Authority

Today in class we discussed Authority, a topic that Weber wrote extensively about.

We learned that there are 5 types of authority:

1.) Obligation
2.) Tradition
3.) Honor/Status
4.) Charisma
5.) Rational/Legal

We saw that rational/legal authority is most related to bureaucracy (another topic that Weber wrote extensively about.

Missing from Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen. . . Decent jobs

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Face-of-Mideast-unrest-young-apf-1729613549.html?x=0


Stable economies and decent job prospects are two of the most important public goods that states provide.  The linked article suggests that widespread frustration with crappy economic opportunity is a major source of unrest among young people in many Mideast countries.

Quiz 4

Ted accidentally made an extra blog post announcing the quiz.     Derp.

Both blog posts work.

Look at this one or the next-- your choice.

You are free to use your notes and discuss questions with your classmates.  However, you must write your own answers.  Avoid the carbonite!

Type your answers on Google Docs or Microsoft word before you submit them. 

Once they are all written, then open the quiz and copy and paste them into the following Google Form. SUBMIT ONLY ONCE. 

The ideal answers are logically complete but short and succinct.  Make sure you use your own examples (not the ones from lecture).

CLICK THIS LINK WHEN YOU ARE READY TO UPLOAD YOUR ANSWERS:


https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGRRVHQxc0lmSHRmQzF5cm8yWWhtZlE6MQ


Question 1 *
Identify the best strategies for sampling, and state why they are the better than other sampling methods. What are the differences between these methods?


Question 2a *
Define the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons by explaining how the key conditions lead to the tragedy.


Question 2b *
Now use one example from YOUR PERSONAL LIFE how the this concept of the Tragedy of Commons impacts you.


Question 3 *
Explain how pre-existing ties can affect a person’s decision to join and stay in a group. Discuss an example from your life that demonstrates the power of pre-existing ties.


Question 4 *
The principal-agent problem arises when one party needs to entrust resources or responsibilities to another (agent) when there is a potential for the agent to act against the interests of the principal. Give an example of this problem and explain 3 strategies for controlling the agent.

Quiz 4

ReAd ThEsE InStRuCtIOnS!!!!!!

This quiz includes topics from both week 3 and week 4.

IMPORTANT NOTE, many students have lost a considerable number of points because they have failed to answer all the parts of the question.

If the question calls for an example AND a definition please make sure you put both in.

Otherwise you will only receive half credit, at BEST.

We hate having to give half credit to people who answer correctly on one half of the question!!



The answers need to be in your own words, if we find peoples answers are too similar, you will loose not only this quiz grade but ALL your previous quiz grades! That's a LOT of Zeros.


Here is a link to Quiz 4:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGRRVHQxc0lmSHRmQzF5cm8yWWhtZlE6MQ

Question 1:
Identify the best strategies for sampling, and state why they are the better than other sampling methods. What are the differences between these methods?

Question 2a:
Define the concept of the Tragedy of the Commons by explaining how the key conditions lead to the tragedy.

Question 2b:
Now use one example from YOUR PERSONAL LIFE to show how this concept of the Tragedy of Commons impacts you.

Question 3:
Explain how pre-existing ties can affect a person’s decision to join and stay in a group. Discuss an example from your life that demonstrates the power of pre-existing ties.

Question 4:
The principal-agent problem arises when one party needs to entrust resources or responsibilities to another (agent) when there is a potential for the agent to act against the interests of the principal. Give an example of this problem and explain 3 strategies for controlling the agent.

Egypt: State power, protest, and transnational society

What a timely example.

We discussed in class today that the protests in Tunisia (last week) and Egypt (this week) present a timely example of how states will attempt to suppress dissent, communication, and the spread of information that shows how the state is being used against the citizens of a country.   Here is a discussion of related issues and events:  http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/f9zac/i_was_caught_and_brutally_tortured_in_the_recent/

Social media and digital recording mechanisms threaten repressive regimes because they allow people to both coordinate their actions and record evidence of what actually happened.   Earlier this week the Anonymous protest movement expressed support for protesters in Egypt, and this is an apparent reply that seeks to reinforce peoples commitment to support protesters in Egypt. [update:  the Egyptian government is apparently blocking all access to the internet in advance of the protests planned for Friday;  info leaked through phone call, mentioned on reddit thread] [[update to the update:  this CNN official news source seems to suggest that the governement is not actually shutting down the internet in Egypt but that it is simply suffering from crowding and over-demand.  Although this might be possible, this explanation seems pretty unlikely, especially given the strategic advantage for the state to suppress free communication in such events, and the clear prior examples in Burma and elsewhere where local governments strategically blocked access to internet and social media that protesters can use to overcome their organizational disadvantage.]]

you can run just-ping yourself--  but cairo is down according to this tool.

http://www.just-ping.com/index.php?vh=yahoo.com&c=&s=ping!&vtt=1296171901&vhost=_&c=

The crux of the Egyptians' protest seems to center on the issues of rule of law, corruption, and the failure of the state to provide fair development of public goods.   They want the freedoms, liberties, rights and institutions on which our country was founded.   It is a fascinating example of how the ideas inherent in a democratic model can spread and influence behavior and perception of what governmental regimes are fair and just.

"We will not be silenced! Whether you're a Christian, whether you're a Muslim,

 whether you're an atheist, you will demand you're god damned rights! 

And we will have our rights, one way or the other! We will never be silenced!"

This man is upset because he wants what we have in our constitution and bill of rights, and instead Egypt offers corruption, cronyism, and violent repression.  Here is a link to this video that shows his comments and some protest events of the recent days (Jan 25th)   http://vimeo.com/19248086

The ideas behind our political institutions seem to be operating as memes, spreading on virtue of their own merit through international interaction made easier by internet, cell phones, etc.  To the extent that societies are defined by populations united by social interaction, then these recent events suggest that boundaries between nations and cultures are being lessened; and under such conditions demand for democracy is a growing infection.   China was right to guess that the internet was a threat to their authoritarian regime.

Tragedy of the Commons

What is this video all about? Why would I put a video of mice trying to drink from a water bottle on the blog page? No sound, poor quality video. Doesn't make any sense ... Or does it?

What is the problem the mice are having? Well lets take a look at the obvious.

1) There are lots of mice in the cage.
2) 15 or so of the mice are all trying to drink from the water bottle at the same time.
3) Very few of them are actually getting to drink from the bottle because there are so many trying to use it at once.
4) The water bottle will not last very long with that many mice drinking from it. Some mice might go thirsty.

How does this apply to the Tragedy of the Commons? Well watch this video and see what you think!



There ya go! The water bottle is the field or the grass. Only so many mice can drink from the water bottle before it runs dry. Some mice may go thirsty because there are too many mice trying to drink from the same bottle.

Similarly, we need to protect the environment be each of our individual actions add up to be one huge mess for the environment. The last video is an example of just that!

New Poll For Clip of the Day!

Hey guys,

There is a new poll up for 'clip of the day'. Vote for the video that you find most worthy to be played as our class's 'clip of the day'!

This weeks choices are:

1. Piano Stairs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

2. Facebook Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnXE2791yg&feature=related

3. Handlebars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUX0y4EptA

4. Smooth Criminal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlVbEclPj4c

5. iPhone to Space

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtXquYhY7wo

Don't forget to post your recommendations for the 'clip of the day'

(Please post recommendations on this blog post)

~Vote Away!~

The meme made me post this

Old spice released another ad today.

It is not as elaborate or as catchy as the others it seems, but very early in the distribution cycle, so who knows.  last estimate I saw was ~350 views a couple min ago.  Funny how knowing that the others became popular lends a perceived historic nature to it.  Dude I saw that ad before it broke a thousand views!  Not actually important but interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6iEGzLPjg

The State

Today we discussed the State as a means to combat the tragedy of the commons and provide social order.

The state is an organized political institution the provides direction and regulation for social life.

Something very important to understand is that the State has a Monopoly on the use of coercion and force. The State is a credible threat that enforces order.

Weak State presence contributes to social outcomes like East LA, where police avoided entering certain neighborhoods for fear of being shot by gangs, or in Somalia where Pirates control large sections of the country. The absence of the state allows for the self-interest of people to overcome social order.

The State is the Leviathan, and it holds the biggest stick.

:)

Conflict Theory

Today in class, we discussed conflict theory. We learned that there are three basic assumptions associated with conflict theory:

1.) society is composed of groups

2.) groups often have competing interests

3.) groups have different types and amounts of resources

We can draw a few implications from these assumptions:

First that competing interests lead to conflict among groups, and second that the groups with more resources are at an advantage.

7 steps to getting full credit on Quiz 3!

7 steps to getting full credit on Quiz 3!

Links:
Groups spreadsheet
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap6qKhaazjmcdG43WWJxMjJrVnlfc1ViUUVSRk5Mbmc&hl=en

Sharing and Touchgraph creating instructions
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zL4uQMXxrL08zEteMmIYLYcu0neRpSErMFJbqOOv7TE/edit?hl=en

Team Teaching Touchgraph
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7K7w_5-80m4FTU-C2vQSXjPUzRuYruSBlo5QQTPlEo/edit?hl=en

Want to get full credit? Here are your instructions!

1)We need your OAK ID’s
We will not be able to give you a grade without one. Your Touchgraph should include this information:

Oak ID , “Name”,
Please make sure you include a comma and a space after each piece of data.
OAKID space comma first name last name space comma gmail address

Here is an example from The Instruction Team Touchgraph.

JW337711, "Jarrid Wong", soc101jarrid@gmail.com
ZW450029, "Zeke Mclean", mclean.ohiou@gmail.com
KP298471, “Krystal Payne", krystal.payne.88@gmail.com
RR881029, "Rebecca Rafferty", SOC101Rebecca@gmail.com
HW918273, “Ted Welser”, h.t.welser@gmail.com

Please make sure you include a comma and a space after each piece of data.

2) Include all components of assignment

1) OakIDs, First name last name, gmail address of all group members.

2) Touchgraphs for each student including

A) TouchGraph Image

B) Number of friends

C) Number of major groups you have

D) “What they are” Labels of Groups and colors

E) Comments of your Touchgraph and groups.

3) Comparison discussion of all Touchgraphs

A) Table including:

I) Name of student

II) Number of Friends each student has

III) Number of groups each student has.

B) 3 or 4 Comparison Discussion items about the Touchgraphs.

3) The group leader needs to share the Google Doc with all the previous information with the GA assigned to the group in the Group spreadsheet.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap6qKhaazjmcdG43WWJxMjJrVnlfc1ViUUVSRk5Mbmc&hl=en

4) Finally, when ALL THE INFORMATION IS IN THE GOOGLE DOC. Email your GA and tell them that the Doc is completed! You need to put the same information in the email to the GA as you put in the first part of the google doc.
IE The Email should include this type of information for each group member.
JW337711, "Jarrid Wong", soc101jarrid@gmail.com
ZW450029, "Zeke Mclean", mclean.ohiou@gmail.com
KP298471, “Krystal Payne", krystal.payne.88@gmail.com
RR881029, "Rebecca Rafferty", SOC101Rebecca@gmail.com
HW918273, “Ted Welser”, h.t.welser@gmail.com

5) Extra Credit turn in due date is TODAY January 24 at midnight. (5 extra credit points to each student!)

6) Full credit credit turn in is Wednesday January 26 Midnight.

7) Do not send the GA’s attachments they will not be graded and your entire group will fail!



For students who are not in a group. You can still do the assignement. Create yourself a google doc, fill out all the relevant information. But compare your touchgraph to the Team Teaching Touchgraphs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7K7w_5-80m4FTU-C2vQSXjPUzRuYruSBlo5QQTPlEo/edit?hl=en

Share your Google Doc with the GA of your choice and send us an email when you have all the information filled in.

Quiz 3: What to make for monday!

GROUP SPREADSHEET!

Looking for the spreadsheet where the groups are? Looking for your Teaching Assistant? Its on the spreadsheet found right here!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ap6qKhaazjmcdG43WWJxMjJrVnlfc1ViUUVSRk5Mbmc&hl=en


It is rumored that Zeke has an extensive DVD collection that he has never once alphabetized. He has aced tests before he even sat down. He once had a bad quiz, just to see how it feels. He is, the world's most interesting TA.

How will you ace quiz #3? Zeke can help you. Actually all of us can help you. Let us start by giving some advice, then an example. First, the advice.

Check out the following image. It shows a bunch of helpful things. First, if you are going to use google docs you need to start rockin with multiple tabs. See the yellow circles at the top?

This image shows what it looks like when we work on the example. Check out how we are working on the document at the SAME TIME! Whoa. Krystal made the doc, Rebecca is working on it, and Ted has it open. Craaazy! How is that possible? Well Krystal followed the instructions on the "how to" document and shared it with the rest of the people in our group. You should do this too.

I have Gmail, this google doc, the google doc list and a bunch of other tabs open at the same time! I know-- I have some serious skills. Not Zeke level skills, but impressive nonetheless.

Once your group leader shares your doc with you and other group members you should upload your image and start documenting the size, # of groups, and common thread of those groups. After you have that done, you should make some commentary about the structure of your graph and how it got that way base on your history of social interaction. The example, linked below, shows the assignment that we, the teaching team, are in the process of completing. That is right! We are doing the assignment too.

I have my part done; of, course. That is how I roll. Zeke will do his when the time is right. Like a boss!!

Boss!

After everyone has their part done, then we will make comparisons. We are going to get super crazy-- and like, use google chat, or even google talk and, get this, discuss what we think is interesting about how our graphs are similar and different, and how they relate to our histories of social interaction.


Tasks:

1. Upload your image to the same google doc as all the rest of the people in your group.
2. Type up your # of friends, groups, and detail what the groups are.
3. Write up a commentary about what is interesting about your graph and your interaction. 4-5 sentences.
4. Look at the graphs of your fellow group members.
1. Think about how they tell different stories about the structure of social interaction.
5. The final version should have a commentary about all the images that focuses on what is interesting that you learn from comparing and contrasting all of them.
1. We will demonstrate this, and will have it done before class on Monday.
6. Turn your project in! How? Well that is super easy.
1. Share your google doc with your TA. The TA whose gmail is listed next to your group.
2. Cha ching! Done baby.
3. Did you see how we listed the gmail addresses of all the group members at the top of the doc?
1. I can't believe how smart that is!

Here is teh link to the example ( a work in progress). Some parts are done as of Friday night, others are in progress. Yet all will be done by Monday.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7K7w_5-80m4FTU-C2vQSXjPUzRuYruSBlo5QQTPlEo/edit?hl=en

Cheers!

Quiz 3: Instructions and questions here

Ted's network:
Friends: 293
Groups: 10

1. What they are:
1. Purple at bottom: Internet researchers;
2. Green at top: High school;
3. yellow near green: family;
4. etc for remaining groups of >8

The image and text above is what each group member needs to make and eventually upload to your group google doc.

Here is an example of what your group should collectively make:
https://docs5.google.com/document/d/1x7K7w_5-80m4FTU-C2vQSXjPUzRuYruSBlo5QQTPlEo/edit?hl=en#


Google Doc "How to" for making a google doc, sharing it, creating your Touchgraph image, and capturing the image.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zL4uQMXxrL08zEteMmIYLYcu0neRpSErMFJbqOOv7TE/edit?hl=en

Notes:  

1. Check out the next post on the blog (about how to turn in the assignment). 
2. Your network might stall the app if you have over 1000 friends, and they have a lot of ties to each other.   People in that boat have gotten it to run, but I don't know what the secret is.  
1. The first thing is to try it from different computers or browsers to make sure it is not a problem with your local machine. 
2. If that still does not work-- I have suggested that people ask a friend (with a smaller network) to run the app, get the image, and then talk to them about their graph (which group is what, what is interesting, etc.
3. Then you can use their image and details.  Ideally you would use your own, since you would know more about it.  However,   the point is to think about how social interaction leads to different social network-- so you clearly can do that for someone else's network too. 

Handy links:

• Group sign up spread sheet:
• https://spreadsheets8.google.com/ccc?authkey=CIjXntEC&hl=en&key=tn7Ybq22kVy_sUbQERFNLng&hl=en&authkey=CIjXntEC#gid=0

• Google Doc "How to" for making a google doc, sharing it, creating your Touchgraph image, and capturing the image.
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zL4uQMXxrL08zEteMmIYLYcu0neRpSErMFJbqOOv7TE/edit?hl=en

What to do:

1. Form group (most have done this already)
2. Give your group a name
3. Get gmail address for all group members
1. add your gmail address to the spreadsheet linked above (see new columns on the right)
4. Group leader:
1. Create the google doc
2. Share with your group
3. Get everyone in your group to upload their images and answers to the shared document
4. Make sure everyone uploads their images before class on Friday
5. See example linked near the top of this post
5. All:
1. Make your Touchgraph image (see "How to" linked above)
2. Upload your image to your groups shared google doc
3. Describe your network (see example at top, and description below)

Quiz3 Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

1. Where do get help on how to do this?
1. Read the "How To"
2. Ask questions in the comments below
3. Answer questions below if you know the answer
2. I made my image, now what?
1. Answer these questions about it:
1. How many friends are in your network
2. How many colored groups are in your network image?
3. What does each group represent?
1. i.e. Purple group on bottom of my image are internet researchers.
1. see pic at top of post
2. see example image at top of this post
3. Questions of general interests asked in the comments below will be added here
1. How do I get emails for people in my group?
1. Go to the group spreadsheet (linked above)
2. Find your group, find their school emails (from the OU website)
1. search based on their name
3. send one email to all of them saying:
1. Hey-- go to the group spreadsheet and enter your gmail address
1. (see the new columns on the right hand side)
4. Get your group leader to send an email to everyones gmail account
1. cc their school address if you want
2. start a conversation about how to get the assignment done
2. "How do I tell what the groups have in common?"
1. That is an interesting problem-- one that depends partly on how and why you chose to accept friendships in FB. The difference groups are pretty obvious in my graph--partly because people are from different time period of my life.
1. In each colored group-- try selecting the people who are most in the middle of that color and who have relatively large circles. Think about why they would be friends with those surrounding them but not with others.
2. Could you post your image online, like at http://imgur.com/
3. And then post the link in the comments below so we can look at the image too?
3. What should we make for Friday?
1. Check out this example: 
2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gt9VtljsyWMzGmT7yIwjJREzeCWqxC56lPfZ41rLVKI/edit?hl=en
3. Hope that helps
4. Thanks to the folks who gave advice on an alternate way to save the graph image in Macs!
5. What if I don't have a FB account?   
1. You need to find a friend or friend of a group-mate who does have one who is willing to make an image of their network.  Then you just need to describe the groups in that network.   

The Power of Pre-Existing Ties

Today in class we discussed groups. We examined the value of pre-existing ties, and saw how people were more likely to join and stay in a group if they had pre-existing ties to that group. We discussed the example of Freedom Summer, where a researcher (McAdam) discovered that people who had a friend participating in Freedom Summer were more likely to participate in this group, even though it turned out to be very dangerous for the volunteers.

The importance of understanding Proportional Facts

Proportional Facts

This is a great example of how proportional facts are misused by Business to mislead customers.

This is from:

http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-great-statistics-from-procter-and.html


Advertising Standards Authority (UK): 26 March 2008, Adjudication over Cat Food Advertisement (Iams Cat Food). More worthwhile statistics from Procter and Gamble:

The advertisements stated:

1. "Vets know catering to all your cats' different needs isn't easy ... 8 out of 10 vets recommend Iams
2. Voted No.1 recommended dry cat food brand available in supermarkets
3. Small print at the bottom of the ad stated "*Based on an independent survey of vets at the Congress of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association on complete dry cat foods available in supermarkets (April 2007)".

The Advertising Standards Authority noted that:

1. The survey asked vets if they would recommend any dry dog food, dry cat food or wet cat food brands. Only 31% of the participating vets (31% of 334) in fact recommended Iams.
2. Furthermore, the survey questions allowed participants to select a number of brands; they did not select only one brand.
3. Two other brands had more recommendations but these brands were available in pet food shops.
4. 80% of vets who recommended a brand of dry cat food available in supermarkets included Iams amongst the selection of products recommended, but not necessarily over those other products

Action: ASA told P&G to remove the claims "8 out of 10 vets" and "Voted No. 1 by vets" from future advertisements. The ASA did not comment on the irrelevancy of the survey (it should have surveyed cats), the nature of the sample, the post-hoc hypothesis, lack of any P value or who commissioned the "survey". For contaminated P&G catfood, see here.


more info:
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2008/3/Procter-and-Gamble-UK/TF_ADJ_44178.aspx