Collective Behavior
Crowds/Mobs/Riots
Throughout history, in all societies and civilizations, people have absorbed themselves in episodes of dramatic behavior, such as the crowd, the riot, and the revolution. The nature of these episodes has long attracted a curiosity that has evolved into a loosely defined field of sociology and a concept known as collective behavior. Sociologists define collective behavior as "the actions, often disorganized, taken by a large number of people gathered together usually in defiance of society's norms." (Giddens, pp.513) The three generalized types of collective behavior are:
1) localized, which include crowds/mobs/riots
2) dispersed, or mass behavior, which include rumor/gossip/fads/public opinion/propaganda.
3) social movements
Studying collective behavior can be very practical and useful in today's society. One example is the safety of people who become involved in crowds. There have been numerous accounts of crowds/mobs/riots that have turned dangerous and even fatal. People have been trampled to death at concerts, building panics, and crowd surges in the past; but, had there been knowledge of crowd management and behavior, along with better architectural design, injury and loss of life could have been avoided. Studying collective behavior will allow people to better understand how people respond in certain situations. Predicting these outcomes can help prevent conflict from becoming worse in a destructive way.
In civil disorders and prison riots during the 1960's, for example, most lives were lost not because of protestors, but "control agents who, lacking experience in crowd control and holding inappropriate ideas about crowds, frequently overreacted." (McAdam & Marx, 1994)
There are important factors that determine whether an episode of collective behavior will occur or not. They also help to determine whether one particular type of collective behavior will occur over another. These factors (determinants of collective behavior) are as follows:
1) structural conduciveness, which allows for a given type of collective behavior (for example, a money market). Even if its structure is "conducive" to panic, it can function for long periods without causing a crisis.
2) structural strain, which are "tensions that produce conflicting interests within societies." (Giddens, pp.517) An example would be the threat of economic deprivation.
3) growth and spread of a generalized belief
4) precipitating factors, which redefine generalized beliefs, making them more concrete and can lead to collective action.
5) mobilization of participants for action, which usually marks the outbreak of hostility or the onset of panic.
6) operation of social control
We have just introduced to you some of the fundamentals of Collective Behavior. Our focus, however, will be on localized collective behavior. We will explain how and why crowds, mobs, and riots form, and the effectiveness they have on bringing about social change. First, here are a few definitions of crowds/mobs/riots:
A crowd is a temporary gathering of people who are individuals in circumstances of focused or unfocused interaction and who usually influence one another. When an acting crowd becomes violent, it is classified as a mob, or a highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal. A frenzied crowd without any particular purpose is a riot, or a social eruption that is highly emotional, violent, and undirected. (Macionis, pp.2)
| Examples of Collective Behavior, (Localized,
In the form of Crowds/Mobs/Riots) & How the Above Theories Apply |
| 1992 Los Angeles Riots |
| World Cup Soccer Fans |
| The Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 |
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