Roles in groups - is it true?

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An Austrian psychotherapist has written about roles that supposedly exist in all groups as part of group dynamics.

He claims that in every group there are the roles of:

the alpha who is the leader,
the betas who are the specialists,
the gammas who're the workers and
the omega who's the scapegoat.

Though the roles of the beta aren't always taken, all other roles are. If for example the omega for some reason leaves the group, another will take that role.

Do you think that's true?

And do these roles exist in groups of autistic people or in groups of very hf autistic people?

I believe this.

Humans are primates and therefore "troupe" animals.

I've gone from omega to beta and back again several times during my life.


My roles in the group I was allocated seem to have been:

-The useless idiot

-The danger/detail/system fault spotter

-The decorator/artist

-The imparter of information/knowledge

-Record keeper/organiser

-The technician/equipment checker

-The collector

-The solo worker/performer

-One to one mentor and counsellor


It's amazing how people assign me these roles again and again.
Always roles in the background.

Makes a lot of sense. People used to be afraid of me, so they wouldn't make me their omega. I often default to a beta, and an often hated one at that. They don't use me as a scapegoat generally, as I am too valuable most times fot this.

I have no idea - I have never noticed any of the groups I have belonged to having roles, apart perhaps from work where the boss is obviously top dog.

I guess I have not really belonged to groups often. At school when I was about 14-15 I briefly seemed to have a group of 4-5 friends (mainly the misfits), but I don't recall us having a leader, although there was maybe one an outcast (not me this time). Apart from that I have only had a maximum of a couple of friends at a time, and we all seemed quite equal as far as I can tell. I both refuse to be used by people (although there has been one exception fairly recently) or use other people. At work I will defer to people I think know more than me on a specific subject, but that is all.

My inner group of friends is basically exactly that.

An alpha (not the annoyingly assertive type, but often takes the lead), a beta (me), a gamma who sometimes is more beta, and the scapegoat, who tries really hard to be a gamma.

I'm not sure I understand exactly what is meant by specialist or worker here, so maybe I'm putting someone in the wrong place. There are also a couple others that I'm not sure how to place.

yeah I remember when we did those tests in my old job (it was a very team-oriented workplace). apparently, I was The Negativist/Rebel which sounds harsh, but is actually a very important role in a team- the constructive (and sometimes not constructive at all, but that's an inevitable side-effect) criticism provider.

my current job revolves around my finding faults and criticising, so I don't mind being called that :p

I don't believe that every group necessarily has a scapegoat. I think this is trash, just like the Nazi theory that females of every species are to be taken by force by the males, and the other stupid theory that when someone behaves like s**t they go "it's human nature." Any theory that justifies abuse as part of Nature is despicable.

Uh I would have no idea how to figure out if people are playing any of such roles... I don't currently belong to any groups and I don't think there's enough of a description here for me to try to analyze my group from highschool.


Am I the only person who looks at people as simply being people??

f**k people who insist on ruling over some sort of "wolf society" with an iron fist - they're a waste of time.

The higher truth... this is all important. The most important thing is being you, and living a life almost unaffected by this cruel society.

You guys take this too seriously. I don't think anybody's trying to justify abuse or some kind of "wolf society", as if it even matters. If it were shown definitively that the scapegoat role really exists as an integral component of society (doubtful, but hypothetically speaking), would you still deny its existence just because it doesn't fit your idea of what society should be? I hope you wouldn't. We're just trying to understand, not prescribe. It may be the case that some people put themselves in these roles rather than being forced there.

I thought it was pretty reasonable. Seemed to describe most group situations.

I wouldn't deny it's existence but I'd still reserve the right to my opinion that it's f*cked up. It seems like the Jews had the role of scapegoat forced on them by all of Europe until it culminated in the Holocaust. If that wasn't f*cked up I don't know what is.

If this were true, I am probably a beta most times. I have been in the position of a gamma and sadly, the omega as well. I prefer being a beta. I sometimes feel uncomfortable when I am the one obviously in charge. I don't want people to think I'm on a power trip. (Because I hate power trips.)

In terms of a group of autistic people, I don't know. I know that when I talk to persons who may be HFA or AS, or worse yet a bunch of artists, my brain feels numb afterwards.

If this stuff is true, it works itself out in unconventional ways in my group..provided that this is supposed to be referring to smaller groups and not society as a whole.

In my "group", the Alpha is also the Omega...He is the leader and the scapegoat.
Some of the Betas are also Gammas, but some of them aren't .
There might be a few who are just Gammas.
I fall into a weird sub-alpha role...a sort of Alpha-beta-gamma...something.

The just-betas have it easy. They get to come and go as they please....the Alpha/omegas, and Beta/Gammas and sub-alpha-beta-gammas are sorta fixed.

Well, I am RARELY the alpha! It SOMETIMES happens when they realize my abilities, or want to take advantage of what I can offer.

I am often considered a beta(They feel some extreme abilities indicate a specialization that really doesn't exist), and sometimes treated as an omega, but I am really just a
gamma.

Greentea,

I have NEVER heard that "NAZI theory". In fact, NAZIsm is just Nationalism, Hitler
took that to the ultimate extreme, but Nationalism says nothing about women, let alone rape!

poopylungstuffing,

Any DECENT Alpha will open himself/herself up to being an omega. After all, if THEY lead and
plan, and the plan fails because of their failure, they ARE responsible.

And Godwin's law is realized in only 12 posts. This thread is over.