Word: socialism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fever is hardly a new affliction. The most enervating, enduring and escapist of social institutions, the convention is as American as rubber chicken, as ubiquitous as revolving hotel-top restaurants, as old as the nation itself. Our more perfect union was forged at a convention (Philadelphia, 1787), divided against itself at another (Montgomery, Ala., 1861), reunited at a rather intimate one (Appomattox Courthouse, 1865) and renewed quadriennially. Long before Sinclair Lewis chronicled the fictional convention high jinks of George F. Babbitt, boobus Americanus and prototypical conventioneer, other observers dis covered our penchant for gatherings. "As soon as several Americans have...
...steady march of consumerism and government regulation, which inspires trade and professional groups to meet more frequently to discuss compliance?or resistance. "Ten or 15 years ago, people considered conventions to be social outlets," says James Low, president of the 6,200-member American Society of Association Executives (which will have its own convention in St. Louis next August). "But with the dawn of Ralph Nader, suddenly everyone was under question. People wanted to know if businessmen were ethical, whether their products were safe. The business world turned in on itself. For the first time businessmen realized they needed their...
...thing is certain: the convention is wreaking irreversible changes in the nation's topography, economy and patterns of social behavior. Consider the urban landscape. Cavernous convention centers, often municipally financed and usually little more than a big enclosed space, are popping up across the country like second-story men at a jewelers convention. Some 60 cities have built one of those concrete boxes, and another eleven are on the way. Meantime, hotels that cater to the convention trade are being expanded or else threatened by newer, larger ones. Las Vegas' 2,783-room Hilton, the nation's roomiest, has been...
...smaller rooms, called "breakout rooms" by hotel officials, for discussions of particular topics. Delegates typically reassemble at a working lunch, a late-afternoon reception and a dinner, every day until check-out time. There is a growing tendency to pack convention schedules tightly, for reasons of both productivity and social control; organizers want to keep delegates present and working. not wandering off to see the sights on their own. Says Sig Front, a senior vice president at the Sheraton Corp.: "You're lucky if you have time to read a newspaper...
After the first wave of social scientists, explaining how such cults can mesmerize their followers, come social scientists examining the degree of morbidity in press and public interest. More than a difference in numbers divides the killings in San Francisco and the 900 deaths in Guyana. Two public officials murdered by a disappointed office seeker may not be a common occurrence, but it is a credible one. Guyana needed more than reporters' descriptive words to establish the truth for readers. Only the gruesome photographs brought confirming proof of the astonishing numbers of the dead...