Groups and Organization - Introduction

Groups and Organization SOCI 1306 Introduction People have founded organisations throughout American history to accomplish objectives and effect change. While some clubs have a very well-defined goal and structure, others are less formal. Additionally, organisations may occasionally have a big impact on politics, the economy, society, and culture. A number of "tea parties" were organised in 2009 by those opposing government expenditures, alluding to the Boston Tea Party, an anti-tax gathering that sparked the Revolutionary War. Tea Party members also backed gun rights and traditional family values while opposing large government, high taxes, and political corruption. They demanded "awareness to any issue which challenges the United States of America, our beloved nation's security, sovereignty, or domestic tranquilly" (Tea Party, Inc. 2021). Chapters of the movement began to appear in almost every community in the nation as it developed into a significant political force. Tea Party candidates have gained seats in the Senate and House of Representatives by 2010, indicating the group's political influence and message. Within the Republican Party, the Tea Party grew in power as grassroots participation diminished. The Republican Party platform and the mainstream conservative movement have adopted many of its ideals. Gretchen Carlson, a very popular Fox News presenter, sued Fox head Roger Ailes in 2016 for sexual harassment. Following the lawsuit, other women came out with comparable accusations against Ailes and other entertainment business figures. Actress Alyssa Milano quickly made this comment on Twitter: "We might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem if all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status." In an attempt to strengthen the voice of women of colour, activist Tarana Burke coined the slogan "Me Too" for the first time in this context in 2006. The hashtag "Me Too" was used more than 500,000 times on Twitter and more than 12 million times in Facebook postings by 4.7 million users in the day after Milano's tweet. Numerous celebrities were among the thousands of people who disclosed their personal accounts of sexual harassment, abuse, or assault. (2020, MeTooMvmt.org) Numerous newscasts and discussion shows featured the "MeToo" movement as their main subject. In the months that followed, the movement spurred changes in government and business to better protect women and stop sexual harassment. The movement encouraged victims of abuse to come forward and resulted in the removal or censure of well-known figures who were allegedly subjected to repeated acts of abuse or harassment in the media, government, academic community, and other sectors. Eventually, the Tea Party became an organisation. It began as a loosely organised group of local chapters and grew into a caucus in Congress, a political party within the Republican Party, and numerous tightly affiliated charities (filed with the IRS). The MeToo movement—what about that? Burke launched it in 2006 and was actively seeking reforms even before the hashtag raised notice and led to new laws. Although the MeToo has enabled people to collaborate in groups, it has not yet developed into a long-term MeToo organisation. Groups are essential to the formation of society as we know it because they are durable social entities that promote shared value systems. The functionalist, interactionist, and conflict views are the three main sociological vantage points from which to examine groups. By applying these lenses to the Tea Party and MeToo movements, we may gain a deeper understanding of the roles and difficulties that both movements provide. The functionalist viewpoint examines the connections between many facets of society from a broad, macro-level perspective. This viewpoint examines the functions that the various components of society play in relation to the whole, working under the premise that society is a well-balanced system with all parts required to the whole. A functionalist may consider the general needs that every movement satisfies. A structural functionalist, for instance, might question how the Tea Party came to be in order to reflect the interests of a sizable segment of the public that felt underrepresented in politics or how MeToo brought attention to issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality. This method might examine how each group promoted the expression of unhappiness and so kept society stable. Another macroanalytical viewpoint that concentrates on the causes and progression of inequality is the conflict perspective. When researching the Tea Party Movement, a conflict theorist can examine how it restrained interests that had controlled the political system for the last 30 years. Alternatively, this viewpoint may examine how MeToo confronted establishments that have tolerated sexual harassment as a means of defending the powerful. The Symbolic Interaction or Interactionist perspective is a third viewpoint. This approach to group analysis adopts a micro-level perspective. Rather than focusing on the overall picture, these researchers examine the daily interactions between groups. The Interactionist examines topics such as group dynamics and leadership style by examining these subtleties. Interactionists may wonder, "How does the Tea Party dynamic in New York differ from that in Atlanta?" in the context of the Tea Party Movement. Alternatively, in the instance of the MeToo movement, scholars may aim to discover who establishes the movement's strategy and goals.