sociology chapter 13

• Social change and social progress are defined and discussed
• Collective behaviour


  Group behaviour that is relatively spontaneous, unstructured, and unconventional
• Collective behaviour may occur in localized crowds or in more dispersed forms
• Types of Crowds


  • Casual crowds
  • Conventional crowds
  • Expressive crowds
  • Protest crowds
• Casual crowds


  Literally just people existing in the same general area
• Conventional crowds


  Share a common interest and has some sort of social roles associated with what they are doing
• Expressive crowds


  Have a common interest, and are participating in the event in some way. Social roles become a little more defined, may be wearing specific clothes, cheering, etc.
• Protest crowds


  Starting to get groups of people at the same place and time and they're getting together to do something. They want to affect some sort of change → there is a purpose
• Crowd behaviour is explained by contagion theory, convergence theory, and emergent norm theory
• Contagion theory


  Crowd behaviour is irrational. When we are in a crowd we are no longer acting rationally. Anonymity, contagion, and suggestibility lead to irrational behaviour.
• Convergence theory


  Crowd behaviour is rational. We are doing it because we made the decision to do it. Prior predispositions bring people together.
• Emergent norm theory


  New norms emerge in unique situations. Neither rational or irrational but the situation and the crowd itself is new therefore you have to create new behaviour to create the new norm.
• Dispersed forms of collective behaviour

  • Fads and fashions
  • Rumours, gossip, and urban legends
  • Panics
• Fads


  Temporary, highly popular social patterns involving activities, hobbies, or collectibles
• Fashions


  Longer lasting, popular social patterns usually involving clothing lines and accessories
• Rumours


  Unsubstantiated stories about people or events that can become more believable through social media sharing and distortion over time
• Gossip


  Unsubstantiated or substantiated stories about specific individuals
• Urban legends


  Abstract stories containing an underlying message that persists over time
• Panics


  Widespread panics are generalized beliefs that can lead a large number of people to flee an area or perform protective measures. Moral panics are irrational worries about a perceived threat to the social order.
• Social movements are efforts to change or resist change in major aspects of society, involving organized, planned, and enduring actions to affect large-scale and ongoing impact
• Dimensions of social change

  • Type of change
  • Recipients of change
  • Means utilized
  • Degree of change
• Value-added theory


  Explains social movements as developing from structural conduciveness, structural strain, precipitating factors, spread of a generalized belief, and mobilization of participation for action, with the operation of social control
• Resource mobilization theory


  Social movements develop as a function of how resources (moral, cultural, people, financial) are used by leaders, often combined with political process theory
• Political process theory

  A movement is more likely to take off during times of political unrest, or even just a change of power, near an election