Collective Behavior and Social Movements Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from a lecture on collective behavior and social movements.

Collectivity

An unstructured group of individuals who come together briefly to engage in an activity.

Collective Behavior

Actions that happen due to collectivity; unstructured, unpredictable, spontaneous, and emotional.

Contagion Theory

Powerful emotions can be passed from person to person in a crowd; individuals lose individuality and become a crowd due to the power of suggestion.

Convergence Theory

Mobs are brought together by similar predispositions or beliefs.

Structural Strain Theory

Collective behavior depends on crowd dynamics and social context and is influenced by social conduciveness and social strain.

Emergent Norm Theory

People in a crowd see themselves as similar, act together, and create a new 'norm'.

Casual Crowd

A crowd that forms spontaneously at an event with little interaction among members.

Conventional Crowd

A crowd that forms at a structured event like a lecture, where individuals have a goal but little interaction.

Expressive Crowd

A crowd that gathers at an emotionally charged event (e.g., New Year’s Eve).

Active Crowd

An emotional group that exhibits violent, destructive behavior (e.g., at sporting events).

Panic

Crowd behavior characterized by fear or perceived danger.

Mob Behavior

Frustration and hostility in a crowd; if violent, it becomes a riot.

Deindividuation

Loss of sense of individuality, including loss of self-awareness, reduced responsibility, and decreased concern about how others view behavior.

Fad

A temporary, popular interest or activity.

Craze

An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, often short-lived (e.g., dotcom schemes).

Fashion

A currently popular style or practice (e.g., hair length, clothes).

Mass Hysteria

A collective obsessive behavior, often irrational or unfounded (e.g., Salem Witch Trials).

Rumor

Unverified information given out because real information is unavailable.

Urban Myth

A modern folklore consisting of stories believed to be true, often with humorous or horrific elements (e.g., alligators in the sewers).

Popular Opinion

Beliefs of the public, often influenced by mass media.

Propaganda

Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

Social Movements

Collective efforts to bring about social or political change; goal-oriented, structured, long-lasting, and involving many participants and leaders.

Activist

Someone who takes assertive action that supports or opposes a controversial issue.

Civil Disobedience

Nonviolent protest where an individual deliberately and publicly disobeys a law they believe is unjust, accepting the consequences.

Expressive Social Movement

A social movement aimed at changing individual behavior (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous).

Progressive Social Movement

A social movement aimed at making positive change in organizations (e.g., Civil Rights Movement).

Regressive Social Movement

A social movement aimed at preventing change or going back to old ways (e.g., movements against affirmative action).

Reform Social Movement

A social movement that advocates for major change without total transformation (e.g., increasing gun control).

Revolutionary Social Movement

A social movement advocating for radical shift, often violently (e.g., American Revolution).

Utopian Social Movement

A social movement aimed at creating an ideal society (e.g., 1960s-1970s counterculture).

Relative Deprivation Theory

People feel deprived compared to others, leading to social movements.

Resource Mobilization Theory

Deprived groups find and utilize resources to fuel social movements.

Stages of a Social Movement

Emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline.