Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change

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Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social
Change
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Collective Behavior

• Voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is
  engaged in by a large number of people and
  typically violates dominant group norms and
  values
• Types of collective behavior may be distinguished
  by the dominant emotion expressed.
• In contrast, institutionalized behavior refers to
  activity that is guided by firmly established
  norms.
• Going to school, movies, working etc.

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Factors That Contribute to Collective Behavior

• Structural factors that increase the chances of
  people responding in a particular way
• Timing
• Breakdown in social control mechanisms and
  corresponding feeling of normlessness

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The Collective Behavior Continuum
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Explaining Collective Behavior

• Value-Added Theory (Neil Smelser)
• Argued that 6 conditions must be present for
  collective behavior to occur
• Society is structurally conducive to the
  occurrence of collective behavior
• Structural strain
• Generalized belief of what is wrong and what
  could be done
• Precipitating incident sparks collective behavior
• Mobilization of action
• Agents of social control conducive to the
  collective action

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Value-Added Theory Example

• The Los Angeles Riots (1992)
• The 1st amendment to the constitution gave
  rioters the right to assemble.
• There was a long time strain between the LAPD and
  the local African American population.
• A general feeling already existed that the social
  ills faced by African Americans were the product
  of Racism, then came the acquittal of the four
  officers charged with beating Rodney King.
• Once a few started to act and television gave
  coverage to them, the activity started to spread.
• Early inaction by the police prolonged events and
  allowed it to grow.

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Crowds v. Masses

• Crowd a relatively large number of people who
  are in one anothers immediate vicinity
• Mass a number of people who share an interest
  in a specific idea or issue but who are not in
  one anothers immediate vicinity (for example,
  bloggers)

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Types of Crowds

• Casual crowds - people who happen to be in the
  same place at the same time, may share momentary
  interest and a few emergent norms (e.g., people
  in a subway car or at a shopping mall)
• Conventional crowds - people who come together
  for a scheduled event share a common focus and
  generally act in line with institutionalized
  norms (e.g., people at a concert, college
  lecture, or ceremony)

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Types of Crowds (contd.)

• Expressive crowds - people releasing emotions
  with others who experience similar emotions
  dominant expression is joy (e.g., Mardi Gras, New
  Years)
• Acting crowds - collectivities so emotionally
  focused that they may erupt into violent
  behavior hostility toward a singular target as
  in a mob, or a range of shifting targets as in a
  riot
• Protest crowds - crowds that engage in activities
  intended to achieve political goals, generally
  non-violent and contain leadership (e.g., sit-ins)

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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.
• Crowd excitement is contagious and breaks down
  the restraint of individuals.
• Collective behavior is understood as irrational,
  people will do things in a collectivity that they
  will not do alone.
• LA Riots

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Explanations of Crowd Behavior

• Convergence theory
• focuses on the shared emotions, goals, and
  beliefs people bring to crowd behavior.
• People with similar attributes find a
  collectivity of like-minded persons with whom to
  express their personal tendencies.
• Collective behavior is understood as rational.
• Black Hawk Down

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Explanations of Crowd Behavior

• Emergent norm theory -
• tied to Symbolic Interactionism.
• When expectations are vague, crowds develop their
  own definition of the situation and establish
  norms for behavior that fits the occasion.
• Collective behavior is understood as rational,
  and people are free to leave if crowd behavior
  begins to offend them.
• Political Rally

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Deindividuation

• People are not identified personally and, thus,
  some of the parameters that normally guide
  behavior are not present. People less concerned
  with social evaluation and feel less
  accountability for their actions. Promoted by
  numbers and uniformity.
• Halloween Trick-or-Treating study kids who were
  not asked their names only took one piece of
  candy (Diener et al., 1976)
• Suicide baiting more likely when crowd is
  larger, distance between crowd and suicidal
  person is greater, and when it is night (Mann,
  1981)
• Egypt

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Opener

• Opener
• Which theory on crowd behavior explains this
  video clip the best? Explain.
• Video

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Types of Mass Behavior

• Rumors and Gossip
• Unverified information passed informally from
  person to person
• Sociologists ask how rumors serve to solve
  problems and reduce anxiety
• Thrive in times of uncertainty
• Gossip - rumors about personal affairs
• Urban Legend - rumors recounting scary events,
  often offer life lessons

• Mass Hysteria
• Intense, fearful, and seemingly irrational
  reaction to a perceivedbut often misunderstood
  or imaginarythreat
• Fads and Fashions
• Periodic popularity of styles
• Occurs most frequently in modern societies where
  change is appreciated
• Public Opinion
• Attitudes and beliefs communicated by ordinary
  citizens to decision makers

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Fads of the Decades
1980s
1960s
1920s
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Mass Hysteria and PanicThe War of the Worlds

• Halloween Eve, 1938
• Actor Orson Welles performed a radio
  dramatization of H.G. Wellss science-fiction
  classic The War of the Worlds.
• CBS radio dance music program suddenly
  interrupted by a news bulletin informing the
  audience that Martians had landed in New Jersey
  and were conquering Earth.
• Although listeners informed before, during, and
  after the broadcast that this was fictitious
  dramatization, many became fearful. An estimated
  1 million of the 10 million listeners believed
  that these events had actually occurred.
• Halloween Eve, 1988
• A Portuguese radio station rebroadcast the
  original program on the 50th anniversary, and
  again panic ensued.

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Opener

• What classification of Mass Behavior is this
  example?
• Video

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Social Movement

• An organized group that acts consciously to
  promote or resist change through collective
  action (using at least some unconventional or
  un-institutionalized methods)

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The 1960s

• Examine this timeline.
• Identify a few events that could be deemed a
  social movement
• Could any of these events inspire a social
  movement to form?

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Propaganda

• Information provided by individuals or groups
  that have a vested interest in furthering their
  own cause or damaging an opposing one.
• WWI
• WWII

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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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Activity

• Examine the lyrics of Bob Dylans songs and the
  timeline together.
• As a group decide what real events he is
  describing in his words.
• Why do you think he believes times are changing

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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
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What Types of People Join Social Movements?

• Individuals that are deeply committed to a set of
  goals
• Those that support the goals of the movement
• Those who enjoy being a part of the social
  movement (insecure)
• Those that are curious about social movement
  activities
• Those that use the social movements activities
  for their own personal interests

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How are age and education related to support for
social movement activity?
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What type of social movement activities would you
support?
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What is Social Change?

• Alterations that occur over time and involve
  elements of the societys social structure,
  culture and patterns of behavior
• Continual and universal
• Sometimes social change is planned, but in many
  instances it is not

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Factors affecting whether or not social change
will be welcomed

• What is the source of social change?
• Is there a strong sense of need for social
  change?
• Does the change involve aspects of the material
  or nonmaterial culture?
• Material ideas are welcomed more
• Does the source of social change conform to the
  values of the society?
• More divergent forms will likely face resistance

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Sources of Social Change

• New Ideas
• Changes in thought can have significant impacts
  on different aspects of society
• Examples
• The Enlightenment
• The Protestant Reformation and its development of
  a unique work ethic has been argued to be the
  spur of capitalism
• New Technology
• An especially important engine of social change
• As seen with the industrial revolution, emerging
  technologies can cause populations to increase
  rapidly and to overwhelming size

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Sources of Social Change

• Natural Environment
• Humans constantly must adapt to changes in the
  physical environment
• Some changes are gradual (Global Warming) and
  some changes are dramatic (Earthquake or Tornado)
• Demographic Change
• Growth of population was a major source of change
  throughout the world the last century
• Not only change in size of population, but change
  in its composition has major consequences
• What are the upcoming consequences of growth in
  the aged population for the United States?

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Sources of Social Change

• Government
• The emergence of strong centralized governments
  has given opportunities to considerable social
  change
• Support of calls for change (Civil Rights
  Movement)
• Development of various social programs (Social
  Security Administration)
• Competition and War
• In an increasing global economy countries
  frequently compete with one another to get an
  advantage
• War and preparation for it has led to the
  development of new technologies, shifts in
  populations, and a rethinking of cultural values
• What impact did WWII have on the U.S economy or
  on gender norms?

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Social Change in the Developing World

• Much development in non-developed nations is
  dependent on aid from other nations
• Note that the U.S. is the largest giver of aid,
  but that it gives the least in comparison to its
  overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP - value of
  all that is produced within).

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Past and Future Giving by the U.S.
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What is U.S. Aid going toward?