Ukraine has been extremely unstable ever since the Russians
took over Crimea back in March. As of now, the instability in the heartland of
Ukraine has only gotten worse, and is being influenced by social movements from
both pro-Russian and Pro-Kiev groups. Collective behavior and the social
movements played a major role in what is stirring the chaotic situation.
Without those two elements, this may have never happened.
It is
unclear what exactly is happening in Ukraine, but there are some sociological terms
to take in note. With the start of the crisis, a huge group of armed
individuals (some with guns) stormed Kiev government buildings back when it was
influenced by the Russians. This storming of the government can be defined as a
riot. In other words, the crowd became socially unstable to the point of being
very violent and uncontrollable. A riot is also an effective use of taking over
power which was seen here back in February. A more recent example is the pro-Russians
storming pro-Kiev government buildings on the eastern side of Ukraine.
The
mass behavior goes along with social movements, because this type of collective
behavior spreads over a wide area. Mass behavior includes behaviors such as public
opinion, and propaganda. In my opinion, I think both the Russian and Western
medias have some form of propaganda, because it already makes sense that media
outlets has enormous influence over the information it provides to the public,
and to spread false information within those broadcasts would further benefit
certain elite groups, and to cause unrest. For example, the Russian media
states that the Kiev government had been taken over by Nazis. With Russian
broadcasting stations calling out the dire consequences of the current
government in Kiev, people in the eastern regions are starting to feel a sense of
danger.
In a theoretical view point,
the mass society theory starts out as social isolation within a particular
group, and results in being alienated. These two things bring out social
movements and other forms of angry behavior. So once the pro-Russian majority
were told by media outlets that the Kiev government had a Nazi ideology, there
may have been a sense of isolation, and anxiety started to spread afterwards.
In terms of being alienated, that has occurred as well. These problems many of
the Pro-Russians saw led them to start their own social movements, and possibly
would like to convert east Ukraine into Russia.
Personally,
I haven’t been to Ukraine, but with the events unfolding, I do think it is very
important to see what the crisis may turn into later. The reason I look at this
often, is because this is something that could spark world war three, and to
understand what’s going on as much as possible would make me paint a better
picture of what to expect in the future. So with the events unfolding, it’s
just a question of how worse the situation would actually get with information
influencing the masses in Ukraine.
No comments:
Post a Comment