Bureaucratic Mass Media: A Study in Role Definitions

Abstract

In this paper I have reconstructed the history of a group-its beginning, breakdown, and reorganization. The analysis has substantiated many empirical findings obtained in more microscopic investigations.8 When accustomed behavior does not facilitate the attainment of perceived goals, new behavior modes are attempted. The accompanied loss of anchorages produces random and fumbling response situations, and members seek to reduce psychic stress by regularizing their relationships with others within the framework of the new group structure. When leadership is incapable of facilitating this process of goal attainment, there result factionalism and internal conflict and, in the case of Calorie Collectors, the eventual re-ordering of the status system with the emergence of new leadership. In analyzing group behavior it is necessary to consider interrelatedly the ego-system of individuals, the situation or situations the members of groups face, and the pressures upon them which are found in the more general societal setting. These pressures or socio-cultural influences result from the interaction of persons in a variety of groups. They become internalized in the individual's ego-system, and the person then acts, defines, and perceives group situations and relationships in terms of them. The immediate group situation is a part of the larger cultural setting, and the former can best be understood in terms of the latter. Members of Calorie Collectors were influenced by the attitudes of their families and those of their physicians, the reactions of professional people and social agencies in the community, the stories in the press, the response of friends and associates, and the self-perceptions of their roles in the larger society. These representations of the outside culture need to be considered in the study of individual and group behavior. 8 The author refers specifically to the type of studies conducted by such investigators as A. P. Hare, Muzafer Sherif, 0. S. Harvey, A. S. Couch, L. F. Carter, E. F. Borgatta, R. F. Bales, R. W. Heyns, H. H. Kelley, M. M. Shapiro, R. M. Bass, and F. L. Strodtbeck.