Term
Secondary groups are social collectives or
membership groups that are larger in size than
primary groups, less intimate, and less long lasting in
duration. |
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Definition
These groups are usually less significant in the
emotional lives of the people and serve their
instrumental (task-oriented) needs.
• In catastrophic situations, such as a flood or the
destruction of the World Trade Center, secondary
groups often take on the characteristics of a primary
group. |
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Term
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Definition
| A group is two or more individuals who interact, share goals and norms, and have a subjective awareness as “we. |
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Term
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Definition
| A dyad is a two person group (stable group). A triad is a three person group (unstable group). George Simmel (1902) discovered the group size effect; he observed how group size influences the behavior of the participants |
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Term
| Primary groups are social collectives or membership groups consisting of intimate, face-toface interaction, relatively long-lasting relationships, and serves members expressive (emotional) needs. |
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Definition
| These groups have a powerful influence on their members and like the family, help shape the individual’s personality and self-identity. Family and peers such as street gangs, classmates, and prisoners exemplify primary groups. |
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Term
In & Out Groups
W.I. Thomas, early sociologist (1903) distinguished
between these two types of groups. |
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Definition
In-Groups are social collectives or membership
groups which you belong to. It provides a sense of
identity as “us.”
Out-groups are complementary collectives which
are referred to as “them”; you are not a member of
that group. |
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Term
Social Networks are a set of links between
individuals, groups, or other social units such as
bureaucratic organizations or entire nations. |
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Definition
We are more closely linked to some networks than to
others, yet even the ones to which we are weakly
tied connect us to other networks of people.
Networks help us achieve many of our objectives;
e.g., when someone in your uncle’s country club
helped you get your high-paying executive job. |
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Term
Social Influence in Groups
Social groups exert tremendous influence on our
behavior and our identity.
Even when we overtly deny the connection, the
influence still exists. |
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Definition
The not-me syndrome, was introduced by social
psychologist Philip Zimbardo.
– This describes the dramatic gulf between what
people think they will do and what they actually
do; “they conform, but not me. |
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Term
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Definition
is group decision making that is
commonly associated with unintended and
disastrous consequences |
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Term
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Definition
is doing together what we would
not do alone; group size and physical anonymity
influence this behavior. |
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Term
A formal organization is a large secondary group,
highly organized to accomplish a complex task or
tasks, and to achieve goals efficiently |
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Definition
Activities are regulated and defined in advance.
Conformity is expected and formally enforced.
Examples: schools, churches, political parties, and
governments
Most people living in contemporary society belong to
multiple formal organizations |
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Term
• Sociologists, Peter Blau, W. Richard Scott and
Amitau Etzione (1974-1975) classified formal
organizations into three categories based on their
type of membership affiliation. |
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Definition
Normative Organizations
2. Coercive organizations
3. Utilitarian Organization |
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Term
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Definition
are voluntary
organizations that people join because the
participants share the like values and moral
standards; the group activities are worthwhile.
– Ex: PTA, choirs, bull-fighting clubs, monasteries |
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Term
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Definition
are total institutions,
groups characterized by membership that is largely
involuntary.
– Ex: Prisons and detention centers |
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Term
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Definition
are large organizations, either
for-profit or nonprofit, that individuals join for specific
purposes, such as monetary reward.
– Ex: Microsoft, General Motors, The Bar
association |
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Term
Bureaucracies are large formal complex
organizations based on the principle of rationality
and efficiency. |
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Definition
Bureaucracies differ from mom-and-pop type small
businesses
– They are large in size, complex, impersonal, and
operate on the principle of rationality.
In their ideal type form they exhibit a set of six
distinguishing characteristics. |
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Term
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Definition
(1947/1925) was the first theorist to
study this form of social organization. |
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Term
Informal Bureaucratic
Structure |
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Definition
The informal structure develops over time in
response to the systems’ impersonalization and
complexity.
Networks are formed, friendships are made, and a
powerful grapevine of information is in constant
motion.
Secretaries and many administrators have more
power and authority than listed in their job
descriptions. |
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Term
| Problems of Bureaucracies |
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Definition
Anderson and Taylor discuss the following:
Ritualism
Alienation
Group think
Risky shift |
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Term
McDonaldization of Society
George Ritzer, contemporary sociologist (2007),
discussed the McDonaldization of society |
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Definition
He demonstrated that modern society, both in the
U.S. and abroad, has expanded on Weber’s rational
and efficient model by adopting McDonald’s
prototype of the fast food restaurant business
strategy.
This way of doing business is visible everywhere: in
the world of leisure and entertainment, shopping,
health care clinics, drive-up banks, pharmacies,
politics, and even education |
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Term
McDonald’s Structure
Similar to Weber’s ideal type bureaucratic model,
Ritzer identified the following four dimensions of the
McDonald Model:
1. Efficiency
2. Calculability
3. Predictability
4. Control |
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Definition
This operating system clearly carries with it the faster
distribution of goods and services to a large and ever
increasing demand for product. |
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Term
Negative Side of
McDonald’s System
Increasing amounts of predictability and control
occur as a function of mechanizing operations and of
minimize reliance on creative employees wherever
possible. |
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Definition
The price we pay for this efficiency is:
Dehumanization of the employees
Vacation and sick leave benefits provided to only
managers and owners
A cookie cutter reality with limited selection of
goods |
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Term
Diversity: Race & Gender,
and Organizations
Just as there is discrimination of people based on
race, gender, and class within society, this same
pattern appears in formal organizations. |
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Definition
Women and minorities are discriminated against in
the workplace even though anti-discrimination laws
exist.
There are fewer females than males in top executive
positions.
– This is also true for racial and ethnic minority
groups. |
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Term
Discrimination in
the Workplace |
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Definition
Women and minorities usually occupy lower
positions in the organization.
A woman is less likely to receive promotions than a
White man with the same education, and sometimes
even less education.
Many minorities are now equal to Whites in graduate
level education, yet White men are generally more
likely to get promoted.
Even though this has improved, studies suggest that
racism still thrives bureaucracies. |
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Term
Diversity: Social Class
in Organizations |
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Definition
Class stereotypes also influence hiring practices in
organizations.
Personnel officers look for people with “certain
demeanors,” those who present themselves as
middle-class or upper middle-class.
As long as hierarchical inequities exist in society,
they will also appear in our organizations. |
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Term
| Functionalist Perspective |
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Definition
Max Weber spoke of eufunctions (positive functions)
of bureaucracy as contributing to the overall stability
of society.
He listed them as efficiency, control, impersonal
relations, and chances for career advancement.
Weber also noted dysfunctions including: the
informal network, impersonalization, alienation,
disunity, and less efficiency within the organization. |
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Term
Conflict Perspective
• The conflict perspective focuses on the ways that
bureaucracy is layered or stratified, how this
encourages conflict among the individuals within
it, and also how it lessens the smooth efficient
running of the organization |
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Definition
Conflict is found between:
– superior and subordinate
– racial and ethnic groups
– men and women
– people of different social class backgrounds |
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Term
Symbolic Interaction
Perspective |
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Definition
Contemporary symbolic interaction theorists examine
how the self is developed in an organization and/or
how it influences the organizations functions and
dysfunctions.
In 1990, Chris Argyris proposed that the self gets
actualized within the organization with increased
involved within it.
In 1981, UCLA professor William Ouchi argued that
interaction within the organization can reduce
organizational dysfunction |
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Term
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Definition
| is when people in a group are likely to make riskier decisions than if they are alone |
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Term
| Attrition Error “All else being assumed equal, we tend to perceive people in our in-group positively and those in outgroups negatively regardless of their actual personal characteristics”. -Andrew M. Pettigrew |
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Definition
| If a White police officer shoots a Black or Latino, a White individual (given no additional information) is likely to assume that the victim instigated the shooting and “deserved” to be shot. |
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Term
| Reference groups are groups which you identify with in the form of a generalized role model as they provide standards for evaluating your values, attitudes, and behaviors; you may or may not belong to this group. |
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Definition
| These groups strongly influence one’s aspirations, self-evaluation, and self-esteem. Examples include: major league sports teams. • Reference groups can provide both positive and negative influences. |
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Term
| Primary groups are social collectives or membership groups consisting of intimate, face-toface interaction, relatively long-lasting relationships, and serves members expressive (emotional) needs. |
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Definition
| These groups have a powerful influence on their members and like the family, help shape the individual’s personality and self-identity. Family and peers such as street gangs, classmates, and prisoners exemplify primary groups. |
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Term
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Definition
| A dyad is a two person group (stable group). A triad is a three person group (unstable group). George Simmel (1902) discovered the group size effect; he observed how group size influences the behavior of the participants |
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Term
| Despite being warned of danger, NASA scientists proceeded with the launch of the space shuttle Challenger that exploded during launch. Sociological analysis of this situation finds it was caused by |
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Definition
| a combination of risky shift and organizational ritualism |
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Term
| Thomas Pettigrew's summarization of the research on attrubution theory shows that: |
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Definition
| Individuals commonly distort the motives and acts of other people when they are out-group members |
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