Figure 2: Winning the Public Three Ways (Created by Tom Atlee)

↑

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 8 из 11Следующая ⇒

STEADY STATE BUILD-UP OF STRESS IN THE SYSTEM

THE EIGHT STAGES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 83

demands and engaged in sub-movements of the same issue or on other impor­ tant issues; and

• promoting a paradigm shift, focusing on changing underlying beliefs and applying a similar analysis and strategic plan to other sub-movements on the same issue or to other important issues.

Pitfalls

The chief pitfalls of Stage Eight are:

• thinking that the movement is over without making sure that the victory is fully implemented or protected against backlash and counterattack; and

• allowing movement victories to be claimed by the powerholders as theirs and not the movements.

Crisis

Many activists and organizations move on to work on other issues or drop out for a rest. However, this stage continues until all of the movement’s demands are fully implemented and the danger of backlash is over.

Winning the Public Three Times

Social movements need to win the public three times during the process of success, not just once (see Figure 2). First, the public needs to become aware that

84 DOING DEMOCRACY: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements

the social problem exists. Public awareness rises rapidly following the trigger event and throughout Stage Four. The public then needs to be convinced that the current powerholder policies and programs are undesirable and need to change. This happens primarily in Stage Six, majority public opinion.

But this is not enough for the movement to succeed in achieving its goal. This is another point in the social movement process where many activists become discouraged because they thought that having a majority of the public oppose current powerholder. policies should be enough to convince the power- holders to change. It is at this point that the powerholders switch to a scare strategy in which they proclaim that life would be intolerable without the present policies in place.

For social movements to achieve social change on their issue, the public needs to be won over a third time: they need to believe that there is an acceptable solution or alternative to current policies and programs. This primarily occurs in the second half of Stage Six and in Stage Seven. For example, it was not enough for the public to become aware of the problem of nuclear power and then oppose it. At that point the powerholders agreed that nuclear power had some major faults, but without it, they claimed, the United States would have major electrical blackouts, the economy and jobs would collapse, and the country would lose its

Познавательные статьи:



Где возникла философия и почему?

Относительная высота сжатой зоны бетона

Сущность проекции Гаусса-Крюгера и использование ее в геодезии

Тарифы на перевозку пассажиров