The Real WorldAn Introduction to Sociology

4th Edition

Chapter 5: Separate and Together: Life in Groups

What is a Group?

• Book Definition: a collection of people who share some attribute, identify with one another, and interact with each other.

• In other words…a group is a collection of two or more people who:

– Interact frequently.

– Share a sense of belonging.

– Have a feeling of interdependence.

– Group membership has a profound effect on your behavior.

Not Groups: Aggregates and Categories

• Not every collection of people are considered groups:

• Aggregates are people who happen to find themselves in a particular physical location:

– Do not form long lasting social relations. Examples: Airline passengers, shoppers, waiting at a traffic light

• Categories share a similar characteristic without any common sense of connection other than their status in the category:

– Students, elderly, Native Americans

Primary and Secondary Groups

• Primary Group: the people who are most important to our sense of self; members’ relationships are typically characterized by face-to-face interaction, high levels of cooperation, and intense feelings of belonging.

• Cooley introduced the term “primary” because this group has the most profound effect on us;

– Emotional satisfaction, responsible for socialization, and central to our identities.

Primary and Secondary Groups

• Secondary Group: larger and less intimate than primary groups; members’ relationships are usually organized around a specific goal and often temporary.

– Interaction tends to be more formal and impersonal

– Often organized around a specific activity or the accomplishment of a task.

– Membership is often temporary

• Secondary group membership can generate primary group ties as well.

Social Networks

• Social Network: the web of direct and indirect ties connecting an individual to other people who may also affect him or her.

– Social Ties: connections between individuals

– Direct Ties: People you are connected to without having to go through another person.

– Indirect Ties: Those connections that pass through other people/places/things.

Social Networks

• Sociologists are concerned not only with how networks are constructed but along how influence moves along a network, and thus, which persons or organizations have more influence than others within the network.

–Often times ideas and fads move this way.

Social Networks (cont’d)

• Research on social networks has shown that indirect ties can as important as direct ties.

– Jobs and Networks: “Its not what you know, but who you know.”

• High Socioeconomic (SES) Status vs. Low SES

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Separate from Groups: Anomie

• According to Durkheim, all the social groups with which we are connected provide norms that place limits on our individual actions.

– Example: You might have wanted to go to Cancun for senior trip, but your parents wouldn’t let you go due to money and safety.

Separate from Groups: Anomie

• Durkheim argues that we need these limits –otherwise, we would want many things we could never have, and the lengths to which we would go in search of our unattainable desires would be boundless (pg. 145).

– Example: If you were always searching for something and never getting it, you’d be very unhappy.

– Durkheim called this state of “normlessness” anomie.

– Group membership keeps us from feeling it.

Separate from Groups: Anomie

• A concern is that society is becoming increasingly fragmented, and as a result, anomie will increase among the population.

• Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2001) by Robert Putnam

– Argues we no longer practice the same types of “civic engagement” that builds democratic community.

– Criticisms: He disregards new ways of staying connected. For example, the internet is providing us a new set of resources to stay connected.

Group Dynamics

• Group dynamics are the patterns of interaction between groups and individuals.

• We are concerned with how groups form, change, disintegrate, and achieve goals.

Group Characteristics and Dynamics

• Theoretical Perspectives on the purpose of groups: Why do we form groups?

– Functionalists – Groups serve instrumental and expressive needs

– Conflict Theorists – Groups involve a series of “power” relationships.

Group Dynamics: Group Size

• The size of a group affects how it operates and the types of individual relationships that can occur within it.

• According to Georg Simmel, small groups have distinctive interaction patterns that do not exist in larger groups.

Group Dynamics: Group Size

Dyad

Group composed of two

members.

• Most intimate of all groups.

• Most unstable of all groups.

• Examples?

Triad

Group composed of three

members.

• More stable than a dyad.

• Coalitions are possible

• Examples?

Group Dynamics: Group Size

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• The smaller a group is, the more likely it is to be based on personal ties. As group size increases, specialization occurs, communication patterns change, and it tends to be based on rules and regulations.

• The larger they get, the more impersonal they become and leadership becomes necessary.

Group Dynamics: In-Groups/Out-Groups

IngroupA group that one identifies with

and feels loyalty toward.

Outgroup

Any group an individual feels

opposition, rivalry, or hostility

toward.

• All groups set boundaries by distinguishing between insiders who are members and outsiders who are not.

• William Graham Sumner

Group Dynamics: In-Groups/Out-Groups

• Most of us are associated with a number of in-groups and out-groups stemming from our ethnic, familial, professional, or educational backgrounds.

• Advantage: Group Cohesion

• Disadvantages: Group Superiority

– Prejudice/Discrimination

– Stereotypes can occur

– Robert Merton noted the phenomenon that the same qualities or behaviors are viewed positively when they are “ours” and negatively when they are “theirs.” (Example: The party of a person who is wealthy – “classy” vs. “snobby”)

– At the worst: slavery and genocide

Group Dynamics: Reference Group

• A group that provides a standard of comparison against which we evaluate ourselves.

• It may also be a group that we aspire to belong. We may act more like members of a group we want to join than members of groups to which we already belong.

– In this case, reference groups are a source of anticipatory socialization.

Group Cohesion

• A basic concept in the study of group dynamics is group cohesion, the sense of solidarity that members feel toward their group. In other words: the force that binds them together– Example: team spirit

• The life of a group depends on at least a minimum level of cohesion. If members begin to lose their sense of commitment, the group will gradually disintegrate.

Groupthink

• Whereas a high degree of cohesion might seem desirable, it can also lead to the kind of poor decision making.

• Irving Janus coined the term groupthink.

• Groupthink: in very cohesive groups, the tendency to enforce a high degree of conformity among members, creating a demand for unanimous agreement.

• Although it can help maintain solidarity, it can also short-circuit the decision making process.

– Example: The space shuttle Challenger accident in 1986

Social Influence (Peer Pressure)

• Social influence (peer pressure) is the influence of one’s fellow group members on individual attitudes and behaviors.

• Generally we conform to group norms because we want to gain acceptance and approval (positive sanctions) and avoid rejection and disapproval (negative sanctions). Three types of conformity:

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Social Influence (Peer Pressure) (cont’d)

• Social influence can produce different types of conformity depending on the strength of the individual’s commitment to the group.

• Compliance is the mildest form of conformity and is done to gain reward or avoid punishment.

– When you comply, you don’t actually change your own ideas or beliefs

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Social Influence (Peer Pressure) (cont’d)

• Identification is a type of conformity (stronger than compliance and weaker than internalization) caused by a desire to establish or maintain a relationship with a person or group.

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Social Influence (Peer Pressure) (cont’d)

• Identification, a type of conformity stronger than compliance and weaker than internalization, caused by a desire to establish or maintain a relationship with a person or group.

– Here you go a step further to fit in.

• Internalization, the strongest type of conformity, occurs when an individual adopts the beliefs or actions of a group and makes them her own.

– Here, your beliefs actually change. You believe in what you’re doing.

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The Asch Experiment

• Solomon Asch (1958)

• He gathered groups of seven or eight students to participate in what he called “an experiment on visual perception.”

• Everyone in the group were actually aware that this was an experiment on conformity except one “real” subject.

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The Asch Experiment

• Participants were asked to look at sets of three straight lines and to then match the length of a fourth line to one of the other three lines.

• When asked, the group who knew the actual experiment intentionally gave the wrong answer.

• The purpose was to observe what the “real” subject would do.

The Asch Experiment

• Most of the “real” subjects admitted to feeling considerable pressure to comply with the rest of the group. Many times they were distressed at the discrepancy between their own perceptions and those of the others.

• 33% yielded almost every round. 40% yielded less frequently, but still gave wrong answers. Only 25% actually gave independent answers.

• In more recent studies, compliance has decreased.

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Teamwork

• Sociologists have studied teamwork to determine whether groups are more efficient than individuals.

• Researchers soon recognized that both the nature of the task and the characteristics of the group have an effect.

• Steiner (1972), compared potential productivity to actual productivity. He found that actual productivity can ever equal potential productivity because there are always losses in

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Teamwork

• A group’s efficiency usually declines as its size increases, because organizing takes time and social loafing increases with group size.

– Social loafing is the phenomenon in which as more individuals are added to a task, each individual contributes a little less, a source of inefficiency when working in teams. In other words, having “too many” helpers can be a problem.

• A solution is to give rewards for individual effort, however this is often difficult.

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Group Leadership Functions

• Instrumental leadership is leadership that is task or goal-oriented. An instrumental leader is less concerned with people’s feelings than with getting the job done.

– Instrumental leadership is most appropriate when the group’s purpose is to complete a task or reach a particular goal.

Group Leadership Functions

• An expressive leader is leadership concerned with maintaining emotional and relational harmony within the group. An expressive leader demonstrates interest in group members’ emotions as well as their achievements.

– Expressive leadership is most appropriate when the group is dealing with emotional issues, and harmony, solidarity, and high morale are needed.

Qualities of Leadership: Power, Authority, and Style

• Effective group leaders possess a variety of qualities, some of which are particular to the kind of group they lead. Good leaders need to know which style to use.

– Authoritarian leaders - often criticized for fostering intergroup hostility.

– Democratic leaders - praised for supportive behavior and blamed for being indecisive in a crisis.

– Laissez-faire leaders - do not provide active leadership.

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Qualities of Leadership: Power, Authority, and Style

• Power is the ability to control the actions of others. Two types of power:

– coercive power is backed up by the threat of force.

– influential power is supported by persuasion.

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Qualities of Leadership: Power, Authority, and Style (cont’d)

• Max Weber identified three types of authority found in social organizations.

– Traditional authority is authority based in custom, birthright, or divine right, and usually associated with monarchies and dynasties.

– Legal-rational authority is authority based in laws, rules, and procedures, not in the lineage of any individual leader.

– Charismatic authority is based in the perception of remarkable personal qualities in a leader.

Milgram’s Obedience Experiment: Results

Formal Organizations

• A formal organization is a highly structured secondary group formed for the purpose of achieving specific goals in the most efficient manner.

• Formal organizations are characterized by bureaucracy.

• There are three types: normative, coercive, utilitarian

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Types of Formal Organizations

Normative

Organizations we join

voluntarily to pursue a common

interest or gain prestige.

Coercive

Associations people are forced

to join. (Example: boot camps

and prisons)

Utilitarian

Organizations we join

voluntarily when they can

provide us with a material

reward.

Bureaucracy

• A bureaucracy is a type of secondary group designed to perform tasks efficiently.

• Max Weber identified six characteristics of bureaucracies:

– 1. specialization, 2. technical competence, 3. hierarchy, 4. rules and regulations, 5. impersonality, and 6. formal written communication.

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Bureaucracy (cont’d)

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Bureaucracy (cont’d)

1. Specialization: all members of a bureaucracy are assigned specialized tasks and roles.

2. Technical Competence: Bureaucratic members are specially trained for their specific roles.

3. Hierarchy: Bureaucracies always feature supervision of subordinates by higher-ranking managers and bosses.

4. Rules and Regulations: These are meant to make all operation as predictable as possible.

5. Impersonality: In a bureaucracy, rules come before people; no individual receives special treatment.

6. Formal Written Communication: Documents such as memos (or e-mails) are the heart of the organization, and the most effective way to communicate.

The Real World

Copyright © 2008 W.W.

Norton & Company, Inc.

Bureaucracy (cont’d)

• Although bureaucracies often seem heartless and undemocratic, they are extremely efficient and are responsible for providing many basic necessities.

• George Ritzer (1996) coined the term McDonaldization to describe the spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the accompanying increases in efficiency and dehumanization.– Rationalization is the implementation of formal

rules and regulations in order to work more efficiently and without consideration of subjective or individual concerns.

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