1. Action for Change 2: Social
Movements
• Piven asks if ‘power from below’ can change the
world?
• Power is one’s ability to change the opinion of
another, despite meeting resistance.
• A social movement is a method of attempt to gain
power from the ‘ruling class’.
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2. • The March Australia marches that took place across
Australia in response to a number of government policies
are an example of what Piven calls “power from below”
(p.1)
• This is an example of a New Social Movement (NSM) as it
involves:
– people who are concerned with the structural conditions
of society
– People identifying with each other as a result of their
opinions about an issue.
• Bartholomew and Mayer (1992) emphasise Melucci’s idea
that a NSM consists of people who overcome diversity and
join together to work in cooperation to gain power and bring
about change based on sharing strong opinions.
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3. Let’s look at the March Australia marches in
terms of some of Piven’s five points in order to
examine the level of success.
1. The rules must be broken in order to see any
change.
2. The ruling class are the people who set the
social norms and the rest of society is
conditioned to believe that this is normal.
3. In order for people to gain power over the
ruling class, they must be organised and work
in coordination with each other.
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4. Did these marches break the rule?
Did these marches question so called social ‘norms’ set
by the government (ruling class)?
Did these marches demonstrate how people worked in
an organised and coordinated manner in order for the
marches to have the most impact?
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5. Through examination of
Piven’s five points, these
marches were effective in
that they raised awareness,
questioned the ruling class
and showed how people
could overcome diversity to
work in coordination to see
change and gain power.
However, it is too early to
know if any major effect has
taken place on government
policies.
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6. Citizenship and Inequality 2:
Migration
• One of the main issues associated with the
acceptance of refugees and immigrants into
Australia is fear.
• Through examination of these fears it can be
learnt how warranted these fears are and who is
allowing or encouraging the unjustified fears to
continue circulating.
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7. Suter (2001) and Portes (2013) state that the
most commonly held fears in relation to
refugees and immigrants are:
– Ability to sustain the environment and economy
– Moral panic
– Less employment opportunity
– Paying for them to receive benefits
– Lower wages
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8. • Portes argues that people should fear factors such as
technological change which have a more significant
impact on wages and employment opportunities (2013).
• According to Portes, immigrants have little to no impact
on employment opportunities (2013).
• Visas often require people to be working or studying and
as a result, contributing to society. Also, a person who is
working must pay taxes.
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9. Australians feel that they are well informed as a
result of the media’s portrayal of events; however,
this is part of the ‘creation of commonsense’ that
comes with power. The media has the power to
access almost all Australians and when stories
break in relation to refugees, it is often portrayed
in a particular way.
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10. Stories often focus on violence and other negative
aspects, which encourage certain connotations
and as a result, a particular ‘commonsense’ about
refugees.
Suter and Portes have both outlined how these
fears are unfounded and the result of unfair
portrayal of events.
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11. Theories of Power
Three main theories of power:
• Marxist
• Elitist
• Pluralist
The Murdoch ‘empire’ is in control of the majority of
mainstream news media sources and provides a good example
of Weber’s Elitist approach to the understanding of power, as
well as aspects of Marxism.
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12. • Gramsci’s idea of power as the
‘creation of commonsense’ suggests
that ‘commonsense’ is “the beliefs and
opinions supposedly shared by the
mass of the population,” (Crehan, p. 4,
2011).
• This is shown through the Australian
media’s coverage of the 2013
government election between Tony
Abbott and Kevin Rudd. With
headlines reading ‘Australia Needs
Tony’ and a photo of Kevin Rudd with
the headline ‘Kick This Mob Out’, the
Murdoch ‘empire’ evidently did
display bias throughout the campaign
period.
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13. • The Murdoch ‘empire’ is in control of a
large number of mainstream media outlets
including newspapers and news programs,
on a local, national and international scale.
• A corporation with such significant
influence, working in collusion with the
Abbott government during the election is a
clear example of Elitist power theory.
• It is unfair to Australians that the media
continually use propaganda to dictate how
they perceive or react to events.
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14. Aspects of Marxism are also apparent in this example:
– Allen points out that the commodification of news has lead to
the desire to make a profit out of delivering news, as opposed
to what should be the reason-delivering accurate, balanced
information from an objective perspective (2011).
– . This is problematic as it influences peoples’ opinions,
provides people with incorrect, biased information and assists
the state.
– This ties in with the points discussed previously about
emphasising the flaws of one government, and the strengths
of another.
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15. Society should be able to
receive balanced and
accurate information from
all sources of news media.
Through examination of the
points above in terms of the
media’s bias throughout the
2013 election, it is clear that
this is not the case in the
majority of Australian media.
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16. References
Allen, K 2011, 'A for profit society', in Marx and the alternative to capitalism,
Pluto Press, London, pp. 19-34.
Bartholomew, A. & Mayer, M. (1992). Nomads of the present: Melucci’s
contribution to ‘new social movement’ theory. Theory Culture Society, 9.
pp. 141-159.
Crehan, K. (2011). Gramsci's concept of common sense: a useful concept for
anthropologists?, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 16:2, 273-287, DOI:
10.1080/1354571X.2011.542987
Nash, K. 2010, 'Changing definitions of politics and power', in Contemporary
political sociology: globalization, politics, and power, 2nd edn, Wiley-
Blackwell, Chichester, UK, pp. 1-41.
Piven, F. (2008). Can power from below change the world? American
Sociological Review, 73(1). pp. 1-12.
Portes, J. 2013. An exercise in scapegoating. London Review of Books, 35(12).
p. 7-9.
Suter, K. (2001). Australia and asylum seekers. Contemporary Review,
1630(279). pp. 278-283
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17. Picture References
The Tempest. http://www.solanotempest.net/editorial/2012/04/25/editorial-
protesting-how-effective-is-it-80554/. Accessed on May 24 2014.
Clip Art Best. http://www.clipartbest.com/pictures-of-cartoon-money. Accessed
on May 24 2014.
Macro Business. http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/09/murdoch-press-
steps-up-anti-labor-bias/. Accessed on May 24 2014.
The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/election-2013-the-role-of-the-
media-17543. Accessed on May 24 2014.
Clip Art Best. http://www.clipartbest.com/picture-of-a-scale-with-balances.
Accessed on May 24 2014.
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Editor's Notes
Piven asks the question as to whether power from below can actually change the world, meaning can people who are not in the ruling, upper class, gain power. She views power in the same way as Weber, as the ability to change the opinion of an individual or group despite meeting resistance (2008). Social movements are created by people in an attempt to gain power or see a change in opinion or actions of the ruling class.
The March Australia marches that took place across Australia in response to a number of government policies are an example of what Piven calls “power from below” (p.1) fighting the ruling class, or government in this case. This is an example of a New Social Movement (NSM) as it is an example of people who are concerned with the structural conditions of society and identifying with each other as a result of their opinions about an issue. This is one of the aspects of NSM that was significantly explored by Melucci. Bartholomew and Mayer (1992) emphasise his idea that a NSM consists of people who do not know each other, but have the same strong feelings about an issue which allows them to overcome diversity and join together to work in cooperation to gain power and bring about change.
To examine whether or not the March Australia marches were an effective social movement, the case study needs to be looked at through the three most appropriate of Piven’s five points. The first point claims that the rules must be broken in order to see any change. Secondly, Piven points out that the ruling class are the people who set the social norms and the rest of society is conditioned to believe that this is normal and just ‘the ways things are’ which discourages questioning of these norms. Piven’s third point states that in order for people to gain power over the ruling class, they must be organised and work in coordination with each other for their actions to have the most impact.
The March Australia marches did break the rules as the first point states. The marches themselves did not break rules, however, the participants who disobeyed police orders and were as a result arrested did break rules in order to have their opinions heard. Some policies probably seem like the norm is society due to their ongoing status, however, these demonstrations show that people are questioning the ‘rules’ set in place in a way. The third point is the most significant to the March Australia example as these demonstrations relied on participants being organised and working in coordination. If it had not been for people being aware of the time and place of the marches, tens of thousands of people across Australia would not have attended and they would certainly not have received the same amount of attention which would have made them much less effective.
Through examination of Piven’s five points, these marches were effective in that they raised awareness, questioned the ruling class and showed how people could overcome diversity to work in coordination to see change and gain power. However, it is too early to know if any major effect has taken place on government policies.
The debate surrounding refugees in Australia is heated and ongoing. The main issues are based on the fear associated with Australia accepting an increased number of refugees. Many of these fears are encouraged by the media through emphasis on particular statistics and aspects, while lack of information is given on different points which could help create a more balanced opinion of the issue. This highlights how much of society is uneducated or too uninformed to make an accurate judgement about what is really taking place when it comes to refugees in Australia. Through examination of common fears, it can be learnt how warranted these fears are and who is allowing or encouraging the unjustified fears to continue circulating.
Suter points out the main fears held by Australians are those of invasion, the ability to sustain the environment and economy with a growing population, and moral panic (2001). These are large-scale fears; however, Portes argues that these same fears are seen on a smaller scale as well. These include refugees taking Australians’ jobs, receiving benefits, and a decrease in wages as a result of refugees being willing to work for less pay (2013). Both argue that these fears are not justified. As Suter states, “financial interests have argued that Australia needs more migrants to boost economic growth” (p. 279) which completely opposes the fear in relation to economic sustainability.
Portes explains that “immigration has little or no impact on employment even in the short term” (p. 1), and if people fear an increased number of refugees based on this, there should be more fear placed on factors such as technological change which have a larger impact. He also states that there are not a set number of jobs, so it is not true that immigrants gaining employment in Australia means that there are fewer jobs available. The issue of immigrants receiving benefits should not exist if they are employed, as they too are paying taxes. Visas also require them to be either working or studying and as a result, contributing to society. The fear of wages being driven down is only due to immigrants being willing to do low-skilled work, and their desire to work for their own self-esteem.
Australians feel that they are well informed as a result of the media’s portrayal of events; however, this is part of the ‘creation of commonsense’ that comes with power. The media has the power to access almost all Australians and when stories break in relation to refugees, it is often portrayed in a particular way.
Stories often focus on violence and other negative aspects, which encourage certain connotations and as a result, a particular ‘commonsense’ about refugees. Suter and Portes have both outlined how these fears are unfounded and the result of unfair portrayal of events by the media and government through such methods as emphasising immigration statistics and drawing less attention to emigration numbers.
There are three main approaches to the understanding of power-Marxist, and Elistist and Pluralist which both come under Weber’s theory. The Australian media is dominated by the Murdoch ‘empire’ and holds a significant amount of power. Elitist power is most evident in this case, and is “concerned with the question of how and why it is that a minority must always rule over a majority” (Nash, p. 11, 2010). The media is controlled by a minority who have the ability to portray news and events in a way that creates a ‘commonsense’.
Gramsci’s idea of power as the ‘creation of commonsense’ suggests that ‘commonsense’ is “the beliefs and opinions supposedly shared by the mass of the population,” (Crehan, p. 4, 2011). Although Gramsci believed in the Marxist theory of power, this idea is relevant in this case. This is shown through the Australian media’s coverage of the 2013 government election between Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd. With headlines reading ‘Australia Needs Tony’ and a photo of Kevin Rudd with the headline ‘Kick This Mob Out’, the Murdoch ‘empire’ evidently did display bias throughout the campaign period. Tony Abbott won the election, so it seems apparent that the media had at least some impact by drawing attention to the Rudd government’s flaws and the strengths of the Abbott government’s campaign.
The Murdoch ‘empire’ is in control of a large number of mainstream media outlets including newspapers and news programs, on a local, national and international scale. A corporation with such significant influence, working in collusion with the Abbott government during the election is a clear example of Elitist power theory. It is unfair to Australians that the media continually use propaganda to dictate how they perceive or react to events.
However, while it seems that Weber’s approach to power is most apparent in this example, there are also aspects of Marxism that are evident. Allen points out that the commodification of news has lead to the desire to make a profit out of delivering news, as opposed to what should be the reason-delivering accurate, balanced information from an objective perspective (2011). This is problematic as it influences peoples’ opinions, provides people with incorrect, biased information and assists the state. This ties in with the points discussed previously about emphasising the flaws of one government, and the strengths of another. This has been highlighted through the Abbott government’s ignorance towards environmental issues, and the media’s lack of information about the budget cuts that occurred after the Abbott government won the election.
Society should be able to receive balanced and accurate information from all sources of news media. Through examination of the points above in terms of the media’s bias throughout the 2013 election, it is clear that this is not the case in the majority of Australian media.
