Strong-Tie Phenomenon: The Success of the Greensboro Sit-ins
Introduction
Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted written by Malcolm Gladwell for the New Yorker examines the differences between the strong tie and the weak tie phenomenon. To investigate why the Civil Rights Movement were a success, Gladwell explores the differences between social media movement and the Civil Rights Movement. According to Gladwell, activism on Facebook and Twitter are based on weak social ties. As a result, they are less likely to be successful. On the contrary, the Civil Rights Movement, such as the Greensboro sit-in were undertaken by close friends and friends of friends who were actively engaged in the sit-in protest. Consequently, the Civil Rights Movement were a strong-tie phenomenon. The strong tie versus weak tie phenomenon provides insight into the role of social connections in facilitating a social movement that brings change. An impactful social action has strong relationships characterized by high-risk activism and face to face organization that brings individuals together to advocate for a common goal
Greensboro Sit-in
The Greensboro sit-in began on 1st February 1960 when four young African American men who were studying at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat at a lunch counter reserved for white people. The actions by the four young men was an act of defiance against the Jim Crow laws, which dictated that black Americans and white Americans could not interact socially. According to Flowers (53), Greensboro city was a centre for antislavery activity, a way station during the Underground Railroad, and a place where Quakers gathered. It was considered a New South where citizens were interested in enlightenment and did not subscribe to old prejudices. After the legal segregation in public education became illegal in 1954, African Americans began advocating for desegregation of schools and public facilities (Flowers 53).
The student sit-ins originated in the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Despite ruling that public school segregation was unconstitutional, it did not place a time frame for the desegregation process (Flowers 53). Members of the black community were discontent, and African American students were tired of the status quo. The Greensboro sit-in was a way of standing up against the segregation and the discrimination. Gladwell documents that there were four women and twenty-seven men on the second day of the sit-in. Most of them were from the same dormitory as the four young men who sat at the counter the day before. They had brought their school books and were studying at the counter. On Wednesday, students from Dudley High, a predominantly black secondary school joined the sit-in. With each passing day, the group of protestors grew, and by Saturday, there were six hundred protestors with most of them spilling into the streets.
Strong-Tie versus Weak Tie Phenomenon
Malcolm Gladwell suggests that social movements are based on social engagements. A campaign with strong ties is organized through face to face interaction. On the contrary, weak ties are connections individuals have with acquaintances or so-called friends who have connected on virtual spaces such as Facebook and Twitter. Gladwell argues that revolutionary actions such as the Greensboro sit-in might look spontaneous, but they are rooted in strong ties. The Greensboro sit-in, for example, began with four students. On the next day, they were joined by their friends and colleagues with whom they shared the same dormitory. Each person present in the sit-in group was connected to another. Either they went to the same school or lived in the same community. Their strong tie came from their social connection and the fact that they were all present in the sit-in.
Rademacher and Wang (1213) document strong ties develop when individuals frequently interact when feelings within the group are reciprocated, and when there are intimacy and emotional intensity. Strong ties are homophilous, which means that individuals are connected to those who are similar to them. That is, strong ties are formed when individuals share similar attitudinal, demographic, or cultural characteristics. Also, social networks with strong ties share friends-friendship circles that overlap (Rademacher and Wang 1213). The protestors at the Greensboro sit-in were members of the African American community, and they went to the same college. Over time, they were joined by other African American students and members of the black community. Since the protestors were socially connected, the sit-in morphed into a significant social movement that advocated for Civil Rights.
Weak ties are the opposite of strong ties. Gladwell (2010) describes weak ties as connections via social media platforms. In an attempt to differentiate activism in the pre-internet and post-internet era, Gladwell (2010) argues that internet-based movements have weak ties, unlike 20th-century movements like the Civil Rights Movement. According to Rademacher and Wang (1213), weak ties are characterized by less frequent interaction, low intimacy and emotional intensity levels, and inadequate feelings of reciprocity. Moreover, individuals in groups with weak ties are less homophilous. Unlike strong-tied groups, groups with weak-ties do not have individuals who share a lot of similarities. Consequently, they are social networks that are heterogeneous and sparsely connected.
Greensboro Sit-in as a Successful Social Movement
The Greensboro sit-in is an essential social movement because it sparked a nation-wide sit-in movement involving students. The sit-in was a high-risk protest; students who took part in the sit-in faced arrests and attacks from white Americans. Despite the challenges, the sit-in protestors at Greensboro faced, they continued with their protest. Over time, the protest grew into a national movement, and in the end, more than seventy thousand students were part of the movement (Gladwell 2010). The Greensboro sit-in is recognized as one of the most impactful social movements of the Civil Rights era. First, through the sit-in protests students from across the United States of America became active members of the Civil Rights Movement. Second, the sit-in protests proved that nonviolent direct mass action could be successful. Finally, it attracted media attention to the plight of African Americans living in the segregated south and the reasons behind the civil rights movement.
Conclusion
The Greensboro sit-in is an example of the strong tie phenomenon Malcolm Gladwell explores in his article Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. Social movements are dependent on the social connection between participants. When participants of a movement share the same culture, demographic, and mission, when they frequently interact with one another, they develop strong social ties. Movements such as the Greensboro sit-ins were based on strong social ties. As a result, they were able to build an impactful movement that had a positive impact on the Civil Rights Movement and changed the course of American history.
Works Cited
Flowers, Deidre B. “The launching of the student sit-in movement: The role of Black women at Bennett College.” The Journal of African American History 90.1-2 (2005): 52-63.
Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted.” The New Yorker. 27th September 2010. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell
Rademacher, Mark A. and Wang, Kevin Y., “Strong-Tie Social Connections versus Weak-Tie Social Connections” Scholarship and Professional Work (2014): 1213-1216. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/103