IN TWO WEEKS

• Bring a laptop

• They Say, I Say article on families

GROUPS & SOCIETIES

Understanding Our Environment

SOCIAL AGGREGATE

• Collection of people in a particular location

• BUT NOT• Interacting or identifying

with each other

• People who share a common characteristic

• BUT DO NOT• Identify or interact

with each other

SOCIAL CATEGORY

WHAT A GROUP IS NOT

WHAT IS A SOCIAL GROUP?• Two or more members – Membership

chosen• Thus potential for conflict

• Interaction• Statuses, roles develop

• Common identity/sense of belonging• Know who is in and who is out

• Shared expectations of norms or behavior• Often tasks to complete or goal

• Sense of mutual obligation • High cohesion=strong attachment

TYPES OF GROUPS

• Primary Groups• Secondary Groups• Reference Group• In-Group• Out-Group

PRIMARY GROUPS

• Small, intimate, and long-lasting.• Our most immediate relationships with family members and close friends form primary groups.• Primary groups help us to

determine who we are.

PRIMARY GROUPS & LOOKING GLASS

SELVES• It is through primary relationships that we

create our “looking-glass selves”.• By reflecting their perceptions back to us,

primary relationships provide valuable feedback.

• Families when young – Peers when older

SECONDARY GROUPS

• Formal, superficial, and last for a short or fixed time.

• These groups generally come together to meet some specific goal or purpose.• Examples: sociology class, co-workers, sports team

• Such groups provide bounded relationships that exist only under specific conditions.

For example, you and your co-workers might “do lunch,” but you probably

wouldn’t invite them to a family function.

REFERENCE GROUPS

• In nearly every situation, we compare ourselves to another person or group.

• Since we cannot make judgments about our own behavior in isolation, we often use others to assess our behavior.

• Sociologists refer to the group you use to evaluate yourself as a reference group.

• Examples: family, cousin’s family, team, popular culture figure or fictional - media

GROUP BEHAVIOR

• All groups will have a culture: Beliefs, Norms, Values

• There will be sanctions for breaking folkways, mores or taboos

IN-GROUPS

• An in-group is a group to which we feel an infinity or closeness.

• For this reason, we often have a strong sense of loyalty to an in-group.

• Most people hold in-group bias, the feeling that their in-group is superior to others.

• One way to affirm an in-group is to put down the out-group

• Shia and Sunni OR Packers and Bears

WHAT’S SO FUNNY?

• https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2016/08/10/humor-theorist-explains-trumps-joke-about-killing-hillary-clinton/

EXAMPLE OF IN-GROUP BIAS

Have you ever noticed that it is OK for you to talk

badly about your family, but it someone else insults

them, you get angry?That is because most people

hold an in-group bias toward their own family,

and if someone who is not part of that groups attacks it, they defend the group.

MERTON & BIASES

• Sociologist Robert Merton suggests that our biases come from our position in society.

• We see the traits of our group as acceptable while we hold the views of out-groups as unreasonable.

• IOW, everyone is a hypocrite• Social outcasts in high school can hold either a

positive or negative bias toward the “popular” group.• If the outcasts know that nothing can change their

outsider status, then they’re likely to hold the cool kids in contempt.

TYPES OF LEADERS

TYPES OF POWER

LEADERSHIP STYLES

• Autocratic leaders determine the group policies and assign tasks.• “It’s my way or the highway.”

• Democratic leaders strive to set group policy by discussion and agreement. • They hope for consensus and are likely to ask for

your opinion on matters.• Laissez-faire leaders lead by absence and

may in fact not want to be leaders at all.• They set few goals and do only what must be done.

ALL LEADERSHIP STYLES:

1. There is no “right” type of leadership style.2. Successful leaders adapt the style to the situation.3. The process of leadership impacts both the group members and the leader.4. Leadership styles are learnable.5. Different styles can be effective in certain situations and/or with certain groups of people.

GROUP PROBLEMS

• Conformity• Group Think

CONFORMITY

• Because it takes the rare individual to stand out and be a leader, most members of a group are followers in some way.

• Conformity refers to the degree to which we will alter our behavior, attitudes, and points of view to fit into our perceived expectation of what is appropriate.

• Asch study• Power of standing up

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/11/14/sexism-sports

GROUPTHINK

• At times, group conformity becomes so strong that a group will not consider other ideas or influences.

• Extremely cohesive groups or ones with very strong leaders might make decisions using groupthink.

• Groupthink is a term for groups decisions that are made without objective thought.

GROUPTHINK MODE

• When a group is in this mode, people conform to what they believe is the consensus of the group.

• Members often make decisions that they would not make as individuals.

• Extreme group conformity leads to group think.

• If frequently results to bad decisions, that people later agree were a mistake.

GROUPTHINK CONDITIONS:

1. Cohesiveness: Groups that are highly connected are more likely to engage in groupthink.

2. Threats: When groups encounter an external threat, solidarity increases because common enemy unify groups.

3. A Strong Leader: If the leader has a domineering style or is charismatic enough, groups will usually accept the leader’s will.

SHORTCOMINGS THAT RESULT FROM GROUPTHINK:

1. Illusion of invulnerability Groupthink creates excessive optimism that the desired outcome will occur.

2. Collective rationalization Members ignore warnings as irrelevant and will not reconsider the assumptions of the decision.

3. Belief in inherent morality People in the group believe their cause is just and right.

4. Stereotyped views of out-groups Groupthink is likely when members view themselves as the “good guys” and their opponents as the “bad guys”

5. Direct pressure on dissenters Members of the group who disagree are under pressure to keep quiet if they dissent.

Groupthink conditions

6. Self-censorship Group members squelch their doubts and fail to express reservations that they may have about the proposal.

7. Illusions of unanimity The group leadership mistakes a pressured majority view for unanimity.

8. Self-appointed mind guards Certain members play the role of protector of the leader, shielding him or her from information or ideas that might be contradictory to the groups decisions.

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

• When you think of all the possible things that brought you to this point in your life, you are basically thinking about social capital.

• Social capital is the sociological concept that refers to the individual and collective resources available to a person.

WHAT IS SOCIAL CAPITAL?

• Social capital includes the institutions, relationships, attitudes, and values that influence interactions among people and contribute to economic and social development.

• Sociologist James S. Coleman suggests that social capital impacts all aspects of our lives and affects the choices and options available to us.

• Most of us use this kind of capital to find jobs, colleges, and other opportunities.

COLEMAN VS. BOURDIEU

Although Coleman suggests that social capital is functional for society and individuals, Bourdieu, a conflict theorist, views it as an economic resource.

Consider legacy admissions: A policy in which applicants to a highly touted private university are

admitted based on their family’s history with the school.