Week 4 #2 "white men of privilege

Before I get into the concept “white men of privilege”, chapter 5 explains the hierarchies of power is the process that we have come to take for granted, sometime without being unaware of the way in which we situate ourselves along the continuum. What this explains is that sometime we categorize ourselves in a hierarchy without us even knowing we are doing this. For example, when a person describes himself as a wealthy person who has money he is putting himself in that category of a person that has more money than most. In this situation of the white men of privilege society categorizes white men of power. We ride the assumption of social, economic, and political power in this country has long resided with upper-class and upper-middle-class white European makes of wealth and privilege. (pg.96)

I would have to disagree with this concept because I feel that this all started back when slavery was going on and white men was privilege because they had all the land and slaves. However, time has changed to where other cultures and diversity run things and are privilege to be where they are. Society has stereotyped that white men have wealth and extra privileges, although some places that give different cultures more privilege than others, I feel that now everybody is privilege with some kind of economic wealth. Power is a shared responsibility; we each participate in its use and abuse. (pg 97) Meaning everybody can be on a level as the privilege white person, it all depends on how they tend to use their power. Wyatt explained “the responsibility of each of us as members of groups, and society in general, to play our part in assuring that all voices, including our own, are heard and fully considered”. (pg 97)

week 4 #1 Stereotypes

In chapter 5 we talk about stereotypes. Stereotyping is a form of categorization which is a part of the human conditions. (pg.89)To discuss this society is field with different diversity and cultural groups which are bound with characteristics that makes each group different from one another. For example, I have been a part of a stereotype group. While being a part of the SJSU bowling team we have little routings and chants we do for our teammates depending on whether they strike or pick up spares. Following this further so while at a bowling tournament we are excited because we are bowling good and our chants are higher than ever. However, another team at the other end of the bowling center all of sudden mocks our chant real loud. No doubt we heard it and were highly offended because this other team tried to be funny and mock our chants. Nevertheless we did not let the competition bother us because we were too focused on our own team. Even though at the end of the tournament we all went out to dinner, while sitting at the tables chatting we still didn’t have that sort of comfortable feeling because of the different cultures of the group. Research has shown that when we get to know members of groups other than our own, we tend to see them as individuals, rather than as members of the group which they are assigned by our stereotyping (hall, 2002 Chpt 5) Generally speaking because these other bowling members was not a part of our team we felt they was a part of our chemistry. In conclusion when small groups has certain rituals within their groups that they feel is importance to them that you already know is being mock, it tends to be disrespectful and rude to the person its offending.

Week 4 #3 Pressures for conformity

We see that in small groups that when a group has some type of knowledge in the subject, the ideas tend to get miss communicated or not taking in considerations. The pressure of conformity has small groups tied up in conflict that sends hostility towards other group members. For example, if a group were all knowledgeable of making a volcano, ones idea may be different from others on how they want to construct the volcano. In doing this group members tend to put assumptions on ideas saying their ideas are not good enough or their irrelevant to the project at hand. Nevertheless, making it harder to contribute and put forth effort because the ideas that is on the table the group is unfamiliar with. Additionally “individuals who share the same cultural norms and expectations, different experiences may cause one or another to approach a given take from a different perspective than that of the apparent majority of group members”. (Chpt. 5 pg97) By saying this group members who have encounter the same problem have all solved it differently, thus making it hard to contribute opinions with groups. We need to set guidelines in between groups that can give us the best result on overcoming obstacles, one such can be finding which person ideas gives us the best possible results, with the easiest steps for group members. Nevertheless, groups that have such high conformity levels should find ways to come up with alternative routes to where everybody ideas can be express and talked about before cutting out possible ideas that can help the project excel.

Week #3 Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness “is the extent to which members are loyal and committed to the group” (Griffin, 2005, pg.629) creating a “force that binds group members together” (keyton&springston, 1990, p.234). This is very important in small groups because without cohesiveness it makes projects harder to get done. While working in a group project there is a lot of interaction and importance that each member has to accomplish to get the project complete. However, if one member of the group doesn’t want to fulfill his duties it makes everybody else in the group job that much harder. Yet, when everybody wants to put their input in and get the job done it makes the project flow so much smoother. Cohesiveness describes a set of influences and reasons that keep members in a group and keep them motivated and willing to contribute extra time and effort to help the group complete its job (Witteman 1991). Therefore, Groups that have positive group experiences their attitudes are more in a positive direction working with a person than a person who had a negative experience. We see cohesiveness plays a factor in groups on how group norms change when a person is putting in effort and when there not putting effort in.

Week 3 #2

Generally speaking depending on the group, the functions tend to change on the rules each group has. Norms are expectations regarding behavior patterns for the group as a whole; the particular way we live, as individual, are expected to act in a group is our role. (pg.49) This tells us that each member of the group has some type of responsibility that brings the group together. For example, one person in the group could be funny, the other cocky and so forth… Regardless of presence, each member brings a characteristic to the group that makes them unique. Hare (1994) states that a role is associated with the position and status of a member in a group and implies the rights and duties of the member toward one or more other group members. (pg.49) In general, group members work to foster the favorable impressions of themselves to obtain relations with other group members. For example, when I am around my friends I am always goofy and funny because that’s the type of characteristic I bring to the group. My role in the group doesn’t change or get look at different unless the demeanor of the attitude changes. Yet, I haven’t experience a violation of the norms because I react after the first warnings I receive. For instance, if I am late to class the teacher will discuss how I shouldn’t be late to class because I’m missing out on class participation. This then gives me the hint that I should not be tardy anymore to class or suffer the consequences. Overall, norms function different between the cultural environment they are adapted to or knowledgeable about. Each member brings different characteristics to the table, which makes their role different in the group’s eyes.

Week 3 #1

No doubt there are group norms at SJSU. Group norms “define the nature of the group and the relationships among the group members by expressing the collective values of the membership and by identifying the place of the group members within that value system”. (chpt. 3 pg. 46) For example, at SJSU there are jobs on campus that all have different responsibilities and duties. One job like the book store which sells books for the students does not have the same responsibilities as the person who works for Jamba juice. Within these groups they establish norms that establish the accepted rules of behavior. (pg 46)Furthermore once these norms are established each person has assigned task that must be completed and done. On the other hand when people are around friends their responsibilities and actions change. They adapt to the cultural environment around them. Names are “ the set of assumptions or expectations by members of a group or organizations concerning what kind of behavior is right or wrong, good or bad, appropriate or inappropriate, allowed or not.”(pg47)We can determine with this that while in a work environment we have to make sure we are on time, in dress code, and ready to work. In the book they define this as the explicit norm. Yet around friends we are more relaxed and laid back. In this case, we can identify this more as the implicit norm. Therefore, we can adapt based on the guidelines that each norm poses.

#3 Pick one concept from the reading (Sensitivity to Inital Condition)

People always tell me that first impressions last a lifetime. We can relate to this because if we meet a person and his character shows negative ways we will always have that lasting effect on his bad characteristics. This also goes if the person first impression is a good one. However, people tendencies are not always viewed in the opening; they can also be viewed on a constant actions or repetition. If a person is late all the time to a class discussion, the teacher will get the impression that this person has attendance problems, as oppose to a person that is always on time to a discussion, but miss’s class back to back. This will be less to go notice before a person who always distracts the class with tardiness. Furth more, also describes in chapter 2

” One is that first impressions are important. A second is that the same behavior may be perceived differently, depending on the context and the group’s perceptions of the person doing the behaving. Although all of the consequences of the impressions may not become apparent for some time, even in “zero history” or newly formed groups, reputations, appearance, and personal style often precede us and provide information that may influence the group process in some unexpected way.”(pg36)

First impression last forever people never want to leave a negative thought on a person mind because whether you believe or not if you do not see that person for awhile and reunite they will always still have that first impression on how they meet you.

#2 Explain how entropy and euifinality impact small groups

At times giving to many ideas in a project leads to confusion and possibly getting nothing done. On the other hand groups tend to talk over one another which can lead to confusion and nothing being accomplished. Entropy as explained in chapter 2 tends toward disorganization, stagnation, and chaos. This can be true because small groups tend to overwhelm each other with ideas that can trigger group members to think of new or better ideas where nothing gets written down and accomplished. Another trigger that can cause entropy is when group members feel their ideas or input is the best choice for the project without hearing out other ideas. We tend as group members see this and react as we shouldn't put our inputs in the project. However, also discussed in chapter 2 is Equifinality which explains that there are different routes that people can take to still lead to same common goal. Groups can coordinate a structure to help deviate responsibilities to other team member to get certain fields done at a deadline. Once the group member get his/her part done, then the other team members can give input to help improve the paper. Another example is to ask questions to the group members to see what a group member is comfortable taking on what task on the assignment and then assign him that task to get done. In doing this everybody can do a part in the paper that they feel comfortable doing and have it done in a sufficient way.Lastly, when families have disagreements in the house on who does chores or who is watching t.v, to eliminate all problems they create solutions by alternating duties and days when a person watching t.v. In doing this we can conclude that it will more of a positive result than a negative outcome.

#1 Groups living systems based on interdependence and interrelationships.

Our first thought when we are ask to do a group assignment is "I don't want to be the one doing all the work in the group". In this situation we tend to find people that we have previous experience in group assignments or feel most comfortable being around.Based on my experience i learned that when everybody as a whole is producing equal amount of work it makes the project easier to get finished. However, when one group member is relying on the other to get the assignment done, it tends to not work out to well. What i realized is when their is not a bond of a whole where everybody is on the same page, projects turn out bad. Small groups that do not function well produce negative energy which can cause half of the group production or even bad thoughts. If the chemistry is off on a small group it will lose its interdependence and can cause insufficient work.