Week 2 Blog

In this past week’s class we learned about various theories of social movements. One theory that we learned about was the Collective Behavior Theory. This theory is often labeled as ‘strain’ or a ‘breakdown’ theory because they tend to posit that collective behavior comes about during a period of social disruption, when grievances are felt, rather than being a standard part of a political process. Some examples of strain movements are the Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movements. The Black Lives Matter movement is an activist movement that campaigns against violence and racism towards black people. Whereas, the Me Too movement is a movement against sexual assault and sexual harassment. According to the Chicago School Perspective, collective behavior develops in situations where established systems of meaning and sources of information have broken down, forcing participants to construct new meanings to guide their behavior. Some other key points we learned about were the six determinants of Theory of Collective Behavior. The six determinants are: structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of generalized belief, precipitating factors, mobilization for action and social control. Structural conduciveness permits or encourages certain types of collective behavior. Structural strains create real or anticipated deprivation. The growth and spread of generalized belief makes the situation meaningful to potential participants in collective behavior. The generalized belief identifies the source and nature of the strain and suggests possible responses. Precipitating factors give the generalized beliefs a concrete target for collective action. Mobilization for action notes that leadership is very important in mobilizing participants. Finally, social control may act to prevent the collective behavior, by minimizing strains, or to limit the scope of the collective behavior. One version of the collective behavior theory is the mass society theory. This is a theory that views collective behavior as an extreme response to social isolation. A ‘mass society’ is one in which there are few secondary or intermediate groups. Various criticisms have been directed at the mass society theory. For example, some criticisms that have been directed are that individuals become isolated from social and political institutions. This is a quick little snip it of some of the movements and theories we have studied this past week in class. I hope you all will stay tuned in for more upcoming weekly blog posts for Civic Media. Until next time!