Social avalanche crowds, cities and financial markets

Individuality and collectivity are central concepts in sociological inquiry. Incorporating cultural history, social theory, urban and economic sociology, Borch proposes an innovative rethinking of these key terms and their interconnections via the concept of the social avalanche. Drawing on classica...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Borch, Christian
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: Cambridge Books Online - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02006nmm a2200289 u 4500
001 EB001958853
003 EBX01000000000000001121755
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 210308 ||| eng
020 |a 9781108774239 
050 4 |a HM831 
100 1 |a Borch, Christian 
245 0 0 |a Social avalanche  |b crowds, cities and financial markets  |c Christian Borch 
260 |a Cambridge  |b Cambridge University Press  |c 2020 
300 |a xi, 279 pages  |b digital 
653 |a Social change 
653 |a Individualism 
653 |a Collective behavior 
653 |a Economics / Sociological aspects 
653 |a Sociology, Urban 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b CBO  |a Cambridge Books Online 
028 5 0 |a 10.1017/9781108774239 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108774239  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 303.4 
520 |a Individuality and collectivity are central concepts in sociological inquiry. Incorporating cultural history, social theory, urban and economic sociology, Borch proposes an innovative rethinking of these key terms and their interconnections via the concept of the social avalanche. Drawing on classical sociology, he argues that while individuality embodies a tension between the collective and individual autonomy, certain situations, such as crowds and other moments of group behaviour, can subsume the individual entirely within the collective. These events, or social avalanches, produce an experience of being swept away suddenly and losing one's sense of self. Cities are often on the verge of social avalanches, their urban inhabitants torn between de-individualising external pressure and autonomous self-presentation. Similarly, Borch argues that present-day financial markets, dominated by computerised trading, abound with social avalanches and the tensional interplay of mimesis and autonomous decision-making. Borch argues that it is no longer humans but fully automated algorithms that avalanche in these markets