Social Groups: Crash Course Sociology #16

How do the groups that you're part of affect you? How do you, in turn, affect those groups? Today we are talking about how people in society come together with a look at social groups. We’ll look at what social groups are, the different kinds of groups that exist, group dynamics, leadership, conformity, networks and more!



***


Thanks to the following Patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:

Mark, Les Aker, Bob Kunz, mark austin, William McGraw, Jeffrey Thompson, Ruth Perez, Jason A Saslow, Shawn Arnold, Eric Prestemon, Malcolm Callis, Steve Marshall, Advait Shinde, Rachel Bright, Khaled El Shalakany, Sam Hickman, Ian Dundore, Asif Ahmed, Tim Curwick, Ken Penttinen, Dominic Dos Santos, Caleb Weeks, Frantic Gonzalez, Kathrin Janßen, Nathan Taylor, Yana Leonor, Andrei Krishkevich, Brian Thomas Gossett, Chris Peters, Kathy & Tim Philip, Mayumi Maeda, Eric Kitchen, SR Foxley, Tom Trval, Andrea Bareis, Moritz Schmidt, Jessica Wode, Daniel Baulig, Jirat
--

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[MarkFilipAnthony]

Here is a question: Since you're a different person in social environments compared to when you're alone,
When you're on the internet, are you then closer to the person you are when you're alone, or closer to the public person?
How important is it to see the internet as a public space?

Or maybe even the internet has made you develop a third persona type, a internet personality?

[qpSubZeroqp]

”The larger the group, the more toxic, the more of your beauty as an individual you have to surrender for the sake of group thought. And when you suspend your individual beauty you also give up a lot of your humanity. You will do things in the name of a group that you would never do on your own. Injuring, hurting, killing, drinking are all part of it, because you've lost your identity, because you now owe your allegiance to this thing that's bigger than you are and that controls you.”

-George Carlin
(from his last book called Last Words)

[kyaw]

I'm have a bachelor's degree in sociology and I freaking love it! I feel like it is really useful in my life! Also, I love these vdos cuz its like a refresher or quick review. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[JamesLintonwriter]

If my friends all jumped off a cliff, I'd jump too, as all of their dead bodies would cushion my fall and I'd survive.

[erinbatten-hicks]

I'm surprised you mentioned the Milgram experiment but not the Asch conformity experiment. The Asch experiment was especially relevant to groupthink in that the person chose the obviously wrong answer, simply because the group of confederates did so. Also, it somewhat ties into group stability in that dissenting answers increased when at least one other person chose the correct answer.

[seankeenaghanable]

I love crash course but does anyone else find it difficult to keep up with the speed at which they talk or is it just me ?

[heathercalun]

POLL:
What do you think about Crash Course doing a journalism series?

[guruyaya]

That was an amazing episode. The last 10 minutes, I couldn't stop thinking, about how this lesson applies to my life, country and world!

[hhd]

I am a 10th grade student and this explained a big chapter with 10 minutes. thanks a lot.

[corywack]

I watch these as part of my sociology class. I've learned that my family acts more like a secondary group instead of a primary group.

[amalija]

I'm sad that this series will end soon! Thank you for sharing!!

[bangboom]

This video offers a stronger analysis of the Milgram Experiment than Crash Course Psychology. Excellent!

[michelleeriksen]

And now that I'm married, my husband wants to fit in the group just like everyone else. But the group is at a point where there's unconscious rules they/we make in order to tame the group so it doesn't go outta control! We all love each other, but closeness definitely lacks in some areas. Some of the women are very close to each other, but I'm not super close to any individual in the group. I've tried but they intentionally or subconsciously don't want me in their inner inner bubble.

[Waltham]

If all my friends jumped off a bridge, would I?

No, I got to area under the bridge and collect their wallets and watches.

I'm that kind of friend...

[prathamtangri]

I find the series well made! Good work Nicole :)

[calendarcalendar]

Gina Perry did Sociology a great service by investigating Milgram's experiments and published in Discover Magazine "The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments" Sept 2013. From the article: "archival research and examination of primary sources and that of other scholars contradicts this claim.

Milgram himself was privately aware of the methodological weakness of his research and struggled with many of the issues about the validity of experiments and their generalisability beyond the lab. Privately Milgram reflected that his work was more art than science, and described himself as a “hopeful poet.”

Poet or scientist, his determination to make a contribution to an understanding of one of the pressing issues of his generation led him to frame, shape and edit the story of his research for maximum impact. And while Milgram may have not measured obedience to authority in his lab his findings do offer us a powerful lesson: to question the authority of science and to be more critical of the stories we’ve been told."

People are not zombies. They do not blindly follow orders. Many have Moral Agency and will resist.

The Milgram Experiment has been used to advance a "deeper truth" about Human Nature.. when itself isn't true? It's been re-run now with more acceptance Sociological demographics, Racial, Gender, Age, Class. . . and they've all be able to reproduce the same numbers despite the original Milgram numbers being false.

[Note Milgram did his experiments in 1961. . . but he published his book in 1974]

[EmethMatthew]

Thank you for explaining the shock experiment in more detail! That experiment gets used so often, but only told with the most "shocking" result... But the experiment is actually much more interesting when you know the full story.

[AmyNaylorMusic]

Dammit. I've caught up to the latest episode and now I have to wait.... Best Crash Course yet! Thank you

[nnn-ovei]

social relationships in groups can sometimes get complicated .-.
what a flawed system we have

[TheAdventuresofRussell]

I used to study this in Yr 12 in Australia in a course called Community and family studies. It was my favourite class! I wish I still had my notes!