Sociology: Chapter 16 Sec 1

“Collective Behavior and Social Movements”

“Collective Behavior”

Standards: 6.1- 6.12, 8.1-8.11

Collective Behavior

Collective Behavior: Spontaneous social behavior that occurs when people try to develop common solutions to unclear situations

Collectivity: gathering of people who have limited interaction and do not share clearly defined norms or a sense of unity

-Limited Interaction -Unclear Norms - Limited Unity

Crowds.. Crowds: Temporary collection of people in close proximity -Casual: movies -Conventional: Ball Game -Expressive: Rock Concert -Acting: Riot Mobs: Emotional, United, Violent Riots: Eruption of people into disruptive action Panic: Spontaneous, uncoordinated group action to escape perceived threat Moral Panic: Occurs when people become fearful about a behavior that

APPEARS to threaten morals of society Mass Hysteria: Unfounded anxiety shared by people scattered over a wide

geographic area *Salem witch trials

Fashions and Fads Fashion: Enthusiastic attachment among a large number

of people for particular styles and behavior Fad: Unconventional thought popular for a short period

of time; Popular among young Rumor: Unverified piece of information that is spread

rapidly from one person to another “Chinese telephone experiment” Can vary from person

to person Urban Legend: Stories that teach lessons and SEEM

realistic; but are not… Read page 441 *Write your own urban legend; remember the rules:

Teach a lesson; it is not true, but seems true

Public Opinion

Public Opinion: How society feels about issues

Propaganda: Over exaggerated story used to manipulate public opinion

*Do propaganda poster depicting your urban legend

Explaining Behavior Contagion Theory: Hypnotic power of the crowd

encourages people to give up individuality to the stronger pull of the group

Emergent Norm Theory: People conform to the group even of they do not agree with the activity

Value Added Theory: Preconditions for collective behavior

1. Structural Conduciveness: Rodney King tape; acquittal, riots

2. Structural Strain: Tension(Poverty) Leads to stress 3. Growth of Generalized belief: “All police are racist”

Value Added

Triggering Event Mobilization for Action: When people feel

that leaders can or will not do anything, they take actions into own hands

Social Control: Nat’l Guard Each step must take place before the next

one for collective group behavior to occur Read p. 446

Sociology: Chapter 16 Sec 2

“Social Movements”

Social Movements Social Change: Alterations in various aspects over time Social Movements: Long term conscious effort to

promote or prevent change 3 Factors -Long Duration -Highly Structured and Organized -Deliberate attempt at change Types: Reactionary Movement: “Turn back the clock” - Return to traditional ways of acting and thinking Ex: Ku Klux Klan and segregation

Types…

Conservative Movement: Try to protect, what they see, as societies values

Ex: Religious groups protecting “family values”

Revisionary Movements: Improve some part of society; Women’s Suffrage

Revolutionary Movement: Total and radical change: Bolsheviks in Russia

Life Cycle of Social Movements

1. Agitation: Emerge out of idea that a problem exists-most movements die here

2. Legitimatization: Movements find formal/informal support

3. Bureaucratization: Formal Movement 4. Institutionalization: Becomes part of

society * Use civil rights movement as model

Explaining Movement Deprivation Theory: movements arise when large

numbers of people feel economically or socially deprived

-Absolute Deprivation: People lack one or more social rewards

-Relative Deprivation: People have lesser portion of rewards than another group

Resource Mobilization : Organization and effective use of resources

Theory: People w/o resources cannot bring change Those who do have resources should lead them

Sociology: Ch 16 Sec 3

“Social Change”

Standards: 5.6, 5.7, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 6.1-6.12

Social Change The more culture traits that exist, the faster culture

can change Each change brings about other changes Ex. Car: Changed the way that people traveled,

shopped, and lived WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN

AMERICAN? When you think of America, what do you think

of? Read: The 100 Percent American p.59

Six Factors of Social Change

1. Values and Beliefs 2. Technology 3. Population 4. Diffusion 5. Physical Environment 6. Wars and Conquest

1. Values and Beliefs Changes are more dramatic when part of an

ideology Ideology: System of beliefs that justify social,

moral, political, religious, or economic interests/goals held by society

Social Movement: “Long-Term” effort to promote social change

-Usually needs a large number of people to “force” change

Ex: American Civil Rights Movement (MLK Film)

2. Technology

Knowledge and tools that people use to manipulate the environment– Discovery: Recognition of NEW uses for

EXISTING elements (Electricity)– Invention: Existing knowledge used to create

something new (Light Bulb)– **Has very dramatic effects on the way people

live their lives

3. Population Number of inhabitants of a specific area Increases and decreases can affect economy and

physical environment– Doubling Time: Formula used to ESTIMATE the

amount of time that it would take for the population in a specific area to double

– Rule of 70: 70/Growth Rate = DT– Ex: Earth (2000 Growth Rate= 1.4%) so 70/1.4% = 50

years… so…– 2000 6.1 Billion People on earth– 2050 12.2 Billion People will live on earth if growth

rate stays the same!!!

4. Diffusion

Spreading of Culture traits/complexes/patterns from one society to another

Ex: Baseball spreading from U.S. to Japan Reformulation: Process of adapting

borrowed culture traits to fit own society Ex: Japanese version of “Friends” w/

Japanese characters– Japanese relate better to these characters

5. Physical Environment

Food Variety (landscape) Movement (place to place) Natural disasters can facilitate (or speed up)

change (earthquakes…etc) Life on Earth would change dramatically if

an asteroid the size of Indiana were to suddenly strike somewhere on the planet

6. Wars and Conquest

Can dramatically change population, environment, and political landscape in a relatively short amount of time

Brings about the MOST change in the LEAST amount of time (broken families: Anne Frank)

We are Americans; We practice Democracy Our gov’t is overthrown and we are now

Communists

Resistance to Change 1. Ethnocentrism: Believing that one’s own culture is superior

to all others If you think that the way you do things is the best way, why

would you want to change? 2. Cultural Lag: One aspect of culture is outgrowing another Internet vs. Privacy/Use Laws 3. Vested Interests: If someone stands to “lose” something as

result of change, why would he/she want things to change? Ex: Why would a representative in Congress vote on a bill to

make vehicles more fuel efficient when he/she has millions of dollars tied up in the oil industry? (Film: MLK)