There are five kinds of crowd participants:
1) the ego-involved
, who feel a
high personal
stake in the
event;
(2) the concerned
, who have
a personal
interest
in the event, but less than the ego-involved; (3) the insecure
, who have
little concern
about the issue but have sought out the crowd because it gives them a sense of
power and security
; (4) the curious spectators
, who are inquisitive and
may cheer
the crowd
on even though they do not care about the issue; and (5) the exploiters
, who do not care about
the
issue
but use it for their own
purposes.
The concept of emerging norms is important
because it points to a
rational process
as the essential component
of collective behavior.
Frustration
and
anger
at deprivation usually cause
riots,
such as the one, which erupted in
Los Angeles after the verdict in the Rodney King trial.
Beginning with a perception of being
kept out
of the mainstream
society-
limited to a meager education and
denied jobs
and
justice—people’s frustration builds to such
a boiling point
that it takes only a precipitating
event to erupt in
collective behavior.
It is not only the deprived who participate in the riots:
others, who are
not
deprived, but who still
feel
frustration at the underlying
social conditions
that place them at a disadvantage also
get involved.
Panic
, like the one, which occurred following the broadcast of H. G. Well’s “War of the
Worlds” is behavior that
results
when people become so
fearful
that they cannot function
normally.
One explanation as to why
people
is because they are anxious about
some social
condition.
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- Fall '07
- Cole
- Norms
