SOCIAL CHANGE,

COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR,
AND SOCIAL ACTION

AGENT OF CHANGE:
AUNG SAN KUU KYI
She was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for her
efforts to bring democracy to her country of Myanmar
also known as Burma in Southeast Asia.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL CHANGE

Social Change is a process through which

patterns of social behavior, social relationships,
social institutions, and systems of stratification
are altered, modified or transformed over time

THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Evolutionary Theories
suggests that social change occurs naturally, constantly, and continuously and is both
necessary and inevitable. It occurs through relatively fixed stages, moving toward greater
progress and better conditions of life.
Functionalist Theory
focuses on the potential disruptions caused by change rather than on its benefits for social
systems.
Conflict Theories
focuses on how constraint tension and struggle between competing groups in an unequal
society lead to social change

CLASSIFICATION OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

Unilinear evolution theory
assumes that societal change follows a predetermined and uniform path,
evolving from simple to complex.
Multilinear evolution theory
suggests that instead of a single path, there are multiple routes leading to
similar stages of social development
Cyclical evolution theories
suggest that change occurs as societies move forward, backward, up and down
through an endless series of cycles

FORCES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Cultural contact and diffusion
Diffusion refers to the spread of culture traits from one society to another,
and is and
inevitable result of contact between cultures.
Revolution and Warfare
Example: U.S Civil War, and World War II
The Physical environment
changes cause by natural disasters climatic changes, or industrial activities
can have enormous impact on peoples lives and foster numerous other
changes.
Invention and Technology
the creation of new things, whether materials, such as the telephone and
the computer, or nonmaterial such as womens suffrage and the theory of
relativity.
Demographic Trends
examples are changes in birth, death, and migration rates

EXPLAINING COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

It is relatively spontaneous and

unstructured, generalizing about how
people will react with many situations
is difficult.

THREE EXPLANATORY MODELS OF

COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR
Contagion Theory
emphasized that emotional contagion that often occurs within
large gatherings of people who are in close proximity to each
other, which makes possible rapid communication of attitudes,
moods and behavior.
Emergent Norm Theory
these norms emerge in the context of unfolding behavior as
participant attempt to give meaning to what is happening at the
moment.
Value- Added Theory
identifies six conditions that have to combine in order for
collective behavior to develop.

SIX CONDITIONS TO DEVELOP COLLECTIVE

BEHAVIOR
1. Structural conduciveness refers to pre-existing social conditions that enable
collective behavior to develop.
2. Structural Strain refers to the feelings of anxiousness, frustration, or deprivation
that result from patterns of behavior such as discrimination, poverty, economic or
political uncertainty, and persecution and harassment.
3. Growth and Spread of a generalized belief occurs when the potential
participants in collective behavior form a belief about the strained situation and
initiate a response.
4. Precipitating event or factor is an incident that triggers collective behavior
5. Mobilization of Participation for action occurs when a leader emerges and
urges people to do something about the situation
6. Breakdown in the traditional mechanisms of social control refers to the
indecisiveness, inaction, delay or incompetence of police, the military, or
community and public officials when attempting to handle a potentially explosive
situation.

FORMS OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

Mass behavior
The most common forms of mass behavior are:
Fashions the styles of appearance of behavior that are favored by a large
number of people for a limited period of time.
Fads are short-lived patterns of unexpected behavior engaged in by only a
segment of population, most often adolescents and young adults.
Crazes exciting mass involvement that lasts for a relatively long period of
time.
Rumors refers to the unverified forms of information transmitted informally
from one person to another in a relatively rapid fashion.
Urban legends a contemporary, orally transmitted, unsubstantiated story
that is widely circulated and believed.
Mass hysteria which people react emotionally to a real or perceived threat
or danger.

FORMS OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

Crowd behavior
Crowd is a temporary gathering of
individuals in close physical proximity
who share a common focus or interest.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Is any collection of people who

organize together to achieve or
prevent some social or political
change.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COLLECTIVE

BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
1. Social movements are longer- lasting than collective
behavior.
2. Social movements are goal oriented, whereas
collective behavior is spontaneous and unplanned.
3. Social movements are structured, whereas collective
behavior is generally free-form.
4. Social movements involve large numbers of people,
whereas collective behavior may involve relatively
small numbers.

EXPLAINING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Sociologists have develop a number of

theories to explain why social
movements arise and how they are
consciously and deliberately organized
to effect social change.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THEORIES

Resource mobilization Theory
Which looks at the capacity of social movements to
attract resources, mobilize people and build crucial
alliances.
Relative Deprivation Theory
social movements are likely to develop when people
perceived a gap between the reality of the situation and
what they think their situation would be.

TYPES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Reform Movements attempt to improve society by changing
some specific aspect of the social structures
Revolutionary Movements work outside the system,
seeking to bring about total or radical change in society.
Resistance Movements seek to prevent changes to reverse
changes they perceive as threat in their personal and social
interests.
Alternative Movements seeks limited change in some
specific aspects of peoples behavior.
Religious Movements are not interested in changing society
or the political structure. Rather, they attempt to radically
change individual spiritual consciousness by converting people
particular to their belief or religious system.

RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL CHANGE

People resist social change for a number of
reasons including vested interest in the
status quo, fear of losing something that
they are value, romantic ideas about
traditional values, inertia and
misinformation about change.

PREDICTIONS TO SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE

TWENTY- FIRST CENTURY
Predictions about the future of social are difficult
to make any degree of accuracy. Some experts
predict social change in the twenty-first century
will continue to be tied to globalization; others
predict a rise in conservatism and increased
resistance to social and collective actions taken
parity.

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