SOCIALGROUPS

A social group is defined as two or

more people who identify and
interact with one another.
4 Essentials of a Group
1. Two or more individuals

2. Communicate among them

3. Common interests (which most

sociologists differ)

4. Standards of behavior (patterns)

 Primary and secondary
groups.
A primary group, according to Charles
Horton Cooley, is a small social group in
which relationships are both personal and
enduring.
People in primary groups share many
activities, spend a great deal of time
together, and feel they know one
another well.
Families are primary groups in that
they are the first groups we
experience in life and because they
are of central importance in the
socialization process.
 Secondary groups are large and impersonal
social groups devoted to some specific interest
or activity.
They are, in most regards, the opposite of
primary groups.
They are commonly short-term.
They are goal oriented.
They are typically impersonal.

Primary groups dominate social life in preindustrial societies; secondary

groups are more common in modern industrial society. They are, in
most regards, the opposite of primary groups.
A Formal Group

A Formal Group is one that has

rules and regulations, scheduled
meeting times, official roles
assigned to members (such as
treasurer, coach, etc.), official
membership list, etc.
Examples: Cricket club; Muslim
League; Sociology class
Informal Group
An Informal Group lacks the
formality of the formal group.
There may be unwritten rules, etc.
Examples: a group of friends; a
family; commuter sharing a bus
An In-Group is simply any group
someone belongs to and feels
emotional attachment to the
members.
An Out-Group is one that someone
doesnt belong to and feels
competition and/or hatred towards.
These two are different for each
individual.
Examples of the above: rival
gangs, rival teams or their fans;
cliques at school
Reference Group
This is not a particular type of group, but
rather a way of looking at the
relationship between the individual and
any group, primary or otherwise.

A reference group is one to which

the individual refers and with
which he identifies, either
consciously or unconsciously
 Social Interaction

Merrill:
social interaction is the process of
contact where the behavior modifies
slightly .
 Form of social interaction

Between individual and individual

Between individual and groups
Between groups and groups
Between individual and culture
 Between individual and individual

customer and shop keeper

Doctor and patient

 situations for social
interaction
Person
to
person
Between individual and group

singer and audience

 Person
to-group
 Group-to-group
 Types / Forms of Social Interaction
/ Social Process

Opposition Cooperation

Assimilation &
competition Conflict Accommodation Acculturation
 Opposition
This is the disassociate form of social
interaction. it includes competition & conflict.

Opposition or Disassociation:
In every institution there is competition and
competition may be called as struggle between
two or more individuals, who are striving to get
something which is relatively limited.the modern
world creates many environments for the
existence of competition
-sports
-marketplace
-educational system
-political system
 Conflict
When people are competing for inadequate
material and non material products.
Objects of conflict
The objects of conflict may be:
a) Power
b) Status
c) property
 Difference between competition & conflict

Competition Conflict
1. Competition is the 1. It is not continuous
continuous process and it process. At some stage it
must come to an end.
is never ending.
2. It is personal.
2. It is impersonal
3. it is conscious and the
3. It is unconscious and the individual and groups are
individuals and groups are aware and know each
not aware of it. other.
4. It encourages hard work. 4. It discourages hard work
5. It is based on non- for law in conflict.
violence. 5. Violent methods may be
used in conflict.
 Cooperation
No society can develop without cooperation. In
Pakistani society we find a few examples of
cooperation. e.g.
In the farms the rural cooperate with their neighbors
in watering the crops, harvesting the crops.
In urban areas the people cooperate with each other
in different ways. Such cooperation is found between
the customer and shop keepers, teachers and
students, the owner and the laborers, the doctor and
the patient.
 Accommodation
The parents accommodate their children even at the
cost of sacrificing their own desires.
Smith
defines accommodation as social adjust e t
e.g. adjustment of man to both natural and man-
made e iro e t .
 assimilation
Ogburn & Nimkoff:

it ea s t o dissi ilar i di iduals or groups hich

become similar by removing their cultural
differe ces .
 Acculturation
The first step towards assimilation is called
acculturation. In other words it is cultural
modification.
e.g.
Permanent settlement of migrants people e.g. people
from India and Afghanistan in Pakistan.