Social Psychology

by Solomon E. Asch

Social Psychology by Solomon Eliot Asch

Genres: Sociology, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Psychology, Anthropology, Academic

646 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

Reviews

[Manlio Mascareño]

Max Weber in this book explains how religion played a fundamental factor in the developement of economy in different societies. This book is composed for three essays being last one the most interesting because Weber tells a journey what had to United States where protestantism in its different denominations helped in the building of. Also in the course of book we can find some concepts about power, State, rationality, economy etc. At least for me is a good work and whether you want to know about sociology, a good sociology I recommend you this book.

[Luke Echo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rationality of religion. Its interesting how much of an influence this must have been for Adorno and Horkheimer when writing the Dialectic of Enlightenment. So much of their treatment of magic and "primitive" religions seems directly based on Weber's work.


One oddity though is how few references or sources Weber cites in this text. (ie none!) I guess it was the era. But you are left wondering how much of the empirical detail can be trusted. How reliable are his portrayals of Islam, Hindu etc. ?

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A full study of religions and how they work by a secular German author and sociologist from the late 1800's. Considering it's been over a hundred years since this book was published, the material has aged surprisingly well. It's still a slog of a read though.

[Amal Shoeib · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was only concerned with the Asch Experiment part.. The social conformity Experiment; It's basically an experiment where the participant sits amidst a group of confederates and are asked obviously easy questions and they give intentionally wrong answers. and the participant eventually break down and conform to the answers of the group even if his right answer seems like a clear-cut, he prefers not to be unique from the rest of the people in thr room. That implies that group pressure prompts people and coerces them to the laws of social conformity i.e being similar to the members of their cultures. This made me think about all of the issues we confront nowadays ; the way we behave according to social norms, our decisions concerning work , lifestyle and even marriage is in the hands of our social norms that we are obliged to follow even if we feel uneasy or irritated but we feel it's much easier to follow the social norms than to be salient !!
A very thoughtful experiment...

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I should have put up a buffer between this and Durkheim's "Elements of the Religious Life" because the first 2/3 of the book were dragging completely. Might be because I am familiar with a lot of the territory. The insights came at the end for me about economics, class and caste. Some wonderful observations about the history of religions in relation to their social structure with economics, art, culture and other things.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this were not a required reading, I won't be able to slog through more than 20pages. And , no I won't assiGn it to my students... Unless I wanna torture them.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read and understand, I found this a very worthwhile read. Recommended!

[Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book for theology

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desacralizing and rationalizing all the aspects of religion.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

More useful than other theories of religion, but I still didn't like it.

[Maura De la c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social Psychology de Solomon E. Asch-Un Pavé Soporifique et Révolutionnaire 😴

Si ce livre avait un slogan, ce serait:"Oui, c'est long. Oui, c'est lourd. Mais c'est pour votre bien."

Psychologie Sociele n'est pas un manuel, c'est une cathédrale de la pensée Gestaltiste qui, dès la première page, exige une rigueur que l'on réserve souvent à la pause-café. On vous pardonne d'avoir trouvé ce monument académique de 646 pages laborieux et lourd, mais derrière cette façade austère se cache le génie qui a prouvé que le groupe nous transforme.

Asch nous pose des questions fondamentales: comment formons-nous nos impressions? Pourquoi cédons-nous à la majorité? Son grand principe est que l'ensemble modifie fondamentalement ses parties, prouvant que la vérité est souvent une question de quorum. Le triomphe amer de la conformité.

Ce livre de 1952 est le socle théorique essentiel qui a permis à Asch de réaliser ses travaux les plus célèbres. Il ne s'agit pas d'un catalogue d'expériences, mais d'une discussion unifiée et profonde sur la nature du jugement social. Asch y pose la question fondamentale: comment et pourquoi la pression normative du groupe parvient-elle à déformer notre jugement?

L'idée centrale de ce classique, c'est la soumission glaçante à la pression du groupe. L'apogée théorique prépare le terrain pour l'expérience la plus célèbre de la discipline, celle de la Ligne B.

C'est là que l'on voit le côté vachement frappant, Asch a démontré que l'individu est prêt à nier la vérité objective de ses propres yeux, par exemple, la longueur évidente d'une ligne, pour se conformer au point de vue manifestement incorrect de la majorité.
Vous ne regarderez plus jamais votre cercle d'amis de la même manière, vous aurez les lire. Vous saurez désormais qui est prêt à affirmer que le noir est blanc juste pour ne pas déranger le consensus.

C’est vraiment la “matrice de la conformité”, malgré la pénibilité de comprendre à fond Psychologie Sociele mon verdict est que ce livre est un texte fondateur et d'une pertinence brûlante aujourd'hui. Il met à nu l'effrayante dynamique de groupe qui façonne nos perceptions et nos comportements, une vérité que les dernières années nous ont malheureusement rappelée. Une lecture cruciale pour quiconque étudie la sociologie. Ce “pavé” est peut-être épuisant, mais c'est fondamental.

"Vos yeux mentent, le groupe a toujours raison" Solomon E. Asch

Cinq étoiles sur cinq! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

To the A-hole who told me I couldn't possibly pass my PhD without reading this book: fuck you. This book was boring as hell and STILL not relevant to my research. I spite read this 7 years later and still feel vindicated.

[Hajar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read if you are a believer of any faith. Objective and fairly written.

[Sherwin]

A detailed and multilayered work.

[Annmarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of my relative dislike of this book is that I don't care a whit about soc of religion, part of it is that Weber is such a labor to read.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on how religious people group themselves and on how groups of religious people think.

[Olivestarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a page turner! It was however, extremely interesting! Kudos to Mr. Weber for having the stamina to write this.

[Hawar]

اه

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

rock star