Collective Adaptation to Structural Strain: Commiserating and Problem-Solving in groups

Abstract

Numerous studies have explored group cohesion and social action under stressful circumstances. Several theories such as social identity theory, social categorization theory and grievance theories of social action have specifically addressed this issue. However, Robert Merton's “typology of modes of adaptations” to structural strain has not been effectively applied to studies of group cohesion and social action under stressful circumstances. Most of the applications of this typology have remained within the range of individual decision making. Using a field experiment, this paper explores the applicability of Merton's typology to collective responses to structural strain. The experiment breached the normal expectations of student performance in a college classroom. The analysis of participants' responses revealed not only individual adjustments anticipated in Merton’s model but also a rich repertoire of avoidance and evasion that took place in a collective context; namely: “attitude adjustment (commiseration) and “concerted action” (problem solving). These phenomena are introduced as “intervening variables” capable of mediating individual adaptations to structural strain. The paper discusses implications of the findings and suggests possible paths of future research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The experiment was justified on the basis of the findings of one of the required readings: “The College Classroom: Some Observations on the Meanings of Student Participation” (Karp and Yoel 1976). The authors explore the ways in which definitions of the classroom held by students and teachers determine their actual behavior in the classroom. The article calls attention to a normative expectation “for both students and teachers to avoid any type of direct ‘personal confrontation' with one another.” The result is a “consolidation of responsibility” whereby “some students are expected to do most of the talking, thus relieving the remainder of the students from the burdens of having to talk. They must ‘appear' committed enough to not alienate the teacher without at the same time showing so much involvement that the situation becomes risky for them.” The authors suggest that a “vicious circle” is formed when teachers “interpret these ‘shows' of attention as indicative of real attention.” Studies of other educational settings such as grammar schools have assigned less of an innocent role for teachers in the noninvolvement of their classes. A “Consolidation of responsibility” in the classroom, detrimental to pedagogical aim as it may be, is in teachers' strategic interest as well. They too participate in maintaining it. See: Walter Feinberg and Jonas F. Soltis, School and Society: New York, Columbia University Press, 1985, Part IV.

2 Howard Becker calls this “G.P.A. Perspective.” See: Making the Grade: The Academic Side of College Life New York: Wiley, 1969. The concept of “secret deviant” also was coined by Becker in his Outsiders (1963). p. 20.

3 This is a regulation in some universities that offers students the option of registering in a class on a “Pass/Not pass” basis. The professors, at least in the university where this experiment was conducted, were unaware of the identity of the students who had taken this option.

4 Rational Choice theorists will recognize this as an instance of the “free rider dilemma."

5 James Short Jr. and Fred L. Strodtbeck (1965) Group Process and Gang Delinquency, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

6 In the chapter entitled “Lovers and Exploiters” we encounter “myths or public fictions” whose constant reinforcement seem essential for the social construction of reality for the marginalized and transitory men who depend on the group for their psychological survival. One of these public fictions concern men's idealized relationship to women as sexual and financial exploiters. Everyone pays lip service to such myths despite the general knowledge of their falsehood:

"Sea Cat's relationship with Gloria was a public affair. The men on the corner, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, watched its development, analyzed it, and commented on it. They saw – or talked as if they saw – Sea Cat and Gloria as the user and the used, with Sea Cat a kind of Street-corner Everyman who hunts for A Good Thing, finds it, and inevitably loses it. Sea Cat carefully fostered this image of himself and Gloria . . . the end of it found him mourning his loss more in emotional than in money terms. He had been as much a lover as a user, maybe more.” (emphasis mine)

Elliot Liebow, Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Street-corner Men, (Boston: Little Brown, 1967. pp. 156–7, 160); Also, Richard Wright, Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth, New York: Harper, 1937. pp. 88–92.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mahmoud Sadri

Mahmoud Sadri is Professor of Sociology at Texas Woman's University. His major interests include Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Culture, and Theoretical Sociology.  In addition to his English publications, Mahmoud Sadri frequently writes for Iranian reform publications, concerning developments in Iran, Islam, and the Middle East.

James L. Williams

James L. Williams is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice Program Director at Texas Woman’s University. His research interests include intimate partner homicide, police homicides of civilians, and theory development in comparative criminology.

Danielle Barber

Danielle Barber is a doctoral student in Sociology at Texas Woman's University. She holds an M.A from Texas Woman's University. Her research interests include disabilities and society.