1. CHAPTER 17: SOCIAL CHANGE: COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND TECHNOLOGY

2. COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR
Collective behavior is the spontaneous and unstructured behavior of a large number of people who may violate traditional or conventional norms and values.
It is an act rather than a state of mind.
It varies in its degree of spontaneity and structure. 1 2

3. Structural Strain Theory
Macro-level factors encourage or discourage collective behavior.
Structural conduciveness involves social conditions that allow the behavior to occur.
Structural strain occurs when an important aspect of a social system is seen as causing problems. 1 3

4. Structural Strain Theory
Growth and spread of a generalized belief occurs when people begin to see an event as a widespread problem.
Precipitating factors include an incident or dramatic experience that triggers an event.
Mobilizing people for action occurs when leaders emerge
Social control happens when opposing groups try to prevent the action. 1 4

5. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Rumors, gossip, and urban legends—widespread beliefs
Rumor—unfounded information spread among people in rapid fashion
Gossip—the act of spreading news about other people's personal lives
Urban legends—stories that supposedly happened to people 1 5

6. Discussion 1 Why do rumors, gossip, and urban legends exist?
Why do they have the power they do? 1 6

7. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Panic and Mass Hysteria
Panic involves a collective flight from a real or perceived danger in an irrational way.
Mass hysteria involves an intense, fearful, and anxious reaction to a real or imagined threat 1 7

8. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Fashions, Fads, and Crazes
Fashion is a temporary standard of appearance, thinking, or behavior that enjoys widespread acceptance.
Fads spread rapidly and enthusiastically but last for only a short time.
Crazes become all-consuming passions for a short period of time. 1 8

9. Application Is it fashion, fad, or craze?
For a few months, many people were trying the South Beach diet.
One Christmas, most American children desperately wanted a Cabbage Patch doll.
In recent years, many women have been getting color highlights in their hair. 9

10. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Disasters are unplanned and unwanted occurrences that cause widespread damage, destruction, distress, and loss.
Disasters can be due to social causes, technological causes, or natural causes.
Disasters often inspire organization rather than chaos. 1 10

11. Discussion
Why does a particular event cause panic sometimes and organization other times? 1 11

12. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Publics, Public Opinion, and Propaganda
A public is a collection of people who are interested in a particular issue.
Public opinion involves a verbalization about a matter of concern and involves controversial matter.
Propaganda is the presentation of information designed to influence others. 1 12

13. Varieties of Collective Behavior
Crowds are temporary collections of people who are geographically together and share a common interest.
Crowds vary in their goals, motives, interests, and emotions. 1 13

14. Varieties of Collective Behavior
A mob is a highly emotional and disorderly crowd that uses force or violence against a specific target.
A riot is a violent crowd that directs its hostility at a wide and shifting range of targets. 1 14

15. Application Identify the type of collective behavior.
A group of people gathered to peacefully protest the war in Iraq.
A group of people rampaged through a city neighborhood smashing windows in many stores.
People gathered in a designated shelter during a tornado. 15

16. SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
A social movement is a large group of people who are organized to promote or resist some social change in society.
Social movements are organized, deliberate, and structured. 2 16

17. Types of Social Movements
Social movements are classified according to their goals and the amount of change that they seek.
Alternative—aimed at changing people's attitudes and behaviors in a specific way; seek limited change among some people. Example: Alcoholics Anonymous 2 17

18. Types of Social Movements
Redemptive—seek to create dramatic change in some peoples' lives. Example: a Christian fundamentalist group
Reformative—seek to change everyone on a particular topic. Example: the Civil Rights Movement 2 18

19. Types of Social Movements
Resistance—reactionary movements that seek to block change. Example: anti-abortion movements
Revolutionary—want to destroy a social order and replace it with a new one. Example: the French Revolution 2

20. Types of Social Movements2 20

21. Application Identify the type of social movement.
A white supremacy group
A militia group that declares the existence of a new nation
People involved in practicing yoga 21

22. Why Social Movements Emerge
Mass Society Theory suggests that social movements offer a sense of belonging to people who feel alienated and disconnected from others.
Relative Deprivation Theory argues that people react to what they think they have relative to others. 2 22

23. Why Social Movements Emerge
Resource Mobilization Theory focuses on the need for organization and leadership to advance a cause. Movements also need money and equipment.
New Social Movements Theory emphasizes the linkages between culture, politics, and ideology. Recent movements have attracted relatively well-educated, affluent people who seek to promote the rights of all people. 2 23

24. Application Identify the social movement theory.
Many well-known actors organize to end world hunger.
A movement is successful when it is led by an experienced former businessman.
People join social movements when they feel they deserve better than they are getting. 24

25. The Stages of Social Movements
Emergence—People are upset about some social condition and want to change it.
Organization—Active members form alliances, seek media coverage, develop strategies, and tactics.
Institutionalization—The movement becomes more organized and bureaucratic. 2 25

26. The Stages of Social Movements
Decline—In the last stage movements may
become interest groups and part of society's fabric
be co-opted by government or other groups
become distracted
experience fragmentation
be repressed 2 26

27. The Stages of Social Movements2 27

28. Discussion
What makes a social movement successful?

29. TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Technology is the scientific application of knowledge for practical purposes.
Computer technology began in 1887 and has become more pervasive and sophisticated over the years. Robots have been developed that can perform human-like functions. 3 29

30. Technology and Social Change
Biotechnology is a broad term that applies to all practical uses of living organisms in the biological sciences.
Genetic engineering involves technologies that can change the makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries.
Stem cell research involves self-regenerating cells found in embryos, umbilical cords, and parts of adult bodies. 3 30

31. Discussion 3 Why is biotechnology controversial?
Should there be limits on the use of biotechnology? 3 31

32. Technology and Social Change
Nanotechnology involves building objects and substances one atom or molecule at a time. 3 32

33. Benefits and Costs of Technology
DNA testing is used in
detecting, apprehending, and prosecuting criminals
providing people with information about predispositions for diseases. 3 33

34. Discussion
What are the potential problems with the use of DNA testing?
Do the benefits outweigh the costs? 3 34

35. Privacy issues result from the use of computer and communication technologies.
Computer information is not always removed before the hardware is reused.
Information is collected about people as they search the Internet.
Insurance companies have accessed information about individuals' purchase of prescription drugs. 3 35

36. Discussion
Should we be concerned about the amount of information that is available about each individual?
What can be done to protect privacy? 3 36

37. Benefits and Costs of Technology
The digital divide refers to the division between the "haves" and "have-nots" in access to technology.
Seventy percent of Americans use the Internet compared with 5% of Africans.
About 61% of lower-income American adults use the Internet compared with 93% of higher income adults. 3 37

38. Some Ethical Issues
Cultural lag describes the gap between material culture and nonmaterial culture. Technology changes before attitudes.
Information is available before the guidelines regulating its use.
Biomedical technology is available before an understanding about the effects on human life.
Technology is most available to the wealthy. 3 38

39. Some Ethical Issues 3 39

40. Discussion 3 How can we ensure that technology is used responsibly?
Is it possible to develop guidelines for the development of new technologies? 3 40

41. Internet Connections: Quick Links
The Snopes.com Urban Legends Reference Pages archive is an expansive source of data that includes history and debunking of, and information on hundreds of urban myths ranging from autos to weddings:
Remembering the Flint Sit-Down Strike, is an online multimedia exhibit that examines one of the most celebrated events in the history of the American labor movement. The audio timeline, brief essays, and slideshow provide an excellent description of topics such as the preexisting conditions in the General Motors plants, the organization of the strikes, the discriminatory wage system, union demands, and the aftermath of the events:
WholeHealthMD.com is a good example of a contemporary healthy-living movement in the United States that continues to grow. The site is "dedicated to providing the best in complementary and alternative medicine" that has been reviewed and developed by board-certified doctors. The Healing Center and the Healing Kitchen sections are particularly enlightening:
The Evolution of the American Conservation Movement explores the emergence and development of conservationism between 1850 and This excellent archive contains 62 books and pamphlets, 140 Federal statutes and Congressional resolutions, various Presidential proclamations, 170 prints and photographs, and 2 motion pictures:
To find out more about propaganda, take a look at Propagandacritic.com. This site reviews several propaganda strategies—such as name calling, euphemisms, and appeals to “plain folks”—and showcases examples of historical wartime propaganda, as well as contemporary examples from organizations such as the John Birch Society and the Democratic National Committee:
Unbeknownst to many, the American suffragist movement began hundreds of years before U.S. women finally won full voting privileges in A History of the American Suffragist Movement offers an informative timeline of women’s and African Americans’ struggles for this basic democratic right: