SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Collective Behavior, Rodney King, Symbolic Interactionism

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 1Z03
• Professor: Paul Glavin

Document Summary

Irrationality (lose sense of being able to make reasoned decisions) Suggestibility (easily swayed, do things normally wouldn"t do) 585 - analysis of who stampede at concert, involving these myths - research shows they didn"t have it. Thompson"s study of eighteenth century food riots in england. Peasants would destroy markets for bread, block roads, portrayed bias. In contrast to chaotic portrayals of crowd behaviour, crowd action is often patterned in ways that re ect existing norms and cultures. Initial historical accounts presented riots as rebellions of the belly". But: thompson revealed how individuals acted in ways that re ected their collective belief systems. Rioters insisted on the idea of a moral community that was obliged to feed them and their families. Rioting on rejection of idea/tradition that stood for centuries. Right to have access to reasonable prices of food. Depictions of riots are often women or men dressed as women, who were head of family and had to provide for them.