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Lecture Eight: Groups and Organization
Read: Chapters 4 and 5
Multimedia in Blackboard: Group Behavior
To study society and people, besides sociological theories, research methods, and culture,
sociologists also need to understand groups and group behavior. As we learned from
previous lecture handouts, sociologists study social life using macrosociology and
microsociology. Sociologists view a society as the largest group possible and define a
society as “people who share a culture and a territory” (Henslin, 2015, G-6). On the other
hand, small groups or microsociology involves the study of groups that we associate with
in our everyday lives. Sociologist define a social group as two or more people who have
a shared interest or as Henslin states: “something in common” (Henslin, 2015, G-3).
We also examined how sociology developed as a discipline when early sociologists
observed the rapid and immense social changes during the industrial revolution.
Ferdinand Tonnies was a German sociologist who studied these changes and referred to
preindustrial societies as gemeinschaft and the industrial society as gesellshchaft. By
gemeinschaft, he meant the intimate relationships and dependence that people had on
each other living in rural villages and gesellschaft as the change in relationships
becoming more impersonal as masses of people moved from villages to growing cities.
Prior to the industrialization of society, average people did not travel far from their
villages because travel mainly took place on foot. Cars, railroads, and airplanes did not
exist and neither did the internet, phones, televisions or radios. Life revolved around
village life and stories from afar were brought to villagers by traveling merchants. During
the industrialization of society, technology made it possible for people to communicate
with each other and travel greater and greater distances. This created one of the major
societal shifts in history. People became dependent on strangers for their daily lives than
their family and local village community.
Food for Thought: Think about the things you need to survive. How many of these are
provided by the people you know versus strangers?
For the first time, the masses left home to work in factories and people spent the majority
of their time away from the home with strangers. Family size and relationships changed
as couples in Western cultures started to marry for love rather than necessity and children
were born for pleasure rather than to help with work needed for survival.
Emile Durkheim a French sociologist was also fascinated by societal changes during the
industrial revolution. Rather than focusing on village life versus city life, Durkheim
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studied social solidarity. Social solidarity is often used interchangeably with social
cohesion and social integration and all three of these key terms relate to how people are
connected to society through shared values and norms or a shared culture.
Durkheim studied how social solidarity changed with industrialization and referred to
these changes as mechanical and organic solidarity. In preindustrial societies, division
of labor was simple since people for the most part shared work and therefore this led
people to have the same outlook on life and share the same beliefs. These preindustrial
societies are also referred to as traditional societies. People made decisions based on
custom and mysteries of life were explained through religious beliefs. When a person
went against the group, that person was publically and severely punished to set an
example to the rest of the group since any deviation from the norm was seen as a threat to
the existence of that group. Examples of public punishment included the guillotine,
stoning, hanging, etc. Durkheim referred to the strong ties that people had with each
other as mechanical solidarity.
As people moved to cities, social solidarity or the ties that people had with each other
changed. Division of labor became complex as work evolved due to changes in
technology. Now rather than people sharing work there are thousands of occupations that
require unique specializations. People became dependent on the labor of strangers rather
than their own family. Modern societies are also referred to as rational societies. People
today make decisions not so much on custom but logic. What may have worked in the
past may not work today and people need to weigh their options. Mysteries of life are
now more often explained by science then religion and when people deviate from the
norm they are punished privately through prison sentences rather than publically shamed.
Durkheim referred to the weaker ties that people now have with each other as organic
solidarity. Just as organs in our body all have a unique function, people today have their
own individual occupations and we have less in common with our family members and
more in common with strangers who share our professions.
Durkheim coined the term anomie to refer to the disconnect people feel from these weak
ties in a modern society as people are less socially integrated when compared to
traditional societies.
Your Turn: Make a list of the types of behaviors people may engage in when in a state of
anomie that comes from people having weak ties to society or social groups.
As we discussed in a previous lecture handout, Karl Marx also studied the changes
resulting in the industrialization of society. Karl Marx coined the term alienation to refer
to the detachment people feel from the products they manufacture in a capitalist economy
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that emerged during the industrial revolution. Prior to industrialization, people were
craftsman or artisans who practiced a trade that was passed down from generation to
generation within the family. They worked with their hands seeing the product from start
to finish. People’s identity was tied to their work. Capitalism which has a profit motive
took advantage of cost cutting measures such as machinery and the assembly line. People
became alienated from the products they manufactured and instead became seen as “cogs
in a machine.” From Marx’s perspective, work and the work environment came to be
controlled by the bourgeoisie class with the proletariat class having very little power
over their own work conditions and consequently their own life since people spent the
majority of their life working.
Examples:
Rural Life
Traditional
Society
Gemeinschaft
Society
Mechanical
Solidarity
Division of
labor is simple.
People have a
craft or trade
which is
passed down
from
generation to
generation.
Family
members
share same
skills for
clothes, food,
and dwelling
and depend
on each other
for what they
need. They
have similar
dress and
appearance.
Rational
Society
Family
members do
not need
each other to
survive.
They depend
on strangers
from around
the world
who make
the goods
they buy.
Religion is used
to explain the
mysteries of life,
families are large,
and deviance is
viewed as a threat
to the existence
of the group and
publically
punished.
Common
outlook, shared
lifestyle is the
glue that
connects people
to each other.
Decisions are
made based on
custom.
Relationships are
personal and
intimate.
Gesellschaft
Society
Science is used to
explain the
mysteries of life,
families are
small, and
deviance is no
longer a threat to
the existence of a
group.
Organic
Solidarity
The ties that bind
people to each
other and society
are rooted in
interdependence
with those we do
not know, but
upon whom we
depend.
Decisions are
made through
weighing the
pros and cons.
City Life
Division of
labor is
complex.
People have
unique
specialties and
occupations.
Relationships
are impersonal
and distant.
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During the industrialization of society, social institutions and formal organizations
emerged as people spent more time outside of the family. Social institutions are parts of
a society that have manifest functions to maintain stability in a society.
Your Turn: Look over Figure 4.2 (Chapter 4) to examine the various social institutions
that exist in the United States today. Pay attention to the formal organizations that are a
part of each social institution along with the statuses that people take on within each
social institutions and the cultural values and norms that are taught to us.
Formal organizations are also referred to as bureaucracies and these just as social
institutions have a goal or purpose to maintain stability for a certain group of people
rather than society as a whole.
Your Turn: Make a list of all the formal organizations you come in contact with on a
regular day. What is the purpose of each one? To help you, examine Figure 4.2.
Max Weber a German sociologist (the same one that coined the term verstehen) studied
bureaucracies and identified their characteristics or ways that you can identify a
bureaucracy or a formal organization. In Chapter 5 on pages 136-138, Henslin (2015)
describes each of the five characteristics in detail: hierarchy, division of labor, written
rules, written records, and impersonality.
Your Turn: Look over Figure 5.1 to examine the hierarchy of a university. Does it match
to SBVC? Now apply the rest of the four characteristics of a bureaucracy to SBVC.
Example:
Hospital
Bureaucracy
Hierarchy
President
Directors of
Departments
Physicians
Support Staff
Division of
Labor
Oversees
directors
Written Rules
Decision
makers for
departments
Delivers
healthcare
Writes
handbooks
and memos
Follows
procedures
Maintains
files, formally
communicates
Patient records
Supports
physician and
department
directors
Follows
procedures
Patient and
Employee
Records, Id
numbers
Approves
rules/
procedures
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R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
Written
Records
Oversees
records and
communication
Impersonality
Does not
communicate
directly with
all positions
All positions
replaceable
Positions
rather than
individuals
Positions
communicate
with direct
superiors only
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In addition to each formal organization or bureaucracy having characteristics, there are
different types of formal organizations including utilitarian, normative, and coercive.
Examples:
Utilitarian
People join for a purpose
Work, School
Normative
People join for a morally
worthwhile cause
Church, Volunteer Association
Coercive
People do not join voluntarily
Prison, Rehab, Mental
Institution, Hospital
While bureaucracies are organized to maintain stability in a society, they are also
dysfunctional. Some of these dysfunctions include: red tape, alienation, goal
displacement, self-fulfilling stereotypes, hidden corporate cultures, and lack of
diversity. Read about these various dysfunctions on pages 141-144 (Henslin, 2015).
Food for Thought: which of these bureaucratic dysfunctions have you experienced?
Now we’re going to examine smaller groups. Throughout your day you move in and out
of aggregates. Henslin defines an aggregate as “individuals who temporarily share the
same physical space but who do not see themselves as belonging together” (Henslin,
2015, pg. 130). Some examples are waiting in line in a movie theatre, watching the movie
in a theatre, or getting stuck in a traffic jam on your way home from the movie theatre.
Food for Thought: Think about all the aggregates that you have contact with in a day.
While aggregates are people with whom we interact with but do not see ourselves
connected to, probably the most important group for all of us is our primary group
followed by our secondary groups. Each of these groups has three characteristics that
tend to oppose each other:
Primary Group
Intimate, personal and
informal relationships
Long term, sometimes
life long
We develop our selfidentity or who we are
Family members, close
friends
Secondary Groups
Impersonal, formal,
distant relationships
Short term or
temporary
We meet our life long
partners through these
Work, school,
associations, etc.
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There are other groups that we don’t necessarily physically belong to but we still have
emotional ties to. These are called in-groups and out-groups. In-groups are those that
we have strong emotional feelings of attachment and devotion while out-groups are the
opposite, we have strong feelings of competition and dislike. In-groups and out-groups
provide feelings of belonging or social solidarity, social cohesion, or social integration
in a rather impersonal or gesellschaft society. While we cheer for our favorite sports
team, our loathing for the opposing team brings us closer to other fans. So strong are our
emotional ties to our teams that people do all sorts of weird to criminal acts from
screaming at their television sets to looting and starting fires! While sports teams are a
relatively harmless example of in-groups versus out-groups, Henslin details more
perilous consequences of the “we-they” mentality on page 133 (Henslin, 2015).
Examples:
In-Group
Democrats
Angels
Males
Christians
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Out-Group
Republicans
Yankees
Females
Muslims
Another group that has a tremendous effect on our thinking and behavior are reference
groups. A reference group could be made up of people we have personal, impersonal,
or no physical connections to but in some way we measure ourselves to. Most of us have
individuals in our life that we considered to be our role models. These could be your
parents, older sibling, teacher or even a celebrity. Reference groups are our role models.
Not only do they exemplify ways of thinking and behaving but we imitate their behaviors
and then judge ourselves to them. Sometimes different reference groups contradict each
other and send us mixed messages such as athletes using steroids. For many adults
professional occupation associations are our reference groups such as the American
Sociological Association (ASA) is a reference group for sociologists. The ASA has
ethical guidelines or standards of behavior that all sociologists are expected to follow.
Food for Thought: what are your reference groups? Do any of your reference groups
have contradicting messages?
By now you probably agree that the groups we belong to personal or impersonal have a
huge impact on us. However, it is not just the type of society that we live in;
gemeinschaft or gesellschaft, or the groups we belong to; primary or secondary but
also the size of the groups that we interact with that matters and it matters a lot! Group
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dynamics refers to the things that happen between group members in a group and how
groups members influence each other. What happens in a group between group members
is significantly influenced by the group’s size. Size matters.
Sociologist Georg Simmel studied the effects of group size and here are his rules:
Group Size Rules
Rule #1
Small Groups
Relationships between group
members are intimate and
personal due to the small size of
the group.
The group is erratic or unstable.
If one or several members leave
the group, the group falls apart.
Rule #2
Large Groups
Relationships between group
members are distant and
impersonal due to the large size
of the group.
The group is steady or stable. If
one or several group members
leave the group, the group
remains.
As you can see, the rules oppose each other for small and large groups. But that’s not all,
each time a person joins a group, its group dynamics change. A smallest group possible
is a dyad and consists of two people. This is the most unstable of all groups since if one
member of the group leaves the group, for whatever reason, the group no longer exists.
Now let’s add one person to a dyad and we have a triad. Relationships within a group of
three people are possible that in a dyad are impossible.
Martha
Lisa
Sarah
Martha is upset with Lisa because she thinks Lisa is talking “smack” behind her back.
Lisa asks Sarah to defend her and Martha also expects Sarah to choose a side. As you can
see, Sarah is in a tough spot as she is being asked to be the “peacemaker.” She has been
assigned a role that is not possible in a dyad. Sarah takes Lisa’s side and tells Martha that
there have been times when Martha has talked “smack” about Lisa and therefore she is
being hypocritical. Lisa and Sarah have joined a coalition and have made Martha a
scapegoat or a victim. A coalition is when two or more group members take a side
against other members in a group. This is also not possible in a dyad. Each time a new
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member joins a group, the group dynamics become more complex. A group of five can
be a family with mom and dad a dyad and in a coalition joining forces to make the
siblings clean their room. A group of seven can be your colleagues at work for a total of
21 different relationships as illustrated in Figure 5.2 (Chapter 5)!! No wonder our lives
are so complicated!!
Your Turn: Think about your group of friends and describe the group dynamics,
including coalitions in your group.
As groups grow in size they become formal and leaders emerge. Sociologists identify
three types of leadership styles and two types of leaders:
Examples:
Instrumental
Leader
Expressive
Leader
Authoritarian
Leadership
style
Democratic
Leadership
style
Laissez-Faire
Leadership
style
Leads a groups
toward
completion of
a goal
Leads a group
that has
tensions or
needs to
increase its
morale
Gives orders
and assigns
tasks
Facilitates
group
decisions to
lead to group
compromise
Minimal
leadership
participation,
group makes
all decisions
Professor in
class
Coach on a
sports team
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Employee
Retreat
Civil unrest
protest
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Manager at a
Doctor in an
busy restaurant operating
room
Division dean Club Advisor
at a faculty
meeting
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Biking club
president
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
Online
discussion
forum monitor
Using Simmel’s rules related to large groups, we begin to see a phenomenon sociologists
refer to as the diffusion of responsibility and psychologists call the bystander effect. In
large groups, since relationships among people are impersonal and distant, it is easy to
remain anonymous and consequently easy to deflate responsibility.
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Food for Thought: When the professor asks the class a question, how many students
usually participate in a class discussion? Why do you think the majority of students
remain silent? Is easier to remain silent when the class is large as opposed to working in
small groups or dyads? Why do you think this is so?
Emergency responders are trained to address bystanders directly to give them instructions
rather than yelling into the crowd – someone get a blanket, someone get witness
information, someone get water; because if we ask somebody to do something nobody
will probably get the job done. Many experiments have shown that in large groups people
will ignore assisting people in life and death situations and numerous current events show
this phenomenon in real life.
Two classic social psychology experiments by Solomon Asch on peer pressure and
conformity and Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority illustrate the power of group
dynamics.
Read the sections in Chapter 5 titled: “The Power of Peer Pressure: The Asch
Experiment” and “The Power of Authority: The Milgram Experiment.”
The Asch experiment (1952) was so revolutionary
that it is still being replicated to this day with
consistent results.
Food for Thought: what current societal events
remind you of the results of the Asch experiment?
(Source: Henslin, 2015, pg. 151 and 152)
The Milgram experiment (1963) was found
to be unethical due to participants being
emotionally harmed and subsequently
needed psychological support. It has never
been replicated until recently when the IRB
modified the conditions slightly. The
results of the more recent study had
consisted findings with the original
Milgram experiment.
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Food for Thought: what current societal events remind you of the results of the Milgram
experiment?
Another social phenomenon observed in groups that
exist over long term is groupthink. Groupthink
refers to rigid and unbending ways of thinking that
when faced with opposition by a group member is
seen as a threat to the stability or existence of a group.
Irving Janis identified eight characteristics of
groupthink illustrated here.
Food for Thought: What examples of groupthink
can you think of?
(Source: Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2014)
The fact that the majority of us are susceptible to peer
pressure and authority figures has tremendous effects
on our society in all of our social institutions
including the government, economy, healthcare,
education, science, military, mass media, etc. Every
now and then you may hear stories of how innocent
people spent decades in prison or how business
executives made decisions about the safety of
products knowing that people’s lives were at stake.
People going along with the group knowing that the
group is in the wrong or following authority orders
that are unethical and illegal are more common than
you think; both Janis, Asch and Milgram show that
they may be a normal part of everyday life.
Other than our group membership and group dynamics, our status also effects both our
thinking and behavior in a society. Sociologists define status as a position or a rank a
person holds in a social group.
Food for Thought: think about the different military ranks of soldiers and how their rank
affects their thinking, behaviors, and opportunities within the military.
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There are different types of statuses defined in Chapter 4 including status set, status
symbol, master status, ascribed status, and achieved status. Read the definitions of
these on page 102 (Henslin, 2015).
Your Turn: Give an example from your own life of each of the status related terms.
Examples:
Ascribed Status
Achieved Status
Race
Student
Sex
Mom
Your Turn:
You Turn:
Your Turn:
Your Turn:
While status is a position we occupy in society, roles are responsibilities that we fulfill
that sometimes are linked to status. Oftentimes the stressors that you have in your life are
related to role conflict and/or role strain. Role conflict relates to the stress we have
when two or more statuses collide or conflict with each other.
Examples:
Role Conflict
Mary has a meeting at noon.
Status
The school nurse contacts Mary
at 11:45am that her son is
running a high fever.
Parent
Employee
Does Mary fulfill her role as a
worker and go to the meeting?
or
Does Mary fulfill her role as a
parent and pick up her son from
school?
Role strain refers to the stress that we have in just one status.
Example:
Role
Strain
Parent
Status
Homework
Cook
Laundry
Play
Drop off Clean
at
school
Food for Thought: Think about the role conflict and role strain you have. Which statuses
is your role conflict related to? Which one status is your role strain related to?
Throughout the semester, we will study how our ascribed statuses and our achieved
statuses relate to opportunities or life chances in our society. Sociologists study
categories of people with similar characteristics to determine patterns related to life
chances. Social research shows that social class, race, gender, and sexual orientation are
characteristics that have the greatest effect on our life chances or opportunities in the
American society today. Most sociologists agree that social class have the greatest
impact on our opportunities followed closely by our race. Social class is referred to in
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12
sociology as SES or socioeconomic status. SES is defined by OIE or occupation,
income, and education.
Examples:
Upper Class: similar
levels of:
Middle Class: similar
levels of:
Lower Class: similar
levels of:
Education – private and Similar education from
elite schools
similar schools results
in similar types of
occupations and
prestige (respect)
Education – publically Similar education from
well-funded schools
similar schools results
in similar types of
occupations and
prestige (respect)
Education – publically Similar education from
low-funded schools
similar schools results
in similar types of
occupations and
prestige (respect)
Similar types of
occupations result in
similar levels of
income and wealth
Similar types of
occupations result in
similar levels of
income and wealth
Similar types of
occupations result in
similar levels of
income and wealth
Food for Thought: what do you think it says about our American society when all of the
main characteristics related to life chances are ascribed rather than achieved? How does
this relate to the American core values you studied in Chapter 2 on culture?
We have now completed studying the main components of the social structure and in
part two of the semester will examine social institutions.
Pop Quiz
Review the main premise of functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interaction theories.
What’s the difference between gemeinschaft and gesellschaft societies?
What’s the difference between mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity?
What’s the difference between ascribed and achieved status, role conflict and role strain?
What are the characteristics of primary and secondary groups?
What’s the difference between in-groups, out-groups, and reference groups?
What are the characteristics and dysfunctions of bureaucracies?
What is meant by group dynamics?
What are Simmel’s rules for group size?
What are the differences between different types of leaders and leadership styles?
What were the findings of the Asch and Milgram experiments?
What is diffusion of responsibility?
What is groupthink?
Are you ready for Exam #1?
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R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
13
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.