I have had a couple days to digest and reflect on the materials that we read, watched and discussed on Monday night. The information was timely for me as I have been trying to apply a great deal of what I am learning to my work team.
I had never watched the movie"Remember The Titans" but I saw it as an extremely powerful piece of media that directly related to materials that Levi introduces us to in Group Dynamics on the power of social influence. I think I was most struck in the reading this week by Levi's comment that "...There is a significant difference between compliance and acceptance"(Levi, pp. 130) This was clearly evident throughout scenes in the movie...the formation of the new football team, the new coaching team, the families involved, etc. I began pondering why social influence is so strong in society? Levi allows insight into my question by citing the work of Deutsch & Gerard...."normative influence is a change based on the desire to meet the expectations of others and to be accepted by others"(Deutsch & Gerard 1955).
I find it intriguing that we can be so strongly guided by social influence that it can either stunt our human development or enrich our human development. Now that the difference between compliance and acceptance have been illuminated I wonder about all the steps in between. How does one move from mere compliance to accepting an a completely different belief system enough to reflect and change their own ways of thinking, living and doing?
So I turn this notion over to my colleagues...how do you think one man can be so powerful that they can move a man from compliance to acceptance? Or do you belief that these perceived changes are authentic? Makes me say hmmm.
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI found this aspect of the movie interesting also. Moving from compliance to acceptance is authentic cooperation. I found some answers in Levi (Chap. 5) where he was discussing ways to encourage cooperation. A superordinate goal is one that all of the group accepts as important. This allows the entire group to work together, even if they don't want to at first! By working together unequal status perceptions and internal competition (like what we saw in the movie) begin to be broken. So one way to encourage cooperation is to find a common goal!
Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI would pose another question too. When is compliance inappropriate because it would indicate acceptance of something unjust? For instance, if the white players in Remember the Titans returned to Alexandria after camp and fell back into rank with white supremacist Virginia mores, rationalizing that their compliance did not mean acceptance, would that be an authentic stance to take?