Rev SM 2 Social Contagion Theory

All forms of Contagion Theory believe that people can be made temporarily insane, irrational, or illogical w/in a crowd & that they return to normal as soon as they leave the situation

"Contagion" means rapidly spreading infection, that spreads quickly from person to person & is now used as a metaphor for anything that spreads rapidly

The term was 1st used by Giralamo Fracastor who wrote about infectious diseases in 1546

The 1st modern theories of collective behavior used contagion to describe the transmission of thoughts, ideas, or behavior from one individual to an entire group

It was believed that moods & thoughts become contagious w/in certain types of crowds

Once a person is infected, their behavior becomes irrational or illogical & people do things that they normally would not do

Any individual can become a carrier

Under the right circumstances ( the process is not automatic or instantaneous ), others become infected

There are SEVEN Stages of Contagion

1. A crowd must focus attention on the same event, person, or object

2. Crowd members begin to influence each other as soon as this common focus occurs

3. Excitement grows

4. Individuals lose their self-consciousness & enter something like a frenzy state

5. In the frenzy, people cease to think before they act

6. Once in the frenzy condition, people will support almost any idea or behavior offered by any member of the group

7. In this way, the entire crowd is reduced to the level of what LeBon call "its lowest members"

Contagion Theory is unique in that it assumes that collective behavior is explained by

- exclusively, the mental state of the participants; i.e. the apprehension that no outside forces are involved

- the breakdown of normal critical thinking to the point of irrationality & lose of self-control

- the Circular Reaction which is far more important than any pre-exisiting attitudes

- its contagion, either physical or social contagion, which can occur any time people gather

Evaluation:

Contagion Theory exaggerates the level of irrationality, & thus never directly explores the question of the extent to which individuals become less rational & more sensitive to the crowed

Contagion Theory holds that crowd behavior is contagious, but a more realistic analysis would explore the degree to which "contagion" exists & the conditions under which it increases or decreases

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Outline on Mackay's Study of "Mass Hysteria"

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Mackay's study of "Mass Hysteria" entitled Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds, 1841, was the first modern work on collective behavior & is considered to be a seminal work in the area of contagion theory

Mackay's study was a descriptive study & offered no analysis of the causes of collective behavior

Mackay based his views of collective behavior (CB) on the current thinking of the time about psychological hysteria

Psychology was as far afield in its thinking on hysteria as sociologist, et al were on mass hysteria, "contagion," etc.

Hysteria, then & now, is a mental illness in which a person has physical complaints when no physical cause can be found

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was one of the first to identify this disorder

Hippocrates noticed hysteria was common in women and thought it was caused by a displaced uterus

The word hysteria comes from hysteria, the Greek word for uterus

Today the term hysteria is not as widely used in the medical, psychological or other professions but in everyday language a person with hysteria may have any sort of physical complaint

People are often called hysterical when they are upset, excited, and unable to control their feelings

We often hear of "hysterical weeping" or "hysterical rage."

Outbursts of feeling may have nothing to do with the disorder that psychiatrists call hysteria

In some cases, hysterical attack occur in "normal people"

Psychiatrists usually treat hysteria by using some type of psychotherapy or behavior therapy

Treatment with drugs and hypnosis may also be used along with the psychotherapy

The causes of hysteria are still not known, but the disorder remains more common in women than in men

Mackay used the term mass hysteria because collective behavioir seemed to him to have no cause, & seemed to be transmitted from person to person w/ no visible method of transmission

Mackay said of the Council of Clermont which gave rise to the Crusades in 1095: "The news of this council spread to the remotest part of Europe in an incredibly short space of time. Long before the fleetest horseman could have brought the intelligence, it was known by the people in distant provinces: a fact which was considered as nothing less than supernatural."

In reporting nearly simultaneous generation of hysteria across expanses of space, Mackay was probably relying on inaccurate information or was simply mistaken in many of his descriptions as when witnesses make the same mistake at an incident

Mackay examined the spread of slang in London of the 1800s

Mackay described fads in slang which swept through London:
"There he goes with his eye out!"
The jibe, "Does your mother know you're out?"

Mackay described how slang would spontaneously occur at different spots in the city at the same time demonstrating faulty methodology on his part

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Outline on LeBon's Contagion Theory

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LeBon's study, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, 1895, offered theories to explain collective behavior

LeBon was much more of a philosopher & historian than a social theorist

Some of LeBon's ideas are not accepted & were a product of the limited scope of the social sciences in the 1800s, & yet many of his ideas are still important today & have been incorporated into modern theories of collective behavior

LeBon relies on thought, conjecture & personal observation & does not utilize the scientific method as it is practiced today

LeBon's language is archaic & his values reflect the patriarchal, Euro-dominated culture in which he lived

LeBon first developed the premises of Contagion Theory that episodes of mob violence, riots, lynching, etc. are driven by animal instincts w/in us

Animalistic urges spread through a "maddening crowd" like an infection

People experienced what Mackay called mass hysteria, or today we might call temporary insanity

LeBon thought crowd behavior was an actual disease, a contagion

Social contagion reduced the crowed to the level of the least intelligent, roughest, & the most violent or what LeBon called "its lowest members"

Crowds are beyond individual control & are essentially "unconscious"

Crowds are led by emotions, not reason or ideas of fairness

LeBon argues that crowds are always destructive

LeBon's study focused on the mob violence in France after the French Revolution of 1789

LeBon was fascinated in how a mob could slaughter people & then go back to normal life

The concept of the "masses" was an important factor in the development of world history in France & of the social science to explain that socio-historical development

LeBon's also examined of the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania of 1634 & 1636

For LeBon, a collective mind is formed, & the "psychological crowd" becomes a single entity capable of sudden & dramatic behavior

In a crowd people attain certain new psychological characteristics: i.e., people act differently in crowds

A psychological crowd can be formed by people who are not in the same place at the same time

LeBon's Process of the Creation of the "Psychological Crowd" has THREE Stage:

1. For LeBon, the first stage of the creation of the psychological crowd occurs when the individuals feel invincible & anonymous

The feelings of invincibility & anonymity is a crowd allows people to engage in behavior that they would normally repress out of fear & self-consciousness

Anonymity also allows behavior w/o worry about personal consequences

2. For LeBon, the second stage of the creation of the psychological crowd occurs when the Contagion occurs

During the contagion, "hypnotic phenomenon," sentiments & actions become contagious to such an extent that individuals are willing to sacrifice in the name of the collective interest

The welfare of the crowd becomes more important than individuals personal comfort or safety

People engage in behavior they would normally be afraid to try: they may become heroic

LeBon's view of contagion is inexact: sometimes it is something like mass hypnosis, other times it is literally an infection transmitted like any infection

3. For LeBon, the third stage of the creation of the psychological crowd occurs when the members of the group enter a state of suggestibility

Here people become essentially unconscious in that they are not aware of their own behavior & they act w/o thinking

Their attention is focused on the same object or event

Crowd members interpret things according to their expectations, not reality

Those who disagree w/ the actions of the crowd are unable to resist because they feel outnumbered

Crowds can believe almost anything because they rely on their imagination & impulses rather than logic

Crowds can collectively hallucinate: i.e., see miracles that others cannot see

An example of the suggestibility of a crowd was seen when an entire ship's crew clearly saw a large number of men floating on wreckage, which turned out to be floating branches

For LeBon, crowds cannot be led by logic; a leader must play to the suggestibility

Leaders affect crowds through startling images which strike the imagination of the crowd

The leaders o the French revolts did not carefully argue their points; instead, they declared their intentions w/ short, emotional phrases

Situational variables such as time of day, temperature, terrain, etc. which LeBon called immediate factors only have an effect in relation to remote factors such as attitudes, beliefs, & predispositions

Approval of the crowd can make any action seem right/good/honorable

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Outline on the French Revolution

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The French Revolution (FR) lasted from 1789 to 1799, and had far reaching effects on the rest of Europe

The FR brought about great changes in the society and government of France

The FR introduced democratic ideals to France but did not make the nation a democracy

However, the FR did end supreme rule by French kings and strengthened the middle class

After the revolution began, no European kings, nobles, or other privileged groups could ever again take their powers for granted or ignore the ideals of liberty and equality

The 100 yrs. of the Fr transition to democracy was extremely violent & it was not until the late 1800's that stability returned Napoleon III was defeated by Prussia in 1870

Various social, political, and economic conditions led to the FR

The conditions which led to the FR included dissatisfaction among the lower and middle classes, interest in new ideas about government, and financial problems caused by the costs of wars

During the time of the FR, legal divisions among social groups that had existed for hundreds of years created much discontent

According to law, French society consisted of three groups called estates

Members of the clergy made up the first estate, nobles the second, and the rest of the people the third

The peasants formed the largest group in the third estate

Many of the peasants in France in the 1700s earned so little that they could barely feed their families

The third estate also included the working people of the cities and a large and prosperous middle class made up chiefly of merchants, lawyers, and government officials

The third estate resented certain advantages of the first two estates

The clergy and nobles did not have to pay most taxes

The third estate, especially the peasants, had to provide almost all the country's tax revenue

At the time of the Fr Rev, many members of the middle class were also troubled by their social status because while they were among the most important people in French society, they were not recognized as such because they belonged to the third estate

The new ideas about govt challenged France's absolute monarchy

At the time of the Fr Rev, under the Fr monarchical system, the king had almost unlimited authority

The Fr King governed by divine right, that is, the monarch's right to rule was thought to come from god

There were checks on the king, but these came mainly from a few groups of aristocrats in the parliaments (high courts)

During the 1700's, French writers called philosophes and philosophers from other countries raised new ideas about freedom

Some of these thinkers, including Jean Jacques Rousseau, suggested that the right to govern came from the people

The Fr Rev began with a government financial crisis but quickly became a movement of reform & violent change

The financial crisis developed because the nation had gone deeply into debt to finance fighting in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) & the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783)

By 1788, the govt was almost bankrupt, but the Parliament of Paris insisted that King Louis XVI could borrow more money or raise taxes only by calling a meeting of the Estates General

The Estates General was made up of representatives of the three estates, & had last met in 1614 & the king unwillingly called the meeting

The third estate, the peasants, insisted that all the estates be merged into one national assembly & that each representative have one vote & it also wanted the Estates General to write a constitution

The king & the first two estates, the clergy & the nobles, refused the demands of the third estate, the peasants

In June 1789, the representatives of the third estate declared themselves the National Assembly of France & gathered at a tennis court & pledged not to disband until they had written a constitution

The vow of the third estate to form a constitution became known as the Oath of the Tennis Court

Louis XVI then allowed the three estates to join together as the National Assembly, but at the same time began to gather troops to break up the Assembly

While the National Assembly negotiated a constitution & while King Louis secretly gathered troops the masses of France also took action by gathering at the Bastille

In July, 1789, a huge crowd of Parisians rushed to the Bastille, a royal fortress and hated symbol of oppression

The masses believed they would find arms and ammunition there for use in defending themselves against the king's army

The people captured the Bastille and began to tear it down & at the same time, leaders in Paris formed a revolutionary city govt

Massive peasant uprisings against nobles also broke out in the countryside

A few nobles, who were called émigrés because they emigrated, decided to flee France & many more followed in the next five years

The uprisings in town and countryside saved the National Assembly from being disbanded by the king

During the rev, Fr armies suffered military defeats & Parisians feared that the invading armies would soon reach the city

Parisians also feared an uprising by the large number of people in the city's prisons

In August 1789, the Assembly adopted the Decrees of August 4 & the Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen which abolished some feudal dues that the peasants owed their landlords, the tax advantages of the clergy and nobles, & regional privileges

The declaration guaranteed the same basic rights to all citizens, including "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression" as well as representative government

The Assembly later drafted a constitution that made France a limited monarchy with a one house legislature

In the first week of September, small numbers of Parisians took the law into their own hands & executed more than 1,000 prisoners

In 1789, the "September Massacres" occurred when ordinary citizens in France executed over 1,000 prisoners who were mostly clergy & nobles

The September Massacres, turned many people in France and Europe against the revolution

A series of elected legislatures then took control of the government

King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed

Thousands of others met the same fate in a period called the Reign of Terror

The Assembly seized the property of the Roman Catholic Church

By September 1791, the National Assembly believed that the rev was over & it disbanded at the end of the month to make way for the newly elected Legislative Assembly

The new Assembly, made up mainly of representatives of the middle class, opened in Oct. of 1791

The New Assembly faced the challenges of creating internal stability as well as facing a foreign threat

Stability during the FR depended on the cooperation btwn the King & the Assembly but Louis remained opposed & so he asked other rulers for help in stopping it, & plotted with aristocrats and émigrés to overthrow the new govt

Public opinion became bitterly divided: the revolution's religious policy angered many Catholics while other people demanded stronger measures against opponents of the revolution.

In April 1792, the new govt went to war against Austria & Prussia & these nations wished to restore the king and émigrés to their positions

While Louis XVI & his supporters clearly hoped for the victory of the invaders, the foreign armies defeated Fr forces in the early fighting & invaded Fr

As a result of the defeat of the French armies, angry revolutionaries in Paris & other areas demanded that the king be dethroned & in August 1792, the people of Paris took custody of Louis XVI & his family & imprisoned them

Louis's removal ended the constitutional monarchy & the Assembly then called for a National Convention to be chosen in an election open to nearly all French males age 21 or older, and for a new constitution

In Sept 1792, Fr forces defeated a Prussian army in the Battle of Valmy, which prevented the Prussians from advancing on Paris, helped end the crisis

In time, the radicals began to struggle for power among themselves

Most of the democratic reforms of the past two years were abolished in what became known as the Thermidorian Reaction

The Convention replaced the democratic constitution it had adopted in 1793 w/ a new one in 1795

W/ the 1795 Constitution, France was still a republic, but once again only citizens who paid a certain amount of taxes could vote

The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general, took over the government in Nov of 1799

The FR brought France into opposition w/ much of Europe because the monarchs who ruled the other nations feared the spread of democratic ideals

The revolution left the Fr people in extreme disagreement about the best form of govt for their country but the revolution created the long lasting foundations for a unified state, a strong central government, and a free society dominated by the middle class and the landowners

Analysis of the French Rev:

LeBon studied the collective behavior of the people & offered theories to explain the crowd behavior & violence in his study, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, 1895

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LeBon noted that in the French Revolts, people engaged in criminal acts were cheered & they later demanded medals for their patriotism, & he thought this was irrational behavior

"May you be cursed to live in interesting times"

France had irreversibly changed in almost every way during the period from the FR of 1789 & LeBon thought much of this was due to social contagion

The FR is seen as historically important because, as Tocqueville noted, the freedoms, etc. which the rev embraced were a historically new model for society

The FR validates many of Farley's necessary conditions for rev in that

- the peasants, the third estate, was dissatisfied because of high taxes, poverty, oppression of the populace by the military, etc.

- while communications were difficult in the late 1700s, it was still possible given the mail, newspapers, etc. & since much of the rev occurred in the cities, the people were close to each other

- the people & leaders had survived several attempts at repression by the French monarchy

- while the people feared the French Monarchy because it was so powerful, they had their beliefs in justice & equality to inspire them

- the French peasants had barely adequate resources, but were bolstered by the support of the bourgeoisie class

The FR validates many of Marx's factors affecting rev in that

- the French peasants experienced the contradiction of monarchical feudalism & democratic capitalism

- the French peasants had class consciousness in that they understood the contradiction because the French Enlightenment had spread ideals of individualism, freedom, etc. to the general populace

- the historical circumstances of the weakness of the French Monarchy, the rise of the bourgeoisie class, & the loss of wars by the French all contributed to the success of the French Rev

- the French peasants had a strong political org in the form of the Parisian govts

- there was a high level of class conflict btwn the clergy, the monarchy, the peasants, & the bourgeoisie & the clergy & the monarchy banded together while the peasants, & the bourgeoisie banded together

The FR validates Johnson's theory in that 18th century France was in disequilibrium because of the contradiction btwn democratic & free mkt values, & the econ system, btwn monarchical values & econ system, & democratic values & econ system

Johnson notes that loss in a war sets the old regime up for rev, & in the case of the French Rev, they had
- lost the Seven Years War
- lost the French & Indian War
- gone into debt funding the Am Rev War
- won some & lost some battles during the actual FR from 1789 to 1799

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Outline on the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania

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The Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania occurred in the 1600s

After the tulip was brought to Europe, it became the most fashionable flower in both england & Holland

Interest in the flower developed into a craze in Holland called the tulipomania, between 1634 & 1637

During the tulipomania, bulbs sold for as much as a large home

People invested in tulips as people might in stocks, & many lost fortunes

Finally the govt was forced to regulate the trade in bulbs

Almost all of the cultivated kinds of tulips were developed from tulips of Asia Minor that were brought to Vienna, Austria, from Constantinople, Turkey, now Istanbul, in the 1500s

The name tulip comes from the Turkish word for turban & the blossoms look like little turbans

LeBon examined of the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania of 1634 & 1636

Today, we might understand the tulip mania as a combination of a fad & a speculative panic which affected mostly the monied upper class

Today, we see parallels to the tulip mania in the middle class in any of the speculative fads that emerge, esp today, w/ the help of eBay

Speculative fads were seen relatively early on in baseball cards & today are common around Christmas time for such toys as a new Barbie or Spiderman line

Speculative fads are magnified by corporations & the media

The tulip mania represented two desire in the upper class of the time: the desire to be at the cutting edge of a fashionable trend, & the desire to make money

Speculative fads today are also motivated by the desire to be at the cutting edge of a trend & to make money

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Outline on Robert Park 1864 - 1944

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- Biography & Major Works

Park had been a reporter and this experience tuned him to the importance of urban problems & the need to go to the field to collect data through personal observation

Park studied in Europe under Georg Simmel & was important for bringing those ideas to the Chicago School

After Europe, Park joined the Congo Reform Association which worked to alleviate the exploitation in the Belgian Congo

Here he met Booker T. Washington & became his secretary

Under Washington, Park worked at the Tuskegee Institute

W. I. Thomas was giving a presentation at Tuskegee, met Park & invited him to give a course on "the Negro in America" at the University of Chicago

This connection eventually resulted in Park moving to the University of Chicago

Park & Burgess published the first important sociology text: An Introduction to the Science of Sociology. (1921)

Park was interested in the cultural level of analysis and he focused on

a. systems and beliefs

b. artifacts and technology

c. non material cultural forms

d. the natural resources of the habitat

Park developed some concepts that were important to symbolic interactionism, such as the Presentation of Self or Impression Management

Park said of impression management, "One thing that distinguishes man from the lower animals is the fact that he has a conception of himself, and once he has defined his role, he tries to live up to it. He not only acts, but he dresses the part, assumes quite spontaneously all the manners and attitudes he conceives as proper to it."

Park was also important in the development of Human Ecology, also called Ecological Sociology, or Urban Social Ecology

Ecological Sociology is concerned w/ the interrelationship btwn people & territory including how people adjust and adapt to their environment

Park is an important figure in the study of collective behavior, offering perhaps the first sociological analysis of crowd behavior, noting that people imitate each other & under stressful conditions this imitation increases dramatically giving the impression that 'behavior has become contagious'

'Contagious behavior' manifests itself in a number of stage, the most notable being the circular reaction wherein when the behavior of a person is imitated that original behavior is reinforces, or encouraged, thus motivating the first person to repeat or act out in an even more extreme behavior, estbing a circular reaction feedback loop

Due to his interest in race relations, he took a position at Fisk University (a black university) in 1934

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Robert E. Park 1864 - 1944

Robert Ezra Park (February 14, 1864 - February 7, 1944) was an Am urban sociologist, one of the main founders of the original Chicago School.

Park was born in Harveyville, PN, and grew up in MN. He was educated at the U of Michigan, where he was taught by the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey. His concern for social issues, & especially issues related to race in the cities, led him to become a journalist in Chicago.

After being a journalist in various U.S. towns 1887-1898, he then studied Psychology & Philosophy for an MA at Harvard 1898-9, being taught by another prominent pragmatist philosopher, William James. After graduation, he went to Germany, studying in Berlin, Strasbourg and Heidelberg btwn 1899 & 1903, before returning to the USA. He studied philosophy & sociology in 1899-1900 w/ Georg Simmel at Berlin, spent a semester in Strasbourg 1900, & took his PhD in Psyc & Phil in 1903 at Heidelberg under Windelband (1848-1915). He returned to the USA in 1903, briefly becoming an assistant in philosophy at Harvard 1904-5.

Park taught at Harvard, until Booker T. Washington invited him to the Tuskegee Institute to work on racial issues in the southern US. He joined the Dept of Sociology at the U of Chicago in 1914, staying there until his retirement in 1936. He continued teaching until his death, however, at Fisk University. Park died in Nashville, TN at the age of seventy nine.

At various times from 1925 he was president of the ASA & of the Chicago Urban League, and was a member of the Social Science Research Council.

Park was influential in developing the theory of assimilation as it pertained to immigrants in the United States.

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Major Works of Park

Dissertation on Crowd Behavior in 1904 resulted in: Park, Robert. The Crowd and the Public. 1904.
1912: The Man Farthest Down: a Record of Observation and Study in Europe with Booker T Washington, New York: Doubleday
Park, Robert and Ernest Burgess: Introduction to the Science of Sociology. "Collect Behavior." 1921. (with Ernest Burgess) Chicago: University of Chicago Press
1921: Old World Traits Transplanted: the Early Sociology of Culture with Herbert A Miller, & Kenneth Thompson, New York: Harper & Brothers
1922: The Immigrant Press and Its Control New York: Harper & Brothers
1925: The City: Suggestions for the Study of Human Nature in the Urban Environment (with R. D. McKenzie & Ernest Burgess) Chicago: University of Chicago Press
1928: Human Migration and the Marginal Man, American Journal of Sociology 33: 881-893
1932: The University and the Community of Races Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press
1937: Cultural Conflict and the Marginal Man in Everett V Stonequist, The Marginal Man, Park's Introduction, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
1939: Race relations and the Race Problem; a Definition and an Analysis with Edgar Tristram Thompson, Durham, NC: Duke University Press
1940: Essays in Sociology with C W M Hart, and Talcott Parsons et al., Toronto: University of Toronto Press
1946: An Outline of the Principles of Sociology, with Samuel Smith, New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc
1950: Race and Culture, Glencoe Ill: The Free Press, ISBN 0029237807
1952: Human Communities: the City and Human Ecology Glencoe, Ill: The Free Press
1955: Societies, Glencoe Ill: The Free Press
1967: On Social Control and Collective Behavior, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 113554381X
1975: The Crowd and the Public and Other Essays, Heritage of Society

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Outline on Robert Park's Contagion Theory ( 1886 - 1944 )

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Park stripped away most of LeBon's political views & retained LeBon's insights into mob behavior

Park' method was much more empirical & social psychological than LeBon's

Park & Burgess first used the term "collective behavior" in An Introduction to the Science of Sociology, 1921

Park & Burgess examined:
       Social Unrest                       Mass Movements
       Crowds                               The Crowd Mind
       Publics                                 Propaganda
       Sects                                   Fashion as a form of Collective Behavior
       Social Contagion

Park attempts to explain collective behavior whereas most earlier theorists had merely described it

Crowds form & experience the collective mind much more readily during times of social instability

Social instability or uncertainty may create an unorganized mass of people who gather together & are not yet a crowd, but engage in milling

Milling occurs when people or animals are agitated or excited but have no direction or purpose & therefore engage in aimless behavior

People engage in milling instead of quietly thinking about what is going on & soon their behavior becomes impulsive

Milling sets the stage for suggestibility, the circular reaction, & other components of crowd behavior

While LeBon believed that people literally catch mental illness from each other, i.e., experience contagion, Park ignores this & develops a sociological explanation of how people imitate & reinforce each other's behavior in a circular reaction

There are TEN steps in Park's circular reaction

1. In crowds, people experience an emergent interaction

2. People engage in intense interaction during periods of stress or disorder

3. During intense interaction, people are more actively attuned to each other than they would normally be

As is the case in many symbolic-interactionism theories, behavior is influenced by the actions of every other member, but in uncertain situations, i.e., collective behavior, the power of this influence is increased

Review Symbolic-Interactionism

4. People always behave in accordance w/ norms that members unconsciously accept & reinforce in each other, but the dominant norms in a crowd are specific to that crowd & often counter wider societal norms
[ Note: this presages the emergent norm perspective ]

5. People become emotional & highly suggestible & they stop critically weighting alternatives before acting

6. A circular reaction is begun by the action of one person

7. Other people imitate that behavior, i.e. the action of one person

8. Imitation reinforces that behavior

Imitation makes the first person believe their action was correct & simultaneously convincing others as well

An example of imitation & reinforcement is seen in that if one person acts decisively, others will imitate him or her

9. Soon all members have adopted the behavior & this completes the circular reaction

10. The crowd suppresses differences among members because they focus their attention on some event or object

The result of the circular reaction & crowd behavior is the collective mind

The collective mind is created through the disappearance of individual self consciousness

When people become acutely aware of each other's behavior, this dramatically influences their own state of mind & subsequent behavior

When people become are of other's behavior, which influences their thoughts & behavior, this suppresses their own thoughts & emotions & fosters the experience of the thoughts & emotions of the crowd

In sum, people reinforce each other by mimicking them, until everyone are doing the same thing

Circular reactions in collective behavior are seen in the feedback loop of person A imitating person B who is imitating person C who then imitates person A, & so on

For Park, crowd behavior will fall to the level of the most extreme member

Crowd members behave the same because they lose their ability to think clearly

Once members lose their ability to think clearly, they mindlessly imitate other crowd members & thus all members become as violent as the most violent member

Park blurs the line between collective behavior & social behavior

Locher believes there a significant difference between the actions of a group of people at a rally who decide to go to city hall & a mass of people not in the same locale who decide to go to city hall while Parks believes there is little difference

Park sees the relationship btwn "internal" & "external" factors that influence behavior such as social-psychological or crowd dynamics & social structural or historical/political dynamics

Often internal & external forces such as psychological factors & historical factors interact & mutually reinforce each other

Ecstatic or expressive crowds do not engage in any purposeful behavior

For Park, ecstatic or expressive crowds have no material goal but instead engage in dancing, shaking, shouting, etc., in order to express their ecstatic feelings

In a crowd, ecstatic behavior such as dancing or shaking makes people feel united

Examples of ecstatic crowds include religious revivals, celebratory riots, sporting events, cheering, etc.

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Outline on Herbert Blumer's Contagion Theory

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- Project: Blumer on Crowd Dev; Masses & Crowds; Strain, Soc Probs & Col Beh

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BLUMER'S SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Symbolic interaction is a major paradigm in sociology that is micro oriented, generally avoids political topic, & focuses on social psychological issues, & Blumer's sym int follows suit, except that col beh often strays into social political analysis

For Blumer, symbolic interactionism is the link btwn the micro & macro worlds

Symbolic interactionism sees structures as acts which are built up by people through their interpretation of the situation

Blumer criticizes structural functionalists who see deterministic structures as external & coercive to individuals

Blumer accepted Mead's idea of macro structures emerging from micro-structures

Blumer emphasized that structures are well established & repetitive in form

Structures both enable & coerce & are not all pervasive

Structures must constantly be re-enacted or they will shatter

Structures leave many unprescribed areas; i.e., social structures do not pervade every sphere of life

It is often is the social unprescribed areas of life, i.e. those areas where there is little or no routine behavior, i.e. social structures, where col beh emerges, since col beh, as has been observed is nearly always unique & non routine in nature

Though w/ the common existence of col beh & soc mvmts in the West, there is a sense in which these social activities are becoming 'normal' in that while most people have not been in a protest, they understand & recognize them

INTRO TO BLUMER ON CONTAGION THEORY

Blumer combined LeBon's & Park's 1939 ideas into his own version of contagion theory in "The Field of Collective Behavior." 1969

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Blumer is an American sociologist primarily interested in small group interaction

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Blumer developed the concept of the "acting crowd" which is an excited group that moves toward a goal

Blumer examines:
       crowds                             mobs
       panics                               manias
       dancing crazes                  stampedes
       mass behavior                   public opinion
       propaganda                      fashion
       fads                                 social movements
       revolutions                       reforms

Blumer's list of concepts, actors, collectivities, etc., established collective behavior as behavior that people would not normally engage in, but they do it because they are not thinking clearly

Like Park, Blumer mixes collective behavior w/ normal group behavior & sees common elements

Under normal conditions, people engage in interpretive interaction in that we interpret the words &/or actions of others & base our behavior on those interactions

See Also: Symbolic Interactionism

In crowd situations, people engage in circular reaction, where they react w/o thinking or interpreting

Like LeBon & Park, Blumer believes people reach a point where they cease to think rationally about their behavior

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Collective behavior allows people to break established rules & routines of crowd life

Blumer's conception that people break established rules & routines is an important concept that is later developed in emergent norm theory

CROWD DEVELOPMENT

For Blumer, there are FIVE steps that turn a collection of individuals into an active crowd

1. Social unrest: Because of his roots in S-I, Blumer does not focus on "external factors" such as social unrest, however he is going farther than most S-Iists in even mentioning them

2. Exciting event: "external factors" are not the focus of S-I, yet Blumer does understand the role of exciting events

For Blumer & S-Iists, exciting events are more a function of the people viewing them that they are of historical or structural factors

A noteworthy critique of Blumer & contagion theory is that exciting events are not purely in the perception of the subject in that many people would not the inherent, universal, historical significance of such exciting events as winning a battle or championship, the Rodney King video or any police / military violence, the appearance of royalty or a rock star

3. Milling begins w/ people behaving in an aimless & random manner & attention is drawn by some sort of excitement which causes tension

For Blumer, when milling, people become extremely sensitive & responsive to each other & become increasingly preoccupied w/ each other & decreasingly responsive to ordinary external stimuli

When milling, people pay so much attention to each other that they start to ignore the rest of the world

Collective excitement is a more intense form of milling where the excited behavior of others makes it difficult to think about anything else & sets the stage for contagious behavior

In crowds, milling & contagion effectively eliminate independent thought, i.e., Blumer believes that from this point on, people are less than rational

4. In Blumer's forth stage of the formation of an active crowd, people come to focus on a common object of attention

In contrast to symbolic interactionism, collective behavior focuses on "external factors" whereas, symbolic interactionism focus primarily on internal factors or actors in the small group setting such as the significant other

For Blumer, in a crowd, people have become emotionally aroused, unstable, unresponsive to logic, & irresponsible

When a common focus of attention occurs, a common set of beliefs forms
[ Precursor to Emergent Norm Theory ]

A common focus of attention & a common set of beliefs make it possible for the crowd to act w/ unity & purpose

5. Social contagion is the rapid, unwitting, irrational dissemination of a mood, impulse, or behavior

For Blumer, during social contagion, people become so worked up, emotional & distracted that they are unable to think clearly

During social contagion, people lose their social resistance because they lose self consciousness & they lose the ability to interpret the actions of others

During social contagion, instead of interpreting, thinking & then acting in, they quickly & blindly react to whatever is going on

During social contagion, people are more likely to follow impulses & thus the behavior common spreads like a contagion

LeBon & Blumer view "the mass" very differently

For LeBon the mass is the general citizenry of a territory & not a collective group

For Blumer the mass is the unique type of collective group that is composed of anonymous individuals who do not directly interact w/ each other

For Blumer, people who watch a dramatic event on TV & independently decide to build bomb shelters are a mass

For Blumer, people who see a dramatic event such as a bombing & decide to assault the person who they believe to be the bomber are a crowd

Other social theorist have called Blumer's type of mass the diffuse crowd

MASSES & CROWDS

Masses experience the same factors as the crowd, except they are not in a common location

Masses & crowd often demonstrate different qualities & have different contexts or environments

1. Both masses & crowds are more likely to form in the context of social unrest, i.e. changing social forces

2. Both masses & crowds are more likely to form in the context of an exciting event

Crowds often experience a commonly viewed exciting event

Masses do not have a commonly viewed exciting event but in the modern world it may be commonly experienced through the media, internet, newspapers, books, word of mouth, etc.

Masses are most often composed of detached & alienated individuals who focus on things that are interesting but puzzling

For Blumer, masses cannot engage in milling, and thus they have no behavioral cues to help them decide what to do

3. People in masses experience no milling because milling gets its effect when people get cues from other people who are milling

Members of a mass are extremely self conscious, confused & uncertain in their actions

Members of a crowd are less self conscious than members of a mass because they have other people "supporting" them

Members of a mass may engage in individual "soul searching," & they may arrive at similar conclusions but they have less supporting behavioral cues to help them decide what to do

4. Both masses & crowds have a common object of attention but for masses it is viewed remotely or indirectly, & not in common while for crowds the common object of attention is usually directly & in common

Both masses & crowds act in response to an object that has gained their attention & on the basis of impulses aroused by it

5. Both masses & crowds have social contagion in that people do act similarly & seem to be acting in unity

Masses are more likely to act separately but in the same manner & thus can have a tremendous impact on society or social institutions

Crowds & masses can eventually lead to the development of new social institutions & are thus a force for social change & integration in society

Blumer suggested four types of crowds: the casual crowd, the conventional crowd, the acting crowd, & the expressive crowd

Casual crowds are largely unformed, may experience milling, & are not acting or expressive

Conventional crowds are those that are recognizable as a crowd in that they well formed, have high levels of milling, are self conscious to a large extent, but as yet have not acted out any behavior or expressed any emotions, e.g. anger, fear, or joy

In a sense, conventional crowds are still pondering their options

Acting crowds are those that are clearing performing actions which typically include marching, chanting, rioting, etc.

Expressive crowds are special types of acting crowds that do not have any specific action related goal other that expressing an emotion, usually anger, fear, or joy

	SOCIAL PROBLEMS & COL BEH
	Questioning the normative order, that is, a real or perceived conflict, ambiguity, or change in the normative order is an important condition for the emergence of col beh
	But social scientists view the ambiguity in the normative order as having different roles in col beh
	Neil Smelser views structural strain as the ambiguities, deprivations, conflicts, & discrepancies as an important components of social action
	Norms & values are the most general guides for social behavior
	Conflict theorists see this same phenomena, i.e. structural strain, as contradictions inherent in capitalist relations
	Feminists see structural strain as inherent in patriarchal gender relations
	Smelser, conflict theorist, feminists, & other social scientists see structural strain, esp as manifest in social problems, as the context which fosters col beh
	Blumer generally does not recognize the link btwn structural strain, soc probs & col beh, seeing social problems as just that & not as undeveloped col beh
	Probably based on his sym int, micro level approach, Blumer denies that social problems have any “objective” reality; relationships become social problems when they are recognized & labeled as such
	For Blumer, the sociological account (i.e., objective) of a soc prob stands far outside of the col beh interplay, & indeed, may be inconsequential to it
	Empirical evident for the linkage btwn struc strain, soc probs, & col behavior is mixed, but largely goes against Blumer & for Smelser in that while, on the one hand, some soc probs do languish for yrs w/ no col beh, on the other hand the West has experienced a veritable explosion of col beh, esp in the form of soc mvmts
	PUBLICS
	Almost all publics & other forms of col beh borrow their org structure from patterns already present in society
	Blumer notes that most individual movements in an era draw their inspiration from one or more general movements, whose world view they share
	Public opinion, or various publics' opinion, gets its form from the social framework in which it moves, & from the social processes in play in that framework
	The function & role of publics' opinions are determined by the part they plays in the operation of the society
	Agitation of the publics is done by those motivated by aroused feelings, usually discontent, & beliefs that a public could change something
	Blumer recognizes that agitators function in different ways in that some, like PETA, use expressive, outrageous activities to gain attn, while little old ladies may chat up the bridge club
	Some agitators have no sense of the issue, they conceal their purpose, work through indirection, call attention to a faint senses of discontent
	Other agitators are well informed on the issue, are transparent about their purpose, work through direct action, & call attn to publics' sense that action is honorable
	Agitators nearly always must maintain the appearance of membership in the ingroup if they are to be effective

The End

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