2014 Signature Assignment
Sociology 1301 Signature Assignment
Directions: This assignment will require that you read the following vignette carefully and answer the questions at the end of the vignette by writing a complete, full essay response. You are allowed to use you book as a resource and a trustworthy, peer reviewed source (optional). Your written essay should be typed, the main body be two to three pages in length and written in APA style/ format. You must have a cover page, the main body (essay) and a separate reference/s page. You will find it helpful to search for APA guidelines in the Internet.
The Power of Groups
Human life is entirely social. Our social ties and everyday face to face interactions with others are guided by common cultural norms and expectations, shared interpretations of reality, and the statuses and the roles assumed in our interactions. Social life then is guided and organized in patterned interactions with others that form groups. Social groups are “collections of people who interact regularly with one another and who are aware of their status as a group” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2013). People in a group share common bonds and integration based on their similar interests, values, norms, and expectations.
Social groups however do more than foster social integration and bonding. Groups exert great influence and power over individuals. Primary groups satisfy our emotional needs for belonging and fulfillment. Secondary groups are those whom we interact with more impersonally to carry out specific tasks. Both primary and secondary groups provide us standards by which we make self-evaluations and judge ourselves to called reference groups. Sociologists Charles H. Cooley and George H. Mead believed social interactions with groups developed personality and the ‘self’. Cooley’s (1964) concept of the “Looking Glass Self” that proposes that a person’s self-image results from our interpretations of other people’s views of us. According to Cooley, humans
Directions: This assignment will require that you read the following vignette carefully and answer the questions at the end of the vignette by writing a complete, full essay response. You are allowed to use you book as a resource and a trustworthy, peer reviewed source (optional). Your written essay should be typed, the main body be two to three pages in length and written in APA style/ format. You must have a cover page, the main body (essay) and a separate reference/s page. You will find it helpful to search for APA guidelines in the Internet.
The Power of Groups
Human life is entirely social. Our social ties and everyday face to face interactions with others are guided by common cultural norms and expectations, shared interpretations of reality, and the statuses and the roles assumed in our interactions. Social life then is guided and organized in patterned interactions with others that form groups. Social groups are “collections of people who interact regularly with one another and who are aware of their status as a group” (Croteau & Hoynes, 2013). People in a group share common bonds and integration based on their similar interests, values, norms, and expectations.
Social groups however do more than foster social integration and bonding. Groups exert great influence and power over individuals. Primary groups satisfy our emotional needs for belonging and fulfillment. Secondary groups are those whom we interact with more impersonally to carry out specific tasks. Both primary and secondary groups provide us standards by which we make self-evaluations and judge ourselves to called reference groups. Sociologists Charles H. Cooley and George H. Mead believed social interactions with groups developed personality and the ‘self’. Cooley’s (1964) concept of the “Looking Glass Self” that proposes that a person’s self-image results from our interpretations of other people’s views of us. According to Cooley, humans