1. Social Groups Everyone seeks a sense of belonging.
A social group – two or more people who identify and interact with one another.
Not every collection of individuals can be called a group.
People with a status in common are not a group, but a category.

2. Primary and Secondary Groups
A primary group – a small social group whose members share personal and enduring relationships.
They are among the first groups we experience in life.
A secondary group – a large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity.
They involve weak emotional ties.

3. Group Leadership Groups benefit from two types of leadership:
(1) Instrumental leadership – emphasizes the completion of tasks.
(2) Expressive leadership – focuses on collective well-being.

4. Group Conformity Asch’s Research
Solomon Asch conducted a classic experiment that showed the power of groups in generating conformity.
Arranging students around a table, he showed them a line.
He asked them to match the line to one of three shown on a card.
One-third of all subjects conformed to the others by answering incorrectly.

5. Figure 5-1 (p. 110) Cards Used in Asch’s Experiment in Group Conformity

6. Milgram Experiment Stanley Milgram studied obedience.
He assigned subjects to the roles of “teacher” and “learner.”
Teachers applied false shocks to learners in response to incorrect answers.
He found people are likely to follow directions even when it means inflicting harm on another person.

7. Group Conformity Janis’s Research
Irving Janis contends that a number of United States foreign policy errors were the result of group conformity.
Groupthink – the tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue.

8. Reference Groups How do we assess our own attitudes and behaviors?
Often we use a reference group.
Reference groups – serve as point of reference in making evaluations and decisions.
Our need to conform means that other’s attitudes greatly influence us.

9. Ingroups and Outgroups
Everyone favors some groups over others.
An ingroup – a social group commanding a member’s esteem and loyalty.
An outgroup – a social group toward which one feels competition or opposition.
Tensions among the groups sharpen their boundaries.

10. Group Size Dyad – a social group with two members.
A dyad is intense and instable.
Triad – a social group with three members.
A triad is more stable than a dyad because one member can act as a mediator.
Stability increases with group size.

11. Social Diversity: Race, Class, and Gender
Efforts to promote diversity may have an unintended effect of promoting separatism.
The more diverse a group, the more likely its members are to interact with outsiders.
If all groups have the same social standing, members of all the groups will interact.
If a group is physically segregated from others, its members are less likely to associate with other people.

12. Networks A network – a web of weak social ties.
People who come into occasional contact.
A social web reaching great distances.
The feeling that we live in “a small world.”
Ties may be weak, but they can be a powerful resource.

13. Formal Organizations
Formal organizations – large secondary groups that are organized to achieve their goals efficiently.
They operate in a deliberate way.
They accomplish complex jobs.
Large organizations develop cultures of their own in order to last over time.

14. Types of Formal Organizations
Utilitarian organization – one that pays people for their efforts.
Normative organization – one that pursues some goal believed to be morally worthwhile.
Coercive organization – one that forces people to join.
Any particular organization may fall into all of these categories.

15. Bureaucracies
A bureaucracy – an organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently.
There are specific traits that promote efficiency:
Specialization.
Hierarchy of offices.
Rules and regulations.
Technical competence.
Impersonality.
Formal, written communication.

16. Organizational Environment
How an organization performs depends on its environment.
Organizational environment – factors outside the organization that affect its operation.
Factors include technology, economic and political trends, work force, and other organizations.

18. Problems of Bureaucracy
It has the ability to dehumanize the people it is supposed to serve.
It creates alienation.
Bureaucratic ritualism – a preoccupation with rules and regulations to the point of thwarting an organization’s goals.
Bureaucratic inertia – the tendency of the organizations to perpetuate themselves.

19. The Evolution of Formal Organizations
Scientific management – the application of scientific principles to the operation of a business or other large organizations.
Managers carefully observe the task performed by each worker.
Managers analyze data and provide guidance.

20. The “McDonaldization” of Society
SocNotes: A Study Companion
The “McDonaldization” of Society
McDonald’s has enjoyed enormous success around the world.
The organization principles that underlie it are coming to dominate our entire society.
Our entire society is becoming “McDonaldized.”