Module 6 Flashcards
Social Group
-A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior or who share a sense of common identity
~Many of us are members of multiple social groups at the same time
Social aggregate
-Random collection of people
~Not the same as a social group
*A crowd waiting in line outside of a theater at a bus stop
Social category
-Not a social group
~Sharing a common characteristic such as gender or occupation without necessarily interacting or identifying with one another
Elements of Social Structure: Groups
-Human groups are largely the product of social construction, yet groups provide a core sense of identity
Max Weber and Social closure
-The aility of groups to exclude outsiders or ‘undesirables’ from participating
~People who belong to the same social group identify with each other
~Enables the exclusion of nonmembers
Types of human groups
-Religion, race, ethnicity, gender, class, national membership, education, occupation, birth cohort, etc.
Primary groups
-Group that are characterized by intense emotional tie, face-to-face interactions, intimacy, and enduring relationships
~Enforce conformity
*Friendships and family
Secondary groups
-Group characterized by large size and by impersonal fleet relationships, is usually a formal relationship
~Sport teams, workplace, college classroom
In-group
-Group to which one feels loyalty and respect; a group that “we” belong to
~”Us”
OUt-groups
-Group toward which one feels antagonism and contempt- “those people”
~Them
Reference group
-A group that provides a standard for judging one’s attitudes or behaviors
~You do not need to be a member of your reference group
The effect of groups size
- Dyads
- Triads
Dyads
-Consist of 2 people very intense ties but unstable. To survive, it needs attention and cooperation
Triads
-More stable, 3rd person relieves some pressure on the other members
George Simmel and group size
-As a group increases in size, the intensity of relationships decrease, but overall stability increases
Organization
-An identifiable membership that engages in concerted collective action to achieve a common purpose/goal
~They are key element of modern societies
Formal organization
-Rationally designed to achieve its objectives, often by means of explicit rules, regulations, and procedures
~Modern social life would not exist without the formal organization
Institutional Isomorphism
EXAM
-Organizations in the same field tend to become increasingly similar to each other over time
Coercive Isomorphism
-Informal and formal pressure from government or culture
~Americans with Disabilities Act and compliance
Normative isomorphism
-Voluntary organizations that form around the professionalization of an activity/profession
~The American Medical Association
mimetic Isomorphism
-Uncertainly is a powerful force that encourages imitation or modeling (imitating parts of organizations visible in environment)
~Online classes and outsourcing
Max Weber
-Saw the expansion of the bureaucratic form as an inevitable feature of modern societies
Bureaucracy
-The rule of officials
~All large-scale organizations are bureaucratic
~Bureaucray is founded on the concept of ration-legal authority, which means the authority that a person possess is based on his/her position in a organization rather. Not based on charisma or tradition
The Ideal Type
-A “pure type” constructed by emphasizing certain types of a social item that do not necessarily exist in reality
