Chapter 16
Collective Behavior,
Social Movements,
and Social Change
Chapter Outline
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Collective Behavior
Social Movements
Social Movement Theories
Social Change in the Future
Factors That Contribute to
Collective Behavior
1.
2.
3.
Structural factors that increase the chances
of people responding in a particular way.
Timing.
Breakdown in social control mechanisms and
corresponding feeling of normlessness.
Types of Crowd Behavior
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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
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Expressive crowds - people releasing
emotions with others who experience similar
emotions.
Acting crowds - collectivities so intensely
focused that they may erupt into violent
behavior.
Explanations of Crowd Behavior
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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
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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.
Social Movement Theories
Relative
People compare their achievements with
Deprivation others, become discontent and join social
movements to get their “fair share”.
Resource People participate in social movements
Mobilization only 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
Value-Added Conditions necessary for development of
social movements:
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.
4.
Events reinforce the beliefs.
5.
Mobilization of participants for action.
6.
Society allows the movement to take action.
Types of Social Movements
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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
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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
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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.