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Jaap Van Ginneken, “Collective Behavior and Public Opinion: Rapid Shifts in Opinion and Communication”

Chaos, complexity, and uncertainty: fundamental facets of life. Jaap van Ginneken, in Collective Behavior and Public Opinion (2003), highlights these aspects of our existence and displays how “minor details may cause drastic shifts in many processes” (p. xi). This book takes a case study approach towards the chaos, complexity, and uncertainty that exists in the world, and vividly describes the internal and external actions of groups. Van Ginneken, a former freelance writer and reporter, presents a rather enjoyable read with regard to the formation of public opinion, and addresses many taken-for-granted parts of our environment.

In addition to addressing uncertainty, van Ginneken’s work also deals with our tendency to approach many aspects of our world with rigid, unquestioned attitudes: “All too often, we are mired in a somewhat reified approach to opinions and attitudes, as if they were a kind of brick, with an obvious permanence and fixed dimensions; and as if they aggregate like walls and buildings, through simple addition and accumulation” (p. 217). His case studies display the problems of such an idea, and he asserts that public opinion “should be approached as a dynamic configuration in constant transformation” (p. 3).

Van Ginneken macroscopically analyzes eleven events, each of which had drastic effects on individuals and the world as a whole. He separates the book into four parts: “Mind Quakes,” “Emerging Collective Behavior,” “Shifting Public Moods,” and “Conclusions.” Each part bleeds into the next, fluidly connecting various theories and phenomena.

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