This document summarizes different types of societies and groups within societies. It describes the main characteristics of hunting and gathering societies, pastoral/horticultural societies, agricultural societies, industrial societies, postindustrial societies, and potential future biotech societies. It then discusses primary groups, secondary groups, in-groups, out-groups, reference groups, and social networks. Finally, it outlines factors that influence group dynamics, including effects of group size, leadership styles, conformity shown in the Asch experiment, obedience to authority in the Milgram experiment, and consequences of groupthink.

1. Societies and Their Transformation (1 of 2)
6.1 Summarize the main characteristics of these types of societies: hunting and gathering, pastoral and
horticultural, agricultural, industrial, postindustrial, and biotech.
• Hunting and Gathering Societies
• Pastoral and Horticultural Societies
• Agricultural Societies
• Industrial Societies
• Postindustrial (Information) Societies
• Biotech Societies: Is a New Type of Society Emerging?

2. Societies and Their Transformation (2 of 2)
As society—the largest
and most complex type of
group—changes, so, too,
do the groups, activities,
and, ultimately, the type
of people who form that
society. What social
changes can you identify
from this photo?

3. Hunting and Gathering Societies
• Few social divisions
• Little inequality
• A shaman

4. Figure 6.1 The Social Transformation of
Society
Flow chart showing the types of societies emerging with each social revolution.
Source: By the author.

5. Pastoral and Horticultural Societies
• Domestication
• Pasturing animals
• Using hand tools: Horticulture
• Division of labor
• Increase in possessions decrease in equality


6. Figure 6.2 Consequences of Animal
Domestication and Plant Cultivation
Flow chart showing the societal changes
occurring as a result of the animal and plant
domestication of the first social revolution.
Source: By the author.

7. Agricultural Societies
• Invention of the plow
• Large-scale agrarian activities
• Greater division of labor
• Greater increase in possessions more inequality


8. Industrial Societies
• Invention of the steam engine
• “Industrial Revolution”
• Solidified division of labor
• Even greater increase in possessions
• Initially, very few workers’ rights
• Ultimately, more workers’ rights and less inequality


9. Postindustrial (Information) Societies
• Invention of the microchip
• Built on information
• Nothing actually “produced” (but services)
• Softening division of labor

10. Biotech Societies
• Initiated (possibly) by significant developments
• Identification of DNA double helix
• Decoding of the human genome
• Application
• Production of new foods, medicines, and materials
brought about by the ability to modify genetic
structures

11. Groups within Society
6.2 Discuss the main characteristics of primary groups, secondary groups, in-groups and out-groups,
reference groups, and social networks.
• Primary Groups
• Secondary Groups
• In-Groups and Out-Groups
• Reference Groups
• Social Networks

12. Not a Group: Aggregates and Categories
• Aggregate: Individuals temporarily sharing the same
physical space (e.g., shoppers waiting in a checkout
line)
• Category: People who share similar characteristics (e.g.,
all college men who wear glasses)

13. Primary Groups (1 of 2)
• Characterized by intimate face-to-face association and
cooperation
• Family and Friends
• Produce a mirror within - form part of the
perspective from which you look out onto the world

14. Primary Groups (2 of 2)
Primary groups such as the
family play a key role in the
development of the self. As
a small group, the family
also serves as a buffer from
the often-threatening larger
group known as society. The
family has been of primary
significance in forming the
basic orientations of this
couple, as it will be for
their daughter.

15. Secondary Groups
• Larger, formal, and impersonal
• Based on shared interests or activities
• Examples: College classes, clubs, political parties
• May subdivide into primary groups

16. In-Groups and Out-groups
• In-groups
• We feel loyalty
• They shape our perception of right and wrong
• We think of them as “Us”
• Out-groups
• We feel antagonism
• We think of them as “Them”

17. Reference Groups
• Family, neighbors, teachers, classmates
• Groups we refer to when we evaluate ourselves

18. Social Networks (1 of 3)
• Social network
• People linked to one another
• Six degrees of separation

19. Social Networks (2 of 3)
The smallest part of social
networks is our friends and
acquaintances, the people we
hang out with. This part of
our social networks overlaps
with and forms a core part of
our reference groups. Can you
see how the reference groups
and social networks of these
youths are not likely to lead
them to the same social
destination as the youths in
the next photo?

20. Social Networks (3 of 3)
Can you see how the
reference groups and
social networks of these
youths are not likely to
lead them to the same
social destination as the
youths in the previous
photo?

21. Group Dynamics (1 of 2)
6.3 Be familiar with the effects of group size on stability, intimacy, attitudes, and behavior; the types and styles of
leaders; the Asch experiment on peer pressure; the Milgram experiment on authority; and the implications of groupthink.
• Effects of Group Size on Stability and Intimacy
• Effects of Group Size on Attitudes and Behavior
• Leadership

22. Group Dynamics (2 of 2)
• The power of peer pressure
• The Asch experiment
• The power of authority
• The Milgram experiment
• Global consequences of group dynamics
• Groupthink

23. Effects of Group Size on Stability and Intimacy
(1 of 2)
• Dyad: Two people
• Triad: Three people
• Stability
• Coalitions
• More group members more stability, but less intimacy


24. Effects of Group Size on Stability and Intimacy
(2 of 2)
Group size has a significant
influence on how people
interact. When a group
changes from a dyad (two
people) to a triad (three
people), the relationships
among the participants
undergo a shift. How do you
think the birth of this child
will change the relationship
between the mother and
father?

25. Effects of Group Size on Attitudes and
Behavior
• Increase in size increases formality
• Increase in size diffuses responsibility

26. Figure 6.3 The Effects of Group Size on
Relationships
Diagrams showing
the increase in
the number of
relationships as
group size grows.

27. Leadership
• Types
• Instrumental
• Expressive
• Styles
• Authoritarian
• Democratic
• Laissez-faire

28. The Power of Peer Pressure: The Asch
Experiment
• Conformity
• Experiment in which respondents often conformed to
a group of strangers

29. Figure 6.4 Asch’s Cards
The cards used by Solomon Asch in his classic experiment
on group conformity

30. The Power of Authority: The Milgram
Experiment
• How People “Just Follow Orders”
• Experiment in which respondents continued even
though they thought they were administering severe
shocks

31. Global Consequences of Group
Dynamics: Groupthink
• Groupthink
• Collective tunnel vision