GROUPS Dr. Sadaf Sajjad. 2 Definition: Two or more individuals who are connected to one another by social relationships. Size: dyads and triads to large.

GROUPS

Dr. Sadaf Sajjad

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Definition:Two or more individuals who are connected to one another by social relationships.

Size: dyads and triads to large collectives (this class, mobs, audiences)Connected: members are linked, networkedSocial, interpersonal connection.

Why group-life matters

• Life in social groups of various shapes and sizes is a fundamentally sociological topic.

• Human life is lived largely in group contexts.

• Human behavior cannot be properly analyzed in purely individual terms.

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One of the foundational assumptions of sociology is that we—human beings—are social creatures. We do not live in isolation or exist in a state of nature. Because of this, we must be understood within the context of the various groups of people with whom we associate, ranging from family to nation, from auto club to student groups, and more.

What we want to understand is what groups look like, how they operate, what advantages certain kinds of association confer, and other things of that nature. If we live our lives in groups, it’s important to understand them.

Video 1. Social Groups

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Unit cohesion

– Giving up of self in favor of the group– Bonds of discipline, loyalty, and conformity

– Strong sense of “unit cohesion”

• That cohesion seems rare in a highly individualistic culture like the United States.

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Social groups

• Social groups are:– People who interact with each other and share a

sense of identity– People who have a shared set of expectations (a set

of social norms)

• Typically, there is some awareness of social boundaries.

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Groups are more than collections of people in the same place (a social aggregate). Classes, for example, are social aggregates consisting of rooms full of students. Groups are also more than people who share some characteristic like race or gender; that would be a social category. All people with blue eyes or dark skin make up social categories, but they may or may not be groups. Sometimes social aggregates and social categories are groups, but this is not necessarily so.So what exactly are groups? Social groups consist of people who feel a sense of membership, interact with each other, and have some shared set of social norms.

Types of groups

• In-groups and out-groups: “us” and “them”

• Primary and secondary groups– Primary: the closest, most basic, intimate forms of

association– Secondary: large, impersonal, impermanent forms

of association

• Reference groups: provide social standards

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Video 2: In-group

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In the simplest of terms, in-groups and out-groups represent “us” and “them.” Your in-groups are those in which you feel a sense of belonging, to which you feel loyal, and of which you are, typically, proud. Out-groups are “other;” those groups that feel different, toward which you might even feel antagonistic. This logic of “us” and “them” has serious pros and cons. It can be very fulfilling to be the member of a strong, cohesive group (the West Point example is a good one here). At the same time, if being a member of such a group leads to a set of built-in hostility to others, problems are frequently not far behind. We all need to belong to something. The question is, can we do so without strong negatives attached to those not in our group?

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Primary and secondary groups are really quite straightforward. Primary groups are those, like family, in which we live our lives most fully, whose members are our intimates, and with whose members we interact very frequently. Secondary groups are those that are less close, less permanent, and often much larger. These groups are typically goal oriented. In modern societies, more and more of our lives seem to be occurring in secondary groups, which leaves some scholars concerned about the lack of depth in our intimate lives.

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And finally, reference groups are those against whom we wish to be judged; they set the standard. So, for example, for better or worse, in our contemporary culture many adolescents see movie stars, musicians, and other popular culture icons as reference groups. In many cases we do not belong to our reference groups, they simply provide the standards by which we measure ourselves. (I gave the example of pop culture icons, but of course there are also more clearly positive reference groups such as family members, successful peers, and so on.)

Types of Groups

• Cooley (1909) drew a distinction between primary and secondary groups

• Types of groups:– Primary

– Secondary

– Planned (concocted and founded)

– Emergent (circumstantial and self-organizing)

© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.

Congregations, work groups, unions, professional associations

Larger, less intimate, more goal-focused groups typical of more complex societies

Secondary groups

Families, close friends, tight-knit peer groups, gangs, elite military squads

Small, long-term groups characterized by face-to-face interaction & high levels of cohesiveness, solidarity, & member identification

Primary groups

ExamplesCharacteristicsType of Group

(Cooley, 1909)

Types of Groups (cont’d)

• Arrow and her colleagues (2000) offer a more fine-grained analysis • planned vs. emergent

Concocted Founded CircumstantialSelf-Organizing

Types of Groups (cont’d)

© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.

Study groups, friendship cliques in a workplace,

regular patrons at a bar

Emerge when interacting individuals gradually align their activities in a cooperative system of interdependence.

Self-organizing

Waiting lines (queues), crowds, mobs, audiences,

bystanders

Emergent, unplanned groups arising when external, situational forces set the stage for people to join together, often only temporarily, in a unified group

Circumstantial

Groups that form spontaneously as individuals find themselves repeatedly interacting with the same subset of individuals over time and settings

Emergent groups

Study groups, small businesses, clubs, associations

Planned by one or more individuals who remain within the group

Founded

Production lines, military units, task forces, crews, professional sports teams

Planned by individuals or authorities outside the group.

Concocted

Deliberately formed by the members themselves or by an external authority, usually for some specific purpose or purposes

Planned groups

ExamplesCharacteristicsType of Group

Women, Asian Americans, physicians,

U.S. citizens, New Yorkers

Aggregations of individuals similar to one another in terms of gender, ethnicity, religion, or nationality.

Social categories

Crowds, audiences, clusters of bystanders

Aggregations of individuals that form spontaneously, last for brief periods, and have very permeable boundaries

Weak associations

Teams, neighborhood associations

Work groups in employment settings and goal-focused groups in a variety of non-employment situations

Task groups

Families, romantic couples, close friends,

street gangs

Small groups of moderate duration & permeability characterized by large levels of interaction amongst members, who value membership in the group

Intimacy groups

ExamplesCharacteristicsType of Group

• Interaction: task and relationship• Interdependence: sequential, reciprocal,

mutual• Structure: roles, norms, relations• Goals: generating, choosing, negotiating,

executing

What are some common characteristics of groups?

Characteristics of Groups - Interaction

• Groups are systems that create, organize, and sustain interaction among members

• Task Interaction – actions performed by individuals pertaining to group’s tasks and goals

• Relationship Interaction – actions performed by the group relating to emotional and interpersonal bonds

Characteristics of Groups - Interdependence

• Experiences are determined by other members of the group and vice versa

• Sequential – influence of one member to the next.• Reciprocal – two or more members may influence

each other• Multilevel – the outcome of larger groups are

influenced by the activities of smaller groups

Interdependence Diagram

Characteristics of Groups - Structure

• Groups’ structure are often organized in predictable patterns

• Roles – set of behaviours expected of people who occupy certain positions

• Norms – a consensual standard that describes what behaviours should and should not be performed in a given context

© 2011 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.

Characteristics of Groups - Goals

• Groups often strive towards some common outcome

• McGrath’s Circumplex Model of Group Tasks– Generating– Choosing– Negotiation– Executing

Group Cohesion: the strength of the bonds linking individuals to the group

Attraction to specific group members and efforts to achieve goals

Entitativity is perceived groupness rather than an aggregation of independent, unrelated individuals

Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness

Campbell’s Theory of Entitativity (1958)

Common Fate – do individuals experience the same outcomes?

Similarity – do individual perform similar behaviours or resemble one another

Proximity – how close together are the individuals in the group

… the "field of inquiry dedicated to advancing knowledge about the nature of groups"

(Cartwright & Zander, 1968)

Group Dynamics

What Assumptions Can Be Made?

– Group dynamics describes both:• Interpersonal processes in groups

• The scientific study of groups and group processes (Kurt Lewin)

– Level of Analysis • Individual level: focus on the individual (psychological)

• Group level: focus on the group and social context (sociological)

• Multilevel: adopts multiple perspectives on groups

– Groups are influential

– Groups shape society

Assumptions (cont’d)

– The paradigm: Assumptions and Orientations• Groups are real • Group processes are real

– Groupmind – hypothetical mental force linking group members together

– Sherif's (1936) study of norm formation

Groups are influential Groups shape society

Assumptions (cont’d)

• Groups are more than the sum of their parts – Lewin's (1951) field theory: behavior is a

function of the person and the environment– B = f(P, E).

Forming

Storming

Norming

Adjourning

Task

Performing

Team performance; effects of victory and failure; cohesion and performance

Sports & Recreation

Self & society; influence of norms on behavior; devianceSociologyTeam approaches to treatment; counseling; groups & adjustment

Social Work

Personality and group behavior; problem solving; perceptions of other people; motivation; conflict

Psychology

Leadership; intergroup and international relations; political influence; power

Political Science

Classroom groups; team teaching; class composition and educational outcomes

EducationOrganization of law enforcement; gangs; jury deliberationsCriminal Justice

Information transmission in groups; discussion; decision making; problems in communication; networks

Communication

Therapeutic change through groups; sensitivity training; training groups; self-help groups; group psychotherapy

Clinical/Counseling Psychology

Work motivation; productivity; team building; goal settingBusiness / Industry

Groups in cross-cultural contexts; societal change; social and collective identities

Anthropology

TopicsDiscipline

Group size

• Sociologists interested in group size look at varying qualities of interaction based on size.

• Georg Simmel introduced analytical categories for thinking about groups.

• As group size increases . . .– Intensity decreases

– Formal organization increases

– Stability and exclusivity increase

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In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, sociologist Georg Simmel worked to understand society by starting from the smallest social units and moving up. The smallest, and least stable, of all groups is what he called the dyad, which is a group made up of two individuals. Why is the dyad so unstable? It is unstable because if one member leaves, the group is dissolves.

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While dyads are intense and unstable, triads change things somewhat. With three members stability is increased and there is a decrease in the pressure that exists when only two people are involved. With three people one can serve as a moderator, or less favorably, two can gang up on the third. Simmel also looked at larger groups and found that as size increased, intensity decreased and stability went up.

Leadership

• All groups have leaders.

• There are transformational leaders and transactional leaders.

• Transformational leaders are inspirational and change the purpose and meaning of the group.

• Transactional leaders are pragmatic and interested in accomplishing tasks.

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Conformity: The research

• People largely conform to group norms.

• Three important studies to know:– Solomon Asch: Group pressure– Stanley Milgram: Obedience to authority– Irving L. Janis: Groupthink

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Social networks

• Social networks are comprised of direct and indirect associations that link people and groups.

• Networks offer connections beyond the immediate, and thereby can extend opportunities.

• Different groups have access to more or less helpful networks. This exacerbates inequalities that are already in place.

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Online social networking

• Online social networking offers many of the same benefits as conventional networks, without some of the constraints.

• The Internet was originally used for military and academic purposes, but now is available (and used) as a network for hundreds of millions of users.

• Even so, there remains unequal access.

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Organizations

• Organizations are groups that associate for the purpose of achieving some goal or action.

• Organizations have identifiable membership.

• The study of organizations is a core topic in sociology, as they are one of the dominant forms of social relations.

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Formal organizations

• Many organizations take on a highly rational form, with a clear chain of command and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

• Formality is often for the purposes of legality and legitimacy.

• Formal organizations have become increasingly important in modernity.

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Organizational theory

• There are many approaches to studying organizations sociologically:– Bureaucracy theories– Informal networks– Dysfunction theory– Oligarchy– Feminist organizational theory

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Bureaucracy

• A bureaucracy is a formal organization best known for its style of hierarchical authority.

• Pros: effectiveness, careful operations

Cons: dehumanizing, red tape

• Max Weber is the sociologist most closely associated with bureaucracy theory.

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Weber on bureaucracy

• Weber saw bureaucracies as the future of organizations in the modern world.

• They were highly efficient compared to earlier, less rational forms of organization (see his ideal type).

• Weber recognized the plusses and minuses. He saw bureaucracy as inevitable due to its effectiveness, but worried over its dullness and lack of humanity.

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Informal relations

• An early challenge to bureaucracy theory came from those who identified informal networks and relations inside formal organizations.

• Fruitful, informal social-business networks exist between organizations.

• Informal relations and chains of command function within organizations.

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Harmful effects of bureaucracy

• Robert Merton identified what he saw as the dysfunctions of bureaucracy.

• Bureaucracy stifles creativity with its sea of rules and SOPs.

• It is also overly pragmatic and lacks a visionary element.

• Occasionally rules dominate goals.

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Other organizational theories

• The iron law of oligarchy: the rule of the few over the many

• Feminist approaches to organizational studies– Organizations are structured in a gendered way,

which reinforces gender inequality in society.– Gender inequality in organizations persists.

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Does bureaucracy theory hold up?

• There have been both theoretical and applied challenges to bureaucracy as the only model of formal organization in the modern world.

– Horizontal models of formal organization

– Decentralization of organizations

– McDonaldization

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Social capital

• Social capital is what we gain in knowledge, networks, and status through participation and membership in groups and organizations.

• Social capital contributes to feelings of well-being and belonging, in addition to economic success.

• There is a great deal of inequality in social capital among individuals, organizations, and even countries.

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Clicker Questions

1. The term for the social knowledge and connections that enable people to accomplish their goals and extend their influence is

a. cultural capital.

b. political capital.

c. social capital.

d. economic capital.

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Clicker Questions

2. What is an example of how gender is embedded in the very structure of modern organizations?

a. The benefits that female workers receive are different from those of male workers.

b. Facilities within modern organizations (bathrooms and break rooms) are segregated by sex.

c. The ideas of a bureaucratic career are based on the male career, with women cast in supporting roles.

d. It is acceptable for women to take more frequent bathroom breaks than men.

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Clicker Questions

3. Which kind of group provides standards by which we judge ourselves?

a. an in-group

b. a primary group

c. an out-group

d. a reference group

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Clicker Questions

4. Which of the following would be the best example of a formal organization?

a. all of the people of the United States who self-identify as “working class”

b. the group of people gathered at the corner of First Avenue and Elm, waiting for the 2:36 P.M. #4 bus

c. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the “Mormons”)

d. the collection of siblings and older cousins that provides one with a standard for judging one’s own attitudes or behavior

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Clicker Questions

5. Which of the following is one of Weber’s characteristics of bureaucracy?

a. There is a clear-cut hierarchy of authority.

b. Officials are part time and paid by the hour.

c. Members of the organization own the material resources with which they operate.

d. There is no clear-cut separation between the tasks of an official within the organization and his life outside.

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Clicker Questions

6. Which of the following is a characteristic of a primary group?

a. Members interact face-to-face.

b. It is impersonal.

c. Members interact to achieve a specific goal.

d. There is a weak sense of bonding and commitment.

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Clicker Questions

7. What is the “iron law of oligarchy”?

a. Weber’s theory of red tape

b. Michels’s theory that there is an inherent tendency for power to concentrate at the top of large organizations

c. Weber’s theory that power concentrates in the hands of permanent officials at the expense of an organization’s elected officials or appointed directors

d. the feminist theory that power always concentrates in the hands of men

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How do Groups and Organizations affect Your Life?

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