Sociology - Groups
Conformity, Coercion, Groupthink, Social Exchange, & More!
Day 26 - Objective: We will understand why individuals participate in groups.
Primary Group
In Primary Groups...
- Small size
- Face-Face contact
- Continuous contact
- Emotional Support
- Encourage Conformity
- Socialization
Secondary Group
In Secondary Groups...
- Contribute to group's goal
- Accomplish a specific purpose
- Volunteer Work
- School Groups/Clubs
Reference Group
People evaluate these groups -- families, classmates, teachers, social organizations, rock groups, professional sports teams -- and SUBSCRIBE to their VALUES, NORMS, & MORES.
Family
Forms attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and mores.
Friends
Junior High, High school, and College friends -- evaluate self in terms of their standards.
Rock Bands
Evaluate yourself in terms of their standards & subscribe to their beliefs, values, and norms.
Grease (3/10) Movie CLIP - Phony Danny (1978) HD
Social Exchange
“All men, wish what is noble but choose what is profitable, and while it is noble to render a service not with an eye to receiving one in return, it is profitable to receive one. One ought, therefore, if one can, to return the equivalent of services received, and to do so willingly.”
– Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, circa 350 B.C. E.
Coercion
The opposite of social exchange -- interaction in which individuals are "forced" to behave in a particular way.
- Conflict theory best describes this type of social interaction.
- Domination can occur through physical force, torture, or death.
- Expressed through social pressure - ridicule, rejection, or withdrawal of affection.
- Parents coerce children with a curfew.
- Guards coerce prisoners with force.
- Governments coerce bad drivers with fines.
Initiation is a form of coercion - wanting to be accepted into a group!
Dive to Join
Conformity
Behavior that matches group expectations.
- Conformity is an expectation of socialization
- Examples: Churches, Families, Governments, Social Structure
- Conformity avoids conflict
Asch Experiment (1951)
When people are free to do what they want, they usually imitate each other.
Doing what everyone else is doing, can be cool.
Can group pressure to conform cause a person to physically punish a victim?
milgram experiment clip Jeroen Busscher bij DNB.mov
Primary Source: Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View, 1974
"They raise the possibility that human nature, or - more specifically - the kind of character produced in American democratic society, cannot be counted on to insulate its citizens from brutality and inhumane treatment at the direction of malevolent authority. A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority."
Groupthink
self-deceptive thinking that is based on conformity to group beliefs and created by group pressure to conform.
- Caused by the difficulty of going against group beliefs.
- "Everyone else is doing it."
- People are affected by the "Bystander Effect," and believe in a shared responsibility and sometimes believe, "someone else will do it."
STRANGER DANGER - CHILD ABDUCTIONS : Would Anyone Help Your Child When Being Abducted?
THE BYSTANDER EFFECT
Can you think of any historical events which were fueled by Groupthink?
As you watch this movie - Take Notes about any Sociology Term you find. You will be graded on participation. Watch the Wave = 100. Deviate = Negative Sanction -5 points. Stay awake and alert!
The Wave
Closing can be found on Google Classroom:
Answer the Question in Google Classroom. Use Sociology Terms that you have learned.
You can choose from the following terms:
Coercion
Groupthink
Bystander Effect
Conformity
Social Exchange
In-group/Out group
Reference Group