Collective Behavior
This term describes an unorganized, relatively diffuse group of people who share ideas.
What is a public?
A nonviolent crowd that gathers for a planned event such as a concert or graduation.
What is a conventional crowd?
Organized, purposeful groups working toward social change.
What are social movements?
The stage of a movement where people first become aware of an issue.
What is the preliminary stage?
This major driver of social change includes innovations like smartphones, social media, and AI.
What is technology?
A group of people in close proximity who react to a shared event or concern.
What is a crowd?
This form of collective behavior involves dispersed individuals communicating through technology rather than gathering physically.
What is a mass?
This movement of the 1950s–60s sought to end racial segregation and discrimination, leading to major U.S. legal reforms.
What is the Civil Rights Movement?
The point when a movement becomes organized, develops leaders, and formulates strategies.
What is the coalescence stage?
These structures—family, religion, economy, government—evolve slowly but significantly influence social change.
What are social institutions?
This term refers to voluntary, non-institutionalized actions by large numbers of people.
What is collective behavior?
A spontaneous crowd that may erupt into rioting or looting.
What is an acting crowd?
A movement focused on limited, specific changes affecting certain groups or individuals.
What is a reform movement?
A mature period of a movement characterized by bureaucracy and professionalization.
What is the institutionalization (or formalization) stage?
Shifts in birthrates, aging, and migration fall under this key factor of social change.
What is population change?
A concept that suggests people are not deeply engaged and do not feel close connections to their peers in the movement, and so do not persevere if things get challenging or risky.
What is the weak-tie phenomenon?
A crowd that acts with emotional intensity, often fearful or hostile.
What is an expressive or acting crowd?
This movement type aims to drastically remake society and its institutions.
What is a revolutionary movement?
When a movement’s goals have been achieved or no longer seem achievable, causing it to fade.
What is the decline stage?
Climate events, natural disasters, and resource scarcity are examples of this cause of social change.
What is environmental change?
Turner and Killian’s view that crowds develop new rules and expectations during an event.
What is emergent norm theory?
Episodes of unstructured collective behavior that often involve many people suddenly engaging in similar actions, like fads or crazes.
What are collective phenomena?
A movement seeking radical change in individuals rather than institutions, often associated with mindfulness, wellness, or religious conversion.
What is a redemptive movement?
This type of legislation was originally crafted decades ago with the purpose of preserving the rights of minority religious people, businesses, and other organizations to decide whom they will serve based on religious beliefs.
What are Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA, pronounced "rifra") laws?
Sociologists use this term to describe how increased specialization and interdependence accompany modernization.
What is differentiation?