Sociology Unit 2 Chapter 23

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
Collective Behavior
answer
Activity involving a large number of people that is unplanned, often controversial, and sometimes dangerous.
question
Collectivity
answer
A large number of people whose minimal interaction occurs in the absence of well-defined and conventional norms.
question
Crowd
answer
A temporary gathering of people who share a common focus of attention and who influence one another.
question
Mob
answer
A highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal. Mobs pursue a specific goal.
question
Riot
answer
A social eruption that is highly emotional, violent, and undirected.
question
Contagion Theory
answer
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.
question
What are characteristics of Emotional Contagion?
answer
1. Homogeneity of Members 2. Similarity of Emotional Moods 3. Focused Attention 4. Distraction From Self 5. Suggestibility 6. Reciprocal Stimulation 7. Selective Perception
question
Explain Similarity of Emotional Moods in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
All of the members of the crowd share a similar emotional mood.
question
Explain Focused Attention in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
All of the members of the crowd have their attention focused on a singular event.
question
Explain Distraction From Self in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
Members of the crowd begin to act in ways in which they would not ordinarily behave.
question
Explain Suggestibility in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
Members of the crowd take suggestions from others on how they should behave.
question
Explain Reciprocal Stimulation in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
A influences B, B influences C, C reinforces A.
question
Explain Selective Perception in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
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.
question
Explain Homogeneity of Members in relation to Emotional Contagion.
answer
All of the members of the crowd share similar physical characteristics.
question
Convergence Theory
answer
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.
question
Emergent Norm Theory
answer
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.
question
Mass Behavior
answer
Collective behavior among people spread over a wide geographic area.
question
Rumor
answer
Unconfined information that people spread informally, often by word of mouth.
question
Gossip
answer
Rumor about people's personal affairs.
question
Public Opinion
answer
Widespread attitudes about controversial issues.
question
Propaganda
answer
Information presented with the intention of shaping public opinion.
question
Fashion
answer
A social pattern favored by a large number of people.
question
Fad
answer
An unconventional social pattern that people embrace briefly but enthusiastically.
question
Panic
answer
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.
question
Mass Hysteria
answer
A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.
question
Moral Panic
answer
A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.
question
Disaster
answer
An event, generally unexpected, that causes extensive harm to people and damage to property.
question
Social Movement
answer
An organized activity that encourages or discourages social change.
question
Claims Making
answer
The process of trying to convince the public and public officials of the importance to joining a social movement to address a particular issue.
question
Relative Deprivation
answer
A perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison.
question
Deprivation Theory
answer
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.
question
Mass-Society Theory
answer
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.
question
Culture Theory
answer
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".
question
Resource-Mobilization Theory
answer
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.
question
Structural-Strain Theory
answer
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.
question
Political-Economy Theory
answer
Social movements arise within capitalist societies that fail to meet the needs of a majority of people.
question
New Social Movements Theory
answer
Social movements in postindustrial societies are typically international in scope and focus on quality of life issues.
question
What are the stages in social movements?
answer
1. Emergence (defining the public issue) 2. Coalescence (entering public arena) 3. Bureaucratization (becoming formally organized) 4. Decline (due to failure or success)
question
Casual Crowd
answer
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.
question
Expressive Crowd
answer
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.
question
Acting Crowd
answer
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.
question
Conventional Crowd
answer
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.
question
Protest Crowd
answer
May stage marches, boycotts, sit-ins, and strikes for political purposes.
question
What are the 4 types of social movement?
answer
Alternative Social Movements. Redemptive Social Movements. Reformative Social Movements. Revolutionary Social Movements.
question
Alternative Social Movements
answer
Seek limited change in specific individuals.
question
Redemptive Social Movements
answer
Seek radical change in specific individuals.
question
Reformative Social Movements
answer
Seek limited change in the whole society.
question
Revolutionary Social Movements
answer
Seek radical change in the whole society.
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New