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Unit-4 Social Groups

Meaning and definition of social group

A social group is a collective of individuals of 2 or more having interaction
among them and have common objective. The social group is not static it is a
dynamic and also expand its activities from time to time
the interactions within the social groups cause them to identify with one
another groups are most stable and enduring social units these units are
important to both the members and society at large society rests on social
groups such as family, village, political party, trade union etc.
groups carry oy many organised activities which are necessary in the society
According to MERTON 3 elements are must for a group
1. Two or more individuals
2. Social relation which is the result of interaction among individuals
3. For individuals it must be that he or she should feel himself/herself the
member of group and should have we feeling for that group
According to OGBURN and NIMKOOF
“ whenever two/more individuals come together and influence one another:
they may be said to constitute a social group”
Characteristics of social group
1. The members of the group are inter-related to each other with reciprocal
relationship
2. The members of group are united by a sense of unity and a feeling of
sympathy
3. The members of group help each other and defined there interest
collectively
4. The members of the group behave in a similar way for the pursuit of
common interest
5. Every group has its own rules and norms to control its members and the
members are to be followed
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6. The membership of a group is voluntary and involuntary

7. Divisions of labour is found within a group

Importance of social group

• Motivation
• Task motivation
• Satisfaction
• We feeling
• Provide social identity and social support
• Affects the attitude

Classification of social groups

Social groups have been classified by different thinker on the basis of various
aspects
1. According to COOLEY Social group have been classified as
• Primary Group
• Secondary groups

2. According to SUMMER Social group have been classified as

• In group
• Out group

3. According to F.H. Giddings Social group have been classified as

• Genetic group
• Congregate groups

4. According to Miller Social group have been classified as

• Horizontal Group
• Vertical Group
5. According to Leopold Social group have been classified as
• Crowds
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• Groups
• Abstract collections
6. According to Sociology Social group have been classified as
• Class
• Caste
• Tribe

Features of group structure

• Status
• Norms
• Roles
• Communication
• Interactions within group
• Physical arrangement
• Reciprocal relation
• Similar behaviour
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Define primary and secondary group
In primary groups the contact between members of group is inmate the
interaction is face to face among members primary group is a small and
nucleus of all social organization
EX: Family

Secondary groups are large and human contacts are superficial and the
influence of one of member over another is indirect and formal secondary
groups are lack in intimacy and do not have face to face contact in its
members mean if communication used in return and second groups have
set rules and clear cut division of labour among its members

Characteristics of primary group

• Close contact
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• Stable relationship
• Mutual Co-operation among members
• Common interest
• Similar background
• Less number of members
• Small size
• Informal and personal relationship
• Informal and primary social control
• We feeling is found

Importance of primary groups for individual

• AN individual learns about culture
• Shape the personality of the individual
• The members can express their aspiration and resentment
• Provides stimulus to each of its members in the pursuit of interest
• Boost the moral of its members
• Creates we feeling and co-operation among members
• Also brings unity for achievement of objective

Importance of primary group for society

• Maintainace social control over its members
• Helps in process of socialisation
• Teaches its members to work according to rules in society
• Develops the basic attitude towards social institutions
• Provide connecting force to social structure and prevent social dis integration
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Characteristics of secondary group

• Large size
• Ultimate numbers of members
• Unstable relationship
• Formal relationship
• Formal and secondary social control
• Lack of we feeling
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• Competition
• Indirect relationship is found
• The corporation among its follow member is indirect
Importance of secondary group
• Secondary groups provide an opportunity to its member to develop the
talents and carrier
• Secondary groups are goal directed
• Secondary groups has wideness( members and localities and boundaries
extended beyond the primary groups)

Difference between primary and secondary group

characteristics Primary group Secondary group
Size Small ex family, play group study group, Large ex: co-operation, city, nation,
Directly co-operate with each other political party.
Co-operation No formal and no detailed rules Co-operation with fellow members is indirect)

Structure Informal structure, we feeling formal structure, formal authority

Relationship Relation oriented Professional oriented
Outlook Narrowed Goal oriented, broad, wide
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What do you mean by in group and out groups and discuss the characteristics of
ingroups ?
According to summer groups are classified into in groups and out groups
In groups means the groups to which an individual belong in his in group the
member ingroup have respect for one another’s right and show co-operation
Ex: Family, college, institution etc
In groups is association which can be primary( family) or secondary( hospital)
group towards which a person has friendliness.
Out groups means defined as the group to which an individual does not belong
the group in relation to outside the boundaries of his ingroup the attitude of
individuals outgroup ranges from mild negative attitude or feeling of hardness
Characteristics of ingroup
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• Have similar attitude and reactions

• Create a sense of belongingness/ They have feeling of brotherhood
• A considerable degree of sympathy is present among members
• The members have co-operative relationship and respect towards each
other
• The members are ready to sacrifice themselves for the group sake
• They shows their unity within the group as “we”
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What is interaction discuss the 5 categories of interaction

The process by which people act and react in relation to other is called social
interaction the interaction process means the way in which partners agree on
their goals, negotiable behaviour and distribute resources people interact with
each other in the society in any public speaking or performance area, audience
interact. Sociologically, interaction is usually divided into five categories :
• Exchange
• Competition
• Co-operation
• Conflict
• Coercion

Exchange: The process of transferring goods service with each other. Exchange is a social
process whereby social behaviour is exchanged for some type of reward for equal or
greater value.
Competition: It is a process in which two or more people do the work to obtain same goal
and out of them the best is selected. This concept of social process is in our society.
Co-operation: In co-operation, people work together to achieve shared goal. In co-
operation individual do not think about personal goal, but work co-operatively for great
goal i.e. goal of the group or team.
Conflict: conflict is the social process in which people physically or socially conquer each
other. This type of situation is often seen in politics
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Coercion: coercion means use of force. It is the process by which people compel other
people to do something their will, based on force. The process of coercion is used by
POLICE
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Differentiate Accommodation and Assimilation
Assimilation Accommodation
Assimilation is permanent method of adjustment The difference among groups are temporary
of inter-group differences. resolved
Assimilation is slow and gradual process Accommodation occurs suddenly and involves
radical change.
Assimilation does not involve deliberate & Accommodation is conscious and deliberate effort
conscious efforts of group on the part of group/individual or parties
A minor group is assimilated into major group in Coercion or conversion is used to terminate the
due course of time. conflict and for accommodation to occur
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Write down the difference between spatial & organic isolation.
Spatial Organic isolation
It is enforced deprivation of contracts i.e. It is not imposed by external authority but
imposed by external authority is due to organic cause
The individuals are banished or put to Individual are handicap in public
solitary imprisonment and kept away from communication due to which have less
community chance to choose their friends
The Individual who are subjected to spatial The individual become suspicious,
isolation develop aggressive and antisocial distrustful, irritable. It is partial isolation
behaviour. It is a complete isolation and individual feel shyness.
Individual are deprived of protection from It hinders the decision taking ability of
his group individual but individual are not deprived of
protection from his group.

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Define Classes and Its characteristics

• According to Max Weber “as Aggregate of individuals who have the same
opportunities of acquiring goals, same exhibited the standard of living.”
• Class is a group of people who have particular position and status within the
population
• The classes has its own social behaviour
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• The occupation of people within one particular class is same

• They exhibit same standard of living
• Class is consider as a group of individuals.
Characteristics of classes
• Same descent
• Same occupation
• Similar mode of life
• Similar form of behaviour
• Same level of education

Define social class and its types

• In social class people have a feeling of equality in relation to members of once own
classes or other classes
• The social classes are distinguish from one another on the basis of behaviour dress,
conveyance, recreation and standard of living etc.
Types of social classes
1. Capitalist – own the means of production, they have a political power because of all
these, they enjoy the high status
2. Middle class- in the middle class heterogenous groups consisting not only of trade
men but also of teacher lawyer engineers etc. it is subdivided into 3 classes on the
basis of income and standard of living
• Upper middle class
• Middle class
• Lower middle class
3. Proletariat – these were industrial workers which were disposed of wealth the people
could sell their labour to earn livelihood on the basis of
• Birth – slave and slave master …noble and serf …gentry and commonalty
• Wealth – upper class…middle class… lower class
• Occupation – agricultural class… non agricultural class… professional workers.
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Political groups.
Group are formed to attain the maintain political power with specific goal
a person who belongs to a particular political party it means that individual is the member
of that political group
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Aims of the political party- to capture political power and keep control of the government
Types of the political party
1. Non partition- no official political party exits
2. Single dominant party- one political party is legally allowed to hold the power ex.
China
3. Two dominate parties – two political parties which dominate to such an extent that it
is difficult to achieve success for one political party Ex: Tamilnadu
4. Multiple parties- it is the system in which more than 2 political parties participate in
ruling example India
Following types of political parties exits
• Indian National congress
• Bhartiya Janata Party
• The samata party
• The Bahujana samaj party
• Shiva sena etc.
Role of political parties
1. The political parties channels the public opinion from citizens to government
2. Political parties transforms the public opinion into policy option
3. These parties balance the opposing demands and convert them into general policis
4. Recruit and train, candidates for various public office
5. Some parties work for the upliftment of under represented groups, oppressed groups
to make people self reliant and to eradicate social evils
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Tribes
Tribe Has been defined as the social group which occupy the common territory, common
religion, common language, common culture and common blood relations who live in the
same area
According to Imperial Gazette of India “ a tribe is a collection of families bearing a common
name, speaking common language occupying a common territory and is usually not
endogamous through originally it might have been so”
Characteristics of tribe
1. Chief of tribe as head of political organization
2. Common territory
3. Unity
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4. Common language
5. Blood relation
6. Common name
7. Worship common ancestors
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Caste
Caste means a group of people bearing a common name and having traditional occupation
forming a same community
According to Anderson and Parker “ Caste is that extreme form of social organization in
which position of individuals in the status hierarchy is determined by descend and birth
The social ladder of caste system on the basis of birth
• Brahmins
• Kshatriyas
• Vaishyas
• Sudras
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Religious group
Religion is considered a s a belief in powers which control and direct the course of human
life .
Man believe in supernatural power which is higher to his own power and is governed by
faith.
According to Ogburn “ religion is the attitude towards super human powers”
Religion has been defined by various thinkers
• Some believe in supernatural or mysterious powers
• Some regard religion as belief in immortality of the soul
• Some believe religion as healthy and materialistic designed to achieve practical ends.
According to Anderson and Parker, each religion has four main components:
1. Believe in supernatural forces:- Man believes that all human conditions are due to
supernatural forces
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2. Man’s adjustment to supernatural power:- Man adjust himself to the supernatural

power by doing some of outward acts according to religion such as prayers, kirtan
hymns etc.
3. Acts defined as sinful :- when individual is not performing the tasks or acts according
to religion, then these acts are sinful and it is believed that the person performing
sinful act has to suffer the wrath of god.
4. Method of salvation :- in order to establish an harmony with god by removing the
guilt, man adopts certain methods, these are the methods of salvation. These are
performed to keep an individual free from the bondage of karma.
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MOB
Mob is a disorderly crowd of people of criminals. Mob is a group of people who have taken
law into their hands. It is group which gather temporarily for a particular reason. This term
mob is sometimes described as a organised crime.
A mob is one of the influential force in changing people’s behaviour. Group encourage and
bring a sense of anonymity in its members which results in anti-social behaviour.
Mob is crowd which has gone out of control. Mob are usually involved in looting, grabbing,
power by means of fraud. Mobs are created by those individuals who exploit or cause
violence.
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CROWD
• Crowd is a physical compact aggregation of individual temporarily reacting to same
stimuli in a similar way. It has been defined by various authors.
• According to Horton and Hunt. “ Crowd temporary collection of people reacting
together to stimuli”
• According to Kimball and Young, “ A crowd is a gathering of considerable number of
persons around a centre or point of common attraction
A crowd has the following main characteristics
1. Physical presence of individuals are in crowd
2. It is a temporary social group
3. It is a unstable organization
4. It is transitory
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5. Crowds are anonymous the individuals

6. Crowds are temporary and directs attention to one or two things
7. The sense of responsibility is absent in the crowd
8. The crowds are generally destructive in nature
9. Crowds do not have measure od self control
10. Crowd is unpredictable.
Kinds of Crowd
1. On the basis of Le bon as classified the crowd into
• Homogenous crowd – crowd form from the people of same class, etc.
• Heterogenous crowd- crowd may be enormous like street crowd or parliamentary
assemblies respectively
2. According to Blumer crowds are
• The casual crowd
• The expressive crowd
• Conventional crowd
• Active crowd
3. On the basis of active or passive participation the crowd had classified into
• Active crowd
• Inactive crowd
(a) Active crowd – Active crowd is an aggregation of people who actively participants to
achieve common ends active crowd is formed accidently and is momentarily for
example. Student collectively standing in front of principle’s office and raising
slogans, braking windows
a. Aggressive crowd – crowd consist of people who are in aggressive mood. Ex.
Freedom struggle. The aggressive crowd may cause distraction
b. Panicky crowd – crowd form out of fear and its member running with the
tendency of savings their life this kind of crowd do not have any leaders
c. Acquisitive crowd – the people gathered to acquire something in this kind of
group ex. Old people gathered to get pension in front of office.
d. Expressive crowd- people gather together to manifest their demands the
crowd may turn into aggressive crowd ex. Students demands and Grievances
(b) Inactive crowd- It is a crowd in which people gather together to have information and
gather for peaceful purpose this kind of loop like audience and further classified into
a. Conversational crowd-
b. Information seeking crowd
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Co-operation
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Co-operation means working of people together towards a common goal. It involves

individual or groups working together towards the working of individuals or common goal
for example the medical health team members work in co-operation to achieve the health
of patient
According to CH Cooley- “ co-operation arises only when men realised that they have a
common interest”
Co-operation has been divided into 5 types
1. Direct co-operation- the activities which people like to do together such as playing
together and worshipping. Direct co-operation provides social satisfaction
2. Indirect co-operation – it involves the principle of division of labour here everyone
works in co-operation indirectly to achieve a common end or mutual satisfaction
3. Primary co-operation – is found in primary groups ( Family, friends etc) – every
member in the group work in co-operation with every members to achieve common
goals
4. Secondary co-operation- is found in modern civilised society each performs the task
to achieve common end and everyone enjoy the fruit of his co-operation separately.
5. Territory co-operation- this also known as accommodation and may be found
between 2 or more social based on caste, tribes, religious party, political parties etc.
Under this group may co-operate and work together to achieve the common goal

Competition
Competition is universal and found in all societies competition is the form of social struggle
it is based on the fact that all people can never satisfy with all their desires.
Competition takes place whenever there is a insufficient supply and things that human
beings commonly desire
Definitions
According to Park and Burgess “ competition is a interaction without social contact”.
According to Biesanz “ Competition striving of two or more person of the same goal which
is limited so that all cannot share”.

Characteristics of competition
1. Competition is continuous- is found virtually in every area of social activity and social
interactions
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2. Scarcity as the condition of competition- the feeling of competition arise when the
people have the feeling of less grade and service as compared to others, then
competition feeling arise.
3. There can be personal as well as impersonal competition- the competition is
directed towards goals not towards individuals. It is personal when two individuals
contest for election of an office
4. Competition is a cause of social change- competition causes a person to adopt new
forms of behaviour in order to achieve the target. It brings inventions and
innovations which naturally bring about social change
5. Competition is governed by norms- there are moral norms and legal rules which
always govern and control competition
The competition occur in two individuals, two groups, societies, cultures etc. the people
know each other in competition and regards others defect as essential to the attainment
of own goals

Types of competition
• Personal competition
• Impersonal competition

Accomodation
Accommodation is the term used to adjustment within people and environment to get rid
off tensions which arise due to competition
Accommodation initially can be part of process of seeking solutions to the issues present
among it creates a life without conflict. Without accommodation life hardly could go on
According to MA clever “ Accommodation refers particularly to the process in which man
attains a sense of harmony with his enviourment
According to Ogburn and Nimkoff “ Accommodation is the adjustment of hostile behaviour
of individuals which help them to adjust to their environment
Advantages of Accommodation
• It helps people to maintain co-operation
• Accommodation checks conflicts
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• It helps people to adjust themselves to change functions and status accrued by

changed conditions
Characteristics of Accommodation
• Accommodation results from conflicts.
• It is universal, continuous process.
• Accommodation is un-conscious activity and it is a mixture of both love and
hatred
Methods of accommodation
• Toleration
• Conversion
• Compromise
• Attribution and conciliation
• Use of force
• Rationalisation
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Assimilation
Assimilation is the term used when two groups fused into one. EX. It occurs when large
numbers of migrants are absorbed into population of other country
According to Young and Mack “ Assimilation is the fusion or blending of two previously
distant groups into one”
According to Bogardus “Assimilation is the social process where by attitudes of many
person are united and thus develop into united groups”
Characteristics of assimilation
• It is a gradual process
• It is a two way process
• It occurs in all lasting interpersonal situation.
• It occurs among groups as well as in individuals.
• It is concerned with absorption of culture by another.
• In assimilation, two cultures are assimilated into one
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Isolation
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Every human being live amoug individual, group or society no men can live alone needs
society to live. There is always a social contact among people in society. This is required
to have full development.
Isolation means keeping an individual away from personal contact i.e. Absence of social
contact. The individuals are group can be isolated
Types of isolation
1. Spatial organisation – this type of isolation is for criminals. The criminals are banished
from the community not to have contacts

Drawbacks of spatial isolation

• Aggressive behaviour
• Agitation
• Anti-social behaviour
• Sexual abnormalities
• Unhealthy mental conditions.
2. Organic organisation – the individual or a group is kept under isolation in case of
organic illness such as blind or deafness they lack associations as they have less
chance to choose their friends. Later they may become broken personality.
Drawbacks of organic isolation
1. Suspicious behaviour-
2. Distressful
3. Irritable
Reasons for isolation for society
• Physical barrier
• Linguistic barriers
Merits of isolations
• Partial isolation is a usefull aid to social solidarity
• Integrity of group is maintained by keeping a particular group at social distance
• Adjunct of ethnocentric attitude
Demerits of Isolation
• Slow to change and progress
• Depend on ascribed status because of tradition.
• No cultural cross fertilization.
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• Untouched by cultural development of others.

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