For the second time in two weeks, world leaders have convened for a funeral. The first time was to honor Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over Great Britain for more than 70 years. This time is for Japan’s longest serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated by a lone gunman on July 8, 2022. His is only the second Japanese state funeral for a prime minister since World War II. Unlike the near universal public support for the numerous events surrounding Queen Elizabeth’s passing, the service for Abe has been met with protest in Japan. The reasons for the protests run the gamut, and include dissatisfaction with his economic and foreign policies. For our purposes though, his funeral serves as an opportunity to consider the topic of groups and organizations.
Let’s begin by looking at leaders, individuals or groups who help facilitate, guide and be the representative voice of its members. Shinzo Abe was the prime minister for the democracy of Japan, but his style was that of a democratic leader, a leadership style based on increasing harmony and reducing conflict between group members. In juxtaposition, President Vladimir Putin’s style is that of an authoritarian leader, a leadership style that is based on orders and directives. The third style of laissez faire leadership refers to a leader that takes a hands-off approach to leadership. Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was reportedly a laissez faire leader.
Leaders don’t exist in a vacuum. In order for someone to be a leader others must be willing to follow or support the leader. Broadly speaking supporters are an example of social groups, two or more individuals connected by common bonds and shared social relations. In the world of politics, a social group can be subdivided further into social categories, or collections of individuals with similar characteristics who may have never met or interacted. Members of political parties – Democrat, Republican, etc. – are examples of social categories. It is important to note that a social category is not the same as a social clique, a small, close-knit, and exclusive group of individuals. Cliques are often based on primary groups which are known to be small-scale, and have intimate face-to-face long-lasting associations. Social categories like political parties are secondary groups because they are large-scale, impersonal, task-focused, and time-limited associations.
The governments within which most political leaders operate are a type of bureaucracy. They consist of a hierarchical authority structure that uses task specialization, operates on rational principles, and behaves with impersonality. Bureaucracies are often plagued by red tape, because their structure requires the adherence to excessive regulations and conformity that prevents decision-making and change. In the eyes of many, the problems of bureaucracies are often compounded by nepotism, the practice of favoritism directed towards family members. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s position in the Trump’s administration was the most recent of many examples of nepotism in the White House. But even more problematic than nepotism is the iron law of oligarchy, a system in which the concentration of power in a democracy rest in the hands of a few elite leaders. In these instances, one cannot help but think that groupthink the tendency of group members to yield to the desire of consensus rather than expressing individual or alternative ideas, is also at issue.
In the 21st century, most successful leaders and bureaucracies operate on the principles of rationalization. By using sociology to analyze the various leaders and their supporting groups, we gain important insights into why people act the way they do towards each other.
This blog post provided by the co-authors of SociologicalYOU (Seventh Edition), a digital NextGen Introductory Sociology textbook engaging students in critical thinking to “Connect Sociology and YOU!” For more information, contact Support@SociologicalYOU.com.
