10.2a Collective Behavior With More Negative Elements
A riot is a form of collective violence involving property destruction. Riots occur for a range of reasons. The flashpoint model suggests that many issues may be conducive to a riot forming. Still, a flashpoint or a trigger sets off the riot – such as the acquittal of police in the beating of Rodney King, which resulted in the 1992 Los Angeles riots (also known as the L.A. uprising) (Johnson, 2021). A flashpoint can typically only be identified in hindsight and only activates a riot when underlying conditions (social problems) are conducive to a riot forming.
Photo 10.2
The L.A. Uprising Resulted in the Damage or Destruction of More than 1,000 Buildings (Jaffe, 2012)
Even a peaceful protest can become a riot. However, it is often unclear who or what turns a peaceful protest into a riot. Research finds that police may prompt riots when they use riot-control techniques in anticipation of a peaceful protest becoming a riot (Maguire & Oakley, 2020). In other words, by preparing for a riot, the conditions become favorable to a riot forming. For example, about half of the 2024 college campus protests on the Israel-Palestine conflict involved violence. The violence occurred between protestors and law enforcement, who university administrators had brought in to disperse and remove the protestors (Doyle & Ho 2024). It is unknown how many of these protests would have remained peaceful had university administrators not tried to disperse them using law enforcement.
People also riot in situations that do not involve protesting social problems. Fans of sports teams have rioted after essential wins and losses. For instance, Philadelphia Eagles fans damaged cars and looted after their team won the Super Bowl in 2018 (BBC, 2018). The social identity model could explain fans rioting after a critical win or loss because fans act based on their identity as members of the group rather than their individual identities as law-abiding citizens. In this example, people acted collectively as Eagles fans. On their own, they likely would not have vandalized or looted.
Photo 10.3
Sports Fans May Riot After Important Wins or Losses
A mob is a group who uses violence or other intimidation tactics to seek justice for some real or perceived harm. Historically, lynch mobs involved White people coming together to provide vigilante justice over perceived wrongdoing on the part of a Black person, which often resulted in their death (Krumsiek, 2018). Today, online mobs have emerged that involve the digital mobilization of people to harass a person (and sometimes their families and their employers) for their actual or perceived wrongdoing. Journalists (especially women and journalists of color) (Posetti & Shabbir, 2022), women, and members of marginalized racial groups are frequent targets of online mobs (Krumsiek, 2018).