Individual Thresholds and Social Diffusion

Abstract

Granovetter and Soong's threshold model for collective behavior focuses on decision situations of action versus nonaction. To explain the number of active people, it assumes an exogenous distribution of behavioral thresholds in a given population of well-informed individuals. Ego's threshold is the necessary proportion of active persons for ego's choice of action. This article relates the threshold model to traditional diffusion hypotheses. It is shown that simple threshold distributions correspond with well-known hypotheses of social diffusion. The approach is illustrated by an analysis of data on participation in the Monday demonstrations in the East German city of Leipzig during the fall of 1989. © 1995, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved.