Transcript Document
Social Movements
and Social Change
Chapter 18
Early Explanations of Collective
Behaviour
Charles MacKay (1814-1889)
Herd Mentality
Gustav LeBon (1841-1931)
Collective Mind
• Crowds and feelings of anonymity
• Feelings of invincibility
Contagion
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Early Explanations of Collective
Behaviour
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987)
“Acting Crowd”
• An excited group that moves toward a
goal
• Tension or unrest
• Exciting event
• Milling
• A common object of attention
• Common impulses
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Blumer’s Model of How an
Acting Crowd Develops
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Contemporary Theories of
Collective Behaviour
The Minimax Strategy
Costs and rewards of
participation
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Contemporary Theories of
Collective Behaviour
Emergent Norms
New definitions of “right and
wrong”
• The ego-involved
• The concerned
• The insecure
• The curious spectators
• The exploiters
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Forms of Collective
Behaviour
Riots and Demonstrations
Violent crowd behaviour aimed against
people and property
Panics
Unable to function properly due to fear;
may flee
Moral Panics
Large numbers of people become
concerned with some behaviour thought to
threaten morality
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Forms of Collective Behaviour
Rumours
Thrive in conditions of ambiguity; fill in missing
information
Short-lived
Fads and Fashions
Fad:
• Behaviour that briefly catches people’s attention
• Spreads by suggestion, imitation, & identification with people
already involved in the fad
Fashion:
• A fad that lasts
Urban Legends
Stories with an ironic twist; sound realistic, but are false
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18-8
Social Movements
Large
numbers of people who
organize to promote or resist
social change
• Proactive Social Movements
• Reactive Social Movements
Social
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Movement Organizations
18-9
Types of Social Movements
Alterative Social Movements
Seek only to alter a particular
behaviour of individuals
e.g., MADD (Mothers Against Drunk
Driving)
Redemptive Social Movements
Total change of individuals
e.g., Christianity
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Types of Social Movements
Reformative Social Movements
Reform a specific aspect of society
e.g., environmental movements
Transformative Social Movements
Seek to transform the social order
itself
e.g., revolutions
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Types of Social Movements
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18-12
Tactics of Social Movements
Membership
The Publics
Relationship to Authorities
Other Factors
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The Membership and Publics of
Social Movements
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Social Movements & the Media
Public Opinion
Propaganda
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Why People Join Social
Movements
Mass Society Theory
Mass society: an impersonal,
industrialized, highly bureaucratized
society
Effects of social isolation
Deprivation Theory
The desire to achieve money, justice,
status, or privilege
“Relative deprivation theory”
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Why People Join Social
Movements
Moral Issues and Ideological
Commitment
“moral shock”
“ideological commitment”
The Agent Provocateur
“Insider” whose job it is to
infiltrate social movements,
perhaps sabotage activities
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The Life Course of Social
Movements
5 Stages
Initial unrest and agitation
Resource mobilization
Organization
Institutionalization
Organizational decline and
possible resurgence
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Social Change
The alteration of culture and society
over time
Brought about by people organized
into social movements
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How Technology Changes
Society
Technology
Tools
Skills or procedures to make and use
tools
Postindustrial or Postmodern Societies
Technology: Artificial means of
extending human abilities
New Technologies
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How Technology Changes
Society
Modernization
The changes brought about by
industrialization
Effects on social life
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Comparing
Traditional &
Modern Societies
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Technology: Ogburn’s Theory of
Social Change
Invention
Discovery
Diffusion
Cultural Lag
A Two-Way Process?
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Technology: Transforming
Society
Transformation of Existing
Technologies
Changes in Social Organization
Changes in Ideology
Transformation of Values
Transformation of Social
Relationships
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Technology: Transforming
Society
The Automobile
Displacement of Existing
Technology
Effects on Cities
Changes in Architecture
Changed Courtship Customs and
Sexual Norms
Effects on Women’s Roles
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Technology: Transforming
Society
The Computer
• Medicine
• Education
• The Workplace
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Technology: Transforming
Society
Cyberspace and Social Inequalities in
the 21st Century
Information superhighway
Information haves and have-nots
Who controls the superhighway?
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Contemporary Theories of
Social Change
Evolutionary Theories
Unilinear Theories
Multilinear Theories
Marxist Conflict Theories
Cyclical Theories
Feminist Theories
Postmodern Theories
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Contemporary Theories of
Social Change
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