Chapter 7 - Group Life and Diversity

Summary

Mainstream psychology has historically neglected group and intergroup processes, instead giving priority to individual and intra-individual processes. But individuals are socialized within collectives, and the normative system that regulates human lives is already in place and a powerful force before the individual arrives in this world. Each of us takes shape in large part through our environmental conditions, with social class being an central part of these conditions. Research on conformity and obedience demonstrated that most of us most of the time conform to group-established norms and obey authority figures. But the difference across social classes is extremely important: lower-class individuals live according to norms and rules largely put in place by higher-class individals. In short, the rich set the rules by which the poor have to live. Mainstream psychology is now giving some attention to ethnic groups and gender, but social class and poverty remain neglected.