Collective Behavior

Social Movements, Collective Behavior Books, Abstracts, Bibliography, Journals, Syllabus

Collective behavior is defined as activity involving a relatively large number of people that is often spontaneous. Social movements and activism are organized and relatively sustained activities that have a clear goal in terms of achieving or preventing some social change.

In all societies and civilizations, people have absorbed themselves in episodes of dramatic behavior, such as the crowd, the riot, and revolutions. The nature of these episodes has evolved into a field of sociology and a concept known as collective behavior.

Collective behavior is "the actions, often disorganized, taken by a large number of people gathered together usually in defiance of society's norms."

The three generalized types of collective behavior are:

• localized, which include crowds/mobs/riots

• dispersed, or mass behavior, which include rumor/gossip/fads/public opinion/propaganda.

• social movements

The Importance of Learning Collective Behavior
Studying collective behavior can be very practical and useful in today's society. One example is the safety of people who become involved in crowds. There have been numerous accounts of crowds/mobs/riots that have turned dangerous and even fatal. People have been trampled to death at concerts, building panics, and crowd surges in the past; but, had there been knowledge of crowd management and behavior, with better architectural design, injury and loss of life could have been avoided. Studying collective behavior will allow people to better understand how people respond in certain situations. Predicting these outcomes can help prevent conflict from becoming worse in a destructive way.

What Is Collective Behavior?
People in many countries have taken to the streets protesting against US action in Iraq. Divided groups are on the street demanding or opposing abortion rights, gay marriages or gender discrimination. Many people have started wearing tattoos instead of clothes. All these come under collective behavior.

Collective behavior includes a range of behaviors based on concern and attitude or just panic and fads. It includes many sociological sub-fields. Many areas of sociology involve the study of behavior but they tend to be restricted to niche areas.

University syllabii for "Collective Behaviour" course lists crowds, panics, social movements and many more. But what is common to them. What should be part of the list? and what should not be? Will a silent peaceful march be included? Is a labor dispute based on agreed rights collective behaviour? Is a religious congregation an example of collective behaviour?

For a complete essay on Collective Behaviour go to: web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/cbchap1.html

Books On Collective Behavior

The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations by JAMES SUROWIECKI, ERIK SINGER

The Stag Hunt and the Evolution of Social Structure
Brian Skyrms' study of ideas of cooperation and collective action.

The Social Mind : Cognitive and Motivational Aspects of Interpersonal Behavior by Joseph P. Forgas (Editor), Kipling D. Williams (Editor), Ladd Wheeler (Editor)

Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action - David L. Miller
Over the last half-century, the field of collective behavior and collective action has generated some of the most innovative research methods in sociology. Now titled Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action, provides the first systematic overview of collective action theory and research written at the undergraduate level. It is also the first to offer a side-by-side presentation of collective behavior and collective action theories, providing clarity of presentation and aiding in comparison and discussion of the two perspectives.

Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action (Comparative Politics) by Mario Diani, Doug McAdam (Editors)

Rational Herds : Economic Models of Social Learning by Christophe P. Chamley - November 24, 2003 "Christophe Chamley brings the reader to the state of the art in formal modeling of social learning.

Collective Behavior - David A. Locher
David Locher illustrates all the major sociological perspectives and theories of collective behavior and classical social movements. Addresses the study of collective behavior, theory, categories of collective behavior, an analysis of modern episodes of collective behavior and social movements. For those curious about collective behavior.

Collective Violence - Steven E. Barkan, Lynne L. Snowden
Collective Violence discusses and analyzes this behavior through the eyes of social change researchers and theorists. This book defines a new subfield in the study of collective behavior and social movements, focusing on the characteristics, history, and structure of violent groups.
Collective Violence teaches readers how to understand violent group behavior on the only level at which it can be controlled, at the group level. Rather than focusing on the social conditions that may lead to violence or the characteristics of individuals who might join these groups..
For anyone interested in the sociology of group behavior, society, and criminal justice..

Theories of collective behavior and classical social movements