SOC 3110 - [Group Solidarity]

(SBA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits.

Next offered 2014-2015.

M. Macy.

What is the most important group that you belong to? What makes it important? What holds the group together, and how might it fall apart? How does the group recruit new members? Select leaders? Make and enforce rules? Do some members end up doing most of the work while others get a free ride? This course explore these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on sociobiology, economics, and social psychology, as it applies alternative theories of group solidarity to a series of case studies, such as urban gangs, spiritual communes, the civil rights movement, pro-life activists, athletic teams, work groups, and college fraternities.