Gina's College Collection

Famed environmentalist Bill McKibben speaks of what he thinks can make modern movements victorious in his article “Movements Without Leaders,” which looks at today’s activism in a similar way to how Charles Duhigg analyzes past fights.  The two authors agree that strong ties are needed to begin a movement, and that diversity in perspectives can be beneficial.  Concerning the former, McKibben tells readers that the fight against the infamous Keystone Pipeline was only able to begin because he’d “…gotten a dozen friends…” (“Movements Without Leaders”) to join first, much like Duhigg’s mention of the Montgomery bus boycott starting with Rosa Parks’s close friends sticking up for her.  As for diversity, both authors find it helpful but in different ways.  Either Duhigg’s idea of diverse weak ties can inform people of opportunities to join campaigns outside their circles of close friends, or McKibben’s idea of diverse groups participating in general can create a stronger “full-spectrum resistance” (“Movements…”) than just one group with which fewer people can relate (or both strategies could work for one movement).  Also, while McKibben don’t mention anything about peer pressure to join the battle against climate change, we can infer that it’s occurred within the diverse groups.

But concerning leadership, the two authors’ ideas become more complex and diverge a bit.  Duhigg claims movements require that “…[L]eaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership” (87).  He provides a prime example of this when he speaks of Martin Luther King’s inspiring speech to his African-American followers during the Civil Rights Movement about how they must continually forgive their white oppressors, inspiring them to follow his nonviolent lead.  King’s words then “…[C]onverted participants from followers into self-directing leaders” (102), and others followed their lead in turn.  Essentially, through his words, King as the overall leader created more minor leaders to spread his message.

According to “Movements Without Leaders,” McKibben supports the idea of these minor leaders, which he refers to as “little-l leaders,” but dislikes the idea of all-encompassing leaders or “capital-L Leaders,” like King.  He explains that having a single leader can block new ideas from other contributors, and that nowadays “Our attention is dispersed” (“Movements…”) making it difficult to bring everyone together under one person’s guidance in one place anyway.  This is why in the battle against climate change, he encouraged “…24 hours of rallies around the planet” (“Movements…”), allowing for more diverse and distant groups to speak up, rather than taking on the role of leader himself.  McKibben admits that “Communities…will probably always have some kind of hierarchy,” with some contributing to the community/movement more than others.  However, he then asserts that “…these aren’t exactly ‘leaders’…They are not charting the path for the movement to take”  (“Movements…”).  McKibben refers to them as “elders” or “small-l leaders” that are more like guiding figures the rest can either agree with or go against.  Therefore, we can conclude the main difference between his and Duhigg’s approaches are that Duhigg believes one major leader is required to create “small-l leaders” who spread the word in their areas, while McKibben simply believes these more minor figures can rise on their own and are more beneficial as they can still provide structure or advice without drowning out others’ words.

Works Cited

Human-caused climate change through CO2 emissions is a highly controversial issue these days.  Despite much scientific evidence, some still refuse to believe that industrialized society is hurting ecosystems, and thus progress toward a more sustainable life is slow.  Faced with the prospect of humanity soon destroying the planet, environmentalists have tried several methods to open people’s eyes and encourage behavioral change that will be healthier for our world.

One of the most famous cases of environmental campaigning is the “350” program, created by Bill McKibben, author of one of the first books on climate change, “The End of Nature.”  In 350’s “Do the Math” movie, Van Jones, CEO and co-founder of the program “Rebuild the Dream,” summarizes 350’s mission when he states “…we’re going to take [the] money away from the problem-makers and give it to the problem-solvers” (31:09).  McKibben goes on a tour around the country, informing people of climate change statistics, and directly inviteing those who come to take action by lobbying with peaceful protests to move money from polluting and controlling fossil fuel companies to cleaner renewable energy.  His focus is on taking down the corporations, and he’s taken on the responsibility of leading the charge in a very direct way.

On the other hand, activist Barbara Kingsolver has taken a subtler approach.  As a writer of many novels involving major issues, including climate change, she influences people more with her written than spoken word.  In journalist Jeanne Supin’s interview with her, entitled “The Moral Universe,” Kingsolver explains that she is an introvert, but she doesn’t keep her work to herself because she recognizes the importance of her subjects. Because of her shyness, Kingsolver gets her point across not with open talks but by incorporating issues into the contexts of the lives of relatable, fictional characters in her stories, and that’s what draws people towards her side.  Rather than really pushing her ideas like McKibben does, however, she more ambiguously believes “…people can conclude whatever they please” (Kingsolver), and later analogizes her work to sending messages in a bottle that her readers may or may not pay attention to: “I think of throwing my books out on the water, and they float away, like messages in bottles, and I don’t know where they’re going to end up.  I love when people find those bottles and do something meaningful” (Kingsolver).  She’s simply setting out an option, stepping back, and letting her readers decide what they will do with the information; if they remain unaffected or disagree, that’s sad but still their choice.  Yet this strategy of encouragement without force has changed many of her readers’ perspectives and lifestyles. From this, we can see that while Kingsolver is more reserved in how she encourages social change, both she and McKibben have been quite successful in using their different strategies to get people to care more about remedying global warming.

Works Cited

Kingsolver, Barbara. “The Moral Universe.” The Sun, March 2014. Web. https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/459/the-moral-universe Accessed 25 Oct 2017.

McKibben, Bill. “Do the Math.” 350. 2013. Web. http://act.350.org/signup/math-movie/ Accessed 25 Oct 2017.

Charles Duhigg claims successful movements grow by utilizing a three-step process involving strong and weak ties, as well as the provision of new habits.  In “From Civil Rights to Megachurches,” he cites several examples of victorious movements that practiced his ideas, but interestingly, none of them occurred after the connections of social media appeared.  How would social media impact the effectiveness of the strategy?  In my opinion, this technological advancement can help and hurt.

In terms of benefits, social media encourages the weak ties Duhigg praises, as it links people over long distances and thus brings diverse perspectives.  Elaborating on the importance of this, Duhigg quotes Harvard student Mark Granovetter, who discovered in a study that people often receive much help from acquaintances during job searches: “As Granovetter wrote, ‘Individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system…'” (91).  Essentially, people that stick to a small group of close friends can be somewhat isolated and may miss opportunities to join new parties as they don’t receive much peer pressure from outside their bubble; the globalization social media brings about prevents this. Online links can also help with the third part of Duhigg’s strategy: having leaders give people new identities through examples of what they should do to reflect their beliefs.  After reiterating the story of pastor Rick Warren expanding his church by getting parishioners to stick with certain habits, Duhigg concludes, “For an idea to grow beyond a community, it must become self-propelling.  And the surest way to achieve this is to give people new habits that help them figure out where to go on their own” (100).  Once people know what to do, they feel more confident in leading the charge themselves, and others will follow suit.  Social media may assist this self-propulsion by providing a quick way to reach a larger audience for the leader’s ideas.

Unfortunately, where social media promotes weak relationships and the spread of new habits, it also prevents the formation of strong ties. People nowadays tend to gravitate towards their phones and away from actual interaction.  Without her direct, close relationships created through volunteering and club participation, Rosa Parks wouldn’t have received the support needed to start the bus boycott in her name, of which Duhigg writes.

In conclusion, social media is both a blessing and curse to social change.  It can help the spread of activism through weak ties and leadership, but discourages the crucial step of strong bonds.

Works Cited

Duhigg, Charles. “From Civil Rights to Megachurches.” The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. “Emerging.” Edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed., Balford/ St. Martin’s 2016, pg.85-106

Hallward, Epstein, and Duhigg’s writings provide examples of major social change in various areas, from discrimination against those who are AIDS-positive to the push for African-American rights.  All are instances of  movement toward a brighter future for these groups.  Yet at first glance, to those who didn’t participate in such movements, these issues seem distant.  They may assume because they aren’t in these groups, social change that occurs doesn’t influence them.  It’s true that the majority typically aren’t the ones being freed from the oppression of stigmas or granted new rights.  However, they can be affected by the new ideas brought about, as the concepts may lead to behavior changes, even in neutral or opposing parties.

Why would someone who was initially not part of a movement or against it change their behavior?  Duhigg writes “[A movement] endures because [its] leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity” (87), and later explains that this “new identity” can spread to others who initially weren’t part of the movement as they follow by example, both during a protest and afterwards (if it’s successful). This phenomenon is due to the other part of Duhigg’s argument, the power of “strong ties” between friends and “weak ties” among acquaintances combined.  These encourage the idea of “if they’re doing it, I should do it too in order to be accepted,” which is increasingly common in today’s more globalized society; we’ve all felt the pull of peer pressure.  Epstein actually provided an example of a behavior change among the “common folk” when she observed how in Uganda, the personal talks about AIDS, “…[P]ersuade[d] Ugandans to come to terms with the reality of AIDS, care for the afflicted, and change their behavior” (116).  This proves that anyone, including those not belonging to the subject group, can be influenced to alter their beliefs and ways.

Works Cited

Duhigg, Charles. “From Civil Rights to Megachurches.” The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. “Emerging.” Edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed., Balford/ St. Martin’s 2016, pg.85-106

Epstein, Helen. “Aids Inc.” The Invisible Cure, “Emerging,” edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed., Balford/ St. Martin’s 2016, pg. 109-121

For a push towards societal reform to be victorious, activists must change their behavior to make themselves more vulnerable to their oppressors.  Charles Duhigg explains a successful example of this: the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s speech to the members of the bus boycott on how they shouldn’t fight back against their enemies.  In “From Civil Rights to Megachurches,” Duhigg writes “Embedded within King’s philosophy was a set of new behaviors that converted participants from followers to self-directing leaders…the protest became a movement fueled by people who were acting because they had taken ownership of a historic event” (102).  King’s disciples had been inspired by his faith in this tactic of constant kindness, and wanting to follow his lead, regrouped to protest peacefully despite danger of attack.  Others seeing their apparent fearlessness garnered support, strengthened their fight, and spread it around the country. Psychiatrist Anne Hallward, in her TEDx Talk “How telling our silent stories can change the world,” also believes that facing fears and making ourselves vulnerable can bring about change, though she looks at its use in the medium of sharing personal stories rather than direct protests.  She agrees with the concept when she states “…[S]hame is at the heart of our suffering, and if we go to it, it’s at the heart of our healing, especially if we bring it out…where we can share it with other people.  And it becomes ultimately a force for social change” (9:53), and later elaborates on how it creates change by asserting “acts of courage are contagious” (10:24).  Hallward is essentially saying rendering ourselves defenseless through telling our uncomfortable truths is awe-inspiring to others in similar situations, getting them to be more open, band together, and push harder for reform.  Thus, both Duhigg and Hallward support my thesis, albeit in different contexts, that intentionally becoming vulnerable is courageous, and this bravery motivates others to do the same, making the group more powerful.

Citations

Duhigg, Charles. “From Civil Rights to Megachurches.” The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. “Emerging.” Edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed., Balford/ St. Martin’s 2016, pg.85-106

Hallward, Anne. “How Telling Our Silenced Stories Can Change the World.” TedxDirigo. 8 December 2014. Web. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMlsnrLN9U Accessed 8 October 2017.

Reporter Charles Duhigg speaks about the ability of close bonds to ignite change in his book The Power of Habit.  I find this similar to Epstein and Hallward’s praise of forming relationships with people who’ve had similar experiences.  However, Duhigg actually claims diverse friendships are more important to movements, as he explains while reiterating Rosa Parks’s story.  Her varying “‘strong ties’-firsthand relationships” (Duhigg 89) got Parks enough support to start a bus boycott. In further contrast to previous readings, according to Duhigg, “when the strong ties of friendship and the weak ties of peer pressure merge, they create incredible momentum” (92).  “Weak ties” refer to distant relationships between acquaintances within social groups, and peer pressure arises when people are expected to support these distant relations, or their reputations will suffer; this explains activism’s expansion.  One famous instance of this cited by the selection was when many African-Americans in Montgomery joined the boycott after assuming “everyone was doing it.”  In other words, Duhigg believes although change must begin with close-knit support groups, the perceived need to conform furthers participation.

Though Duhigg utilizes decades-old stories, I believe their points still apply.  Fights for equal rights continue today, and peer pressure appears more prominent than ever in many areas.  I haven’t participated in any movements (though I support equality), but I’ve certainly seen the expansion from “strong” to “weak” ties Duhigg describes, after police brutality incidents, for example.

Besides this present-day relation, another reason I found this article interesting is because I discovered new facts, like how Martin Luther King Jr. himself was roped into supporting the boycott by peer pressure.  I do wonder how much further this peer pressure would have spread if social media existed back then.

My interest in what I’ve read thus far makes me curious about the rest of Duhigg’s activism process, “a movement’s leaders giv[ing] participants new habits…” (87), and I look forward to finishing this passage.

Citations

Duhigg, Charles. “From Civil Rights to Megachurches.” The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. “Emerging.” Edited by Barclay Barrios, 3rd ed., Balford/ St. Martin’s 2016, pg.85-96