Sociology 1021E Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Working Animal, Stanley Milgram, Social Inequality
24 May 2017
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How social groups shape our actions: norms of solidarity demand conformity. When we form relationships with friends, lovers, spouses, teammates, we develop shared ideas or norms of solidarity about how we should behave toward them to sustain the relationships. Because these relationships are important to us emotionally, we sometimes pay more attention to norms of solidarity than to the morality of our actions. Ex: nazis didn"t hate the people they slaughtered. They committed atrocities because they wanted to maintain group morale, solidarity, and loyalty. Employees sometimes worry about being fired if they were to report crimes committed by corporations. Gang members engage in crime because it is a way to maintain a close social bond with their fellow gang members: structures of authority tend to render people obedient. Most people find it difficult to disobey authorities because they fear ridicule ostracism and punishment this fact was strikingly demonstrated in experiment conducted by social psychologist stanley milgram.
