Collective behavior

Examples of Collective behavior in the following topics:

• Introduction

  • Collective behavior, a third form of action, takes place when norms are absent or unclear, or when they contradict each other.
  • Scholars have devoted far less attention to collective behavior than they have to either conformity or deviance.
  • These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior.
  • 1) collective behavior involves limited and short-lived social interaction while groups tend to remain together longer
  • 2) collective behavior has no clear social boundaries; anyone can be a member of the collective while group membership is usually more discriminating

• Social Change

  • Collective behavior can result in social change through the formation of cohesive social movements.
  • These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior.
  • Collective behavior has no clear social boundaries; anyone can be a member of the collective, while group membership is usually more discriminating.
  • Collective behavior can actually change elements of society.
  • This is the component of collective behavior known as "social movements. "

• Why Study Collective Behavior?

  • Aside from the intrinsic interest of understanding why large groups of people behave the way they do, there are practical reasons why the study of collective behavior is important.
  • How to redesign buildings and manage crowds are two types of knowledge that can result from the study of collective behavior.
  • Understanding how people behave in riots, what sets them off, and how they can be rapidly concluded is also knowledge that can result from the study of collective behavior.
  • Another motivation for studying collective behavior is in order to actually change elements of society.
  • This is the component of collective behavior known as "social movements."

• Crowds

  • casual - loose collection of people with no real interaction (e.g, people at the mall)
  • Collective behavior can also refer to behavior that is diffused or dispersed over large distances.
  • Not all collective behavior has to occur in the immediate vicinity of others (compact crowds).
  • Thus, while some crowds may result from like-minded individuals coming together to act collectively (e.g., political rally), some crowds actually spur individuals into behavior that they would otherwise not engage in.
  • More recent research into collective behavior has begun to change sociological thinking on crowds.

• Introduction to deviance

  • Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms.
  • The second type of deviant behavior refers to violations of informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law, and is referred to as informal deviance.
  • Cultural norms are relative; this makes deviant behavior relative as well.
  • Sociological interest in deviance includes both interests in measuring formal deviance (statistics of criminal behavior; see below), examining how people (individually and collectively) define some things deviant and others normative, and a number of theories that try to explain both the role of deviance in society and its origins.

• Effects of Group Size on Attitude and Behavior

  • Size (number of people involved) is an important characteristic of groups, organizations and communities in which social behavior occurs.
  • In the social sciences a social group is defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity.
  • Individual behavior deviates substantially in a group setting; therefore, it is difficult to determine group behavior by looking solely at the individuals that comprise the group.
  • Individual behavior has been shown to be influenced by the presence of others.
  • Large groups introduce diversity of attitudes and behaviors.

• Introduction

  • One way of determining if a collection of people can be considered a group is if individuals who belong to that collection use the self-referent pronoun "we;" using "we" to refer to a collection of people often implies that the collection thinks of itself as a group.
  • Such collections are referred to as categories of people rather than groups; examples include: police, soldiers, millionaires, women, etc.
  • But social categorization of people into groups and categories also facilitates behavior and action.
  • "Because groups and categories help facilitate social behavior, you know who this individual is: a member of a law enforcement category like the police or highway patrol.
  • In short, because you recognize that the individual driving the car belongs to a specific social category (or group), you can enter this interaction with a body of knowledge that will help guide your behavior.

• Sociology and Science

  • The goal of predicting human behavior was quickly realized to be a bit lofty.
  • The goal of verstehen is less to predict behavior than it is to understand behavior.
  • Quantitative sociology is generally a numerical approach to understanding human behavior.
  • The second step is the collection of data, and this is really where the two approaches differ.
  • Max Weber and Wilhelm Dilthey introduced verstehen—understanding behaviors—as goal of sociology.

• Documents

  • Documentary research involves examining texts and documents as evidence of human behavior.
  • In documentary research, all information is collected from texts and documents.
  • It falls under the category of unobtrusive research, which can be defined as ways for studying human behavior without affecting it in the process.

• Sexual Behavior: Kinsey's Study

  • Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist who is considered to be the founder of sexology, or the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function.
  • The report refers to two different book publications based on his research of human sexuality: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953).
  • Significantly, the Kinsey research team went out and conducted the interviews themselves, rather than relying upon pre-collected data.
  • What resulted was the largest collection of statistical information about adult sexuality in the United States.
  • The scale ranked sexual behavior from zero to six, with zero being completely heterosexual and six being completely homosexual.