Collective Behaviorand

Social Movement

Collective Behavior

What shall be discussed by us? Defining Collective Behavior Forms of Collective Behavior Theories of Collective Behavior Defining Social Movements Formation of Social Movements Types of Social Movements Decline of Social Movements Theories of Social Movements

Social Change

“Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of

a society”.

Social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviors, or social relations.

How does social change take place?

Social changes may occur in two ways:

Within one society (e.g., a revolution that brings a new government).

Within multiple societies (e.g., globalization brings a fast-food restaurant or department store to places previously without them).

Collective Behavior

“Spontaneous activities that involve large numbers of people violating

established customs”.

Collective behavior occurs when people react to something new or unfamiliar.

The results may be insignificant, surprising, or even cause temporary changes.

Social Movement

“Organized collective activities that deliberately seek to create or resist

social change”.

It is caused as a result of collective behavior.

Social movements purposely result in long-term, sweeping changes.

Collective Action

“Activities that bring about a lasting change are called collective action”.

• Social movements result in collective action.

• Collective action also overlaps with interests in a number of other disciplines.

Forms of Collective Behavior

There are five forms of collective behavior, namely: Fashions and Fads Rumors Urban Legends Mass Hysteria Crowds

Forms of Collective Behavior

Collective behaviors take a variety of forms, all of great interest to sociologists.Several of those forms are discussed here.

Fashions and Fads Rumors Urban Legends Mass Hysteria Crowds

Fashions and Fads• Fashion:

“is a social pattern of behavior or appearance embraced by large numbers of people for a long period of time.”

Fashions and Fads• Fashion and thought of different

sociologists:• Herbert Blumer :“ viewed fashion as a form of modern collective social life scarcely to be found in settled societies, such as primitive tribes, peasant societies, or caste societies,

which cling to what is established and has been sanctioned through long usage”

(1968)

Fashions and FadsFashion: Thought of different sociologist:

(cont)• Georg Simmel:

“studied the sociology of fashion a century ago. He saw the wealthy as fashion trendsetters,

with others following their example”. (1957)

• Thorstein Veblen :“suggested that some people buy expensive things to

show that they could afford them. He called this conspicuous consumption”.

(1967)

Fashions and Fads• Pierre Bourdieu:

“also looked at the selection of products as related to, and reinforcing, social position”.

(1984)

Fashions and Fads• Fads:

“are typically seen as relatively novel behaviors that appear suddenly, spread rapidly, are enthusiastically embraced by a large number of people for a short period of time, and then mostly disappear ”.• Sometimes called crazes.

Rumor• Rumors:

“are unverified information spread through informal social interaction, and often derived from

unknown sources”. Allport and Postman: Rumor thrives when the subject is important as well as when accurate and reliable information on the topic is lacking or ambiguous.

(1947)

Rumor• Although they can address any topic, most

rumors involve some aspect of our everyday lives. That makes them seem relevant to many people. They may be either false or true, or at

least have some aspect of correct information in them.

(1947)

RumorMiller: summarizes a wide variety of rumors that deal with productswe use in our daily lives (e.g., the quality or content of food products), disasters(the presence of dangerous situations or outcomes), and atrocities (e.g., wartimeacts). He notes that the Internet has provided an especially fertile place for conspiracyrumors to flourish and has also made the spread

of rumors even faster. (2000)

urban legendsurban legends: “are realistic but untrue stories that recount some

alleged recent event.”• They are typically entertaining tales of ironic and

incredible things that have happened to some “friend of a friend.” The sources of, or

eyewitnesses to, these alleged events are difficult, if not impossible, to trace or verify.

Urban legends, like rumor, thrive on ambiguity and the possibility that the alleged event

occurred. They may even be a very persistent form of rumor.

4. Mass Hysteria

“A reaction in which people become excited to the point of losing their

critical-thinking abilities and acting irrationally.”.

• A classic example of mass hysteria is the Halloween 1938 War of the Worlds radio-theater broadcast.

War of the Worlds

It occurred when Orson Welles caused thousands of listeners to believe that an actual Martian invasion was taking place. The hour-long radio broadcast was narrated in a news bulletin format without any commercial breaks.

War of the Worlds (cont’d)

It caused many in the audience to become hysterical, reporting that they could smell poison gas or see lightning flashes in the distance. According to some historians, approximately six million people heard the broadcast. 1.7 million thought it was true, and out of those, 1.2 million actually exhibited hysterical behavior.

5. Crowd

“A crowd is a temporary collection of people in physical proximity who interact and have a common focus”.

Sociologists have identified different types of crowds. Some are discussed below:

Casual Crowd

“People who just happen to be at the same place at the same time.”

Examples:• People gathering at the scene of a car

accident• Watching a crane place a steel beam on a

high-rise building.

Crowd Crystals

“Something or someone who draw attention to themselves in some

manner”.Example:• A street-corner preacher or someone

slipping on an icy road might draw a casual crowd.

Conventional Crowd

“These are deliberate gatherings bound by norms of behavior.”

Examples:• Attendees at a wedding• Fans at a rock concert

Expressive Crowd

“A crowd that forms specifically around events with emotional meaning for the members”.

Examples• The championship game of a basketball

tournament.• A religious revival.• A political rally.

When a crowd gets emotional• When emotions become intense, the result

may be a crowd in action.

• As the crowd members interact, the emotional intensity builds into behavior that may be destructive or aggressive.

• The result may be a mob or even a riot.

Mob versus Riot• Mobs are crowds that take action toward

an emotionally driven goal.

• Riots involve public disorder that is less directed and may be of longer duration than mob behavior.

Need for Collective Behaviour Theories

In the behavioural sciences;Sociologist were normally concerned with the reason why people behave collectively the way they do.They monitor the spontaneity of the behaviourThey observe the factors that influence the behaviour of people collectively

Various Collective Behaviour Theories

Contagion TheoryInitially developed by Gustave Le Bon but later refined by Herbert Blumer.Being swept up in a crowd results in a hypnotic sort of influence on individualsConscious personalities, personal will, discernment, and restraint disappearLater researchers criticised this as over-simplistic

Emergent-Norm Theory

The Theory imply the emergence of new norms as events occur.Development of norms are influenced by the communication and cues circulating among the crowd. It is guided by the emerging leaders as the situation progresses.Implications of this theory are most commonly linked with the aftermath of World Trade Centre bombings.

Value Added TheoryAs the name value-added theory implies, various factors adds something of value to the collective action.According to Neil Smelser (1962), together there are six factors that set the stage for collective action as people react to situations and events.These six factors include; structural conduciveness structural strain generalised beliefs precipitating factors mobilization for action breakdown of social control

Social Movements Defined Social movements are any

broad social alliances of people who are connected through their shared interests in blocking or affecting social change. Social movements do not have to be formally organized. Multiple alliances may work separately for common causes and still be considered as a social movement.

Social Movements Defined (CON,T) Social movement may also

refer to organized collective activities to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society.

Likewise social movement is defined as “collective enterprises to establish a new order of life”.

Types of social movements

Redemptive Movements Redemptive movements

are usually religious in Nature which do not attempt to change the society but specifically, target change in society.

Alternative Movements Alternative movements seek

total change among individuals. Examples are students, organization, civic societies, non-government organization or government organization campaigning to people, especially the young’s one, to steer clear of prohibited drugs.

REFORMATIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

• Seeks a partial change of society

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE AND CHILD LABOR

TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIAL MOVEMNET

REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS

REFORMATIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• Deprivation theory:

social movements arise when people feel deprived of something that others have or that they feel others have.

Merton 1968

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• Deprivation

theory: (Cont’d) Relative deprivation

A perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison.

Merton 1968

– Critical evaluation• Theory suffers from circular reasoning• Focuses exclusively on the cause, telling us

little about movements themselves

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• Mass-society

theory:modern society is alienating, immoral, apathetic, and discourages individuality, and that in this context, socially isolated people are attracted to social movements for personal reasons.

Kornhauser 1959

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• Mass-society

theory: (Cont’d)Movements are personal as well as political, giving people with weak socialties a sense of purpose and belonging.

– Critical evaluation• No clear standard for measuring the extent to

which we live in a “mass society” .• Explaining social movements in terms of people

hungry to belong ignores the social-justice issues that movements address.

Kornhauser 1959

Theories : Explaining Social Movements

• Resource-mobilization theory: social movements need to generate adequate, and often substantial, resources to achieve their goals.

Zald and Ash 1966

Theories : Explaining Social Movements

• Resource-mobilization theory: (Cont’d)They include money, membership , office facilities and equipment, communication processes, political influence, and a skill base with expertise in organization, leadership, and marketing the cause.

Zald and Ash 1966

Theories : Explaining Social Movements

• Resource-mobilization theory: (Cont’d)These resources are mobilized through the efforts of

social-movement organizations (SMOs): formal organizations that seek social change by achieving a social movement’s goals.

– Critical evaluation• Powerless can promote change if they are

organized an have committed members• Overstates the extent to which powerful people

are willing to challenge the status quo.

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• New social

movements theory: bringing about social change through the transformation of values, personal identities and symbols.

Scott 1990

Examples of those new movements include the women's movement, the ecology movement, gay rights movement and various peace movements, among others.

Theories : Explaining Social Movements• New social movements theory: (Cont’d)

• Most of today’s movements are international.

• Tends to focus on cultural change and improving social and physical surroundings.

• Draws support from middle and upper classes.

• Critical evaluation• Tends to exaggerate differences between past and

present social movements.

New Social Movements• Focuses on bringing about social change

through the transformation of values personal identities and symbols

• They are not primarily political as they do not challenge the state and social structures directly rather they are located in and defend civil society.

Example• AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power

(ACT_UP) is a new social movement formed in1987 that discriminated against people with AIDS.

Anti-nuclear movement• The anti-nuclear movement is a social

movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level

Animal rights movement• The animal rights movement, sometimes

called the animal liberation movement, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement which seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, an end to the status of animals as property,

Characteristics Of Social Movements

• Develop new skills knowledge and values.• They become educated on science and

medicine

Globalization and Internet• Some are nation specific eg; fish workers

movement in INDIA. • NGO’s which are private organizations or

groups of citizens that work against destructive government or large organizations.

• Internet has provided people with as source with which they can generate revenue at the same time they can also spread their message across the globe