Collective behaviour and social movements
People act together in crowds, fads, and organised movements, and these actions can reshape whole societies.
Collective behaviour
Collective behaviour is non-routine action by large numbers of people, such as crowds, fads, panics, and rumours. Herbert Blumer distinguished casual crowds, conventional crowds gathered for events, expressive crowds sharing emotion, and acting crowds focused on a goal. Emergent norm theory argues that crowds develop new norms on the spot.
Social movements
Social movements are organised, lasting efforts to promote or resist change. They can be reform movements seeking specific changes, revolutionary movements seeking to transform society, or resistance movements opposing change. Resource mobilisation theory argues that movements succeed when they can gather money, people, media attention, and organisation.
Sources of social change
Social change comes from technology, such as the internet; from social institutions, such as new laws; from population shifts; from the environment; and from modernisation. Social media has changed how movements organise, allowing rapid mobilisation across distances, though online activism can fade quickly without lasting organisation.
Flashcard
Non-routine action by large numbers of people
Check your understanding
A campaign to change one specific law through petitions and lobbying, without overturning the whole system, is a: