Yes I will give out the cult question as an 'extra credit' task for the kids to explain using the social identity theory of prejudice.... I was thinking that I would add football hooliganism to the question to make the addition more subtle... see below:
Ninety eighty four is a book that I have yet to read, however when I said that I wanted to leave the jdubs my best friend mentioned it to me and said that she understood my doubts having read that book. However she unfortunately stayed in the religion until recently when she was disfellowshipped. Unfortunately she is intent on getting reinstated .
Mad-JW w hat did I do to provoke you and warrant such a negative response???? this site has some very angry people as well as some amazing people - I am upset by your abuse.
This is the question and potential answer:
The social approach offers concepts and ideas that can help to explain both football hooliganism and cult behaviour. Compare these two issues for society, considering how the social approach can help to explain why such behaviours, which seem to threaten social stability, come about.
(12 marks)
Extension question answer
Football hooliganism is found when two (or more) sets of supporters turn against one another and are violent.
The groups are football supporters, usually of two opposing teams though a group following one team can still
behave in a ‘hooligan’ manner by disrupting others in a town or engaging in vandalism.
Cult behaviour is when
a group of people follow a leader, who is often charismatic, and give up their previous life to obey the leader’s
rules.
Football violence can disrupt many different members of society because it can be in the streets and
involve passers by, whereas cult behaviour is confined usually to a segregated group of people and does not
harm anyone else.
Of course families are split up by cult membership, so in that way others are harmed.
Both football violence and cult behaviour involves at least one group so they both look at group behaviour.
A cult tends to be one group against the rest of society, which is an in-group/out-group situation and football
hooligans are often from two different groups of supporters, again an in-group/out-group situation,
so social
identity theory (SIT) can help to explain both issues.
SIT says that in-groups are formed firstly because people categorise others into groups. A cult is a recognised
group and so are football teams and their supporters, so both issues start with categorisation into groups.
Then members of a group identify with that group and take on their roles and behaviours. Football supporters
wear the colours of their team, which identifies them, and also they take on norms such as behaving badly.
Cult members also identify with their cult’s rules, to the extent of turning away from previous norms and values,
so in this way too cults and football hooliganism have things in common.
The final part of SIT is where there
is a comparison between the groups. Football supporters compare themselves with the other team’s supporters
and prejudice occurs, as predicted by SIT. Cults too compare themselves with main society, preferring their own
group, so there are comparisons there as well.
So SIT explains how both cults and football violence come about, through prejudice against an out-group and
in-group favouritism.
Social conflict theory says that prejudice occurs when there is conflict or competition
between groups, which explains the football violence more than cults because cults do not usually engage in
conflict with other groups in society.