APA (edition "APA 6") Social Sciences

Proud Boys

You work for a respected, non-partisan, independent organization that conducts sociological analysis on social phenomena not only to understand it, but also to help anticipate future developments.

You have been asked to analyze the Proud Boys and to report your findings to local governments.

First consider who the members are as individuals: what do you know about their socialization? The importance of status and roles?
Then consider the group. We know being part of a group is a crucial part of a person’s social identity. What does it take to be a member of this group? How does the group create/maintain group cohesion? Can you explain group conformity and obedience to authority using the Asch, Milgram, or Stanford Prison experiments? What else?
Finally, consider the Proud Boys in terms of deviance theory.
Based on your analysis, what can we expect from this group over the next month?