Collective Behavior MOBS AND RIOTS AND LEGENDS OH

Collective Behavior MOBS, AND RIOTS, AND LEGENDS, OH MY!

Defining it Collective Behavior ◦ The relatively spontaneous social behavior that occurs when people try to develop common solutions to unclear situations ◦ Collectivities

Crowds A temporary gathering of people who are in close enough proximity to interact. Casual Crowd – some event captures people’s attentions, least organized, most temporary Conventional Crowd – gathered for a common purpose (religious service, baseball game, etc. ) more structured than casual crowd Expressive Crowd – no apparent goal or purpose. Rock concert, funeral of a public figure, holiday celebrations. Expressive behaviors that would normally be inappropriate in other social situations Acting Crowd – Violent crowd. Intense emotions, usually hostile and destructive and focused on a target. Results in violations of established norms

Mobs and Riots Mob – emotionally charged collectivity whose members are united by a specific destructive or violent goal ◦ Usually has leaders who urge the crowd on and enforce conformity Riot – collection of people who erupt into generalized destructive behavior, resulting in social disorder ◦ Less unified and focused than mobs ◦ Often begins when long-standing tensions are triggered by a single event

Panics Panic – a spontaneous and uncoordinated group action to escape some perceived threat ◦ Fear of being trapped ◦ Mutual cooperation breaks down and norms that govern behavior are lost Floods, fires, and earthquakes Can be avoided if a leader emerges who can channel the behavior and direct to logical action Moral Panic – people become fearful (often irrationally) about behavior that appears to threaten society’s core values

Mass hysteria – unfounded anxiety shared by people who can be scattered over a wide geographic area ◦ Involves irrational beliefs and behaviors that spread among the population ◦ Can be unwittingly fueled by media

Collective Preoccupations Involve people who rarely meet, let alone interact, yet engage in similar behavior and share an understanding of the meaning of that behavior. ◦ Fashions, fads, rumors, and urban legends Fashions – enthusiastic attachments among large numbers of people for particular styles of appearance or behavior Fad – unconventional object, action, or idea that a large number of people are attached to for a very short period of time Appeal primarily to young people

URBAN LEGENDS Stories that teach a lesson and seem realistic, but are untrue.

Public Opinion – refers to the collection of differing attitudes that members of a public have about a particular issue ◦ Subject to rapid change ◦ Politics uses polls to identify it for elections ◦ Businesses use it for marketing and analysis

Propaganda Organized and deliberate attempt to shape public opinion Seven techniques of propaganda: Name Calling – use of negative labels or images in order to make competitors appear in an unfavorable light Testimonials – use of endorsements by famous people Plain-folks Appeal – appealing the average American (hark working who just wants to do good) Transfer – associate the product or candidate with something the public approves of/disapproves of Glittering Generalities – use of words that sound positive but have little real meaning (freedom, democracy, and the American way) Bandwagon – politician or product appeals to the public’s desire to conform (4 out of 5 dentist's agree…) Card Stacking – presenting facts in a way that places products/politicians in a favorable light (presenting stats in a favorable light, ignoring the bad ones)

Gallop Polls 1999; 1 in 4 Americans don’t know which country America gained independence from As far as you know, from what country did America gain its independence following the Revolutionary War? England/Great Britain/United Kingdom 76% France 2 Other 3 No opinion 19 100%

As far as you know, does the earth revolve around the sun, or does the sun revolve around the earth? Earth revolves around the sun 79% Sun revolves around the earth 18 No opinion 3 100%

Contagion Theory (Gustave Le Bon) Being part of a crowd encourages people to give up individuality to the pull of the group. Individuals become anonymous and give up personal responsibility. The crowd becomes a single organism, conventional social norms lose their meaning and, behavior becomes unrestrained. Problems: ◦ Studies show no indication of a collective mind in crowds ◦ Behavior in crowds is usually not uniform

Emergent-Norm Theory (Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian) People in a crowd are faced with a situation in which traditional norms of behavior do not apply ◦ No clear standards for behavior. ◦ New norms are created by crowd leaders ◦ People will follow along even if they don’t personally agree with the behavior

Value-Added Theory (Neil Smelser) Mirror of value added theory in economics ◦ Each step adds value from the previous step in production ◦ Each step is necessary for the next step to happen 6 Preconditions ◦ Structural Conduciveness – the surrounding social structure that makes it possible for a collective behavior to occur (recording of Rodney King beating) ◦ Structural Strain – Conditions that put strain on people and encourage them to seek collective means of relief (poverty, overcrowding, discrimination) ◦ Growth and Spread of a generalized belief ◦ Precipitating Factors – triggering mechanisms that set off behavior (officers acquitted of wrong doing) ◦ Mobilization for Action ◦ Social Control - mechanisms in place for preventing or minimizing behavior (national guard called in, curfew)

HOMEWORK Find an example of a collectivity in recent (within the last 6 months) news. Print our the first page of the article to turn in. Write a brief explanation of how you think Value-Added Theory applies to the collectivity.