Sociology Now, Census Update

of issues. As they were successful, they expanded their scope and their horizons and
began to press for more sweeping changes.
Today, some organized social movements like the labor movement are in decline.
Others, though, like the Civil Rights, women’s, and environmental movements have
continued to press for reforms in a wide variety of arenas.

Revolutions

Revolution,the attempt to overthrow the existing political order and replace it with
a completely new one, is the most dramatic and unorthodox form of political change.
Many social movements have a revolutionary agenda, hoping or planning for the end
of the current political regime. Some condone violence as a revolutionary tactic; many
terrorists are hoping to start a revolution. Successful revolutions lead to the creation
of new political systems (in France, Russia, Cuba, and China), or brand new coun-
tries (Haiti, Mexico, and the United States). Unsuccessful revolutions often go down
in the history books as terrorist attacks (Defronzo, 1996; Foran, 1997).
Earlier sociologists believed that revolutions had either economic or psycholog-
ical causes. Marx believed that revolutions were the inevitable outcome of the clash
between two social classes. As capitalism proceeded, the rich would get richer and
the poor would get poorer, and eventually the poor would become so poor that they
had nothing else to lose, and they would revolt. This is called the immiseration thesis—
you get more and more miserable until you lash out.
Talcott Parsons (1956) and other functionalists maintained that revolutions were
not political at all and had little to do with economic deprivation. They were irra-
tional responses by large numbers of people who were not sufficiently connected to
social life to see the benefits of existing conditions and thus could be worked into a
frenzy by outside agitators.
This theory is clearly wrong. Revolutions are almost never caused by mass delir-
ium but by people who want a change in leadership. A number of sociologists after

POLITICAL CHANGE 475

Government and Standard of Living

Some people think that the government in Washington should do everything possible to improve

the standard of living of all poor Americans; they are at Point 1 on this card. Other people think

it is not the government’s responsibility and that each person should take care of himself or

herself; they are at Point 5. So, what do you think?

14.2

What

do

you

think

Where would you place yourself on this scale, or haven’t you made up your mind on this?

?

See the back of the chapter to compare your answers to national survey data.

1 2 3 4 5

Government

action

Agree

with both

People help

themselves