Crowd Theory Research Articles

Pub crawls at a Bulgarian nightlife resort: A case study using crowd theory

Drawing on the classical crowd theories of Tarde, Le Bon, Durkheim, and Canetti, this article examines pub crawl crowds at the Bulgarian nightlife resort, Sunny Beach. The article argues that there are elements in classical crowd theory which can be used to advance the current research on tourist crowds such as those at pub crawls. The main strength of the theories lies in their ability to bring us close to crowd dynamics in their lived immediacy: the flow of emotions, collective attunement, the role of guides, and patterns of destruction—these are some of the issues that the theories can help us to understand. A major weakness of the theories is that they exaggerate the irrationality of crowds while neglecting the background conditions of crowd activities. The article is based on fieldwork among Danish tourists and guides in Sunny Beach. The key data come from 45 in-depth interviews and observations of 14 pub crawls.

Crowds and value. Italian Directioners on Twitter

This paper addresses crowd-based dynamics of value creation in participatory culture. Based on a corpus of 114,931 tweets associated with One Direction and similar boy bands, we draw on recent theories of crowd-based organization in digital media as well as classical crowd theory to build a theoretical model of collective value creation. In our model, the achievement of value in the form of trending and individual microcelebrity is based on affectively driven processes of imitation, rather than on rational evaluation and deliberation. We contrast this model with established accounts of microcelebrity and draw out implications for theories of crowd-based organization in digital media and for theories of participatory culture and collaborative value creation in general.

Max Weber and Contemporary Capitalism by Nicholas Gane (review)

Book Reviews Til Nicholas Gane, Max Weber and Co Pal grave Macmillan, 2012), vii£61.00. Nick Gane has established a stro social theory and, in particular, o book by making clear that his a book on Weber. His concern wa Rather, he aimed to reconstruct set out and to show how these can be used 'in order to think socio logically about the social and cultural dynamics of contemporary capitalism' (1). Given this aim, it is strange that the book does not reflect on any of the empirical research on contemporary capital ism that might be appropriate for the task. Instead, Gane considers certain selected theories concerning contemporary capitalism and tries to show how Weberian concepts can be used to elucidate and extend these theories. Thus, chapter 3 of the book looks at the rel evance of Weber for the arguments of Jean-François Lyotard, Nigel Thrift, and Scott Lash on issues of information flow, knowledge transfer, and intensive organisation; chapter 4 turns to his rele vance for Christian Borch's crowd theory of stock markets; chap ter 5 relates to the reconstruction of neoliberal theory; and chapter 7 examines Weber's relevance for the modernity theories of Zyg munt Bauman and Ulrich Beck. What Gane provides us with, then, is a demonstration of the relevance of Weber's concepts for think ing about the issues raised in these theories. We are not, however, given any suggestions about whether these theories, as reworked, have any empirical value for understanding contemporary capital ism. It is, rather, taken for granted that these theories—and not any others — offer the most important guidelines for empirical research. The approach that Gane takes is set out in an initial discussion of Weber's methodology. This chapter sets out Weber's view of concept formation as making possible a one-sided accentuation of aspects of the unknowable noumenal reality and relates this to the view taken by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari that 'the concept ... [is] a fractured totality that is necessarily removed from empiri cal reality'. Concepts, argues Gane, are 'bridges that are forged...to take up the impossible challenge of presenting this [lived] world in thought' (21). This is, of course, not a novel interpretation of Weber, but it certainly serves to show that Deleuze has unintentionally and unknowingly rediscovered some of Weber's key insights. As such,© Max Weber Studies 2015. 278 Max Weber Studies Gane builds a useful bridge between Webe discussions that are generally thought t ernist' project. Gane's discussion of thes ous tasks of concept formation and elabor later chapters of the book. Chapter 3 is concerned with the conceptu Gane refers to as 'computerised capital and 'intensive capitalism'. Lyotard's und and the flow of cultural capital is seen as talism inherent in Weber's concept of rati lighting the ongoing commodification of Gane argues, develops a similar approach t to this the idea that intelligent technolog have the capacity to generate the routines These thinkers, together with Lash, offer Gane sees as being close enough to Webe idea of rational capitalism. These ideas are further concepts that are explored in subse The topic of chapter 4 is the market, and cial markets. Having set out Weber's his early papers on stock markets—Gan attempt that Borch made to use Gabriel understanding the 'irrationality' of mas ertheless, be meaningful to the participan reference to journalistic coverage of the conclusion drawn from the limited discussion is that market move ments may not be simple results of irrationality and imitation but of 'the deliberate and strategic actions of major market players' (69). Hardly to be unexpected you might think! There is no discussion of any empirical studies of stock markets or of the use of financial instruments that now exist. In chapter 5 Gane looks at the influence of Weber's thought on early developments in Austrian economics and contemporary neo liberal theory, though I am not sure that this link is so unknown as Gane implies. Chapter 7 examines the forms of modernity that have, arguably, been the outcome of the growing importance of neolib eral theory. The theoretical ideas of Beck are seen as...

Encouraging coercive control: militarisation and classical crowd theory in Turkish protest policing

The coercive character of protest policing is a tangible problem in Turkey. Since the resurgence of contentious politics from the late 1980s, major issues in protest policing have been officially recognised, and eventually addressed by public authorities with an agenda of reform. However, the excessive use of force by the police, even in the face of predominantly peaceful protests, lingered on well into the past decade, leaving behind dozens of dead citizens and thousands injured. In this article, I consult two main concepts, militarisation and police knowledge, to understand the institutional factors that underpin the repressive policing practices in Turkey. Among the different aspects of militarisation, I am particularly interested in the proliferation and adoption of less-lethal weapons in the strategies of protest control, while by police knowledge, I largely refer to the role of crowd theory in shaping the mind-set of the police and their behaviour on the street. Drawing on the theoretical debates in the literature and a variety of empirical sources, I argue that the growing reliance on less-lethal weapons, on the one hand, and police knowledge conditioned by classical crowd theory, on the other, encourage, if not propel, coercive styles of policing at public protests in Turkey.

Enclosing the Subject

This paper draws from contemporary psychoanalytic theory as well as nineteenth-century crowd theory to critique Louis Althusser’s account of the ideological interpellation of the subject. I argue that rather than ideology interpellating the individual as a subject, bourgeois ideology interpellates the subject as an individual. By “bourgeois ideology” I mean the loose set of ideas and apparatuses associated with European modernity, an instrumental concept of reason, and the emergence of the capitalist mode of production. The advantage of reversing the Althusserian account is that the subject is not pre-constrained to the individual form, a form that is itself always already as failing and impossible as it is assumed and demanded. In Althusser’s version, the individuality that emerges in history is posited as universal, a given. In mine, the individual form is itself the problem; it’s a coercive and unstable product of the enclosure of the common in never-ceasing efforts to repress, deny, and foreclose collective political subjectivity. The individual is thus a form of capture. Rather than natural or given, the individual form encloses into a singular bounded body collective bodies, ideas, affects, desires, and drives. There is nothing necessary about the link between subjectivity and individuality; it is an effect contingent to the array of processes that converge into bourgeois modernity.

Modernity and crowds: solidity, liquidity and order

The revival of crowd theory has reignited interest in the meaning of mass society in late modernity. By discarding the old stereotype of crowds as aimless, irrational, and violent, theorists are now researching different types of collectivities as instances of dynamic communicative and micro-organizational action. Yet, the refocus on crowds has not been properly situated in a context that has shifted, as Zygmunt Bauman alleged, from solid to liquid modernity. Ostensibly, the perception of crowds as amorphous and fluid coincided with the solid phase of modernity. In the current phase that is defined as liquid, crowds are being reconsidered as social formations imbued with the potential for mobilization and power reconfiguration. It implies that the element of solidity provides a key to understanding new forms of sociality emerging from crowd actions, thereby challenging Bauman's idea that the liquid has irreversibly replaced the solid.

Scipio Sighele: senatores boni viri, senatus mala bestia

The article examines Scipio Sighele’s critical analysis of parliamentarianism outlined in a pamphlet of 1895. The importance of this work (which absolutely does not contrast parliamentary democracy and dictatorship, in which he does not believes) is twofold. More than one hundred years on, this pamphlet displays the entire truth of its prophetical criticisms of parliamentary system. At the same time, it is methodologically interesting, as well controversial, because it consists of the application of the author’s theory of crowd to the parliamentarianism viewed as a special (however small) case of crowd.

When noise becomes voice: designing interactive technology for crowd experiences through imitation and invention

In this paper, we present crowd experience as a novel concept when designing interactive technology for spectator crowds in public settings. Technology-mediated experiences in groups have already been given serious attention in the field of interaction design. However, crowd experiences are distinctive because of the spontaneous, uninhibited behavior exhibited. In crowds, extreme sociality and the experience of performing identity in public emerge spontaneously. By bridging crowd theory and pragmatics of experience, we establish an understanding of crowd experience as a distinct sociality within interaction design that unfolds through imitation and invention. We deploy that understanding in an exploration of spectator experiences at three football matches in which an experimental prototype, BannerBattle, was deployed. BannerBattle is an interactive banner on which spectators can grab space in competition with their rivals. The more noise and movement they make, the more screen real estate they gain. BannerBattle therefore enabled us to explore the emergence of imitative and at times inventive behavior in enriched crowd experience, by augmenting and supporting spectator performance in this way. We discuss the value of a conceptual understanding of crowd experience for technology as an unexplored potential for designing new interactive technology at spectator venues.

Collectivity, human fulfilment and the ‘force of life’

The article traces the origination of the psychological concept of the ‘herd instinct’, popularized by British surgeon Wilfred Trotter, locating this in a distinctive moment of dialogue between the natural and human sciences. It challenges the incorrect association of Trotter’s model with the crowd theory of Gustave Le Bon and negative commentaries on mass culture. In contrast, it shows that Trotter’s model rests on imitation and suggestion not as the sign of a derogated culture but as the ground of associated life, with altruism as its highest expression. His argument that individuals possessed an inherent capacity for association and a disposition to act in the interests of the social group was designed to challenge the hierarchical models of Social Darwinism. Instead, he highlighted the evolutionary importance of variability and innovation and proposed a horizontal model of cooperation as the basis of adaptation. Trotter’s narrative of human potential pre-dated and informed Freud’s own collective psychology, as well as providing an influential challenge to his theory of repression. The widespread take-up of Trotter’s model of the herd instinct in the context of futures thinking, forming the basis of an egalitarian approach to governance that proposed human fulfilment and social progress as complementary aims, supports the article’s argument that psychological approaches to collectivity were well established prior to the First World War rather than formed in response to it, and that these were embedded within social thinking across the political spectrum, rather than derived for instrumentally conservative purposes.

Crowd theory and the management of crowds: A controversial relationship

Sociologists of policing and collective protest have made a plea for eradicating from police literature and training programmes which aim to provide guidelines for crowd management any references to classical crowd theory where crowds are depicted as irrational entities. Instead, these scholars suggest, rational conceptions of crowds should inform contemporary crowd management. This article questions this plea on two grounds. First, it demonstrates that there is no unidirectional connection between sociological crowd theory (whatever its content) and practical strategies for governing crowds. The tactical polyvalence of crowd theory is illustrated by showing how the irrational conception of crowds has given rise to very different strategies for the management of crowds (urban reform programmes in the Progressive Era and Hitler’s mobilization strategies, respectively). Second, the article argues that, in spite of its current scholarly popularity, there is no guarantee that the call for a practical employment of the rational notion of crowds will necessarily be successful. This is demonstrated by stressing, on the one hand, that irrational notions of crowds continue to thrive, thereby rendering a turn towards rational approaches difficult, and, on the other hand, that the rational approaches in their ignorance of collective emotional arousal present an inadequate picture of crowds and consequently have limited scope as guidelines for crowd management strategies.

Interview with Armand Mattelart

Interview with Armand Mattelart, June 7, 2012 Interview conducted by James Hay, Jayson Harsin, & Jim Cohen Interview translated by Jayson Harsin Interview edited by James Hay, Jayson Harsin, Jim Co...

Ideology and the crowd

This article discusses the ideological role of crowd experiences. Utilizing both classical crowd theory and ideas from Lacanian psychoanalysis, it suggests that what happens to the subject in crowds can be understood as a de-subjectification linked to the drive and to an encounter with Other jouissance. Finally, it is argued that the concept of charisma might link the always transitory crowd experience with more permanent ideological identifications if it is thought as a retrospective rationalization, which involves assuming that the leader is the source of the ecstasy experienced in crowds.

Seeing Red: Entropy, Property, and Resistance in the Summer Riots 2011

This paper explores the thermodynamic property 'entropy' as a metaphor for aesthetics and politics, law and resistance in the case of the Summer Riots 2011. The aim of the paper is to use the framework and structure of entropy to demonstrate a political aesthetics of property. This shall be done by firstly linking entropy with aesthetic concepts of order, disorder, symmetry and equilibrium. Works on complex adaptive systems to account for collective behaviour, combined with Benjaminian and Adornian accounts of the commodity, shall be used alongside the relevance of crowd theory in explaining not the riots themselves but the sentencing of collectivity in the case of R v Blackshaw & Others [2011] EWCA Crim 2312. Following Ranciere and the arts and crafts movement, utility and beauty, the breaking down of the divisions of art, life, philosophy and science are summarized as the lesson of entropy for law. This re-visiting of the Summer Riots 2011 hopes to re-evaluate the sentencing procedures in light of 'Riot-Related Offending' through an aesthetic politics of collectivity, property and commodity.

Seeing Red: Entropy, Property, and Resistance in the Summer Riots 2011

This paper explores the thermodynamic property 'entropy' as a metaphor for aesthetics and politics, law and resistance in the case of the Summer Riots 2011. The aim of the paper is to use the framework and structure of entropy to demonstrate a political aesthetics of property. This shall be done by firstly linking entropy with aesthetic concepts of order, disorder, symmetry and equilibrium. Works on complex adaptive systems to account for collective behaviour, combined with Benjaminian and Adornian accounts of the commodity, shall be used alongside the relevance of crowd theory in explaining not the riots themselves but the sentencing of collectivity in the case of R v Blackshaw & Others [2011] EWCA Crim 2312. Following Ranciere and the arts and crafts movement, utility and beauty, the breaking down of the divisions of art, life, philosophy and science are summarized as the lesson of entropy for law. This re-visiting of the Summer Riots 2011 hopes to re-evaluate the sentencing procedures in light of 'Riot-Related Offending' through an aesthetic politics of collectivity, property and commodity.

The Jobs Act of 2012: Balancing Fundamental Securities Law Principals with the Demands of the Crowd

I examine the JOBS Act of 2012, especially its crowdfunding provisions. In Section II., I discuss the main areas of the JOBS Act, specifically crowdfunding, emerging growth companies, changes to the small issues exemption, and the reporting company threshold. I note a strong shift towards deregulation, in contrast with Sarbanes-Oxley (2002) and the Dodd Frank Act (2010). In Section III., I analyze the principles behind the U.S. securities laws, especially the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The specific policies examined are as follows: investor protection, market stability, and maintaining the integrity of U.S. capital markets. With regards to specific provisions of the JOBS Act, I ask whether the benefits of the JOBS Act, most notably the potential for economic growth, exceed its risks, including an increased risk of fraud and increased market uncertainty. In Section IV., I explain equity-based crowdfunding as a new and unique model for raising capital. I examine elements of the crowdfunding structure, namely a relatively small amount of money raised from a large number of individuals, many of whom are non-accredited. I examine the wisdom of the crowd theory, question the continued need for accreditation requirements, and note the crowd's proclivity towards funding social good projects, with potential or significant positive externalities on the community. I conclude that although the JOBS Act contains a swath of measures limiting government oversight of this new market, these risks are outweighed by the substantial economic benefits that accompany the destruction of market entry barriers to the entrepreneur.

Crowd Control? Depictions of the Many in Anglo-Saxon Literature, with Particular Reference to the Old English Legend of the Seven Sleepers

This article argues for the distinctiveness of the presentation of crowds in the Old English version of the Legend of the Seven Sleepers . In traditional Old English poetry, crowds are mostly conspicuous by their absence, since the social groupings portrayed are typically those ofthe lord's retinue and the fellowship of the hall. In writings deriving from Latin traditions (in Anglo-Latin, Old English prose and strands of Old English poetry) such as historiography andhagiography, crowds are presented in highly conventional terms based on literary models. The crowd scenes in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers , on the other hand, have an immediacy and urgency that seem based on real-life experience of Anglo-Saxon England rather than simply imitative of the work's Latin (ultimately Greek) source or of other literary models. Drawing upon crowd theory and historical studies, the article demonstrates that the crowds in this text are presented in “domesticated” Anglo-Saxon terms and may be seen as reflective of growing urbanization in late Anglo-Saxon England. “Real” crowds are glimpsed elsewhere inAnglo-Saxon literature but in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers they are particularly foregrounded; this text also presents the literature's liveliest picture of town life more generally.

From the criminal crowd to the “mediated crowd”: the impact of social media on the 2011 English riots

PurposeThis article aims to explore the impact of new social media on the 2011 English riots.Design/methodology/approachThe paper suggests that discourse on the riots in the news and popular press is obscured by speculation and political rhetoric about the role of social media in catalysing the unrest that overlooks the role of individual agency and misrepresents the emotional dimensions of such forms of collective action.FindingsIn considering the riots to be symptomatic of criminality and austerity, commentators have tended to revive nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century crowd theories to make sense of the unrest, which are unable to account for the effect of new social media on this nascent twenty‐first century phenomenon.Research limitations/implicationsHere, the notion of the “mediated crowd” is introduced to argue that combining emotions research with empirical analysis can provide an innovative account of the relationship between new social media and the type of collective action that took place during the riots. Such a concept challenges orthodox nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century crowd theories that consider crowds to be a corollary of “emotive contagion” in spatial proximity, with “the mediated crowd” mobilised in the twenty‐first century through social networking in both geographic and virtual arenas.Originality/valueThe paper proposes that this original approach provides insight into the particular conditions in which the 2011 English riots emerged, while advancing crowd theory in general.

Initial and Ongoing Mystery Shopper Motivations: An Empirical Investigation By Experience Level and an Application of the Theory of Motivational Crowding

Mystery shopping has become an accepted method of performance measurement in many industries. This study contributes to the mystery shopping research stream by empirically testing the initial and ongoing motivations of mystery shoppers. Simultaneously, the study also examines whether the theory of motivational crowding is applicable to the mystery shopping industry. Motivations, analyzed with a mixed between–within split plot analysis of variance mostly affirmed the psychoeconomic theory of motivation crowding in the mystery shopping industry. Practical implications of the results indicate a need for optimization of compensation in mystery shopping and a need to analyze mystery shoppers based on experience level to further insure validity of mystery shopping reports.

The political crowd: Theorizing popular revolt in North Africa

This paper uses an interdisciplinary approach to show why Western social scientific explanations of political crowds in North Africa and the Arab Middle East have failed to provide an understanding of the causes and effects of popular revolt. I trace these misunderstandings to an inherited body of European writings on crowd theory and on Islamic and Muslim political power. Some scholars who have also criticized mainstream analysis of the so-called “Arab Street” are shown as relevant to a new understanding of political crowds.

Instrument Choice and Motivation: Evidence from a Climate Change Experiment

Are prices or quantities the best regulatory instrument to align private actions with public interests in the presence of externalities? We add another dimension to this ongoing debate by experimentally analyzing the interaction between instrument choice and intrinsic motivation of regulated agents. The response of subjects facing a trade-off between real CO2 emissions and private monetary payoffs to both a price and a quantity instrument are tested. We find evidence that taxes crowd out intrinsic motivation while emission standards are neutral. Crowding is short term persistent and not well explained by established cognitive theories of motivational crowding.