CHAPTER 7: GROUPS AND ORGANIZATION
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO GROUPS AND
ORGANIZATION
 Groups are prevalent in our social lives and
provide a significant way we understand and
define ourselves
 Help foster social value systems and are key to
the structure of society
 3 sociological perspectives are used to primarily
study groups: Functionalist, Conflict and Symbolic
Interaction (Interactionist)
CONTINUE INTRODUCTION TO GROUPS AND
ORGANIZATION
 Functionalist Perspective
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Big picture, macro-level view looking at how all the
different aspects of society are intertwined
Idea that society is a well-balanced system with all
parts necessary for the whole
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Studies how the roles play a part in relation to the whole
Conflict Perspective
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Big picture, macro-level view on the genesis and
growth of inequality
CONTINUE INTRODUCTION TO GROUPS AND
ORGANIZATION
 Symbolic Interaction (Interactionist)
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Little picture, micro-level view of the day to day
interactions of groups
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Examples like leadership style and group dynamics
SECTION 2.1: TYPES OF GROUPS
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Defining a group
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Group – amorphous (without clear shape or form) can
refer to a wide variety of gatherings; a collection of at
least 2 people who interact with some frequency and
who share a sense that their identity is aligned with
the group
Not every time people are gathered is that group
Aggregrate (crowd) – people who exist in the same
place at the same time, but who don’t interact or
share a sense of identity
Category – people who share similar characteristics
but are not tied to one another in any way
CONTINUE TYPES OF GROUPS
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They may share a sense of identity but don’t, as a whole,
interact frequently with each other
People in aggregates and categories can become
a group
Also, there can be many groups within a single
category
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Category – Teachers
Groups – Union members, non-union members,
teachers who coach, teachers involved with the PTA
SECTION 2.2 TYPES OF GROUPS
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Groups are primarily broken down into 2
categories: primary groups and secondary groups
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Primary groups – usually fairly small and made up of
individuals who engage face-to-face in long-term
emotional ways (family members); expressive
functions rather than pragmatic functions
Secondary groups – often larger and impersonal, task
focused and time-limited (classmates or office
workers); serves an instrumental function rather than
expressive
Neither are bound by strict definitions or set limits
CONTINUE TYPES OF GROUPS
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People can move from one group to another
SECTION 2.3: IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS
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Groups can gain power and stay in power through
inclusion and exclusion
In-groups and out-groups are subcategories of
primary and secondary groups
In-group – the group that an individual feels they
belong to and believes is an integral part of who
they are
Out-group – a group someone doesn’t belong to,
an there may be a feeling of disdain or
competition in relation to an out-group
CONTINUE IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS
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Examples of in-groups or out-groups:
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Sports teams, fraternities, sororities, unions
Affiliations can be neutral or positive
Can also help explain some negative human
behavior
When others are defined as “not like us”, ingroups can end up practicing: ethnocentrism,
racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism
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Judging others negatively based upon their culture,
race, sex, age or sexuality
CONTINUE IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS
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In-groups can also form inside of secondary
groups
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These in-groups can band together to show favoritism
or affinity for others within the group while the overall
organization may be unwilling or unable to
acknowledge it
The politics of the in-group can be used to exclude
others from gaining status within the group
CONTINUE IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS
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Reference groups – a group that people compare
themselves to, used as a standard of
measurement
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Examples: peer groups; many pay attention to the style
of dress, music, attitudes and compare themselves to
what they see
There can be more than one reference group
Other examples: churches/synagogues/mosques,
workplace, family gathering, parents
Many can also have competing messages
We use these groups to help guide behavior and show
social norms
CONTINUE IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS
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Reference groups can impact and influence how we
act even if you’ve never met or know one
Can help us understand the social identities we aspire
to or want to distance ourselves from
Reference groups can become our in-group or outgroup
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Can define our friends and our enemies
SECTION 3.1: GROUP SIZE AND STRUCTURE
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Small groups are typically defined as one where
all the members of the group know each other
and share simultaneous interaction
Can be divided into two categories:
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Dyads – a 2 member group
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If one member leaves, the group no longer exists: divorce or
2 best friends never speaking again
Triads – a 3 member group
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The group can survive if one person leaves
2 v. 1 dynamics can develop leading to the potential for a
majority opinion on an issue
CONTINUE GROUP SIZE AND STRUCTURE
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Small groups tend to have strong internal
cohesiveness and a sense of connection
Hard to achieve large goals; struggle to be heard
or to be a force of change; easy to be ignored
Hard to determine when a small group becomes a
large group
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Too many people to join in simultaneous discussion
Joining with other groups as part of a movement that
unites them
CONTINUE GROUP SIZE AND STRUCTURE
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Larger groups may share geographic space or be
spread across the globe
The larger the group, the more attention it can garner
and the more pressure they can exert toward the goal
they wish to achieve
The downside is, the larger the group becomes, the
more susceptible it is to division and lack of cohesion
SECTION 3.2: GROUP LEADERSHIP
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Large groups require some type of leadership
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Leadership in small groups tends to be informal
Primary groups tend not to have formal leadership
Secondary groups can have overt leaders with outline
roles and responsibilities with a chain of command to
follow; think of the Army
Styles and functions of leadership can vary
considerably
CONTINUE GROUP LEADERSHIP
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Leadership function – the main focus or goal of
the leader
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Instrumental leader – one who is goal oriented and
concerned with accomplishing set tasks (CEOs and
generals), stereotypically men
Expressive leader – more concerned with promoting
emotional strength and health, that people are
supported (social and religious leaders),
stereotypically women
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Gender roles have changed, breaking stereotypes
Both men and women prefer leaders who use a combination
of expressive and instrumental leadership
CONTINUE GROUP LEADERSHIP
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Leadership Styles
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Democratic Leader– encourage group participation in
all decision making
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Common in clubs where members vote on activities or
projects
Leaders can be well liked but a challenge in dealing with
work due to the time consuming consensus building
Also can lead into group members picking sides and turning
into opposing factions rather than reaching solutions
CONTINUE GROUP LEADERSHIP
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Laissez-faire leader – a hands-off leader, allowing
group members to self-manage and make their own
decisions
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Can work well with highly motivated and mature participants
who have clear goals and guidelines
Risks group dissolution and lack of progress
In French it means “leave it alone”
CONTINUE GROUP LEADERSHIP
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Authoritarian leader – issue orders and assigns tasks
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Clear instrumental leaders with a strong focus on meeting
goals
Entrepreneurs are a good example of this type of leader
Risks alienating members of the group
Certain times require this type of leadership
In different circumstances, all these leadership
styles can be effective and successful.
SECTION 3.3: CONFORMITY
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Conformity – the extent to which an individual
complies with group norms and expectations
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Everyone wants to fit in to some degree
We use reference groups to assess and understand
how to act, to dress and to behave; we are aware of
who conforms and who does not
Will we conform with indifference to our own morals
and intelligence?
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Peer pressure
Knowing the difference between right and wrong
CONTINUE CONFORMITY
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Solomon Asch
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Experiments illustrated how great the pressure was to
conform, especially within a small group
Read through the experiment on page 201
Would you have conformed?
Would you have spoken up?
What variables keep people from speaking up or for
speaking out
Philip Zimbardo
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Stanford Prison Experiment
https://www.schooltube.com/video/237e7769aa970
bcec446/
SECTION 4: FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
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A big complaint of modern life is that society is
dominated by formal organizations - large,
impersonal secondary organizations
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Schools, businesses, healthcare, government
Almost all of these are, or will become a
bureaucracies – an ideal type of formal
organization characterized by a collection of
characteristics, or a type that could describe most
examples of an item under discussion
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Also, the administrative system governing any large
institution
CONTINUE FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
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Has developed negative connotations such as inefficiency,
complexity and inflexibility
SECTION 4.1: TYPES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
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Formal organizations fall into 3 categories:
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Normative organizations (voluntary organizations) –
based on shared interests; joining is voluntary and
done due to people finding membership being an
intangible reward
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Ski Club, Boy Scouts
Coercive organizations – groups that people are
coerced or pushed to join
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Prison, rehab
Total institutions – institutions in which inmates live a
controlled lifestyle and where total resocialization takes
place
CONTINUE TYPES OF FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
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Utilitarian organizations – joined because of the need
for a specific material reward
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High school (diploma) or work (money)
Table of Formal Organizations
Normative or
Voluntary
Coercive
Utilitarian
Benefit of
Membership
Intangible Benefit
Corrective Benefit
Tangible Benefit
Type of Membership
Volunteer Basis
Required
Contractual Basis
Feeling of
Connectedness
Shared Affinity
No Affinity
Some Affinity
SECTION 4.1.1: BUREAUCRACIES
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Bureaucracies
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An ideal type of formal organization
A hierarchy of authority with a clear division of labor,
explicit rules and impersonality
People see them as slow, rule-bound, difficult to
navigate and unfriendly
Hierarchy of authority – one individual or office is in
charge of another, who in turn has to answer to their
superiors
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Chain of command
CONTINUE BUREAUCRACIES
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Clear division of labor – each individual has a
specialized task to perform
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Explicit rules – ways rules are outlined, written down
and standardized
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No crossover work or cooperation between people
Rules have to also change as time passes
Impersonality – takes personal feelings out of
professional situations
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Protects organizations from nepotism, backroom deals, and
favoritism; these protect customers and others served by the
organization
An attempt to protect it’s members
CONTINUE BUREAUCRACIES
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Meritocracies – hiring and promotion within
bureaucracies are based upon proven and
documented skills rather than nepotism or random
choice
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This is the theory at least
Getting into prestigious colleges – high SATs and impressive
transcripts
Becoming a lawyer – graduating from law school (getting in
requires a GPA and passing the LSATs) and passing the state
bar exam
There are always exceptions to the rule
CONTINUE BUREAUCRACIES
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Positive aspects of bureaucracies (when it works)
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Improve efficiency
Ensure equal opportunities
Increase efficiency
Some have rigid hierarchies
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Specific time periods and situations need them
Negative aspects of bureaucracies (when it doesn’t)
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Inflexible
Too much adherence to explicit rules and division of labor
can leave an organization behind
Hard to change the direction of an organization when a
bureaucracy has been in place for so long
Can be stuck in the past
CONTINUE BUREAUCRACIES
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Iron Rule of Oligarchy – an entire organization is ruled
by a few elites
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Suggestion about all large organizations
SECTION 4.2: THE MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY
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McDonaldization of Society – refers to the
increasing presence of the fast food business
model in common social institutions
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Business model includes efficiency (division of labor),
predictability, calculability and control (monitoring)
Example in a grocery store
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Efficiency – specific people at registers, deli counter and
stocking shelves
Predictability – same goods, same organization and same
prices across the entire chain
Calculability – goods are sold by the pound taking out guess
work; workers use timecards to calculate hours and be paid
CONTINUE THE MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY
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Control – employees wear a uniform and name tag; there are
security cameras monitoring the store; specific areas of the
store are off-limits to customers (stockroom)
Has resulted in increased profits and increased
availability of goods and services to people worldwide
But, it’s also reduced the variety of goods available in
the marketplace while making products uniform,
generic and bland
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Mass produced clothes vs. custom made
Chicken from a farmer vs. chicken from a corporate farm
Coffee from a local diner vs. coffee from Starbucks
OTHER TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY CONCERNING
GROUPS
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Deindividuation
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Deindividuation refers to the phenomenon of
relinquishing one's sense of identity, self-awareness,
or evaluation apprehension
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Can happen as a result of becoming part of a group that
fosters obedience to group norms rather than an individual's
norms
Individuals no longer think about themselves before they act
and may, in fact, be unaware of their own actions.
Examples: the military or in a riot situation
CONTINUE OTHER TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY
CONCERNING GROUPS
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Diffusion of Responsibility
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Diffusion of responsibility or the bystander effect is a
social phenomenon which tends to occur in groups of
people above a certain critical size when responsibility
is not explicitly assigned.
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Observing an action (crime, bullying, etc) and not doing
anything because the assumption is that someone else will
do so.
This phenomenon rarely ever occurs in small groups.
Examples: The murder of Kitty Genovese, the abduction of
James Bulger, the murder of Nick Markowitz
CONTINUE OTHER TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY
CONCERNING GROUPS
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Groupthink
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Groupthink describes a process by which a group can
make bad or irrational decisions
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Each member of the group attempts to conform his or her
opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the
group
This seems to be a very rationalistic way to approach the
situation. However this results in a situation in which the
group ultimately agrees upon an action which each member
might individually consider to be unwise
Examples: The Bay of Pigs Invasion, Pearl Harbor, 9/11,
Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities and
procurement of nuclear materials
CONTINUE OTHER TOPICS IN SOCIOLOGY
CONCERNING GROUPS
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Social Networks
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We are becoming more and more connected with the
rest of the world through social networks (facebook
and twitter for example)
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The average separation of between 3 and 5 users up to the
upper limit of around 12.
Six Degrees of Separation
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon