17 Crowds and Collectives

A detailed study of groups would be incomplete if it did not consider the dynamics of larger social collectives. For centuries people have wondered at the seemingly inexplicable actions that people undertake when part of a large mass of humanity. Juries, teams, squads, clubs, and cults are all intrig uing, but so are riots and rumors; crowds and crazes; and mobs and movements. This unit describes collectives, explains their dynamics, and seeks to repair their reputation.

 What is collective behavior?

 What theories explain collective behavior?

 How different are collectives from other types of groups?

Crowds and Collectives

Preview Collectives: Forms and Features Collective Dynamics What are collectives?

Gatherings Crowds Collective movements Social movements Contagion Convergence Deindividuation Emergent norms Social identity Collectives are groups Myth of the madding crowd Studying groups

What are collectives?

Relatively large aggregations of individuals who display similarities in action and outlook.

Examples…………..

Queue

What are collectives?

     Size: large rather than small Proximity: together or disbursed Duration: form and disband rapidly (but not always) Conventionality: sometimes members’ actions are atypical, unconventional, or aberrant

Relationships among members:

weak associations rather than cohesive Characteristics of Collectives

What are collectives?

Forms of Collective Behavior

Gatherings Group Gathering Crowd Social order in gatherings: Milgram’s line jumping study

Crowds  Crowds: street crowds, mobs, panics formation processes and crowd crystals

Milgram’s Study of Crowd Formation

Crowds McPhail, Schweingrube, & Turner’s observation system

Crowds 

Mobs

 celebratory mobs  lynch mobs  hooliganism  riots  flash 

Panics

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escape

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acquisition

Crowds Queues sometimes break down into crowds, mobs, and panics   The Who Concert tragedy The Love Parade disaster

Collective movements    

Rumors as collective processes Mass delusions

The War of the Worlds broadcast Psychogenic illness

Collective movements Trends Social Movements

• Fads • Crazes • Trends (fashion, etc.) • Reformist • Revolutionary • Reactionary • Communitarian

The “Arab Spring” as a social movement

The surprising events of the Arab Spring are still being discussed and debated, but some political scientists have suggested that these were high-tech rebellions. The protesters became what technology expert Howard Rheingold (2002) calls a smart mob: a social movement organized through the use of information technology, including cell phones and the Internet.

Collective Dynamics Contagion Theories Deindi viduation Theory Emergent Norm Theories Social Identity Theory

Contagion

Le Bon’s crowd psychology

 Contagion: The spread of behaviors, attitudes, and affect through social collectives

Social network analyses of collective processes

 Gladwell’s analysis of connectors, mavens, salespeople

Convergence “Every man has a mob self and an individual self, in varying proportions” D. H. Lawrence  Similarities among those who join crowds and collectives  Relative deprivation: people whose attainments fall below their expectations are more likely to join social movements.

van Zomeren et al., 2004

Deindividuation Conditions of Deindividuation State of Deindividuation Anonymity Responsibility Group membership Others (overload, drug usage, chanting) Loss of self-awareness ↓ Loss of self-regulation 1. Low self-monitoring 2. Failure of normative control 3. Decline in self generated reinforcements 4. Failure to form long range plans Deindividuated Behaviors Behavior is emotional, impulsive, irrational, regressive, with high intensity 1. Not under stimulus control 2. Counternormative 3. Pleasurable

Deindividuation 

reduced responsibility (diffusion of responsibility)

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membership in large groups

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heightened state of physiological arousal

The Deindividuated State

 Research suggests that the deindividuated state has two basic components:  reduced self-awareness (minimal self-consciousness, etc.)  altered experience (disturbances in concentration and judgment, etc.)  Support for this model is limited

Emergent norms Turner and Killian’s emergent norm theory  Crowds often develop unique standards for behavior and that these atypical norms exert a powerful influence on behavior. Turning the strange into the normal Example: Baiting Crowds

Social identity Collective behavior is sustained by identity processes  collectives sustain rather than undermine individuals’ identities  ingroup/outgroup processes increase self-categorization  individuation: collective behavior in some cases represents an attempt to reestablish a sense of individuality

Collectives are groups The “crowd-as-mad” assumption: Collectives differ from more routine groups in kind rather than in degree This view of collectives is questionable: Like groups in general, collectives are often misunderstood and mismanaged

Collectives are groups Collectives, like many groups are misunderstood and mismanaged.

Fortunate, the scientifici study of groups provides a means to gain a deeper understanding of groups and their dynamics.

Crowds and Collectives

Review Collectives: Forms and Features Collective Dynamics What are collectives?

Gatherings Crowds Collective movements Social movements Contagion Convergence Deindividuation Emergent norms Social identity Collectives are groups Myth of the madding crowd Studying groups