New Research :
FIELD NOTES SUMMARY: (fall 2011)
Introduction
In populist movements such as Occupy Wall Street, attempts to achieve consensus are challenged by chaos inherent in forming elements that produce a social movement’s passionate and collective behavior. The effects of this chaos can be amplified with the use of social media such as Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook just as these mediums are used for amplification of the message. A wide variety of sociological phenomena impact the achievement potential for consensus building that the movement aims for.
Social Movement theories acknowledge that shared language, or other type of codified or symbolic communication, exists to build group solidarity. In this contemporary time of digitized information, the meme “hashtag” (#) used on Twitter has had significant influence in the emergence and contagion on the #OccupyWallStreet Movement. With the spread of the # meme connected to a social movement, i.e. #occupy, actually transformed itself while replicating to create new meanings at local levels and horizontally through common interest, for example, #OccupyDenver and #OccupywithArt.
Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus, field and species of capital offer some insight in which to examine these chaotic elements being witnessed in the beginning stages of the Occupy Movement’s progression.
Bourdieu might refer to this as new fields emerging; sub-groups of online/offline issue activists affiliate but are not connected to the online field. The online habitus is a different experience and some conflict in the movement and with the sub-group collective between offline affinity.
For instance, the early “PR team” for Occupy Denver spent a great deal of time online promoting and organizing media, tech, events, announcements, etc. to the mainstream world and other occupations. While the “24/7 crew” felt slighted by the PR team and claims the PR team has gone rogue against the “real occupiers". This split was created and fueled by a difference in philosophy regarding tactics and daily code of conduct expectations for individuals involved in forming collective body named Occupy Denver. Much of the PR team had been 24/7 Occupiers until lines of non-violence were crossed that were not in line with the interestes of PR team. Lines of communication continued to break-down in this process, while new were ones were built and attemtped. Use of symbolic and horizontal violence was a primary variable early on. Both groups had vested interest in the idea of Occupy Denver and how that idea evolves and gets communicated to others. Basically, an internal fight for "naming rights". This scenario is played out at most occupations as sub-groups of poeple come together to find their way into a larger collective.
Sub-groups have spontaneously produced through meme replication and transformation. Coalitions are developing and being chosen. The #occupy meme continues to grow and spread through new groups now representing and communicating through this code of #occupy. This emerging codified language is being used in many ways and regenerated to serve many purposes for each group as convergence for a single purpose: Global Revolution. #Occupy jokes have become an insider language as well as outside groups attempting to capitalize or co-opt the popularity of the meme #Occupy for their own agenda. Pop culture is beginning to replicate the popularity of the Occupy Movement memes, as evidenced in TV commercials selling jeans for protesting and TIME magazine preparing to feature the “99%” as the most influential person of 2011. Infiltration attempts also occur with such things as the Twitter handle @OccupyEducation which seems to be interested in spreading misinformation regarding movement tactics. The tactics this handle promotes are more closely aligned with the Tea Party protest guidelines. This digital revolution is developing into mainstream habitus (set of learned norms that are acquired through interaction with daily life) that quite literally has changed the national dialogue in a matter of weeks.
Observable attempts for legitimate naming rights exist in these digital meme examples as does the occasional conflict, i.e. “#therealoccupydenver” and #liberatedenver. Another example is when affinity groups use indirect codified language, such as Movement Building to progress from the original “tainted” meme. Some of these sub-groups work to push the movement back to the original message and move away from the violence-laden perception surrounding the #occupy meme as it developed. This emerging Movement Building or Strategy Team operates with those ideals. Also at play are pulls in various other directions, one sub-group looks for legitimacy through policy and yet another sub-group looks to destroy legitimacy through Anarchy.
Memes are being used in various ways by these sub-groups as they are designed to attract a specific set of people to build within their own collective. For instance, middle class, middle aged people having been turned off by some of the media portrayals of the Occupy movement “hard-cores”, (often said to be made up of “punk-Anarchos” or “agent provocateurs”); thus leaving a space for expansion into Occupy Squads for seeking a comfort zone within the Movement’s raw formation as whole.
Potential development for an element regarding sub-groups is the movement’s actions and organizations that were already in existence, i.e. student groups, union groups, community groups, education groups. All of these different sub-groups know they come together as the 99%, but struggle to define how to work together within that. At least, in these beginning stages, learning to be in democratic dialogue is not taught in our Western schools.
As this movement is only in its infancy, these struggles for “naming rights” will subside as each individual finds a home within the group and each group finds a home with the bigger group and the next bigger group. This might be the toddler stage of the growing collective, or perhaps we are in the toddler stage and the childhood stage is next. The only way to be for sure, perhaps, is to have moved through this movement and look back on it as a history.
#Occupy Movement Message
The collective body of the movement has used a grassroots technique called consensus building to develop the overall set of goals. The objective is to organize locally, organize regionally and organize nationally to address the unprecedented inequality in the rich, modern world while supporting globally too. Many mainstream citizens are somewhat confused with the messages emerging from the Occupy Movement and partially due to the 21st Century thinking that is required, such as: global perspective and complex, intertwined, multi-layered issues.
“Main Street” has rarely had the opportunity to experience Direct Democracy and/or Consensus Building. It is a challenge for most of us from Western society, as our tradition is structured on norms of efficiency and hierarchy. The process of Direct Democracy can seem messy and exhausting, but an enlightening phenomenon when it works. Everyone who participates in the Consensus Building process, either through General Assemblies or Working Groups, can attest to some days going great and some days all proposals going back to the table. The ideas born are impressive—a free market place of ideas.
A component of this process, the General Assembly, is a place to present ideas that have already been through an (open-enrollment) committee of “experts” building consensus around a proposal. The intention of the small group is to thoroughly examine the details and options regarding a given decision on the table and follow that with a presentation to the GA. Typically, “new” topics and ideas are either a general announcement and/or the idea is assigned a working group for consensus and proposal. The details or requirements for an action proposal should be worked through within a small group before a concise, researched proposal can be brought to the General Assembly. One role of GA is to preserve framework of shared decision-making globally while adapting to locale needs and culture reflecting local and global movement evolution and dialogue.
Real Democracy may be unattainable due to human nature. Direct democracy is challenging. One occupier states it like this, “Sometimes GA is messy and slow, and still it is working.” After participating and observing many General Assemblies, some falling apart into physical altercations and some excellent models of inter-communication, lessons are learned. Successful General Assemblies culminate in “meaningful consensus”. If the process is compromised, the GA process will become more and more invalid to the people involved causing a lack in cohesion and increased faction of internal dissent. Or the group will become more cohesive and frictional elements will be altered or leave the group.
Occupy Denver is evidence of this as the process they are attempting is called “modified consensus” and has lesser value than full-consensus on many important matters involving. For instance, strong overlap-involvement of the Anarchist Black Cross members and their use of symbolic violence and direct threats, has deteriorated the GA process into a broken version of what is possible; therefore, alienating an entire body of supporters from the process. An attempt to use a modified consensus format has resulted in barely more than a two-way majority vote while many choose to opt-out. Occupy Denver is nationally known for being the most contentious Occupation in the United States (per capita) and some of this seems due to the consensus process being “modified” which also undermines the working group process and its natural position of consensus building.
Another example of how the daily GA process seems to have some structural flaws is the inconsistency of who is involved in particular “votes”. Which brings me to another element, consensus building is not voting. The last element to look at is the strength of Working Groups. This is where, I believe, the movement will find a way to teach others and build.
The movement message encompasses several main points loosely bridged with the concept of “the 99%”. The traditional social contract expected by Americans and their values based on the Protestant Ethic, has failed the people and particularly the generations coming. Equality is the demand that reaches out to all groups of people. In a short summary, this movement is about ending policy that aids government corruption and predatory capitalism. Georg Simmel (1918) might point out that society and individuals need each other but have opposing needs, “freedom does not mean the absence of social obligation…freedom means playing a role…choosing bonds”.
Education, Equality and Social Cohesion: A Comparative Analysis (Green, A. Preston, J& Janment, J. 2006) provides substantiation as to how and why “policy responses to date, however, have been partial, uncoordinated and poorly grounded in research evidence.” The following is a list of some of the demands found in the online voting forums and declaration pages.
a.
Eliminate Corporate Rights as Person
Eliminate Corporate Rights as Person b.Repeal Patriot Act
Repeal Patriot Actc.Forced Acquisition of the Federal Reserve of One Billions by the US Congress, also included in clause in democratic system in voting and outlaw flash trading.
Forced Acquisition of the Federal Reserve of One Billions by the US Congress, also included in clause in democratic system in voting and outlaw flash trading. d.Restructure Campaign Finance Legislation. No corporate donations to political campaigns and individuals are limited by small amount. Lobbying becomes transparent and at a further distance. Equalizing playing field for all voters. We the people.
Restructure Campaign Finance Legislation. No corporate donations to political campaigns and individuals are limited by small amount. Lobbying becomes transparent and at a further distance. Equalizing playing field for all voters. We the people. e.Real Health Care Reform. Make health care affordable and available to all without a mandate.
Real Health Care Reform. Make health care affordable and available to all without a mandate. f.End the War on Drugs. Racist outcomes. Prisons system reform. Policing Ethics.
End the War on Drugs. Racist outcomes. Prisons system reform. Policing Ethics. g.Education Reform: education financing legislation. Lower educational expenses. Pull money form the "WAR" system to refund education and continuing education. Forgive Student Loan Dept or restructure the Student Loan. Standardized testing. Reform education to make it either free or affordable to all. Re-appropriation of tax to focus on educations subsidies.
Education Reform: education financing legislation. Lower educational expenses. Pull money form the "WAR" system to refund education and continuing education. Forgive Student Loan Dept or restructure the Student Loan. Standardized testing. Reform education to make it either free or affordable to all. Re-appropriation of tax to focus on educations subsidies.h.Repeal Capital Punishment
Repeal Capital Punishmenti.Gender Discrimination
Gender Discriminationj.Office of the Citizen
Office of the Citizenk.United States must comply with International Human Rights Laws.
United States must comply with International Human Rights Laws. l.Victim Rights takes precedence in court
Victim Rights takes precedence in courtm.Prosecutions of the guilty
Prosecutions of the guiltyn.Environmental Responsibility Reform
Environmental Responsibility Reformo.Board of Office to address Demands of the People
Board of Office to address Demands of the Peoplep.Full media access, stop censorship.
Full media access, stop censorship. Types of Involvement
The emergence of collective behavior has a phase of pre-collective behavior, the “frame of ordinary reality, the take-for-granted world, is made consciously problematic…such suspension is the beginning point to collective behavior.” (Lofland, J.; p. 443). A moment when groups of people, spread out geographically, decide to take action in solidarity within the same moment in time. How are these people propelled? Which groups are engaged and at what levels of intensity? How does the movement become such a contagion that it reaches a full tipping point of defined success?
As an idea develops and emerges into mainstream society it passes through different levels of involvement and types of social roles. Malcolm Gladwell might have put it: passing through innovators, to mavens and connectors, and finally to mainstream through salespeople.
The Occupy Movement started with a call to action set for September 17, 2011. Inspired by the Arab Spring, a group of progressive journalists, put out a call to Occupy Wall Street in protest of corporate money and corporate business values infecting all parts of civilian life. This call to action resulted in a liberal Canadian magazine, Adbusters, running it on the cover in June 2011. The “hacktivist” group known as Anonymous is a community of online comrades, open to anyone who joins to fight oppressive governments and abusive authority figures. The aim of the collective is to destroy corruption that maintains inequality and oppression (status quo) of the poor through middle class. Anonymous endorsed #OccupyWallSt movement in August with a Youtube video release that subsequently went viral. After which the hashtag, “#occupywallst” (currently known as #OWS), started to slowly pick up internet chatter as the September 17, 2011 (#sept17) date approached. A seemingly unsuccessful practice run was carried out by a small group of activists in early September. The police were ready on Sept.17; guarding the bull on Wall St. The New York Police Department had fully barricaded Wall Street. An iconic image of the police standing guard around the brass bull of the New York Stock Exchange symbolizes the early days of the movement.
Social Movement research indicates that, “How far a movement goes in advancing its interests and attaining its goals depends not only on the nature of those objectives and the degree of resistance encountered but also on the ability of the movement to expand its ranks and transform those who join into committed participants.” (Zurger, L; Snow, D.; p. 463) This movement has expanded exponentially with digital communication tools many utilize to spread the message, needs, locations, plans for continued actions and global collaboration. #OWS is not a group of anarchists’, nor is Anonymous, though Anarchists as well as other types of people are part of both groups. Many other groups of people are all to be found under the “the 99%”.
The effects of globalization extend beyond economics, jobs, eco-systems and politics, the civil unrest are found under the #OWS flag.
In Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talks conference presentation, “Bring on the Learning Revolution” (Feb. 2010), he discusses the how schools effectively dislocate humans from their natural talents. These uprisings are representative of what Robinson would call “crisis of human resources” meaning “we make very poor use of our human talent”. Society has reached a point that not only is individual people uncomfortable, but the payoff—the un-comfort is no longer of similar or higher value. People feel the need to stop the dislocation of human from economic contributor. Zoe Weil, Institute for Humane Education, says “the World becomes what you teach.”
The Occupy Movement’s success might depend somewhat on the axis of Durkheim’s theory of solidarity. Collective behavior of this movement began quickly and under mechanical solidarity, as it seeks to redefine the lines of organic solidarity. A time of revolution is a classical depiction of anomie, though this is the beginning, this moment has the potential for definitive and rapid social change.
Information Wars and Education
Jack Mezirow, Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning (1991), describes three distinct dimensions in the development of perspective transformation or transformational learning, which include: 1.) psychological, 2.) convictional, and 3.) behavioral. As a collective body, these protest with leaderless and seemingly message-less development maintains an open space. Many people having been lost into a structural system that dehumanizes them have to learn first the language of oppression to be able to use the language to find resolutions. Robinson states, “Humans flourishing is an organic process not an industrial process.”
[Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, (pp. 229-250)]
The flow of information in many ways is approached with tactical war strategies. “In symbolic structure over the production of common sense or, more precisely for the monopoly of legitimate naming, that is to say, official—i.e. explicit and public—imposition of the legitimate vision of the social world, agents engage the symbolic capital they have acquired in previous struggles, in particular, all the power they possess over the taxonomies inscribed in the minds or in objectivity, such as qualifications.”
The mainstream media was slow to respond to the actions of protestors and the extreme response of government authority. To what seemed like non-existent, and sometimes direct misinformation, of mainstream media coverage, the #occupy movement reflected these sentiments through an art show with the theme #NoComment for the #OccupywithArt movement. This #NoComment meme was designed to reflect problems with media and misinformation. C. Wright Mills shared modern concerns regarding the effects of alienation resulting from social structure on the personality and the manipulation of people by the elites and the media. For instance, the media went through phases over the course of a few weeks trying to tag a label on the people involved in the Occupy movement. This label went from college kids to hippies to Anarchists, regardless that the groups of people showing up at these demonstrations are from a very broad base of the population and demographics.
Why such a discrepancy? The flow of information is the modern commodity, or Cultural Capital, of influence according to Bourdieu. A media blackout in America shockingly was documented through the Fall of 2011. As time goes, it gets further documented by the public and independent news outlets and becomes part of the discussion. Another function of the Anonymous group has been to support the movement with media access by designing and opening up channels for communication regarding the movement. Even abstractly structured media form like Twitter, manipulation of the media can be used to affect the general opinion of the groups operating within that communication symbol system and filtering out to those who are not in the codified know.
The mainstream media has been the “super-power” when it comes to influencing public opinion for several decades. The mainstream is also owned and controlled by corporate businesses and their specific interest. This movement has worked to spread information outside of the mainstream media and primarily still passes information through the internet. People involved in the movement, if not on the ground, are pushing information across the globe about what is happening at each occupation. Twitter seems to be the best place for fast and current updates on any location across the world as well as quickly spreading information across the world. Chat forums, emails, conference calls, YouTube videos, personal blogs and organizing websites are other means for communicating with the people involved in the movement.
Many Occupation PR teams have begun printing their own newspapers, radio shows, and most try to keep updated information on the websites. If the populous begins referring to these independent Occupy news venues, then the Occupy Movement will essentially win the war over information flow. Media trainings take place on the ground and everyone is encouraged to BE media. “We need to out media the media”. Flooding the internet with Occupy videos, pictures, blogs, interviews. Anonymous, the hacktvists, also work to support the movement by exposing individuals who use violence or corruption for power exchange. This happens in a number of ways put typically involves shutting down major website networks of companies, organizations or institutions that are harming the people in some way or by crowd-sourcing information about an individual who has been deemed as injuring human rights and releasing to the public. It could be argued that Anonymous and the representative mask is itself a meme of this movement. Repeated phrases used to generate solidarity from the sub-culture of Anonymous: We are Legion. We are everywhere. #eXpectUs
