week 7

• primary group: a small group of people who have lasting personal relationships
• secondary group: a large and impersonal social group whose members focus on acheive a goal
• instrumental leadership: a type of leadership that focuses on completing goals and tasks
• expressive leadership: a type of leadership that focuses more on the well being of the group
• authoritarian leadership: a leader who takes charge in decision making
• democratic leadership: a leader who includes other people in decision making
• 'laissez faire' leadership: a leader that lets members of a group make their own decisions
• social group: two or more people who identify with and interact with one another
• in-group: a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty
• out-group: a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition
• peter blau: (1977) 3 ways in which social diversity influences intergroup conflict

  1. large groups turn inward
  2. heterogeneous groups turn outward
  3. physical bounderies create social bounderies
• formal organizations: large secondary groups organized to achieve their goals efficiently
• amitai etzioni: (1975)3 types of formal organizations, distinguisged by the reasons people participate in them


  1. utilitarian organizations
  2. normative organizations
  3. coercive organizations
• utilitarian organizations: people work for and income and is a matter in individual choice
• normative organizations: to pursue a goal we think is morally worthwhile
• coercive organizations: forced to join as a form of punishment or treatment
• mcdonaldization (4 principles)


  1. efficiency
  2. predictability
  3. uniformity
  4. control
• george ritzer: (1993) made the argumet that the principles that underlie the fast-fod industry have spread to many aspects of our everyday lives
• role: behaviour expected of someone who holds a particular status
• robert merton: introduced role set which is a number of roles connected to two or more statuses
• role conflict: conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses
• role strain: tension among the roles connected to a single status
• helen rose fuchs: role exit - disengage from important social roles and statuses
• social construction of reality: the process by which people shape reality through social interaction
• berger and luckman: social interaction is a complex nogotiation that builds reality
• thomas theorem: situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences
• erving goffman: dramaturgical analysis


  the study of social interaction in terms on theatrical performance