Download sociology: perspective, theory, and method

CHAPTER 6

SOCIAL GROUPS


The clusters of people with whom we
interact in our daily lives
FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS

Huge corporations & other bureaucracies
SOCIAL GROUPS




Two or more people who:
Identify with one another
And interact
People with shared experiences, loyalties,
and interests
Social Groups
Your Groups
Not Groups


Not every collection of individuals
forms a group
Category: People who share a status




Women
College Graduates
Baptists
Crowds: Loosely formed collection
of people
Category:
Famous Artists (self-portraits)
Category: Late Night Comedians
Category: Brides
Category: Serial Killers
Crowd: Loosely formed collection
of people
Crowd

"A huge crowd
gathers outside The
New York Times
building in Times
Square to hear playby-play bulletins of
the World Series
between the
Cleveland Indians
and the Brooklyn
Robins (Oct. 12, 1920)."
Primary & Secondary Groups

Two types of social groups
1. PRIMARY GROUP:



Small social group
Personal
Lasting relationships
2. SECONDARY GROUP



Large
Impersonal
Pursue a specific goal or activity

Primary groups:

Personal

Spend time together

Tightly integrated

Group is an end in itself

View each other as unique & irreplaceable
Primary Groups
Families
 Secondary
Groups:

Goal Oriented

Weak emotional ties

Little personal knowledge

Do not think of themselves as “we”
Secondary Groups
Society: The Basics, 9th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2007 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
Group Leadership

Important element of group dynamics

TWO LEADERSHIP ROLES
1.
2.
Instrumental Leadership
Expressive Leadership

1. Instrumental Leadership

Focus: Completion of tasks

Makes plans

Gives orders

Gets things done

2. Expressive Leadership

Focus: Group’s well-being

Personal ties

Minimizes tension & conflict

THREE LEADERSHIP STYLES
1)
Authoritarian Leadership
2)
Democratic Leadership
3)
Laissez-faire Leadership
1. Authoritarian Leadership

Provides clear expectations for:

What needs to be done

When it should be done

How it should be done
Authoritarian Leadership

Clear division between leader and
followers

Group members obey orders

Little affection from the group

Appreciated in a crisis
2. Democratic Leadership

More expressive

Followers vote

Time consuming

Best when followers knowledgeable

Identify new ways to do things

Less successful in a crisis situation
3. Laissez-faire Leadership

“Hands-off¨ style

Provides little or no direction

Gives followers freedom & authority

Followers:

Determine goals

Make decisions

Resolve problems
Laissez-faire Leadership

Effective style when followers are:

Highly skilled

Experienced

Educated

Trustworthy
Group Conformity

Groups influence behavior of members

Change attitudes & beliefs

Identify legitimacy to lead (leader)

Member who fails to conform--loses
credibility
10/30 Group Conformity
Examples
GROUPTHINK
GROUPTHINK (Irving L. Janis)

Tendency of group members to conform

Resulting in a narrow view of an issue
Example:

Challenger Space Shuttle disaster (1/28/86)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnvFnzs91s
Groupthink

Disregarded
engineers’ concerns
about faulty O-rings

Launched shuttle
anyway
GROUPTHINK (Irving L. Janis)
Example
Invasion of Iraq:
War based on notion of disarming
Iraq of WMDs
Intelligence personnel perceived
superiors wanted information
confirming their suspicions--that's
all they gathered
GROUPTHINK (Irving L. Janis)
Other Examples


Titanic sinking
Jonestown massacre


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3cx3U0gYE&f
eature=related
Charles Manson Family


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHJSFsJeIk&f
eature=fvwrel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqooUe0wC0
&feature=related (2002)
Groupthink

Members have sense of invulnerability

Reluctant to:


Suggest alternatives

Be critical of each other's ideas

Express an unpopular opinion
Desire for group cohesion hinders:



Critical thinking
Good decision-making
Problem solving
Groupthink Happens When There Is:

A strong, persuasive group leader

A high level of group cohesion

Intense pressure from the outside to make
a good decision
Negative outcomes

Examine few alternatives

Not critical of each other's ideas

Do not seek expert opinions

Highly selective in gathering information

No contingency plans
Symptoms of Groupthink

An illusion of invulnerability

Believing in the group's morality

Rationalizing poor decisions

Sharing stereotypes

Exercising direct pressure on others

Not expressing your true feelings

Maintaining an appearance of unanimity
Solutions to Groupthink

Use subgroup that reports to larger group

Divide into groups & discuss differences

Use outside experts

Use a “Devil's advocate” to question ideas

Hold a "second-chance meeting" to offer one
last opportunity to choose another course of
action
Reference Groups



Serve as a point of reference:
In making evaluations and decisions
Assessing our attitudes & behavior

Groups to which we belong

Groups to which we do not belong

Conforming to groups to which we do not
belong is a strategy to win acceptance (used in
marketing)
Reference Groups
In-Groups and Out-Groups

IN-GROUP


Respect and loyalty
OUT-GROUP

Sense of competition or opposition
In-Groups
Source of pride and self-esteem
 Sense of social identity
 Enhance the status of the group

For example:
 The U.S. is the best country in the
world!

Out-Groups

Increase self-image by:

Discriminating against out-group

Being prejudice against out-group


For example:
The British, French etc. are losers!
Group Size


Influences interaction
THE DYAD: Group with 2 members
 More intense interaction than in
larger groups

Unstable

If either person leaves, group
disappears

THE TRIAD: Social group with 3
members

More stable than a dyad

Less intense interaction

Fewer personal attachments

More formal rules & regulations

Coalition formation

Power structure possible
The Effects of Group Size on Relationships
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Networks

A web of weak social ties

Includes people we know of or who
know of us

With whom we rarely interact
Social Networks
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Social Networks
Social Networks

Network ties may be weak, but
powerful resource

People’s colleges, clubs,
neighborhoods, political parties, and
personal interests

“Privileged” networks are a valuable
source of “social capital”

Ability to secure mutual benefits by
membership in social networks
Gendered Social Networks


Women’s ties not as powerful as
typical “old boy” networks
As gender equality increases

Male and female networks become
more alike
Formal Organizations

Large secondary groups organized to
achieve goals efficiently

Impersonal

Formally planned atmosphere

Tasks of organizing members of U.S.
society
Types of Formal Organizations

Based on reasons people participate
1) Utilitarian Organizations
2) Normative Organizations
3) Coercive Organizations

1. UTILITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS
Pays people for their efforts
 Members: Almost everyone who
works for income
 Joining: Usually by choice


Examples:



Microsoft
Bank of America
Winthrop University

2. NORMATIVE ORGANIZATIONS

“Voluntary Organizations”

Join to pursue goals viewed as
morally worthwhile

Examples:



Amnesty International
Sierra Club
Peace Corp

3. COERCIVE ORGANIZATIONS
 Involuntary membership
 Forced to join as a form of
punishment or treatment
 Isolate people to change attitudes
and behaviors
 Examples:


Prisons
Psychiatric hospitals
COMPARISON: SMALL GROUPS & FORMAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Society: The Basics, 9th Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2007 Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
Theory in Everyday Life
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company