Friday, February 12, 2010

breakdown theory of collective action

Breakdown theory is the classic sociological explanation of contentious forms of collective action such as riots, rebellion, and civil violence. The theory says, these events occur when mechanisms of social control lose their restraining power. Researchers claimed that breakdown theory couldn’t account for societal events as they were then unfolding - the social movements and collective violence of the 1960s and 1970s, nor for newly collected historical data ending its dominance in 1970s. A new theory emerged to explain the anomalies. Resource mobilization theorists said collective action flows not from breakdown but from groups wing for political position and advantages.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The breakdown theory does strike a note beyond doubt- riots, rebllions do happen when social control mechanisms fail.But then it also brings out another point to ruminate - how appropriate and well defined are social control mechanisms? Are members expected to abide by these mechanisms and restrain themselves endlessely? Do we need to define limits for these mechanisms..?