Chapter 18. Social Movements and Social Change
Chapter 18 Resources and Activities
William Little and Ron McGivern
Key Terms
acting crowds: Crowds of people who are focused on a specific action or goal.
alternative movements: Social movements that limit themselves to self-improvement changes in individuals.
assembling perspective: A theory that credits individuals in crowds as behaving as rational thinkers and views crowds as engaging in purposeful behaviour and collective action.
casual crowds: People who share close proximity without really interacting.
collective action: Concerted behaviour in which a number of people come together on the basis of a shared interest to achieve some common objective.
collective behaviour: A non-institutionalized activity in which several people voluntarily engage.
collective representations: The shared meanings, symbols, concepts, categories and images of a social group or society.
conventional crowds: People who come together for a regularly scheduled event.
crowd: A fairly large number of people sharing close proximity.
design patents: Patents that are granted when someone has invented a new and original design for a manufactured product.
diagnostic framing: When the social problem that concerns a social movement is stated in a clear, easily understood manner.
digital divide: The increasing gap between the technological haves and have-nots.
embodied energy: The sum of energy required for a finished product including the resource extraction, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and disposal.
emergent norm theory: A perspective that emphasizes the importance of social norms in crowd behaviour.
evolutionary model of technological change: A breakthrough in one form of technology that leads to a number of variations, from which a prototype emerges, followed by a period of slight adjustments to the technology, interrupted by a breakthrough.
expressive crowds: Crowds that share opportunities to express emotions.
flash mob: A large group of people who gather together in a spontaneous activity that lasts a limited amount of time.
frame: A way or perspective in which experience is organized conceptually.
frame alignment process: Using bridging, amplification, extension, and transformation as an ongoing and intentional means of recruiting participants to a movement.
global social movements: Networks of social movement actors who collaborate across state borders to address shared global concerns.
lifeworld: The shared inter-subjective meanings and common understandings that form the backdrop of daily existence and communication.
mass: A relatively large group with a common interest, even if the group members may not interact or be in close proximity.
modernity: The cultural form of capitalist societies characterized by constant change and transformation.
modernization: The process that increases the amount of specialization and differentiation of structure in societies.
motivational framing: When the so