Short SEMINAR ON

CROWD AND PUBLIC

INTRODUCTION OF CROW AND PUBLICCollective behaviour entail a ‘crisis’ on break in

a regular routines. It brings people into contact with others in situation where conventional guidelines and formal authority fall to afford direction and support channels for action.

Crowd is a collection of individual united temporarily and in close proximity to each other whose object may be of diverse kind.

Public is the part of people. It is a part of the people sharing common opinion, desire or interest, who are not organized and scattered all over.

DEFINITION OF CROWD“Crowd is a collection

of individual’s united temporarily close proximity in each other, whose objective may be diverse kinds” - kimball young.

“ Crowd is a gathering of a considerable number of people around a center and a common point of attraction.” – Maciver.

CHARACTERISTIC OF CROWDA. Physical presence.B. Temporary social group.C. Unorganized.D. Anonymity.E. Narrow Attention.F. Suggestibility.G. CredulityH. Low mental level.I. Emotional.J. Irresponsibility.

KINDS OF CROWDI. According to Le Bon i. Homogeneous crowd :- These crowd

may be anonymous like parliamentary assembles.

ii. Heterogeneous crowd :- These crowd are of sects, caste and classes.

II. According to Blumel i. The casual crowd. ii. The conventional crowd. iii. The Expressive crowd. iv. The active crowd.

III. According to Kimball or General classification of crowd

A. Active crowd. B. Inactive crowd.

A. ACTIVE CROWD According to Kimball, ” An active crowd is

amass of individual, who with the common focus of attention unleash certain deep lying attitude , emotion and action.

It is accidental and momentary.It is motivated by a common motive and

behaves the same ways to realise a common end.

Its is classified into four type-a. Aggressive crowd.b. Panicky crowd.c. Acquisites crowdd. Expressive crowd

a. Aggressive crowd : Consist of people in aggressive mood, capable of any destruction and inhumanity.

Its characteristic are- Intense emotionally. Suggestibility. Influence of rumour. Tendency of imitation. Similar behaviour. Low educational level. Importance of leader.

b. Panicky crowd : It is one in which is fear stricken and whose member are running hither and thither to save their lives.

Its characteristics are:It is fear ridden.A sense of crisis over takes it.Its members are given to the tendency to

escape.There is no leader in a panicky crowd.It lack the sense of responsibility.It is an irrational and emotional group.

c. Acquisitive crowd : In these member has gathered in order to acquire something . For example – A crowd before cinema.

d. Expressive crowd : In these the individual gather to give expression or to manifest their demands or manifest their demands or sentiment. Members are interest more in voicing their grievances than in destruction.

II . INACTIVE CROWD :An audience which collect for some peaceful

purpose.The action does not change even after an

hour or two, Its further classified as – i. Informative crowd. ii. Recreational seeking crowd. iii. Conversional crowd. iv. Pedestrian crowd.

THEORIES OF CROWD BEHAVIOURI. GROUP MIND THEORY According to these theory, the individual in

the crowd loses his individuality and becomes a part of the crowd which comes to develop its own crowd consciousness.

The ‘Group mind ‘theory has ben advocated by- Lebon, Espinas, Trotter, Durkheim. Mc Dougall and Allport.

Lebon’s theoryLebon was the first writer to put forward the

theory of group in 1892.His theory is based on ‘ contagion’.In his book ‘Crowd’ has written ” The

sentimental and ideas of all persons in the gathering take one and same direction and their conscious personality vanishes. A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory but presenting very clearly defined characteristics”.

The different individual in a group do not think individually. But think, experience and act through group mind.

Theory of EspinasEspinas was a French philosopher and an

authority on biology. Her theory of group mind reflected on biological

concept.According to him- just as in an individual the

various cell of his organism combine to form a consciousness that he regard as his own and which is a unity, in the same way, in society, the collective consciousness is formed out of the collection of many individual consciousness together.

In this way, Espinas called ‘Group mind’ as social consciousness.

TROTTER’S THEORYTrotter’s has sought to explain man’s social

behaviour on the basis of heard instinct.Everyman, according to him is possessed of the

instinct gregariousness.This gregariousness activates his mental system as

a result of which he accept the command of the group without any argument and act according to the command given.

Since man wants to love in the community and does not wants to do things which may displease the group.

Accordingly his social behaviour is caused by the herd instinct.

DURKHEIM’S THEORYDurkheim has sought to explain group behaviour in term of collective consciousness.

According to him, when people collect in a group, a collective consciousness is created by the mutual exchange of ideas and notions.

Mind is the another name of flow consciousness, where several minds meet together, there is a flow of consciousness from one mind to another.

Out of these flow, Social consciousness is created.

MC.DOUGALL’S THEORYHe postulated a theory of Group mind.According to him, every group has its

own mind.The group mind has the power of

influencing the mind of the individual.It is because of this power, the individual

changes his thinking and become the member of the group.

ALLPORT’S THEORYAccording to him, the behaviour in the

croed is influenced by two processes- social facilitation and inter-stimulation.

Social stimulation- because of these all individual are seen behaving in an identical manner and members motivate each other.

Inter –stimulation- because of this, the member of the group feel possessed of an unconquerable power.

II. FREUDIAN THEORYMartin E.D and other thinkers of the

Freudian view interpret crowd behaviour as the release for repressed desires.

The crowd not only brings the consciously repressed desires, but also hidden and unconscious desires which the individual discipline of normal social life has repressed.

III. THEORY OF MULTIPLR FACTORSNo simple explanation can be given to explain

a complex phenomena of crowd behaviour.The ‘crowd’ is under a “spell”.Its take its members into the world of magic,

where things happen unaccountability.A numbers of factor like unaccountability,

limitation , low degrees of intelligence, suggestibility. Lack of volition, stimulation, anonymity, unconscious impulse and influence of leaders work upon the crowd and influence its behaviour.

PUBLIC

DEFINITION OF PUBLICThe public is an aggretion of persons,

moving in a common universe of discourse, confronted by an issue or a value , divided in an opinion regarding ways to meet the issue or to appraise the value and engaging in discussion. -Mazumdar.

A public is a scattered group of people who share an interest in a particular topic. -Horton and Hunt.

NATURE OF PUBLICi. A disperses group.ii. A deliberate group.iii. Definite issue.iv. Lack of organization.v. Disagreement.vi. Self awareness.

Other points on nature of public:1) A public has core members and fringe members.2) The composition of members changes.3) Individual can be members of many public at

same time.4) Social changes is decided upon within

demicracy.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC AND CROWDPUBLIC CROWD

The members are scattered The members have physical contact.

Membership is large. Membership is small.

It is influence by printed works

It is influenced by spoken words.

Stimulus is diffused. Stimulus is immediate

Public discuss and debate in a critical manner.

No critical discussion is possible.

CONCLUSIONThe crowd and public have something in

common .Both are collectives of people and are generally unorganized.

The crowd cannot call for behaviour for which there does not already exist a favorable basis in establishing attitude and habits.

Public is a group of people with common interest, may be dispersed and physical proximity is not necessary.

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