WarmUp: Journal Entry

Respond to the following scenario in your journals. Please be detailed in your response.You are sitting in a movie theater watching a film & the film breaks. How does the audience respond? Why do they respond that way?

Collective Behavior &Social Movements

Chapter 17.1

ObjectivesContrast the various types of collectivities & analyze the explanations for collective behavior that have been proposed.

Identify the preconditions necessary for collective behavior to occur & explain how they build on one another.

Collective Behaviorthe relatively spontaneous social behavior that occurs when people try to develop common solutions to unclear situations

Characteristics of Collectiveslimited interactionunclear normslimited unitygroup that share these characteristics

known as a collectivity

Types of Collective BehaviorCrowds MobsRiots PanicsMass Hysteria FashionsFads RumorsUrban Legends Public Opinion

Crowdstemporary gathering of people who are in close enough proximity to interact

Mobsan emotionally charged collectivity

whose members are united by a specific destructive or violent goal

Riotscollection of people who erupt into

generalized destructive behavior, resulting in social disorder

less unified & focused than mobsLondon Graffiti Riot

Panicsspontaneous & uncoordinated group action to escape some perceived threat

Mass Hysteriaunfounded anxiety shared by people who can be scattered over a large geographic area

Fashionsenthusiastic attachments among large numbers of people for particular styles of appearance or behavior

Fadsan unconventional object, action,

or idea that a large number of people are attached to for a very short period of time

Rumorsunverified pieces of information that spread rapidly from one person to another

Urban Legendsstories that teach a lesson & seem realistic but are untrue

Urban Legends Decoded: The Hook

Public Opinioncollection of different attitudes that members of the public have about a particular issue

Explaining Collective Behavior

Contagion TheoryEmergent-Norm Theory

Value-Added Theory

Contagion Theorydeveloped by Gustave LeBon1st systematic theory of collective

behavior3 factors give crowds power over

individualsnumbers create anonymity of individual members

spread of emotion like epidemicmembers rapidly enter state of suggestibility

Emergent-Norm Theorydeveloped by Ralph Turner & Lewis Killianpeople in a crowd often faced with a

situation in which traditional norms do not applyno clear standards of behaviornew norms gradually emerge

Value-Added Theoryproposed by Neil Smelserattempted to predict if collective

behavior would occur & the direction it might taketaken from economic theory of the

production process6 basic preconditions for social

behavior:1) structural conduciveness2) structural strain3) growth & spread of generalized belief4) precipitation factors5) mobilization for action6) social control

CHAPTER 17: CLASSWORKPage 448: #2-3Page 455: #2-3Page 458: #1-10 Identifying People & IdeasPage 458: #1-7 Understanding Main IdeasPage 459: #1-4 Building Social Studies

Skills

Group Activity: Collective Behavior

PostersIn groups of 3, create a poster for 1 of the

previously discussed types of social behavior.

Be sure to include relevant facts, examples & illustrations to support your definitions.