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Collective behavior is an unorganized group action or event that lacks structure or obvious indicators. It can produce social change and includes mass hysteria, riots, and fads. Sociologists seek answers about how it evolves and mechanisms to control it.
Collective behavior refers to an action, process or event that emerges spontaneously in an unorganized group. This type of behavior lacks a structure or obvious indicators to explain its occurrence or existence at any given time. While usually temporary, collective behavior can actually produce social change or have other noticeable effects. Examples of this phenomenon include mass hysteria, riots and fads. Sociologists continue to study the question, but much about this aspect of human behavior remains unknown.
Due to unresolved issues, definitions, observations and explanations of collective behavior sometimes vary, but there are some aspects of this type of group participation that tend to be commonly agreed upon. For example, most sociologists describe this behavior as unconventional. One reason is that participants tend to get along with the idea, but are not recognized members of a structured group. In some cases, they may never have had any interactions with other attendees and may not even be in close proximity to them.
Consider, for example, the collective behavior that can be witnessed during a riot. This type of violent, non-direct action can spread across a city or a country. Individuals may see others engage in this type of behavior and become part of the wave of violence. If questioned afterwards, it is very likely that participants could cite several reasons for being involved, although one common trait, such as anger or frustration, may be noted among them. Participants may not even know exactly how, when or where the uprising started.
A person may assume that for a large group of non-associated people to become involved in a common act, the behavior must meet certain standards of dignity, justice, and fairness. Collective behavior reveals how inaccurate that assumption is. Another of the commonly agreed characteristics of this behavior is that it does not reflect the social structure in place at the time. This does not mean that such behavior is always bad or always results in violence. A fad is an example of collective behavior that generally causes no harm.
Fashions are also ideal illustrations of the tendency for collective behavior to be temporary. There is typically no specific cause for it to end, and when such behavior ends can be difficult to pinpoint. In retrospect, it might just seem like it vanished.
Although this type of behavior tends to generate actions or events that begin spontaneously and end without intervention, there is considerable interest in this topic within the social science community. Sociologists who study the subject commonly seek answers about how this type of behavior evolves or mechanisms that can be used to control it. This information has the potential to serve a number of useful purposes, such as preventing deaths and providing the ability to direct populations during natural disasters.
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