Collective Behavior And Social Movements

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Chapter 22

• Collective Behavior And Social Movements

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Chapter Outline

• Characteristics Of Collective Behavior
• Crowds
• Riots
• Collective Preoccupations
• Social Movements
• Diversity, Globalization and Social Change

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Characteristics of Collective Behavior

1. Represent the actions of groups of people, not
   individuals.
2. Involve new relationships that arise in unusual
   or unexpected circumstances.
3. Capture the changing elements of society more
   than other forms of social action.

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Characteristics of Collective Behavior

1. May mark the beginnings of more organized social
   behavior.
2. Exhibit patterned behavior, not the irrational
   behavior of crazed individuals.
3. Usually appear to be highly emotional, even
   volatile.

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Characteristics of Collective Behavior

1. Involve people communicating extensively through
   rumors.
2. Are often associated with efforts to achieve
   social change.

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Crowds

• Involve groups of people coming together.
• Usually transitory, volatile, and have a sense of
  urgency.
• Distinctly social, not individual, forms of
  behavior.

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Panic

• Three factors characterize panic situations
• A perceived threat.
• Possible entrapment.
• A failure of front-to-rear communication - people
  at the rear of the crowd push to the front of the
  crowd.

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Three Types of Riots

• Commodity riots - property, not people, is the
  object of attack.
• Communal riots - violent outbursts in which
  civilians riot against other civilian groups.
• Political riots - against a government policy or
  treatment by government officials.

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Characteristics That Make Cities Prone to Riots

• Economic deprivation of racial-ethnic minority
  groups.
• Failure to address the grievances of the rioting
  group.
• A rapid influx of new populations.
• A precipitating event and failure of social
  control mechanisms.
• The resources to initiate and sustain rebellious
  activity.

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What Stops Riots?

• Goals of the protest groups have been satisfied.
• Actions of social control agents end violence.
• Political situation changes.
• Discontent has been regulated by the expansion of
  relief services.

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Collective Preoccupations

• Often begin within a small group of people
  involved in face-to-face interaction.
• Involve some aspect of social change.
• Provide opportunities for participants to belong
  to a group while differentiating themselves from
  other groups.

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Types of Collective Preoccupations

• Fads provide a sense of unity and a sense of
  differentiation.Examples inline skates, hula
  hoops, streaking, popular heroes, words and
  phrases (yo!, cool).
• Fashion can mark inequality between
  groups.Examples hairstyles, clothing, jewelry.

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Types of Collective Preoccupations

• Hysterical contagions involve the spread of
  symptoms of an illness when there is no disease
  present.
• Scapegoating commonly targets racial minority
  groups and other groups perceived by the dominant
  group to be a threat.

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Type of Social Movements

• Personal transformation movementshippie, new age
• Social change movementsenvironmental and animal
  rights movements
• Reactionary movements Aryan Nation, Right-to-Life

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Elements Necessaryfor Social Movements

1. Pre-existing communication network.
2. Pre-existing grievance.
3. Precipitating incident.
4. Ability to mobilize.

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Theories of Social Movements

• Resource mobilization theory - social movements
  develop when people can compete for and gain
  resources needed for mobilization
• Political process theory - social changes
  provide the conditions that spawn social
  movements.

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Theories of Social Movements

• New movement theory links culture, ideology, and
  identity to explain how people in groups frame
  events, and how new identities are forged within
  social movements.