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Collective Behavior
Collective
Behavior Books, Social movements and
activism, Abstracts, Bibliography, Journals, Syllabus, Sociology Books 2011, Sociologyindex, Collective Behavior
Collective behavior is defined as activity involving a relatively large
number of people that is often spontaneous. Social
movements and activism are organized and relatively sustained activities that
have a clear goal in terms of achieving or preventing some social change.
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.
Collective behavior is "the actions, often disorganized, taken by a large number of
people gathered together usually in defiance of society's norms."
The three generalized types of collective behavior are:
localized, which include crowds/mobs/riots
dispersed, or mass behavior, which include rumor/gossip/fads/public
opinion/propaganda.
social movements
The Importance of Learning Collective Behavior
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.
What Is Collective Behavior?
People in many countries have taken to the streets protesting against US action in Iraq.
Divided groups are on the street demanding or opposing abortion rights, gay marriages or
gender discrimination. Many people have started wearing tattoos instead of clothes. All
these come under collective behavior.
Collective behavior includes a range of behaviors based on concern and attitude or just
panic and fads. It includes many sociological sub-fields. Many areas of sociology involve
the study of behavior but they tend to be restricted to niche areas.
University syllabii for "Collective Behaviour" course lists crowds, panics,
social movements and many more. But what is common to them. What should be part of the
list? and what should not be? Will a silent peaceful march be included? Is a labor dispute
based on agreed rights collective behaviour? Is a religious congregation an example of
collective behaviour?
For a complete essay on Collective Behaviour go to:
web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/cbchap1.html
Collective Behavior - Abstracts
A Study of Sports Crowd Behavior: The Case of the Great
Pumpkin Incident
Linda Levy, Department of Sociology Rutgers University
Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 13, No. 2, 69-91 (1989) SAGE Publications.
Disagreement on which theory of collective behavior best predicts or explains how crowd
processes work prompted this case study. By closely examining, through participant
observation, the unfolding of one episode of nonviolent collective behavior at a
professional football game, four frequently applied theories of collective behavior are
tested for their utility in sports crowd situations. -
jss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/2/69
Collective Behavior in Organizational Settings
Ralph L. Blankenship
Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Work and Occupations, Vol. 3, No. 2, 151-168 (1976) SAGE Publications.
Abstract: Two episodes are compared and analyzed to reveal negotiation as the primary
mechanism of controlling equals and to indicate collective behavior as an alternative
course toward negotiated order when routine channels of communication are blocked. -
wox.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/3/2/151
The Internationalization of Collective Behavior: Lessons from Elian
Abstract: Cuba is in a pre-transitional political stage in which civil society is
undeveloped and in which the systems of social control do not permit the occurrence of
organized collective behavior. They are least effective in controlling the emergence of a
generalized culture of opposition to the government and the occurrence of relatively
unorganized collective protests.
- udel.edu/DRC/Aguirre/publications/ag72.pdf
The Apparent Madness of Crowds: Irrational collective
behavior emerging from interactions among rational agents
Authors: Sitabhra Sinha - 2006 - arxiv.org/abs/physics/0606078
Standard economic theory assumes that agents in markets behave rationally. However, the
observation of extremely large fluctuations in the price of financial assets that are not
correlated to changes in their fundamental value, as well as the extreme instance of
financial bubbles and crashes, imply that markets (at least occasionally) do display
irrational behavior.
Mob Sociology and Escalated Force: Sociology's Contribution
to Repressive Police Tactics (2000) By David Schweingruber -
public.iastate.edu/~dschwein/abstracts.html
Abstract: Mob sociology is a theory of crowd behavior that is found in the United States
police literature. Mob sociology is derived from sociological theories about crowd
behavior, but ignores their originators' assertions that crowds occur within a larger
social context. Mob sociology was diffused throughout the United State through a national
civil disorder training program and a variety of police manuals and magazines. Mob
sociology is highly compatible with the escalated force style of protest policing.
Appeared in The Sociological Quarterly 41(3): 371-389.
The Crowd and Collective Behavior: Bringing Symbolic Interaction Back In
Clark McPhail, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - Symbolic Interaction, Fall 2006,
Vol. 29, No. 4, Pages 433-464
Abstract: Distinguished Lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of
Symbolic Interaction in Philadelphia. This article's objective is to illustrate the
importance of symbolic interaction in the formation of temporary gatherings, in the
dynamic alternation between individual and collective actions that comprise those
gatherings, and in the dispersal processes that bring such gatherings to an end. I also
call attention to the limitations of the concepts of "the crowd" and of
"collective behavior." - caliber.ucpress.net
"The Media as Spur and Spoiler: A Theory of Multiple Influences on Collective
Behavior"
David A. Siegel,
Abstract: "I present a model of interdependent collective behavior under the
influence of both local social networks and a mass media. Individual interests are
heterogeneous, and people choose whether or not to participate in the behavior based on a
comparison of subjective costs and benefits. I find that, contrary to conventional wisdom,
neither increased connectivity in local networks nor an increased role for the media
uniformly increases participation in collective behavior: in many cases both can decrease
participation rates. - stanford.edu/~dasiegel/Siegel-networks-and-media.pdf
"When Does Repression Work? Collective Behavior Under the Threat of
Violence"
Abstract: Detailed model involving adaptive social learning, shaped by the network
structure, targeted repression, and mass media, with some applications to the Iraqi
elections at the start of 2005. - http://www.stanford.edu/~dasiegel/Siegel-repression.pdf
Society: Collective Behavior, News and Opinion, and Sociology and Modern Society.
by Robert E. Park, Everett Cherrington Hughes
Review author: Rudolf Heberle
The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Jul., 1956), pp. 97-98
The Collective Dynamics of Belief
Duncan J. Watts, Department of Sociology, and Institute for Social and Economic
Research and Policy, Columbia University
I first review briefly the debate between what I call rationalist and
historicist views of human behavior, and argue that both perspectives suffer
from different versions of the same problemthat of explaining collective behavior in
terms of a representative individual.
I then motivate and describe a very simple class of decision making models, from which I
conclude that rules which are simple, intuitive, and even rational from an individual's
perspective, can generate collective dynamics that are complex, unpredictable, and
counter-intuitive. - cdg.columbia.edu/uploads/papers/
watts2007_collectiveBeliefs.pdf
A Test of the Emergent Norm Theory of Collective Behavior
Authors: Aguirre B.E; Wenger D; Vigo G.
Source: Sociological Forum, Volume 13, Number 2, June 1998, pp. 301-320(20)
Abstract: Conclusion: The results augment the theory by showing the continued importance
of enduring social relationships as determinants of collective behavior. Enduring social
relationships are not only useful to differentiate collective behavior from
institutionalized behavior but also specify the dynamics attending the occurrence of
collective behavior. - ingentaconnect.com
BREAKDOWN THEORIES OF COLLECTIVE ACTION
Bert Useem Department of Sociology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New
Mexico 87131
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 24: 215-238 (Volume publication date August 1998)
Historically, breakdown theory dominated the sociological study of collective action. The
evidence against breakdown theory is weak once a distinction is made between routine and
nonroutine collective action. Several recent contributions affirm the explanatory power of
breakdown theory for nonroutine collective action. Breakdown theory also contributes to an
understanding of the use of governmental force against protest and of the moral features
of collective action. Breakdown and resource mobilization theories explain different types
of phenomena, and both are needed to help account for the full range of forms of
collective action. - arjournals.annualreviews.org
Psychoanalytic Sociology: An Essay on the Interpretation of Historical Data and the
Phenomena of Collective Behavior: By Fred Weinstein and Gerald M. Platt. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press
Review by: Jerome D. Oremland, M.D.
(1979). Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 27:238-247
What's Cool? - Modelling Fashion-like Collective Behavior Emergence from
Individual Neuro-psychological Conditioning - Jorge Simão, Peter M. Todd,
Luís Moniz Pereira
Abstract: In this article we have presented a simple model that shows how mechanisms of
neuro-psychological conditioning at the individual level can generate the emergence of
fashion-like collective behavior.
A Method for Systematically Observating and Recording Collective Action
By David Schweingruber and Clark McPhail -
Abstract
The collective action observation method is a method for systematically observing and
recording collective action across temporary gatherings, such as political demonstrations.
It uses trained observers, distributed across a gathering, who complete a code sheet
during time-interval samples. The code sheet allows the observers to record participation
in up to 50 elementary forms of collective action by members of seven actor categories.
Sociological Methods and Research 27(4): 451-498.
Simulating Arcs and Rings in Gatherings (1999)
By Charles W. Tucker, David Schweingruber and Clark McPhail -
public.iastate.edu/~dschwein/abstracts.html
Abstract: A theory of collective behavior must be able to account for simple and common
collective phenomena such as arcs and rings.
This paper appeared in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 50:581-588.
Unpacking Protest Events: A Description Bias Analysis of Media Records with
Systematic Direct Observations of Collective Action -- The 1995 March for Life in
Washington, D.C. (1998)
By Clark McPhail and David Schweingruber - public.iastate.edu/~dschwein/abstracts.html
This paper appeared as a chapter in Acts of Dissent: New Developments in the Study of
Protest. 1998. Dieter Rucht, Ruud Koopmans and Friedhelm Neidhardt (eds.). Berlin: Sigma
Press.
A Computer Simulation of a Sociological Experiment
By David Schweingruber - Social Science Computer Review 13(3):351-359
The GATHERING program, which is based on the principles of perception control theory, is
used to simulate a simplified form of McPhail and Wohlstein's (1986) collective locomotion
experiment. The main finding of the experiment--that more reference signals in common
resulted in greater coordination of collective behavior--was replicated in the simulation.
The ability of the GATHERING program to reproduce collective behavior observed in the
field and in an experiment provides evidence for the usefulness of the theory of
individual behavior on which the program is based. The simulation reported here also
demonstrates how a key hypothesis--that collective behavior is a result of similar or
related reference signals in common--can work in some instances of collective behavior. .
Collective Behavior and Social Movements - Oliver and Johnston
ssc.wisc.edu/~oliver/PROTESTS/PROTESTS.HTM
Books On Collective Behavior
The
Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes
Business,Economies, Societies and Nations [ABRIDGED] by JAMES SUROWIECKI, ERIK SINGER
(Narrator)
The
Stag Hunt and the Evolution of Social Structure
Brian Skyrms' study of ideas of cooperation and collective action.
The
Social Mind : Cognitive and Motivational Aspects of Interpersonal Behavior by Joseph P.
Forgas (Editor), Kipling D. Williams (Editor), Ladd Wheeler (Editor)
Introduction
to Collective Behavior and Collective Action
David L. Miller
Over the last half-century, the field of collective behavior and collective action has
generated some of the most innovative research methods in sociology. Now titled
Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action, provides the first systematic
overview of collective action theory and research written at the undergraduate level. It
is also the first to offer a side-by-side presentation of collective behavior and
collective action theories, providing clarity of presentation and aiding in comparison and
discussion of the two perspectives.
Social
Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action (Comparative Politics)
by Mario Diani, Doug McAdam (Editors)
Rational
Herds : Economic Models of Social Learning by Christophe P. Chamley - November 24,
2003 "Christophe Chamley brings the reader to the state of the art in formal modeling
of social learning.
Collective
Behavior
David A. Locher
David Locher illustrates all the major sociological perspectives and theories of
collective behavior and classical social movements. Addresses the study of collective
behavior, theory, categories of collective behavior, an analysis of modern episodes of
collective behavior and social movements. For those curious about collective behavior.
Collective
Violence
Steven E. Barkan, Lynne L. Snowden
Collective Violence discusses and analyzes this behavior through the eyes of social change
researchers and theorists. This book defines a new subfield in the study of collective
behavior and social movements, focusing on the characteristics, history, and structure of
violent groups.
Collective Violence teaches readers how to understand violent group behavior on the only
level at which it can be controlled, at the group level. Rather than focusing on the
social conditions that may lead to violence or the characteristics of individuals who
might join these groups..
For anyone interested in the sociology of group behavior, society, and criminal justice..
Theories of collective behavior and classical social movements
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