Abridged Working Group Report- Exam 2

main argument

how student behavior, group dynamics, campus traditions, alcohol-related partying, and institutional responses can interact to prodcue a large-scale disturbance

biggest idea

the riot is not necessarily explained by one person’s behavior or one isolated incident, it can develop as a crowd grows, people influence on another, and the situation escalates

what happened

-in the early morning of April 18, 2004, a disturbance developed into a large crowd riot in ames

-the disturbance was part of a broader pattern of campus riots that were often associated with celebration rather than a specific political protest

individual behavior is only part of the explanation

individual choices matter, but understanding a social event also requires examining the environment in which those choices occur

does everybody participate in the riot

no, this does not mean that everyone in the crowd participates in violence or that people lose all personal responsibility, it means that group interactions can affect individual decisions

why do institutions and authorities matter

institutions help shape the conditions in which social behavior occurs