Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change Chapter 16 Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change

Chapter Outline Collective Behavior Social Movements Social Movement Theories Social Change in the Future

Factors That Contribute to Collective Behavior 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 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.

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.

Social Movement Theories Relative Deprivation People compare their achievements with others, become discontent and join social movements to get their “fair share”. Resource Mobilization People participate in social movements 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: People are aware of a problem and engage in collective action. Society cannot meet expectations for taking care of the problem. Spread of a belief of possible solutions to the problem. Events reinforce the beliefs. Mobilization of participants for action. 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.