Today in class we discussed groups. We examined the value of pre-existing ties, and saw how people were more likely to join and stay in a group if they had pre-existing ties to that group. We discussed the example of Freedom Summer, where a researcher (McAdam) discovered that people who had a friend participating in Freedom Summer were more likely to participate in this group, even though it turned out to be very dangerous for the volunteers.
Interestingly enough I don't agree with the Freedom Summer theory. When I was younger I was not a fan of going to camps and summer programs that my freinds or family friends reccommended to me. I had an experience such as Freedom Summer where my friend had his mother talk to my mother about attending camp together, the issue was he already had friends there and they did not want to include me in their "clique" and we eneded up not being friends after that summer.
ReplyDeleteEvan, I agree with you in the Freedom Summer theory... Even though a lot of my friends went to camps over the summer and always told me how great it was,I never had the desire to go to summer camp and I didn't care if I was following my group of friends or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Freedom Summer theory because during my senior year at high school, one of my friends brought up the idea of playing rugby to do some final activity. When some other friends and I heard this, we ended up joining the team because we had some of our other friends deciding to join and who were already on it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that pre-existing ties can influence someone's decision to do something. People are often "people pleasers" and tend to want to gain acceptance in society and from the ties. Therefore, the pre-existing ties help shape a person's decision to join or stay in a group!
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