Question 3

I found the section in chapter seven about group socialization processes very interesting. I often think about the different groups of friends I have, what makes our group accept newcomers as full members and why certain people are only “marginal members.” We recently had a new person start spending time with our group of friends. The book states “that full membership comes only with time,” but this girl automatically began behaving like she had been part of the group forever, placing demands on everyone and their time, and overall creating conflict between herself and many of the group members. Of course this was a turn off, and her status was changed to ex-member. But there have been other instances were prospective members hover around new membership or marginal membership status without ever embracing full membership, even thought the group accepts them. I think this is interesting because it illustrates that the commitment goes both ways.