ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a wide range of sociological concerns what people do collectively, and with some of the relationships between those different units and levels of analysis. It begin with a discussion of the sociological birthright of collective behaviour and call attention to the continuum of social forms that were Park's initial referents for the phenomena to be explained. The chapter also examines traditional and contemporary sociological definitions of collective behaviour and their limitations and discusses the life cycle of temporary gatherings: assembling processes, the assembled gathering and dispersal processes. It offers an offer an alternative definition of collective behaviour. The chapter explores some relationships between the different units and levels of analysis with which students of collective behaviour have been concerned: the sequences of individual and collective behaviour within gatherings; the sequences of gatherings that constitute events; and the cycles of gatherings, events, campaigns, and waves that rise and fall across time.
