2•0•1•9

SOCIOF
P
PROFESSOR ： MS.
EUNICE BELTRAN
CLASS ： A61
CLASSIFICATION OF
GROUPS AND
BOUNDARIES
 TOPIC 01
CLASSIFICATION OF GROUPS
TOPIC 02
CONTENTS GROUP BOUNDARIES
TOPIC 03
TYPES OF GROUP BOUNDARIES
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1
Classification of Groups
According to different Sociologists
 Dwight Sanderson
👳Classified groups into three types on the bases of structure

INVOLUNTARY VOLUNTARY DELEGATE

* A voluntary group * A delegate group is
*An involuntary
one to which a man
group is that to is one which a man
joins as a
which man has no joins of his volition
representative of a
or wishes.
choice, which is number of people either
* At any time he is
based on kinship elected or nominated
free to withdraw his by them. Parliament or
such as the family, membership from Assembly is a delegate
tribe or clan. this group. group.
 Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin
👳 an American sociologist, has divided groups into two major types – the vertical
and the horizontal.

VERTICAL HORIZONTAL
* The vertical group * The horizontal group
includes persons of includes person of the
different strata or same status.
statuses.
 Franklin Henry Giddings
👳an American sociologist, classified groups into genetic and congregate.

GENETIC CONGREGATE
*The genetic group is the * The congregate group is
family in which a man is the voluntary group to
born involuntarily. which he joins voluntarily.
 George Hasen
👳has classified groups into four types on the basis of their relations to other groups

UNSOCIAL ANTI-SOCIAL
* An unsocial group is one * An anti-social group is
which largely lives to itself one, which acts against the
and for itself and does not interest of the larger group
participate in larger society of of which it is a part.
which it is part.

PSEUDO-SOCIAL PRO-SOCIAL
* A pseudo-social group * A pro-social group is the
participates in the larger reverse of the anti-social
group of which it is part but group. It works for the
mainly for its own gain and larger interest of the
not for the greater good. society of which it is a part.
 CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
👳classified groups on the basis of the nature of social contact, the degree of
intimacy, size and the degree of organization.

PRIMARY SECONDARY
* In primary group, * In a secondary group
there is face-to-face, the relationship among
close and intimate the members are
relationship among the indirect, impersonal
members. and superficial.

The concept of primary group
was introduced by Charles
Horton Cooley, a sociologist
from the Chicago School of
Sociology in his book “Social
Organization” published in
1909.
He believed that primary
groups are an extremely
important unit of social
organization, a necessary
part of social life.
-CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
 PRIMARY GROUP

A STRONG SENSE
OF LOYALTY OR
“WE FEELING”

PERMANENCE SMALL IN SIZE

DURATION 04
03
05 INFORMAL
FACE-TO-FACE- STRUCTURE
COMMUNICATION

PERSONAL AND
02 06 TRADITIONAL OR
NON-RATIONAL
INTIMATE
DECISION MAKING
RELATIONSHIP

01 CHARACTERISTICS 07
 PRIMARY GROUP

A primary group is typically a small social group whose members share close,

personal, enduring relationships. These groups are marked by members'
concern for one another, in shared activities and culture. Examples include
family, childhood friends, and highly influential social groups. The concept of the
primary group was introduced by Charles Cooley, a sociologist from the 
Chicago School of sociology, in his book Social Organization: A Study of the
Larger Mind. Although the group initially referred to the first intimate group of a
person's childhood, the classification was later extended to include other
intimate relations. Primary groups play an important role in the development of 
personal identity. A primary group is a group in which one exchanges implicit
items, such as love, caring, concern, animosity, support, etc. Examples, of these
would be family groups, love relationships, crisis support groups, church groups,
etc. Relationships formed in primary groups are often long-lasting and goals in
themselves. They also are often psychologically comforting to the individuals
involved and provide a source of support.
 SECONDARY GROUP

People in a secondary group interact on a less personal

level than in a primary group. Since secondary groups are
established to perform functions, people’s roles are more
interchangeable. Secondary groups are groups in which
one exchanges explicit commodities, such as labour for
wages, services for payments, etc. Examples of these
would be employment, vendor-to-client relationships, etc.
 SECONDARY GROUP

TEMPORARY
DURATION WEAK GROUP
COHESIVENESS
INDIRECT BASED ON
COMMUNICATION 04 INTEREST
03
05 RATIONAL
IMPERSONAL, DECISION MAKING
ALOOF
RELATIONSHIP
02 06
FORMAL
STRUCTURE
LARGE

01 CHARACTERISTICS 07
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2
GROUP BOUNDARIES
* in-group and out-group
 WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER
👳he developed the concept of in-group and out-group.

IN-GROUP
* An in-group is an esteemed
social group commanding a
member's loyalty. It is a group
to which a person belongs.
OUT-GROUP
* An out-group is a scorned
social group to which one feels
competition or opposition. It is
a group to w/c a person does
not belong.
 IN-GROUP

William Graham Sumner, an American Sociologist in his

book “Folkways” made distinction between in-group and
out-group from the individual point of view and it is based
on preferential bonds (ethnocentrism) among the members
of the groups. According to Sumner, “The groups with
which the individual identifies himself are his in-groups, his
family or tribe or college or occupation or religion, by virtue
of his awareness of likeness or consciousness of kind”.
 IN-GROUP

In-groupness produces among the members the sense of

belonging together which is the core of the group life. In-
group attitudes contain some element of sympathy and a
sense of attachment to the other members of the group. It
embodies the collective pronoun ‘we’. The members of the
in-group display cooperation, goodwill, mutual help and
respect for one another’s rights.
 IN-GROUP

They possess a sense of solidarity, a feeling of brotherhood

and readiness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the
group. W.G. Sumner also said that ethnocentrism is a
characteristic of the in-group. Ethnocentrism is that view of
things in which one’s own group is the centre of everything
and others are scaled and rated with reference to it. It is an
assumption that the values, the ways of life and the attitude
of one’s own group are superior to those of others.
 OUT-GROUP

An out-group, on the other hand, is defined by an individual

with reference to his in-group. He uses the word ‘they’ or
‘other’ with reference to his out-group. Toward the
members of out-group we feel a sense of indifference,
avoidance, disgust, hostility, competition or outright
conflict. The relationship of an individual to his out-group is
marked by a sense of remoteness or detachment and
sometimes even of hostility.
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3
TYPES OF GROUPS
BOUNDARIES
* formal and in-formal group
 Group boundaries is may either be formal and clearly
defined, or informal and unclear.

FORMAL IN-FORMAL

• FORMAL GROUP BOUNDARIES ARE • IN-FORMAL GROUP BOUNDARIES ARE

DETERMINED BY PRE-DETERMINED DETERMINED BY NON- SPECIFIC CRITERIA
CRITERIA SUCH AS BEING ACCEPTED AS A IN A SCHOOL PEER GROUP.
FRATERNITY MEMBER OR A ROTARIAN.
THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION