Exam 20: Social Change, Collective Behavior, and the Future

What is the term that describes anonymously produced fliers that are posted on bulletin boards, handed out in neighborhoods, faxed, or e-mailed that warn about some terrible community threat?

A process through which patterns of social behavior, social relationships, social institutions, and systems of stratification are altered over time is called ________.

The most complicated form of collective behavior that involves an understanding of crowd dynamics and an examination of the larger social context in which collective behavior occurs is emergent norm theory.

Short-term, frivolous, and unconventional collective behaviors that usually provide pleasure and involve only a small segment of the population are called ________.

People who are not in the same locality, yet through a common source of information or communication media, can indirectly influence one another are referred to as a grassroots movement.

Which theory is based on the premise that societies have their own inherent life span in which they are born, mature, and die?

For most of human history, the cyclical approach to understanding social change dominated people's thinking.

When the War of the Worlds was broadcast by Orson Welles, people all over America became paralyzed with fear and looked to the skies for landing UFOs. What is the best term that describes their flight based on a hysterical belief such as this?

Small, rapid changes produced by the countless decisions people make as they interact with others in the course of their daily lives are called ________.

What is the basic model that influenced the development of cyclical approaches to understanding social change?

Who was the leader of the countermovement that resisted technological change by mailing bombs to scientists and judges and became dubbed "the Unabomber?"

Which theory of collective behavior suggests that when people have anonymity they can act irresponsibly through the power of suggestion?

What is the term that describes relatively spontaneous and noninstitutionalized responses by a large number of people to uncertain and problematic situations?

The changes in American society were rapid and dramatic in the 1950s. Who was the sociologist who called this period "an earthquake of change" ?

Organized, goal-directed efforts by large numbers of people to promote or resist change outside established institutions are referred to as a social movement.

Relatively spontaneous and noninstitutionalized responses by large numbers of people to uncertain and problematic situations are referred to as collective behavior.

Although well-organized and enduring, social movements have most often been novel approaches that have given moral support to noninstitutionalized efforts but other than this they have had little impact as a major agent of social change.

What is the difference between a mob and a riot?

The anticult movement is a religious movement aimed at containing the spread of New Age and other novel approaches to religion.

Which theory suggests that mobs are comprised not of ordinary citizens but of a segment of the population that already shares certain attitudes and interests that predispose them to converge and act in a violent and destructive manner?