Pre-Modernity, Modernity and Post-Modernity

Sociology 110A

Human Societies

Professor Dalton Conley

Yale University

What Does it Mean to Be Premodern versus Modern?

The views of two classic social thinkers. . .

(we’ll save Marx and Durkheim for another day)

ala Simmel:

• Very embedded social ties – everyone knows everyone

in my tribe

• Affiliations are concentric:– Everyone in my family

lives in the same village

– Everyone in my region has the same religion

• Less embedded social ties– Anonymity is possible in

the city

• Affiliations are overlapping– I am the unique

intersection of my family, religion, nationality, etc.

– The birth of the individual

Me

Family

Village

Kingdom

ReligionPremodern Society: Concentric, Ascriptive Affiliations

Me, Myself and I

Family of 4

Hungarian

Ethnicity

U.S.... Citizen

Yale Student

Muslim

AMA

Modern Society: Overlapping, Voluntary Affiliations

ala Weber

• Premodern Societies:– The basis of legitimacy

is charismatic or traditional authority

• Modern Societies:– The basis of legitimacy

is legal-rational authority

Source: Stephan 1998; Lectures, Western Washington University

The Coming of Modernity:Protestant Reformation

Before: Church’s Prohibition of Uneven Exchange -- Making Money from Money No uneven exchange; No usury (interest)

M1 I M2Ix Iy Ix M Iy

Morally Acceptable Morally Unacceptable

After: Calvinism, predestination; insecurity regarding not being one of the chosen; proving it to oneself through wealth accumulation, a sign from God.

Source: Stephan 1998; Lectures, Western Washington University

Source: Stephan 1998; Lectures, Western Washington University

ala White

• Premodern Literature– Endings are fixed

• one story line

– Means are flexible:• magic

• miracle

• Modern Narrative– Means are fixed

• logic

• scientific rules

• cause - effect

– Ends are flexible• uncertainty re: future

• rise of statistics

• stochastic world view– probabilistic thinking

Postmodernity: Social Condition or Academic Scam?

Ala Lash and Urry:

• Narrative of Progress Breaks Down• Green Movement

• Multiculturalism (Canon is seen as only one view)

• Ideological Battles are finished (i.e. Cold War)

• History is over

• Pastiche Replaces Narrative• Rap / Sampling

• Retro Fashion

• California Cuisine

Postmodernity (Cont’d)

• Narrative of Progress Breaks Down• Green Movement• Multiculturalism (Canon is seen as only one view)• Grand Ideological Battles are finished (i.e. Cold War)• History is Over

• Pastiche Replaces Narrative• Rap / Sampling• Retro Fashion • California Cuisine

Hungarian

Ethnicity

U.S.... Citizen

Yale Student

AMA

Postmodern Society: Paradoxical, De-centered Affiliations; No Self Step Family

French Citizen

Muslim

Jewish

Biological Family

Collective Behavior and Social Movements

Human Societies

Sociology 110A

Yale University

Dalton Conley, Instructor

What is collective action?• Takes place in a group

– crowd or mass

• Is unusual -- differs from social norms of the situation – self-flagellation would qualify here, but not in Iran– Speaking in tongues would qualify in a Lutheran church, but

not in a Pentecostal one

• Is not institutionalized – Cult does not qualify

Crowd versus Mass

• Crowd– Physical Proximity

– Face-to-Face Interaction

– Soc 110a Crowd?• Non-ritualized behavior

• Scream “fire”

• Riot

• Mass– Collective Identity

– Spread Out

– Attend to a shared symbol / object

– Soc 110a Mass?• Letter writing campaign

• Email gossip network

Source: Lofland (1981)

Mood:Setting:

Positive Negative

Crowd

Charging the Field

Stampede for Dollars

Mass Exodus (Fire!)

Race Riot

Mass

Bell Bottoms Fad

Stock Market Bull Run

Red M & M s Scare

Cross Burnings

Collective Action Theory I: Convergence

• When does group behavior precipitate?– Certain crowd contexts attract certain types of people

• Political Rally Against Vietnam

• Crowd that greets Michael Jackon

• Critique:– Group reduces to the sum of its parts

• If only rioters went to English soccer games, why is there not always a melee?

• Mood changes?

Collective Action Theory II: Contagion

•Collective behavior like viral epidemic–Each person imitates the behavior of the person next to them (crowd) or in their reference group (mass)

•Sense of anonymity–Feeling of power otherwise absent

–Rushing a Police Barricade

•Groups become suggestible–Prone to “hypnotic” states induced by charismatic leaders

Contagion Theory: Critique

• Analogy to biology– (~1900, Gustave Le Bon)

• Treats individuals as mindless, choiceless

• Diffusion of responsibility (Modern Alternative ala Simmel)– Can justify our actions with reference to others– Can blame group force over us– Can interpret events in own favor (only helped)

Collective Action Theory III: Emergent-Norms

• The effect of “leaders”– The norms of a few become the norms of the

many• Gossip

• Panic

– Situationally dependent (Cue sensitive)• One or two soldiers running backwards

– Situation gets defined as slaughter, defeat, panic

What is a Social Movement?

• Organized collective behavior

• Purposeful collective behavior

• May originate as collective behavior that become institutionalized

• Is not ritualized

Extent:Target:

Limited Change Radical Rebirth

Specific Groups

Alternative

(MADD)

Redemptive

(Betty Ford Clinic)

Society

Reformative

(Hippies)

Revolutionary

(Kmer Rouge)

Social Movement Typology

Social Movement Life Stages• Emergence (consciousness about a problem)

– Discontent • New “Cancer” among Gay Men

• Coalescence (social action and resource mobilization)– Rallying behind charismatic leaders

• March on Washington

• Bureaucratization (routinization)– Becomes established political force

• GMHC

• Hippies? Hell’s Angels?

Social Movement Decline

• Exhaustion of resources– Money, energy, enthusiasm

– United Way

– Coalition for the homeless

• Internal Conflict– Different goals

– Italian Communist party

– Different personalities– Nation of Islam

Social Movement Decline

• Selling Out – Leaders get co-opted– Repression

• Crushed by forces of the status quo– Chinese student movement (Tianneman Square Massacre)

• Success– Women’s suffrage movement

– Legalized abortion movement?

– Vietnam?

• Diffuse Opposition– Americans with Disabilities Act