Otherwise, you face rejection, and in some cases even murder or other violence. This indicates the great influence groups can have over our minds and our actions, and indicates how whole groups of people can get swept up into a movement like Nazism, where Hitler created a "master race" that was better than everyone else and wanted to exterminate others from the earth. That's a good example of a very frightening and influential primary group (the German people, which seems like a secondary group, but they had nationalistic pride that brought them together as a "family").
In an article, sociologist Gil Friedman talks about much the same group dynamics in our own nationalism and patriotic pride after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. He notes that leaders can use rallying tactics to "mobilize the public through patriotic appeals" (Friedman, 2006). This is exactly what Hitler did when he mobilized the German people to fight in World War II and to exterminate the Jews. This is an example of group dynamics at its worst, and it explains many things in our society, from religious groups and their intolerance of other religious...
Groups are not always good things, but primary groups are always influential in our lives, and that influence can be good or bad. In fact, groups are one of the most influential aspects of society, as this article and the text clearly indicate. Groups seem innocuous at first, and we tend to think of groups as social activities and aspects that are pleasurable and enjoyable. However, there are just as many groups that foster hatred and misunderstanding, and this reading and the text show that groups have powerful influences, and can influence self-esteem, belief systems, and even change personalities of their members.
References
Henslin, J.M. (2005). Essentials of sociology a down to earth approach. 7th Edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Friedman, G. (2006). Insights from sociology's in-group-out-group hypothesis for the explanation of rallying-round-the-flag and diversionary force. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2008 from the Allacademic.com Web site: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p98707_index.html.
