Explaining Collective Behaviour Flashcards
Why is a riot interesting to study?
They are very novel and unplanned, so how do people behave as one?
What was the St Pauls riot?
The first wave of the riots
Event which started it was a police raid on a local cafe in St Pauls, owned by black people
The cafe had symbolic and practical importance to the local community
There were several incidents of violence between police and a crowd outside the cafe
What happened to the police in the riot?
Police were forced to flee
Some were trapped in the cafe
Police returned to help colleges
More and more people joined in attacking them
Police vehicle set alight
Running battles
Eventually, the police had to leave the area
What happened in the second phase of the riot?
After the police had left, the crowd took charge of traffic control, stopping suspected police cars entering the area
Properly was attacked
Who was injured?
Of 60 police, 22 were injured, 27 minor injuries
21 police vehicles damaged
How are riots studied?
Sources:
interviews
media sources
witnesses
pictures
1. Triangulation (lots of sources giving view) to create a consensual account of what happened
2. Thematic analysis of ppts perceptions to explain what happened
What did participants in the riot share?
A social identity - members of the St Pauls community
What was the 3 elements of the identity they shared?
Locality - where they lived
Desire of freedom
An antagonistic relationship with the police
What explained the pattern of behaviour in these riots?
The 3 elements of the shared identity they all had can explain the behaviour - what people did was limited to targets, which was in line with this identity
What were the limits of the behaviour?
- Geographical limits: rioting remained within St pals community, crowd directed traffic flow, controlling entry to the area
- Targets of attack
people: only the police, papers by were fine and fire service were helped
properties: banks, benefits office, rent office and post office were attacked (bc they were agents of their powerless)
expensive shops owned by outsides and chain were attacked (profiting from community) but local ones not
disapproval when someone threw stone at bus but not police
homes and small shops protected
regulation of violence - Who got involved?
only those who shared the identity participated and were influenced by other people, most influential are those seen by crowd members as prototypical of the St pals crowd - the older rasafarians
How does group mind explain why people acted like this?
LeBon would predict indiscriminate, irrational mindless violence and contagious influence, but..
there were limits to behaviour: only certain behaviours spread through the crowd and only certain people were influenced
How does interactionism explain why people acted like this?
There would have been a period of milling (talking to each other) to produce an emergent norm, but..
extended interaction wasn’t necessary, norms (attacking police) were there early on and changed quickly, people knew what to do
new situational norms were constrained by social category definition - what do I do as a member of st pauls community (self-cat)
How does social identity model explain why people acted like this?
Reichers model - application of self-cat to riots and crowds
They acted like this because they were self-stereotyping (depersonalisation). there was a shift from personal identity to shared identiyy
rioters shared the norms of getting the police out of Stpauls, based on their shared identity
the nature of the targets reflected features of the shared identity
identities: allowed them to act without direction in a random situation but still know what to do
Why is self-cat good?
Because it can be applied to so many topics and areas
What are the consequences of depersonalisation?
- Collective behaviour - more adherence to norms so more conformity, more social influence from ingroup and more sense of being in a group
- Attraction to in group - more attracted
- Self sacrifice - people act out of interests to help others in an emergency bc they share identity
- Sharing perceptions with in-group - trusting others judgements, believing they tell us something about the world, outgroup is just opinion, we are fact
- Stereotyping - we see the world in group ways because we are in a social location, makes sense to see it as groupy
