Nagina Altaf

Sociology is the study of social relations. It is primarily

concern with the social groups. A man can’t be social
by himself unless he has lived with others. Man’s
life is too vain enormous extent a group life. The
groups we belong to are not all of equal importance to
us. Some groups tend to influence many aspects of our
life and bring us into personal and familiar association
with others.
“A small collection of people
who interact with each
other, usually face to face,
over time in order to reach
goals.”
⦿ Interact
⦿ Be interdependent
- members rely on
one another
⦿ Interact for a length
of time
⦿ Be a particular size
⦿ Have hopes of achieving
one or more goals
All social groups contain the following:
1. Permanence beyond the the meeting of the
group
2. Means for identifying members
3. Ways of recruiting new members
4. Goals and purposes
5. Social statuses, roles = norms for behavior
6. Means of controlling members’ behavior
 – these are the
initial groups that a person joins.
Examples are the family, the or peer
group, play group, cliques, gangs,
immediate school group.
interaction among members who
have an emotional investment in
one another and in a situation,
who know one another intimately
and interact as total individuals
rather than through specialized
roles. (FAMILY)
⦿ Charles Horton Cooley (1909) called
primary groups the nursery of human
nature.
⦿ Described by saying “we”; it involves the sort
of sympathy and mutual identification for
which
“we” is the natural expression
⦿ Family members interact in terms of their
⦿ These are small groups where relationship
is informal and personal.
⦿ There is face-to-face association
and cooperation.
⦿ There is fusion of individualities
into a common whole.
⦿ There is sympathy and mutual
identification.
⦿ These groups are the nursery of
human nature.
 – these are
the groups that an individual may
join in the latter part of his life.
characterized by much less intimacy
among its members. It usually has
specific goals, is formally organized,
and is impersonal.

e.g. Political parties, co-workers,

church members, town residents
etc.
⦿ These are large groups.
⦿ Contacts may be face-to-face,
indirect, fleeting, or in longer duration.
⦿ Relationship is important insofar as
they facilitate attainment of the goal.
⦿ There is some sort of contractual
relationship based on the attainment of
the goal of the group.
⦿ Loyalty and sense of belonging does
not develop spontaneously.
⦿ These are not actually physical groups.
⦿ These are only mental perspectives
of the “WE” and the “THEY”.
⦿ The We are the in-groups; while the
THEY are the out-group.
⦿ Formal groups - these are social
structures deliberately organized for
the attainment of specific goals which
meet the fundamental needs of the
members.
⦿› Examples:
Schools, churches, hospitals, industrial
establishments, trade unions, government
agencies, political parties, military, and
civic organizations
⦿ Informal groups - these are smaller
groups formed within the Formal
group.
⦿ They may be dyads or triads.
⦿ Individual
Goals - the motives of
each individual group member

⦿ Groupgoals – the ultimate outcome

the group hopes to accomplish