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Collective Behavior

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Activity involving a large number of people that is unplanned, often controversial, and sometimes dangerous.

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Collectivity

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A large number of people whose minimal interaction occurs in the absence of well-defined and conventional norms.

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Crowd

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A temporary gathering of people who share a common focus of attention and who influence one another.

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Mob

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A highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal. Mobs pursue a specific goal.

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Riot

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A social eruption that is highly emotional, violent, and undirected.

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Contagion Theory

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An early explanation of collective behavior was offered by the French sociologist Gustave Le Bon. According to Le Bon's contagion theory, crowds have a hypnotic influence on their members. Shielded by the anonymity found in large numbers, people forget about personal responsibility and give in to the contagious emotions of the crowd. A crowd thus assumes of life of its own, stirring up emotions and driving people toward irrational, even violent, action.

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What are characteristics of Emotional Contagion?

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1. Homogeneity of Members 2. Similarity of Emotional Moods 3. Focused Attention 4. Distraction From Self 5. Suggestibility 6. Reciprocal Stimulation 7. Selective Perception

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Explain Similarity of Emotional Moods in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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All of the members of the crowd share a similar emotional mood.

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Explain Focused Attention in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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All of the members of the crowd have their attention focused on a singular event.

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Explain Distraction From Self in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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Members of the crowd begin to act in ways in which they would not ordinarily behave.

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Explain Suggestibility in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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Members of the crowd take suggestions from others on how they should behave.

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Explain Reciprocal Stimulation in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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A influences B, B influences C, C reinforces A.

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Explain Selective Perception in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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Sometimes people can see and hear certain things that reinforce their own points of view. They can also dismiss those things that do not favor their personal view points.

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Explain Homogeneity of Members in relation to Emotional Contagion.

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All of the members of the crowd share similar physical characteristics.

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Convergence Theory

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Convergence theory holds that crowds behavior comes not from the crowd itself bu also from the particular people who join it. From this point of view, a crowd is a convergence of like-minded individuals. Contagion theory states that crowds cause people to act in a certain way; convergence theory says the opposite, claiming that people who wish to act in a certain way come together to form crowds.

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Emergent Norm Theory

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Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian developed the emergent-norm theory of crowd dynamics. These researchers admit that social behavior is never entirely predictable, but if similar interests draw people into a crowd, distinctive patterns of behavior emerge.

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Mass Behavior

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Collective behavior among people spread over a wide geographic area.

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Rumor

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Unconfined information that people spread informally, often by word of mouth.

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Gossip

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Rumor about people's personal affairs.

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Public Opinion

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Widespread attitudes about controversial issues.

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Propaganda

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Information presented with the intention of shaping public opinion.

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Fashion

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A social pattern favored by a large number of people.

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Fad

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An unconventional social pattern that people embrace briefly but enthusiastically.

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Panic

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A form of collective behavior in which people in one place react to a threat of stimulus with irrational, frantic, and often self-destructive behavior.

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Mass Hysteria

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A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.

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Moral Panic

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A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.

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Disaster

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An event, generally unexpected, that causes extensive harm to people and damage to property.

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Social Movement

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An organized activity that encourages or discourages social change.

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Claims Making

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The process of trying to convince the public and public officials of the importance to joining a social movement to address a particular issue.

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Relative Deprivation

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A perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison.

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Deprivation Theory

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Deprivation theory holds that social movements seeking change arise among people who feel deprived. People who feel they lack enough income, safe working conditions, basic political rights, or plain human dignity may organize a social movement to bring about a more just state of affairs.

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Mass-Society Theory

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William Kornhauser's mass society theory argues that socially isolated people seek out social movements as a way to gain a sense of belonging and importance.

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Culture Theory

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In recent years, sociologists have developed culture theory, the recognition that social movements depend not only on material resources and the structure of political power but also on cultural symbols. That is, people in any particular situation are likely to mobilize to form a social movement only to the extent that they develop "shared understandings of the world that legitimate and motivate collective action".

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Resource-Mobilization Theory

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Resource-Mobilization theory points out that no social movement is likely to succeed - or even get off the ground - without substantial resources including money, human labor, office and communications equipment, access to the mass media, and positive public image.

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Structural-Strain Theory

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A social movement develops as a result of six factors. Clearly stated grievances encourage the formation of social movements; undirected anger, by contrast, promotes rioting.

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Political-Economy Theory

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Social movements arise within capitalist societies that fail to meet the needs of a majority of people.

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New Social Movements Theory

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Social movements in postindustrial societies are typically international in scope and focus on quality of life issues.

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What are the stages in social movements?

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1. Emergence (defining the public issue) 2. Coalescence (entering public arena) 3. Bureaucratization (becoming formally organized) 4. Decline (due to failure or success)

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Casual Crowd

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A loose collection of people who interact little, if at all. People lying on a beach or people who rush to the scene of an automobile accident are examples.

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Expressive Crowd

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Forms around an event with emotional appeal, such as a religious revival, an AC/DC concert, or the NYE celebration in NYC. Excitement is the main reason that people join expressive crowds.

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Acting Crowd

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Is a collectivity motivated by an intense, single-minded purpose, such as an audience rushing the doors of a concert hall or fleeing from a mall after hearing gun shots.

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Conventional Crowd

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Results from deliberate planning, as illustrated by a country auction, a college lecture, or a presidential inauguration. In each case, the behavior or people involved follows a clear set of norms.

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Protest Crowd

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May stage marches, boycotts, sit-ins, and strikes for political purposes.

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What are the 4 types of social movement?

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Alternative Social Movements. Redemptive Social Movements. Reformative Social Movements. Revolutionary Social Movements.

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Alternative Social Movements

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Seek limited change in specific individuals.

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Redemptive Social Movements

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Seek radical change in specific individuals.

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Reformative Social Movements

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Seek limited change in the whole society.

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Revolutionary Social Movements

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Seek radical change in the whole society.

Sociology Unit 2 Chapter 23

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