2. What Is – and Isn’t – a “Group”
• Typically, you probably use the word “group” to refer to
any collection of people – however, sociologically
speaking, the word has a more precise meaning.
• social group = any number of people who interact
regularly, share a sense of belonging, and mutually
depend on each other for something (“we”).
• aggregate = a number of people who happen to be in the
same place at the same time but share little else in
common (EX: audience at a movie).
• category = a number of people who may never have met
one another but share some characteristic (EX: “African
Americans”).
3. Types of Groups
• Cooley (1909):
– primary groups = smaller, more permanent groups
featuring face-to-face, emotion-based interactions
(EX: family).
– secondary groups = larger, often temporary, groups
characterized by impersonal, goal-oriented
interaction (EX: coworkers).
• Can become a primary group as intimacy level changes.
• Large secondary groups may contain many primary groups
(EX: a large church with many small groups).
4. Types of Groups
• Sumner (1906):
– in-groups = any groups or categories to which people feel they
belong and identify with.
– out-groups = any groups or categories to which people feel
they do NOT belong and do NOT identify with.
• These groups are defined with reference to the individual – an ‘in-
group’ for you may be an ‘out-group’ for another.
• These groups define boundaries.
• In-group members may develop consciousness of kind = commonalities
which they are aware of.
• Can be positive (social cohesion) or negative (racism, sexism, classism).
5. Types of Groups
• focus group = 10-15 people assembled by a researcher to
discuss a predetermined topic, such as a new product or a
community need.
• reference group = any groups that people use as a standard to
measure their own behavior, whether they are a member or
not.
– Can be the group’s purpose (EX: AA, Boy Scouts) or can be
indirect (EX: copying a punk rock group in order to fit in).
• coalitions = temporary or permanent alliances geared toward
a common goal.
6. The Purpose of Groups
• Structural-Functionalists:
– instrumental purposes = cooperative, task-oriented goals.
– expressive purposes = emotional needs (EX: needing support).
• Social Conflict: groups involve power relationships that
often feature inequality among the members.
• Symbolic Interactionists: the type of interaction within a
group depends on its size.
• Postmodernists: groups tend to be superficial in terms of
social relationships (EX: scripted interactions).
7. Group Characteristics & Dynamics
• Group Size:
–small groups = groups small enough for all
members to interact at the same time.
• Smaller groups tend to provide more
interaction and intimate community.
• dyad = two members
• triad = three members
8. Group Characteristics & Dynamics
• Group Leadership = the ability to influence the group.
– Leadership Functions:
• instrumental leadership = goal or task oriented.
• expressive leadership = provides emotional support for members.
– Leadership Styles:
• authoritarian leaders make all major group decisions and assign tasks
to members.
• democratic leaders encourage group discussion and decision making
through consensus building.
• laissez-faire leaders are only minimally involved in decision making and
encourage group members to make their own decisions.
9. Group Characteristics & Dynamics
• Group Conformity = maintaining or changing behavior in
accordance with group norms.
– Groups maintain considerable influence over our values, attitudes, and
behavior.
– Research has found such influence to be so strong that some group
members could influence others to pick clearly wrong answers (EX: the
lines on the cards in Asch’s study), or to commit acts clearly violating their
own values (EX: the willingness of Milgram’s subjects to administer what
they thought were deadly ‘shocks’ to helpless people).
– groupthink (Janis) = when group members arrive at a “consensus” that
certain individual members privately disagree with (i.e., going along with
the group).
10. Asch’s Cards
Asch (1955-56) had planted group members influence the real
members to choose lines 1 or 3 as the one matching the line in
the bottom card even though line 2 is clearly the matching line.
12. Diversity & Groups
• Social diversity influences intergroup contact
(Blau and colleagues).
– Large groups turn inward.
• Members have relationships between themselves.
– Heterogeneous groups turn outward.
• Diverse membership promotes interaction with outsiders.
– Physical boundaries create social boundaries.
• If segregation of groups takes place, the chances for
contact are limited.
13. Types of Formal Organizations
• normative organization = voluntarily joined to pursue a
common interest or gain personal satisfaction or
prestige from being a member.
– Also called voluntary organizations.
– EX: political parties; religious groups.
• coercive organization = an association people are forced
to join (EX: some of the total institutions discussed in
Chapter 5).
• utilitarian organization = one we voluntary join to be
provided with a material reward (EX: job).
14. Rationalization & Organizations
• Weber outlined the process of rationalization in
society (discussed in Chapter 4).
• This process created formal organizations as
machine-like replacements for traditional
organizations.
• Today, we largely live our lives with the type of
organization sketched out by Weber, a
rationalized form we call bureaucracies.
15. Bureaucracies
• bureaucracy = organization that uses rules and top-down
authority to achieve greater efficiency, predictability,
calculability, and control.
• the iron law of oligarchy = Michels (1911) believed that
bureaucratic leadership would tend to hold on to their power
and to reproduce themselves and end up producing a continual
rule by a few.
• The “iron cage”: refers to the fact that the bureaucracy is
simultaneously efficient and enslaving.
• Weber’s ideal type (abstract model) of bureaucracy specified six
characteristics [Recall Chapter 4].
16. Bureaucracies
• Weber’s Characteristics of Bureaucracy:
division of labor (tasks broken down to ensure efficiency)
hierarchy of authority (top-down authority structure = chain
of command)
rules/regulations (everything is ‘made official’ by being
written down in the right place by the right people)
qualification-based employment (hiring and firing based on
technical qualifications and policies)
impersonality (impersonal environment so that everyone is
treated the same)
efficiency
17. Bureaucracies
• Problems with Bureaucracy:
Inefficiency & Rigidity:
goal displacement = ritualistically following the rules as an end in
themselves.
People hired and promoted based on personal relationships
Peter Principle = people are promoted to their level of incompetency
and then fired or demoted.
Stifled creativity & alienation (work is deskilling)
bureaucratic personality = workers more concerned with correct
procedures than with doing a job correctly.
Resistance to Change & Perpetuation of the Organization
Dehumanization of Individuals
18. Scientific Management
• scientific management (Taylor) =
scientific principles applied to the
operation of a business/large
organization.
– Steps:
• Identify tasks and time needed for tasks.
• Analyze to perform tasks more efficiently.
• Provide incentives for worker efficiency.
• The principles of scientific
management suggested that
workplace power should reside with
owners and executives, who have
historically paid little attention to the
ideas of their workers.
19.
20.
21. McDonaldization
• Contemporary Application of Weber:
–McDonaldization = an updated version of
Weber’s rationalization process that
produces bureaucratic forms.
• Efficiency (“uniformity”)
• Predictability
• Calculability (= quantity over quality)
• Control through non-human technologies
22. Changes in Information Age Jobs
• More creative freedom.
• More competitive work teams.
• The flattening out of organizational structure.
• Greater flexibility.
• The best of today's information age jobs—
including working at Google, the popular search
engine website—allow people lots of personal
freedom as long as they produce good ideas.
23. Organizations in the Future
• socially sustainable organizations = organizations taking into
account the social effects of organizational activities on workers
and others in the community, the nation, and globally.
• Globalization – creating both a rapidly changing world and
workplace – has created the need for the ability of technology to
perform flexible, mobile work anywhere in the world.
• Smart working is based on the assumption that innovation is
crucial and that organizational leaders must be able to use the
talents and energies of the people who work with them.
• There is movement toward more creative freedom for highly
skilled information workers, and toward increased supervision
and discipline for less skilled service workers.
