NCJ Number
147321
Journal
American Journal of Sociology Volume: 62 Dated: (July 1956) Pages: 14- 20
Date Published
1956
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study hypothesized that hostile crowd behavior requires an unfavorable symbol which serves to divert crowd attention away from favorable or mitigating connotations; the analysis is based on newspaper coverage of "zoot-suiter" gang members and Mexicans in the 1943 Los Angeles riots.
Abstract
The hypothesis encompassed two important characteristics of crowd behavior. First, crowd behavior was viewed as uniform behavior in a broad sense, in contrast to the behavior of diverse individuals. Second, the hypothesis considered crowd behavior as following a course of action at least partially sanctioned by society but inhibited by certain cultural aspects. The Los Angeles riots of 1943 served as a basis for the analysis; 10.5 years of newspaper references to the symbol "Mexican" were reviewed. Newspaper articles were placed in five basic categories: favorable themes, unfavorable themes, neutral mention, negative- favorable mention, and "zoot-suiter" delinquency theme. The analysis of newspaper articles did not support the hypothesis in its simplest form. The expectation that a shift would occur in the relative preponderance of favorable and unfavorable contexts for the symbol "Mexican" was not demonstrated. However, the view that an unfavorable symbol was required as the rallying point for hostile crowd behavior was supported. Evidence indicated that the symbol "Mexican" tended to be displaced by the symbol "zoot-suiter" as the time of the riots drew near and that "zoot-suiters" came to be regarded as a threat to the community. Predominantly unfavorable connotations of the "zoot-suiter" symbol tended to neutralize ambivalence in the symbol "Mexican," thus providing a necessary condition for hostile crowd behavior. 16 footnotes and 3 tables