Chapter 16Collective Action

andSocial Movements

Chapter Outline

• How to Spark a Riot• Nonroutine Collective Action • Social Movements• Framing Discontent• The Future of Social Movements

Collective Action

• Occurs when people act in unison to bring about or resist social, political, and economic change.

• Routine collective actions typically follow established patterns of behavior in existing social structures.

• Nonroutine collective actions take place when usual conventions cease to guide social action and people, bypass, or subvert established structures.

Frequency of Lynching,United States, 1882–1935

Breakdown Theory of Nonroutine Collective

ActionThree Factors: • A group of people must be

economically deprived or socially rootless.

• Their norms must be strained or disrupted.

• They must lose the capacity to act rationally by getting caught up in the madness of crowds.

Polling Question

• Civil disobedience is better to use than militant activity for groups to get their point across for social change. A. Strongly agreeB. Agree somewhatC. UnsureD. Disagree somewhatE. Strongly disagree

Deprivation, Crowds, and the Breakdown of

NormsMost pre-1970 sociologists would have

said lynchings were caused by:1. Background of economic

deprivation experienced by impoverished and marginal members of the community.

2. The inherent irrationality of crowd behavior.

3. The serious violation of norms.

Assessing Breakdown Theory: Lynchings

• Deprivation– Research shows no association

between fluctuations in economic well-being and lynchings that took place between the 1880s and the 1930s.

• Contagion– Many lynchings were neither

spontaneous or unorganized.

Assessing Breakdown Theory: Lynchings

• Strain– Lynching was a means by which

black farm workers were kept tied to the southern cotton industry after the abolition of slavery threatened to disrupt the industry’s traditional, captive labor supply.

Social Disorganization and Collective Action:

Prison Riots• Prison riots tend to occur under

certain circumstances:1. Government officials make new

demands of prison administrators without providing resources.

2. Corrections staff oppose the reforms.

Social Disorganization and Collective Action:

Prison Riots• Prison riots tend to occur under certain

circumstances:3. Prison administrators take actions

that inmates perceive as unjust. 4. Inmates decide that living

conditions should be better and that rioting will draw attention to those conditions.

The Social Determinantsof Rumors

Solidarity Theory

• Holds that social movements are social organizations that emerge when potential members:– mobilize resources– take advantage of new political

opportunities– avoid high levels of social control

by authorities.

Polling Question

• Have you ever participated in an organized protest?

A. YesB. No

Frequency of Strikes with

1000+ Workers

Unemployment and Frequency of Big Strikes,

1948–2003

Framing Discontent

• Frame alignment is the process by which social-movement leaders make their activities, ideas, and goals congruent with the interests, beliefs, and values of potential new recruits to their movement - or fail to do so.

Encouraging Frame Alignment

1. Social-movement leaders can reach out to other organizations that contain people who sympathetic to the cause.

2. Movement activists can stress popular values that have not been prominent in the thinking of potential recruits.

3. Social movements can stretch their objectives to win recruits who aren’t initially sympathetic to the movement’s aims.

Determinants of Collective Action and Social Movement

Formation

History of Social Movements

• 1700 - social movements were small, localized, and violent.

• Mid-20th century - social movements were large, national, and less violent.

• Late 20th century - social movements developed broader goals, recruited highly educated people, and developed global potential for growth.

Quick Quiz

1. Forms of collective action that are usually nonviolent and follow established patterns of behavior in bureaucratic social structures are called:a. social movementsb. routinec. petition drivesd. lobby formatione. party formation

Answer: b

• Forms of collective action that are usually nonviolent and follow established patterns of behavior in bureaucratic social structures are called routine.

2. _________________ occurs when people act in unison to bring about or resist social, political, and economic change.

Answer: collective action

1. Collective action occurs when people act in unison to bring about or resist social, political, and economic change.

3. A(n) _________________ is an enduring collective attempt to change all or part of the social order.

Answer: social movement

• A social movement is an enduring collective attempt to change all or part of the social order.

4. According to breakdown theory, collective action and social movements result from:a. economic deprivationb. the irrationality of crowd behaviorc. instigation on the part of political

leadersd. all of these choicese. economic deprivation and the

irrationality of crowd behavior

Answer: e

• According to breakdown theory, collective action and social movements result from economic deprivation and the irrationality of crowd behavior.

5. According to the textbook, breakdown theory largely explains annual fluctuations in the rate of lynching.

a. Trueb. False

Answer: b

• According to the textbook, breakdown theory does not explain annual fluctuations in the rate of lynching.

6. Frame alignment is the process by which individual interests, beliefs, and values either become congruent with the activities, ideas, and goals of the movement or fail to do so.

a. Trueb. False

Answer: a

• Frame alignment is the process by which individual interests, beliefs, and values either become congruent with the activities, ideas, and goals of the movement or fail to do so.

7. Around 1700 in Europe and North America, social movements were typically:a. large, national in scope, and non-

violentb. large, local in scope, and violentc. small, local in scope, and violentd. small, local in scope, and non-

violente. small, national in scope, and non-

violent

Answer: c

• Around 1700 in Europe and North America, social movements were typically small, local in scope, and violent.