著者

吉田 竜司

出版者

京都大学

雑誌

京都社会学年報 : KJS

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.21-40, 1996-12-25

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This article aims to reconsider controversies over Turner and Killian's "emergent norm approach" and point out their implication to the empirical study of crowd behavior. Over the past few decades, most studies of crowd behavior have shared a similar view called "no-real-difference approach". This approach asserts the continuity between crowd and institutional behavior. Among this line of studies, Turner and Killian's "emergent norm approach" has been placed at the forefront. At the same time, Turner and Killian's theoretical explanation has been the subject of some criticisms. They may be divided into four types : 1) the arbitrariness of their explanation of crowd member's motive, 2) theoretical discontinuity between micro-macro level, 3) unfalsifiability of their definition of crowd behavior, and 4) unclearness of the emergent norm concept. The core of all the questions about Turner and Killian's theorization existed in the meaning they attached to the term "emergent" : they tended to use this term with the connotation of "spontaneously novel". Because of this connotation, "emergent norm" concept served as a cure-all in explaining seemingly novel phenomena (crowd behavior). To quote D. Bloor's term, this concept was "asymmetrical". Instead of their emphasis on empirical reality of crowd behavior, this concept made their theory both tautological and reality detached. In response to these criticisms, they modified the term "emergent norm" to "an emergent (revised) definition of the situation". This modification makes clear that the term "emergent" means "reorganized" conditions. Now we can estimate this modification makes their central concept symmetrical. And securing the symmetrical continuity between crowd and institutional behavior is the ethos of the "no-real-difference approach". So with this revised interpretation of emergent norm, this approach could secure the symmetrical continuity at the conceptual level and we could use this concept to empirical study of crowd behavior.