Groups in society

What different types of groups can you think of?

HIPPIES
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks (people on a spiritual quest) who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Both the words "hip" and "hep" came from African American culture and denote "awareness". The early hippies inherited the countercultural values of the Beat Generation, created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and some used drugs such as cannabis, LSD and magic mushrooms to explore altered states of consciousness.

Famous Hippies
John Lennon Yoko Ono

Modern day Bohemian

Punks
The punk subculture emerged in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia in the mid-1970s. Early punk had an abundance of antecedents and influences, and Jon Savage has described the subculture as a "bricolage" of almost every previous youth culture that existed in the West since the Second World War "stuck together with safety pins". Various philosophical, political, and artistic movements influenced the subculture. In particular, punk drew inspiration from several strains of modern art. Various writers, books, and literary movements were important to the formation of the punk aesthetic. Punk rock has a variety of musical origins, both within the rock and roll genre and beyond. The earliest form of punk rock, named protopunk in retrospect, started as a garage rock revival in the northeastern United States in the late 1960s. The first ongoing music scene that was assigned the punk label appeared in New York City between 1974 and 1976. At about the same time or shortly afterward, a punk scene developed in London. Soon after, Los Angeles became home to the third major punk scene. These three cities formed the backbone of the burgeoning movement, but there were also other scenes in a number of cities such as Brisbane and Boston.

John Savage Famous writer, History of the Sex Pistols

Football Fans
In many countries, football has ingrained itself into the national culture, and many parts of life revolve around it. Many countries have daily football newspapers, as well as football magazines. The mood of regions and countries has been seen to be connected to football. Victory in a major tournament can bring happiness to the local community or country. Conversely defeat can lower spirits, and has been seen to be connected to mortality in the population. Withdrawal symptoms when the football season finished have also been reported. The economy can also be seen to be connected to major football tournaments, although the precise association is disputed.

How does the individual indentify with a group?

Social Catergarisation
The first is categorisation. We categorise objects in order to understand them and identify them. In a very similar way we categorise people (including ourselves) in order to understand the social environment. We use social categories like black, white, Australian, Christian, Muslim, student, and bus driver because they are useful.

Social Identification
In the second stage, social identification, we adopt the identity of the group we have categorised ourselves as belonging to. If for example you have categorised yourself as a student, the chances are you will adopt the identity of a student and begin to act in the ways you believe students act (and conform to the norms of the group). There will be an emotional significance to your identification with a group, and your self-esteem will become bound up with group membership.

Social Comparison
The final stage is social comparison. Once we have categorised ourselves as part of a group and have identified with that group we then tend to compare that group with other groups. If our self-esteem is to be maintained our group needs to compare favourably with other groups. This is critical to understanding prejudice, because once two groups identify themselves as rivals they are forced to compete in order for the members to maintain their selfesteem. Competition and hostility between groups is thus not only a matter of competing for resources (like in Sherif s Robbers Cave) like jobs but also the result of competing identities.

Serious effects of groups

Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation by association football club fans. Fights between supporters of rival teams may take place before or after football matches at pre-arranged locations away from stadia, in order to avoid arrests by the police, or they can erupt spontaneously at the stadium or in the surrounding streets. Football hooliganism can range from shouts and small-scale fistfights and disturbances to huge riots where firms attack each other with deadly weapons such as sports bats, glass bottles, rocks, knives, machetes and pistols.

THE OLD FIRM RIVALRY

The club's most distinct rivalry is with Celtic F.C, the other major football club based in Glasgow; the two clubs are collectively known as the Old Firm. Rangers' traditional support has largely come from the Protestant Unionist community, meanwhile Celtic's traditional support has largely come from the Catholic republican community. During the late 19th century, many immigrants came to Glasgow from Ireland this was a time of considerable antiCatholic and anti-Irish sentiment in Scotland. Even before the formation of Celtic, in 1888, Rangers had close links to the Orange Order and freemasonry. By the early 20th century, Catholic players were asked to leave the club.

The clubs have attracted the support of opposing factions in the political difficulties of Northern Ireland, which intensified the rivalry in Scotland. Anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth notes that some supporters use songs, chants and banners on match days to express abuse or support towards the Protestant or Catholic faiths and proclaim support for Northern Irish based paramilitary groups such as the IRA and UVF. A study in 2008 by the University of Strathclyde found that the Old Firm rivalry was "strongly linked to the conflict in Northern Ireland".

STREET GANGS
There were at least 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members active across the USA in 2007,up from 731,500 in 2002 and 750,000 in 2004. By 1999, Hispanics accounted for 47% of all gang members, Blacks 34%, Whites 13%, and Asians 6%. Gang-related organised crime in the United Kingdom according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency is concentrated around the cities of London, Manchester and Liverpool and regionally across the West Midlands region, south coast and northern England. With regards to street gangs the cities identified as having the most serious gang problems, which also accounted for 65% of firearm homicides in England and Wales, were London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Glasgow in Scotland also has a historical gang culture with the city having 6 times as many teenage gangs as London, which has ten times the population, per capita.

What kind of activities do you think street gangs engage in and why?

Groups that try and influence society in a positive way

There are groups in society who try and improve our quality of life and try and make a positive influence on the world.

What do you know about these groups?

LESS OBVIOUS GROUP TYPES

Gender Political Nationality Regionality Religious

Can you think of examples in which affliations with these groups has made you behave? Are you living up to the sterotype or being pressured?

 What kind of groups can you put yourself in? Nationality, gender, political, class ?

How can these groups make you behave? Do they influence your behaviour?

WRITE
Write 170 200 words on: How individuals identify as part of a group and how this impacts their self image and behaviour