What is a social movement and how does one develop?

What is a social movement? You know when you’re watching the news (or seeing breaking news on social media) and hear the reporters talking about a recent march that was protesting against injustice (ex. Women’s March)? Well, they were talking about a social movement.

A social movement is a demonstration by large groups of people to either create or resist social change, fight for social justice, and/or to provide a political voice for an oppressed group. But social movements are much more complex than what you see on TV or on your mobile device. There are stages to it and there are different types of movements.

Noam Chomsky on capitalism, terrorism, and education

Noam Chomsky, who is often referred to as “the father of modern linguistics,” is a linguist, philosopher, historian, and social critic. Additionally, he is the author of over 100 books, writing about war, society, and politics.

Here are Chomsky’s 3 thoughts on society:

1) “It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions – you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism.”

Chomsky, in this quote, is criticizing capitalism. He believes that even though Western societies are always preaching about freedom and claiming that all their citizens are free, they are not. They are not free because they are controlled by the institutions that they work for.

Malcolm X on race, society, and the media

Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister who fought for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. He often preached for race pride and social justice and encouraged visible minorities to fight against racism and oppression.

Here are Malcolm X’s three thoughts on society and my interpretations of them:

James Baldwin’s 3 thoughts on society

James Baldwin, born in 1924, was an author and social critic. He was a gay black man living during a time when racism and homophobia were still very strong. He had many thoughts and criticisms about this time. Here are three of them:

1) “People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.”

“What goes around, comes back around,” is pretty much what Baldwin is trying to say here. If you continuously treat people horribly and as less than equals, one day, the bullied will rally together and fight back. And sometimes, they’ll do more than protest –they may try to overthrow you to take back their power.

The oppressed are not going to just sit still in a corner, and let the oppressor beat and drag them down forever. They will eventually find the strength to stand up and fight back.

Confusing Social Concepts: Feminism

(I originally posted this article on my other blog, The Bamboo Post, but I thought I should post it here too because it is a sociological topic.)

Admit or not, feminists have a bad rep. They tend to be seen as crazy women who want to kill masculinity and will scream and bark false facts at all those who oppose them or deny their equal rights. But this is simply not true. Not all feminists are loud, scary, and evil, and I’m willing to bet that there are more nice feminists than there are mean ones.

However, this post isn’t about the visuals of feminists. Rather, it is about what feminism is and what most feminists fight for because it gets misconstrued quite a bit by the media.

So let’s travel back into history and look at the 3 waves of feminism.

Confusing Social Concepts: White Privilege

(I originally posted this article on my other blog, The Bamboo Post, but I thought I should post it here too because it is a sociological topic.)

Society is such a complex thing. There are so many factors that go into social issues, and many times these factors are not discussed. Journalists and social commentators tend to throw terms (concepts) around to try to explain issues, but often times, viewers don’t know what the terms mean. As well, some of these same people don’t explore the terms deeply, while some misconstrue the terms so that it will fit their agenda.

So for today, I am going to discuss White Privilege, a term that (it would seem) not many people understand, and is misconstrued a lot.

Stereotypes and career expectations in minority cultures

So I was cruising around YouTube yesterday and came across this awesome skit from Wong Fu Productions that illustrates racial stereotypes in society. The skit, "Do you love your job? - Job Expectations," follows two high school teens -- one Asian and the other African-American -- as they battle their true selves in an attempt to squeeze into their racial typecast. Obviously, -- SPOILER ALERT -- it didn't work.

Why do people still think homosexuality is learned?

I was skimming through The Economist the other day and came across this article about gay individuals in China and the day to day obstacles that they have to go through. The article shared the story of one man who struggled to come out to his parents and instead of being true to himself and being him, he underwent gay conversion therapy to try to fix himself for the sake of his relationship with his mom and dad.

And guess what? As a result, he got anxiety issues, insomnia, weight and hair loss, and minus $1,700 from his savings account. But the thing that he went in to "fix" still remains. He is still a gay individual. So this brings me to my question: if homosexuality is a learned behavior, then why doesn't gay conversion therapy work, like ever?

Truth and Reconciliation Story Illustrates Colonization of the Mind

As I was reading through news articles a few days ago for one of my posts, I came across this story about an Aboriginal man who, as a kid, kept aggressively scrubbing his skin while taking baths. His mom caught him one day and asked why he was scrubbing so hard. His answer: "I don't want to be an Indian. I want to be white." I'm sure this narrative has recycled itself thousands of times over, especially when social institutions are constantly ramming in the myth that being white is better than being an ethnic minority.

On top of that, these social institutions want minorities to adopt the white culture and disown their family's culture and traditions. It does this by painting ugly images of minority cultures and spreads this propaganda via education, media, religion etc. This is what colonization of the mind looks like.

Stories from Truth and Reconciliation hearings to illustrate the violence of residential schools

(CBC)

It is universally known that residential schools are one of the main reasons why First Nations people are going through tough times at the moment. The church-run, Eurocentric schools harmed more than just the 150,000 plus kids who were abducted and forced to attend -- it also harmed their parents and family members. Still, to today, there are residual effects from that dark period, which ended in 1996 when the last residential school closed down in Regina, Saskatchewan.

But even with these facts, there are still so many people who believe that the First Nations inflicted that suffering on themselves and don't deserve to be compensated by the government and apologized to.

So to attempt to illustrate the pain and suffering that the First Nations went through, and are still going through, here are some stories that were shared at the Truth and Reconciliation hearings.

Nick Cannon whiteface is not racist

(Nick Cannon/Instagram)

Earlier this week, comedian and musician Nick Cannon used whiteface to promote his new album, White People Party Music, and while there were many who did not find Cannon's marketing strategy racist, there were still some who did. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain why whiteface is not racist or discriminatory, and why it is not comparable to blackface.

Thoughts on Western Canada High School's team name change

(Western Canada High School's Redmen logo)

10 years ago, I was a senior at one of Calgary's prestigious high schools, Western Canada High. I witnessed the good and the bad, and there is one thing that I can tell you about the school: Western is the whitest school in Calgary.

So for the current students of this school (the ones who are standing up and fighting to preserve the Redman logo and name that is) to say that their brand isn't offensive doesn't mean anything because they themselves have never felt true racial oppression and discrimination, and the stigma of being other (or not white). And if there are students who are non-white involved in this battle (which there probably is), A) they don't care and/or know about the history and legacy of the harm that First Nations have been through, and/or B) they don't have knowledge of institutional racism in Canada.

Institutional racism, not hip-hop, is why many blacks are held back

Are many black Americans living in bad situations because they listen to hip-hop and watch basketball? Or is it because of institutional racism that is holding them back? Well, Bill O'Reilly seems to think it is because of the former.

Reflections on Du Bois' Double Consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of double consciousness talks about the sense of two-ness that blacks from his day experienced. The concept goes:

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

But in contemporary times, more oppressed groups have been revealed in society, where some people are more than one type of minority. So with this knowledge, shouldn't Du Bois' double consciousness extend to the other feelings of oppression as well?

Reflections on Karl Marx's Concept of Alienation

(Karl Marx)

In the theory of alienation, Karl Marx believed that the working class was losing their sense of self because they had to become robots for capitalists; they are forced to manufacture products for a wage... a wage which is used to buy the very products that they produce at their job. He believed that the jobs were not for self-gratification or need, but rather for money and for employers, and thus creates an environment which is unnatural.

Reflections on W.E.B Du Bois' thoughts on materialism

W.E.B Du Bois believed that Americans (or people from Capitalist societies) were too obsessed with money and its ability to get material things. He saw more to life than economic and material success and wanted people (mainly the black community because they hadn't fallen into this trap yet) to realize this.

I feel this same way, however, the majority of my community (the Asian community) has already fallen ill with this disease and I want them (well, all people) to revert back to seeing life as a lesson about self-knowledge and growth, rather than zeroes in the bank account and possession of fancy things.

Division of Labour is the main component of social inequality

(J.D. Pooley / Getty Images)

Did you know that the eighty-five richest people in the world have a net worth that equals the net worth of halfof Earth's population's? It's true. Inequality exists in every society, and you can see it clearly when you look at the Walmarts in America. The reason why it is so vivid in this company is because you can see (via news reports and studies) that the owners make so much more than the store employees, and it is because of the division of labour; CEOs use this aspect of society to exploit the working class.

What is the Sociology of Crime and Deviance?

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The sociology of crime and deviance is the examination of what society views as criminal and deviant behaviours and why. 

When sociologists study deviance, they look at people or groups who violate social norms, such as drug addicts, murderers, child molesters, Satanists, Nazis, etc, and then observe to see why society deems these people/groups as deviants. Sociologists also try to figure out how these individuals/groups became full-fledged deviants.

As well, some sociologists also consider people with conditions such as mental illness, disabilities, obesity, etc, as deviants. But not because of the person's personal self, but rather because of how society looks at and treats them; they are not acceptable in the eyes of their fellow humans.

What is the Sociology of Sexuality and Gender?

The sociology of gender is the study of gender in society. It examines the effects of socialization and the construction of each.

According to social scientists, sex and gender are two different things. A person's sex defines what they are biologically. Are you a girl or a boy? Male or female? Sex answers these questions. 

Gender, however, is the different social behaviors between males and females and how groups of power have exploited people based on it. I am a man, therefore I will go out and hunt, and protect the family. You are a woman, therefore you will stay back, and gather fruits and take care of the children. Basically, it looks at the different gender roles that society has created.

An illustration of socialization

Young and Dangerous

Here is a story to illustrate last week's concept of socialization.

I am an owner of a start-up and every month I have to go to the bank to deposit my earnings, which happens to be mostly cash. But this one time (maybe my fifth or sixth time going to that back), the teller, who was a middle aged white lady, was very suspicious with me and kept asking me personal questions and very specific questions about my business, and even though I cheerfully answered them, she made me feel very uncomfortable because I knew in the back of my mind that she was only hassling me because I was young, didn't dress like a businessman and Asian (this feeling is referred to as double consciousness, but we will explore this further later on).