Chapter 9

Question 1

What is an example of crowd violence?

Answer 1

> in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, just after noon on August 9, 2014. On that summer day, a White police officer confronted a young Black man named Michael Brown, who he believed might have been involved in a robbery earlier that day. - was killed

> A subsequent investigation and forensic evidence suggest that Brown had not surrendered and had not raised his arms in surrended

> violence and riots ensued after

Question 2

1. Rioting, looting, and similar forms of group violence in the United States often revolve around the ways in which what group is policed?
2. Both real and percieved pattens of discrimination have triggered what?
3. Is it specific to the US?

Answer 2

> the ways in which African American communities are policed.

> Real and perceived patterns of discrimination in law enforcement tactics in minority neighborhoods + communities have triggered rioting and social protests.

> Not specific to the US

Question 3

From ancient times to the present, many societies have confronted the problem of group violence. What two ancient areas had a lot of violence? Which other two countried experience a long history with mobs?

Answer 3

> Ancient Greek society experienced it so often that the dramatist Euripides suggested that “mobs in their emotions are much like children, subject to the same tantrums and fits of fury.”

> Rome had so many riots that the Roman emperors resorted to ruinously expensive gladiatorial games in large part because they wanted to keep the mobs happy

> England and France also both suffered dreadfully from mob violence throughout their long histories.

Question 4

Besides Greece and Rome, what other two countries had many instances of crowd violence?
In which country did a historical study found around 450 to 500 riots occurring between the years 1590 and 1715?

Answer 4

> LONDON AND FRANCE

> In June of 1780, for example, the Anti-Catholic Gordon Riots took place in and around London. (violence generated by mobs)

> In France, one historical study found around 450 to 500 riots occurring between the years 1590 and 1715 (mobs were a common occurence.

Question 5

By their very nature, riots target what?

(In terms of victims)

Answer 5

> target anybody and anything unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

Question 6

What are the three most known forms of mob violence? What should be noted about it?

Answer 6

> riots, lynch mobs, and vigilante groups.

> NOTE: All three are forms of collective behavior that are relatively spontaneous and unplanned (although there are exceptions), and the groups are relatively unorganized.

Question 7

What is the difference between a mob and a crowd?

Answer 7

> a crowd is essentially any gathering of people, while a mob is a crowd that is seen as being out of control.

> Put another way, a mob is a crowd waiting for a trigger to set it off.

Question 8

What are qualities of a crowd and some examples?

Answer 8

> Groups waiting for a bus, standing in line at a coffee shop, or listening to a concert are all crowds.

> They are usually temporary in nature and do not usually act in a unified and singular manner.

Question 9

1. Does the Term mob have different connotations? What does the term also carry?
2. Where does the word mob come from? What was this meant to refer to?
3. What are mobs often associated with (there are three things)
4. What are mobs usually portrayed as?

Answer 9

> has different connotations and carries with it a tremendous amount of implicit condemnation.

> the word mob comes from the Latin mobile vulgus, which literally means “the movable common people”
-was meant to refer to the fickleness or inconstancy of the crowd

> mobs are often associated with the lower classes, disorder, and a lack of respect for the law.

> portrayed as being uncontrolled, unorganized, angry, and emotional.

Question 10

Many riots throughout history have been responses to what?

Answer 10

> have been responses to injustice and oppression.

Question 11

What kind of term is “mob”

considered one thing just as much as the other:

Answer 11

> The term mob, therefore, is a politicized word as much as it is a descriptive one.

Question 12

A number of different theories on the behavior of crowds have been suggested, but one of the first theories was developed by who? What is notable about this person?

Answer 12

> one of the first theories was developed by Gustave Le Bon, who is sometimes referred to as the “grandfather of collective behavior theory.

Question 13

Who actually was the first person to comment on crowds? What did they suggest?

Answer 13

> The ancient Greek lawgiver and poet, Solon

> suggested that Athenians were as clever as foxes when minding their own affairs, but as soon as they congregated, they lost their wits.

> also described his fellow Athenians as reasonable old men at home and as fools in the assemblies.

Question 14

Le Bon, however, was the first to explore the behavior of crowds in what way? What did he attempt to explain?

Answer 14

> more systematically.

> He attempted to explain the transformation of reasonable individuals into seemingly out-of-control and violent people when in a mob.

Question 15

What did LeBon believe about crowds, specifically:
1. What did he believe that crowds would develop:
2. What do individuals in a crowd become vulnerable to?
3. What is crowd behaviour considered as and how is this done?
4. Are people programmed to do this/react this way?

Answer 15

1. a crowd develops a mind of its own,
2. individuals become highly vulnerable and suggestible to the will of the collective group.
3. Crowd behavior is essentially contagious, so if one person gets excited, angry, or violent, others will quickly pick up on these emotions and actions
4. at the unconscious level we are programmed to do so

Question 16

How did Le Bon describe the collective mind?

it is: CRED, IMP, EMO, W/OMR, LITAIM, BOTTCLWHC

Answer 16

> it is: credulous,
impulsive,
emotional,
without moral responsibility,
less intelligent than an individual’s mind,
and blindly obedient to charismatic leaders who “hypnotize” and mobilize a crowd into action.

Question 17

The work of Gustave Le Bon was later expanded by who?

Answer 17

> expanded by Herbert Blumer, who sketched out the transformation of a crowd into a mob

Question 18

What did Herbert Blumer believe about crowds? (What are the steps to how crowds transform into a mob)

Answer 18

1) a trigger; something happens that is exciting or interesting and able to draw people together

2) focus of the crowd converges on a common element as emotions strengthen.- some individuals’ behavior may escalate and quickly be mirrored by that of others

3) Then they are transformed into a mob

Question 19

The criticism of Le Bon’s and Blumer’s work, however, is that:

Answer 19

> they simplify the actions of the mob and focus exclusively on the emotional and irrational elements of crowd behavior while downplaying the more instrumental aspects of the violence.

Question 20

Are people in mobs rational?

Answer 20

> Recent work on individuals in mobs portrays them as being much more rational than the earlier conceptualizations.

> although they can get out of control, crowd behaviors are also fundamentally rational responses to specific political, social, religious, racial, and/or economic catalysts.

Question 21

What does Clark McPhail believe about rational beings in a mob?

Answer 21

> Individuals are not driven mad by crowds; nor do they lose cognitive control!”

> Instead, he suggests that much of crowd behavior is basically a rational attempt to accomplish or prevent some sort of social change.

> Importantly, he also acknowledges that this rationality is influenced and shaped by emotions and beliefs.

Question 22

How does historian Paul Gilje point out that mobs are not a “notion of mindless violence”?

Answer 22

> points out that mobs are often very selective in their choice of victims and targets, which does not support the notion of mindless violence.

Question 23

What kind of factors does Sid Heal believe facilitate individual participation in mob violence?

Answer 23

> Sid Heal has suggested that there are eight specific psychological factors that serve to lower or remove our prohibitions against violent behavior and thus facilitate individual participation in mob violence

Question 24

What are the 8 psychological factors studied by Sid Heal that serve to lower or remove our prohibitions to facilitate move violence?

NOV, REL, PWR, JSTF, SUG, STIM, CNFM, DEIND,

Answer 24

1) Novelty
2) Release
3) Power
4) Justification
5) Suggestibility
6) Stimulation
7) Conformity
8) Deindividuation:

Question 25

What is the novelty psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 25

> ome people may come to participate in riots and other group behavior simply because they are bored and riots provide a sense of excitement and novelty.

> It’s a break from routine.

Question 26

What is the Release psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 26

> Even though individuals may not be very concerned with a specific grievance or cause, they may participate because participation offers a release for more generalized feelings of hostility, anger, and/or frustration that they may harbor.

Question 27

What is the power psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 27

> Mobs feel empowered by the violence and destructiveness they unleash. Joining in large-scale violence can confer upon somebody intoxicating feelings of control, domination, and supremacy.

Question 28

What is the justification psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 28

> The sense of power created by mob violence can also lead to feelings of righteousness and legitimacy.

Question 29

What is the suggestibility psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 29

> Many individuals in a mob may not be fully aware of what is going on or why and so may be open to the answers provided by others who may appear to better know or understand the situation.

Question 30

What is the stimulation psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 30

> The emotions and sentiments of crowds can be infectious, and individuals caught up in the group can easily find their own emotions aroused and stimulated.

Question 31

What is the conformity psychological factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 31

> Not only do individuals have a natural tendency to conform to the demands of a group, rioting mobs also have a tendency to attack and victimize those who resist or don’t conform, which tends to increase the pressure to go along with the throng.

Question 32

What is the deindividuation factor? [Sid Heal]

Answer 32

> In groups, individual identity tends to be diffused into the larger collective identity. When participants also have feelings of anonymity, they may feel released from normal constraints on their behavior.

Question 33

Typology of Crowds and Mobs - what are they?

CAC,COHC, EXPRC, AGRC, AGRM, EXPRM ACQM, ESCPM

Answer 33

> casual crowd
cohesive crowd
expressive crowd
aggressive crowd
aggressive mob
expressive mob
Acquisitive mob
Escape mob

Question 34

What are qualities of the casual crowd?

Answer 34

> No common purpose
Members define themselves as individuals
Requires a great deal to provoke this kind of crowd into violence

Question 35

What are qualities of the cohesive crowd?

Answer 35

> Gathers for a common purpose
While members still define themselves as individuals, more of a collective spirit prevails
Rarely engages in violence

Question 36

What are qualities of the expressive crowd?

Answer 36

> Members share a common purpose
Members share a collective sense of anger and/or frustration
Is quickly moved to action and violence

Question 37

What are qualities of the aggressive crowd?

Answer 37

> Members share a common and strong sense of purpose
Individual identity is muted or lost
Group tends to be impulsive and emotional and easily aroused to violence

Question 38

What are qualities of the aggressive mob?

Answer 38

> Targets of this group can be property, people, or both
The violence of this group is motivated primarily by emotion
Tends to be fairly short lived

Question 39

What are qualities of the expressive mob?

Answer 39

> Violence is seen as a means to express anger, resentment, and frustration

> Violence and rioting are ways for members to give voice to their sentiments

> Violence and rioting are seen as legitimate expressions of collective emotions

Question 40

What are qualities of the Acquisitive mob?

Answer 40

> Motivated by greed and a desire to acquire goods

> Looters use the anarchy of a riot to plunder and steal

> Is more easily controlled by authorities

Question 41

What are qualities of the escape mob?

Answer 41

> Characterized by panicked behavior

> Very dangerous

> The only type of group that can be instantly aroused into mindless violence

Question 42

How do riots, lynch mobs, and vigilante groups differ in organization ?

Answer 42

> Riots tend to be the most spontaneous and the least organized; lynch mobs fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum; while vigilante groups are often the most planned and organized.

Question 43

How does the federal criminal code define a riot?

Answer 43

> a public disturbance involving (1) an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons, which act or acts shall constitute a clear and present danger of, or shall result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual or

(2) a threat or threats of the commission of an act or acts of violence by one or more persons part of an assemblage of three or more persons having, individually or collectively, the ability of immediate execution of such threat or threats, where the performance of the threatened act or acts of violence would constitute a clear and present danger of, or would result in, damage or injury to the property of any other person or to the person of any other individual.

Question 44

What is Arizona’s defintion of a riot?

Answer 44

> A person commits riot if, with two or more other persons acting together, such person recklessly uses force or violence or threatens to use force or violence, if such threat is accompanied by immediate power of execution, which disturbs the public peace.

Question 45

What is notable about Arizona’s definition of a riot?

Answer 45

> For Arizona, then, a riot needs only two participants. Not everyone necessarily agrees with such an inclusive definition.

Question 46

What is Paul Gilje’s definition of a riot?

Answer 46

> asserts that riots are “any group of twelve or more people attempting to assert their will immediately through the use of force outside the normal bounds of law.”

Question 47

What does Charles Tilly believe about the word riot? What do his beliefs remind us to remember?

Answer 47

> writes that the word riot embodies a political judgment rather than an analytical distinction.

> Tilly’s work reminds us that the definition of a riot can vary tremendously depending upon who is involved, the reasons for the violence, and the social audience.

Question 48

Romanticized examples of civil disobedience, such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre, are perhaps more accurately remembered as what type of collective violence?

Answer 48

> riots

Question 49

What is one of the best known historic examples of rioting in the U.S? (during the civil war)

Answer 49

> The New York Draft Riots are one of the best known historic examples of rioting in U.S. cities

> The draft was determined by lottery in each congressional district and, even though all able-bodiedmen were eligible, a $300 fee exempted those who could afford it. Clearly, this policy discriminated against the underprivileged, and they didn’t like it, since it ensured that the poor would do the bulk of the fighting and dying.

> African Americans were a particular target of the mobs, and many suffered from horrendous tortures and cruelty before being murdered.

Question 50

What factor has been one of the most problematic features of U.S. life, where group members express discontent through rioting and accompanying violence?

Answer 50

> race
and the discontent perceived by some minority groups causes rioting and accompanying violence

Question 51

1. What kind of violence is a race riot?
2. What does it reflect?
3. Have there been many of this race?

Answer 51

> considered an outbreak of communal violence
reflect deep-seated discontent and frustration with the inequalities and injustices of society—
and there have been many.

Question 52

Why did the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 occur?

Answer 52

> The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 began after a young African American man named Diamond Dick Rowland stumbled into a
White lady as he was entering an elevator and unwittingly grabbed her arm.

> Unfortunately, the young lady assumed the worst and quickly claimed that he had assaulted her.

> Dick Rowland was arrested the next day by police and placed in the city jail, and that’s when the trouble began.

Question 53

Race riots exploded into the U.S. consciousness again during what time periods?

Answer 53

> during the 1960s, yet again in the 1990s, and most recently in 2015.

> From June 1963 to May 1968, for example, 239 riots took place that involved over 200,000 participants, 8,000 injuries, and 190 fatalities

Question 54

What were some traumatic riots from the 1960s?

Answer 54

> Watts riot in the Los Angeles area, with thirty-four killed and $35,000,000–$40,000,000 in property damage.

> the Chicago and Cleveland uprisings of 1966; the gigantic 1967 riots in Newark with twenty-three killed and $10,250,000 in property damage and in Detroit with forty-three killed and $40,000,000–$45,000,000 in property damage.

> Following the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968, there was a massive wave of 125 riots (led by those in Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City, Missouri), with 46 deaths and $70,000,000 in property damage

Question 55

What was the riots associated with Rodney King?

Answer 55

> the city of Los Angeles exploded in the wake of the acquittal of four police officers who had been on trial for the beating of Rodney King.

> trial was predominantly white suburb.

> The officers were ultimately acquitted of all the charges save one.

> After the verdicts were read, protests broke out almost immediately in various parts of the city and rapidly spread, although much of the unrest occurred in the largely minority south Los Angeles neighborhoods known collectively as South Central.

> Police were underprepared for the violence that would ensue.

> The rioting involved large-scale looting, arson, and violence directed against Whites, Asians, and Latinos unfortunate enough to find themselves within South Central during the violence, many of whom were literally dragged from their vehicles and attacked.

Question 56

One of the most emblematic images of the riot was created when and by who?

Answer 56

> was created when Reginald Denny, a White truck driver, was pulled from his vehicle at an intersection and horribly beaten, all of which was captured by a news helicopter hovering overhead.

Question 57

The Los Angeles City Riot of 1992, similar to many other earlier riots, revolved around what?

Answer 57

> racial issues

Question 58

It is important to note that race riots are ultimately what kind or riots as well?

related to social factors

Answer 58

> are ultimately class riots as well, since race and poverty are so closely related in our country.

Question 59

What are race riots a response to?

Answer 59

> a response to historic and ongoing problems of racism and discrimination experienced by minorities, especially African Americans.

Question 60

What was an underlying factor that influenced the L.A. riot

Answer 60

> included very high rates of unemployment in South Central Los Angeles because of an economic downturn in the 1980s and a widespread perception that the LAPD was racist and brutal.

Question 61

What are connections for famous riots

Answer 61

1) The 1965 Watts riot was instigated by a drunk driving arrest.

2) The Newark riot of 1967 began with the arrest of an African American taxicab driver.

3) The Detroit riot in 1967 was sparked by a police raid on an after-hours club.

4) The 1980 Liberty City riot in Florida was started by the police killing of an unarmed African American who ran a red light.

5) The 1989 riot in Miami occurred after police shot an unarmed African American motorcyclist.

6) The 1997 looting and rioting in Nashville were precipitated by police officers shooting a young Black suspect.

7) The 2001 rioting in Cincinnati was the result of the police shooting an unarmed Black man.45

8) The 2014 rioting in Ferguson was a result of the shooting of a young African American man.

9) The 2015 rioting in Baltimore was the result of an African American dying while in police custody.

Question 62

What are triggering events?

Answer 62

> Triggering events are usually the most visible and inflammatory examples of the racism and brutality perceived to be employed by the police in many minority neighborhoods.

Question 63

What is the Ferguson case of Freddie Gray?

Answer 63

> Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American, was arrested and placed in a police van by members of the Baltimore Police Department.

> While being transported, he suffered severe spinal cord injuries, lapsed into a coma, and died a week later from those injuries without ever regaining consciousness.

> Evidently, he had been shackled by the hands and feet but had not been buckled into a seatbelt.

Question 64

The issue of police shootings became even more inflamed in July 2016 after what occured?

Answer 64

> after the shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, followed soon after by the shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Question 65

What is vigilantism?

Answer 65

> vigilantism can be defined as an organized extralegal movement in which the participants take the law into their own hands.

Question 66

What orientation do vigilante groups have and what was their purpose?

Answer 66

> Typically conservative in orientation, these groups were intended to protect the status quo by applying their own brand of law and justice to outlaws and others who threatened the establishment of social order.

Question 67

When did Vigilante movements generally arise, and when was the heyday of the US movements?

Answer 67

> Vigilante movements generally arose in times and places where the established authority or government was perceived to be ineffective in protecting traditional rights of property, possessions, and personal safety.

> the heyday of U.S. vigilantism was in the mid- and late 19th century in the American West, as the process of settlement and industrialization required the eradication of widespread criminal elements and gangs

Question 68

What does vigilante movements overlap with?

Answer 68

> lynching

Question 69

What is the difference between lynching and vigilante movements?

Answer 69

> vigilantism usually represents an attempt to impose some sort of law in a lawless setting, while lynchings typically involve an attempt to get around established law and order.

Question 70

What is the famous San Francisco Vigilance Committee?

Answer 70

> fighting against robbers + taking on other criminal enterprises during the gold rush.

> In desperation, a number of businessmen formed a vigilance committee in the spring of 1851 to protect the lives and property of San Franciscans.

> Over time, the San Francisco Vigilance Committee died out, but it was resurrected a number of times whenever the crime rate rose again;

Question 71

How was the famous San Francisco Vigilance Committee distinguished from other vigilante groups?

Answer 71

> it was always distinguished by an adherence to formalities of justice, including providing a trial.

Question 72

Are all vigilante groups the same?

Answer 72

> No

> Some adhered more to the formalities of law, while others were much less concerned with following the proprieties.

> The motivations for these groups also varied

Question 73

The typology developed by Rosenbaum and Sederberg suggested three main types of vigilante groups - what are they?

Answer 73

1) crime-control vigilantism

2) social group–control vigilantism

3) regime-control vigilantism

Question 74

What is the crime-control vigilantism typology?

Answer 74

> is the type most often associated with this form of collective violence—targeted as it is with the elimination of crime.

Question 75

What is the social group–control vigilantism?

Answer 75

> describes groups whose goal is to keep some population group in their place, usually within the lower levels of class structure.

> This is the kind most closely akin to lynch mobs.

Question 76

What is the social regieme–control vigilantism?

Answer 76

> concerns groups that engage in violence in an effort to control the government if it strays from an acceptable course of action and policy.

> Typically composed of middle- and upper-class elites who want to protect their prerogatives, this type of vigilante group defines its role as keeping the regime in check.

Question 77

Each type of vigilante group, as this typology makes clear, is what type of organization?

Answer 77

> is a conservative organization in the sense that it doesn’t try to subvert law and order; rather, all types try to enforce it, though each has a different goal in mind as it engages in violence.

Question 78

Does vigilantism still occur?

Answer 78

> Vigilantism is alive and well, both in the United States and around the world.

> Today, we more often hear about cases of individual vigilantism compared with the actions of an organized group.

Question 79

While not as acceptable as it once was, vigilantism still represents a kind of violence that does what?

Answer 79

> springs up in certain kinds of scenarios.

Question 80

What happened in Brazil with respect to vigilantism?

Answer 80

> In Brazil during the 1970s, for example, between 500 and 1,200 habitual criminals were murdered by off-duty police officers who felt that the courts were too easy on criminals and that the people they had killed could not be rehabilitated.

> 60% of residents in the city in which the vigilantes were operating approved of their actions.

Question 81

What vigilante group is found in “contemporary America”?

Answer 81

> In contemporary America, the Guardian Angels, a group founded in 1979 in the Bronx, is still active in a number of communities.

> Identified by their red berets, its members patrol the subways, streets, and neighborhoods in order to prevent crime and have sometimes been labeled vigilantes by police.

> Nevertheless, new Guardian Angels chapters continue to thrive and operate in many communities in the United States and around the world.

Question 82

What is a current US vigilante group that would more so represent the social group-control typology?

Answer 82

> More recently, in the spring of 2019, a right-wing militia group that calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots began stopping migrant families at gunpoint in southern New Mexico and then taking them to Border Patrol agents.

Question 83

What are past US vigilante groups that would more so represent the social group-control typology?

Answer 83

> From the slave patrols of the 1840s designed to prevent runaway slaves from reaching Mexico

> the anti-Chinese watchmen of the late 1880s intended to stop Chinese immigration through the southern border,

> all the way to the 1980s, when the so-called Civilian Military Assistance group began detaining immigrants on the Arizona/Mexico border at gunpoint.

Question 84

What other vigilante groups that monitor the border?

Answer 84

> the Minutemen Project, a group sometimes associated with neo-Nazism and white supremacy, began patrolling the southern border in 2004 before political infighting and internal conflict largely destroyed the original group.

> conducted viral kidnappings

> leader was arrested by the FBI on April 20, 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested the leader of the group on charges of firearms possession by a felon.

Question 85

What vigilante activity is centered in India and why is it caused + what groups are involved?

Answer 85

> in India, Hindus make up nearly 80% of the population, and their religion considers cows sacred. Other religious groups in India, including Muslims, do not; they have no religious or other restrictions on including beef in their diet.

> this has been a “flash point” for crowd violence to occur in India

> cow protection groups, have been responsible for much of the violence carried out in this volatile climate.

> Despite attempts by some in the Indian Supreme Court to spread the message that these vigilante attacks are illegal, it is unlikely to dissuade the cow protection groups from attacks until the political environment changes.

Question 86

What aspect of the CJS promotes more vigilantes attacks?

Answer 86

> Sex offender registries, which all states have available in some form make convicted sex offenders particularly easy targets for individuals bent on delivering their own brand of justice.

Question 87

How did Stephen Marshall perpetrate vigilante activity against sex offenders? Was it positive?

Answer 87

> in April 2006, within a five-hour period, 20-year-old Stephen Marshall killed two men he found registered on the state of Maine’s sex offender registry.

> One of the victims was William Elliott, a 24-year-old man who had been convicted of statutory rape when he was 19 because his girlfriend was under 18 years of age.