Sociology, groups, pathological. --- .This section is about pathological social groups. --- 1/24/2006
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological group traits. (1) Mandatory membership. If you don't join our group you are a loser. (2) Exclusive membership. You can't join our group so you are a loser. --- 3/7/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups and toxic cultures. (1) Fear of being mocked leads people to express a minimum of thought and emotion. (2) Intra-group relations and extra-group relations are ones of violence, intimidation and threat. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups and toxic cultures. (1) Towns that are intimidated by local bullies. (2) Towns that are suspicious of change, progress, outsiders, etc. (3) Toxic workplace cultures. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups are often built around pathological sets of attitudes or a pathological culture. --- 10/7/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups are sometimes formed for the acquisition of power. They form a majority (group) to try and trample the rights of minorities (individuals). --- 9/20/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups often publish propaganda that tries to convince people that god is on their side and that they are doing justice. --- 10/9/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups preach and teach intolerance, violence, hate, oppression and exploitation. --- 10/12/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups say things like, "Our group can't be seen beating up people, but if you want to join our group then you should beat up someone first and then we will let you in." --- 4/16/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups sometimes start based with a promise of friendship and then decay into a means to accumulate and abuse power. --- 9/28/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups squelch dissent. They threaten to beat up anyone who speaks against the group. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups try to cover up their unethical actions with good deeds. --- 10/12/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups try to keep a false front of propriety and friendliness. --- 10/12/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups, tactics of. Discourage questions. Limit discussion. Downplay logic and reason. Squelch dissent. Encourage blind obedience. Reward blind belief. Promote mindless conformity. Promote unquestioning allegiance. --- 10/7/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups, traits of. (1) Coerce assets from individual members. (2) Sues anyone who says anything negative about the group. --- 10/10/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups, traits of. Blind obedience. Blind rule following. Fanatical devotion is tantamount to being an automaton. --- 9/22/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups, traits of. People who want to belong at any cost. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups, traits of. Unthinking: blind belief. Unfeeling: callousness. Unquestioning obedience. Automatism. Their typical response is, "I don't know, I don't care, and I was only following orders". --- 10/14/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) Any organization can spin out of control. (2) A large organization, with many members, is a powerful organization. And power corrupts. Power makes it easier to spin out of control, since powerful actions are great in magnitude. (3) Also, just being large in and of itself makes an organization tougher to control since it is more difficult to keep tabs on members. (4) Secrecy is another factor that makes organizations easier to spin out of control (Ex. FBI, CIA, KGB, STASI). (5) An organization can have its missions subverted at either the highest or lowest levels by its members. (6) An organization can also think it is doing the right mission but it turns out it is doing wrong. (7) Who monitors these large, powerful secret organizations? (8) How can we protect ourselves against large powerful secret organizations? (9) List of large powerful secret organizations. Every country has its version of the CIA. (10) See Senator Daniel Moynihan's book on Secrecy. --- 12/20/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) Gangs are a problem because gangs pursue violence and crime. (2) Feuding clans. Vendettas. Intergenerational blood feuds. These are a problem. (3) Organized crime is a problem. Criminal organizations often recruit from street gangs. --- 12/11/2005
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) If you have healthy individuals, then will a healthy group form? If you have pathological individuals, will a pathological group form? (2) Will a pathological group ever form from healthy individuals? Will a healthy group ever form from pathological individuals? --- 6/6/1999
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) Recognizing and breaking free from sub-optimal social groups is an important social skill to learn. Especially when you are young, relatively unknowledgeable, and dependent on others. For example, breaking away from dysfunctional families, religious groups and cults, school groups, work groups, and friends that are holding back your development. The steps are to take are (A) Establish independent means of support, (B) Make new, more optimal, friends, (C) Announce departure and reasons for it to the old group, (D) Do not backslide. (2) Another important social skill is the ability to find and join a group, or to create your own group. --- 02/28/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) Signs of a healthy group. (A) Fairness. (B) Cooperation. (C) No pathological dependence of members on each other, for example, in the form of slavery or exploitation. (D) Members do not tear each other down. (E) Peaceful conflict resolution. (F) Freedom of individuals to develop themselves. (2) Signs of a pathological group. (A) Injustice. (B) Violent, destructive conflict. (C) Abuse. (D) Exploitation. (3) Speaking here of intra-group relationships and inter-group relationships. --- 6/6/1999
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. (1) Why secretive? Because if the public knew they would be appalled. (2) Why a group? To try to justify their sleazy actions. Alone they feel exposed. --- 9/29/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. A primary dynamic in pathological communities is social conformity achieved through fear of ostracism. Luckily there are other places to go. This is a frequent criticism of small town, insular communities. --- 5/8/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. A synonym for pathological is dysfunctional. Dysfunctional connotates unable to function. Some groups function efficiently even though they have pathological means and ends. --- 12/30/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Any group can become pathological if it dehumanizes and devalues the individual at the expense of the group. --- 10/27/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Any group can become pathological. For example, family, work, neighborhood, nation, etc. There are many ways a group can become pathological. For example, (1) Aimlessness, no vision. (2) Unethical means and ends. (3) Abuses of power. (4) Pathological communication. (5) Exploit and oppress those within or outside the group. --- 10/4/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Blind obedience makes you a robot. A blind, rule-following automaton. --- 10/12/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Cults, street gangs, and criminal organizations, as opposed to benevolent clubs. (1) Reasons people get into pathological groups. (A) People want to belong (to a group). They want to feel safe, valued, and accepted. (B) Life appears too difficult, so they retreat into groups. They sometimes get sucked into pathological groups. (2) Pathological group tactics. They take your money. They destroy your identity. They make you worship the leader. (3) (A) How do you get someone out of a cult? (B) How do you spot and help those susceptible to going into a cult? --- 3/30/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Enculturating someone into a pathological group. (1) Intimidate them to conform. (2) Lie to them about the nature of the group. (3) Convince them to believe. Target those who know no better. Target those who can form no counter-arguments. Its all they know. (4) Get them to obey without thinking. (5) Convince them to ask no questions. (6) Try to convince them to a specious argument. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Fraternities and sororities are baloney. Hazing is a sado-masochistic ritual. Paddling is baloney. Even without hazing, fraternities are just arbitrary in group/out group distinctions. They are cliquish, clubby, snobs, prejudiced, closed, secretive, exclusive. Secret societies are baloney also. --- 6/15/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Fraternities and their pathological attitudes: (1) "You should think, feel and act like us just because the group does". Blind belief and blind obedience. (2) "If you don't you will be ostracized, criticized, shunned and put down". (3) Such a situation is beyond what sociologists call "group think". It is in fact "no think" and "no freewill". --- 7/6/2002
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Frats at their worst are gangs in that they resort to violence, intimidation and harassment to accomplish their goals. One does not have to go far, geographically or chronologically, to find frats engaged in gang-like behavior. --- 11/20/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Frats at their worst are gangs. --- 9/28/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Frats at their worst are gangs. Some frats work as a group to coerce, abuse, harass and humiliate both members and outsiders. Its a part of their culture. Then they try to make excuses for it. --- 12/10/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Gangs and fraternities. A fraternity is supposed to be a group of young men who band together to help each other. A gang is a group of young men who band together to help each other at other people's expense or regardless of other people's rights. --- 9/5/2002
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Group behavior becomes pathological when it starts abusing the rights of those within the group or those outside the group. --- 11/16/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Group pathology can be exhibited in behavior. Group pathology can also be exhibited in the attitudes, or thought-emotion complexes, that the group holds. --- 10/27/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Groups exhibit intra-group pathology when it displays pathological behaviors toward people within the group. Groups exhibit inter-group pathology when it displays pathological behaviors toward people outside the group. --- 10/27/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Hazing. Excuses given for hazing. "Its tradition". "Someone did it to me, so I am going to do it to another person." these excuses don't hold water. Thus, hazing is an example of the worst aspects of conservative, dogmatic traditionalists in that it mindlessly promulgates unethical and unhealthy practices. --- 11/16/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Hazing. People who dump their scum and shit in other people's food or drink, or threaten to, or pretend to, are worse than the monkeys in the zoo who hurl their feces. --- 9/1/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. I'm not for groups that exclude others based on race, creed, color or sex, even if they are private groups. --- 12/5/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. In order to keep up with the Jones's. In order to out do the Jones'. In order to feel superior to the Jones'. It is necessary to know what the Jones' are doing. And it is necessary to tell everyone else how you are better than the Jones'. Thus, key elements of hypercompetitive power madness are spying and gossip. --- 10/26/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Look at the group's global record, because if you look only locally you may see a front that handles the pathological group's public relations and propaganda. --- 5/13/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Methods that social groups used to coerce behavior from their members. (1) Calling someone a chicken. (2) Calling someone crazy. (3) Discouraging free thinking, originality, independence, and non-conformity. (4) Saying to the individual "You are letting us all down. You are letting down the group. You are betraying us. You are abandoning us. If you leave then you are a loser and a scared run away". The group says this to try to keep the individual in the group. (5) Cults as examples of pathological social groups. Techniques cults used to destroy the individuals mind. (6) Other examples of pathological groups. (A) Organized crime gangs. (B) Nazi's rule by terror and fear. (C) Pathological families. Especially when children are involved as victims. (D) Some college fraternities and sororities. (7) Isolated and weird groups that limit freedoms of the individual, and keep members weak and in the dark. Dis-empower vs. empower members. Example, many work situations. Some corporate cultures. Authoritarian personalities. --- 9/13/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Not all secrecy hides corruption. And not all corruption is secret. But there is a statistically significant correlation between secrecy and corruption. --- 12/5/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. One could argue that group pathology is more important to study than individual pathology because groups have more power than individuals and thus pathological groups can do more damage than pathological individuals. --- 1/1/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Pathologies of teams, tribes and nations. Team: pathological peer pressure. Tribe: closed society tribalism. Nation: nationalism and xenophobia. --- 10/14/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Peer pressure can happen in cults, families, religions, work situations, gangs, clubs. It can result in group-think. Letting the group think (feel, mind) for you can be easier than thinking for yourself, especially if you have painful issues to confront. You give up your own mind for security and comfort, and let the group "mind" for you. Your own mind atrophies, and you become weaker and more susceptible to the group. --- 02/28/1998
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Secret knowledge. Secret groups often claim to have secret knowledge. They want to maintain a monopoly over their secret knowledge. They use claims to secret knowledge as a means for recruitment. --- 12/8/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Secret knowledge. Secret societies often claim to have secret knowledge systems, yet the public knowledge system known as science is better in the global long run. --- 11/1/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Social practices of pathological groups and individuals. (1) Oppression and exploitation. Inequality. Force and terror. (2) Communication tactics. Secrecy and lies. Attempt to coerce, discourage or force others not to think, talk and write. Discourage meaningful discussion. Promote only perfunctory small talk. (3) Power tactics. Rigid, hierarchical structures rather than flexible, flat, egalitarian organization. Obedience prized above all else. Abuse of power. (4) Other tactics. Malicious mocking. Belittling others. Harass. Humiliate. Intimidate. Threaten. Vague anonymous threats. Random acts of violence. Gossip. Libel and slander. Malicious "practical joking". Scapegoating. --- 8/5/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Sometimes an individual can corrupt a group. Sometimes a group can corrupt an individual. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Spread of group pathology. (1) Top down vs. bottom up. (2) Designed, systematic pathology right from the start vs. subverted or changed into pathology. --- 12/30/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Sum up of pathological persuasion methods. (1) Obey mindlessly. (2) Believe without thinking. (3) Specious arguments. (4) Emotional appeals. (5) Lies and half truths. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Their argument: Why should one join the gang? For protection. Protection from what? From gangs. Its a vicious cycle. --- 9/22/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. They mistakenly believe that these unethical tactics are the best intra-group behavior. The mistakenly believe that these unethical tactics are the best inter-group behavior. They mistakenly believe that these unethical tactics are the best behaviors for an individual to do and to have done to them. --- 8/5/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. They try to convince you that you cannot make it without the group. They try to convince you that you are nothing without the group. --- 10/28/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. They try to make you feel like nothing outside the group. Try to make you feel less valuable outside the group. They try to make you feel unsafe outside the group. --- 10/4/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. They want an excuse to bully people. They need to fabricate a reason to bully others, so that they can try to feel justified, to try to expatiate their guilt. "Just give me a reason to go off.", the bully says. The bully is waiting for an excuse to go ape shit. Often any excuse will do for the bully, such as skin color, gender, sexual orientation, etc. --- 9/20/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. They want to feel that they "own" you. They want to feel that they control you. They want to feel that they can mess with you. --- 5/8/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Traits of pathological group members. Unquestioning support. (1) We will blindly support you regardless of the actions we know you do. (2) We will blindly support you without wanting to know what actions you do. --- 11/2/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Types of group pathologies. (1) Intra-group pathologies. For example, pathological relations between leaders and followers, such as in cults. (2) Extra-group pathologies between the group and those outside the group. For example, when the group believes that all those outside the group are evil, or that all those outside the group are below the group. --- 9/29/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Types of group pathologies. (1) Power pathologies. Coercion. Force and threat. (2) Communication pathologies. Secrets and lies. (See Sissela Bok's books). --- 9/29/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Types of pathological group behavior. (1) "Lord of the Flies", after the novel by William Fielding. A group of teenage boys stranded on a desert island lose their heads. (2) The little dictator. A little dictator gets his henchmen to terrorize the local populace. Rule by force and threat. Remember, you can't spell little dictator without "little dic". (3) The sanctimonious, holier than thou posse. In which a mob of reactionary types, who believe in extreme paternalism, smash a few heads. (4) Secret bullies. Happens a lot on the Internet. Some self styled clever types harass others. (5) Henpeckers. (6) Ostracizers. --- 9/19/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Very often pathological groups end up like the "Lord of the Flies", i.e., a clusterf*ck of teenage boys (or girls) run amok. --- 9/12/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Vigilantes claim to be about justice but are a major source of injustice. --- 12/5/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. We should be more concerned about pathological groups than pathological individuals. --- 10/6/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Pathological groups. Wrong attitudes. "I don't care how a person treats other people as long as they treat me well". Or, "They never bothered me." --- 11/7/2003
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Peer pressure, for worse, not for better. When the group drags the individual down. When the individual acts without thinking critically. --- 6/5/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- See what the group is doing worldwide. They may be fronting in one country and wreaking havoc in another country. --- 3/10/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- The two-faced organization. Front office and back office. Front office, face to the public, the front, appearing friendly, appearing legitimate, appearing proper, appearing fair. Back office, treachery, exploitation, oppression. The degree of group pathology is in part measured by the degree to which a group has diametrically opposite values and actions in front office and back office. The degree of group pathology is in part measured by the degree that a group separates its front office and back office, so that the two offices are not aware of each other. It is easier to see when an individual is two-faced than to see when an organization is two-faced. --- 1/1/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- The worst of the organization is when it says, "Keep your mouth shut. Keep your head down. Don't ask any questions. Do what everyone else is doing." The worst of the organization is when it quashes dissent, destroys creativity and requires mindless conformity. --- 6/8/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- There are unethical tactics possible in each of the departments of an organization: (1) Human resources department: Recruiting by peer pressure. Using propaganda to convert people to your view. (2) Marketing and advertising department: Marketing by using propaganda. (3) Public relations and media department: Using propaganda as a public relations tool. (4) Finance department: dirty money, blood money. (5). Goon squad and dirty tricks department: violence, threat, intimidation. Harassing opponents. (6) Intelligence: gathering information, spies, psyops, hacker/crackers. Lies and secrets. Intelligentsia: the brains, the idea people, framing ideological views. --- 1/10/2004
Sociology, groups, pathological. --- Why some individuals join pathological groups. They want to belong to a group because they can't stand being alone. They want structure, a pre-structured sets of ideas and attitudes, and a pre-structured set of activities, because they can't stand doing nothing. They can't stand uncertainty. They can't stand doing things themselves. They can't stand doing their own thinking. They can't stand building their own individual meaning system. They can't stand defining their own purpose. Its willful abdication of the self to the group. --- 7/15/2004