Pre-, post-Y2K attitudes are basis of doctoral dissertationgreenspun.com : LUSENET : TB2K spinoff uncensored : One Thread |
One of the few truly Y2K-related posts on the GICC board. Posted there by "spider".http://www.abqtrib.com/news/090700_y2k.shtml
Pre-, post-Y2K attitudes are basis of doctoral dissertation
By Frank Zoretich Tribune reporter
Y2K -- the bug that snored -- helped Andrea Hoplight Tapia get her Ph.D. Hoplight Tapia, now a sociology lecturer doing post-doctoral work in science and technology studies at the University of Arizona, earned her doctorate in sociology in May from the University of New Mexico. For her dissertation, "Subcultural Responses to Y2K," she examined the various ways in which people self-identified as being affiliated with three sorts of subculture groups prepared for and coped with what turned out to be a major non-event. The people she included in her study were computer professionals, militia-type survivalists and millennial Christians who believe the start of a new millennium is a Biblical sign of the approaching "end times" and Apocalypse. "With all three groups, it was difficult to gain rapport," Hoplight Tapia said. "I had to convince them of my sincerity and academic interest." She found the people for her study by using a method called "snowball sampling." "One person led to another and another. I contacted several organizations, particular churches, survivalist and weapons stores, the New Mexico Militia and -- for the computer professionals -- several local private and public employers." She ended up with 15 people in each of the subcultures and interviewed each of them twice, pre-Y2K and post-Y2K. "That's 90 interviews," she noted. Y2K, shorthand for "Year 2000," was the name for a computer glitch that many feared might trigger worldwide technological and societal breakdowns beginning at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. The nondisaster of Y2K, she found, didn't change the Y2K-related core beliefs of any of the three groups. "There was definitely some disappointment -- I would say the survivalists were most disappointed -- but they just reformatted Y2K to fit their core beliefs," she said. Nevertheless, Hoplight Tapia said, "although Y2K had little social impact, it had incredible relevancy to changes in our society. Y2K was significant even though the lights didn't go out." In a recent telephone interview, here's how she described the attitudes of each of the groups: Millennial Christians Pre-Y2K: "They have a core belief that the end times as prophesied in the Bible are coming, and that Y2K was a part of the end times -- just one more sign God gives that humanity has gone beyond its means, that people are too proud, reliant on themselves and not focused on God." Post-Y2K: "They believe the end times are still coming, but that Y2K was 'not as big as we thought.' This group learned how to stockpile food, make neighborhood associations to be be prepared for the next time and created a Christian network that hadn't been there before. 'We learned to rely on technology less and to put more trust in God.'" Survivalists Pre-Y2K: "Their core belief is that there is a secret cabal of conspirators at the top of international society trying to destroy the sovereignty of American citizens. They believed that Y2K was a planned part of the conspiracy, a way to take guns and power from citizens." Post-Y2K: "They said, 'Perhaps Y2K is not a part of the conspiracy after all.' But some of the more paranoid believed Y2K was intentionally, even mysteriously, a dud -- that there are bigger and better plans to take away guns and power. The survivalists felt they had made an effort to interact and train for possible scenarios with the wider community. They felt they were better trained and prepared as a result of Y2K." Computer Professionals Pre-Y2K: "They reacted as emotionally and intensely" to the threat of Y2K as the other two groups. "The computer professionals have their own subcultural set of values and a core belief that technology can solve all problems. They were angry at the other two groups for reacting emotionally, making what was a problem for technicians into a wider social problem, which it never should have been." Post-Y2K: "The computer professionals feel they were proved right. Technology did solve technology's problem. Almost all businesses had seriously looked at their computer systems because of Y2K, and brought those systems up to date. So technology was better off because of Y2K." The people she studied -- particularly the millennial Christians and the survivalists -- had "very strong responses to Y2K," Hoplight Tapia said. What she was "really looking at is how subcultures operate -- where they get their information, what they believe and don't believe about that information," Hoplight Tapia said. "All of them said they do not believe what they see on TV or in the newspaper," she added. "They believe sources of news from within their subcultures, and basically only trust news from other members of their subculture." She said her research shows that "our society is becoming more pluralistic. Sociologists, politicians, governments should pay more attention to subcultures because they are becoming more influential. They focus inward for sources of news and what is to be believed." Increasingly, she said, anybody who wants to get information to members of subcultures will have to "work through those subcultures if they want it to be believed."
-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), September 08, 2000
To the top!Great find, Buddy.
Just hit the link for eaiser reading.
-- Peg (too@much.spam), September 08, 2000.