The Crowd and Collective Behavior: Bringing Symbolic Interaction Back In

McPhail, Clark

doi:10.1525/si.2006.29.4.433

Cited by 41 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…These phases might be called individualized. At gatherings, collective and individualized actions take turns [ 13 ].…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By and large, crowds do not behave in an irrational and anti-social way. On the contrary, large groups of people usually move in a quite orderly and cooperative manner, assistance is frequently given to others, even in dangerous situations and among strangers [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sociologists tend to look at motivational and situational factors to explain why people start collective behavior. Furthermore, McPhail, Schweingruber and their colleagues developed an in-depth observation and analysis scheme for collective action at gatherings [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Sociological analysis does not focus on pedestrian dynamics–the actual movement of participants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collective phenomena in crowds—Where pedestrian dynamics need social psychology

2017

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This article is on collective phenomena in pedestrian dynamics during the assembling and dispersal of gatherings. To date pedestrian dynamics have been primarily studied in the natural and engineering sciences. Pedestrians are analyzed and modeled as driven particles revealing self-organizing phenomena and complex transport characteristics. However, pedestrians in crowds also behave as living beings according to stimulus-response mechanisms or act as human subjects on the basis of social norms, social identities or strategies. To show where pedestrian dynamics need social psychology in addition to the natural sciences we propose the application of three categories–phenomena, behavior and action. They permit a clear discrimination between situations in which minimal models from the natural sciences are appropriate and those in which sociological and psychological concepts are needed. To demonstrate the necessity of this framework, an experiment in which a large group of people (n = 270) enters a concert hall through two different spatial barrier structures is analyzed. These two structures correspond to everyday situations such as boarding trains and access to immigration desks. Methods from the natural and social sciences are applied. Firstly, physical measurements show the influence of the spatial structure on the dynamics of the entrance procedure. Density, waiting time and speed of progress show large variations. Secondly, a questionnaire study (n = 60) reveals how people perceive and evaluate these entrance situations. Markedly different expectations, social norms and strategies are associated with the two spatial structures. The results from the questionnaire study do not always conform to objective physical measures, indicating the limitations of models which are based on objective physical measures alone and which neglect subjective perspectives.

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“…These phases might be called individualized. At gatherings, collective and individualized actions take turns [ 13 ].…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collective phenomena in crowds—Where pedestrian dynamics need social psychology

2017

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“…Social movements are usually more structured around specific, identified goals, have deeper social connections between actors, are organized (generally to defend or fight against existing authorities) and persist over time (such as the civil rights movements) 6 . In contrast, gatherings (such as riots, sudden protests, concerts, sporting events) are more spontaneous, less organized, do not carry as deep of social connections between actors, and can be quite ephemeral 7,8 .…”

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confidence: 99%

A network-based microfoundation of Granovetter’s threshold model for social tipping

Wiedermann

Smith

Heitzig

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Social tipping, where minorities trigger larger populations to engage in collective action, has been suggested as one key aspect in addressing contemporary global challenges. Here, we refine Granovetter’s widely acknowledged theoretical threshold model of collective behavior as a numerical modelling tool for understanding social tipping processes and resolve issues that so far have hindered such applications. Based on real-world observations and social movement theory, we group the population into certain or potential actors, such that – in contrast to its original formulation – the model predicts non-trivial final shares of acting individuals. Then, we use a network cascade model to explain and analytically derive that previously hypothesized broad threshold distributions emerge if individuals become active via social interaction. Thus, through intuitive parameters and low dimensionality our refined model is adaptable to explain the likelihood of engaging in collective behavior where social-tipping-like processes emerge as saddle-node bifurcations and hysteresis.

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“…Indeed, Goffman (1959:13) defined impression management as that which occurs when someone "enters the presence of others". But the core ideas of symbolic interactionism have broader applicability, and can be used to elucidate inter-group interaction and collective behavior (McPhail 2006). The aim of the present article is to use these concepts to study the communicative significance of gestures, particularly military maneuvers, in during the Cuban Missile Crisis.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nuclear Brinkmanship: A Study in Non-Linguistic Communication

Gillespie

2013

Integr. psych. behav.

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The article uses Goffman's distinction between expressions 'given' and 'given off' to advance the study of how nuclear bombs and military maneuvers are used to create meaning. The data is verbatim audio recordings from the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The analysis reveals that actions do indeed sometimes speak louder than words. Moreover, who is being spoken to is often a semi-visible thirdparty, such as world opinion. The analysis identifies a novel process of 'staging the other', that is, when one side tries to create a situation which will force the other side to act in a way which will create a negative impression on world opinion. In so far as the staging is not perceived by the audience and the target does indeed make themselves look bad, then staging is a particularly powerful form of impression management. We have said that we have a 100-megaton bomb. This is true. But we are not going to explode it, because even if we did so at the most remote site, we might knock out all our windows. We are therefore going to hold off for the time being and not set the bomb off. However, in exploding the 50-megaton bomb we are testing the device for triggering a 100-megaton bomb. But may God grant, as they used to say, that we are never called upon to explode these bombs over anybody's territory. (Adamsky and Smirnov 1994:20) It is now known that there was no second bomb. Although a second shell was created and displayed, it was empty. So why did the USSR 'waste' its most awesome military asset to create a 64 km high mushroom cloud? The explosion was a communicative dramatization of power (Etheredge 1992), which succeeded in creating an impression of awe and fear around the globe. which occurs when one party tries to create a situation which will force the action of the other party in relation to world opinion. Keywords Impression ManagementGeorge Herbert Mead (1910Mead ( , 1922 Goffman 's work (1959:14) distinguished between "two radically different kinds of sign activity," namely:the expression that he gives, and the expression that he gives off. The first involves verbal symbols or their substitutes which he uses admittedly and solely to convey the information that he and others are known to attach to these symbols. This is communication in the traditional and narrow sense. The second involves a wide range of action that others can treat as symptomatic of

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The Crowd and Collective Behavior: Bringing Symbolic Interaction Back In

Cited by 41 publications

References 42 publications

Collective phenomena in crowds—Where pedestrian dynamics need social psychology

Collective phenomena in crowds—Where pedestrian dynamics need social psychology

A network-based microfoundation of Granovetter’s threshold model for social tipping

Nuclear Brinkmanship: A Study in Non-Linguistic Communication

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