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Socially relative meaning of behavior and collective behavior

One of the characteristic of the social perspective is: A recognition that meaning is a social product assigned arbitrarily by members of a collectivity. What does this mean and why is it significant?

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Subject: Sociology
Problem: Collective behavior and meaning as a social product

Let's first look at the word "society." A society is a "group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and share a common culture." (Elwell's Glossary of Sociology).

Given this simple definition, we can then take another step and consider the notion of "collective behavior." According to social psychologists this is the realm of action not governed by the everyday rules and expectations which normally shape social behavior" (or the behavior of those groups of people sharing territory, political authority, and/or culture). Examples of collective behavior might include fashion fads, people doing the "wave" in a sports stadium, the spread of rumor and mass hysteria.

It is the group, the society that assigns meaning to any given behavior. For example, if ...

Solution Summary

The solution discusses the effects society has on behavior and how it is relative to society at the time. Also, there is a discussion of the effects of collective behavior. Please see the attached file. The text contains