Collective Behavior

Name

Institution

 

 

Outline and Critically Assess Collective Behavior Approaches to Protest

Introduction

Brinkerhoff defines collective behaviour as a spontaneous action by groups of people who are in situations where the cultural rules of behaviour are vague, debated, as well as inadequate. In this regard, collective behaviour is a term that has been used by sociologists to refer to the various miscellaneous set of human behaviours that involve a large number of people. It should be noted that the behaviour can be relatively spontaneous although somewhat planned. Collective behaviours have different implications within a crowd and can lead to different reactions. A protesting crowd, which is the focus of this essay analysis regarding collective behaviour, entails a group of people who gather in a place to protest against a social, political, cultural, or even an economic issue (Blumer, 1969). This paper will evaluate various theories and approaches including the social psychological approach, the role of emotion and strain in protests as well as value added theory and contagion theory approaches to protest. In this regard, I will argue that all the approaches towards a protesting crowd indicate that emotion plays a central role in the group’s behaviour.

Emotional Order Analysis

Development of emotions in a group plays a critical role in collective behaviours that lead to protest. In his research, Jasper (1998) noted that sociology locates the emotions in the group, not in the individual and the role that it plays in influencing the collective behaviour of a group. It was noted that the interaction between the individuals in a group has a role of creating similar emotions in the collective behaviour. Such interactions could be influenced by the cultural expectations among other formal or informal rituals (Jasper, 1998). In this regard, people tend to have emotions that can be socially predicted concerning their feelings. For example, members of a protesting group will tend to show similar emotions at the same time. Such people are affected by social structures as well as interactive processes that create a particular sensational feeling thereby impacting on their emotions. Jasper (1998) argued that people who share similar emotions form social movements and take collective action towards protesting a particular issue. An example of social movements include the Iranian Revolution. In the revolution, many people who shared the same emotions of grievance took to the streets to protest. As Jasper (1998) noted, emotions accompany all forms of social actions implying that social movements are influenced by context-specific emotions. In some cases, the emotions may arise in an individual before joining the protesters. When several people who share similar emotions meet, they are likely to behave in a similar way. As such, protests are manifestations of emotions.

Different emotions trigger different reactions or thoughts. Psychologist view thoughts as mental cognitions such as one’s beliefs, opinions and ideas about oneself or about the world. Human beings have the ability to bring any situation or experience to their point of view depending on the emotions. When a thought is repeated over and over again, it becomes and attitude. Thoughts are usually under conscious control despite the fact that they are shaped by education, life experiences and genetics. Boutcher, Jekins and Dyke (2017) observe that people behave the way they do depending on emotional excitements triggered in them. As such, the behavior of a person can be described in terms of their emotions. Different things arouse different emotions in different people. While a situation may arouse positive emotions in a person, the same situation may arouse negative emotions in another. Ormrod (2017) reveals that although people all over the world have differing opinions, beliefs and ideas, they have similar feelings. The feelings, however, change depending on the situation. Emotions can be contagious. One may be motivated to do something because another one is doing it. Although there is a shared factor of universality between emotions of different people, each person may experience them and respond to them in a different way. Some people may understand their emotions very easily but others may take some time before understanding their emotions.

Structural Strain to Grievance

People are motivated to do something by the prevailing environment. This is what the theory of structural strain to grievance seeks to explicate. The theory suggests that the social movements that take place in the society are as a result of strain in the social structure (Crossley, 2012). Smelser argues that people are likely to join radical movements due to their experience of social dislocations in the form of social strain that creates emotions of grievance. In this regard, his notion of strain is identified to be the most critical component of the model regarding collective behaviour. It can be identified that he assumes that social structural strain plays a critical role in protests.

Structural strain theory by Robert Merton claims that deviance in the society is a result of a society’s distributed means to achieve the cultural goals. Strain causing deviance emotion that leads to protest results as a mismatch between the cultural goals and the institutionalized means used to reach the goals. The fundamental question of deviance role in the society has been prevalent among scholars and sociologists who subscribe to the school of structural functionalism. Emile Durkheim solidified this approach noting that structural functionalism emphasizes on social solidarity that cannot be comprehended without investigating deviance. Therefore, a protesting crowd is a group of people who depict deviance on a particular issue thereby disrupting societal norms. This is illustrative of the social strain theory which states that social structures put pressure on people which makes them commit crimes. In this respect, a protesting crowd experiences pain thereby looks for means to satisfy their needs.

Value Added Theory Approach

According to the value added theory approach by Neil Smelser, particular conditions must be in place for social movements to take place. The theory argues that combination of some determinants promote collective behaviours. Smelser suggested that grievances turn into a set of generalized beliefs that later turn into social movements (Crossley, 2012). The generalized beliefs and feelings have been termed as strains that refer to cycles of inadequate regulations within the societal level that have a negative impact on individual perceptions and opportunities. In this regard, individuals are likely to join hostile as well as radical social movements due to the social strain. Therefore, value added theory explains the collective behaviours that predict collective hostile outbursts. In this regard, even though there are no standard typologies regarding the social movements, emotions take an important role in their formation. This supports another illustration suggested by the value-added approach which states that politically motivated protests are more likely to take place in the societies that have limited access to the cultural goals. This implies that the cultural goals could be achievable, but they are inaccessible. The inaccessibility creates a strain with the efforts by members to attain them. In response, the structural strain causes a grievance among a group of people. Smelser identified that when people experience social strain, they are likely to join radical movements of protests. This is because they develop a similar mindset. In this regard, strain theory sees crime as a function of a given conflict that exists between people and their recognizable goals as well as the means that are available to access them legally. While the legal means are limited, individuals turn to different avenues that are not legitimate with the aim of social achievement.

Contagion Theory Approach

Emotional causes of crowd protests can also be looked into from a contagion theory perspective. Contagion theory, as explained by Gustave Le Bon sought to explain crowd psychology particularly explain why people in a group tend to behave in a particular manner (Stolley, 2005). According to his arguments, crowds create certain emotions that make people behave in a particular manner. In this regard, crowds exert kind of a hypnotic influence on their members. Such a hypnotic influence together with the anonymity of belonging to a vast group of individuals leads to irrational as well as emotionally charged behaviour. This makes a frenzied crowd be somehow contagious with the contagion feeding itself and growing as time passes. This makes the crowd to assume their unique life that stirs emotions that drive people to behave irrationally and violently. An example of a contagion protest is the French Revolution of the 18th century that was exacerbated by hard economic times. Similar feelings spread among people who had similar suffering thereby making them protest against the government.

Herbert Blumer further developed the contagion theory with the introduction of the term milling. According to his arguments, individuals become extremely conscious during milling thereby making them respond to each other spontaneously while avoiding external provocations (Blumer, 1969). An independent action of an individual will result in displaying curious behavioural patterns. This creates emotions that make the group have common behaviour that would have deemed impossible. Such arguments support the explanations by Le Bon that emergent characteristics of a crowd result from an emotional invincible power. A crowd’s realization of numbers’ strength creates a sense of omnipotence which is coupled with an individual feeling of anonymity that yields instincts to behave in a particular manner. In this regard, a protesting crowd has an emotional stance that spreads through the crowd thereby impacting on their actions.

Social Psychological Approach

The study of emotions in social psychology has become an area of interest concerning protests. According to Stekelenburg (2013), anger is the common prototypical emotion that causes protest. This implies that group anger leads protests. In a group, the individual grievances, as well as feelings, are changed into shared grievances as well as emotions in a social network. This leads to social embeddedness that forms informal relationships between members of a particular group. For example, the effect of interaction within a social network concerning propensity to participate in politics is contingent regarding the quantity of political discussions that takes place in social networks about the politics. This explains why people belonging to a particular political party are likely to behave in a certain manner when something unpleasant is done to their party member. In this respect, a social-political world is created that mobilizes people towards a political protest. Being in the group makes one to have a high likelihood of being targeted with a mobilization message that creates common emotion among the members thereby leading to a protest. In this regard, social networks create emotions that function as communication channels for certain shared emotional messages.

Conclusion

In conclusion, emotions play a critical role in collective behaviour that leads to protest. A protesting crowd participate in collective behaviours that are motivated by various political, social, or economic issues that trigger a common emotion among the group members. The analysis of the theories and ideologies by Smelser and Blumer show similar conclusions that a common emotion triggers a particular reaction in a group. For example, it was noted from the value-added theory that social movements result from structural strains in society. Such social conditions made people angry and frustrated thereby resulting in a grievance. Without the structural strain, then people would have no reason to protest implying that the social movements would not arise. Besides, a focus on social psychology noted that a generalized belief creates a common feeling (emotion) that triggers people to come up with solutions to improve their condition. By so doing, they end up reacting violently. Also, the contagion theory posits that group phenomena are different from individual phenomena thereby suggesting unique psychological laws that govern different dynamics of a group. In this regard, emotions of strain created by various social situations make the group to react uniformly in a protesting manner.

 

 

References

Blumer, H. (1969). “Elementary collective groupings,” chapter 19 in a McLung Lee and (ed.)       Principles of Sociology. New York: Barnes and Noble Books.

Boutcher, S., Jekins, J., & Dyke, N. (2017). Strain, ethnic competition, and power devaluation:     white supremacist protest in the US, 1948-1997. Social Movement Studies, 1-15.

Crossley, N. (2012). “Smelser’s value added approach,” chapter 3 in Making Sense of Social         Movements. Open University Press: Birmingham, pp. 39-55.

Jasper, J. (1998). The emotions of protest: affective and reactive emotions in and around social     movements. Sociological Forum, 13(3), 397-424.

Ormrod, J. (2017). Smelser’s theory of collective behavior. Fantasy and Social Movements, 184-   199.

Stekelenburg, J. (2013). The political psychology of protest. European Psychologist, 18(4), 224-   234.

Stolley, K. S. (2005). The Basics of Sociology. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

 

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