SOCIAL GROUPS

 Can crowd be considered a social group?

 A crowd is known as an aggregate :

A gathering of people in physical proximity

Lacking any kind of organization or meaningful interaction

Temporary collection/ transitory

A crowd can turn into groups…

 Students sitting in a class –initially just a crowd without interaction can

become a group

Social group- definition & characteristics

 Two or more individuals connected to one another by social relationships and meaningful
interaction

 A number of people who have have a common identity, some feeling of unity, common
goals, shared norms and interaction

 Characteristics

Collection of individuals

Interaction among members: task and/or relationship

Sharing ways of thinking, feeling and behaving

Mutual awareness

Sense of belonging

Types of groups

 Primary and secondary groups

 In-groups and out-groups

 Reference groups

Primary Groups: Charles Horton Cooley (1902) coined the term primary group to refer to a small
group characterized by intimate, face-to-face interaction and association

Eg: Family, members of a street gang, close circle of friends

Primary groups play a pivotal role in the socialization process and development of roles and
structures

Secondary groups refers to a formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy, it is
more formal and often emerge for the fulfilment of a goal/purpose.

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 Contractual, rational relationships

 Distinction between primary and secondary groups is not always clear-cut

Structure of social groups

 Roles- A set of behaviours expected of people occupying certain positions

 Norms- Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members

 Goals- roles and positions maybe structured around the goals

 Size- groups can vary in size depending on the type and size plays an important role in how
group members interact

Types of groups:

In-groups and out-groups

The term ‘In-group’ was first employed by William Graham Sumner (1906)

 Distinguish between “we” and “they” feelings

 People in one group feel antagonistic or threatened by another group especially perceived
as culturally or racially different

 In-group is any group or category to which people feel they belong

Group may be as small as a teenage clique or as broad as entire community/society

Clique- a small close-knit group of people who do not readily allow others to join
them

Strong sense of identification

Out- groups

The existence of an in-group implies that there is an out-group that is viewed as ‘they’ or ‘them’

 A group to which people feel they do not belong

 The concepts of in-group and out-group are sociologically gaining relevance in contemporary
times with cases of violence, random gun firing or riots which exhibit the levels of hatred,
hostility and antagonism a group has towards other groups

Examples- football clubs fans- conflict; caste/race riots; hate crimes

Stereotypes and prejudice associated with ‘out groups’

Reference groups

 A social group that serves as a point of reference in evaluating or judging oneself

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 Patterning behaviour on that of reference group

 Reference groups have two basic purposes

Serve a normative function by setting and enforcing standards of conduct

Comparison function- a standard against which people can measure themselves

Virtual groups/ electronic communities

 An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post
content or discussion groups, chat rooms, message boards, forums, etc

 Networks across geographical and political boundaries

 Encouraged by increased internet access

 Reasons may vary from personal to formal

Group Dynamics

Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and processes occurring within a

social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroupdynamics).

Group dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice
and discrimination.

Over the years sociologists have studied the effects of group size or dynamics of groups

Leadership in groups : 1) Authoritarian 2) Democratic

Transactional Analysis

Participation in groups is a social transaction between individuals and is called transactional

analysis. These interactions were identified by Eric Berne in the 1950s as ego states.

There are three ego states which Berne identified, they are parent, adult and child.

1. Parent: Individuals who operate from a parent state may display a protective, nurturing,
controlling, critical, or guiding role. They may refer to policies or standards by stating “You know the
rules, now follow them”.

2. Adult: Individuals displaying this will appear to be rational, calculating, factual, and unemotional.
Decision-making relies on research, facts, data processing, and estimating probabilities.

3. Child: Individuals displaying this behaviour reflect emotions similar to those experienced in
childhood. It may be rebellious, spontaneous, dependant, or creative and is often recognized by its
emotional tone. Like a child, this state looks for approval and immediate rewards

Johns, Gary. Concordia University. “Social Behaviour and Organizational Processes”. Organizational
Behaviour: Understanding and Managing Life at Work. Harper Collins College Publishers, 1996.

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