Deck 16: Collective Behavior, Social Movements, and Social Change

Question 1

In cities that provide opportunities for protests to be heard within local government, there is less social unrest and there are fewer public disruptions.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Contrary to the beliefs of Bourdieu and Simmel, in contemporary society fashion often "trickles up."

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Collective behavior lacks the organizational structure of other forms of behavior.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Social movements are more likely to develop in industrial societies than in preindustrialized societies.

Question 5

When social movements become institutionalized, the initial zeal and idealism of members may diminish and early grassroots supporters may become disillusioned and drop out.

Question 6

Collective behavior can best be understood using theories that apply to individual behavior, since a collectivity is essentially the sum of the actions of many different individuals.

Question 7

Once a rumor begins to circulate, it seldom stops unless compelling information comes out that disproves the rumor or makes it obsolete.

Question 8

Collective behavior is very contemporary; it began with the civil rights movement in the 1950s.

Question 9

All people who experience discontent or relative deprivation will eventually join a social movement of some type.

Question 10

Propaganda refers to generally false information that is disseminated by those in power in efforts to fool the public into accepting their perspective.

Question 11

A common stimulus is an important factor in collective behavior.

Question 12

By definition, fads last longer than fashions.

Question 13

When officials counter a rumor with authentic information, this only serves to strengthen belief in the original rumor.

Question 14

All expressive social movements are supernatural in nature.

Question 15

Crowd behavior is irrational.

Question 16

Widespread discontent alone does not produce a social movement.

Question 17

The loss of property and life that resulted from Hurricane Katrina can properly be termed a natural disaster.

Question 18

Mob violence tends to dissipate relatively quickly once a target has been injured, killed, or destroyed.

Question 19

Social movements sometimes fit the definition of mass behavior.

Question 20

Sociologists define as the alteration, modification, or transformation of public policy, culture, or social institutions over time.

A) social divergence
B) social change
C) social innovation
D) culture wars

Question 21

crowds are collectivities so intensely focused on a specific purpose or object that they may erupt into violent or destructive behavior.

A) Protest
B) Expressive
C) Acting
D) Conventional

Question 22

People in line to buy tickets for a concert and the audience in a movie theater are both examples of a(n) __________.

A) category
B) mass
C) crowd
D) aggregate

Question 23

Many credit Rachel Carson's book as a stimulus for collective behavior geared toward environmental concerns.

A) Into the Forest
B) Silent Spring
C) Walden Pond
D) The Lorax

Question 24

A(n) is a number of people who share an interest in a specific idea or issue but who are not in one another's immediate vicinity.

A) mass
B) category
C) crowd
D) aggregate

Question 25

Sociologist John Lofland states that different forms of collective behavior can be distinguished by the feelings that are expressed and perceived. He terms these the .

A) aggregate opinion
B) mass point of view
C) dominant emotion
D) prominent feeling

Question 26

Students gathered at a college lecture are an example of a(n) crowd. The event has a preestablished schedule and norms so that interaction is likely. The crowd is essential to the event.

A) casual
B) expressive
C) acting
D) conventional

Question 27

A(n) is a relatively large number of people who are in one another's immediate vicinity.

A) mass
B) aggregate
C) category
D) crowd

Question 28

A(n) is a highly emotional crowd whose members engage in, or are ready to engage in, violence against a specific target (such as a person, a category of people, or physical property).

A) riot
B) collectivity
C) mob
D) aggregate

Question 29

People in a shopping mall or on a city bus are examples of crowds.

A) casual
B) expressive
C) acting
D) conventional

Question 30

Love Canal residents were engaging in behavior when they called attention to their problems with the chemical dump site by staging a protest in which they "burned in effigy" the governor and the health commissioner to emphasize their displeasure with the lack of response from these public officials.

A) aggregate
B) mob
C) riot
D) nuclear

Question 31

Collective behavior tends to be .

A) institutionalized
B) structured hierarchically
C) enacted within a division of labor
D) unstructured and even spontaneous

Question 32

is voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a large number of people and typically violates dominant-group norms and values.

A) Social change
B) Organizational behavior
C) Institutional behavior
D) Collective behavior

Question 33

crowds provide opportunities for the display of some strong emotion (such as joy, excitement, or grief). People release their pent-up emotions in conjunction with other persons experiencing similar emotions.

A) Protest
B) Expressive
C) Acting
D) Conventional

Question 34

Facebook friends and people following someone on Twitter are examples of technology used to create a(n) __________ .

A) category
B) crowd
C) aggregate
D) mass

Question 35

Mobs, riots, and panics are all examples of crowds.

A) acting
B) casual
C) expressive
D) conventional

Question 36

Collective behavior occurs as a result of some common influence or stimulus that produces a response from a(n) __________.

A) administrative organization
B) human service institution
C) bureaucracy
D) collectivity

Question 37

Worshipers at religious revival services and revelers assembled on New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York are examples of a(n) crowd.

A) conventional
B) acting
C) expressive
D) casual

Question 38

A(n) is violent crowd behavior that is fueled by deep-seated emotions but not directed at one specific target.

A) mob
B) collectivity
C) riot
D) aggregate

Question 39

crowds are made up of people who come together for a scheduled event and thus share a common focus.

A) Acting
B) Expressive
C) Conventional
D) Casual

Question 40

crowds are relatively large gatherings of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time; if they interact at all, it is only briefly.

A) Conventional
B) Casual
C) Acting
D) Expressive

Question 41

Applying convergence theory in his study of a lynch mob, social psychologist Hadley Cantril found that __________.

A) the participants came from widely divergent backgrounds
B) participants shared traits that made them susceptible to joining a lynch mob even when they didn't know the target of the lynching
C) the participants came primarily from the middle and upper-middle classes
D) participants knew, and did not like, the target of the lynching

Question 42

Sometimes acts of civil disobedience become violent, as in a confrontation between protesters and police officers. In this case, a protest crowd becomes a(n) crowd.

A) conventional
B) acting
C) casual
D) expressive

Question 43

The looting and other behavior that took place in Los Angeles after the Rodney King trial and celebrations that turn violent after some sporting events are both examples of .

A) aggregates
B) mobs
C) collectivities
D) riots

Question 44

The term refers to nonviolent action that seeks to change a policy or law by refusing to comply with it.

A) civil insubordination
B) civil rebellion
C) civil disobedience
D) civil dismissiveness

Question 45

argued that people are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors in a crowd because they are anonymous and feel invulnerable.

A) Le Bon
B) Hadley Cantrel
C) Georg Simmel
D) Talcott Parsons

Question 46

focuses on the social-psychological aspects of collective behavior; it attempts to explain how moods, attitudes, and behavior are communicated rapidly and why they are accepted by others.

A) Psychoanalysis
B) Convergence theory
C) Emergent norm theory
D) Contagion theory

Question 47

can arise in response to events that people believe are beyond their control, such as a major disruption in the economy. Although they are relatively rare, they receive massive media coverage because they evoke strong feelings of fear in readers and viewers.

A) Mobs
B) Panics
C) Aggregates
D) Riots

Question 48

Sociologists McPhail and Wohlstein added crowds to the four types of crowds identified by Blumer. These types of crowds engage in activities intended to achieve specific political goals.

A) militant
B) protest
C) rebel
D) revolutionary

Question 49

Contagion theory holds that .

A) people are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior in a crowd because they feel they are being observed
B) a crowd takes on a life of its own that is larger than the beliefs or actions of any one person
C) crowds encourage individuals to take responsibility for themselves and others
D) crowds are easily dispersed once the initial contagion passes

Question 50

The first U.S. sociologist to investigate crowd behavior was .

A) Louis Wirth
B) Jane Addams
C) Robert Park
D) Herbert Gans

Question 51

From the perspective of , individuals with similar characteristics or attitudes seek others who are similar with whom they can express their predispositions to behave and feel in different ways.

A) circular reaction
B) mob psychology
C) emergent norm theory
D) convergence theory

Question 52

was a French scholar and one of the first social scientists to theorize about explanations for crowd behavior.

A) Clark McPhail
B) Gustave Le Bon
C) Robert Park
D) Herbert Blumer

Question 53

Convergence theory has been criticized because it does not explain _.

A) what draws people in a crowd together in the first place
B) the role of individuals' predispositions in the formation and behavior of crowds
C) how irrational crowd behavior can be contagious
D) the differences between those people who take collective action and those who do not

Question 54

In the 1960s, African American students and sympathetic whites used sit-ins to call attention to racial injustice and demand social change. When these protests escalated into violent confrontations, these groups became __________ crowds.

A) conventional
B) casual
C) acting
D) expressive

Question 55

Sit-ins, marches, boycotts, blockades, and strikes are all examples of crowds.

A) civil rights
B) revolutionary
C) militant
D) protest

Question 56

A(n) is a form of crowd behavior that occurs when a large number of people react to a real or perceived threat with strong emotions and self-destructive behavior.

A) panic
B) riot
C) mob
D) aggregate

Question 57

According to sociologist Robert Park, social unrest is transmitted by a process of , in which one person's discontent is communicated to another, who, in turn, reflects the discontent back to the first person.

A) convergence
B) mob psychology
C) circular reaction
D) emergent norms

Question 58

theory emphasizes the importance of social norms in shaping crowd behavior.

A) Convergence
B) Contagion
C) Emergent norm
D) Circular reaction

Question 59

The perspective of suggests that people with similar attributes find a collectivity of like-minded persons with whom they can express their underlying personal tendencies.

A) contagion theory
B) convergence theory
C) emergent norm theory
D) psychoanalytic theory

Question 60

When a gunman recently shot into a crowded movie theater in Colorado, what occurred in the theater would be termed a(n) _.

A) mob
B) aggregate
C) panic
D) riot

Question 61

refers to rumors about the personal lives of individuals.

A) Mass hysteria
B) A fad
C) Panic
D) Gossip

Question 62

Propaganda is _.

A) always false
B) measured through polls and surveys
C) disseminated by those with a vested interest in the issue
D) information that comes from governmental agencies

Question 63

Members of the public attempt to influence those in power, and vice versa, with the dissemination of , which is information provided by those with a vested interest in furthering their own cause or damaging an opposing one.

A) propaganda
B) rumor
C) public opinion
D) cultural capital

Question 64

Sociologists refer to a form of dispersed collective behavior that occurs when a large number of people react with strong emotions and self-destructive behavior to a real or perceived threat as .

A) gossip
B) rumor
C) a mass mob
D) mass hysteria

Question 65

refers to unsubstantiated reports on an issue or subject.

A) A rumor
B) Gossip
C) Mass hysteria
D) Panic

Question 66

Emergent norm theory is rooted in the perspective.

A) functionalist
B) symbolic interactionist
C) conflict
D) postmodernist

Question 67

Sociologist asserted that fashion serves mainly to institutionalize conspicuous consumption among the wealthy.

A) Georg Simmel
B) Thorstein Veblen
C) Pierre Bourdieu
D) Herbert Blumer

Question 68

Some emergent norms give people a shared conviction that they may disregard ordinary rules such as waiting in line, taking turns, or treating a speaker courteously. These are termed norms.

A) permissive
B) restrictive
C) proactive
D) reactive

Question 69

The difference between a fad and a fashion is that .

A) a fashion is shorter-lived than a fad
B) fashions tend to be more widely embraced than fads
C) fads take the form of behaviors, like diets, but not material objects
D) fashions tend to last longer than fads

Question 70

The text observes that most sociological research on fashion has focused on .

A) clothing, especially women's apparel
B) men's accessories
C) makeup
D) hairstyles

Question 71

A is a temporary but widely copied activity enthusiastically followed by large numbers of people.

A) style
B) fad
C) craze
D) fashion

Question 72

In his theory of fashion, Herbert Blumer argued that .

A) fashion serves mainly to institutionalize conspicuous consumption among the wealthy
B) members of the lower classes emulate the fashions of the upper class
C) matters of taste constitute a form of cultural capital
D) taste is a matter of experience and a matter of collective selection

Question 73

Not all collective behavior takes place in face-to-face collectivities. behavior is collective behavior that takes place when people who may be geographically separated from one another respond to the same event in much the same way.

A) Riot
B) Mass
C) Mob
D) Panic

Question 74

is an organized group that acts consciously to promote or resist change through collective action. It tends to be long lasting, is organized, and has specific goals or purposes.

A) A revolution
B) Civil disobedience
C) A social movement
D) An acting mob

Question 75

Tabloid newspapers and magazines such as the National Enquirer and People, and television entertainment "news" programs that present "inside" information on the lives of celebrities, are sources of contemporary .

A) panic
B) fads
C) gossip
D) mass hysteria

Question 76

Sociologists using the approach are interested in how individuals in a given collectivity learn about what is going on, how to interpret activities, and how to behave.

A) emergent norm
B) circular reaction
C) contagion
D) convergence

Question 77

Sociologist suggested a classic "trickle-down" theory to describe the process by which members of the lower classes emulate the fashions of the upper class.

A) Herbert Blumer
B) Pierre Bourdieu
C) Thorstein Veblen
D) Georg Simmel

Question 78

A is defined as a currently valued manner of behavior, thinking, or appearance that endures for a period of time.

A) style
B) fad
C) fashion
D) craze

Question 79

The most frequent types of behavior are rumors, gossip, mass hysteria, public opinion, fashions, and fads.

A) riot
B) mob
C) crowd
D) mass

Question 80

In 1938, actor Orson Welles hosted a radio broadcast dramatizing H. G. Wells's science fiction classic The War of the Worlds. A CBS radio dance-music program was interrupted suddenly by a news bulletin informing the audience that Martians had landed in New Jersey and were in the process of conquering Earth. The ensuing reaction was an example of _.

A) mass hysteria
B) propaganda
C) public opinion
D) mass mob behavior