12ºD_Sociologia

↬Social Groups↫

The meaning of Social Group:

➤It’s a group of formal, structured and continuous interactions between social agents that are bound by the same interests, activities and behavior, sharing common understanding. On these groups, everyone has their own position/status, derived from different functions. A family, a village, a nation, a political party or a trade union, are examples of social groups.

Characteristics of Social Groups:

➤Each group has an objective and functional structure, where all the members are organized according to:

1.      Mutual Awareness- Between the members of a social group there must be a mutuality and reciprocal relationship.

 

2.      One or more common interests- To start and proceed an ideal social group its essential to exist common interests.

 

3.      Sense of unity- In each social group there are vital factors that must exist, more specifically a sense of belongingness, loyalty and affection.

 

4.      We-feeling- The members of a social group share the same interests, which they defend as an unity.

 

5.      Similarity of Behavior- To accomplish a we-feeling, it’s important that the social group in question, share collective manners.

 

6.      Group Norms- The members should always follow a group of rules and norms; otherwise they will be punished.

  Classification of Social Groups:

➤Social Groups can be classified according to the structure (social rule; relationship between members and sense of belonging that an individual has in a group) or non-structure (social aggregates or categories).

1.      Social Rule: It refers to the following groups: family (socialization work); business (productive function); political (construction of the social model), religious (spiritual mission); recreative (cultural and sportive activities); etc.

 

2.      Relationship between members: It’s divided in primary groups (there is face-to-face and close relationship among the members and affective terms, so there is an informal relationship, for example the family), and secondary groups (it has the effectiveness and success as a finality, using formal and impersonal relationship, for example monopolies, military organizations or workers).

3.      Sense of belonging that an individual has in a group: It can be distinguished in ingroup (the individual inserts himself in it, for example family, college, occupation); outgroup (the individual does not belong in it and it’s adverse) and reference group (the individual wants be included in it, because its values constitute an evaluation model that he wants to acquire and interiorize through socialization).

And Other Details:

➤More Classifications: 

      1.   Involuntary, voluntary and delegate groups: involuntary group (when a person has no choice, based on relationship such as the family), voluntary group (when a person joins according to his will), delegate group (when a person joins as a representative of a number of people either elected or nominated by them such as parliament or assembly).