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  Review Notes: General Categories of Collective Behavior
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 Collective Behavior  
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 Violent Collective Behavior  
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     Mass Suicides  
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           Durkheim on Suicide   
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     Mob Violence  
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     Riots  
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     Celebratory Riots  
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 Consumer Collective Behavior  
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     The Stock Market Panic & Crash of 1929  
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     Chain Letter Craze   
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     Beer Can Collecting Craze  
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     Fads  
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 Hysterias  
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     Rumors  
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     Sightings  
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     Sightings of the Virgin Mary  
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     UFO Sightings  
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     Physical Hysterias  
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 Millenarian Groups  

 
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 Outline on  Collective Behavior
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  -  Project:  Collective Behavior
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  INTRODUCTION
Our task will be
1.  Explain how people come to transcend, bypass, or subvert established institutional patterns & structures
2.  Explain CB w/ respect to attitudes: does CB form attitudes or vice versa?
3.  Explain the "collective" in CB		  
 
 Collective Behavior is one type of Social Change
 
 
 For Locher, collective behavior is any event during which a group of people engage in unusual behavior, i.e., a "group" form of deviance
 
 
 Review:  Human Formations:  group vs. an aggregate  
 
 For Farley, collective behavior is large numbers of people acting together in an extraordinary situation, in which the usual norms governing behavior do not apply
 
 
 For Macionis, collective behavior is action, thoughts, & emotions that involve large numbers of people & that do not conform to established social norms
 
 
 For Smelser, collective behavior is the relatively spontaneous & unstructured behavior of a group of people who are reacting to a common influence in an ambiguous situation
 
  For Turner & Killian, collective behavior is those forms of social behavior in which usual conventions cease to guide social action & people collectively transcend, bypass, or subvert established institutional patterns & structures  
  Collective behavior is large numbers of people acting together, i.e. a collectivity, but not necessarily in same locale, w/ similar thoughts & emotions & not conforming to established social norms to achieve relatively common objectives, which may be action oriented, or thought or emotion oriented  
  Collective behavior is a term in sociology that refers to how people act in crowds and other large, relatively unorganized groups  
  The various types of collective behavior include fads, panics, and riots.  Collective behavior often arises in situations that stimulate people's emotions  
  Situations which may lead to collective behavior include sporting events, protest demonstrations, and disasters such as floods and fires  
  For a social action to be labeled as collective behavior it must be a social processes or event which do not reflect existing social structure (laws, conventions, & institutions), but which emerge in a "spontaneous" way which is to say, standard sociological, psychological, political, etc. explanations are inadequate  
 
 Collective Behavior Examples:
 
 
 THE CRUSADES
1096  Pope Urban II
Everybody wanted to go... to where they didn't really know.
Land values dropped.
Only cowards remained.
 
 
 During the Selma March, 
- many followed ML King into the streets & jails
- the goals were not as simple & noble as the leaders represented them to be
- the leaders were both devout men of God seeking to overcome evil as well as social mvmt pragmatists
- only a few were cynical power mongers who were successfully marginalized by the primary leaders
- the civil rights mvmt accomplished a social revolution & altered history
 
 
 A bizarre form of collective behavior, St. Vitus’ Waltz, aka the Dancing Disease,  was caused by viral encephalitis which caused brain fever, affecting balance & emotion, giving people the feeling of being in love
 
  Some examples of collective behavior are a religious revival, a panic in a burning theater, an outbreak of peace symbol painting, a change in popular preferences in fashion, any revolution, a sudden widespread interest in body piercing, etc.  
  ROBERT E. PARK  
 
 Robert E. Park is credited as the founder of the field of collective behavior & is credited w/ the first use of the term
 
  Park believed movements such as the Crusades, the Civil Right Mvmt, etc. played a central role in social change, i.e., history  
  Much collective behavior is impulsive, unplanned, and brief & thus, it differs from the more predictable, longer lasting actions of such organized groups as school classes, teams, and social clubs  
  Some types of collective behavior fit into organized social frameworks such as an organized political party or social movement which use mass demonstrations as a device in seeking social change  
  Before the 1900's, scientists knew little about the forces at work in collective behavior, but during the 1890's, Gustave Le Bon, a French physician & social scientist, made one of the first psychological studies of crowds  
  The American sociologists Robert E. Park & Ernest W. Burgess introduced the term collective behavior in their book, Introduction to the Science of Sociology (1921)  
  EARLY VIEWS ON COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR  
 
 Collective behavior was originally called "mob behavior" or "mass hysteria" because it was once believed that people lost their ability to reason
 
 
 Most collective behavior is non-violent, though originally it was often mislabeled, assumed to be, violent
 
  LeBon, a frightened aristocrat, interpreted the crowds of the Fr Rev as irrational reversions to animal emotion, & infers from this that such reversion is characteristic of crowds in general   
  Freud expressed a similar view of the maddening crowd in his Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1922), but modern CB addresses other types of crowd behavior  
  COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR IS NON-ROUTINE  
 
 Collective behavior today is still defined as being deviant, unusual, etc. but it often evolves into acceptable behavior
 
  Collective behavior often becomes "routinized" & it may even become "institutionalized"  
 
 Once collective behavior becomes routine, it ceases to be collective behavior  
 
 Collective behavior must always be considered in the context of social norms, including folkways, mores, rules, laws  
  As the character of the the more amorphous ( changing, unformed ) norms change, so does the character of collective behavior  
  The "deviance" of collective behavior must not be a value judgment of "bad, evil, etc."  since deviance only denotes behavior that is outside of accepted social norms  
  Even a majority of people can be deviant, in that deviance is not defined by majority rule, but by power  
  See Also:  Deviance  
 
 THE CATEGORIZATION OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR
 
  Early on in CB theory, i.e. in the 1800s, theorists noted the existence of crowd behavior that exhibited significantly different qualities from other forms of behavior known to social scientists.  
  Gustave LeBon, a frightened aristocrat, interpreted the crowds of the French Revolution as irrational reversions to animal emotion  
  In the 1900s, at the U of Chicago, Robert Park & Herbert Blumer saw crowds as emotional, but as capable of any emotion, not only the negative ones of anger & fear  
  Social scientists now recognize that there are both compact & diffuse crowds  
  Compact crowds are those whose participants are assembled in one place while diffuse crowds are those in in which the participants are not assembled in one place  
  Turner & Killian's examples of diffuse crowds include stock market booms, panics about sexual perils, "Red scares" & more  
  Some psychologists have suggested that there are three fundamental human emotions, fear, joy, & anger  
  Smelser and others have proposed three corresponding forms of the crowd, including the panic, the craze & the hostile outburst, which today is usually called a riot  
  In the panic, fear is the dominant emotion; in the craze, joy is the dominant emotion; in the riot, anger is the dominant emotion  
  Park develop the categories of the public & the mass to distinguish btwn diffuse crowds concerned w/ issues or events from diffuse crowds concerned w/ mass media issues or events  
  For Park, the public expresses a common emotion or response to various issues as a result of exposure to conversation, & thus every issue has a public  
  For Park, the masses, or a mass, expresses a common emotion or response not as a result of conversation, but as a result of exposure to a mass media event whether it might be a TV report or just the diffuse knowledge that a widespread action is occurring  
  Blumer recognized the final major form of CB in the social movements which are typically distinguished from a crowd, a public or a mass by the fact that they typically have a structure and persistence  
 
 Because the field of CB is relatively, new the broad categories of crowds, publics, masses, & social mvmts are frequently re-categorized into other theoretical frameworks in order to highlight various qualities or theories of action
 
 
 There are EIGHT basic types of collective behavior examined by social scientists today, including:
1.  Crowd Behavior
     a.  Mass Suicides
     b.  Mob Violence
     c.  Riots
2.  Non Consumer Fashions & Fads
3.  Consumer Collective Behavior
     a. Fashions 
     b. Fads
     c.  Crazes
     d.  Panics
4.  Rumors
5.  Public Opinion
6.  Mass Hysteria
     a.  Physical
     b.  Sightings & Miracles
7.  Terrorism
8.  Social Movements
 
 
 Collective behavior occurs in so many forms that social scientists have reached few conclusions about its origins, development, and consequences
 
 
 Some investigators believe the pace of modern life and the growth of mass communications have increased the amount of collective behavior
 
  COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR, ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR & INSTITUTIONAL BEHAVIOR  
  While collective, organizational, & institutional behaviors have some common characteristics, & often overlap in practice, they are often distinct fields of inquiry  
 
 Routine or institutionalized social behavior, including that carried out by any of the 10 social institutions (family, religion, politics, etc.), such as war, econ activity, family activity, media activity, political activity etc. is not collective behavior
 
  Many types of behavior are so common as to be regularized or institutionalized by society  
  Park was one of the first social scientists to expand the realm of collective behavior beyond that of the crowd, recognizing the public itself as an important agent of social change  
  For Park, many social changes begin with slow, cumulative shifts in public opinion, which end the old social patterns, & begin the new social patterns  
  Herbert Blumer was Park's student, & he expanded the actors of collective behavior beyond the crowd to include the collectivities of social movements & the public  
  For Blumer the FOUR actors or collectivities of collective behavior include
1.  the crowd
2.  the mass
3.  social movements
4.  the public		  
  Organizational behavior is not considered to be collective behavior & generally includes groups that are governed by established rules or procedures which have the force of tradition behind them  
  In contrast to collectivities, org behavior often is governed by rules or laws such as Robert's Rule of Order or the rules of a bureaucracy  
  Collectivities are not guided in a straightforward fashion by the culture, norms, ideology, etc. of the society  
  Collectivities are informal in that they lack defined meanings, goals, procedures  
  Institutional behavior is not considered to be collective behavior but generally is less organized than org behavior  
  Institutional Behavior
Family
Play
Religion
School
Work		  
  Institutional behavior is guided by the culture of the larger society  
  CONTINUITY IN BEHAVIOR FOR CHANGE & SOCIAL CHANGE  
  There is a continuum of behavior that ranges from individual behavior, to small group behavior, collective behavior, organizational behavior, institutional behavior, etc.  
  Weller and Quarantelli propose a typology that ranges from "normal" or routine behavior to new behavior or social change  
  1.  Normal behavior generally occurs in organizations or institutions by well established social actors who follow well established norms  
  2.  Non-routine normal behavior occurs when normal social relations endure but norms emerge as occurs w/ hospital staff in a disaster  where old actors establish relatively new norms  
  3. Emergent, routine social behavior occurs when a new collectivity emerges & follows conventional norms  
  An example of emergent, routine social behavior w/ a new collectivity can be seen in the historically recent rise of sports fans who are following the old norms of watching sports, but are emergent in the sense that they are a mass mvmt which is generating new attention & a new relationship w/ other institutions & actors  
  4.  Social change or new behavior occurs when there are emergent norms, actors & social relationships as when a new collectivity acts in new, unique ways establishing new norms in the process  
  An example of emergent norms, actors, & social relationships can be seen in the Crusades or the civil rights mvmt  
  For Blumer, social change is normal, as normal as the established social order in the sense that it is always occurring, but it is not normal in the sense that it occurs outside of the norms of society  
  Social change is abnormal, in that it challenges, confronts or in some manner causes disruption in the established social order   
  For Blumer a social movement:  "... takes on the character of a society," developing a culture, a social organization, a new scheme of life  
  For Blumer a social movements were not necessarily under the influence of custom, tradition, conventions, rules or institutional regulations   
  For Blumer the examination of collective behavior is concerned with the way in which the social order comes into existence  
  Collective behavior is "extra-institutional" in that it is outside of everyday social behavior which always takes place in one of the ten social institutions  
  At first CB was considered the opposite of institutional behavior (IB).   
  IB may be defined as people governed by norms, folkways, mores, and laws  
  RATIONAL & NON RATIONAL MOTIVATIONS IN CB
 
  As the study of CB developed, social scientists came to understand that people cast aside norms and acted on emotion or suggestibility or unsocialized impulses as opposed to the standard norms of IB  
  Early in the study of CB, some social scientists stressed rational calculation  
  Early in the study of CB, some social scientists proposed that CB took place under the governance of emergent norms  
  Today, some social scientists propose that CB occurs because individuals find solidarity of voice for an amorphous norm, & develop a shared definition of right & wrong  
  People riot, etc. because they find a new definition of right and wrong  
  Emergent norms may include the redefinition of right and wrong as seen when the public became convinced that segregation was wrong  
  Perhaps the simplest case of CB is permissiveness, where actors see wrong behavior as permissible under the circumstances  
  Only in the case of looting do people come to accept the logic that they are taking what is rightfully theirs, and yet opportunities to steal always exist  
  Under normal, non-looting conditions the opportunity to steal exists, but norms are not redefined to make it acceptable  
  Passengers on the Titanic defined panic as unacceptable & defined a sense of necessity of heroic behavior  
 
 More complex CB requires emergent norms that are permissible and obligatory as in the case of war, the environment, etc.
 
 
 People come to act collectively when the conditions or event are sufficiently outside the range of ordinary happenings so that people turn to others for help and support in interpreting and responding
 
 
 People come to act collectively when there is a ready availability of pre-existing social groups that act collectively outside of the norm
 
 
 People come to act collectively because people tend to form ad hoc groups on basis of some recognizable informal, or minimal grouping
 
 
 CB is distinctive from other types of soc beh because it requires more complex decision making & communications than individual behavior because of the necessity of a complex division of labor & coordination of labor
 
 
 CB is distinctive from other types of social behavior because the use of pre-existing communication networks such as in the community, or the mass media is essential
 
 
 CB is distinctive from other types of social behavior because problems of communication and coordination, etc. are much greater for sustained than for transitory action
 
  EXPLANATIONS OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR  
  1.  Contagion theory focuses on special psychological mechanisms including moods, attitudes, communications  
  2.  The emergent norm perspective focuses on emergent definition of the situation, how actors create meaning & rules  
  3.  Value-added theory integrates functional theory into an analysis of collective behavior & assumes that col beh is functional / useful for society  
  4. The assembly-sociocybernetic-symbolic-interactionist/behaviorist (AS-SIB) holds that behavior converges because of the common meaningful interpretations or instructions created by participants & other  
  5.  Individualist theories assume that collective behavior comes from w/in the individual & sees individual motivations as the key to understanding why collective behavior occurs  
  6.  Convergence theory focuses on characteristics and predispositions which individuals bring to the situation  
Link
 Figure  on a Model of Collective Behavior by Turner & Killian
 
  A Model of Collective Behavior demonstrates that Precipitating incidents justify the emergence of a norm which justifies extra-institutional action, i.e., outside of the normal channels & that a precipitating incidents justify or stimulate the interaction of pre-existing groups or ad hoc formations give pre-existing conditions of feasibility & timeliness  

 
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Figure on a Model of Collective Behavior by Turner & Killian

A Model of Collective Behavior demonstrates that Precipitating incidents justify the emergence of a norm which justifies extra-institutional action, i.e., outside of the normal channels & that a precipitating incidents justify or stimulate the interaction of pre-existing groups or ad hoc formations give pre-existing conditions of feasibility & timeliness

 
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 Outline on  Violent Collective Behavior
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  Violence is rough or harmful force in action that intends to cause harm
 
  Violence may also include intimidation by threatening the use of force
 
 
 In our society today violence is often illegal, but it is more common than in other first world nations
 
 
 One of the hallmarks of civilization is that the state is the only social actor (i.e. individual, org, institution, etc.) who has the legitimate right to use violence, i.e. force
 
 
 Violent collective behavior is violent behavior as applied by a collective, & for many social scientists, it has the aim of social change
 
  Recall that collectives are less formally organized that formal groups or societies in that they are emergent  
  A key problem in the study of collective violence is distinguishing it from individual violence, interpersonal violence, & violence sanctioned by society, such as war  
 
 Note that a collective is different than a group an org, an institution, or a society in that a collectivity is either a crowd, which is a group of people functioning under an emergent norm, or a collectivity, which is a group of dispersed people operating under an emergent norm
 
  Violent collective behavior does not generally include war in that war is conducted by a society, although violent collective behavior often occurs w/in a war setting in the form of riots, mass assaults, pogroms, etc. as the result of the stress of war or as the result of the anarchy of war  
  While many violent behaviors such as murder, assault, rape, etc. occur at the individual level, they often also occur as collective level, but w/ a collective dynamic
 
  Examples of collective violent behaviors include pogroms, mass assaults, mass rape, riots, mass suicides, & other forms of mass violence
 
  Early in the exploration of collective behavior, MacKay, Le Bon, believed that all collective behavior was violent & that the tendency of any mass was toward violence
 
 
 The early belief in the violent nature of the masses resulted from the ideology of the rich & powerful who feared the power of collectivities of everyday people, & from the selective nature of philosophers & other scholars 
 
  Park expanded the examination of collective behavior beyond violent collective to include non-violent types of collective behavior, and yet today the early bias that all collectivities remains & many people assume that crowds, masses, etc. are violent, or at the very least, irrational  
  It was only in the mid-1900s that non-violent collective behavior in the form of Gandhi's pacifism & Dr. King's non-violent protest became well known  
 
 A pogrom is an organized massacre
 
 
 War is the organized use of violence between independent political groups  
  War is the conflict carried on by force of arms, as btwn nations or states or btwn parties w/in a state  
  For Barkan & Snowden, collective violence is the largely rational attempt to use violence to advance or resist social change  
Link
 Tilly notes that the social change in the West has always been accompanied by collective violence  
  In the west, we are often shocked & surprised by collective violence leading some scholars to posit that the west lives under the "myth of peaceful progress"  
  For Barkan & Snowden, collective violence is distinguished by the fact that it aims at, or results in social change  
  Collective violence has the express goal of aiding or impeding change in the social, political, & economic arenas of society  
  The targets of collective violence typically are only a means to an end, & that end is social change  
  For some social scientists, but not all, acts of violence are not examples of collective violence unless they have the goal of social change  
  The distinction btwn ordinary violence & collective violence often corresponds to the distinction btwn expressive violence & instrumental violence  
  Expressive violence is violence committed to express anger, frustration, or some other emotion  
  Instrumental violence is committed to improve status, to achieve some other material, social, or political gain  
  Most ordinary violence is expressive, whereas most collective violence is instrumental  
  Rule calls collective violence civil violence & thus includes riots, rebellion, revolution, terrorism, & other crowd behavior  
  Many forms of violence such as riots, rebellion, etc. may be either expressive or instrumental or have phases that are expressive or instrumental  
  Cults, survivalism, & hate groups may also be considered as forms of collective violence because they are group behavior & because they aim at social change  
  Some cult violence is directly inwardly as when they abuse their own members to maintain control  

 
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Tilly Quote:  Tilly notes that the social change in the West has always been accompanied by collective violence

Tilly observed that "Western civilization & various forms of collective violence have always clung to each other. . . Historically, collective violence has flowed regularly out of the central political processes of Western countries.  People seeking to seize, hold, or realign the levers of power have continually engaged in collective violence as part of their struggles.  The oppressed have struck in the name of justice, the privileged in the name of order, those btwn in the name of fear.  Great shifts in the arrangements of power have ordinarily produced, & have often depended on, exceptional moments of collective violence."


 
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 Outline on  Mass Suicides
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  Durkheim studied suicide & found it to be the ultimate individual act, never-the-less suicide is strongly influenced by social factors
 
  Suicide is usually viewed as an individual action
 
  When a group of people all engage in suicide, it is collective behavior & the motivation comes form group dynamics
 
  Those who did not participate in a mass suicide often feel guilty over not having "joined" the others
 
  The Heaven's Gate cult committed mass suicide on March 30, 1997 resulting in 39 suicides
 
  The Generalized Belief of the Heaven's Gate cult was that death would release them from this plain & allow them to travel to the "Level Above Human" to join other aliens
 
  The Hale Bopp Comet was their sign that the time has come to transfer to the next plain of existence
 
  Heaven's Gate leader was Marshal Applewhite who was a charismatic leader claiming to be an incarnation of Jesus & an alien
 
  The group had worked as web designers
 
  They died a peaceful suicide when the ate pudding laced w/ a strong sedative, Phenobarbital, drank vodka, & put plastic bags over their heads
 

 
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Emile Durkheim on  Suicide:
The Cult of the Individual
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  DURKHEIM STUDIED SUICIDE TO SHOW THAT 'THE MOST PERSONAL ACT' HAD A SOCIAL COMPONENT RELATED TO THE DEGREE OF CONNECTION ONE HAS IN SOCIETY & THE AMOUNT OF CONTROL ONE EXPERIENCES   
  Introduction:  Durkheim is known for establishing the 1st sociology dept. 
This was at the University of Paris 
Durkheim is known for establishing sociology as a social science 
He did this through applying the scientific method to social facts in his study of suicide 		  
  Suicide was written by Durkheim in 1897   
  Durkheim conducted the research on suicide in order to establish sociology as a social science on par w/ psychology   
  Durkheim was the first to carry out a study involving the large scale collection of data to test a social theory   
  For Durkheim, suicide is perhaps "the most personal act" any human can undertake  
  Durkheim believed that if he could show that the most individual of acts, which had previously been attributed to psychological causes, had social causes, then he would validate the power & worth of sociology  
  In writing Suicide, Durkheim reviewed the literature, examined appropriate theory, & employed common sense:  
  Durkheim believed a society had to accomplish two major functions to be successful  
  a.  INTEGRATION IS THE DEGREE TO WHICH COLLECTIVE SENTIMENTS (KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, VALUES) ARE SHARED BY MEMBER IN SOCIETY   
  The opposite of social integration is isolation in a society  
  b.  REGULATION IS THE DEGREE OF EXTERNAL CONSTRAINT ON PEOPLE 
 Regulation is the common norms people live under
    Regulation      vs      Lack of Regulation in a society		  
  The widespread failure of integration or regulation in society yields societal collapse
The occasional failure of integration or regulation in society yields an increased rate of suicide		  
  What are some common causes of suicide?
Why do some people commit suicide & others don't?
What are some possible explanations?
 
 
 

 

  
  Depression                   Terminal illness
Spouse leaves them      Picked on by peers
Lost job                        Loneliness		  
  DURKHEIM'S HYPOTHESIS WAS THAT PEOPLE, AS A GROUP, WOULD BECOME MORE SUICIDAL TO THE EXTENT THAT THEY EXPERIENCED EXTREME INTEGRATION OR REGULATION   
  Durkheim then uses the deductive method to develop his thesis & hypotheses:  
  Durkheim's hypothesis is that suicide would be highest among single, Protestant, men because these groups are less integrated & less regulated  
  Other groups w/ a tendency toward suicide are those who are highly integrated or over regulated  
  Durkheim's method was to travel from parish (country) to parish & examine death certificates of suicides & record demographic info, & the circumstances surrounding the death  
  Durkheim rode from parish (county) to parish in France in the 1890s  
  Durkheim collected data on social background of suicide victims, e.g. demographic information including age, religion, class, job, work history, income, wealth, gender, etc.  
  Then Durkheim grouped people according to suicide rates & each social factor; & he did this by hand ( a computer would do this today )  
  Durkheim's types of suicide include altruistic, fatalistic, egoistic, & anomic  
Link
 Table on Durkheim's Four Types of Suicide   
 Link
 1.  ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE IS CORRELATED W/ HIGH INTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY   
  When social integration is too strong, the individual is literally forced into committing suicide   
  Hero suicide occurs when a parent dies while pushing their child out of the way of a car  
  With altruistic suicide, death is deliverance  
  Altruistic suicide springs from hope, for it depends on the belief in the beautiful afterlife  
  A suicidal person who dies for a cause is exhibiting characteristics of altruistic suicide  
  EXAMPLES OF ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE   
  Non Extreme Examples  
  - a soldier jumping on a grenade or charging a hill  
  - a policeman dying in the line of duty  
  - a parent pushing a child from path of a car  
  Extreme Examples:   
  - Kamikazes  
  - radical arab bombers  
  -  in 1996, men emolating (burning) themselves to protest the Miss World pageant in India  
 
 -  Supplement:  The followers of Reverend Jim Jones at the People's Temple in Jonestown, Guyana
Link
  -  Supplement:  Jonestown, Guyana Conspiracy
Link
 
 -  Supplement:  The followers of David Koresh & his followers of the Branch Davidians in Texas
Link
  -  Supplement:  Waco Investigation
Link
Link
 2.  FATALISTIC SUICIDE IS CORRELATED W/ HIGH REGULATION BY SOCIETY   
  Persons w/ pitilessly blocked opportunities & passions, violently choked by oppressive discipline are more likely to commit fatalistic suicide  
  Fatalistic suicide was little mentioned by Durkheim  
  EXAMPLES OF FATALISTIC SUICIDE  
  Examples of someone more likely to commit fatalistic suicide include:  
  - slaves  
  - prisoners  
  - overworked college students  
  - American middle class working men  
  - American middle class house wives  
  - School age suicides/killers who cannot stand the harassment by the in crowd, because they are different  
  - over-worked Japanese employees  
  - over worked American executives   
Link
 3.  EGOISTIC SUICIDE IS CORRELATED W/ LOW INTEGRATION INTO SOCIETY  
  Individuals who experience a sense of meaninglessness are more likely to commit egoistic suicide  
  Egoistic suicide is often found in societies where individuals are not well integrated into the society; i.e., modern, developed nations  
  The personal feeling or emotion often associated w/ low integration into society is depression, loneliness, & a sense of meaninglessness  
  For Durkheim, egoistic suicide stems from the social currents of incurable weariness & sad depression  
  Society is where we "learn," internalize via socialization, or imprint our norms & morals  
  Members of a society internalized norms & morals into the self & thus become integrated into the society by both the processes of socialization, as well as by the particular shared norms & morals  
  Therefore, w/ egoistic suicide, a person may also appear as if they are out of control  
  People prone to egoistic suicide lack an internal control of the self, an internal "locus of control"  
  Durkheim notes in his analysis of suicide that if people are left to pursue their private interests in whatever way they wish, they are likely to feel considerable personal dissatisfaction  
  For Durkheim, people are not satisfied even when the are left to pursue their private interests in whatever way they wish because all needs cannot be fulfilled by the individual, many needs can only be fulfilled by the group, collective, or society  
  For Durkheim, the self as constructed by society, is nearly insatiable  
  Needs that are satiable simply lead to the generation of more & more needs  
  EXAMPLES OF EGOISTIC SUICIDE   
  - People prone to egoistic suicide having a low level of integration into society can be seen in the fact that unmarried individuals  have higher rates of suicide than married people  
  - People prone to egoistic suicide having a low level of integration into society can be seen in "lone wolf suicide,"  i.e. a higher rate of suicide, depression, etc., by loners  
  - Teens prone to egoistic suicide can be seen in the high rates of suicide in high school & college students  
  Lonely, troubled young men in high school or college are:  
  -  generally isolated
-  not popular
-  harassed or teased by others		  
  - Millionaire suicide occurs because of low integration into suicide because they feel lonely because they often believe that 'people only like me for my money'  
  The loneliness of wealth, & millionaire suicide can be seen in Richie Rich, the poor little rich kid   
  The loneliness of wealth, & millionaire suicide can be seen in the fact that people who gain sudden wealth often have a hard time adjusting socially & often lose spouses & friends  
 
 - Star egoistic suicide can be seen in the loneliness of fame that leads many stars to suicide
 
  Examples of star egoistic suicide might include:   
  Marilyn Monroe
 
  -  Supplement:Janis Joplin of Big Brother & the Holding Co.      d. 1970
Link
  Jim Morrison of the Doors.  
  -  Supplement:Kurt Cobain of Nirvanna  b. 1967   d. 1994
Link
 
 For Durkheim, religion insulates one against suicide because it integrates people into society
 
  For Durkheim, religion insulates one against suicide because religion limits wants  
  Two groups are the most prone to suicide, young men aged from 14 to 24, and middle age men aged 45 to 55  
  Young men & middle age men may have high levels of suicide because they are likely to experience overwork or sense of failure  
  Young men just finishing their education or starting their career are suddenly stratified into their position in life & that position may not be as high as they believed it would be  
  Middle age men are just at the pinnacle of their career & they may not have risen as high as they expected or they may feel that it was all for naught  
  Young & middle age men are often the most isolated in our society  
  Young men may feel isolated because they have just left home & have not integrated into a new community  
  Middle age men may feel isolated because their family is now grown & they are not integrated into their community  
Link
 4.  ANOMIC SUICIDE IS CORRELATED W/ LOW REGULATION BY SOCIETY   
  Anomie is the experience where culture ( common knowledge, beliefs, values, norms ) does not exist & / or has become ineffective
 
  For Durkheim, culture may be thought of as the collective unconsciousness  
  In comparing anomie to alienation, alienation is the separation or isolation from existing culture whereas anomie is the condition where there is no culture, i.e., no culture to be separated from
 
  See:  Anomie
 
  See:  Alienation
 
  See:  Culture  
  Societal disintegration leads to currents of depression & disillusionment  
  The moral disintegration of society predisposes the individual to commit suicide, but the currents of depression must be there to produce differences in rates of anomic suicide  
  But even though social forces may be weak, an individual is never totally free of the collectivity  
  Disruptions in  regulative powers of society leaves people dissatisfied because they have little control over their passions  
  So people are allowed to run wild in an insatiable race for gratification  
  Success can significantly reduce the regulation that one experiences:  The newly rich may quit their job, move to a new community, perhaps find a new spouse  
  These changes disrupt regulatory effect of old structures & the person may not yet feel new regulatory effects  
  EXAMPLES OF ANOMIC SUICIDE: 
 
  - I am so weak, I have nothing left to lose  
  - suicide from a great loss such as a lay off  
  - a Bum who believes, 'I can do whatever I want because no one can hurt me'
  "Freedom is just another word  for nothing left to lose"  Janis Joplin
 
  - the belief, 'I am so powerful, I cannot lose'
 
  - the college student away from home, family, friends, for the first time, becomes wild party animal, & dies of overdose, car wreck, etc. believing, at some level, that they cannot be hurt or controlled  
  - the person moving to big city for first time who believes they are powerful, & becomes dangerously manic  
  - the Millionaire who believes, 'I can do whatever I want  because I am so powerful: No one can tell me what to do'
 
  - a suicide from great gain such as finally "making it big" career wise
 
  - a superstar, or anyone who dies "accidentally" in that they were not depressed, despondent, etc.  
  People who die of anomic suicide, live the wild life, feel free, & feel little societal control or fear  
  - Jimi Hendrix
 
  -  Supplement:  James Dean
Link
  - John Belusi?  
  Social or natural crises reduce regulation & people feel they have nothing left to lose, no reason to live
 
  Periods of disruption unleash currents of anomie, moods of restlessness & normlessness
 
  Rates of anomic suicide may rise w/ almost any social crises such as a storm, a war, an economic boom, an economic depression, etc.
 
  Individuals experience the sensation of anomie as the fear or anxiety that society is breaking down, that the old rules no longer apply
 
  Either an econ boom or an econ depression make society incapable of exercising its authority over individuals  
  For an anomic society, the old norms no longer apply, but new norms are not yet in place  
  Losing a job can cut the individual off from the Regulation that the company, the job, the workplace friendships may have had  
  Being cut off from the economic sector, or family, religion, the state, etc. leaves a person rootless  
  FINDINGS:  DURKHEIM CONSTRUCTED A PROFILE OF A SUICIDAL PERSON THAT IS STILL VALID TODAY:  MALE, YOUNG OR MID AGED, PROTESTANT, VERY POOR OR RICH   
  Men commit suicide more than women
Women make more attempts at suicide, but men succeed more often
 
  The young, mid teens to mid twenties & the middle aged, late 40s & 50s are the most suicidal age groups
 
  Protestants are more likely than Catholics or Jews to commit suicide
 
  Durkheim theorized that Protestants would be more likely to commit suicide than Catholics or Jews because Protestant religions are more individualistic while the Jews & Catholics have a stronger community orientation  
  People of all classes have about the same rates of suicide, except for the extreme rich & poor, which have a higher rate of suicide
 
  Those who have been recently laid off more likely to commit suicide
 
  If you are male, young, mobile/ in transition, & Protestant, you are at high risk for suicide  
  If you are male, middle age, Protestant, & laid off, you are at high risk for suicide
 
  Durkheim's findings are still valid today & yet most of the focus is on psychological causes, not sociological causes of suicide
 
  Durkheim's study has been confirmed by many other researchers & its generalization is very widespread
 
  Similar patterns of suicide can be found today in the US as Durkheim found in nineteenth century Europe  

 
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Table on Durkheim's Four Types of Suicide
 
High 
Low
Integration
1.  Altruistic suicide
3.  Egoistic suicide
Regulation
2.  Fatalistic suicide
4.  Anomic suicide

 
Internal
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 Outline on   Mob Violence
External
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  Mob violence is any event where crowds of normally nonviolent people attack individuals or property in an attempt to destroy, injure or kill  
  Mobs are driven by fear, hatred, anger or even boredom & a sense of domination  
  Lynchings may be planned & orderly or spontaneous & chaotic  
  Lynchings are often part of an effort to resist some form of social change  
  Lynchings can occur w/ only the victim & one or more perpetrators, e.g., the lynching of the gay man in Wyoming  
  Lynchings are more common than one might think  
  In August, 1991, a Race Riot in Crown Heights, NYC occurred btwn Blacks & Jews, & to a lessor extent w/ Hispanics  
  A Jewish leader's car killed a young black child & injured another  
  Blacks retaliated w/ looting, burning & attacks on Jews, some Hispanics & any Blacks who opposed them  
  Jews retaliated in a similar manner  
  Each attack was against anyone who fit a particular social category  
  No attackers thought they were attacking anyone who was specifically responsible for anything, they were just attacking the other group  
  A Crown Heights Riot has TWO characteristics  
  a.  Violence is directed at specific segments of the population, not at those nearest to them  
  All attackers believe that punishing any member of the other group would suffice  
  b.  There were a high number of injuries relative to the level of material destruction
 
  In-Class Project:  Defusing the Crown Heights Riot
Link
  Many Race Riots do mostly material destruction, where the attacking group may try to single out property of any "outsiders" or destruction, but frequently destroy anything in sight  
  The riot resulting from the acquital of the police who beat Rodney King destroyed a 25 square block area  
  A Riot is a sudden outbreak of collective violence where participants vent their feelings in a less focused manner than violent mobs  
  Riots, in general, have a high level of material destruction & less personal injury & there is often death & injury
 
  Deadly riots are characterized by large mobs attacking each other, as well as anyone who happens to wander by
 
  With mob violence, there are many personal injuries but not dramatic property destruction  
  In a deadly riot, both the death toll & property destruction are high
 

 
Internal
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Top
 Outline on Riots
External
Links
  -  Project:  Defusing the Crown Heights Riot
Link
  -  Project:  Stopping the 1992 LA Riot
Link
  A riot is a disturbing; confusing; disorderly, wild, violent public disturbance  
  Legally a riot is a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons who assemble for some private purpose & execute it to the terror of the people; however, the precise legal definition of a riot differs from place to place  
  A riot is a noisy, violent outbreak of disorder by a group of people  
  Few riots, unlike revolts or rebellions, are aimed at overthrowing a government or removing specific leaders; however, a riot may set forces in motion that bring about such a result  
  Rioters often harm other persons & damage property  
  Rioting or urging people to riot is a crime in most countries & in all the states of the US  
  Rioting cannot always be easily distinguished from vandalism, disorderly conduct, or other similar offenses  
  But most riots involve hundreds or thousands of people, & follow an aggravation of already severe economic, social, or political grievances  
  A riot may break out spontaneously, or it may be carefully planned through conspiracy  
  A riot may break out during a demonstration  
  In a demonstration, many people gather merely to protest publicly against some policy of the government, an industry, a university, or some other institution, & the intention is not to riot  
  But when passions run high, the massing together of thousands of persons & the efforts of police to keep order can lead to violence  
  In the US, the Constitution guarantees everyone the rights to assemble in peace, to petition the govt for grievances, & to dissent (disagree) as an individual or in a group  
  But when dissent changes into disruption of order & is accompanied by violence that injures others or causes physical damage, it is a riot  
  Historically, riots have always existed & they are the primary reason that early social theorists believed that all collective behavior was violent & that crowds or masses of people inevitably become violent  
  See Also:  Major US Riots  
  See Also:  World Riots  
  The Watts Riot of 1965 was the largest & most deadly riot at the time  
  The 1967 race riots affected many US cities  
  In 1968 more than 150 US cities rioted after the assassination of MLK  
  Miami, FL had a riot in August of 1968  
  Miami, FL had a riot in  December of 1980 which was the largest & most deadly riot at the time  
  Like many other large cities, Miami faces unemployment, housing shortages, poverty, & crime which especially affect the black & all lower class populations  
  In 1980, racial tension erupted into violence after four white former county policemen were found not guilty of killing a black Miami businessman  
  The verdict on the 1980 Miami police violence sparked rioting that led to 17 deaths & over $100 million in damage.  
  The Miami Riot of 1980 is the first major riot where participants began to attack & kill bystanders, participants & police or the military  
  In LA, CA in May of 1992 the Rodney King Riot became the largest & most deadly riot at the time  
  In 1992, 11 US cities rioted after the not guilty verdict of the LAPD case related to the Rodney King beating  
  After the innocent verdict for the police accused of beating Rodney King, the rioters became very dangerous: they attacked bystanders, each other & the police/military  
  The conditions that sparked all of these riots are similar
 
  While race riots, & other topical riots such as bread riots, water riots, response to police/military crackdowns riots, etc. seem to have a specific cause, specific causes are often sparked by an inflammatory event, but more importantly, are often the result of structural conditions such as unemployment, housing shortages, poverty, & crime, drug use, etc. which creates a climate of hopelessness & frustration leading people to act of violently  
  Most riots result in destruction of property & sometimes the injury & death of people though some riots only destroy property, some only injure, some only kill
 
  A riot is classified as a "deadly riot" when participants attempt to injure or kill each other &/or bystanders
 
  Deadly riots have occurred in every major city & many smaller towns in the US
 
  People riot over religion, politics, economics, law, race & more
 

 
Internal
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 Outline on   Celebratory Riots
External
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 Celebratory Riots involve the destruction of property for the joy of celebration & the participants do not intentionally hurt other participants & generally try to fight only w/ police or other authorities  
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 In a celebratory riot, there is usually superficial property damage & far fewer deaths than w/ a deadly riot or mob violence  
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 People go on a frenzy of celebration to express their joy, not anger  
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 In a celebratory riot, usually only members of the winning team riot in a burst of joyous expressiveness, but sometimes the losers may riot in anger  
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 The U of Akron in Akron, Ohio hosted an end-of-semester celebration every May  
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 These May Day  at the U of Akron celebrations became progressively more of a nighttime event characterized by rioting behavior with bonfires, the destruction of personal property, & drunken chanting & singing  
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 People generally burned their own furniture & other property  
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 The most prevalent personal violence occurred against the police who would try to stop the bonfires, & property destruction  
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 When the daytime May Day Celebrations ended, so di the night time riots  
blank
 Sports Celebration Riots frequently occur after professional, or college level sporting events & are usually in celebration, not in response to a loss  
blank
 Some historic Sports Celebration Riots
1982, San Francisco 1993, Dallas
1984, Detroit 1993, Montreal
1986, Montreal 1997, Chicago:  2nd Bulls NBA title
1990, Detroit 1998, Denver:  Superbowl
1992, Chicago 1999, Denver:  Superbowl
1993, Chicago 2000, Los Angeles
 
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 Sports Celebratory Riots are so common that the behavior is an expected ritual following any major sports victory  
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 The media, transportation & a uniform culture make such celebratory riot behavior routine, part of our culture in that we have all "witnessed" such behavior  
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 Small group dynamics holds that the more we are exposed to any behavior, the more routine it becomes  
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 Sports Celebratory Riots do not occur because of anger, but rather because of joy & excitement
 
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 Enthusiasm & extreme excitement overcome people's judgment  
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 Celebratory riots make it clear that people rampage & even kill out of a sense of euphoria   
  People smash, trample & destroy to express their ecstasy  

 
Internal
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 Outline on  Consumer Collective Behavior
External
Links
  -  Project:  Consumer Collective Behavior
Link
  Most collective actions are not violent, deadly, or destructive
 
  Consumer collective behavior can be motivated by our interests, our need for an investment, or for social reasons,  or by several of these factors  
  We buy things:  
  a.  to meet our own interests / needs
 
  b.  for an investment
 
  c.  because "everyone else has it"
 
  Consumer collective behavior occurs when we buy or sell primarily because everyone else is doing it
 
  A Craze occurs when we purchase or invest in something that we know little about primarily because we believe its value will increase dramatically
 
  Crazes are investments in that we do not buy the item to meet our own needs, rather the purpose is to make a profit
 
  A Craze differs from an investment in that it is Collective Behavior, i.e., many people are doing it & there is the assumption of a quick & sizable profit
 
  A Panic occurs when we sell something that we know little about primarily because we believe its value will decrease dramatically
 
  Panics are also investments in that we do not keep the item to meet our own needs, rather the purpose of the quick sale is  to make a profit, or prevent further loss
 
  Panic sellers believe the value will continue to drop until it becomes worthless
 
  Crazes & Panics are driven by the fear of missing out:
 
  A Craze is the fear of missing a profit
 
 
 A Panic is the fear of losing everything
 
 
 The Stock Market Panic & Crash of 1929 contributed  to the Great Depression  
  In the 1930s & the 1980s the Chain Letter Craze rose & fell  
  In the 1970s the Beer Can Collecting Craze rose & fell  
  Fads occur whenever large numbers of people enthusiastically embrace some pattern of behavior for a short period of time & then quickly drop it  

 
Internal
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 Outline on the  Stock Market Panic & Crash of 1929
External
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  The economic growth of the 1920's led more Americans than ever to invest in the stocks of corporations   
  The investments, in turn, provided companies with a flood of new capital for business expansion  
  As investors poured money into the stock market, the value of stocks soared  
  The upsweep led to widespread speculation, which pushed the value of stocks far beyond the level justified by earnings & dividends  
  Much of the speculation involved buying stocks on margin; that is, paying a fraction of the cost & borrowing the rest  
 
 Prior to the 1929 Crash, stock prices had rapidly risen for 5 years during "the roaring 20's"
 
  From 1925 to 1929, the average price of common stocks on the New York Stock Exchange more than doubled
 
  Rising stock values encouraged many people to speculate, that is, buy stocks in hope of making large profits following future price increases
 
  This was one of the first time in history that "main street met Wall Street," i.e., the middle class invested heavily in the stock market
 
  The Dow Jones rose from 191 in early 1928 to a peak of 381 in 1929
 
  In late October, 1929, a decline in stock prices set in  
  Black Thursday, Oct. 24, 1929 the first panic occurred & the record of stocks trades was broken, 3 times over
 
  Most stock prices remained steady on Friday & Saturday, but the next Monday, stock prices fell again
 
  Then, on Tuesday, October 29, stockholders panicked & sold a record 16,410,030 shares of stock
 
  On Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, the second panic occurred & the record of stocks trades was broken, 4 times over
 
  Thousands of people lost huge sums of money as stock values fell far below the prices paid for the stock
 
  When the year ended, the govt estimated that the crash had cost investors $40 billion  
  The panic was fueled by economic circumstances & by THREE market features
 
  a.  Stop loss orders:  automatic sell feature if prices hits a particular level
 
  b.  Because ticker tapes could not keep up, investors could not determine prices, so they sold, fearing the worst
 
  c.  The domino credit effect
 
  Buying on margin denotes that it only took 10 % down to buy a stock  
  A margin call is when brokers call for full payment on a margin purchase  
  When prices fell, brokers were forced to make margin calls from people who otherwise would be willing to hold a stock  
  Margin calls forced selling, caused prices to drop even more rapidly  
  Banks & businesses had also bought stock, & many lost so much that they had to close  
  The stock market investment craze of the 1920s led to the panic of 1929 & the Great Depression of the 1930s  
  Stock values fell almost steadily for the next three years  
  It was not until the 1990s that many middle class people began to trust the market enough to invest en masse  

 
Internal
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Top
 Outline on the  Chain Letter Craze
External
Links
  In 1935 millions of American paid nickels & dimes for chain letters, today people pay $5 to $100 for a chain letter
 
  Usually, a chain letter follows FOUR steps
 
  First, the chain letter will ask you to send money to five people on the list
 
  Second, on a chain letter, you cross the top name off the list & and add your name to the bottom
 
  Third, on a chain letter, you mail the letter to five friends w/ instruction to do as you did
 
  Fourth, on a chain letter, wait to collect your money, assuming that the letter will keep selling & your name will move up the list
 
  A chain letter usually glorifies the rewards & offers supernatural punishment should you break the chain
 
  Chain letters are illegal today
 
  Never-the-less, a second chain letter craze took place in the 1980's & they continue today
 
  Email chain letters are common
 
  Chain letters are based on a classic pyramid scheme that can "succeed" for the early people in the pyramid, but ultimately must fail
 
Link
 The Table on the Geometric Expansion of Investors by Level indicates that there is a dramatic growth in investors at the higher levels  
  People are often convinced to join a chain letter craze because they less the possibilities  of many people paying them money, but the possibilities also make it more unlikely that many people will invest  
  Chain letters are considered collective behavior because it is an unusual / deviant event & because "everybody"  is doing it
 
  Chain letters are a "craze" in that there is pressure to do it because if one does not participate in the chain letter, one feels anxiety, panic, etc.
 

 
Top
  

The Table on the Geometric Expansion of Investors by Level
PW
Level # of investors
1 1
2 5
3 25
4 125
5 625
6 3,125
7 15,625
8 78,125
9 390,625
10 1,953,125
11 9,765,625
12 48,828,125
13 244,140,625
The Table on the Geometric Expansion of Investors by Level indicates that there is a dramatic growth in investors at the higher levels 

 
Internal
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Top
 Outline on the  Beer Can Craze
External
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  In the 1970s the Beer Can Collecting Craze rose & fell
 
  Thousands of teen males & young males joined the craze to collect beer cans
 
  Sellers contributed to the beer can craze by manufacturing a wide range of new can labels, & "Collector Edition" cans
 
  The manufacturers' participation in the beer can craze was to create more styles of beer can labels  
  The increase in the styles of beer can labels at first increased interest by collectors, but soon the large numbers of labels made it difficult to keep up  
  In 1972, the drinking age was lowered to 18
 
  Beer drinking & can collecting served as macho identifiers
 
  Collectors became disillusioned because the number of new cans grew so rapidly that no one could keep up
 
  The beer can craze fell as rapidly as it grew, but what can one expect from young collectors? 
 
  While the beer can craze rose & fell, the hobby remains
 

 
Internal
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 Outline on  Fads
External
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  Fashions & fads are cultural practices that change frequently 
 
  Fads & fashions include social dances, styles of dress, slang expressions, etc.  
  Fads are fashions that quickly come & go  
  Fads are something, a behavior, a style, any social expression which everybody is very much interested in for a short time  
  A fad may become a fashion through long usage & a fashion may become a custom through long usage  
  Eating w/ a fork became a fad in Europe in the 1500s but it is now a custom throughout the Western world  
 
 Fads occur whenever large numbers of people enthusiastically embrace some pattern of behavior for a short period of time & then quickly drop it
 
  Fads are similar to crazes when they involve buying something, but Fadists do so because they want the item because everybody seems to want it, & not because they view the item as an investment
 
  Dance Fads are common, such as the Shimmey, the Twist, Breakdancing, etc.
 
  Activity fads are common, such as streaking, bungee jumping
 
  Fads that generate money, e.g., toy fads are now common
 
  The Davey Crockett Fad was the first TV influenced toy fad
 
  The Davey Crockett TV show was the most popular show on TV in 1954, simulating a huge toy fad
 
  It's theme song, the "Ballad of Davey Crockett" sold over 4 mm copies, & can be sung by every Baby Boomer today
 
  Davey Crockett Books sold over 14 mm copies
 
  Davey Crockett paraphernalia ranged from the coonskin cap, to rifles, to leathers...
 
  $100 mm worth of Davey Crockett merchandise was sold in 1954 & 1955 which is equal to about $ 641 mm in 2000 $$
 
  The Davey Crockett Fad reflected the birth of consumerism & the youth market  in American
 
 
 Other consumer fads include
-  the Hula Hoop which sold 25 mm in 1958
-  Cabbage Patch Dolls
-  Furbys
-  Pet Rocks
 
 
 People embrace customs, fashions, & fads because they  
 
 -  are entertaining  
  -  demonstrate innovativeness  
  -  show the solidarity of a group  
  -  exhibit membership in a community  
  -  demonstrate stratification, status, etc.  
  -  allow people to know what to expect in social situations  
  -  face positive sanctions from in-groups for participating  
  -  face negative sanctions from out-groups for participating  
  -  hold social knowledge  
  -  hold physical, i.e. material knowledge  
  While at one time fashions & fads were almost totally the spontaneous product of local subcultures, in today's system of global capitalism, corps & marketers construct fashions & fads around celebrities, movies, & other commercial productions  

 
Internal
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 Outline on  Collective Behavior Hysterias
External
Links
  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  
  In the 1800s, Mackay used the term mass hysteria because CB seemed to him to have no cause, & seemed to be transmitted from person to person w/ no visible method of transmission  
  From this psychological perspective of hysteria, the sociological perspective has developed a collective behaviorist conception of hysteria where collectivities, i.e. crowds or masses, exhibit irrational, emotional behavior  
  A Hysteria is a situation in which a group of people believe that something is happening when it is not  
  There THREE are Types of Hysterias that often overlap  
  -  Believing things that are not true  
  -  Acting as if something is happening that is not  
  -  Exhibiting physical symptoms that have no physiological cause as a result of a belief  

 
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 Outline on  Rumors
External
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  A rumor is a story or statement talked of as news without any proof that it is true  
  A rumor is unsubstantiated information spread informally, often by word of mouth  
  Rumors cover topics from everyday events to historically important events  
  Examples:   a new business will be built here   or    the Pentagon airliner attack is a cover up  
  See Also:  Pentagon Video  
  Rumors often address what has happened in the past  
  Rumors are vague general talk, not based on definite knowledge  
  The archaic meaning of rumor means reputation or fame such as in the Shakespearean quote, "Great is the rumor of this dreadful knight."  
  In the past, rumor also meant a confused noise or din  
 
 A rumor is an unconfirmed item of information that spread by word of mouth &, in some cases, unconfirmed media reports
 
  The unconfirmed nature of rumors can be seen in race riots of the 1960s where whites believed rumors that blacks had decided to meet to march downtown to attack whites & burn stores while blacks believed rumors that white gangs or police had beaten, raped or lynched innocent blacks  
  Whites & blacks in their separate neighborhoods knew little about each other's actions   
  The unconfirmed nature of rumors can be seen in that after the Kent State shootings, students believed rumors that the National Guard had assembled outside of campuses around the nation in preparation for further action against students  
  In part, students believed rumors because they were unaware of the true actions of the National Guard  
  In the cases of the race riots & National Guard rumors, people believed that the information in the rumors was being kept secret by authorities  
 
 In collective behavior, a Rumor is any piece of information that is not or can not be verified
 
  A rumor may be a story or statement talked of as news without any proof that it is true
 
  A rumor may be vague, general talk, not based on definite knowledge
 
  In the past, the connotation of a rumor was a positive one in that it referred to one's positive reputation or fame. Example: Great is the rumor of this dreadful knight (Shakespeare).
 
 
 If the person who hears information accepts it as true & does not attempt to verify it, it remains a rumor
 
 
 Rumors are often called the lowest, or most basic form of collective behavior
 
 
 Gossip is a form of rumor which is about the personal affairs of other people
 
  Cooley (1909, 1962) holds that rumors involve issue or events of interest to a large segment of the public, while gossip is of interest only to those who have some personal knowledge of the people in question  
  Gossip tends to be localized while rumors may readily spread throughout an entire society  
  Gossip can be an effective means of informal social control  
  See Also:  Social Control  
  People gossip to elevate their standing in a social group, or to raise or lower another's standing  
  Through gossip, a person may gain status by demonstrating access to insider information not available to other members of the group  
  In addition to the purpose of affecting the status of the target person, those who spread the rumor are able to feel a sense of social superiority since what applies to the target does not apply to them, or conversely a sense of community since what applies to the target does apply to them  
  In addition, because gossip is viewed as disreputable, those who gossip may be viewed adversely by others  
 
 Many people continue to believe a rumor even when evidence is presented opposing it
 
  The validity of a rumor is difficult to assess  
  Rumor has always been an element of human social life, but the means of transmitting rumors have changed dramatically w/ modern technology  
  Throughout history, & before, rumors were spread through face to face communication, then the written word made it possible to spread rumors much faster, & now w/ radios, telephones, TV, the internet, etc., rumors spread even more often & more quickly  
 
 Rumors are extremely difficult to defuse or refute because they are often based on charismatic authority & traditional authority
 
 
 A person continues to believe a rumor because some charismatic leader supports it
 
 
 A person continues to believe a rumor because some group w/ which they are allied supports it
 
 
 A rumor is unconfirmed information that is often passed through informal social communication
 
 
 The person who hears it cannot or does not verify the information
 
 
 Locher says most people don't take the time to check out a story before passing it simply because they believe it is true
 
 
 In most cases, it would be difficult to check out a rumor & most people do not circulate a rumor because they believe it, but because it is entertaining or profitable to do so
 
 
 It may be simple to find out if a rumor is true, but most people don't bother to try
 
 
 People accept rumors as true w/o any further investigation
 
 
 People believe the rumor & repeat it to others
 
 
 Some rumors turn out to be true, but most are false
 
 
 Tellers consider the info to be important or interesting & feel a need to pass it on
 
 
 Tellers do not always believe a rumor to be true
 
 
 Social outsiders repeat rumors when they are in awkward social situations
 
 
 People tell rumors to 
 
 
 a.  gain attention
 
 
 b.  bolster their status
 
 
 c.  provide entertainment & excitement
 
 
 d.  help or hurt another or others
 
 
 Believers consider a rumor plausible & accept it as fact
 
 
 People accept rumors that fit their world view & reject those that do not
 
 
 We judge a rumor ( accept or reject it ) based on our beliefs & knowledge, that is based on our subculture
 
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 Rumors do not circulate constantly, but they occur frequently & are likely to circulate again
 
 
 In the 1960s rumors spread that the new fast food, chain restaurants were adding filler to their burgers:  sawdust, even soybeans!
 
 
 In 1978 a rumor spread that McDonalds added worms to their hamburgers & sales fell by 30%
 
 
 Wendy’s managed to stop this rumor of worms in their hamburgers by immediately responding w/ a nation wide press conference
 
 
 Traditional counter advertising failed to stop the McDonalds rumor of worms in their hamburgers
 
 
 Finally a logical argument that worms cost more than beef managed to stifle the rumor
 
 
 Never-the-less many people today believe that McDonalds did put worms in their burgers
 
  Rumors thrive in a climate of ambiguity & they arise & spread most effectively when large numbers of people lack definitive information  
  Rumors, like other collective behavior, occur when the situation is structurally conducive especially when information is incomplete, unconfirmed, unavailable, contradictory, & ambiguous  
  If there is widespread suspicion that the pronouncements of authorities are untruthful, rumors are likely to emerge  
  Rumors provide info that clarifies a situation about which substantiated facts are unavailable  
  Rumors offer competing conceptions of reality  
  Rumors are changeable & have the ability to adapt to new information  
  As rumors circulate, they are altered in the telling so that a number of variations of a single rumor add to the confusion  
  Generally some details become more important as the rumor is spread while others are lost as unimportant  
  Example:  a rumor about demonstrators & police told by people sympathetic to the demonstrators will emphasized details placing responsibility for the violence on the police & ignore details attaching blame to the demonstrators  
  Rumors are difficult to stop because the number of people who are aware of it tends to increase in geometric progression as each person spreads the rumor to several others  
  While some rumors dissipate w/ time, others persist for years  
  Rumors can be stopped only when clear, substantiated information wi widely disseminated but even then there is not guarantee that everyone will accept such information  
  Rumors, founded or unfounded can trigger the formation of crowds or other collective action  
  During the race & political demonstrations & riots of the 1960s, control centers were established in American cities to counter the potentially explosive effects of rumors  
  Rumors often confirm people's worst fears  
  While gossip is a local, personal form of rumor, local rumors are generally of concern for a narrow, subculture of people, while non localized rumors are important & spread by the population of an entire nation, or given today's technology, the entire world  
  The rumors that Beatle Paul McCartney was dead & that Elvis was alive were important to the entire world  
  Rumors have circulated nationwide about products such as Procter & Gamble, Wendy's, Coke, etc.  
  Some rumors often have a link w/ something true  
  Some rumors have a link w/ outright hoaxes  
  Some rumors are created or embellished by people who have a need for the rumor to be true or an interest in it being true  

 
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 Outline on the  Sightings
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  A Sighting is any hysteria in which people believe that they are seeing something that is not actually there
 
  No one knows how many sightings occur each year
 
  It is known that sightings occur in every culture & of every religious figure
 
  Sightings follow a pattern w/ SEVEN steps
 
  a.  An individual or small group receives a message that an appearance will occur, or they actually see the person / object that is to appear
 
  b.  Based on a message or a prior sighting, an individual or small group predict that an appearance will occur
 
  c.  A Crowd gathers expecting the appearance
 
  d.  Collective dynamics build tension around the sighting:  "Minor" sighting & miracles occur
 
  e.  The sighting may occur
 
  f.  The crowd disperses either rewarded w/ a sighting or feeling like they are responsible for no sighting
 
  g.  Pilgrims continue to visit the location
 
  There are FIVE types of Sightings
 
  a. Religious Sightings
 
  The Virgin Mary in Saban Grande, Puerto Rico
 
  b. UFO Sightings  
  The Airship Sightings of 1896-7  
  c. Ghosts & other  Apparitions  
  d.  Miracles  
  e. Other Images  
  In-Class Project:  Sightings:  Real or Imagined?
Link

 
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 Outline on the  Sightings of the Virgin Mary
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  The story of Mary has always been a favorite subject of artists and musicians & there have been many sightings of her  
  Many great paintings and songs have been based on the incidents and traditions of Mary's life  
 
 The Virgin Mary of Sabana Grande
 
 
 On May 25, 1953 over 100,000 people gather in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico to witness the appearance ot the Virgin Mary
 
 
 Ten school children had regularly communicated w/ her & predicted Mary's appearance
 
 
 Shortly before the scheduled appearance various miracles were reported such as the rain turned colors on the clothes of the children
 
 
 Near Sabana Grande, people saw the Virgin's image in the clouds & colored rings appeared around the sun
 
 
 During the visions near Sabana Grande, sick people became well
 
  At the appointed time of the appearence in Sabana Grande, people misidentified two women as the Virgin
 
  Several hours after her failure to appear, people began to disperse, but people continued to pilgrimage to the sight in Sabana Grande for years
 
 
 Our Lady of Fatima
 
 
 Our Lady of Fatima, refers to the Virgin Mary, who reportedly appeared near Fatima, in west central Portugal, in 1917
 
 
 On May 13 of that year, three children told of seeing a vision of a lady while they were tending sheep near Fatima
 
 
 The children said that the lady, brighter than the sun and standing on a cloud, told them to come there on the 13th day of each month until the following October, when she would tell them who she was
 
 
 On October 13, she said that she was Our Lady of the Rosary, and told the children to say the rosary every day
 
  The vision, which came to be called Our Lady of Fatima, called for people to reform their lives and asked that a chapel be built in her honor  
 
 The Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima stands on the site of the visions  
 
 In 1930, the Roman Catholic Church authorized devotion to Our Lady of Fatima & since then, millions of people have made pilgrimages to Fatima  
  The Virgin Mary of Lourdes  
  Lourdes (pop. 16,581), is a town in southwestern France near the Pyrenees foothills which is famous as a shrine for Roman Catholic pilgrims.   
  It is believed that there, in 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous  
 

Lourdes is in the south of France along the Spanish Border

  
  A beautiful church, called the Rosary, and a statue of the Virgin stand at the grotto where the vision occurred in Lourdes  
  About 2 million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year many going there in search of a miraculous cure for a physical problem  
  Many bathe in the sacred waters of the grotto spring of Lourdes in hope that a miracle will restore them to health  
  Visitors come to Lourdes all year long & some people leave their crutches as evidence of a cure  
  Many French Roman Catholics make a pilgrimage to Lourdes for ceremonies on August 20 of each year  
  The underground Basilica of St. Pius X in Lourdes, opened in 1958, is the second largest Roman Catholic church in Europe & only St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City can accommodate more people  
  Saint Bernadette, 1844-1879, is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church who was born Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France  
  When she was 14, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to her 18 times at Lourdes saying, "I am the Immaculate Conception."  
  Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity in 1866 & was declared a saint in 1933; her feast day is April 16  

 
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 Outline on  UFO Sightings
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  An unidentified flying object (UFO) is a light or object in the air that has no obvious explanation  
  Some people believe UFO's are spaceships from other planets  
  However, investigators discover ordinary explanations for most UFO sightings, largely because most witnesses are generally reliable individuals  
  Some UFO's are called flying saucers  
  This term was coined by the press in 1947 to describe a sighting by Kenneth Arnold, a civilian pilot, who reported unknown objects speeding through the air  
  UFO hoaxes are rare  
  Many reported UFO's are actually bright planets, stars, or meteors  
  People have reported aircraft, missiles, satellites, birds, insect swarms, and weather balloons as UFOs  
  Unusual weather conditions also can create optical illusions that are reported as UFOs  
  Investigators can explain all but a small percentage of UFO reports  
  The remainder of unexplained UFO sightings  may be due to an unknown phenomenon or merely to limitations in human perception, memory, & research  
  Most scientists believe that there is not enough reliable evidence to connect these sightings w/ life from other planets  
  Even ancient cultures report UFOs  
 
 Between 1896 & 1897 over 100 k people reported seeing a "great airship" & some even claimed to have spoken to pilots
 
 
 These airships of the late 1800s were cigar shaped w/ propellors or flapping wings
 
 
 The Wright Brothers did not fly until 1903
 
 
 The airship hysteria began when the Michigan Detroit Free Press ran a story in 1896 reporting that an NY inventor would construct & fly an "aerial torpedo boat"
 
 
 Sightings of the airships of the late 1800s occurred where the newspaper story ran, not where the ship was predicted to be
 
 
 The sightings of the airships of the late 1800s ended as abruptly as they began
 
 
 Another flurry of UFO sighting occurred in the 1950s after the Rozewell incident
 
  Beginning in 1952, the United States Air Force, in a program called Project Blue Book, investigated about 12,000 UFO reports to determine whether UFO's were a potential threat to national security  
  In addition, from 1966 to 1968, the Air Force sponsored an independent study of UFO's by scientists at the University of Colorado  
  The Colorado scientists advised the Air Force that further study of UFO's was not likely to produce useful information concerning a security threat  
  As a result, the Air Force ended Project Blue Book in 1969  
 
 Media events, books, & UFOlogists have always added to UFO Sightings
 
  Accounts of encounters with alien visitors have appeared in many books, newspaper articles, motion pictures, and TV programs  
 
 UFOs have more scientific evidence & government investigation behind them than any other kind of sighting
 
 
 Many people throughout the world continue to believe that UFO's are spacecraft from other planets
 
 
 Some people have even reported that they have been abducted by aliens
 
 
 But even believers in alien encounters disagree over certain famous cases
 
 
 Particularly controversial is the use of hypnosis to obtain previously unremembered, or perhaps imaginary, information
 

 
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 Outline on  Physical Hysteria
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  Physical hysteria occurs when people collectively exhibit physical symptoms for which there is no logical, medical explanation
 
  Physical hysteria is also known as conversion hysteria, mass hysteria, or a hysterical epidemic
 
  Physical hysteria demonstrates the extent to which the mind is stronger than the body
 
  People exhibit real physical symptoms including hyperventilation, nausea, dizziness, fainting, abdominal pain, spasms, headache, weakness, etc. & can even die
 
  The causes of hysterical symptoms are often social psychological & usually passes around via rumors
 
  Examples of physical hysteria include food poisoning, chemical exposure, disease exposure, poisonous insects, etc.
 
  Note that many actual diseases have been confused w/ physical hysterias including shell shock, combat fatigue syndrome, delayed stress syndrome, agent orange syndrome, gulf war syndrome, sick building syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, legionnaires disease, many forms of mental illness, etc.
 
  In understanding the confusion btwn hysteria & other diseases, we must remember that science is imperfect & often retracts positions
 
  Physical hysteria usually follows the SIX steps of exhibition, explanation, excitement, confirmation, magnification, removal
 
  1.  Exhibition:  Physical hysteria starts when a person exhibits physical symptoms
 
  2.  Explanation:  Other participants develop an explanation for those symptoms
 
  3.  Excitement:  The explanation which is developed causes excitement, anxiety, stress, etc. 
 
  4.  Confirmation:  People begin to view these feelings as confirmation of their group belief
 
  5.  Magnification:  This confirmation of feelings magnifies the belief & the stress which often precipitates other more specific symptoms
 
  6.  Removal:  Once the perceived cause of the disorder is removed, people return to normal  
  The June Bug Incident of 1962 occurred when workers at a Southern textile mill broke out in a rash & complained of stomach pains & dizziness  
  The first few "victims" had a previous history of fainting & nervousness  
 
 Rumors spread & other workers displayed symptoms & claimed their illness had been caused by bites from "foreign bugs" in a shipment form England  
 
 Over the next few days more than sixty workers complained of similar symptoms  
 
 Symptoms were most closely associated w/ people who knew other affected workers & not w/ workers in the same part of the mill
 
  In the late 1990s an outbreak of twitching occurred among Williamsburg, VA high school students, & the cause was never determined  
  In the 1850s fainting was very common, some said epidemic, among upper class women in Europe   
  The "cure" was to spend time at the sea shore where their men would carry them & hold them in the ocean for a 'cleansing swim'   
  Today it is difficult to determine the cause of fainting, upper class women   
  European, fainting, upper class women of the 1850s may have been a function of not eating enough or tight corsets, & hysteria may have also contributed   

 
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 Outline on  Millenarian Groups
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 Millenarian groups or movements believe that the world is coming to an end sometime soon & that they are chosen to "survive" it, cause it, be aware of its coming
 
 
 Utopian millenarian groups believe the event will bring peace, salvation, or utopia
 
 
 In Western cultures, millenarianism often follows the Biblical Millennium, a thousand year period of peace on Earth
 
 
 Catastrophic millenarian groups believe the planet or universe will be destroyed & that only a few chosen ones will be saved
 
 
 Catastrophic millenarianism also has roots in the Biblical & other religions' holy books, making it universal throughout human cultures
 
 
 Many millenarians are opposed to the current social order believing that the evil of today generates the disaster of tomorrow
 
 
 This idea of divine retribution is as old as humanity itself
 
 
 The Y2K scare is one example of divine retribution, but it evolved beyond a mere religious form of millenarianism to include a technological causation bolstered by commercialization
 
  Many believed Y2K would be cause by divine intervention, while many others believed it would be caused by a collapse of computer systems, thus affecting all modern systems  
  Whatever one's belief of the cause of Y2K, it was magnified by commercialization in that many businesses advertised, & sought to sell products to those hoping to survive the collapse  
 
 The Millerites in 1831 followed a Baptist preacher, William Miller, & were a sect of the Adventist religion
 
 
 Adventists are members of religious groups that stress the doctrine of the Second Coming.  That is, they believe that Jesus Christ may return to the earth at any moment  
  Such questions as when, where, & how Jesus would return have excited the curiosity of Christians & interest was particularly high during the early 1800s  
  William Miller, a Baptist minister in Low Hampton, N.Y., was one of many students of the Bible who tried to find the answers  
  For years, Miller studied the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament Book of Daniel & the New Testament Book of Revelation  
  After many calculations, he announced in 1831 that the Second Advent would occur in 1843 or 1844 & the world would end  
  Thousands of people believed Miller, & some sold & gave away their possessions  
  When the world did not end in 1844, many of Miller's followers were bitterly disappointed  
  When the end did not come, Miller recalculated the end as coming in Oct. of 1844  
 
 Miller's followers were edgy, but also watchful, busy, & secure:  watch for signed of the end but preparing for their salvation, & secure that they would be spared
 
 
 When the end did not come, they labeled the date "the Great Disappointment"
 
 
 They wept that the world did not end; They did not fear the end; they yearned for it
 
  Yearning for the end is typical among millenarian groups  
 
 They abandoned his movement to form new ones
 
 
 The largest one, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, emerged about the time of the Civil War
 
 
 This group also stressed the doctrine of the Second Coming.  But it avoided Miller's inclination to predict the specific time that Jesus would return  
  Most left after the Great Disappointment & returned to their previous lives, but some remained faithful  
  Ellen White stepped in & founded the Seventh Day Adventist Church  
  The Jehovah's Witnesses rose from former Millerites  
  Edward Eggleston (1837-1902) wrote The End of the World (1872), deals w/ the Millerites, a religious group that expected Christ's second coming in 1843  
  A notorious cult was the Branch Davidians, led by a self proclaimed prophet named David Koresh  
  On April 19, 1993, a 51 day confrontation btwn the cult & fed forces near Waco, Tex., ended w/ the apparent mass suicide of over 80 cult members, including Koresh  
  Koresh & this group, the Branch Davidians, perished in a fiery standoff  w/ the fed govt in Waco, TX  

The End
 
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