Theory of Collective Behavior (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

Unlock the patterns behind crowd moments that shape history. This rigorous, accessible study explains how collective behavior forms, spreads, and changes how people act together in societies.

This edition walks you through the field Smelser helped define, showing why episodes like panics, crazes, hostilities, and social movements happen, and how scholars analyze them. It frames key questions, names the main types, and outlines a shared approach to measure and compare these social phenomena, with an eye toward turning complex behavior into clearer explanations.

• Learn the core types of collective behavior, including panics, crazes, hostile outbursts, and different kinds of movements.


• See how concepts like structural conduciveness, strain, mobilization, and social control explain why events begin and end.


• Understand how researchers distinguish similar phenomena and why careful terminology matters.


• Explore how a sociological approach can illuminate patterns across time and cultures.

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