Social_Group_and_Social_Changes

RUNNING HEAD: Social Group and Social Changes Social Group and Social Changes SOC/100 Introduction to Sociology Facilitator: Shayne Aloe-Chase, Ph.D. University Of Phoenix Social Group and Social Changes Throughout my life I have been involved in groups or organizations which consisted of the first primary group was my extended family with the secondary group as us boys (the neighborhood “in-group”) who ruled the neighborhood and were mostly related by blood. Another primary group I later became a part of, in high school, was the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force while a secondary group was my friends who were not all members of the Cadets but were my “in-group” that I became a part of during my formative years. There was also the Church that consisted of family but friends of the family as well and within that was the youth group. Growing up in a neighborhood where your parents also grew up and therefore your grandparents were only 4 houses apart made for a strong family organization; we were “a number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis” (Shaefer 2005, pg 130). Not everyone usually has so many family members living in the same block and thus dominating the neighborhood. You couldn’t turn in any direction and not run into a cousin, uncle, or aunt who helped to strengthen your self-worth and confidence, knowing that someone was always around for your protection. My family as the primary group played a pivotal role in my initial socialization process and in the development of my role and status in my early life. The family was instrumental in my day-to-day existence as I identified closely with them as my primary group and still does today though we aren’t all living in the same neighborhood anymore. The secondary or in-group of my cousins and even younger uncles taught me initially about developing leadership qualities as sometimes you were called upon to lead the group, even if it sometimes getting into mischief. There were other groups of young men in the neighborhood but they weren’t closely linked by family or were new to the neighborhood and therefore would try to either be a member of our group or found themselves as the outsiders. It led to rivalry and even physical confrontation but in the end, my group would prevail. We did do some good though as we would organize friendly rivalry through games of soccer and cricket for bragging rights; as we grew older then we found ourselves participating in helping others to learn how to read and write in a program the government introduced called the Literacy Program. Entering high school opened me up to another primary group, which was the cadets, and I was the only one in my family to become a part of this group. Through the Cadets teaching us to get involved in community projects such as food drives and fund raisers, I became involved in the literacy program mentioned in the previous paragraph. I credit the cadets with instilling in me the desire to be a member of the Armed Forces as a way to serve, then my country of Jamaica and consequently the United States. I learned discipline and selfless service that even led to my participation in me becoming a part of a small group within the Four H Club of Jamaica. The group came together to plan an event and it required some military presence so I was selected as the military representative in the group. Membership in the cadets led to my developing a circle of friends that became my reference group. We were mostly from the same middle and upper middle class circles but at the same time different from my cousins; I was now functioning in two different in-groups. My new group exposed me to more social functions and meeting more socially upward mobile people whereas with my family and the size of it meant that most of my socialization happened with other family members and people in my immediate neighborhood. I was able to move easily between both but again found that this new group was just as exclusive in its membership as my family group. This new group served a normative function by setting and enforcing new standards of conduct and belief; I was now requiring different type of clothes and attending frequent social events outside of my family in order to stay relevant in the group. The family had a home church that we all attended and the church, built on land donated by my great grandparents. My grandparents, also my mother, and her siblings grew up in that church and played important roles in the church hierarchy. The church today still plays a pivotal role in my family as the newer generations also attend services there. As a family, we are easily recognized and there was an expectation that each of us young men would serve as Alter Boys at some point in our growing up; now I see my nephews doing the same. The church had the catholic youth organization or CYO and through that, I developed other friends and eventually became part of the in-group within that organization. The CYO had one Sunday per month that we were afforded the opportunity to plan services that was always an exciting prospect for us. We also did community service and mentored the younger kids in preparing for their First Communion and First Confession. Moving from Jamaica to the United States of America and joining the United States Army, I found myself in a very large organization but one that had a lot of bureaucracy in it. This fit into Weber’s five characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy. When it comes to division of labor, the Army has that well set. I started out at the very bottom of what I will call the food chain as a Private. I can recall being assigned the most menial of tasks with the advice that in order to learn how to lead I had to be able to follow orders and do what I am told. I was trained that no matter how small or menial my task was that it helped in the overall functioning of the organization which was the protection of the country when called upon. I admit that at first I didn’t feel connected to this ideal but as time went on and I moved up the ranks. I began to understand it but not all of my peers could grasp the concept; eventually they didn’t move up in rank as either I did or discharged due to incompatibility with the Army’s ideals. I struggled at first but eventually thought back to my days in the Cadets and realized that there is a hierarchy of authority in the Army that I follow the principle of each position under the supervision of a higher authority. I then set my sights on moving up that hierarchy to become one of those at the top with a lot of authority as I grew to understand how the system worked here in the United States compared to Jamaica. One way that I learned to quickly advance was to study and understand the necessary rules and regulations that governed my behavior and the performance of my duties. Rules and regulations are important characteristics of the Army as almost everything that you are required to do write in a regulation, directive, policy, or a guidance document. However, one problem that I found the bureaucrats had to overcome was allowing those very same rules and regulations to rule them to the point that they became dysfunctional. There were times that it was necessary to accomplish a task in a short time but when someone who was very bureaucratic got in the way they would fail to understand that the rules and regulations were not meant to cause goal displacement with overzealous conformity. One drawback I found was the tendency to remain impartial would cause me to be impersonal in my treatment of Soldiers. Once I recognized that I would temper my impartiality by treating each Soldier as an individual where necessary, as sometimes you had to deal with Soldiers as a group and not an individual. I had to recognize the difference and not come across as cold and uncaring even though in times of war, when in the heat of battle, to worry about personal feelings. Every Soldier is employed based on their technical qualifications but at the same time, every Soldier had one basic technical qualification, which was that of an Infantry Soldier. My direct technical qualifications were communication specialist, military police, and human resources; I had to know when and how to function in each at the level expected of me. The different social groups and organizations that I mentioned in this paper played a significant part in developing me as the person I am today. I still crave the family group as when I am around them I have a much stronger sense of belonging. I am beginning to reconnect to more of my cadet and high school friends that I had lost touch with for 30 years or more and the memories that brings is quite pleasing, especially knowing that a lot of them kept me in mind throughout the years. Whenever I return to Jamaica for a visit, I attend church and often times see those members of my group who remain there and sometimes get contact information for those that aren’t. The Army is my more recent organization and even with the bureaucratic structure I relish the time spent serving and remain in contact with a lot of Soldiers that are still serving, some of which I trained and developed. Reference: Schaefer: Sociology: A Brief Introduction, Sixth Edition, The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2005