Social Influence - Crowd And Collective Behaviour (Reicher's Study)

Question 1

Aim of Reicher’s study

Answer 1

Reicher aimed to investigate the behaviour of a crowd to see if their behaviour was ruly or unruly.

Question 2

Method of Reicher’s study

Answer 2

Analysed newspaper, TV, radio and police reports of the St. Pauls riots in 1980.
Interviewed 20 people immediately after the riot to understand what happened, including six interviews in depth.

Question 3

Results of Reicher’s study

Answer 3

Riot was triggered by policemen raiding a café for drugs, an action which was seen as unjustified.
A crowd of 300–3000 gathered and attacked the police and other properties, throwing stones and bricks and burning police cars. The attack intensified and spread.
When the police left rioters calmed down and never moved beyond the St. Paul’s area.

Question 4

Conclusion of Reicher’s study

Answer 4

This shows that the crowd’s behaviour was rule-driven and anger was only expressed towards predictable targets, based on the social attitudes of the area.

Question 5

Strength of Reicher’s study (Supported by research)

Answer 5

One strength is that other research has come to similar conclusions about crowd behaviour.
Research on football hooligans also found that violence didn’t escalate beyond a certain point (Marsh).
This supports the view that crowd behaviour is rule-driven and not out of control.

Question 6

Weakness of Reicher’s study (issues with methodology)

Answer 6

The case study is based on subjective data.
Reicher based his account on eyewitness testimony of reporters and members of the crowd who may have had a biased perspective on the events they witnessed.
This means that the data may lack validity.

Question 7

Strength of Reicher’s study (real world application)

Answer 7

One strength of this research is that it provides ideas about how best to police such riots.
Reicher’s analyses suggest that increasing the police presence in riots does not always lead to a decrease in violence so it may be better to let local communities ‘police’ themselves.
This shows that this research can have a positive effect in the real world.