Social Groups HS Sociology

Social GroupsHS Sociology Unit Objective: SW examine how social groups are composed of people who share common characteristics including interests, beliefs, behaviors and feelings

Are there rules in groups? What happens if you don’t follow the rules?

Class Activity • Divide into groups of 5 • Groups MUST come up with unanimous decision

Groups Group 1: You all have to agree on a favorite artist and song Group 2: You all have to agree on a favorite actor or actress and a favorite TV Show Group 3: You all have to agree on a favorite sport and sports team Group 4: You all have to agree on a college to go to together and a career you want to pursue Group 5: You all have to agree on a pet and the name of the pet

How do groups influence our laws in our society? • What about more controversial topics? • How/why does the inability to agree on laws in our society lead to conflict? • Can this lead to peer pressure?

What is a group? • 4 major features: • Must consist of 2 or more people • There must be interactions among members • Members of the group must have shared expectations • Members must posses some sense of common identity

Aggregate • When people gather in the same place at the same time but lack organization or lasting patterns of interaction • IE: Passengers on an airplane or people standing in a ticket line at the movies • Not necessary for the people to interact in any way

What are the rules of the group?

Social Category • A means of classifying people according to a shared trait or a common status • IE: Students, women, teenagers, and left-handed people are examples of social categories

Size While some groups are small, other groups are very large • Dyad: The smallest group possible; a group with 2 members. Each member of the group has direct control over the group’s existence. If one member leaves the group, the group ends • Triad: 3 person group; the group takes a life of its own, independent of any individual member. No one person can disable the group. Decision making in a triad is easier (2-against-1 alliances form)

Small Group • Few enough members that everyone is able to interact on a face-to-face basis • Usually 15 is the max

Time • Some groups may meet once and never meet again • Other groups (family) exist for many years • Most groups fall somewhere in between the two

Organization • Formal Group: The structure, goals, and activities of the group are clearly defined • IE: School clubs • Informal Group: No official structure or established rules of conduct • IE: Your group of friends

Types of Groups • Primary Group: A small group of people who interact over a relatively long period of time on a direct and personal basis • Entire self of individual is taken into account • Relationships are intimate and often face-to-face • Communication: Deep and intense; informal • IE: Family

Types of Groups • Secondary Group • Interaction is impersonal and temporary in nature • Involve reaction to only a part of the individual’s self • Casual and limited in personal involvement • IE: Classmates or Co-Workers

Types of Groups • Reference Groups: • Any group with whom individuals identify and whose attitudes and values they adopt • IE: Groups of friends or school clubs serve as reference groups

Types of Groups In-Groups Out-Groups • The group that a person belongs to and identifies with • Any group that the person does not belong to or identify with

Types of Groups • E-Communities: • People interact regularly with one another on the Internet

Types of Groups • Social Networks • The web of relationships that is formed by the sum total of a person’s interactions with other people • Include direct and indirect relationships

Class Project • Materials due by Tuesday, Nov 13th: • Must bring in one magazine AND one newspaper (does not have to be current) or personal pictures • I will have construction paper but if you would rather use poster board, please bring it by Nov 13th. • Assignment: You will be making a collage or poster to illustrate the characteristics of a group

How do you set boundaries (rules)? How do you select leaders? Group Functions What are the goals of the group? How do you assign tasks? How do you control the member’s behaviors? How do you make decisions?

Group Functions • Must define boundaries so that members can tell who belongs and who does not • Symbols, uniforms, gestures, hand signals, handshakes, or language

Examples: Secret Societies • The Order of Skull and Bones • Yale University Society • Conspiracy that CIA was built on members of the group

Examples: Secret Societies • Freemasons: • 3 levels: Apprentice, Craft and Master Mason • Secret Handshakes • Many religions frown upon membership • Catholic Church forbids membership • Order of Eastern Star

Group Functions • Leaders: People who influence the attitudes and opinions of others • Two categories of leaders • Instrumental leaders: Task-Oriented • Expressive leaders: Emotion-Oriented

Class Activity • Case Study: p. 82 #1 • (On separate piece of paper) • #2: How far does your social network stretch? • Who lives the furthest away of your Facebook/Myspace/Twitter friends?

Class Activity • Complete Forest Exercise

Glencoe Puzzle http://glencoe.com/olc_games/game_engine/content/gln_ss/socia_and_you/ch6/conc_game/index.html If link does not work try: • http://sociology.mrdonn.org/social-institutions.html

Examples: Ideas that are Controversial in our Society • Polygamy: Marriage includes more than 2 partners • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggLAgJipp7Q • Why is it controversial in our society? • What are rules in society about marriage? • What do you think about polygamy?

Various Types of Norms • Norms: Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations • IE: When you yawn, cover your mouth • The expectation for behavior, not the actual behavior • Folkways: Norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have a great moral significance attached to them • IE: Do not put food in your mouth with a knife

Various Types of Norms • Mores: Norms that have great moral significance attached to them • IE: Dishonesty, fraud, murder • They endanger society’s well-being and stability • Laws: Written rules of conduct enacted and enforced by the government • Enforce mores essential for society’s stability

Various types of Norms • Taboos: The prohibition of an action based on the belief that such behavior is too sacred or too dangerous • IE: Incest, animals used for scientific testing

Class Project • Types of Groups: • Primary, Secondary, Reference, In-Groups, Out-Groups, or E-Communities • Students are to create a collage or poster that illustrates the characteristics of its assigned type • Students are to create a slogan for your assigned group that must be included in collage • Students must provide examples within collage

Stereotyping of Groups

Stereotyping • An oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable generalization about a group of people

Homeless • Causes of Homelessness: • Situational • Generational • High Poverty

Homeless Statistics • For the whole population of the US approximately 6% of Americans are severely mentally ill • For homeless Americans, approximately 20-25% • National Coalition for the Homeless

Gangs • Gangs have a presence in every city that has a population of 250,000 of greater (still may occur in smaller cities) • The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that there are some 28,700 youth gangs with a total membership of about 780,000 nationwide

Gangs • According to CDC National Violent Death Reporting System, comparing gang and non-gang on violence and homicide, Oklahoma City is in the top 5 of cities with the worst gang violence • 25.4% of gang related homicide

Gangs • Youth gang members usually range in age from 12-24 and typically are illegally armed • The risk of being killed is 60 times greater for youth gang members than it is for the general public

Why do people join a gang? • Gangs often offer the only escape for young people from neighborhoods characterized by poverty and limited economic opportunities • The wearing of certain colors, articles of clothing may be be attractive to some young people who feel the need to rebel • Others appear to be willing to risk imprisonment or death for the companionship and protection provided by the gang • Some may be forced to join by threats from gang members

The Aging World • Baby Boom Generation: • Birthrates in the US rose sharply in 1946 and stayed about the same until the 1960s when they declined. The approximately 76 million children born during this time period make up the Baby Boom Generation. • By 2030, all of the baby boomers will have reached 65 years of age, thereby swelling the ranks of the elderly population to nearly 70 million • P. 273 provides a table on the Age Composition of the Population in Major Regions and Areas

Immigration • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plaqunpTzvM&feature=related • What did the psychology professor about a groups’ influence on racism and stereotyping?

African Americans • Comprising more than 12 percent of the population • One of the largest minority groups in the country • No other American minority group has suffered such long history of prejudice and discrimination • Exception of Native Americans and women • 1600s, African Americans brought to country as slaves • 1950s and 1960s: Civil rights movement=significant gains for African Americans • Percent of population for completing high school is only few points lower for African Americans than for whites • 24% of employed African Americans hold managerial or professional jobs (vs. 35% of whites in same position) • 41% of African American households have middle-class incomes

African Americans Continued (Do not have to write) • Not so promising statistics: • The percentage of African American completing four or more years of college is just more than half of white Americans • Approximately 31% of African Americans 18 yrs and younger live below the poverty level. • Unemployment rate among African Americans is more than twice as high as the unemployment of whites • Statistics provide data that shows there is a serious social problem: • Process aided by active role African Americans are taking in political process • Passing of Voting Rights Act of 1965: Elected African Americans jumped from 200 to nearly 9,000 • 2000-President George W. Bush appointed several African Americans to high level positions: Rod Paige-Secretary of Education, Colin Powell-Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice-National Security Advisor • Elected on Nov 4th, 2008 and sworn into office January 20th, 2009: President Barack Obama-First African American President • Best U.S. cities for African Americas: Houston, TX, Washington DC, Atlanta, Georgia (2001 online survey by Black Enterprise)

Hispanics • The 2000 Census shows that the United States is home to more than 35 million Hispanics • 58% increase in the size of the Hispanic population since 1990 • Same time period, the general population only grew about 13% • Population is growing so fast that Hispanics have replaced African Americans as the country’s largest minority group

Hispanics Cont’d… • Many immigrants began arriving in the U.S. in 1960s entered through legal means • Others illegally searching from political freedom and economic opportunities • US government estimates that more than 5 million illegal immigrants are in the US • 70% are Hispanic • Hispanics have gained increasing political power in recent years and currently hold more than 6000 elected and appointed offices • Hispanics also also have large control in voting block

Asian Americans • Like Hispanics, Asian Americans come from a variety of backgrounds • Immigrants from almost every Asian country have came to the US in the past 100 years • 6 largest groups of Asian Americans are Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese ancestry • 4% of total US population • 1990 census placed the size of Asian American population at more than 7 million/2000 Census=10 million+

Social Groups HS Sociology