CHAPTER 20 - SOCIAL MOVEMENTS


KNOW THE DEFINITIONS IN THIS CHAPTER AND HOW TO APPLY THEM.  

Collective behavior is a broad term that refers to the spontaneous
and unstructured behavior of people who are reacting to a common
influence in an ambiguous situation (such as a fire in a high rise;
the opening of a Christmas sale; a traffic jam).

A social movement is an ORGANIZED collective activity to promote or
resist change in an existing group or society.

SO: Given these different definitions, WHY LUMP THEM TOGETHER??

There are a few theories of collective behavior to know:

1) Emergent-Norm perspective: Ways of acting come out of the situation
and are defined by context

2) Value-added perspectvie: General social conditions shape specific
forms of collective action (See Smelzer's six determinants)

3) Assembling Perspective: An examination (and explanation) of why people
somehow "magically" gravitate to a specific point at a specific time for
riots, celebrations, demonstrations.

FORMS OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR (KNOW THESE)

Crowds: Temporary groupings of people in close proximity who share
a common focus or interest

Know TYPES of activities:

Craze: An exciting mass involvement that lasts for a relatively long
period of time

Fad: A temporary movement toward the acceptance of some particular taste
or lifestyhle that involves large numbers of people and is
independent of preceding trends

Fashion: A pleaurable mass involvementin some particular taste or lifestle
that has a line of historical continuity

Panic: Fearful arousal or collective flight based on a generalized belief
that may or may not be accurate     

Rumor: A piece of information gathered informally that isused to
interpret an ambiguous situation

NOTE: Relative Deprivation and Davies J-Curve: People "rebel" not when
they are at rock bottom, but when things start looking up and aren't
improving fast enough (eg, Detroit riots)