Weak ties is a very important concept in starting a movement. Charles Duhigg, a reporter for the New York Times, supports this claim in a chapter in his book, Civil Rights to Megachurches. He argues that “The power of weak ties helps explain how a protest can expand from a group of friends into a broad social movement” (91). Without these weak ties an individual is only left to the ideas of their strong ties. Usually, those who you call your strong ties will have similar ideas as you. Whether we know it or not, weak ties are used in many major movements today, such as the climate change movement. In the move, Do the Math, an environmentalist named Bill McKibben uses weak tied in his campaign 350.0rg. He explained how “…there had been 5,200 demonstrations in 181 countries. CNN called it the most widespread day of political activity in the planet’s history” (7). The ties between McKibben and his team and the representatives from the 181 other countries would be classified as weak ties. Without these ties, the 350 movement would not of been as effective as it was. Duhigg also acknowledges how other major movements such as the Rosa Parks Bus Boycott were driven by weak ties. Overtime, there are many things that can change in these major movements. However, the use of these weak ties is something that will forever help in expanding movements so that they can be classified as a fight of their century as the Bus Boycott and climate change movements are.
Author: esimpson3 (Page 6 of 8)
McKibben’s strategy for social change is just to take action. In the beginning he talks about how his initial theory was if he wrote a book then people will read it and change but quickly noticed that that is not how change happens. McKibben was forced to get out of his comfort zone and make a little noise. I definitely do agree with this because anyone can write about how they feel or what they feel needs to be done but it takes real action for authority people to actually notice. The 350.org organization is very effective in that making this fight a world wide thing will also cause more noise in other countries governments. In reaching out to people around the worlds, this creates weak ties in which is similar to to Duhigg’s claim. These weak ties get the word out about climate change all over the world. McKibben’s strategies are very effective because he also makes a statement talking about how there is no winning this fight. A medium to be met that will make both sides happy yet keep the Earth on the right track. In addition, I feel that taking away the most important thing to these companies will be very effective. This important thing is money. In not giving them their usual income these companies will be forced to make a change if they want to continue running. It is also super moving that people who are risking to be arrested for this cause are not only self- identified environmentalists but everyday people are risking it all to save the Earth. This relates to Duhigg in that I believe this is similar to social habits. These regular people who are changing their everyday activities to working to fight against climate change are adapting new social habits. In adapting these new social habits, noise is being made and change will hopefully be the outcome.
Duhigg’s view on social change is that he believes that it is driven by social habits, strong ties, and weak ties. Adding to his argument, I would add that if social ties did not exist then nobody would even interact with anyone therefore they are necessary. Also, social habits are key in life as they are what we do everyday. By incorporating new social habits that support the specific movement then change will be present. Another point that Duhigg makes is that weak ties are stronger than strong ties. My view are contrary to those of Duhigg in that strong ties are stronger than weak tie. Weak ties are not necessarily possible without strong ties, so how can they be stronger? Strong ties are defined as “first hand relationships”. Weak ties are defined as “friends of friends- people who are neither strangers nor close pals”. Strong ties are friends and weak ties are friends of friends, therefore weak ties cannot even be possible without the initial strong tie.
Duhigg really opened my eyes to a different perspective in creating social change on a larger scale. When learning about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, I had always thought that it was their goal to fight against racism. In reality it was the people around them that began this change. Both of their weak and strong ties is what make them so well known. Both were known in their towns before they even started the movements. Through this movements, both of their goals was not to force people to change but just teach them new habits that would become part of their norms. In Rosa Parks case, the social habits of others is what made her case so well known. When someone that you know gets arrested it is instinct to fight for justice while when it is a complete stranger, most people will just not get involved in the situation. Eventually, weak ties begin to get involved through friends of friends. This will form the social change in a community. Peer pressure to lose these ties is also what causes people to conform into these movements. If you do not follow what people in your social group is doing, it is feared that one will lose their social standing. Overall, social change is not formed from forcing people to change their minds but standing up for these ties and fearing of losing them.
A common error that I made throughout my essay is in grammar. The most common mistake that I made is comma splices or misuse of commas. Some mistakes in my first draft include, “The media also has an impact on this negativity, many times movies and TV shows will portray violent criminals to be mentally ill.” and “Classifying shame as a lethal public health treat is such a powerful statement, however, it is necessary in order for people to see the severity of this problem, as shame is at the heart of suicide.” I did try to fix some of the comma splices that I did notice from my first draft to my final draft so there were less errors. I think to improve this I need to refresh my memory on the correct usage of commas so that I don’t mess up anymore. My goal is that I will be able to recognize my own comma splices and misuse of commas, rather than someone else recognizing it for me.
I feel I have gotten significantly better at understanding comma splices. My podcast may have had a couple; but, I did do a whole mini lesson on how to find comma splices and ways to correct them.
Citations have never really been my strong suit. I think that I cited my sources correctly in the final draft of my paper. Honestly I am unsure as to how to do a citation on my own. I think I would be able to figure out if it was done wrong but doing it free handed with no help or guide would be very difficult for me. I did notice a mistake that in my first draft that I changed going into my final draft.
“Hallward, Anne. “How Telling Our Silenced Stories Can Change the World.” TedxDirigo. 8 December 2014. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMlsnrLN9U . Accessed 7 September 2017.
Epstein, Helen. “AIDS, Inc.” Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013.”
This was how my citation page looked in my rough draft. The change that I made going into my final draft was putting them into alphabetical order by the author’s last name. I am hoping that during this class as I continue to create more works cited pages that I will become more and more comfortable with making these free handed.
I feel that that I did not get any worse or better at citing my sources. I did not have to change my works cited from my first to second draft so that is better than the first draft. The more I practice these, the easier it is to notice errors I could have possibly made.
In critiquing my own work, I think I do need to work on that. Once I write something I never feel like I need to change it. One trick that I do have is to read my essay out loud so that I can point out any grammatical errors. In editing my partner’s essays I offered advice about connecting their thesis better with their evidence. I feel that I should have offered better structural techniques rather than gramatical. Majority of my comments were complements supporting the writer rather than critiques. I think that I definitely need to obtain some work in this area.
“I think fixing up your thesis so that it doesn’t only talk about Safe Space Radio would be beneficial. I also think you should try to incorporate social cohesion in your analysis, almost lost sight as to what the essay’s goal was. Some sentences could be worded better so that you get your point across better. Also I would double check your MLA format in the quotes”
This was the feedback of the most recent essay that we wrote. I feel that this feedback was much more beneficial than any feedback would have been in the beginning of the year. I think this because I had talked about analysis and MLA format.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KLyZizctX-MAjmuWJGsfo_VsyAe23JB5OFxehOCORw0/edit
I feel that I have definitely gotten better at critiquing the works of others. Especially with these podcasts, I feel that peer evaluations were especially important because it was easy for others not to understand your writing because they were personal stories. A piece of advice I had for Brenna was:
Great work Brenna! This story is very moving. I do not feel you even need that much editing. Try reading it outloud to just fix awkward sentence structure. You imagery is awesome. I really felt like I was roaming the halls of middle school again. I feel you could definitely relate this back to Anne Hallward to make a strong text to self connection. Overall great work and I’m glad you overcame all of that negativity. You are awesome.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LmiZfYXg0rBgm0rBmnxTvSaS9VDfzZ-HP9k3BWOk2WA/edit
With this learning outcome, I definitely feel like I could improve. In the beginning, majority of my annotating is just summarizing. After reading each paragraph I would put a sentence or a couple of words to summarize it. Once we went over how to actively read in class I feel I did a lot better in including different connections in it and not just restating what is already in the reading. From here, I hope to become a better active reader and learn to read in between the lines more. Right now I feel I am just scraping the surface in understanding the passages that I read. I would like to learn to be able to read more in depth and get a new understanding for what I am reading. Annotating has never been a favorite of mine. Whenever I hear that I have to annotate something, it is instantly something that I dread. I hope that in learning how important annotating is that I will become more apt to doing it even when it is not assigned.
For the podcasts, active and critical reading was not necessary. However, I do feel that with all of the annotating practice during class, I am continuing to get better in this aspect.
Throughout this class I have noticed that I have become much more comfortable in quoting from other texts. My new favorite way to quote is the TRIAC method. I like this method because it forces me to include all of the aspects that I need to have a supported quote. This next paragraph is my first attempt at a TRIAC paragraph. I feel that I made strong connections with other texts and had a strong analysis supporting my quote.
“In Eptstein’s Aids Inc the fact that differences in a culture will have effect on major health problems in their country. Uganda approaches the idea of aids in significantly different way than the citizens in South Africa. Epstein states, “…Ugandans come to terms with the reality of AIDS, care for the afflicted, and change their behavior. This in turn led to declines in HIV transmission” (Epstein, 116). People in Uganda make sure it is part of their daily lives to talk about AIDS so that people understand the severity of the disease, rather than fear the unknown like South Africans may do. Hallward makes a similar claim in her TedTalk in that talking about the “silenced” topics in today’s society, such as mental health, will help heal and minimize feelings of shame. “
Throughout my essay I included mini TRIAC paragraphs. In including this strategy, it almost forces me to have a strong and supportive paragraphs.
“Hallward brought light to the solution that sharing stories minimizes shame. In fact, there was a study done at University of Texas in Austin that say “…when we tell silent stories, our health measurably improves and you can follow that for a year” (Hallward, 4:56). This supports Hallward’s solution in that sharing is the healing process of mental health. She works to provide a space for people to share their stories with others to give everyone the opportunity to heal.”
With this category it was somewhat difficult to include specific quotes from other pieces of writing. In the introduction, I did include a paraphrase. I now realize that it was not completely cited correctly. After hearing the mini lessons about correctly citing sources within quotes or paraphrasing, I learned that even in paraphrasing I still need to add a last name or page number.
According to Laura Dimaria, the writer of the article “How to Respond When Children Become Depressed After a Parent’s Death”, losing a parent may have a major contribution to the child becoming depressed.
Between my first draft and my final draft, a lot has changed. I had gotten a lot of feedback from my classmates during class. I had fixed up some awkward sentence structure. I changed my second paragraph about mental illness in general and added it to my introduction. My next paragraph in my first draft was all about Anne Hallward. It talked about Hallward’s claim about sharing stories and about her podcast Safe Space Radio. This paragraph had too much being talked about in it. I changed this into two separate paragraphs, splitting up the two topics I was talking about. I also ended up splitting up my paragraph about AIDS. One paragraph talked about the AIDS situation in South Africa and the other was about the AIDS situation in Uganda. The end of my essay did not change much. My personal story remained the same as did my conclusion. Besides the major changes that I had mentioned other changed included the addition of better transitions and just minor grammer adjustments.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12u_HMVTGXgthsiB6ai0NKVGAau8DH-XA0X3cztetUDw/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15koDYEeth2MJz_0vSkTakOAHVXyyRl9o20ZnHVrAjA4/edit
I feel that I did a better job in this category in my first essay. With my podcast, since it was such a personal and descriptive story, I feel that it was hard for me to find changes that needed to be made. I did add more clarification to support my claim about grieving children in the conclusions.
First draft: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OvgqP3s8QJC1kZhinYNbWYwqKjykKhUOiQDCTrjC6y4/edit
Final draft: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aqiki-CdGD4qWWoJ6gOpckqF_53Ckby7Y8vZtF0bLRI/edit
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