THE FIELD OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR

AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Collective behaviour

• Collective behaviour is the relatively spontaneous, unstructured, extra-institutional behaviour of a fairly large number of individuals.

• It deviates from the established, normal, institutionalized patterns.

• It tends to have one foot outside society’s mainstream structures and institutions such as religion, politics, family and education.

FIVE BASIC SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS THAT EXIST IN ALL SOCIETIES

PoliticsPolitics

ReligionReligion

FamilyFamilyEducationEducation

EconomyEconomy

• It is the maverick side of human life-less structured, shorter lived and less stable.

• Collective behaviour may arise because traditional norms are in conflict with certain desired values of a situation.

•  

• Collective behaviour is not individuals acting on their own; it is the behaviour of individuals acting with and in relation to one another.

Three types of human behaviour

• Only the third is collective:•  • 1.   The   individual does something fairly

unique on the own (individual behaviour)

• 2.     Two or more individual do the same thing on their own (parallel behaviour)

• 3. Behaviour engaged in the presence of others, or is directly influenced by others, and becomes a basis of a group bond-this is collective behaviour

Solidarity

• It should be noted that for the most part, people who engage in collective behavior that stands outside institutionalized patterns,

• Most people involved in collective behaviours believe see what they are doing as acceptable and conventional;

• …most followers have not totally rejected society’s norms and beliefs-they have simply redefined them or put a new spin on them.

 For this reason…

• Social movements have often been investigated side by side with collective behaviours.

Social movements

• Social movements may be defined as "“organized efforts by a substantial number of people to promote or resist change in some aspect or aspects of society”

• The traditional view of social movements sees them as something very similar to collective behaviours, there are really no fundemental differences between them, especially in the initial stages of formation.….

Early stage of social change

• . Occurs when conditions of strain have arisen but before social resources have been mobilized for a specific and possibly effective attack on the source of strain.\\

 A Comparision

• Collective Behaviour

• VS.

• Social Movements

Similarities:

•  • 1      First both are dynamic-they

reflect or help to generate social change-a stable society has little collective behaviour and probably no social movements…

• 2.     Second, both have an extra-institutional element-both violate mainstream society’s established norms, institutions or traditional values…both affront what “ought to be” rather than “what is”

• 3. Third both collective behaviour and social movements are collective phenomena-

Collective Behaviour

• Are people engaged in interaction with others…They are group creations….They are the product of actions, reactions, and interactions with and in the midst of other people.

Differences:

• 1. Collective behaviour has be seen as different from the political rational approach

• -Most social movements cannot be fully explained in the way one accounts for some forms of collective behaviour like outbursts, fads ect

• 2. Social movements can often be seen as more purposive, rational and goal oriented than some collective behaviours but not always…

• 3. Some collective behaviours are viewed as irrational-trivial and silly-some riots are useless and destructive others are leading some where and may be closer to a social movement.

•  • Collective behaviour then, us the action of

the impatient whereas social movements may not..

• Historically, collective behaviour like social movements are associated with processes of structural reorganization.

Exclusion 

•  • 1.     Scheduled for specific times and

place-ways of celebrating, such a whooping, marching and so on…..Ceremonies for periodic reaffirmation.

• 2.     Lynching-a quasi institutional form of justice that forms out of weak civil relations, although at times it is crowd behaviour, at other terms like lynching bee connotes some form of organization.

• 3.     The audience-an institutionalized form-persons gather and follow institutionalized norms ie. Bravos…

• The audience can however, form the setting for collective behaviour-ie. Ford’s theatre when Lincoln was shot.

•

• 4.     Public opinion-collective episodes may constitute a part of `total public opinion’….the collective behavior may be when the crowd cheers when Bonnie and Clyde run with the money….many sympathize and at a certain moment, they may exercise collective behaviour.

• 5.     Propaganda- -“expression of an action deliberately designed to influence opinions or actions:

• Propaganda is related to collective behaviour in several ways: a. it may inspire collective action.