CHAPTER 6
GROUPS, ORGANIZATIONS, AND SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS
Key Topics
6-1 Social Groups
6-2 Formal Organizations
6-3 Sociological Perspectives on Social Groups and
Organizations
6-4 Social Institutions
Social Groups
A social group consists of two or more people who
interact with one another and who share a common
identity.
Examples: family, friends, athletic team
Social Groups
A primary group is a relatively small group of people
who engage in intimate face-to-face interaction over
an extended period of time.
Examples: families and close friends
Social Groups
A secondary group is usually large, formal,
impersonal, and a temporary collection of people
that pursues a specific goal or activity.
Examples: classes, work groups, volunteer
organizations
Social Groups
Social Groups—Application
Identify each as a primary or secondary group.
A single mom and her child
Your sociology class
A married couple
The McDonald’s Corporation
Dyads, Triads and
Social Networks
A social network is a web of social ties that
links an individual to others.
Networks may be tightly knit and have clear
boundaries or large and impersonal with fluid
boundaries.
The Internet includes many interlocking social
networks such as Facebook.
Dyads
Triads
Networks
Sociogram: Identify your two closest friends
Star
Isolate
Dyad
Triad
Un-chosen
Network Exposure and Homicide Victimization in an
African American Community
Andrew V. Papachristos and Christopher Wildeman Department of Sociology, Yale University
Conclusions
Risk of homicide in urban areas is even more highly concentrated than
previously thought. We found that most of the risk of gun violence was
concentrated in networks of identifiable individuals. (American Journal of
Public Health November 14, 2013)
Sociograms: Organizational Change
Results of an Evaluation of the Peer Support
Program at Nova Institution for Women
[Link]
Sociograms: Organizational Change
Results of an Evaluation of the Peer Support
Program at Nova Institution for Women
Social Groups
Members of an in-group share a sense of identity
that excludes outsiders.
Out-groups are people who are viewed and treated
negatively because they are seen as having values,
beliefs, or other characteristics different from one’s
own.
Social Groups
A reference group is a group of people that shape
our behavior, values, and attitudes.
We do not have to be members of our reference
groups.
Social Groups
All of the different categories of groups are ideal
types
General traits that describe a social phenomenon.
Ideal types are composite pictures.
Specific descriptions of reality can vary.
Construction Man, Soccer Mom
Social Groups
Most people are influenced to conform by group
pressure.
Asch’s research: People will agree with obviously
false judgments.
Zimbardo’s prison research: People will perform
assigned roles in a group.
Milgram’s research: People will cause pain to others
if ordered to do so.
Asch’s Experiment
Social Groups
Janis’s research focused on why people in groups
may make disastrous and irrational decisions.
Groupthink refers to a deterioration of mental
efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgments that
results from in-group pressures.
Formal Organizations
Formal organizations: complex and structured
secondary groups deliberately created to achieve
specific goals
Include voluntary associations and bureaucracies
Statuses and roles are organized around shared
expectations and goals.
Norms specify rights, duties, and sanctions.
A formal hierarchy indicates who is in charge.
Formal Organizations
A voluntary association is created by people who
share a common set of interests and who are not paid
for their participation.
Examples: book clubs, charity organizations
Vary in organizational structure
Usually not as formal as other organizations
Formal Organizations
A bureaucracy is a formal organization that is designed to
accomplish goals and tasks by large numbers of people in
the most efficient and rational way possible.
Characteristics
Division of labor and specialization
Hierarchy of authority
Rules and regulations
Impersonality
Qualification-based employment
Separation of work and employment
DOD
Maine Department of Health and Human Services' claims
management processing system
Formal Organizations
Shortcomings of Bureaucracies
Weak reward systems
Rigid rules
Goal displacement: a preoccupation with rules
and regulations rather than achieving objectives
Alienation: isolation, meaninglessness,
powerlessness
Formal Organizations
Shortcomings of Bureaucracies
Communication problems
Parkinson’s Law:
work expands to fit the time available
Peter Principle:
promotion to one’s level of incompetence
Iron Law of Oligarchy:
domination by a small group of individuals
Dehumanization
Etzioni’s Organization of Organizations
Formal Organizations
Bureaucracies also have an informal structure.
Personal ties and connections often override formal
rules and structures.
Informal norms about snitching, work speed, and
work amount emerge.
Modern work teams are more likely to incorporate
informal norms.
Self-managing groups are a dominant model.
Perspectives
For functionalists, groups and formal organizations are
composed of interrelated, mutually dependent parts.
Manifest Function
Bureaucratic regulations allow goal achievement,
presumably benefitting all employees.
Latent Function
Organizations accomplish social goals – eg United Way
Dysfunction
Organizations are manipulated
Perspectives
Conflict theorists contend that organizations are
based on differences in power and control.
Place in an organization is often based on race,
ethnicity, gender, or social class.
Owners and managers exploit workers.
Perspectives
Feminist scholars emphasize the different
positions of men and women in organizations.
Women often hit the glass ceiling: attitudes or
organizational biases in the workplace that prevent
them from advancing to leadership positions
Perspectives
Symbolic interactionists emphasize that how
people define a situation shapes group dynamics and
organizations.
If macro-sociology explains groups as a function of
larger social forces, how does micro-sociology
explain groups?
Perspectives—Application
Which theoretical perspective is most helpful in
understanding this situation?
Denise tries to make work fun for her employees by
hosting birthday parties.
On average women who work full-time earn less than
men who work full-time.
Corporation Z brought in recent Somali immigrants
to work in the factory when the predominantly
Mexican workers went on strike.
Social Institutions
A social institution refers to an organized and
established social system that meets one or more of a
society’s basic needs.
An institution includes norms, values, statues, and
roles.
Social Institutions
The five major institutions worldwide are the
family,
the economy,
politics,
education, and
religion.
Other institutions include sports, healthcare, law,
and the military.
Social Institutions—Application
What needs of a society are met by each of these
institutions?
The family
Sports
Education
Science
Social Institutions
Institutions govern individuals, groups, and
organizations that ensure a society’s survival.
The institutions of a society are interconnected in
both functional and dysfunctional ways.
Chapter Review
1. What is a social group?
2. What are the different types of social groups?
3. Discuss the importance of group conformity?
4. What is a formal organization?
5. What is the McDonaldization of society?
6. How do the different perspectives on groups and
organizations differ?
7. What are the social institutions?
Formal Organizations
McDonaldization of Society: the organizational
principles that underlie McDonald’s dominate more
and more sectors of society.
Components of McDonaldization are efficiency,
calculability, predictability, and control.
Formal Organizations
McDonaldization
Calculability: quantifying the experience
On a scale of 1-10 how satisfied are you?
Control: exerting influence
Preformed hamburger patties, roped areas for lines
Efficiency: choosing the most effective means to an end
Division of labor, ordering by number
Predictability: knowing what to expect
Restaurants, motels, stores are similar in different cities.
Formal Organizations—Application
Identify the principle of McDonaldization
Pharmacy consumers are encouraged to shop while
their prescription is filled.
A customer’s number is called when their order is
ready.
Courses have similar numbers throughout a state’s
community college system.
Social Groups
A social network is a web of social ties that links
an individual to others.
Networks may be tightly knit and have clear
boundaries or large and impersonal with fluid
boundaries.
The Internet includes many interlocking social
networks such as Facebook.
