responsible teenagers, maybe thinking of them as exceptions to the rule. Stereotypes
are a foundation of prejudice,where we “prejudge” people based on their member-
ship in a specific group. (We will discuss this more fully in Chapter 8.)Social Networks
Anetworkis a type of group that is both looser and denser than a formal group. Soci-
ologist Georg Simmel used the term webto describe the way our collective member-
ship in different groups constitutes our sense of identity.
Sociologists often use this metaphor to describe a network as a web of social rela-
tionships that connect people to each other, and, through those connections, with
other people. A network is both denser than a group, with many more connecting
nodes, and looser, in that people who are at some remove from you exert very little
influence on your behavior.Networks and Social Experience
The social connectedness of certain groups in the society can produce interaction pat-
terns that have a lasting influence on the lives of people both within and without the
network. For example, prep schools not only offer excellent educations but also afford
social networks among wealthy children who acquire “cultural capital” (those man-
nerisms, behaviors, affectations that mark one as a member of the elite, as we dis-
cussed in Chapter 2) that prepares them for life among the elite (Cookson and Persell,
1985). Sociologist G. William Domhoff found that many of the boards of directors
of the largest corporations in the world are composed of people who went to prep
school together, or at least who went to the same Ivy League college (Domhoff, 2002).88 CHAPTER 3SOCIETY: INTERACTIONS, GROUPS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
Groups in Cyberspace
Newsgroups and bloggers often rail against “old
media” as elitists and insiders who rely on status and
social networks to get and do their jobs, keeping out
the voices of “regular people.” But are online groups
such liberated spaces, where members are free of sti-
fling norms and conformity to group behavior?
Sociologists find that group behavior in cyberspace can be
just as patterned and policed as it is in the “real” social world.
And newsgroups themselves can be among the strongest shapers
of cybernorms and practices deemed appropriate for group mem-
bership. McLaughlin, Osborne, and Smith (1995) found that
newsgroups consciously develop specific types of acceptable
group behavior, and anyone who persists in “reproachable” acts
will be threatened with expulsion and may ultimately be kicked
out of the group.Newsgroups, in fact, are such powerful enforcers of their own
group norms that the vast majority of subscribers never venture
beyond being “lurkers” who read postings but do not endeavor
to respond with a message of their own. (One widely held
newsgroup norm, in fact, is to follow a group for some time first,
learning about its traditions and agenda before posting a
message.) New members typically receive support materials that
contain both technical advice and social instruction on
appropriate conduct within the group. Files of “frequently asked
questions” often strive to prevent new subscribers from clutter-
ing up the network with queries or challenges to standards of
group behavior (Croteau and Hoynes, 2003).
Such practices, McLaughlin and her colleagues (1995) argue,
help reinforce the collective identities of electronic communi-
ties and protect them from newcomers who may pose a threat
to them or the stability of the group.Sociologyand ourWorld