Collective Behavior & Social Movements
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Transcript of Collective Behavior & Social Movements
Chapter 20
Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change
Chapter Outline Collective Behavior Social Movements Social Movement Theories Social Change in the Future
Collective Behavior Collective behavior is voluntary activity
engaged in by a large number of people and typically violates dominant-group norms and values.
Social change is the alteration, modification, or transformation of public policy, culture, or social institutions over time; such change is usually brought about by collective behavior.
Factors That Contribute to Collective Behavior
1. Structural factors that increase the chances of people responding in a particular way.
2. Timing.
3. Breakdown in social control mechanisms and corresponding feeling of normlessness.
How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior and Environmental Issues? True or False?
The environmental movement in the United States started in the 1960s.
How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior and Environmental Issues? False.
The environmental movement in the United States is the result of more than 100 years of collective action.
The first environmental organization, the American Forestry Association (now American Forests), originated in 1875.
How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior and Environmental Issues? True or False?
Sociologists have found that people in a community respond very similarly to natural disasters and to disasters caused by technological failures.
How Much Do You Know About Collective Behavior and Environmental Issues? False.
Most sociological studies have found that people respond differently to natural disasters and to technological disasters.
One of the major differences is the communal bonding that tends to occur following natural disasters, as compared with the extreme social conflict that may follow technological disasters.
Question All of the following are factors that contribute to
the likelihood that collective behavior will occur, except:
a. the presence of deviant behavior.b. structural factors that increase the chances
of people responding in a particular way.c. timing.d. a breakdown in social control mechanisms
and a corresponding feeling of normlessness.
Answer: a All of the following are factors that
contribute to the likelihood that collective behavior will occur, except the presence of deviant behavior.
Types of Crowd Behavior Casual crowds - people who happen to be in
the same place at the same time. Conventional crowds - people who come
together for a scheduled event and share a common focus.
Protest crowds - crowds that engage in activities intended to achieve political goals.
Types of Crowd Behavior Expressive crowds - people releasing
emotions with others who experience similar emotions.
Acting crowds - collectivities so intensely focused that they may erupt into violent behavior.
Expressive and Acting Crowds A mob is a highly emotional crowd whose
members engage in, or are ready to engage in, violence against a person, a category of people, or physical property.
A riot is violent crowd behavior fueled by deep-seated emotions but not directed at one target.
A panic is a form of crowd behavior that occurs when a large number of people react to a real or perceived threat with strong emotions and self destructive behavior.
Protest Crowds Protest crowds engage in activities intended to
achieve specific political goals. Examples: sit-ins, marches, boycotts,
blockades, and strikes. Some protests take the form of civil
disobedience - nonviolent action that seeks to change a policy or law by refusing to comply with it.
Question Revelers assembled at Mardi Gras or on
New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York is an example of:
a. protest crowds.
b. expressive and acting crowds.
c. conventional crowds.
d. panics.
Answer: b Revelers assembled at Mardi Gras or on
New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York is an example of expressive and acting crowds.
Question Have you ever participated in an
organized protest?
a. Yes
b. No
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.
Social unrest and circular reaction - the discontent of one person is communicated to another who reflects it back to the first person.
Explanations of Crowd Behavior Convergence theory - focuses on the
shared emotions, goals, and beliefs people bring to crowd behavior.
Emergent norm theory - crowds develop their own definition of the situation and establish norms for behavior that fits the occasion.
Question Convergence theory focuses on:
1. the social-psychological aspects of collective behavior, including how moods, attitudes, and behavior are communicated.
2. how social unrest is transmitted by a process of circular reaction.
3. the importance of social norms in shaping crowd behavior.
4. the shared emotions, goals, and beliefs many people bring to crowd behavior.
Answer: d Convergence theory focuses on the
shared emotions, goals, and beliefs many people bring to crowd behavior.
Mass Behavior Mass behavior is collective behavior that takes
place when people (who often are geographically separated from one another) respond to the same event in much the same way.
The most frequent types of mass behavior are rumors, gossip, mass hysteria, public opinion, fashions, and fads.
Mass Behavior Rumors are unsubstantiated reports on an
issue or subject. Gossip refers to rumors about the personal
lives of individuals. A fad is a temporary but widely copied activity
enthusiastically followed by large numbers of people.
Mass Behavior Fashion is defined as a currently valued style
of behavior, thinking, or appearance. Public opinion consists of the attitudes and
beliefs communicated by ordinary citizens to decision makers.
Propaganda—information provided by individuals or groups that have a vested interest in furthering their own cause or damaging an opposing one.
Social Movement Theories
Relative Deprivation
People compare achievements, become discontent and join social movements to
get their “fair share”.
Resource Mobilization
People participate in social movements when the movement has access to key
resources.
Social Movement Theories
New Social Movement
Focus on sources of social movements, including politics,
ideology, and culture.
Social Construction Theory:
Frame Analysis
Used to determine how people assign meaning to activities and processes
in social movements.
Social Movement Theories
New Social Movement
The focus is on sources of social movements, including politics, ideology, and culture. Race, class, gender, sexuality, and other sources of identity are alsofactors in movements such as ecofeminism and environmental justice.
•WALL STREET JOURNAL OCTOBER 5, 2009 FreedomWorks Harnesses Growing Activism on the Right
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS WASHINGTON -- When throngs of conservative protesters descended on the capital last month, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey led the crowd in a pro-market chant. "Freedom works!" he yelled. "Freedom works!"It wasn't just a rallying cry. It was also a plug for Mr. Armey's small-government advocacy group, FreedomWorks, which the Texas Republican hopes will emerge from a summer of political turmoil as the right's answer to such liberal activist groups as MoveOn.org.Little-known outside the Beltway, FreedomWorks is trying to achieve a delicate balance, tapping into an emotional conservative uprising -- which gained force during a series of raucous health-care town-hall meetings this summer -- without appearing to co-opt it."People are looking for a home; they don't have a home in the Republican Party and they don't have a home in the Democratic Party," says Brendan Steinhauser, the group's director of federal and state campaigns.The FreedomWorks strategy has been to lend financial clout and organizational skills to those running tea-party and town-hall demonstrations and others angry about Democratic health-care proposals, environmental bills and deficit spending. At the same time, it has been using those events to build its own membership rolls to more than 400,000 nationwide, according to the group.MoveOn.org claims more than five million online members. Organizing for America, an offshoot of President Barack Obama's campaign, boasts an email list 13 million names long."It's a loose-knit group of people, the tea-party patriots, and they don't know each other well," says Mr. Armey, who left the House in 2003. "Then there are grassroots groups like our own. I think we are the best out there. People are going to find us."Mr. Armey chairs both FreedomWorks Inc. and its foundation, with $7 million in combined revenue last year, according to tax filings. The group, which has fewer than 20 paid staffers, declines to identify its major donors. Steve Forbes, the former presidential candidate and president and CEO of publisher Forbes Inc., is on the board of FreedomWorks Foundation.
Example, Emerging Social Movement
Since its creation in 2004, FreedomWorks has championed conservative causes, from Social Security privatization to telecommunications deregulation. It lent its backing to the controversial payday-lending and tobacco industries.In February, when CNBC reporter Rick Santelli delivered an on-air angry tirade over government bailouts of troubled homeowners and announced a protest tea party, FreedomWorks staffers put together an "I am with Rick" Web site.FreedomWorks linked together would-be tea-party protesters and provided tips on everything from sound systems to news releases. Perhaps more importantly, FreedomWorks extended its liability-insurance policy to cover tea parties around the country, turning local events into FreedomWorks-branded ones, spokesman Adam Brandon says."I'm brand new at this game," says Mary Rakovich, a former automotive engineer who turned to FreedomWorks to help put together an event in Cape Coral, Fla.The Sept. 12 Washington protest was set in motion earlier in 2009 when FreedomWorks officials applied for a march permit, choosing the date because it followed Congress's return from recess, according to Mr. Brandon.Glenn Beck, the Fox News television commentator, seized on the date -- the day after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks -- as a symbol of what he called national unity and began promoting 9/12 demonstrations. (Fox is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.)The growing movement has turned off some high-profile conservative voices, such as former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, who worry that raucous displays and occasionally extreme language risk alienating moderates.And even as they ride the conservative wave, FreedomWorks officials worry about being seen as aspiring to control it. The movement has so far been reluctant to embrace a leader; many protesters seem deeply suspicious of those in authority."We're all leaders," says Maryann Clements, a Tallahassee, Fla., office worker who rode a bus to Washington for last month's demonstrations.—Naftali Bendavid contributed to this article.
Question Civil disobedience is better to use than
militant activity for groups to get their point across for social change.
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree somewhat
c. Unsure
d. Disagree somewhat
Question According to relative deprivation theory:
1. people who are satisfied with their present condition are likely to seek social change.
2. certain conditions are necessary for the development of a social movement.
3. people who feel they have been deprived of their "fair share" are more likely to feel that change is necessary and to join a social movement.
4. some people bring more resources to a social movement than others.
Answer: c According to relative deprivation theory
people who feel that they have been deprived of their "fair share" are more likely to feel that change is necessary and to join a social movement.
Value-Added Theory Conditions required for social
movements to develop:1. People are aware of a problem and
engage in collective action.2. Society cannot meet expectations for
taking care of the problem.3. Spread of a belief of possible
solutions to the problem.
Value-Added Theory
4. Events reinforce the beliefs.5. Mobilization of participants for action.6. Society allows the movement to take
action.
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.
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.
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.
The Earth’s Supply of Potable Water
Quick Quiz
1. A relatively large number of people who are in one another's immediate vicinity is a:
a. mass
b. crowd
c. collective
d. social group
Answer: b A relatively large number of people who
are in one another's immediate vicinity is a crowd.
2. Relatively large gatherings of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time are a(n):
a. acting crowd
b. expressive crowd
c. casual crowd
d. mob
Answer: c Relatively large gatherings of people
who happen to be in the same place at the same time are a casual crowd.
3. Movements that seek to prevent change or to undo change that has already occurred are:
a. revolutionary movements
b. alternative movements
c. religious movements
d. resistance movements
Answer: d Movements that seek to prevent change
or to undo change that has already occurred are resistance movements.
4. Movements that seek limited change in some aspect of people's behavior are:
a. alternative movements
b. revolutionary movements
c. religious movements
d. resistance movements
Answer: a Movements that seek limited change in
some aspect of people's behavior are alternative movements.
5. ________ is based on the assumption that participants in social movements are rational people.
a. Relative deprivation theory
b. Social constructionist theory
c. Value added theory
d. Resource mobilization theory
Answer: d Resource mobilization theory is based
on the assumption that participants in social movements are rational people.