Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change

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Chapter 16

• Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social
  Change

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Questions for you

• What social factors mobilize people to begin a
  social movement?
• In your opinion, which social movement of the
  20th century had the greatest impact on social
  change?
• How many social movements have you witnessed in
  your lifetime?
• What are the different types of crowds?

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Chapter Outline

• Collective Behavior
• Social Movements
• Social Movement Theories
• Social Change in the Future

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Collective Behavior

• Collective behavior is voluntary, often
  spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a
  large number of people and typically violates
  dominant-group norms and values.
• Collective behavior can take various forms,
  including crowds, mobs, riots, panics, fads,
  fashions, and public opinion.
• What forms of collective behavior have you taken
  part in?

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Factors That Contribute to Collective Behavior

1. Structural factors that increase the chances of
   people responding in a particular way.
2. Timing in history of particular social event.
3. Breakdown in social control mechanisms and
   corresponding feeling of normlessness.

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How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior
and Environmental Issues?

• True or False?
• The environmental movement in the United States
  started in the 1960s.

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How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior
and Environmental Issues?

• False.
• The environmental movement in the United States
  is the result of more than 100 years of
  collective action.
• The first environmental organization, the
  American Forestry Association (now American
  Forests), originated in 1875.

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How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior
and Environmental Issues?

• True or False?
• Sociologists have found that people in a
  community respond very similarly to natural
  disasters and to disasters caused by
  technological failures.

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How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior
and Environmental Issues?

• False.
• Most sociological studies have found that people
  respond differently to natural disasters and to
  technological disasters.
• One of the major differences is the communal
  bonding that tends to occur following natural
  disasters, as compared with the extreme social
  conflict that may follow technological disasters.

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Types of Crowd Behavior

• Casual crowds - people who happen to be in the
  same place at the same time.
• Conventional crowds - people who come together
  for a scheduled event and share a common focus.
• Protest crowds - crowds that engage in activities
  intended to achieve political goals.

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Types of Crowd Behavior

• Expressive crowds - people releasing emotions
  with others who experience similar emotions.
• Acting crowds - collectivities so intensely
  focused that they may erupt into violent
  behavior.

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Polling Question

• Have you ever participated in an organized
  protest?
• Yes
• No

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Explanations of Crowd Behavior

• Contagion Theory
• People are more likely to engage in antisocial
  behavior in a crowd because they are anonymous
  and feel invulnerable.
• Le Bon asserted that emotions such as fear and
  hate are contagious in crowds because people
  experience a decline in personal responsibility
  they will do things as a collectivity that they
  would never do when acting alone.
• Social unrest and circular reaction
• Sociologist Robert E. Park was the first U.S.
  sociologist to investigate crowd behavior.
• the discontent of one person is communicated to
  another who reflects it back to the first person.

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Explanations of Crowd Behavior

• Convergence theory
• focuses on the shared emotions, goals, and
  beliefs people bring to crowd behavior (Turner
  and Killian,1993).
• people with similar attributes find a
  collectivity of like-minded persons with whom
  they can express their underlying personal
  tendencies.
•  Emergent norm theory -
• crowds develop their own definition of the
  situation and establish norms for behavior that
  fits the occasion (Turner and Killian,1993).

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Social Movement Theories
Relative Deprivation People compare achievements, become discontent and join social movements to get their fair share.
Resource Mobilization People participate in social movements when the movement has access to key resources.
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Mass Behavior

• Mass behavior is collective behavior that takes
  place when people (who often are geographically
  separated from one another) respond to the same
  event in much the same way.

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Rumors and Gossip

• Rumors are unsubstantiated reports on an issue or
  subject (Rosnow and Fine, 1976).
• Rumors thrive when tensions are high and when
  little authentic information is available on an
  issue of great concern.
• Whereas rumors deal with an issue or a subject,
  gossip refers to rumors about the personal lives
  of individuals.

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Mass Hysteria and Panic

• is a form of dispersed collective behavior that
  occurs when a large number of people react with
  strong emotions and self-destructive behavior to
  a real or perceived threat.
• Although the term has been widely used, many
  sociologists believe that this behavior is best
  described as a panic with a dispersed audience.

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Fads and Fashions

• A fad is a temporary but widely copied activity
  enthusiastically followed by large numbers of
  people.
• Fashion is defined as a currently valued style of
  behavior, thinking, or appearance.
• Fashion also applies to art, music, drama,
  literature, architecture, interior design, and
  automobiles, among other things.
• Unlike fads, fashions tend to be longer lasting.

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Public Opinion

• Public opinion consists of the attitudes and
  beliefs communicated by ordinary citizens to
  decision makers (Greenberg and Page, 2002).
• Scholars who examine public opinion are
  interested in the extent to which the publics
  attitudes are communicated to decision makers and
  the effect (if any) that public opinion has on
  policy making (Turner and Killian, 1993).
• Propaganda is information provided by individuals
  or groups, that have a vested interest in
  furthering their own cause, or damaging an
  opposing one.

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Social Movements

• A social movement is an organized group that acts
  consciously to promote or resist change through
  collective action (Goldberg, 1991).
• Because social movements have not become
  institutionalized and are outside the political
  mainstream, they offer outsiders an opportunity
  to have their voices heard.

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Social Movement Theories

• Relative Deprivation Theory
• People who are satisfied with their present
  condition are less likely to seek social change.
  Social movements arise as a response to peoples
  perception that they have been deprived of their
  fair share (Rose,1982).

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Value-Added Theory

• Smelser asserted, six conditions are necessary
  and sufficient to produce social movements when
  they combine or interact in a particular
  situation
• Structural conduciveness.
• Structural strain.
• Spread of a generalized belief.
• Precipitating factors.
• Mobilization for action.
• Social control factors.

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Social Constructionist TheoryFrame Analysis

• Based on the assumption that a social movement is
  an interactive, symbolically defined, and
  negotiated process that involves participants,
  opponents and bystanders (Buechler, 2000).
• Our interpretation of the particulars of events
  and activities is dependent on the framework from
  which we perceive them.

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Resource Mobilization Theory

• Focuses on the ability of members of a social
  movement to acquire resources and mobilize people
  in order to advance their cause (Oberschall,
  1973 McCarthy and Zald, 1977).
• Resources include money, peoples time and
  skills, access to the media, and material goods,
  such as property and equipment.
• Assistance from outsiders is essential for social
  movements.

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Political Opportunity Theory

• Social protests are directly related to the
  political opportunities that potential protesters
  and movement organizers believe exist within the
  political system at any given point in time.
• Based on the assumption that social protests that
  take place outside of mainstream political
  institutions are deeply intertwined with more
  conventional political activities that take place
  inside these institutions.

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New Social Movement Theory

• Looks at a diverse array of collective actions
  and the manner in which those actions are based
  on politics, ideology, and culture.
• Examples of new social movements include
  ecofeminism and environmental justice movements.

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Polling Question

• Civil disobedience is better to use than militant
  activity for groups to get their point across for
  social change.
• Strongly agree
• Agree somewhat
• Unsure
• Disagree somewhat

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Types of Social Movements

• Reform movements seek to improve society by
  changing an aspect of the social structure.
• Revolutionary movements seek to bring about a
  total change in society.
• Religious movements seek to produce radical
  change in individuals and typically are based on
  spiritual or supernatural belief systems.

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Types of Social Movements

• Alternative movements seek limited change in some
  aspect of people's behavior.
• Resistance movements seek to prevent or undo
  change that has already occurred.

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Stages in Social Movements

• Preliminary stage - people begin to become aware
  of a threatening problem.
• Coalescence stage - people begin to organize and
  start making the threat known to the public.
• Institutionalization stage - organizational
  structure develops.

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Social Change in the Future

• In this chapter, we have focused on collective
  behavior and social movements as potential forces
  for social change in contemporary societies.
• A number of other factors also contribute to
  social change, including the physical
  environment, population trends, technological
  development, and social institutions.

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Quick Quiz

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• 1. A relatively large number of people who are in
  one another's immediate vicinity is a
• mass
• crowd
• collective
• social group

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Answer B

• A relatively large number of people who are in
  one another's immediate vicinity is a crowd.

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• 2. Relatively large gatherings of people who
  happen to be in the same place at the same time
  are a(n)
• acting crowd
• expressive crowd
• casual crowd
• mob

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Answer C

• Relatively large gatherings of people who happen
  to be in the same place at the same time are a
  casual crowd.

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• 3. Movements that seek to prevent change or to
  undo change that has already occurred are
• revolutionary movements
• alternative movements
• religious movements
• resistance movements

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Answer D

• Movements that seek to prevent change or to undo
  change that has already occurred are resistance
  movements.

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• 4. Movements that seek limited change in some
  aspect of people's behavior are
• alternative movements
• revolutionary movements
• religious movements
• resistance movements

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Answer A

• Movements that seek limited change in some aspect
  of people's behavior are alternative movements.

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• 5. ________ is based on the assumption that
  participants in social movements are rational
  people.
• Relative deprivation theory
• Social constructionist theory
• Value added theory
• Resource mobilization theory

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Answer D

• Resource mobilization theory is based on the
  assumption that participants in social movements
  are rational people.