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Chapter 6
Social Groups and
Societies
Groups
• Groups are the essence of life
• We become who we are because of our group
membership
• Groups influence our thoughts, perceptions,
values, behaviors, and actions
• The essential feature of groups is that members
share something in common and that it is
significant
• Largest and most complex group is the society
Transformation of Societies
• Hunting and Gathering Societies
– Earliest groups
• Pastoral and Horticultural Societies
First to domesticate animals and begin earliest
type of gardening
• Agricultural Societies
– First to farm large scale, gave rise to cultures
• Industrial Societies
• Post Industrial Societies - Information
Groups within Society
• Durkheim says small groups stand as a buffer
between individual and larger society
• They provide intimate relationships that give a
sense of meaning and purpose
• Sociologists define collections of people in
different ways
– Aggregate (share space but don’t belong together)
– Category (statistic designating people who share
similar characteristics)
Types of Groups
• Primary groups – relationship oriented (intimate
long term face to face interaction)
they are essential to emotional well being –they
generate feelings of self esteem and provide values
and attitudes incorporated into our identities
• Secondary groups – larger more formal,
impersonal, temporary, and anonymous
– Based on interest or activity and members interact
based on specific roles (ex. Class)
– We have become a secondary group oriented society
More Types of Groups
• In group – groups that elicit loyal feelings
and ones that we feel we belong too.
• Out groups – groups that elicit apathetic
or antagonistic feelings
• Reference groups – groups to which we
may or may not belong (they serve 2
functions –normative and comparative)
– Because we have more than one reference
group internal conflicts can often arise
Cliques and Social Networks
• Clique – cluster of people within larger group
who choose to regularly interact with each other
(normal development)
• Social network – links and social ties that radiate
out from the self (small world)
– Milgram experiment on senders and receivers
• Networking conscience use or cultivation of
social contacts people think will be beneficial to
them (good old boys network)
• Electronic community – new type of human
group
Group Dynamics
• Ways in which groups affect individuals
and individuals affect groups
• Dynamics most easily observed in small
group settings (all can interact with all)
• Sociologists consider group size – types of
leaders – leadership styles when studying
group dynamics
Group Size
• Dyads – 2 people (most intense, intimate and
unstable of all groups)
• Triad – 3 people (dynamics change) – coalitions,
jealousies, and rivalries can develop (mediation
or arbitration can occur
• As groups grow larger it becomes more stable,
but intimacy and intensity decrease
• Growing groups become more formal, and the
group becomes less dependent on one person relationships become less personal and more
businesslike
Group size and Dynamics
• Darley and Latane experiment on students
communicating over intercoms
– Diffusion of help – larger groups feel less
responsible for assisting others
Leadership
• 2 types of leaders
– Instrumental or task leader – keeps the group
moving toward its goal
– Expressive or socioemotional leader –
increases harmony and minimizes conflict
• Both are necessary – one keeps the group
focused on accomplishing the task and the
other maintains group morale
• Typically one person can’t be both
Leadership Styles
• Authoritarian – he/she leads by giving orders
(very efficient but no group input creates bad
morale and malcontentment)
• Democratic – leads by reaching a consensus
(members have input, vote or help in making
decisions) slower process
• Laissez Faire – one who leads by being highly
permissive (informs group what needs to be
done and leaves them alone) – creates
confusion and inefficiency
• Lippit and Waite study on leadership styles
Peer Pressure
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Solomon Asch – study of peer pressure
Milgram study of Obedience to Authority
These studies demonstrated “group think”
A term coined by Irving Janus describing a
collective tunnel vision that groups sometimes
develop
• Perception is that there is only one logical
conclusion to which all members of the group
are impelled by loyalty and trust, to accept
– Refusal by FDR to believe Japan would attack Pearl
Harbor
– Kennedy decision to proceed with the Bay of Pigs
invasion
– Johnson’s decision to escalate the Vietnam war