Crowd is a scientifically useless concept because “the crowd” implies a single entity whose members have the same motives and/or continuously engage in the same actions. This is a long-standing stereotype that sociologists created and, until recently, have perpetuated. But considerable evidence is accumulating that debunks the stereotype. Sociologists are creating different ways of thinking about how people form gatherings, what they do there alone and together, and how gatherings eventually disperse.

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