PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Sociol.

Sec. Sociological Theory

Collective Actions in Crisis

  • Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine

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Abstract

Abstract When a crisis strikes, people want quick and accurate information, and fast responses can assist to fill in the gaps left by the crisis. Crises present enormous hurdles to population decision-making. Creating excellent judgments is also difficult since it entails making sacrifices for the greater good. This perspective study shows that social conventions and norms are ways for resolving collective action concerns. When group cohesiveness is the norm, it becomes easier to address difficulties related to collective action. However, the crisis compels us to reevaluate our beliefs and return to our fundamental values. One of the best of these values at a larger level is collective action. As the crisis leads to shortage in time, resources and choices which limits the individual preferences or narrows the discrepancies, it puts the collective action as a priority. The study indicates that collaborative stakeholders must be able to communicate effectively with one another in order to make informed decisions in difficult situations and to engage, manage, and recover from a crisis. The researcher considers what is learned about crisis, decision-making and making sense in tumultuous situations, and argues for principles that underpins these concepts. The researcher investigates when and how shared meanings enable more useful or adaptive behavior. People's ability to react to crises is also at an inflection moment, particular thanks to technological advancements and social media. This study provides the crisis mechanism as well as a review of enabling technologies and their potential in the collective action.

Summary

Keywords

collective action, Crisis, decision-making, sense-making, Technology

Received

12 October 2025

Accepted

17 February 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Alsaqqa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Hatem H. Alsaqqa

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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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