Introduction to Sociology / Collective Behavior / Na Kyung Lee

1. Summary

A crowd is a group of people who share the purpose and influence. Blumer divided the crowd into four categories. Casual (people without real interaction), Conventional (A deliberate meeting), Expressive (An emotionally charged event), Acting (The intent of the crowd to achieve something) is four categories. Collective behavior can represent diffuse behavior at a distant distance. Not all collective actions occur only among close people.

Contagion Theory

The theory of contagion suggests that the masses will exercise their influence on their members. Hypnotic influence is combined with anonymity to create an irrational and emotive act. The enthusiasm of the crowd is like a contagious disease, and the infection increases the time and supplies.

 There are several problems with the contagion theory. First, the contagion theory suggests that the members of the crowd are irrational. Second, crowd behavior is often guided and directed by individuals.

Convergence Theory

 The convergence theory argues that the behavior of the crowd is not the emergent property of the crowd but the people with the same thoughts. The main criticism of convergence theory is that people tend to do things that will not work alone.

Emergent-Norm Theory

Combining the above two theories, Emergent-Norm Theory combines the same thoughts, anonymity, and shared feelings to induce crowd behavior. This theory adopts a symbolic interactive approach to understanding the crowd behavior.

2. New / Interesting thing

I knew about the contagion theory and the convergence theory among the theories of crowd movement. But I first learned about the Emergent-Norm Theory by this document. I learned that Emergent-Norm was combined contagion theory and convergence theory. And I learned that this theory took a symbolic approach to understanding the collective behavior of the crowd.

3. Discussion Point

There are several problems with Gustave Lebon’s the contagion theory. First, the contagion theory suggests that the members of the crowd are irrational. Second, crowd behavior is often guided and directed by individuals. I would like to discuss how to deal with these problems.