crowds can be both good and evil, crowds tend to commit more immoral actions. do you agree? why or why not?

Explanation:

When people get together in groups, unusual things can happen -- both good and bad. Groups create important social institutions that an individual could not achieve alone, but there can be a darker side to such alliances: Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group.

Over the years, sociologists and other scholars have proposed many explanations of collective behavior. Most of these explanations have focused on crowds, riots, and social movements, rather than on rumors, fads, and other collective behaviors that involve less social interaction. Table 21.1 “Theory Snapshot” summarizes these explanations.

Table 21.1 Theory Snapshot

TheoryMajor assumptions

Contagion theoryCollective behavior is emotional and irrational and results from the hypnotic influence of the crowd.

Convergence theoryCrowd behavior reflects the beliefs and intentions that individuals already share before they join a crowd.

Emergent norm theoryPeople are not sure how to behave when they begin to interact in collective behavior. As they discuss their potential behavior, norms governing their behavior emerge, and social order and rationality then guide their behavior.

Value-added theoryCollective behavior results when several conditions exist, including structural strain, generalized beliefs, precipitating factors, and lack of social control.

Contagion Theory

Contagion theory was developed by French scholar Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931) in his influential 1895 book, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Le Bon, 1895/1960). Like many other intellectuals of his time, Le Bon was concerned about the breakdown of social order that was said to have begun with the French Revolution a century earlier and to have continued throughout the 19th century. Mob violence by the poor was common in the century in cities in Europe and the United States. Intellectuals, who tended to live in relatively wealthy circumstances, were very disturbed by this violence. They viewed it as irrational behavior, and they thought that the people taking part in it were being unduly swayed by strong emotions and the influence of other people in the mobs.

huck's relationship with food is a prominent theme throughout the novel, and during his time on jackson's island and working his way down river, huck revels in and enjoys his ad hoc dining. in the first chapter, we observe huck is ironically trapped in a "civilized" world, when he would prefer to live freely in nature.