Intro to Sociology- Ch. 21 Collective Behavior and Social Movements

Collective behavior

actions by a group of people who bypass the usual norms that governs their behavior and so something unusual 

Collective behavior can also be a broad term that including not only lynching and riots, but also

rumors, panics, fads, and fashions

Who began the study of collective behavior?

Charles Mackay

When people are in crowds, they tend to do what?

Things that they typically would never do. Such things as, violence or disgraceful stuff.

What cointed term did Charles Macky

“Herd mentality” they were like a herd of cows that suddenly stampede

Who built onto Charles Mackay idea?

Charles Lebon

Gustave Lebon suggested, people feel anonymous in crowds and less _______ for what they do. They start to develop feelings of invincibility of thinking they can do almost anything

accountable

Collective mind

People are swept by almost any highly suggestion (Tendency of people in a crowd to feel, think, and in extraordinary ways)

Circular reaction

circular reaction of social unrest, which communicates back-and-forth communication among the members of a crowd that produces a “collective impulse” that comes to “dominate all members of the crowd”

Acting crowd

an excited group that moves towards a goal (protesting and going to streets demanding change from both the company and the government.

Miling

a crowd standing or walking around as they talk excitedly about some event

Acting crowds are not always

negative, destructive, and does not concern about serious matters

Actual, crowds are actually quite ______ and take deliberate steps to reach some goal of theirs

rational

Minimax stragety

minimize our costs and maximize our rewards (in crowds, the fewer the costs and the greater the rewards that people anticipate, the more likely they are to carry out a particular act

Collective behavior is a _______ behavior

unusual

Emergent norms

Ralph Turner and Lewis Kilian’s term for the idea that people develop new norms to cope with a new situation; used to explain crowd behaviors (Life usually proceeds pretty much as we expect it to) 

To deal with new events, what occurs?

New norms may emerge

Ego-involved

feel a personal stake in the unusual event (emotionally connected to the event)

Concerned

Have a personal interest in the event, but less so than the ego-involved (Join in, they, too influence the crowd)

Insecure

care little about the matter; they join the crowd because it gives them a sense of power, security, or belonging (if things get heated, they may also join in)

Curious spectators

care little about the issue; they are simply curious about what is going on (if things get heated, they may also join in)

Exploiters

don’t care about the event; they use it for their own purpose, such as selling food or T-shirts (unlikely to participate, they do lead passive support to the crowd)

_____ ______ emphasizes that collective behavior is rational

New norms

Riot

violent crowd behavior directed at people and property (frustion and anger uproots)

Precipitating events

bring up pent-up feelings to a boiling point, and they erupt in collective violence

What is the event that is the match that lights the fuel? Without the fuel of anger, resentment, and tension, there is no riot

Precipitating events

Minorities with good jobs and middle-class lifestyles can also be treated as

second-class citizens

Opportunities also particpate in riots for their own personal gain

They loot stores and steal things

Rumor 

is unverified information that one person passes to another 

Rumors thrieve on

ambiguity (unclear or vagueness) missing information

More rumors are ________, but can have a long life

short-lived

Rumors can be killed by

facts

What are the two key things in rumors?

importance and sources

Panic

occurs when people become so fearful that they cannot function normally and may even flee a situation they perceive as threathening

Panic can cause widespread of ______ about world conditions

anxiety

Panic can be based on ________ events

exaggerated

Not everyone panics, because

many people continue to act responsibly

However, panics can cause devastasing

consequences

Role extension

a role being stretched to include activities that are not originally part of that role

Mass hysteria

an imagined threat causes physical symptoms among a large number of people (clown, witch trails)

Moral panics

fear that some evil threatens that well-being of society, followed by hostility, sometimes violence, toward those though responsible (child predators, pedos, and so on)

What feeds moral panics?

the media and rumors

Moral panics thrives on what?

uncertainty, fear, and anxiety

Fads

temporary pattern of behavior that catches people’s attention. New behaviors appear suddenly and spreads rapidly (stanleys, hydro cups, etc)

Fads will fade away after a short life

but some reappear from time to time

Very short, intense fads are called

crazes (tickle me elmo, fidget spinners, etc)

When a fads lasts, it is called

fashion

Fashion

a pattern of behavior that catches people’s attention and lasts longer than a fads (clothing, furniture, foods, and expression of words)

Urban legend

a story with an ironic twist that sounds realistic is false/fake… passed on by people who heard from a “friend of a friend”

Social moveents

a large group of people who are organized to promote or resists some social change

Social movements holds strong ideas about what?

what is wrong with the world- or some parts of it- and how to make things rights (civil rights, women’s rights, and the environment)

Proactive social movement

a social movement that promotes some social change

Reactive social movement

a social movement whose goal is to resist some social change (feel threatened because some condition of society is changing, resist the change)

Social movement organizations

an organization to promote the goals of a social movement (promote social changes, NAACP)

Leaders of social movements uses attention-grabbing devices, from marches and protest rallies  to what?

to recruit followers and publicize their grievances 

Social movements can be considered a

rolling sea

Few social movements appear and then what happens?

a wave of more social movements starts rolling in 

Cultural crisis can give birth to a wave of

social movements (society institutions fail to keep up with social change, people need go unfilled, unrest follows, etc.)

What is the goal of social change?

social movements

Social movements can target who?

individuals

Alternative social movements

seek to alter some specific behaviors (Woman’s Christan Temperance Union goal was to get people to stop drinking alcohol 

Redemptive social movements

target individuals, but their foals are total change (converts to Christ, the entire person is supposed to change, not specific behaviors)

What two types of social movements targets society?

Reformative and Transformative social movements 

Reformative social movements are

seek to reform some specific aspect of society (animal’s rights movements, child abuse—- ways society views and treats animals)

Transformative social movements

seek to transform the social order itself; members want to replace the social order with their vision of the good society (American colonies, China, Cuba, France, and Russia; political revolutions)

Millenarian social movement

social movement based on prophecy of coming social upheaval (

What is a type of milenarian movement?

cargo cult

Cargo cult

social movement in which South Pacific islanders destroyed their possessions in the anticipation that their ancestors would ship them new goods.

Transnational social movements (new social movements)

want to change specific condition that cuts across societies (center of improving the quality of life; third-wave feminism, environmentalism)

Metaformative social movements

is to change the social order itself— not just of a specific country but of an entire civilization or even the whole world (change ideas and practices of race, ethnicity, class, gender, family, religion, and government) 

The ideas of metaformative social movements were composed by who?

communist social movements

Metaformative social movements today, have different what?

goals and tactics (ISIS and Al-Qaeda)

Social movements can choose from a variety of what?

tactics

Inner core

people who are the most committed to the movement (cores set the groups’ goals, timetables, and strategies )

Second level

committed to the movement, but less so than the inner core (counted on to show up for demonstrations and do grunt work- helo with mailings, pass out petitions, etc)

Third level

wider circle of people who are less committed and less dependable (participation depends on convenience- if an activity doesn’t interfere with something else, they want to do, they will engage)

Tactics that a group uses depend largely on what?

background and predispositions of the inner core

Sympathetic public

people largely agree with the movement, but they have no commitment to it

Second public is Hostile

opposing values and want to stop the social movement

Third public is disinterested

either unaware of the social movement, or is aware, they are indifferent to it

When selecting tactics, the leaders must pay attention to what?

to the public (seek strategies that they think will elicit the sympathetic public’s support, and they avoid tactics that they might alienate this group)

Public opinion

how people think about some issue (mass media to influence their social movement)

Propaganda

broad sense, the presentation of information in an attempt to influence people; in its narrow sense, one-sided information used to try to influence people

Propaganda used to be ______ however it has shifted and have a negative connotation to it

positive

Mass media are the _______ to social movements

gatekeepers

Social movements are fed by a sense of

injustice (a strong conviction that some condition of society can no longer be tolerated)

Social movements have a sense of outrage in which something must be _______ or that some change is fundamentally _______

change; wrong

Relative deprivation theory

theory centers on people who feel they are deprived relative to others (join a social movement to improve their position; money, justice, status, or privilege)

Relative deprivation theory

provides excellent insight into revolution (fuel human desire or improving conditions can spark revolutions)

Declining privilege theory

focuses on people who have enjoyed relatively good circumstances in life, but whose status and power are declining (are prone to membership in social movements 

Agent PRovocateur

someone who spies on a group or ties to sabotage it (people protecting, they are demanding change, and it conflicts with the ruling officials (the government)

Militarization of social institutions

the use of social institutions to fulfill military goals

Social movement must focus on a problems that concerns who?

a large number of people; a broad problem

The consequences of social movement can be what?

good or bad

Resource mobilization

mobilizing resources such as time, money, and people’s skills; the ideas that social movements succeed or fail based on their ability to mobilize resources 

What are the five stages of acting crowd?

Background condition of social unrest, exciting event, milling occurs where people discuss the event, common object of attention emerges, stimulation of common impulses

What are the five stages of social movements?

Initial unrest and agitation, resource mobilization (time, money, skills, organization, institutionalization, and decline and death 

Riot

violent crowd behavior directed at people and property