Chapter 6 Power Point slides

1. 6 Groups and Organization
The national tour of the Tea Party Express
visited Minnesota and held a rally outside
the state capitol building.

2. Theoretical Perspectives and
Groups
 The functionalist perspective is a big-
picture, macro-level view that looks at how
different aspects of society are intertwined.
 It is based on the idea that society is a well-
balanced system with all parts necessary to the
whole.
 It studies the roles these parts play in relation to
the whole.

3.  The conflict perspective (also
macroanalytical) focuses on the genesis and
growth of inequality.
 The symbolic interactionist perspective
takes a micro-level view.
 It looks at the day-to-day interactions of groups.

4. TYPES OF GROUPS
 A group is defined as any collection of at
least 2 people who interact with some
frequency and who share some sense of
aligned identity.
 An aggregate is a collection of people who
exist in the same place at the same time, but
who don’t interact or share a sense of
identity.

5.  A category is people who share similar
characteristics but who are not connected in
any way.
 People within an aggregate or category can
become a group.
 There may be many groups within a single
category.

6.  Primary Groups
 Charles Horton Cooley
 Plays the most critical role in lives
 Usually fairly small in size and made up of
individuals who generally engage face-to-face in
long-term emotional ways.
 Primary groups serve several emotional needs:
 Expressive functions (a group function that serves
an emotional need)
 Usually made up of significant others, those who have
the most impact on our socialization (Family)

8.  Secondary Groups are larger and impersonal.
 They are task-focused and time-limited.
 They serve an instrumental function meaning
that their role is more goal or task oriented than
emotional.
 People can move from primary to secondary
groups and vice versa.

9.  William Sumner developed the concepts of in-
group and out-group.
 In-groups – the group a person belongs to and
feels is an integral part of his identity.

10.  Out-groups – a group that an individual is not a
member of, and may even compete with
 Sports teams, unions, and sororities are examples
of in-groups and out-groups; people may belong
to, or be an outsider to, any of these.
 Primary groups and secondary groups consist of
both in-groups and out-groups.

11.  A reference group is a group to which an
individual compares himself
 It provides a standard of measurement.
 Peer groups are common reference groups.
 Most people have more than one reference group.
 Culture, workplace, family, and even parents can be
reference groups.
 We use reference groups to help guide our
behavior and show us social norms.

12.  Athletes are often viewed as a reference
group for young people.

13. GROUPS SIZE AND STRUCTURE
 A small group is typically one where the
collected of people is small enough that all
members of the group know each other and
share simultaneous interaction.
 George Simmel wrote about the difference
between a dyad (a two-member group) and
a triad (a three-member group).

14.  If one person withdraws from a dyad, the
group can no longer exist.
 In a triad, if one person withdraws, there is
still a group.
 Often 2 against 1 dynamics can develop and
there exists the potential for a majority opinion
on any issue.
 A small group becomes a large group when
there are too many people to join in a
simultaneous discussion.
 The larger the group becomes, the more they
risk division and lack of cohesion.

15. GROUP LEADERSHIP
 Leadership function is defined as the
main focus or group of a leader.
 An instrumental leader is a leader who
is goal oriented with a primary focus on
accomplishing tasks


16.  An expressive leader is a leader who is
concerned with process and with ensuring
everyone’s emotional well-being.
 Social and religious leaders
 Generally understood that men are more
instrumental leaders and women are more
expressive leaders. If anyone exhibits the
opposite gender manner, they are often
considered deviant.

17.  There are 3 different leadership styles.
 The style a leader uses to achieve goals or elicit
action from group members.
 Democratic leaders are leaders who
encourage group participation and
consensus-building before moving into
action.
 Particularly common in clubs where members
vote on which actions or projects to pursue.

18.  Laissez-faire leaders are hands-off leaders
who allow members of the group to make
their own decisions.
 This style works well with highly motivated and
mature participants who have clear goals and
guidelines.
 Authoritarian leaders are ones who issue
orders and assign tasks.
 Entrepreneurs
 This type often risks alienating the workers.

19.  Conformity is the extent to which an individual
complies with group norms or expectations.
 Young people are particularly aware of who conforms
and who does not.
 Solomon Asch conducted experiments that
illustrated how great the pressure to conform
is, specifically within a small group.

20.  Numerous groups of male college students were
assembled and asked to compare the length of
lines on two cards.
 Participants publicly denied their own senses in
order not to deviate from majority opinion.
 Under group pressure, the “naïve” subject went
along with the majority’s wrong opinion over 1/3 of
the time.

21. Cards for Asch’s Experiments

22. FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS
 Formal organizations are large, impersonal
organizations that are highly bureaucratized.
 Bureaucracies are formal organizations
characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear
division of labor, explicit rules, and impersonality.


23.  Girl Scout troops and correctional
facilities are both formal organizations.

24. Types of Formal Organizations
 Amitai Etzioni stated that formal
organizations fall into 3 categories:
 Normative organizations are organizations
that people join to pursue shared interests to
because they provide some intangible
rewards.

25.  Coercive organizations are organizations that
people do not voluntarily join.
 Such as prison or mental hospital
 Erving Goffman states that most coercive
organizations are total institutions (organizations in
which participants live a controlled lifestyle and in
which total resocialization occurs.)
 Utilitarian organizations are organizations that
are joined to fill a specific material need.

26. Etzioni’s 3 types 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

27.  Bureaucracies are an ideal type of formal
organization.
 Max Weber characterized a bureaucracy as
having:
 a hierarchy of authority
 A clear division of labor
 Explicit rules
 Impersonality

28.  Hierarchy of authority
 A clear chain of command found in a
bureaucracy
 Clear division of labor
 The fact that each individual in a bureaucracy
has a specialized task to perform
 Explicit rules
 The types of rules in a bureaucracy; rules that
are outlineD, recorded, and standardized
 Impersonality
 The removal of personal feelings from a
professional situation

29.  Theoretically, bureaucracies are
meritocracies.
 A bureaucracy where membership and
advancement is based on merit—proven and
documented skills.

30.  There are several positive aspects of
bureaucracies:
 They are intended to:
 improve efficiency
 Ensure equal opportunities
 Ensure that most people can be served
 However, too much adherences to explicit rules
and a division of labor can leave an organization
behind.

31.  Large organizations are characterized by the Iron
Rule of Oligarchy.
 The theory that an organization is rules by a few elites
rather than through collaboration.
 Robert Michels

32.  The McDonaldization of Society is the
increasing presences of the fast food
business model in common social
institutions.
 George Ritzer
 This business model includes efficiency (the
division of labor), predictability, calculability, and
control (monitoring).

33.  It has resulted in improved profits and an
increased availability of various goods and
services to more people worldwide.
 It has also reduced the variety of goods
available in the marketplace while rendering
available products uniform, generic, and bland.

34.  This McDonald’s storefront in Egypt
shows the McDonaldization of society.