5 Groups and Organizations
Learning Objectives
- Analyze the operation of a group as more than the sum of its parts.
- Understand primary and secondary groups as two key sociological groups.
- Recognize in-groups, out-groups, and reference groups as subtypes of primary and secondary groups.
- Distinguish between different styles of leadership.
- Explain how conformity is impacted by group membership.
- Distinguish between groups, social networks, and formal organizations.
- Analyze the dynamics of dyads, triads, and larger social networks.
- Categorize the different types of formal organizations.
- Define the characteristics of bureaucracies.
- Analyze the opposing tendencies of bureaucracy toward efficiency and inefficiency.
- Identify the concepts of the McDonaldization of society and the McJob as aspects of the process of rationalization.
- Apply the sociological study of groups and bureaucracies to analyze the social conditions of the Holocaust.
Introduction to Groups and Organizations
A punk band is playing outside. The music is loud, the crowd excited. But neither the lyrics nor the people in the audience are what you might expect. Mixed in with the punks and young rebel students are members of local unions, from well-dressed teachers to casually dressed labour leaders. The band’s lyrics are not published anywhere but are available on YouTube: “We’re here to represent/The 99 percent/Occupy, occupy, occupy.” The song: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice If Every Movement Had a Theme Song” (Cabrel, 2011).
The Occupy movement slogan,“We are the 99%,”refers to the distribution of wealth, with the upper class (the “one percenters”) owning most wealth. Even during the severe economic crisis in 2008, the personal income, bonuses, and wealth of the 1% increased. The people responsible for the crisis were paying themselves bonuses, while they were receiving billions of dollars in bailouts from governments.
Occupy protests occurred in many Canadian cities as well, including Victoria and Montreal. A similar movement, Idle No More, emerged to advocate for Indigenous justice. Idle No More organized according to Indigenous principles of decentralized leadership.
Simply having a grievance does not explain the ways in which movements take form as groups, however. Numerous groups made up the Occupy movement, yet there was no central movement leader. What makes a group something more than just a collection of people? How are leadership functions and styles established in a group? What unites the people protesting from New York City to Victoria, B.C.? Are homeless people truly aligned with law school students? How does a non-hierarchical organization work? How is the social order of a diverse group maintained when there are no formal regulations? What are the stated or unstated rules in such groups? How do members come to share a common set of meanings concerning their movement?
5.1. Groups
What does it mean to be part of a group? The concept of a group is important to soci