Casey French
This week, we talked about social change and the attempt of constructing a universal list of human rights that applies to all humans. In the case of social change, we discussed collective behavior and resource mobilization. Collective behavior is based on emotions and often sporadic and unorganized. Resource mobilization is a devised agenda to carry out protests effectively. In class, I revisited Anonymous and how this "floating" organization might be categorized. On one hand, they base their efforts in response to a particular event. Their actions are more cause and effect, acting on collective behavior. I feel that their initial reaction is an emotional outburst in the primary stages, but Anonymous is unique. Through technology, I feel that their strategy is also resource mobilization with a planned action within the core of their activism. Whether they want to make one person or group miserable or mobilize the masses, the amount of change is varied. I like the idea of organizations like Anonymous and Green Peace for cleverly disassociating themselves from governments. Their entity is entirely of their own creation with members of different nationalities, but with no affiliation with any nationalities. It's the individual that they focus on, focusing on their cause and how to protect the environment collectively.
Recently, there has been many efforts to protest arctic drilling in Russia by Greenpeace activists. This is a humorous attempt at getting their point across. I attached the article underneath the video for those who want to read more!
I agree with you, social movements like Anonymous and Green Peace, are really cool because of their disassociation from government, they truly have their own identity. Both of these floating organizations use radical social movement techniques, but they are definitely organized and use strategy. I feel like these kinds of floating organizations keep the world powers in check. Without them, many people would be oblivious to the wrong doings of world leaders and countries around the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both you and Dalton. Personally, I don't keep up with the news or dig into things that aren't readily available. That's why it was so amazing for me to hear about Anonymous and see that there are people out there that have the resources and take the time to learn what is going on around them and try to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteYo Casey! I happen to agree with you on the topic of Anonymous both mobilizing resources and reacting to events, however, I feel that it comes down to how the action is spread. I think that ddosing site right after reading a post is a reaction and could define anonymous that way. If the action comes after careful posting and use of secret servers, they it is resource mobalization. I feel that a good question is how much of each side are they using? Someone should study this!
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