The Sociology Behind the #MeToo movement – an important example of information cascades in society
Gradual unfolding for 40 years’: The sociology behind the #MeToo movement
The #MeToo movement is a growing movement around the world, encouraging victims of sexual assault and harassment to come forward with their allegations. Often, victims of those actions fear to speak out due to retaliation and other negative factors. This has led to millions of people withholding this information, which is harmful to the individual and society as a whole. Dong, in her article “‘Gradual unfolding for 40 years’: The sociology behind the #MeToo movement”, quotes from Professor Dachner Keltner, “It has (taken) so long because women faced skeptical people in power — bosses, journalists, judges, etc — who were blind to the seriousness of harassment and assault…” Dong explains how the movement came to be and the effect it has on people.
This is essentially a societal example of how information cascades are shown in society. In class, we analyzed that nodes can change what they subscribe to if there is enough persuasion or incentive to change. We can see nodes as people, and the persuasion/ the more people who are coming out with their stories and allegations. It has been shown that when more people come forward, it can persuade someone to do the same, to give them more courage to come forth with their stories. A major part of lecture is discussing how the things we learn are applied to the world we live in, and the impact it has on countless lives.