Introduction to Sociology Third Edition an Open Stacks textbook this free Audi book is a public service of Los Angeles Harbor College register for in-person and online courses today by visiting www.lahc.edu you can find this audiobook anywhere you listen to podcasts including Spotify YouTube Apple podcasts and more chapter six groups and Organization introduction throughout the history of the United States individuals have formed groups in order to achieve goals and bring about change some groups are Loosely defined While others have highly organized structure and Mission and in some some cases groups can have significant influence on culture Society the economy and
Government in 2009 people protesting government spending held a series of tea parties referencing the Boston Tea Party an anti- taxation event that led up to the Revolutionary War tea party activists also opposed big government high taxes and political corruption and supported gun rights and traditional Family Values
They called for awareness to any issue which challenges the security sovereignty or domestic tranquility of our beloved Nation the United States of America the movement grew into a major political force with chapters popping up in nearly every Community across the country by 2010 tea party candidates had
Won seats in the US House of Representatives and the Senate demonstrating the political power of the group and its message as Grassroots activism faded the Tea Party gained influence within the Republican Party many of its ideas have been assimilated into the mainstream conservative movement and Republican Party platform in 2016 highly successful
Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against Fox chairman Roger alses for sexual harassment the suit LED other women to come forward with similar allegations against ala and others in the entertainment industry soon after actress Alysa Milano posted this statement on Twitter if all the women who have been sexually
Harassed or assaulted wrote me too as a status we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem the phrase me too had been first used in this context in 2006 by activist tan Burke in an effort to empower women of color within a day of Milano’s post the me too
Phrase or hashtag was used over 500,000 times on Twitter and was used in over 12 million posts by 4.7 million people on Facebook thousands of people including other celebrities shared their own stories of sexual harassment abuse or assault the me too movement became the lead story on many newscasts and talk
Shows over the months that followed the movement sparked reforms within companies and governments to combat sexual harassment and better support women the movement inspired abuse victims to come forward and led to the sanction or removal of prominent individuals accused of Serial harassment or abuse in Academia media government
And other Industries the Tea Party evolved into an organization from a loosely associated set of local chapters it developed into several closely Affiliated nonprofits filed with the IRS a political faction within the Republican party and a caucus within Congress what about the me2 movement Burke started it in 2006 and was working
To enact change long before the hashtag sparked more awareness and new policies the me2 has brought together people to work in groups but it has yet to form into a permanent me to organization as enduring social units groups help Foster shared value systems and are key to the structure of society
As we know it there are three primary sociological perspectives for studying groups functionalist conflict and interactionist we can look at the Tea Party and the me to movements through the lenses of these methods to better understand the roles and challenges that they offer the functionalist perspective
Is a big picture macro level view that looks at how different aspects of society are intertwined this perspective is based on the idea that Society is a well-balanced system with all parts necessary to the whole and it studies the roles these parts play in relation to the whole a
Functionalist might look at the macro Lev needs that each movement serves for example a structural functionalist might ask how the Tea Party arose to voice the concerns of a large sector of society that felt politically underrepresented or how me2 drove people to pay attention to sexual harassment and gender
Inequality this approach might look at how each group enabled the voicing of discontent and so stabilized Society the conflict perspective is another macro analytical view one that focuses on the Genesis and growth of inequality a conflict theorist studying the Tea Party Movement might look at how it checked interests that have
Manipulated the political system over the last 30 years or this perspective might explore how me too challenged organizations that have allowed sexual harassment to persist in order to protect those in power a third perspective is the symbolic interaction or interactionist perspective this method of analyzing groups takes a microlevel view
Instead of studying the big picture these researchers look at the day-to-day interactions of groups studying these details the interactionist looks at issues like leadership style and group dynamics in the case of the Tea Party Movement interactionists might ask how does the Tea Party dynamic in New York differ from that in
Atlanta or in the case of the me2 researchers May seek to learn about who defines the agenda and approach within the movement 6.1 types of groups learning objectives by the end of this section you should be able to differentiate between primary and secondary groups recognize in-groups and outgroups as
Subtypes of primary and secondary groups Define reference groups most of us feel comfortable using the word group without giving it much thought often we mean different things when using that word we might say that a group of kids all saw the dog and it could mean 250 students in a lecture
Hall or four siblings playing on a front lawn in everyday use it can be a generic term although it carries important clinical and scientific meanings moreover the concept of a group is Central to much of how we think about society and human interaction so how can we hone the meaning more precisely for
Sociological purposes defining a group the term group is an amorphous one and can refer to a wide variety of gatherings from just two people think about a group project in school when you partner with another student a club a regular Gathering of friends or people who work together or share a hobby in
Short the term refers to any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share a sense that their identity is somehow aligned with the group of course every time people are gathered it is not necessarily a group a rally is usually a one-time event for instance
And belonging to a political party doesn’t imply interaction with others people who happen to be in the same place at the same time but who do not interact or share a sense of identity such as a bunch of people standing in line at Starbucks are considered an aggregate or a crowd
Another example of a non-group is people who share similar characteristics but are not tied to one another in any way these people are considered a category and as an example all children born from approximately 1980 to 2000 are referred to as Millennials why are millennials a category and not a group because while
Some of them may share a sense of identity they do not as a whole interact frequently with each other interestingly people within an aggregate or category can become a group during disasters people in a neighborhood an aggregate who did not know each other might become friendly and depend on each other at the
Local shelter after the disaster when people go back to Simply living near each other the feeling of cohesiveness May last since they have all shared an experience they might remain a group practicing Emer Mercy Readiness coordinating supplies for next time or taking turns caring for Neighbors who need extra help
Similarly there may be many groups within a single category consider teachers for example within this category groups may exist like teachers unions teachers who coach or staff members who are involved with the PTA types of groups sociologist Charles Horton coie 18 64 to 1929 suggested that groups can broadly
Be divided into two categories primary groups and secondary groups according to kie primary groups play the most critical role in our lives the primary group is usually fairly small and is made up of individuals who generally engage face- Toof face in long-term emotional ways this group serves emotional needs expressive functions
Rather than pragmatic ones the primary group is usually made up of significant others those individuals who have the most impact on our socialization the best example of a primary group is the family secondary groups are often larger and impersonal they may also be task focused and time limited these groups serve an
Instrumental function rather than an expressive one meaning that their role is more goal or task oriented than emotional a classroom or office can be an example of a secondary group neither primary nor secondary groups are bound by strict definitions or set limits in fact people can move from one group to
Another a group of co-workers for example can start as a secondary group but as the employees work together over the years they may find common interests and strong ties that transform them into a primary group as we will discuss in the chapter on media and Technology even online networks of people with common
Interests can sometimes move from secondary to primary group status sociology in the real world best friends she’s never met writer Allison levie worked alone while she liked the freedom and flexibility of working from home she sometimes missed having a community of co-workers both for the Practical purpose of brainstorming and socializing
Levy did what many do in the internet age she found a group of other writers online through a web Forum over time a group of approximately 20 writers who all wrote for a similar audience broke off from the larger group and started a private Invitation Only Forum while
Writers in general represent all genders ages and interests this group ended up being a collection of 20 and 30s something women who all wrote fiction for children and young adults at first The Writer’s form was clearly a second secondary group United by the members professions and work situations as Levy explained on the
Internet you can be present or absent as often as you want no one is expecting you to show up it was a useful place to research information about Publishers recently published books and authors and Industry Trends But as time passed Levy found it served a different purpose since the group shared other
Characteristics beyond their writing such as age and gender their conversation naturally turned to matters such as child rearing aging parents health and exercise Levy found it was a sympathetic place to talk about any number of subjects not just writing further when people didn’t post for several days others expressed concern
Asking whether anyone had heard from the missing writers it reached a point where most members would tell the group if they were traveling or needed to be offline for a while the group continued to share one member on the site who was going through a difficult family illness
Wrote I don’t know where I’d be without you women it is so great to have a place to vent that I know isn’t hurting anyone others shared similar sentiments so is this a primary group most of these people have never met each other they live in Hawaii Australia Minnesota and
Across the world they may never meet Levy wrote recently to the group saying most of my real life friends and even and my husband don’t really get the writing thing I don’t know what I’d do without you despite the distance and the lack of physical contact the group clearly fills an expressive
Need ingroups and outgroups one of the ways that groups can be powerful is through inclusion and its inverse exclusion the feeling that we belong in an elite or select group is a heady one while the feeling of not being allowed in or of being incompetent ition with a
Group can be motivating in a different way sociologist William suner 1840 to 1910 developed the concepts of ingroup and outgroup to explain this phenomenon in short an ingroup is the group that an individual feels she belongs to and she believes it to be an integral part of who she
Is an outgroup conversely is a group someone doesn’t belong to often we may feel disdain or competition in relationship to an outgroup sports teams unions and sororities are examples of ingroups and outgroups primary groups consist of both ingroups and outgroups as do secondary groups while group affiliations can be
Neutral or positive the concept of in-groups and outgroups can also explain some negative human behavior such as white supremacist movements by defining others as not like us and inferior in groups can end up practicing ethnocentrism racism sexism agism and heterosexism manners of judging others negatively based on their culture race sex age or
Sexuality often ingroups can form within a secondary group for instance a workplace can have clicks of people from senior executive who play golf together to Engineers who write code together to Young singles who socialize after hours while these ingroups might show favoritism and affinity for other ingroup members the overall organization
May be unable or unwilling to acknowledge it therefore it pays to be wary of the politics of in groups since members May exclude others as a form of gaining status within the group big picture bullying and cyber bullying how technology has changed the game most of us know that the old rhyme
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me is inaccurate words can hurt and never is that more apparent than in instances of bullying bullying often reaches extreme levels of Cruelty in children and young adults people at these stages of Life are especially vulnerable to opinions of
Others and deeply invested in their peer groups today cyber bullying is on the rise cyber bullying can involve sending threatening texts harassing someone in a public forum such as social media hacking someone’s account and pretending to be them posting embarrassing images online and so on a study by the cyber bullying
Research Center found that 28% of teens have been a victim of cyber bullying hinduja and pachin 2019 severe bullying can lead to suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts John 2018 researchers noted that students who experienced in-person and online bullying were 11 times more likely to attempt suicide hinduja 2018 whereas bullying face Toof face
Requires willingness to interact with your victim cyberbullying allows bullies to harass others from the privacy of their homes without witnessing the damage firsthand this form of bullying is particularly dangerous because it’s widely accessible and therefore easier to carry out cyber bullying can create a feeling of powerlessness and inescapability because victimization is
Not constrained to physical locations many victims report being harassed across multiple platforms or formats at the same time cyber bullying first made International headlines in 2010 when a 15-year-old girl Phoebe prince in South Hadley Massachusetts died by suicide after after being relentlessly bullied by girls at her
School in the aftermath of her death the bullies were prosecuted and the state passed anti-bullying legislation this marked a significant change in how bullying including cyber bullying is viewed in the United States now there are numerous resources for schools families and communities to provide education and prevention on this
Issue social media platforms and their parent companies are also taking steps often and under pressure from communities to improve cyber bullying detection and Reporting capabilities according to a report released in 2013 By The National Center for educational statistics close to one in every 3 27.8% students report being bullied by their school
Peers 177% of students reported being the victims of cyber bullying overall lgbtq youth are targeted at a higher rate than other Youth and members of minority populations overall are more likely to be cyberbullying victims Huda and pachin 2020 finally adults particularly college students are also frequent cyberbullying victims and perpetrators reference groups a
Reference group is a group that people compare themselves to it provides a standard of measurement in US Society peer groups are common reference groups kids and adults pay attention to what their peers wear what music they like what they do with their free time and they compare themselves to what they
See most people have more than one reference group so a middle school boy might look not just at his classmates but also at his older brother’s friends and see a different set of norms and he might observe the behaviors of his favorite athletes for yet another point of reference some other examples of
Reference groups can be one’s Cultural Center workplace family gathering and even parents often reference groups convey competing messages for instance on television and in movies young adults often have wonderful apartments and cars and Lively social lives despite not holding a job in music videos young women might dance and sing in a sexually
Aggressive way that suggests experience beyond their years at all ages we use refence groups to help guide our behavior and establish our social norms so how important is it to surround yourself with positive reference groups you may not recognize a reference group but it still influences the way you act
Identifying your reference groups can help you understand the source of the social identities you aspire to or want to distance yourself from sociology in the real world College a world of ingroups outgroups and reference groups for a student entering College the sociological study of groups takes on an immediate and practical
Meaning after all when we arrive someplace new most of us glance around to see how well we fit in or stand out in the ways we want this is a natural response to a reference group and on a large campus there can be many competing groups say you are a strong athlete who
Wants to play intramural sports and your favorite musicians are a local punk band you may find yourself engaged with two very different reference groups these reference groups can also become your ingroups or outgroups for instance different groups on campus might solicit you to join are there fraternities and sororities at your
School if so chances are they will try to convince students that is students they deem worthy to join them and if you love playing soccer and want to play on a campus team but you’re wearing shredded jeans combat boots and a local band t-shirt you might have a hard time
Time convincing the soccer team to give you a chance While most campus groups refrain from insulting competing groups there is a definite sense of an in-group versus an outg group them a member might say they’re all right but their parties are nowhere near as cool as ours or only
Serious engineering Geeks join that group this immediate categorization into in-groups and outgroups means that students must choose carefully since whatever group they associate with might Define their friends for several years to Come 6.2 group size and structure learning objectives by the end of this section you should be able to explain the ways that size influences group dynamics differentiate among styles of leadership interpret the impact of groups on individual Behavior diads Triads and large groups a small group is typically one where the
Collection of people is small enough that all members of the group know each other and share simultaneous interaction such as a nuclear family A diad or a Triad gorg siml 1858 to 1915 wrote extensively about the difference between a diad or two member group and a Triad
Which is a three member group in the former if one person withdraws the group can no longer longer exist we can think of a divorce which effectively ends the group of the married couple or of two best friends never speaking again in a Triad however the dynamic is quite
Different if one person withdraws the group lives on a Triad has a different set of relationships if there are three in the group two against one Dynamics can develop and a majority opinion may form on any issue small grp groups generally have strong internal cohesiveness and a sense of connection
Small groups May face challenges when trying to achieve large goals they can struggle to be heard or to be a force for change if they are pushing against larger groups it is difficult to Define exactly when a small group becomes a large group perhaps it occurs when one
Group grows so large that there are too many people to join in a simultaneous discussion sometimes it occurs when a group joins with other groups as part of a movement these larger groups may share a geographic space such as a fraternity or sorority on the same campus or they
Might be spread out around the globe the larger the group The more attention it can Garner and the more pressure members can put toward whatever goal they wish to achieve at the same time the larger the group becomes the more the risk grows for division and lack of cohesion group
Leadership often larger groups require some kind of leadership in small primary groups leadership tends to be informal after all most families don’t take a vote on who will rule the group nor do most groups of friends this is not to say that deao leaders don’t emerge but formal leadership is rare in secondary
Groups leadership is usually more overt they often out line roles and responsibilities with a chain of command to follow some secondary groups like the military have highly structured and clearly understood chains of command and sometimes lives depend on those after all how well could soldiers function in a battle if different people were
Calling out orders and if they had no idea whom to listen to other secondary groups like a workplace or a classroom also have formal leaders but the style and functions of leadership can vary significantly leadership function refers to the main goal of the leader which may be instrumental or expressive an
Instrumental leader is one who is goal oriented and largely concerned with accomplishing set tasks we can imagine that an army general or a Fortune 500 CEO would be an instrumental leader in contrast expressive leaders are more concerned with promoting emotional strength and health and ensuring that people feel supported social and religious leaders
Rabbis priests imams directors of Youth homes and social service programs are often perceived as expressive leaders sometimes people expect men to take on instrumental roles and women to assume expressive roles women and men who exhibit the other gender manner can be seen as deviants and can encounter resistance
Yet both men and women prefer leaders who use a combination of expressive and instrumental leadership sociologists recognize three leadership styles Democratic leaders encourage group participation in all decision-making they work hard to build consensus before choosing a course of action and moving forward this type of leader is particularly common for
Example in a club where the members vote on which activities or projects to pursue Democratic leaders can be well-liked but there is often a danger that decisions will proceed slowly since consensus building is timec consuming a further risk is that group members might pick sides and entrench themselves into opposing factions rather
Than reaching a solution in contrast a laay fair French for leave it alone leader is hands off allowing group members to self-manage and make their own decisions an example of this kind of leader might be an art teacher who opens the art cupboard leaves materials on the shelves and tells students to help
Themselves and make some art while this style can work well with highly motivated and mature participants who have clear goals and guidelines it risks group dissolution and a lack of progress finally authoritarian leaders issue orders and assign tasks with little to know feedback from group members these leaders are often
Instrumental Leaders with a strong focus on meeting goals often entrepreneurs fall into this mold like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg not surprisingly authoritarian leaders risk alienating the workers when decisions need to made quickly or informed by a high level of expertise however this style of leadership can be required in different
Circumstances es each of these leadership styles can be effective and successful consider what leadership style you prefer why do you like the same style in different areas of your life such as a classroom a workplace and a sports team big picture women political candidates kamla Harris broke a
Significant barrier when she became the first woman and first person of black and South Asia descent to be elected vice president of the United States a prominent presidential candidate in her own right during the 2020 primary election Harris was asked by then candidate Joe Biden to be his
Running mate in order to secure his electoral Victory you may be surprised however to learn that more than 10 other women were on the ballot for president or vice president on November 3rd 2020 many were not on the ballot in every state and at least one Ricky Sue
King actually encouraged people not to vote for her Shirley Chisum Lenora fani Jill Stein Hillary Clinton and many other women have been candidates but the United States has yet to elect a woman to the presidency researchers and political analysts have long established that gender plays a significant role in
How political leaders both candidates and elected officials are perceived as a starting point Research indicates that even among women the public prefer masculine qualities in president for example a study in which subjects completed the bem sex Ro inventory and implicit leadership inventory found that the hypothetical ideal president possessed more masculine qualities than
Feminine qualities Powell and Butterfield 2011 beyond the implicit preference toward masculine qualities women candidates face what is sometimes referred to the likeability Trap essentially the public expects and prefers certain qualities from its leaders and also expects and prefers certain qualities based on the candidate’s gender for women presidential candidates these
Expectations often Conflict for example when a male candidate ranks low on feminine qualities their likability is not significantly affected but when a female candidate like Hillary Clinton ranks low on feminine qualities their likeability is significantly impacted interestingly the same survey found that camela Harris had a much more balanced
Gender equality rating than Clinton did the researchers qualified that since camela Harris ran for vice president rather than president the ratings cannot be directly compared to Clinton’s this difference though May indicate why many women are elected to legislative and gubernatorial roles but not to the presidency Conroy Martin and Nadler
2020 if these same perceptions present themselves in the workplace prescriptive stereotypes that is ideas about how men or women should behave limit women’s advancement to leadership positions men are often appreciated for being ambitious while women who exhibit assertive Behavior are generally perceived as selfish or overly competitive baldoni 2020 furthermore
When men help out in the workplace their contribution is appreciated while the same task carried out by women goes unacknowledged Scholars observe that women are underrepresented in the top levels of us businesses and Fortune 500 companies Hilman 2012 Conformity we all like to fit in to some
Degree likewise if we want to stand out then we want to choose how we stand out and for what reasons for example a person who loves cuttingedge fashion might dress in thought-provoking new styles to set a new trend Conformity is the extent to which an individual complies with group Norms or
Expectations as you might recall we use reference groups to assess and understand understand how to act to dress and to behave not surprisingly young people are particularly aware of who conforms and who does not a high school boy whose mother makes him wear ironed button-down shirts might protest
That everyone else wears t-shirts and he will look stupid another high school boy might like wearing those shirts as a way of standing out how much do you enjoy being noticed do you consciously prer to conform to group Norms so as not to be singled out are there people in your
Class who immediately come to mind when you think about those who don’t want to conform psychologist Solomon Ash 1907 to 1996 conducted experiments that Illustrated how great the pressure to conform is specifically within a small group read about his work in the sociological research feature and consider what you would do in Ash’s
Experiment would you speak up what would help you speak up and what would discourage it sociological research conforming to expectations in 1951 psychologist Solomon Ash sat a small group of about eight people around a table only one of the people sitting there was the true subject the rest were Associates of the
Experimenter however the subject was led to believe that the others were all like him people brought in for an experiment in visual judgments the group was shown two cards the first card with a single vertical line and the second card with three vertical lines differing in length the experimenter pulled the group and
Asked each participant one at a time which line on the second card matched up with the line on the first card however this was not really a test of visual judgment rather it was Ash’s study on the pressures of Conformity he was curious to see what the effect of multiple wrong answers
Would be on the subject who presumably was able to tell which lines matched in order to test this ash Had Each planted respondent answer in a specific way the subject was seated in such a way that he had to hear almost everyone else’s answers before it was his turn sometimes the non-sub members
Would unanimously choose an answer that was clearly wrong so what was the conclusion Ash found that 37 out of 50 test subject responded with an obviously erroneous answer at least once when fussed by a unanimous wrong answer from the rest of the group The Subject conformed to a mean of four of the
Staged answers Ash revised the study and repeated it wherein the subject still heard the staged wrong answers but was allowed to write down his answer rather than speak it aloud in this version the number of examples of Conformity giving an incorrect answer so as not to
Contradict the group fell by 2/3 he also found that group size had an impact on how much pressure the subject felt to conform the results showed that speaking up when only one other person gave an erroneous answer was far more common than when five or six people defended the incorrect position finally Ash
Discovered that people were far more likely to give the correct answer in the face of near unanimous consent if they had a single Ally if even one person in the group also dissented the subject conformed only a quarter as often clearly it was easier to be a minority
Of two than a minority of one Ash concluded that there are two main causes for Conformity people want to be liked by the group or they believe the group is better informed than they are he found his study results disturbing to him they revealed that intelligent well-educated people would with very
Little coaxing go along with an untruth he believed this result highlighted real problems with the education system and values in our Society Ash 1956 Stanley mgram a Yale psychologist had similar results in his experiment that is now known simply as the mgram experiment in 1962 mgram found that research subjects were overwhelmingly
Willing to perform acts that directly conflicted with their consciences when directed by a person of authority in the experiment subjects were willing to administer painful even supposedly deadly shocks to others who answered questions incorrectly to learn more about similar research visit www. prison.org the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility social psychologists have
Recognized that other people’s presence influences our Behavior whether we are aware of it or not one example is the bystander effect a situation in which people are less likely to interfere during an emergency or when a social Norm is being violated if there are others around they feel less responsible
Because of the presence of other bystanders this is known as diffusion of responsibility most of the time people report that they don’t want to get involved and that’s why they don’t respond when they see something wrong they assume someone else will step up and help researchers have found that
People are less likely to help if they don’t know the victim think about it this way you’re walking to class and there are several students around someone falls on the ground having a seizure what would you do the bystander effect suggests that unless you know the person who has fallen you are more
Likely to walk away than help however social psychologists believe that you are much more likely to help or at least stop and check if you are the only one around 6.3 formal organizations learning objectives by the end of this section you should be able to distinguish the types of formal organizations recognize the
Characteristics of bureaucracies identify the impact of the mcdonaldization of society a complaint of Modern Life is that Society is dominated by large and impersonal secondary organizations from schools to businesses to healthcare to government these organizations referred to as formal organizations are highly bureaucratized indeed all formal organizations are or likely will become
Bureaucracies we will discuss the purpose of formal organizations and the structure of their bureaucracies types of formal organizations sociologist Amai etsion posited that formal organizations fall into three categories normative organiz ations also called voluntary organizations are based on shared interests as the name suggests joining them is voluntary people find membership
Rewarding in an intangible way they receive non-material benefits the ottobon society and a ski club are examples of normative organizations coercive organizations are groups that we must be coerced or pushed to join these may include pris or a rehabilitation center symbolic interactionist Irving gofman states that most coercive organizations are total
Institutions a total institution is one in which inmates or military soldiers live a controlled lifestyle and in which total resocialization takes place the third type is utilitarian organizations which as the name suggests are joined because of the need for a specific material reward high school and the workplace fall into
This category one joined in pursuit of a diploma the other in order to make money table 6.1 formal organizations this table shows eton’s three types of formal organizations the first type of organization is a normative or voluntary organization with this type of organization the benefits for members are
Intangible membership is on a volunteer basis when it comes to feelings of connectedness there is a shared Affinity among members the second type of organization is a coercive organization with this type of organization the benefits for members are corrective membership is required when it comes to feelings of connectedness there is typically no
Affinity the third and final type of organization is a utilitarian organization with this type of organization members receive tangible benefits membership is offered on a contractual basis when it comes to feelings of connectedness there is typically some Affinity the structure of bureaucracies bureaucracies are an ideal type of formal organization by ideal
Sociologists don’t mean best rather bureaucracies have a collection of characteristics that most of them exhibit Pioneer sociologist Max wber characterized a bureaucracy as having a hierarchy of auth Authority a clear division of labor explicit rules and impersonality people often complain about bureaucracies declaring them slow rule-bound difficult to navigate and
Unfriendly let’s take a look at terms that Define a bureaucracy to understand what they mean hierarchy of authority refers to the chain of command that places one individual or office in charge of another who in turn must answer to her own superiors for example as an employee at Walmart
Your shift manager assigns you tasks your shift manager answers to his store manager who must answer to her regional manager and so on up to the CEO who must answer to the board members who in turn answer to the stockholders everyone in this bureaucracy follows the chain of command bureaucracies have a clear
Division of labor each individual has a specialized task to perform for example at a University psychology professors teach psychology but they do not attempt to provide students with financial aid forms the office of admissions often takes on this task in this case it is a clear and Common Sense division but what
About in a restaurant where food is backed up in the kitchen and a Hostess is standing nearby texting on her phone her job is to seat customers not to deliver food is this a smart division of labor bureaucracies have explicit rules rules that are outlined written down and
Standardized for example at your college or university the student guidelines are contained within the student handbook as technology changes and campuses encounter new concerns like cyber bullying identity theft and other problems that arise organizations scramble to ensure their explicit rules cover these emerging issues finally bureaucracies are also characterized by
Impersonality which takes personal feelings out of professional situations this characteristic grew to some extent out of a desire to avoid nepotism backro deals and other types of favoritism while simultaneously protecting customers and others served by the organization impersonality bureaucracies can effectively and efficiently serve volumes of customers quickly however
Explicit rules clear division of labor and a strict hierarchy of authority does not allow them to easily adjust to Unique or new situations as a result customers frequently complain that stores with bureaucratic structures like Walmart care little about individuals other businesses and the community at large bureaucracies are often meritocracies
Meaning that hiring and promotion is based on proven and documented skills rather than on nepotism or random choice in order to get into a prestigious College you need to perform well on the SAT and have an impressive transcript in order to become a lawyer and represent clients you must graduate law school and
Pass the state bar exam of course there are many well-documented examples of success by those who did not proceed through traditional meritocracies think about technology companies with Founders who dropped out of college or performers who became famous after a YouTube video went viral in addition organizations that aspire to become meritocracies encounter
Challenges how well do you think established meritocracies identify Talent wealthy families hire tutors interview coaches test prep services and Consultants to help their kids get into the best schools this starts as early as kindergarten in New York City where competition for the most highly regarded schools is especially Fierce are these
Schools many of which have copious scholarship funds that are intended to make the school more democratic really offering all applicants a fair Shake there are several positive aspects of bureaucracies they are intended to improve efficiency ensure equal opportunities and serve a large population and there are times when rigid hierarchies are needed but
Remember remember that many of our bureaucracies grew large at the same time that our school model was developed during the Industrial Revolution young workers were trained and organizations were built for mass production assembly line work and factory jobs in these scenarios a clear chain of command was critical now in the
Information age this kind of rigid training and adherence to protocol can actually decrease both productivity and efficiency today’s workplace requires a faster Pace more problemsolving and a flexible approach to work too much adherence to explicit rules and a division of labor can leave an organization behind and unfortunately once established
Bureaucracies can take on a life of their own maybe you have heard the expression trying to turn a tanker around mid ocean which refers to the difficulties of changing direction with something large and set in its way state governments and current budget crises are examples of this challenge it
Is almost impossible to make quick changes leading states to fail year after year to address increasingly unbalanced budgets finally bureaucracies grew as institutions at a time when privileged white males held all the power while ostensibly based on meritocracy bureaucracies can perpetuate the exist balance of power by only recognizing the Merit in traditionally
Male and privileged paths Michaels suggested that all large organizations are characterized by the iron rule of oligarchy wherein an entire organization is ruled by a few Elites do you think this is true can a large organization be collaborative the mcdonaldization of society the mcdonaldization of society refers to the increasing presence of the
Fast food business model in in common social institutions including government education and even relationships the term itself isn’t widely used in Publications research or common conversation but its effects are very familiar even commonplace the McDonald’s model includes efficiency the division of labor predictability calculability and control monitoring for
Example in your average chain grocery store people let the register check out customers while stalkers keep the shelves full of goods and Deli workers slice meats and cheese to order efficiency whenever you enter a store within that grocery chain you receive the same type of goods see the same
Store organization and find the same brands at the same prices predictability you will find that goods are sold by the pound so that you can weigh your fruit and vegetable purchase rather than simply guessing at the price for that bag of onions the employees use a time card to
Calculate their hours and receive overtime pay calculability finally you will notice that all store employees are wearing a uniform and usually a name tag so that they can be easily identified there are security cameras to monitor the store and some parts of the store such as the stock room are
Generally considered off limits to customers control this approach is so common in chain stores that you might not even notice it in fact if you went to a large chain restaurant or a store like Walmart seeing a worker or a process that didn’t have these uniform characteristics would seem odd while
Mcdonaldization has resulted in improved profits and an increased availability of various goods and services to more people worldwide it has also reduce the variety of goods available in the marketplace while rendering available products uniform gen generic and Bland think of the difference between a mass-produced shoe and one made by a
Local cobbler between a chicken from a family-owned farm and a corporate grower or between a cup of coffee from the local Diner and one from Starbucks some more contemporary efforts can be referred to as Dem mcdonaldization farmers markets micro breweries and various do-it-yourself Trends and with recent advertising and products emphasizing individuality even
McDonald’s seems to be decd Donald ising itself the corporate impact of this phenomenon is interesting on its own but sociologists and ordinary citizens are often more concerned about its echoes in other areas of society a primary example discussed extensively later on in this text is education curricula and teaching
Practices were long the domain of local districts under State guidance some experts felt that this led to both inefficiency and underperformance starting in the 1990s and especially in the early 2000s with the No Child Left Behind law national standards began to override local approaches but the desired outcome improved education is difficult to
Measure and far more difficult to achieve due to funding gaps difficult standards and intense public and local government opposition the law was largely seen as having limited impact and was eventually phased out Healthcare has also gone to a mass production and efficiency model as you will explore later in the text us Healthcare
Providers and insurers faced overwhelming increases in demand partly the result of America’s aging and less healthy population in the 1990s providers Consolidated in what was called Hospital merger Mania local hospitals and even small doctor offices were merged or acquired by larger systems the trend continued with new growth in providers like urgent care
Offices other efficiency and standardization methods include tele medicine new types of Health Care Professionals Insurance mandates and artificial intelligence sociology in the real world secrets of the McJob we often talk about bureaucracies disparagingly and no organization takes more heat than fast food restaurants several books and movies such as fast
Food nation the dark side of the All-American meal by Eric schler paint an ugly picture of what goes in what goes on and what comes out of fast food chains from their environmental impact to their role in the US obesity epidemic fast food chains are connected to numerous societal ills furthermore
Working at a fast food restaurant is often dispar and even referred to dismissively as having a Mech job rather than a real job but business school Professor Jerry Newman went undercover and worked behind the counter at seven fast food restaurants to discover what really goes
On there his book my secret life on the McJob documents his experience unlike schler Newman found that these restaurants offer much good alongside the bad specifically he asserted that the employees were honest and hardworking that management was often impressive and that the jobs required a lot more skill
And effort than most people imagined in the book Newman sites a pharmaceutical executive who says a fast food service job on an applicant’s resumé is a plus because it indicates the employee is reliable and can handle pressure businesses like Chipotle Panera and Costco attempt to combat many of the effects of
Mcdonaldization in fact Costco is known for paying its employees an average of $20 per hour or slightly more than $40,000 per year nearly 90% of their employees receive health insurance from Costco a number that is unheard of in the retail sector while Chipotle is not known for
The high wages of its employees it is known for attempting to sell highquality foods from responsibly sourced providers this is a different approach from what schler describes among Burger chains like McDonalds so what do you think are these mcjobs and the organizations that offer them still serving an important role in
The economy and people’s careers or are they dead-end jobs that typify all that is negative about large bureaucracies have you ever worked in one would you this has been Introduction to Sociology Third Edition from Open Stacks Open Stacks textbooks and this free audio book are covered under a
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