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Lesson 6 - How Society Is Organized

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13 views

Lesson 6 - How Society Is Organized

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ranz paul
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson 6 : How Society is Organized

What is a Social Group?

Social group is two or more people who identify with and engage with each other
(Macionis 2012). As an individual, you may be a member of a religious group, an ethnic
group, a working colleague group, a college class, a sports team, and so on. These are
also referred to as social groups.

A social group is distinct from an aggregate, which consists of people who are
temporarily grouped together in an area, perhaps even performing the same things, but
do not consider themselves to be members of the same group.

For example, being in a busy shop or waiting in line for a movie does not make you
feel like you belong with the people doing the same thing. A category and a group are
not the same thing. You may share comparable qualities, such as age or height, yet you
may not interact or experience a feeling of belonging if you are in the same category as
someone.

TYPES OF GROUPS ACCORDING TO INFLUENCE

Primary Group and Secondary Group. The difference between primary and
secondary groups lies in the kinds of relationships their members have with one another.

1. Primary groups involve interaction among members who have an emotional


investment or attachment in one another and a situation, who know one another
intimately and interact as total individuals rather than through specialized roles.
They are smaller in number and occur over a long time.

Examples:

Relationships under the primary group are between friends, husband and wife,
parent and child, and teacher and pupil. On the other hand, sample groups under
primary groups include playgroup, family, village/neighborhood, and work team.

2. Secondary groups usually have specific goals, are formally organized, and are
impersonal. They tend to be larger than the primary group, and its members do
not necessarily interact with all other members.

Examples:

Relationships under the secondary group are between clerk and customer,
announcer and listener, performer and spectator, and officer and subordinate.
On the other hand, sample groups under the second group include nation, clerical
hierarchy, professional association, and corporation.
TYPES OF GROUPS ACCORDING TO MEMBERSHIP

Reference Groups

A reference group is a group or social category that an individual uses to help define
beliefs, attitudes, and values and to guide behaviour. It is often a category we identify
with, rather than a specific group we belong to. In addition, they provide a comparison
against which people measure themselves and others.

Positive reference groups are composed of people we want to emulate.

Negative reference groups, on the other hand, provide a model we do not wish to
follow.

Types of Reference Groups

A normative reference group influences your norms, attitudes, and values through
direct interaction.

A comparative reference group is a group of individuals whom you compare yourself


against and may strive to be like.
Social Network

A social network is a sociological concept that refers to the social relationships


that exist between network parts and individuals. In an organization, network elements
can include social groups or teams, organizational units, or entire organizations.

Social Network in practice:

All our functions at work and in private take place in some social networks. Every
social network is about relations that include social interaction and social
communication. We can easily describe, map, and analyze social networks through social
network analysis and sociometry. The basic types of social networks in the organization
are formal organizational structure, and informal organizational structure. The social
network in the organization forms an informal organizational structure. Its influence on
the events and decision-making in the organization is greater in less authoritative
management styles and types of the organizations. Often in practice, the informal
organizational structure is more influential on what is happening in the organization than
the formal organizational structure.

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