Abstract
An outbreak of monoplane sightings within British South Africa during 1914 is examined as a case of mass hysteria. The incident is used to evaluate the utility of Smelser's category of the negative or hostile hysterical belief manifestation within Smelser's value‐added theory of collective behavior, namely: structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of a generalized belief, mobilization of participants for action, and inadequate measures by agencies of social control. Each of these was found to be present during the period immediately prior to and encompassing the collective episode, thus supporting Smelser's explanation. However, Smelser's objectivist approach labels collective behavior as irrational and is limited beyond providing a general ordering of conditions involved in a particular collective action.
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