Advances in Group Processes

With volume 27 we return to a format more traditional to the Advances series – one that includes a wide range of chapters addressing diverse theoretical and empirical issues. Volume 27 opens with two chapters that advance important areas of theory in the social sciences. In “Status, Networks, and Opinions: A Modular Integration of Two Theories,” Will Kalkhoff, Noah E. Friedkin, and Eugene C. Johnsen theoretically merge social influence network theory with status characteristics theory. The resulting theory of social influence captures opinion change fueled by salient status distinctions in multiactor task-oriented groups. Not only does this work represent what may be the most broadly applicable theory of social influence to date, it is a textbook illustration of theory growth through “modular” connections across theory domains. The next chapter entitled “Collective Events, Rituals, and Emotions,” by J. David Knottnerus, offers a new theory that specifies how collective ritual events operate to impact emotional reactions and group commitment. Importantly, this line of work catalogues and specifies the kinds of social encounters that tend to trigger emotional states, group solidarity, and commitment. This new theory will undoubtedly inspire new research in the sociology of emotions and group commitment.