POLS 251 Lecture Notes - Lunch Counter
3 Mar 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Social networks are effective at increasing participation by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. Click like on social media is social apathy. In other words, facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. Gladwell also reminds us to consider the structure of various networks and the apparent strengths that structure lends to the organization of groups (and inevitably shapes tactics and strategies as well) Traditional activism and structure: took many years to make progress, coordinating strategies, social networks offer different choices with strategies, tactics and coordination. February 15 2013: the civil rights movement was high risk and crucial strategic, centralized organizational structures, formalized operating procedures, well organized and demarcated divisions of labour. Facebook and the like are tools for building networks, which are the opposite, in structure and character of hierarchies.
