Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change

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Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social
Change

• Chapter 15

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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.

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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.
3. Breakdown in social control mechanisms and
   corresponding feeling of normlessness.

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Crowd and Mass

• Crowd is a relatively large number of people who
  are in one anothers immediate vicinity.
• Tend to share an interest
• Mass is a number of people who share an interest
  in a specific idea or issue but are not in one
  anothers immediate vicinity.
• Politicians

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Types of Crowd Behavior

• Expressive crowds - people releasing emotions
  with others who experience similar emotions.
• Funerals, religious services
• Acting crowds - crowds so intensely focused that
  they may erupt into violent behavior.
• All crowds can become acting crowds

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Types of Crowd Behavior

• Casual crowds - people who happen to be in the
  same place at the same time.
• Mall, subway
• Conventional crowds - people who come together
  for a scheduled event and share a common focus.
• Sporting events, concerts
• Protest crowds - crowds that engage in activities
  intended to achieve political goals.
• Civil disobedience or acting crowd

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Acting Crowds

• Moba highly emotional crowd whose members engage
  in, or are ready to engage in, violence against a
  specific target.
• Person, category of people, or property.
• Riotviolent crowd behavior that is fueled by
  deep-seated emotions but is not directed at a
  specific target.
• Not always a result of anger
• Panica form of crowd behavior that occurs when a
  large number of people react to a real or
  perceived threat with strong emotions and
  self-destructive behavior.
• People trying to escape from danger

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Explanations of Crowd BehaviorWhy do people act
collectively?

• Contagion Theory - People are more likely to
  engage in antisocial behavior in a crowd because
  they are anonymous and feel invulnerable.
• Social unrest and circular reaction - 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.
•  Emergent norm theory - crowds develop their own
  definition of the situation and establish norms
  for behavior that fits the occasion.

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Mass Behavior

• Mass behavior is behavior that occurs when people
  (may not be in same area) act in the same way.
• Results from having common information
• Rumors
• Gossip

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Mass Behavior

• Mass hysteriaa dispersed panic.
• Behavior is that of panic but not everyone is in
  the same location.
• A widespread panic.

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Public Opinion and Propaganda

• Public Opinionattitudes and beliefs communicated
  by ordinary citizens and decision makers.
• Measured through polls and surveys
• Propagandainformation provided by groups or
  individuals that have an interest in furthering
  their own cause or damaging an opposing one.

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Social Movements

• Social movement is an organized group that acts
  consciously to promote or resist change through
  collective action.
• Start at grassroots levels
• Diversity contributes

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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 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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Social Movement Theories
New Social Movement Focus on sources of social movements, including politics, ideology, and culture.
Social Construction Theory Frame Analysis Used to determine how people assign meaning to activities and processes in social movements.
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Value-Added Theory

• Conditions required for social movements to
  develop
• People are aware of a problem and engage in
  collective action.
• Society cannot meet expectations for taking care
  of the problem.
• Spread of a belief of possible solutions to the
  problem.

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Value-Added Theory

1. Events reinforce the beliefs.
2. Mobilization of participants for action.
3. Society allows the movement to take action.

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Social Change in the Future

• The world continues to change environmentally,
  politically, and economically.
• As a result, the world will experience changes
  in population, technology, and social
  institutions.
• It is important to be aware of social elements
  and how we need to react and adapt in the future
  to benefit society.