Sociology Unit 2 Chapter 23

What are the stages in social movements?

1. Emergence (defining the public issue) 2. Coalescence (entering public arena) 3. Bureaucratization (becoming formally organized) 4. Decline (due to failure or success)

What are characteristics of Emotional Contagion?

1. Homogeneity of Members 2. Similarity of Emotional Moods 3. Focused Attention 4. Distraction From Self 5. Suggestibility 6. Reciprocal Stimulation 7. Selective Perception

Protest Crowd

May stage marches, boycotts, sit-ins, and strikes for political purposes.

Rumor

Unconfined information that people spread informally, often by word of mouth.

Panic

A form of collective behavior in which people in one place react to a threat of stimulus with irrational, frantic, and often self-destructive behavior.

Mass Hysteria

A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.

Moral Panic

A form of dispersed collective behavior in which people react to a real or imagined event with irrational and even frantic fear.

Mob

A highly emotional crowd that pursues a violent or destructive goal. Mobs pursue a specific goal.

Explain Reciprocal Stimulation in relation to Emotional Contagion.

A influences B, B influences C, C reinforces A.

Collectivity

A large number of people whose minimal interaction occurs in the absence of well-defined and conventional norms.

Casual Crowd

A loose collection of people who interact little, if at all. People lying on a beach or people who rush to the scene of an automobile accident are examples.

Relative Deprivation

A perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison.

Riot

A social eruption that is highly emotional, violent, and undirected.

Structural-Strain Theory

A social movement develops as a result of six factors. Clearly stated grievances encourage the formation of social movements; undirected anger, by contrast, promotes rioting.

Fashion

A social pattern favored by a large number of people.

Crowd

A temporary gathering of people who share a common focus of attention and who influence one another.

Collective Behavior

Activity involving a large number of people that is unplanned, often controversial, and sometimes dangerous.

Explain Focused Attention in relation to Emotional Contagion.

All of the members of the crowd have their attention focused on a singular event.

Explain Similarity of Emotional Moods in relation to Emotional Contagion.

All of the members of the crowd share a similar emotional mood.

Explain Homogeneity of Members in relation to Emotional Contagion.

All of the members of the crowd share similar physical characteristics.

What are the 4 types of social movement?

Alternative Social Movements. Redemptive Social Movements. Reformative Social Movements. Revolutionary Social Movements.

Contagion Theory

An early explanation of collective behavior was offered by the French sociologist Gustave Le Bon. According to Le Bon's contagion theory, crowds have a hypnotic influence on their members. Shielded by the anonymity found in large numbers, people forget about personal responsibility and give in to the contagious emotions of the crowd. A crowd thus assumes of life of its own, stirring up emotions and driving people toward irrational, even violent, action.

Disaster

An event, generally unexpected, that causes extensive harm to people and damage to property.

Social Movement

An organized activity that encourages or discourages social change.

Fad

An unconventional social pattern that people embrace briefly but enthusiastically.

Mass Behavior

Collective behavior among people spread over a wide geographic area.

Convergence Theory

Convergence theory holds that crowds behavior comes not from the crowd itself bu also from the particular people who join it. From this point of view, a crowd is a convergence of like-minded individuals. Contagion theory states that crowds cause people to act in a certain way; convergence theory says the opposite, claiming that people who wish to act in a certain way come together to form crowds.

Deprivation Theory

Deprivation theory holds that social movements seeking change arise among people who feel deprived. People who feel they lack enough income, safe working conditions, basic political rights, or plain human dignity may organize a social movement to bring about a more just state of affairs.

Expressive Crowd

Forms around an event with emotional appeal, such as a religious revival, an AC/DC concert, or the NYE celebration in NYC. Excitement is the main reason that people join expressive crowds.

Culture Theory

In recent years, sociologists have developed culture theory, the recognition that social movements depend not only on material resources and the structure of political power but also on cultural symbols. That is, people in any particular situation are likely to mobilize to form a social movement only to the extent that they develop "shared understandings of the world that legitimate and motivate collective action".

Propaganda

Information presented with the intention of shaping public opinion.

Acting Crowd

Is a collectivity motivated by an intense, single-minded purpose, such as an audience rushing the doors of a concert hall or fleeing from a mall after hearing gun shots.

Explain Distraction From Self in relation to Emotional Contagion.

Members of the crowd begin to act in ways in which they would not ordinarily behave.

Explain Suggestibility in relation to Emotional Contagion.

Members of the crowd take suggestions from others on how they should behave.

Emergent Norm Theory

Ralph Turner and Lewis Killian developed the emergent-norm theory of crowd dynamics. These researchers admit that social behavior is never entirely predictable, but if similar interests draw people into a crowd, distinctive patterns of behavior emerge.

Resource-Mobilization Theory

Resource-Mobilization theory points out that no social movement is likely to succeed - or even get off the ground - without substantial resources including money, human labor, office and communications equipment, access to the mass media, and positive public image.

Conventional Crowd

Results from deliberate planning, as illustrated by a country auction, a college lecture, or a presidential inauguration. In each case, the behavior or people involved follows a clear set of norms.

Gossip

Rumor about people's personal affairs.

Alternative Social Movements

Seek limited change in specific individuals.

Reformative Social Movements

Seek limited change in the whole society.

Redemptive Social Movements

Seek radical change in specific individuals.

Revolutionary Social Movements

Seek radical change in the whole society.

Political-Economy Theory

Social movements arise within capitalist societies that fail to meet the needs of a majority of people.

New Social Movements Theory

Social movements in postindustrial societies are typically international in scope and focus on quality of life issues.

Explain Selective Perception in relation to Emotional Contagion.

Sometimes people can see and hear certain things that reinforce their own points of view. They can also dismiss those things that do not favor their personal view points.

Claims Making

The process of trying to convince the public and public officials of the importance to joining a social movement to address a particular issue.

Public Opinion

Widespread attitudes about controversial issues.

Mass-Society Theory

William Kornhauser's mass society theory argues that socially isolated people seek out social movements as a way to gain a sense of belonging and importance.