With Reference from Evidence from Football Violence, Explain What Is Wrong with Common Sense Accounts of Crowd Behaviour?
Q1: With reference from evidence from football violence, explain what is wrong with common sense accounts of crowd behaviour
INTRO
Common sense accounts of crowd behaviour are typical explanations of crowd events and conflicts that would be proposed by the everyday person; ideas such as ‘agitators’ or the ‘mad mob’. This has become a vastly researched topic in social psychology which has demonstrated major faults in such common sense accounts of crowd behaviour. The issues associated with these types of accounts of crowd behaviour can be explained with reference to instances of football violence; which demonstrate that not all crowds are violent, primitive and irrational groups of people, where thoughts and feelings are spread through the crowd, but instead an originally calm crowd can become violent due to illegitimate and indiscriminate action from the outgroup. The key to understanding why a crowd behaves the way it does lies in the intergroup relations.
WHAT COMMON SENSE ACCOUNTS ARE….
Through asking individuals what they believe the true nature of the crowd is, and what activities will surround this, recurrent themes have been found. Common sense accounts suggest that individuals within the crowd have heightened emotionality, which overrides intelligence, and therefore behaviour is much more instinctual and impulsive. In addition it is suggested that crowds are somewhat ‘primitive’, such that individuals are easily overwhelmed and influenced by agitators, and manipulated by their thoughts, intentions and actions. It is suggested that anything can provoke a crowd into violence, and a lack of self-control of individuals can cause the crowd to turn into a ‘mad mob’, an escalation to violence which can occur instantly, providing possibilities for anything to happen. These recurrent themes of common sense accounts of crowd behaviour had lead people to believe that crowds are irrational, indiscriminate and partake in ‘mindless violence’, however
INTRO
Common sense accounts of crowd behaviour are typical explanations of crowd events and conflicts that would be proposed by the everyday person; ideas such as ‘agitators’ or the ‘mad mob’. This has become a vastly researched topic in social psychology which has demonstrated major faults in such common sense accounts of crowd behaviour. The issues associated with these types of accounts of crowd behaviour can be explained with reference to instances of football violence; which demonstrate that not all crowds are violent, primitive and irrational groups of people, where thoughts and feelings are spread through the crowd, but instead an originally calm crowd can become violent due to illegitimate and indiscriminate action from the outgroup. The key to understanding why a crowd behaves the way it does lies in the intergroup relations.
WHAT COMMON SENSE ACCOUNTS ARE….
Through asking individuals what they believe the true nature of the crowd is, and what activities will surround this, recurrent themes have been found. Common sense accounts suggest that individuals within the crowd have heightened emotionality, which overrides intelligence, and therefore behaviour is much more instinctual and impulsive. In addition it is suggested that crowds are somewhat ‘primitive’, such that individuals are easily overwhelmed and influenced by agitators, and manipulated by their thoughts, intentions and actions. It is suggested that anything can provoke a crowd into violence, and a lack of self-control of individuals can cause the crowd to turn into a ‘mad mob’, an escalation to violence which can occur instantly, providing possibilities for anything to happen. These recurrent themes of common sense accounts of crowd behaviour had lead people to believe that crowds are irrational, indiscriminate and partake in ‘mindless violence’, however