Primary and secondary groups

1. Primary and Secondary
Groups
Unit 3
Social Structure

2. Groups
•Group: two or more people who have one or
more goals in common and share common ways
of thinking and behaving
•Features:
They are in regular contact with one another
They share some ways of thinking, behaving
and feeling
They take one another’s behavior into account
They have one or more interests or goal in
common

3. Groups
•Groups play an important part in peoples lives
•Groups range in size and formality
•Groups draw lines around themselves creating
insiders and outsiders (boundaries)
These boundaries can change over time

4. Social Categories and Aggregates
•Groups are sometimes mistaken with social
categories and social aggregates.
•Social Categories: people who share a social
characteristics
Example: high school seniors, women
•Social Aggregate: people who happen to be at
the same place at the same time
Example: people waiting in line at the airport

5. Primary Groups
•What is a primary group
The term was first used by Symbolic
Interactionists Charles Cooley
A primary group is made up of people who are
emotionally close, know each other well and
seek each other’s company
People in these groups have primary
relationships (relationships that are intimate,
caring and fulfilling)
Primary groups are important in socialization
People participate in primary groups throughout
their life

6. How do they develop?
•There are several factors that are preferable for the
development of primary groups
Small Size: It is hard to develop close personal
relationships in large groups. Small groups are
needed to get to know people well
Face to Face Contact: F to F contact allows
people to communicate with nonverbals
Continuous Contact: People need to meet on a
regular basis to develop a primary relationship
Proper Social Environment: The environment
where the interaction takes place needs to be
suitable to the relationship

7. What are their Functions?
•There are 3 important functions of Primary Groups
Emotional Support: Strong support ties keep
you going in difficult times
Socialization: Teaches children and later adults
how to participate in social life as well as norms
and values
Encourage Conformity: Apply pressure to
conform to their norms and values

8. Secondary Groups
•Secondary Group: people who share only part of
their lives while focusing on a goal or task
•These impersonal relationships exist only to
accomplish a specific purpose
•Members of these groups interact involving only
parts of their personality
Secondary Relationships: impersonal
relationship involving only parts of the
personality
Examples: Employers/Workers, Clerks/Customers

9. What are they like?
•Members of these groups may be friends but the
relationship exists to accomplish a task. It doesn’t
look to create a friendship
• If a friendship becomes more important than the
task then the group becomes ineffective
•There are some cases where there is a crossover
between primary and secondary
Friends who work at the same place