1 Collective Behavior and Social Movements: Core Concepts Free Online FlashCards

What is collective behavior?

Collective behavior is connected activity involving multiple people that produces a group-level pattern, often through interaction and emergent responses.

What is collective action?

Collective action is people coordinating efforts toward a shared objective, whether through institutions or outside them.

What defines a social movement?

A social movement is a sustained, organized effort to promote or resist social change, express claims, or defend shared interests. It may coordinate through networks without a single leader or formal organization.

What does emergence mean in collective behavior?

Emergence is the development of new patterns of coordination or shared expectations as people respond to one another and changing situations.

What is shared framing in collective action?

Shared framing is how participants interpret events, identify a problem, and communicate why action is warranted. Different groups may frame the same event differently.

What kinds of resources can facilitate mobilization?

Mobilization depends on ways for people to connect and act, including networks, organizations, time, skills, money, meeting places, and communication channels.

What are repertoires of action?

Repertoires of action are recognizable forms participants use, such as marches, petitions, strikes, sit-ins, and online campaigns. Their availability and perceived legitimacy vary by setting and period.

How can institutional context shape collective action?

Institutional context includes laws, authorities, organizations, and political processes that can enable, constrain, or redirect collective action.

What does micro-level analysis examine?

Micro-level analysis examines individuals and interactions, such as who participates, why they join, and how they interpret events or respond to others.

What should researchers define when setting the scope of an episode?

Researchers should specify what counts as participation and where and when an episode begins and ends, clarifying whether they study a gathering, campaign, or wider movement.

What can observation and ethnography reveal?

Observation and ethnography reveal interaction, the setting, and how people make sense of events as they unfold.

What does meso-level analysis examine?

Meso-level analysis examines networks, groups, and organizations, including how they recruit participants, coordinate action, share information, and sustain activity.