Chapter 20: Collective Behaviour and Social Change

Table of Contents

1. Collective Behaviour
2. Social Movements
3. Social Change: Moving Into The Twenty-First Century

I. Collective Behaviour

1. Social change is the alteration, modification, or transformation of public policy, culture, or social institutions over time; such change usually is brought about by collective behaviour-relatively spontaneous, unstructured activity that typically violates established social norms.
   
   
2. Conditions for Collective Behaviour
   1. Collective behaviour occurs as a result of some common influence or stimulus that produces a response from a collectivity-a relatively large number of people who mutually transcend, bypass, or subvert established institutional patterns and structures. Collectivities in which people:
      1. are in physical proximity to one another (such as a crowd or riot) are referred to as localized collectivities.
         
         
      2. are some distance apart from one another (such as rumour, fashion, and public opinion) are referred to as dispersed collectivities.
         
         
   2. Major factors that contribute to the likelihood that collective behaviour will occur are:
      1. structural factors that increase the chances of people responding in a particular way;
         
      2. timing;
      3. a breakdown in social control mechanisms and a corresponding feeling of normlessness; and
      4. a common stimulus.
         
         
3. Dynamics of Collective Behaviour
   1. People may engage in collective behaviour when they find that their problems are not being solved through official channels; as the problem appears to grow worse, organizational responses become more defensive and obscure.
      
      
   2. People's attitudes are not always reflected in their political and social behaviour; "free riders" are people who enjoy the benefits produced by a group even though they have not helped support it.
      
      
   3. People act collectively in ways they would not act singly due to:
      1. the noise and activity around them.
      2. a belief that it is the only way to fight those with greater power and resources.
         
         
4. Distinctions Regarding Collective Behaviour
   1. People engaging in collective behaviour may be a:
      1. Crowd-a relatively large number of people who are in one another's immediate face-to-face presence; or
      2. Mass-a number of people who share an interest in a specific idea or issue but who are not in one another's immediate physical vicinity.

2. Collective behaviour also may be distinguished by the dominant emotion expressed (e.g., fear, hostility, joy, grief, disgust, surprise, or shame).
   
   
5. Types of Crowd Behaviour
   1. Herbert Blumer divided crowds into four categories:
      1. Casual crowds-relatively large gatherings of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time; if they interact at all, it is only briefly.
         
         
      2. Conventional crowds-people who specifically come together for a scheduled event and thus share a common focus (e.g., religious services, graduation ceremonies, and college lectures). Since these events occur regularly, interaction is much more likely.
         
         
      3. Expressive crowds-people releasing their pent-up emotions in conjunction with others who experience similar emotions (e.g., religious revival services, mourning crowds, and celebrating crowds). d. Acting crowds-collectivities so intensely focused on a specific purpose or object that they may erupt into violent or destructive behaviour. Examples:
         1. A mob-a highly emotional crowd whose members engage in, or are ready to engage in, violence against a specific target-a person, a category of people, or physical property.
            
            
         2. A riot-violent crowd behaviour fuelled by deep-seated emotions but not directed at a specific target.

3. A panic-a form of crowd behaviour that occurs when a large number of people react with strong emotions and self-destructive behaviour to a real or perceived threat.
   
   
2. To these four types of crowds, Clark McPhail and Ronald T. Wohlstein added protest crowds-crowds that engage in activities intended to achieve specific political goals (e.g., sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and strikes).
   1. Protest crowds sometimes take the form of civil disobedience-nonviolent action that seeks to change a policy or law by refusing to comply with it.
      
      
   2. At the grassroots level, protests often are seen as the only way to call attention to problems or demand social change.
      
      
6. Explanations of Crowd Behaviour
   1. According to contagion theory, people are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour in a crowd because they are anonymous and feel invulnerable; Gustave Le Bon argued that feelings of fear and hate are contagious in crowds because people experience a decline in personal responsibility.

2. According to Robert Park, social unrest is transmitted by a process of circular reaction-the interactive communication between persons in such a way that the discontent of one person is communicated to another who, in turn, reflects the discontent back to the first person.
   
   
3. Convergence theory focuses on the shared emotions, goals, and beliefs many people bring to crowd behaviour.
   1. From this perspective, people with similar attributes find a collectivity of like-minded persons with whom they can release their underlying personal tendencies.
      
      
   2. Although people may reveal their "true selves" in crowds, their behaviour is not irrational; it is highly predictable to those who share similar emotions or beliefs.
      
      
4. According to Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian's emergent norm theory, crowds develop their own definition of the situation and establish norms for behaviour that fits the occasion.
   1. Emergent norms occur when people define a new situation as highly unusual or see a long-standing situation in a new light.
      
      
   2. Some emergent norms are permissive-they give people a shared conviction that they may disregard ordinary rules such as waiting in line.
      
      
   3. Emergent norm theory points out that crowds are not irrational; new norms are developed in a rational way to fit the needs of the immediate situation.
      
      
7. Mass behaviour is collective behaviour 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 behaviour are:
   1. Rumours (unsubstantiated reports on an issue or subject) and gossip (rumours about the personal lives of individuals).
      1. While rumours may spread through an assembled collectivity, they also may be transmitted among people who are dispersed geographically.
         
         
      2. Starting out with a kernel of truth, as rumours spread they may be modified to serve the interests of those repeating them. Rumours thrive when tensions are high and little authentic information is available on an issue of great concern.

3. People are willing to give rumours credence when no offsetting information is available. Once rumours begin to circulate, they seldom stop unless compelling information comes to the forefront that either proves the rumour false or makes it obsolete.
   
   
2. Mass hysteria is a form of dispersed collective behaviour that occurs when a large number of people react with strong emotions and self-destructive behaviour to a real or perceived threat; many sociologists believe this behaviour is best described as a panic with a dispersed audience (e.g., the radio broadcast of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds).
   
   
3. Fads and Fashions
   1. A fad is a temporary but widely copied activity enthusiastically followed by large numbers of people.
      
      
   2. Fashion is a currently valued style of behaviour, thinking, or appearance. Fashion also applies to art, music, drama, literature, architecture, interior design, and automobiles, among other things.
      1. According to Georg Simmel, members of the lower classes emulate the fashions of the upper class. As fashions descend the status hierarchy, they are watered down and "vulgarized" so that they no longer are recognizable to members of the upper class, who then regard them as unfashionable.
         
         
      2. Thorstein Veblen asserted that fashion served mainly to institutionalize conspicuous consumption among the wealthy.
         
         
      3. Pierre Bourdieu suggested that "matters of taste," including fashion sensibility, constitute a large share of the "cultural capital" possessed by members of the dominant class.

4. According to Herbert Blumer, "collective selection" best explains fashion: people in the middle and lower classes follow fashion because it is "fashion," not because they seek to emulate elites.
   
   
4. Public opinion consists of the attitudes and beliefs communicated by ordinary citizens to decision makers (as measured through polls and surveys based on interviews and questionnaires).
   1. Even on a single topic, public opinion will vary widely based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, and region of the country, urban or rural residence, social class, education level, gender, and age.
      
      
   2. Scholars who examine public opinion are interested in the extent to which the public's attitudes are communicated to decision makers, and what effect (if any) public opinion has on policymaking.
      
      
   3. As the masses attempt to influence elites and vice versa, a two-way process occurs with the dissemination of propaganda-information provided by individuals or groups that have a vested interest in furthering their own cause or damaging an opposing one.

II. Social Movements

1. A social movement is an organized group that acts consciously to promote or resist change through collective action.
   
   
2. Social movements are more likely to develop in industrialized societies than in preindustrial societies, where acceptance of traditional beliefs and practices makes such movements unlikely.
   
   
3. Social movements make democracy more available to excluded groups. Such grassroots movements have been strong in Canada because people seek to utilize the democratic process to bring about changes even when elites seek to discourage activism.
   
   
4. Most social movements rely on volunteers to carry out the work. Women have been strongly represented in both membership and leadership of many grassroots movements.
   
   
1. Types of Social Movements
   1. Reform movements seek to improve society by changing some specific aspect of the social structure.
      1. Members of reform movements usually attempt to change existing public policy so that it more adequately reflects their own value system.

2. This type of movement attempts to work within the existing system to bring about social change.
   
   
2. Revolutionary movements seek to bring about a total change in society.
   1. This type of movement usually does not attempt to work within the existing system; the goal is to remake the system by replacing existing institutions and establishing new ones.
      
      
   2. Revolutionary movements range from utopian groups to radical terrorists who use fear tactics to intimidate those with whom they disagree ideologically.
      
      
   3. Terrorism is the calculated unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government, organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious, economic, or social objective.

3. Religious movements seek to produce radical change in individuals and typically are based on spiritual or supernatural belief systems.
   1. Also referred to as expressive movements, they are concerned with renovating or renewing people through "inner change."
      
      
   2. Some religious movements are "millenarian"-meaning that they forecast that "the end is near" and an immediate change in behaviour is imperative.
      
      
4. Alternative movements seek limited change in some aspect of people's behaviour (e.g., a movement that attempts to get people to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages).

5. Resistance movements (also referred to as regressive movements) seek to prevent or to undo change that already has occurred. Virtually all of the proactive social movements discussed above face resistance from one or more reactive movements that hold opposing viewpoints and want to foster public policies that reflect their own viewpoints.
   
   
2. Causes of Social Movements
   1. Relative deprivation theory asserts that people who suffer relative deprivation are likely to feel that a change is necessary and will join a social movement in order to bring about that change.
      1. Relative deprivation refers to the discontent that people may feel when they compare their achievements with those of similarly situated persons and find that they have less than they think they deserve.
         
         
      2. Movements are most likely to occur when an upswing in the standard of living is followed by a period of decline; people then have unfulfilled rising expectations-newly raised hopes of a better lifestyle that are not fulfilled as rapidly as they expected or are not realized at all.
         
         
   2. According to Neal Smelser's value-added theory, six conditions are necessary and sufficient to produce social movements when they combine or interact in a particular situation:
      1. Structural conduciveness: People must become aware of a significant problem and have the opportunity to engage in collective action. Movements are likely to occur when a person, class, or agency can be singled out as the source of the problem; when channels for expressing grievances either are not available or fail; and when the aggrieved have a chance to communicate among themselves.
         
         
      2. Structural strain: When a society or community is unable to meet people's expectations that something should be done about a problem, strain occurs in the system.
         
         
      3. Spread of a generalized belief: There must be a clear statement of the problem and a shared view of its cause, effects, and possible solution.
         
         
      4. Precipitating factors: An inciting incident or dramatic event occurs, reinforcing the existing generalized belief.
         
         
      5. Mobilization for action: Leaders organize others and give them a sense of direction. People get the word out through media coverage, etc., to get others involved emotionally and financially.
         
         
      6. Social control factors: If there is a high level of social control on the part of law enforcement officials, political leaders, and others, it becomes more difficult to develop a social movement or engage in certain types of collective action.
         
         
   3. Resource mobilization theory focuses on the ability of a social movement to acquire resources (money, time and skills, access to the media, etc.) and mobilize people to advance the cause.
      1. According to Charles Tilly, movements are formed and dissolved, mobilized and deactivated, based on rational decisions about the goals of the group, available resources, and the cost of mobilization and collective action.
         
         
      2. This theory also assumes that participants must have some degree of economic and political resources to make the movement a success.
         
         
   4. Emerging Perspectives
      1. Emerging perspectives based on resource mobilization theory emphasize ideology and legitimacy of movements as well as material resources.
         
         
      2. Recent theories based on an interactionist perspective focus on the importance of the symbolic presentation of a problem to both participants and the general public.
         
         
      3. Alan Scott notes that, over the past two decades, "new social movements" have placed more emphasis on quality of life issues than earlier movements that focused primarily on economic issues.
         
         
      4. Examples of already existing "new social movements" include ecofeminism and environmental justice movements.
         1. According to ecofeminists, patriarchy is a root cause of environmental problems because it contributes to a belief that nature is to be possessed and dominated, rather than treated as a partner.

2. Environmental justice movements focus on the issue of environmental racism-the belief that a disproportionate number of hazardous facilities (including industries such as waste disposal/treatment and chemical plants) are placed in low-income areas populated primarily by visible minorities.
   
   
3. Stages in Social Movements
   1. In the preliminary (or incipiency) stage, widespread unrest is present as people begin to become aware of a threatening problem. Leaders emerge to agitate others into taking action.
      
      
   2. In the coalescence stage, people begin to organize and start making the threat known to the public. Some movements become formally organized at local and regional levels.

3. In the institutionalization (or bureaucratization) stage, an organizational structure develops, and a paid staff (rather than volunteers) begins to lead the group. The initial zeal and idealism of members may diminish as the administrators take over management of the organization and early grassroots supporters drop out.

III. Social Change: Moving Into The Twenty-First Century

1. The Physical Environment and Change: Changes in the physical environment often produce changes in the lives of people; in turn, people can make dramatic changes in the physical environment, over which we have only limited control.
   
   
2. Population and Change: Changes in population size, distribution, and composition affect the culture and social structure of a society and change the relationships among nations.

3. Technology and Change: Advances in communication, transportation, science, and medicine have made significant changes in people's lives, especially in developed nations; however, these changes also have created the potential for new disasters, ranging from global warfare to localized technological disasters at toxic waste sites.
   
   
4. Social Institutions and Change: During the twentieth century, many changes have occurred in the family, religion, education, the economy, and the political system and will follow us into the twenty-first century.

5. Changes in physical environment, population, technology, and social institutions operate together in a complex relationship, sometimes producing consequences we must examine by using our sociological imagination.

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