Science and information are the reason for social change and improvement. The problems come from all directions because none of these areas are perfect. From the conflict that are neutralize create a greater revolution because eventually a very one is able to communicate. Even with the errors science overcomes they as well as those that depend on the mass media.

chapter 13 The economy and politics

                The economy and politics control the present and future of a society. Even though each has power over individuals they both depend in each other. This can be seen in the economic system and the legitimacy of power a government possesses. There are different economies and the American capitalism is a result of multiple mixtures between socialism and capitalism with a strong base of capitalism. Politics are not so different there is a variety of governments and the USA has an interesting system of democracy with multiple rules.

                The economic institution is the way that a society governs the production of goods. The factors of production are the resources needed to manufacture the products. There are three sectors of the economic system the primary is the raw materials, secondary manufactures products, and tertiary provides services. The other way to see it is preindustrial where the economy is based on the extraction of resources or agriculture. Industrial were the economy buys the product of preindustrial economies to create products.  Postindustrial is a society that sales information or are based on e companies. Power is the ability to control others. Authority is normally is where people follow because they followed their status before. Rational-legal authority is power vested by the government. Charismatic authority is power given to those based on how much a group agrees with the individual. Coercion is illegitimate power because the law does not allow it and people do not agree with them.

                                       

                Capitalism is where individuals control the production instead of the government. The why the economy is regulated by supply were people make more because they can charge more and demand were people buy more when the price decreases. The French call free-enterprise laissez-faire capitalism because the government barely gets involved. In socialism the government controls the production. Communism is normal is socialism that can lead to totalitarianism were power is exercised over citizen. The American economy is mostly capitalist were corporations are owned by few and they are protected in the USA and are multinational and have e-comers.

                There are three types of government democracy were the people have a say, monarchy that is where an individual has the power un less there is a constitution in which the people have a say and the monarch approves, and authoritarian in which were the state has the power as dictatorship, junta, or absolute monarchy. In the USA there is democracy but individual companies have power over certain candidates.

                In the current ways of government and economy it is easy to see that the problem is the free enterprise. There should be regulations on profit to ensure companies do not have the ability to control or over through governments. The fact that pure capitalist and socialist economies do not exist shows that a balance most be found between democracy and free enterprise that persuade individuals with the propaganda that they are able to give to the individuals who will do their bidding corrupting laws and more.