Social groups and types

it's about social groups and types

1. Social Groups Thasleem Central University of Kerala [email protected]

2. Contents Introduction Definition Types

3. Introduction All human life is group life. It is also found in animals. Pre-human ancestors lived an associated life. These are mainly for food, sex and protection. These dependence proves the necessity of group life.

4. Definition According to Maclver and page (1949), “By group, we mean any collection of human beings, who are brought into social relationships with one another’’.

5. Bogardus (1949) writes: “A social group may be thought of as a number of a persons, two or more, who have some common objects of attention, who are stimulating to each other, who have a common loyalty and participate in similar activities.”

6. Ogburn and Nimkoff (1955) stated “whenever two or more individuals come together and influence one another, they may be said to constitute a social group”.  

7. Characteristics   On the basis of above definitions, the following main characteristics of social groups may be discerned: Two and more than two persons. Some kind of regular and conscious interaction through direct or indirect communication. Some degree of reciprocity Some common interest or some common object of attention A feeling of unity (similar norms, values and expectations). Some measure of mutual awareness. Common understanding. Collective behavior

8. Types In-groups and Out-groups Primary and Secondary Groups Quasi Groups Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Reference Groups

9. In-groups and Out-groups An in-group is a social category to which persons feel they belong and share a consciousness or awareness of kind In other words, these are the groups for which we precede with the pronoun ‘my’ such as my family , my nation, my caste, my occupational groups etc

10. “Birds of the same feather flock together’’

11. Important characteristics of in-group are:   Mutual sympathy towards one another. Mutual cooperation, help and goodwill. Respect for mutual benefits and rights. Sentiment of solidarity and we-feeling. Feeling of tolerance, compassion and generosity. Preferential behaviour with the members.

12. Out-group An out-group is a group or category to which people feel they do not belong. We treat most members of out-group as ‘others’. We have the feeling of indifference, avoidance, disqust , competition, suspicion and scorn towards them.

13. Characteristics in-group tends to stereotype, label the out-group members such as racists, barbarians, spendthrifts, anti-capitalists, revolutionaries rich and greedy Any threat from the out-group increase solidarity of in-group

14. Primary and Secondary Groups A primary relationship is one in which intimate face-to-face association and cooperation predominate. These relations are based on ties of affection and loyalty, involve many different aspects to people’s lives, and endure over long period of times. according to Cooly

15. E.A. Shills (1951) writes: “By primary group we mean a group characterised by a high degree of solidarity, informally in the code of rules which regulate the behaviour of its members, and autonomy in the creation of these rules. The solidarity involves a close identification of the members with one another and with any symbols of the group which might have grown up.”

16. Quasi Groups These groups stand in between the primary and secondary groups Quasi groups are collection of people which lack organisation and structure and members do not have much awareness about the existence of their group. Social classes, status groups, age groups, sex groups, racial groups, crowd, public’s, audiences are some of the examples of quasi groups

17. Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft Somewhat similar to the concepts of primary and secondary groups are the concepts of gemeinschaft and gesellschaft These are German terms and used to represent community and society These concepts were developed by German sociologist Ferdinard Tonnies (1887) to differentiate between urban and rural life

18. Gemeinschaft “social relationship whatever function characterised by relative smallness, cohesion, long duration and emotional intensity” Social control in gemeinschaft is maintained through informal means such as moral persuasion, gossip, and even gestures

19. Gesellschaft characteristic of modern urban life a society based on relations or roles and consisting of associational groups. It is characterised by individualism, mobility, impersonality, the pursuit of self interest and an emphasis on progress rather than tradition. Shared values and total personal involvement become secondary.

20. Tonnies (1987) writes: “Everybody is by himself and isolated, and there exist a condition of tension against all others.” Gesellschaft , in short, is the logic of the market place, where relationships are contractual, impersonal and temporary

21. Reference Groups Musthafa sherif (1953) defined reference group as “those groups to which the individual relates himself as a part or to which he aspires to relate himself psychologically”.  

22. The term reference group’ was coined by Herbert Hyman Reference group which is used as a basis for comparison and evaluation A reference group may or may not be a membership group Types Positive reference groups  Negative reference groups

23. Positive reference groups These are the ones we want to be accepted by. Thus, id we want to be a film actors, we might carefully observe and imitate the behaviour of film actors

24. Negative reference groups These groups we do not be identified with Try to avoid resembling members of a particular group

25. The End