A case study of crowd and collective behaviour

• What was this case study on?

  A riot in St. Paul’s, Bristol, 1980.
• What was the aim of Reicher’s study?

  To investigate crowd behaviour to see if it was ruly or unruly.
• What was the method of Reicher’s study?

  Studied newspaper and TV reports.

  Interviewed twenty people, six in depth.
• What were the results of Reicher’s study?

  Riot triggered by police raiding cafe which community felt was unjust.

  Crowd threw bricks, burnt police cars but calmed when the police left.
• What can be concluded from Reicher’s study?

  Findings show damage was rule-driven and targeted at police, reflecting social attitude of the area.
• What is a negative evaluation of this study?

  Issues with methodology.

  Study is based on eyewitness testimony so may be biased.
• What is a positive evaluation of this study?

  Supported by research.

  Football hooligans’ violence doesn’t escalate beyond a certain point. (Marsh)
• What is a social factor that affects crowd and collective behaviour?

  Social loafing.

  When working in a group people put in less effort as individual effort can’t be identified.
• What is a dispositional factor of crowd and collective behaviour?

  Morality.

  Strong sense of right and wrong helps people resist pressure from group norms.