Group Behaviour

Collective/Mass/Crowd

Why do groups form?

single variables such as: anonymity of crowds economic deprivation alienation strong leadership

**We can make connections between all of these points and the articles that we read last class (Social Groups).

Review

Social Groups Structure – a leader Roles – behaviour for an individual in the group Norms – the rules of the group Sanctions – encourage/discourage certain

behaviours

Anomie

History

Gustave Le Bon published, The Crowd, in 1895. Emile Durkheim’s published, The Division of Labor

in Society, in 1893 and Suicide, in 1897. Neil J. Smelser’s, published his Theory of

Collective Behavior, in 1963.

Types of Groups

Primary – personal, long lastingSecondary – impersonal, short-term

Localized – face-to-facedispersed

Collective Behaviour

Collective Behaviour

a relatively spontaneous and temporary behaviour that involves a large number of people engaging in activities that violate conventional norms. considered deviant

numbers of people engaged in behaviour that violates social expectations of a given situation, behaviour they might otherwise avoid.

*“irrational reversions to animal emotion”

Le Bon

Collective behavior is non-institutionalized, unconventional group activity such as panics, crazes, mass delusions, incited crowds, riots, and reform or revolutionary movements.

He argued that individuals can lose their self-identity in crowds and can commit acts they would not do alone, including physical aggression. Anonymity can lead to violence

However, crowds are progressive in that they challenge existing social arrangements and often lead to social change.

* Montreal RiotRodney King RiotsBin Laden death – singing, dancing, etc.

Ex: When people cheer at a basketball game, this (cheering) is NOT considered collective behavior because in the situation (the game), cheering is expected--it is considered normal behavior; however, if a large group from the audience decide to go down and assault the referees, this becomes collective behavior because such behavior is NOT part of the normative expectations of the game situation.

For any behavior to be defined sociologically as collective behavior, it has to be unconventional, unexpected, unusual and relatively unstructured and spontaneous Collective behavior lacks both organizational

structuring and institutionalized norms. Therefore, not actually a group in its strictest sense!

Four forms of Collective Behaviour1. The Crowd

2. The Public

3. The Mass

4. The Social Movement

The Crowd

A crowd, like the riders on a bus, may have little or nothing to do with each other, just at the same place at the same time.

However, crowds can be linked to each other by a common emotion. If a crowd can relate to each other, it can turn

into a group.

The Public

Public - discusses a single issue Therefore,a public is not equivalent to all of the

members of a society. To Blumer, there are as many publics as there

are issues. A public comes into being when discussion of

an issue begins, and ceases to be when it reaches a decision on it.

The Mass

differs from both the crowd and the public in that it is defined not by a form of interaction but by the efforts of those who use the mass media to address an audience.

Mass media + = social impact + mass media attempt to persuade

The Social Movement

active movements - such as the French Revolution tries to change society

expressive movements - such as Alcoholics Anonymous. tries to change its own members

Mass Behaviour

Def.

People who are not in the same geographical place can engage in collective behaviour. Relies on personal communication between

individuals. As communication over long distances

improves, so does our ability to engage in mass behaviour.

Panic and Mass Hysteria

Panic – causes people to react to a threat in an emotional, irrational and sometimes self-destructive way.

Mass Hysteria – people respond to an event with irrational and frantic behvaiour. Differs from panic in that people caught up in mass hysteria have little or no contact with each other.

Fashion and Fads

Fashion – social pattern adopted by a large number of people, usually for a fairly short period of time. I. E. Clothing, hairstyles and music and in articles such as furniture, cars and even computers.

Fads – social pattern that people follow briefly, but enthusiastically. Fashion may become part of mainstream, fads

often outside the cultural norm.