Social Groups and Social Organizations
SOCIAL Groups and SOCIAL Organizations
“No man is an island,” said John Donne. A person is a sociable being, born into a group, and living in a social group. Even the so-called loners or the monks of the Middle Ages associated and participated with their fellow monks.
Social groups are essential to a person’s existence. One is born into a family, is raised up in a family, plays in the neighborhood, goes to school, worship with others, and joins work groups and other associations. From the group, one acquires personal habits, values, attitudes, and ambitions. From the group, one acquires a social identity and depends on it for his or her physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs. Social groups not only influence people’s lives but also affect the structure of the society.
Social Groups
Three strangers are standing at a street corner waiting for a traffic light to change. Do they constitute a group? Five hundred women and men are first-year graduate students at a university. Do they constitute a group?
Groups, Aggregate, and Categories
SOCIAL GROUP is a collection of two or more people who interact frequently with one another, share a sense of
belonging, and have a feeling of interdependence.
Several people waiting for a traffic light to change constitute an AGGREGATE – a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time but share little else in common. People in aggregates share a common purpose (such as purchasing items or arriving at their destination) but generally do not interact with one another, except perhaps briefly.
The first-year graduate students, at least initially, constitute a CATEGORY – a number of people who may never have met one another but share a similar characteristic (such as education level, age, race, or gender).
The Concept of Society
Sociology is the science of society and the social interactions taking
“No man is an island,” said John Donne. A person is a sociable being, born into a group, and living in a social group. Even the so-called loners or the monks of the Middle Ages associated and participated with their fellow monks.
Social groups are essential to a person’s existence. One is born into a family, is raised up in a family, plays in the neighborhood, goes to school, worship with others, and joins work groups and other associations. From the group, one acquires personal habits, values, attitudes, and ambitions. From the group, one acquires a social identity and depends on it for his or her physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs. Social groups not only influence people’s lives but also affect the structure of the society.
Social Groups
Three strangers are standing at a street corner waiting for a traffic light to change. Do they constitute a group? Five hundred women and men are first-year graduate students at a university. Do they constitute a group?
Groups, Aggregate, and Categories
SOCIAL GROUP is a collection of two or more people who interact frequently with one another, share a sense of
belonging, and have a feeling of interdependence.
Several people waiting for a traffic light to change constitute an AGGREGATE – a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time but share little else in common. People in aggregates share a common purpose (such as purchasing items or arriving at their destination) but generally do not interact with one another, except perhaps briefly.
The first-year graduate students, at least initially, constitute a CATEGORY – a number of people who may never have met one another but share a similar characteristic (such as education level, age, race, or gender).
The Concept of Society
Sociology is the science of society and the social interactions taking