ABSTRACT

When people rush with sound and fury toward something they believe to be gratifying—viz., in manias, booms, bandwagons, “fashion races” and fads—we characterize their behavior as craze-like. Such behavior, at first glance, appears to contrast with the panic, which involves a headlong rush away from something. We should not, however, push the contrast between the craze and the panic too far. Formally it is possible to analyze crazes in the same framework used for panic—conduciveness, strain, generalized beliefs, precipitating factors, and so on. Substantively as well, many conditions that result in the craze are similar, if not identical to the conditions that result in the panic. Further, the panic often accompanies the craze. At the end of the chapter we shall elucidate the similarities and differences between the craze and the panic.