SOC101Y

1
SOC101Y

• Introduction to Sociology
• Professor Robert Brym
• Lecture 5
• Networks, Groups Bureaucracies
• 8 Oct 08

2
Why Most People Conform

• Norms of solidarity demand conformity.
• Structures of authority tend to render people
  obedient.
• Bureaucracies in particular are highly effective
  structures of authority.

3
Obedience to Authority Increases with Separation
from the Negative Effects of Ones Actions
Percent of subjects who administered maximum
shock
Milgrams experiment supports the view that
separating people from the negative effects of
their actions increases the likelihood of
compliance. When subject and actor were in the
same room and the subject was told to force the
actors hand onto the electrode, 30 of subjects
administered the maximum, 450-volt shock. When
subject and actor were merely in the same room,
40 of subjects administered the maximum shock.
When subject and actor were in different rooms
but the subject could see and hear the actor,
62.5 of subjects administered the maximum shock.
When subject and actor were in different rooms
and the actor could be seen but not heard, 65 of
subjects administered the maximum shock.
4

• A bureaucracy is a large, impersonal
  organization composed of many clearly defined
  positions arranged in a hierarchy. It has a
  permanent, salaried staff of qualified experts
  and written goals, rules, and procedures. Staff
  members always try to find ways of running their
  organization more efficiently. Efficiency means
  achieving the bureaucracys goals at the least
  cost.

5

• A social group is composed of two or people who
  identify with one another, routinely interact,
  and adhere to defined norms, roles, and statuses.
• A social category is composed of two or more
  people who share similar status but do not
  routinely interact or identify with one another.
• In a primary group, norms, roles, and statuses
  are agreed upon but are not put in writing.
  Social interaction creates strong emotional ties,
  extends over a long period, and involves a wide
  range of activities.
• A secondary group is larger, and social
  interaction is more impersonal, creates weaker
  emotional, extends over a shorter period, and
  involves a narrow range of activities.

6

• Groupthink is the tendency to conform to group
  norms despite individual misgivings.
• Bystander apathy is the tendency of witnesses not
  to get involved in wrongdoing. As the number of
  bystanders increases, the likelihood of any one
  bystander helping decreases because the greater
  the number of bystanders, the less responsibility
  any one individual feels.
• In-group members are those who belong to a group.
  Out-group members are those who do not belong to
  the group. An in-group typically draw symbolic,
  spatial and interactive boundaries separating
  itself from an out-group and tries to keep
  out-group members from crossing the boundaries.