Collective Behavior and Social Movements (CBSM) is a section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) composed of sociologists who focus on the study of emerging and extra-institutional group phenomena.
[1] The purpose of the section is to foster the study of these topics,[2] which is done so by communicating through its newsletter Critical Mass, organizing research-related participation, and sponsoring workshops.
In the 1970s, there was a desire among some members of the ASA to establish a group that would study collective behavior and social movements as a fused topic.
However, John Lofland, who was central in the effort to establish an entirely separate section within the ASA for this cause, responded adamantly that the title should pay homage to the traditional link between collective behavior and social movements.
The bond between collective behavior and social movements had formed earlier in the twentieth century through the work of Robert Ezra Park and Herbert Blumer.