5.6 Conclusion
Thinking back to the story at the beginning of this chapter, Lyle Crawford died during the 2021 heat wave. His sister, Donna, in Virginia, had called his former girlfriend to check on him. When he didn’t answer the door, Donna called the police who found him in his home. His sister said, “He would have answered the door if someone knocked, and that might have done it. An actual human being. But how can there be enough human beings to go to the door of every older person?” (Guernsey and Vines 2021).
His death is part of a larger social pattern in which people who are socially isolated and living alone face dire consequences during heat waves (Klinenberg 2001). As we have discussed in this chapter, Americans have grown more socially isolated. In Multnomah County, 48 of the 72 people who died during the 2021 heat wave lived alone (Ehrlich 2022). As sociologist Eric Klinenberg notes, when someone dies alone in their home, it symbolizes social abandonment and social failure. For seniors, living alone leaves them vulnerable during crises. They have no one to help identify emerging problems or help draw support from their networks (Klineberg 2001).
As we saw in the introduction, public and nonprofit organizations played a crucial role in the response to the heat wave. However, these organizations were not prepared for the heat wave. While cooling centers help, not having strategies in place to get people to the cooling centers is a problem. Some argue that socially isolated people need to be checked on. At the time of the heat wave, the state of Oregon did not have an early warning and response system for heat. Government and nonprofit employees had a hard time communicating with the people who needed the most help (Kaplan 2021).
There is also the larger issue of our social infrastructure needing to be repaired to be able to adequately respond to extreme weather events. Leaving inequities in housing or health care only exacerbates the problem and leaves our most disadvantaged at risk (Kaplan 2021). What will happen next time the Northwest faces an extreme weather event or a major earthquake? How will our social networks and organizations respond?
In this chapter, we explored a variety of topics that exist in between individuals and the large institutions of society. We explored the different types of groups we belong to and how they can impact our behavior. We then discussed the importance of social networks and social ties. We ended by looking at the many different organizations we participate in. In the next chapter, we will explore how sociologists study culture.
Review of Learning Objectives
Key Terms
- Bureaucracies: organizations that have a clear division of labor, a hierarchy, and formal rules and procedures.
- Charismatic authority: power legitimized on the basis of a leader’s exceptional personal qualities.
- Coercive organization: organizations we are forced to join.
- Collectivist organization: organizations concerned with pursuing their mission or values. Often the opposite of a bureaucratic organization.
- Crowds: people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, but who do not interact or share a sense of identity.
- Dyad: a two-member group.
- Group: any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share some sense of aligned identity.
- Homophily: similarity within networks.
- In-group: a group we belong to and toward which we hold favorable opinions.
- Isomorphism: a process by which organizations come to look similar and homogeneous.
- Normative or voluntary organizations: organizations we join based on shared interest.
- Out-group: a group we do not belong to and which we may hold negative attitudes toward.
- Primary groups: small, informal groups of people who are closest to us.
- Rational legal authority: power that is legitimized by rules, regulations, and laws.
- Reference group: a group that people compare themselves to.
- Secondary groups: larger and more impersonal groups that are task-focused and time limited.
- Social capital: using social connections and networks as a resource.
- Social network: a set of relationships that link an individual to other individuals.
- Strong tie: people in your network that you know and have regular contact with.
- Traditional authority: power legitimized on the basis of long-standing customs.
- Triad: a three-member group.
- Utilitarian Organization: organizations we join based on seeking a material reward.
- Weak tie: people in your network that you are not that close to.
Discussion Questions
- What in-groups do you belong to? How does that group membership impact your life? What are your reference groups?
- How would you characterize the leadership of your employer? What kind of authority do they have? Why?
- Why do you think Americans are socially isolated? What are some of the consequences of this isolation? How can we become less socially isolated?
- Pick an organization. Would you characterize it as voluntary, coercive, or instrumental; for-profit, public, or nonprofit; or bureaucratic or collectivist?
Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
Open Content, Original
“Conclusion” by Matthew Gougherty is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Groups, Networks, and Organizations Question Set” was created by ChatGPT and is not subject to copyright. Edits for relevance, alignment, and meaningful answer feedback by Colleen Sanders are licensed under CC BY 4.0.
a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, interact with one another, and share a common culture.