Social groups and communities. Classification of social groups. Social groups and their classification Information on the criteria for the classification of social groups

... Social group is a set of people, distinguished according to socially significant criteria (gender, age, race, nationality, profession, place of residence, income, power, education, etc.). She is a kind of mediator between the individual and society.

By definition. Robert. Merton, a group is a collection of two and / or more people who interact with each other in a certain way, are aware of their belonging to a given group and are considered members of this group from the point of view of another.

Classification of social groups

One of the main criteria for the typology of groups is their number. Sociology distinguishes between small, medium and large groups. The smaller the group, the more opportunities the individual receives in order to get to know other people and establish close relationships with them. The difference between small, medium and large groups lies primarily in the nature of the communication processes. Close interpersonal communication in small groups of doses will enable them to develop norms and values, patterns of behavior, as well as to exercise social control more effectively than in medium groups, and especially in large groups. Moreover, large and medium groups can only demonstrate examples of organized behavior, form stable intragroup norms and values, when they themselves include small groups as elements of their structures.

However, the size criterion is only a formal indicator of the difference between large, small and medium groups. It is precisely because of its formality that it is impossible to indicate exactly where the numerical boundary between these and the groups lies. The number only reflects the qualitative differences in the capabilities of direct interpersonal communication in groups of different sizes, in particular, different feedback possibilities.

Small groups are people who know each other well who are united by common goals, interests and constantly interact with each other (family, student group, production team, company of friends). In small groups, each member can have direct contact with any other member of the same group; In particular, he can always react to the behavior of each of its members, and, in turn, observe how each member of the group reacts to his behavior. Thus, in a small group there is a constantly operating system of direct and feedback between all its members.

The possibilities of such communication are limited, on the one hand, by the effectiveness of communication channels between individuals, and on the other hand, by the size of the group. Constant close contacts of individuals are possible only in their relatively small groups, and therefore frequent interpersonal relationships in groups of 17-20, or even 30 people seem unlikely. Sociological studies have shown that informal youth groups more often comprise from 2-3 to 8 people (about 70% of groups) and from 8 to 12 people (about 30% of groups).

True, in small social groups, highly formalized target associations, for example, a production team or a student academic, may also belong. However, even in this case, group contacts lose some of the properties of a small group, in particular, the constancy of connections between group members and the mutual influence of group members on each other. Usually in groups of more than seven people there is a "division" into subgroups, i.e. singles out and unites persons who have their own interests and goals, different from those inherent in other members of the group. This can lead to the disintegration of the groups, to the fall of the group.

large so that its members feel they can freely express their emotions and even get into arguments with each other, but it is small enough that its members can ignore each other.

Among small groups, primary and secondary are distinguished.

Primary groups are small groups formed for the following reasons: marriage and family ties, sympathy, emotional attachment, etc.

American sociologist. Edward. Shills (b 1911) distinguishes three types of small basic headings: n:

"Starter Groups" that have strong, longstanding ties and traditions. An individual can belong to these groups regardless of his desires. An example of such a group is the family rupi є sim "i.

"Personality groups" are groups of friends. The basis for the formation of such groups is mutual sympathy.

"Ideological groups" that unite people with common values.

Relationships in primary groups are emotionally charged and usually do not have a utilitarian value for their participants (we are friends with someone not because it will bring us some benefit, but because this person is sympathetic to us, close in spirit). Primary groups form the personality, its moral principles, tastes. It is no coincidence that they say: "With whom you will lead, from that you will gain."

Secondary headings include a number of primary headings. For example, an academic student group, a sports team, or divisions of soldiers are always internally divided into smaller groups of persons, contacts between which are more often of an emotional nature. In primary groups, relations between people are individual (we sympathize with some people more, others less, no one will make us fall in love with a person, she is not cute), and secondary groups unite people connected with each other in connection with the performance of certain functions, statuses , roles, and not because of sympathy. In such groups, social contacts are not healthy and have a utilitarian character. For example, the relationship between the foreman and the workers subordinate to him is impersonal, and their functions must be performed, regardless of friendly or hostile relations between them.

The stronger the primary group bonds, the more efficiently the secondary group functions. American sociologists have found out that during. During the Second World War, the success of German combat units, first of all, was achieved by the fact that the command was able to establish in military units those close friendships that are characteristic of primary groups in civilian life. German soldiers passed together military training- together and fought in the same composition. Moreover, if the allied troops were replenished as individual fighters were out of action, then the German units fought as long as such an opportunity remained, and even subsequently the unit was withdrawn to the rear to re-form and form a new combat unit. Medium groups are groups in which each member can know every other person in the group y, but cannot track the reaction of each of them to a separate element of their behavior, since the group is too large for this (for example, faculty students, workshop workers etc.).

Large groups are groups in which their individual members may not be personally acquainted with each other (residents of Lvov, Ukrainian, members of a confessional group). These are groups of thousands of people scattered over large and different spaces and for which indirect social interactions are characteristic (class, territorial, ethnic communities).

Large groups are divided into nominal (they are allocated only for the needs of statistics, for example: consumers of washing powder "Ariel"; passengers of commuter trains; registered in the hospital, etc.) and real (the criterion for their selection is real signs - gender, income, race , nationality, place of residence, education, profession, etc.).

There are three main types of real groups:

stratification groups - slavery, castes, estates, classes;

ethnic groups - races, nations, peoples, tribes, clans;

territorial groups - people from the same locality, townspeople, peasants.

Real groups are real problems for society, while nominal ones do not create a spectrum of social problems similar in scale and nature. We can easily remember some racial or class or peasant riots, but we should not look in history for examples of unrest among washing powder buyers or commuter bus passengers.

Large groups are carriers of the main features of the culture. It is the group (ethnic, professional, urban, etc.) that selects and approves the basic customs, traditions, values and, through the small group, "informs" this selection to each individual.

From what has been said it is clear why the number in itself does not always allow us to unambiguously classify this or that group as large, small or medium. Interaction in a group of 6-20 persons can be organized by organizing cotton wool in such a way that it will function as a small group; every individual who enters into it will be able to know exactly how each other member of this group relates to each of his actions. On the other hand, how can an effective mechanism of interpersonal communication be not established in a group of n0 persons, it may well turn out that it will behave like an average group in terms of size, when, for example, individuals q will react rather to some average opinion of the group than to the opinion of each individual is articulated.

Reference groups.

A person's behavior, his values and beliefs are formed under the influence of the group with which a person identifies himself. In everyday life, a person constantly compares himself with others in order to determine his lead Inca (who am I?). This comparison often occurs automatically, without much thought, however, if an individual makes some important decision for him, say, concerning the choice or change of profession, school, place of residence, etc., then such a comparison is deliberate.

Since all people belong to many groups, each of which is unique in its subculture (for example, family, company of friends, professional, confessional, ethnic group, etc.), the patterns of behavior of the same person in different groups also differ. This does not mean that people are behavioral chameleons who constantly change their behavior, their values, motivations and beliefs, depending on which group they identify with at a particular moment. People always identify important groups for themselves, through the prism of values which they build their behavior.

The social groups that the individual is guided by when assessing and shaping their views, feelings and actions are called reference groups.

The reference group may or may not be the group to which the individual really belongs. Quite often, the reference group becomes only a source of psychological identification. People can be guided in their behavior by a social group to which they do not belong. This helps explain some of the contradictions in the behavior of certain individuals, for example, a revolutionary comes from a privileged strata.

Reference groups perform not only normative but also comparative functions. The individual tries to live in accordance with the standards of the group, which is his reference. He cultivates in himself the corresponding life principles, tastes, political and other views, etc. dissatisfaction caused by the gap between what the person actually has and what she would like matati.

From this relationship between the reference group and the feeling of deprivation, certain socio-technical conclusions follow as to how to optimally organize the impact on individuals in order to educate them, stimulate them from social activity, etc. If you try to impose on individuals or groups the values and norms of behavior of those groups , which are located at the highest level of the social hierarchy, this will not cause anything other than a feeling of deprivation in individuals and groups. Therefore, it is always necessary to set goals in such a way that people can believe in the possibility of achieving them. For example, it is inappropriate to demand that the worst student in the class be equal to the best, because he feels too great a distance that lies between them, the lack of abilities and opportunities to overcome this distance, it is appropriate to orient objects of influence on an individual in or a group with the same imprint or with a similar position of deprivation, who nevertheless managed to improve their social position.

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Federal State Treasury educational institution higher professional education

"Belgorod Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation"

Department of Humanities and Socio-Economic Disciplines

abstract

On the topic: " "

Completed by: Bykova E.E.

Checked by: M.G. Chesovskaya

Belgorod - 2014

Introduction

1. The concept of "social group"

2. Classification of social groups. Separation of groups on the basis of belonging to them of the individual

3. Groups divided by the nature of the relationship between their members

Conclusion

List of used literature

Introduction

Society is not just a collection of individuals. Among large social communities there are classes, social strata, estates. Each person belongs to any of these social groups or may occupy some intermediate (transitional) position: having broken away from the usual social environment, he has not yet fully joined the new group, his way of life retains the features of the old and new social position.

The science that studies the formation of social groups, their place and role in society, the interaction between them, is called sociology. There are various sociological theories. Each of them gives its own explanation of the phenomena and processes taking place in the social sphere of the life of society.

In my essay, I would like to highlight in more detail the question of what a social group is, to consider the classification of social groups.

1. Concept" social group"

Despite the fact that the concept of a group is one of the most important in sociology, scientists do not have full agreement on its definition. First, the difficulty arises due to the fact that most concepts in sociology appear in the course of social practice: they begin to be applied in science after their long-term use in life, and at the same time they are given very different meanings. Secondly, the difficulty is due to the fact that many types of community are formed, as a result of which, in order to accurately determine a social group, it is necessary to distinguish certain types from these communities.

There are several types of social communities to which the concept of "group" is applied in the ordinary sense, but in the scientific sense they represent something different. In one case, the term "group" refers to some individuals, physically, spatially located in a certain place. In this case, the division of communities is carried out only spatially, with the help of physically defined boundaries. An example of such communities can be individuals traveling in the same carriage, being at a certain moment on the same street, or living in the same city. In a strictly scientific sense, such a territorial community cannot be called a social group. It is defined as aggregation- a certain number of people gathered in a certain physical space and do not carry out conscious interactions.

The second case is the application of the concept of a group to a social community that unites individuals with one or more similar characteristics. So, men, school graduates, physics, old people, smokers are presented to us as a group. Very often you can hear the words about " age group young people from 18 to 22 years old. "This understanding is also not scientific. To define the community of people with one or more similar characteristics, the term" category "is more appropriate. For example, it is quite correct to talk about the category of blondes or brunettes, the age group of young people from 18 to 22 years, etc.

What, then, is a social group?

A social group is a collection of individuals interacting in a certain way based on the shared expectations of each member of the group in relation to others.

In this definition, you can see two essential conditions necessary for a group to be considered a group:

1) the presence of interactions between its members;

2) the emergence of shared expectations of each member of the group in relation to other members.

According to this definition, two people waiting for a bus at a bus stop will not be a group, but can become one if they start a conversation, fight or other interaction with mutual expectations. Airplane passengers cannot be a group. They will be considered an aggregation as long as groups of people interacting with each other do not form among them during the journey. It so happens that an aggregation as a whole can become a group. Suppose a certain number of people are in a store, where they form a queue without interacting with each other. The seller leaves unexpectedly and is absent for a long time. The queue begins to interact to achieve one goal - to return the seller to the wrong person workplace... The aggregation turns into a group.

2. Classification of social groups. Separation of groups on the basis belonging to them of an individual

Each individual singles out a certain set of groups to which he belongs and defines them as "mine". It can be "my family", "my professional group", "my company", "my class". Such groups will be considered in-groups, i.e. those to which he feels he belongs and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the group as "we". Other groups to which the individual does not belong - other families, other groups of friends, other professional groups, other religious groups - will be for him outgroups, for which he selects symbolic meanings: "not us", "others".

In the least developed, primitive societies, people live in small groups, isolated from each other and representing clans of relatives. Kinship relationships in most cases determine the nature of ingroups and outgroups in these societies. When two strangers meet, they first start looking for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the ingroup. If family ties are not found, then in many societies of this type people feel hostile towards each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

IN modern society relationships between its members are based on many types of ties besides family ties, but the feeling of an in-group, the search for its members among other people remain very important for every person. When an individual finds himself in the environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out whether among them there are those who make up his social class or stratum, adhere to his political views and interests. For example, someone who goes in for sports is interested in people who understand sports events, and even better, those who support the same team as him. Avid philatelists involuntarily divide all people into those who simply collect stamps, and those who are interested in them, and are looking for like-minded people, communicating in different groups. Obviously, the hallmark of people belonging to an in-group should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things and have some unanimity about areas of activity and goals in life. Outgroup members can have many traits and characteristics common to all groups in a given society, they can share many common feelings and aspirations, but they always have certain particular traits and characteristics, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of the members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously mark these traits, dividing previously unfamiliar people into "us" and "others."

In modern society, the individual belongs to many groups at the same time, so a large number of in-group and out-group connections can overlap. A senior student will view a junior student as an individual belonging to an outgroup, but a junior student and a senior student may be members of the same sports team where they are part of an ingroup.

Researchers note that in-group identifications, intersecting in many directions, do not reduce the intensity of self-determination of differences, and the difficulty of including an individual in a group makes exclusion from in-groups more painful. So, a person who unexpectedly received a high status has all the attributes to get into high society, he cannot do this, since he is considered an upstart; the teenager desperately hopes to participate in the youth team, but she does not accept him; a worker who comes to work in a brigade cannot take root in it and sometimes serves as a subject of ridicule. Thus, exclusion from groups can be a very cruel process.

Reference groups

The term "reference group", first introduced into circulation by the social psychologist Mustafa Sherif in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard and norms, opinions, values and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. The boy, playing the guitar or playing sports, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee of the organization, striving to make a career, is guided by the behavior of top management. It may also be observed that ambitious people, who unexpectedly received a lot of money, tend to imitate the representatives of the upper classes in dress and manners.

Sometimes the reference group and the in-group can coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager is guided by his company more than by the opinion of teachers. At the same time, the outgroup can be a reference, the examples given above demonstrate this.

Distinguish between normative and comparative reference functions of the group. social individual value behavior

The normative function of the reference group is manifested in the fact that this group is a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wishing to become an adult as soon as possible, tries to follow the norms and value orientations accepted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to a foreign country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as soon as possible so as not to be a "black sheep".

The comparative function is manifested in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard with which an individual can evaluate himself and others. If a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects separate reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms an I-image based on the assessments of these groups.

Stereotypes

Outgroups are usually perceived by individuals as stereotypes. A social stereotype is a shared image of another group or category of people. When evaluating the actions of a group of people, we most often, in addition to our desire, ascribe to each of the individuals in the group, some features that, in our opinion, characterize the group as a whole. For example, there is an opinion that all blacks are more passionate and temperamental than people representing the Caucasian race (although in reality this is not so), all the French are frivolous, the British are withdrawn and silent, the inhabitants of the city N are stupid, etc. The stereotype can be positive (kindness, courage, perseverance), negative (unscrupulousness, cowardice) and mixed (Germans are disciplined, but cruel).

Once it has arisen, the stereotype extends to all members of the corresponding outgroup without taking into account any individual differences. Therefore, it is never completely true. Indeed, one cannot, for example, talk about features of carelessness or cruelty towards an entire nation or even the population of a city. But stereotypes are never completely false, they must always correspond to some extent to the characteristics of a person from a stereotyped group, otherwise they would not be recognizable.

The mechanism of the emergence of social stereotypes has not been fully investigated, it is still not clear why one of the features begins to attract the attention of representatives of other groups and why it becomes a general phenomenon. But one way or another, stereotypes become part of culture, part of moral norms and role attitudes. Social stereotypes are supported by selective perception (only frequently recurring incidents or cases that are noticed and remembered are selected), selective interpretation (observations related to stereotypes are interpreted, for example, Jews are an entrepreneur, rich people are greedy, etc.), selective identification ( you look like a gypsy, you look like an aristocrat, etc.) and, finally, selective exception (he does not look like a teacher at all, he does not act like an Englishman, etc.). With the help of these processes, the stereotype is filled, so that even exceptions and misinterpretation serve as a breeding ground for the formation of stereotypes.

Stereotypes are constantly changing. The poorly dressed, chalk-stained teacher, as a private stereotype, actually died. The rather stable stereotype of a capitalist with a top hat and a huge belly has also disappeared. There are many examples.

Stereotypes are constantly being born, changed and disappeared because they are necessary for members of a social group. With their help, we get concise and concise information about the outgroups around us. Such information determines our attitude towards other groups, allows us to navigate among the many surrounding groups and, ultimately, determine the line of behavior in communicating with representatives of outgroups. People always perceive a stereotype faster than true personality traits, since a stereotype is the result of many, sometimes well-aimed and subtle judgments, despite the fact that only some individuals in the outgroup fully correspond to it.

3. Groups categorized by naturerelationships between their members

Primary and secondary groups

The difference in relationships between individuals is most pronounced in the primary and secondary groups. Under primary groups groups are understood in which each member sees other members of the group as individuals and individuals. Achieving this vision occurs through social contacts that impart an intimate, personal and universal character to intragroup interactions, which include many elements of personal experience. In groups such as family or friendships, members tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed. They are interested in each other primarily as individuals, have common hopes and feelings, and fully satisfy their needs in communication. In secondary groups social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Friendly personal contacts with other members are not required here, but all contacts are functional as required by social roles. For example, the relationship of a site foreman and subordinate workers is impersonal and does not depend on friendly relations between them. The secondary group can be a labor union or some kind of association, club, team. But the secondary group can also be considered two individuals who trade in the bazaar. In some cases, such a group exists to achieve specific goals, including the specific needs of the members of this group as individuals.

The terms "primary" and "secondary" groups better characterize the types of group relationships than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve to achieve objective goals, for example, in production, but it differs more in the quality of human relationships, the emotional satisfaction of its members than in the efficiency of the production of products or clothing. So, a group of friends meets in the evening for a chess game. They can play chess rather indifferently, but nevertheless please each other with their conversation, the main thing here is that everyone is a good partner, not a good player. The secondary group can function in a friendly relationship, but its main principle is to fulfill specific functions... From this point of view, the team of professional chess players assembled to play in the team tournament certainly belongs to the secondary groups. It is important to select strong players who can take a worthy place in the tournament, and only then it is desirable that they be on friendly terms with each other. Thus, the primary group is focused on the relationship between its members, while the secondary group is focused on the goal.

Primary groups usually form a personality, in which it is socialized. Everyone finds in it an intimate environment, sympathy and opportunities for the realization of personal interests. Each member of the secondary group can find in it an effective mechanism for achieving certain goals, but often at the cost of a loss of intimacy and warmth in the relationship. For example, a saleswoman as a member of a store's team of employees should be attentive and polite, even when the client does not arouse her sympathy, or a member of a sports team, when moving to another team, knows that relationships with colleagues will be difficult for him, but more opportunities will open up for him. to achieve a higher position in this sport.

Secondary headings almost always contain a number of primary headings. A sports team, a production team, a school class or a student group are always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, into those who have more or less frequent interpersonal contacts. When leading a secondary group, as a rule, primary social formations are taken into account, especially when performing single tasks related to the interaction of a small number of group members.

Small groups have:

1. not focused on group goals of action;

2. group opinion as a permanent factor of social control;

3. conformism to group norms.

Large groups have:

1. rational goal-oriented actions;

2. group opinion is rarely used, control is carried out from the top down;

3. conformism to the policy pursued by the active part of the group.

Thus, most often small groups in their constant activity are not guided by the final group goal, while the activity of large groups is rationalized to such an extent that the loss of the goal most often leads to their disintegration. In addition, in a small group, such a means of control and implementation is of particular importance. joint activities as a group opinion. Personal contact allows all members of the group to participate in forming the group opinion and monitoring the conformity of the group members in relation to this opinion. Large groups, due to the lack of personal contacts between all their members, with rare exceptions, do not have the opportunity to develop a common group opinion.

The study of small groups is now widespread. In addition to the convenience of working with them due to their small size, such groups are of interest as elementary particles social structure where social processes, the mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, role relationships are traced.

Conclusion

Thus, the question of the definition of the concept of "social group" is briefly considered. The concept of a social group generalizes the essential characteristics of the collective subjects of social relations, interactions and relations, the main structural units of society. Russian sociologist G.S. Antipova defines a social group as a set of people who have a common social characteristic and perform socially required function in the structure of the social division of labor and activity. The American sociologist R. Merton defines a social group as a set of individuals who interact in a certain way with each other, who are aware of their belonging to this group and who are recognized as members of this group from the point of view of others. From this it follows that R. Merton distinguishes three main features in a social group: interaction, membership and unity.

The formation of social groups, their main features were also considered: 1) stable interaction, which contributes to the strength and stability of their existence in space and time; 2) a relatively high degree of cohesion; 3) the homogeneity of the composition is clearly expressed, that is, the presence of signs inherent in all individuals belonging to the group; 4) entry into broader communities as structural formations.

The main provisions of the theories of "social exchange" and "symbolic interactionism" are very briefly stated, which allow one to study the processes social interaction in groups; the classification of social groups is shown; the family is considered as a small group and social institution.

WITHlist of used literature

1. Ageev V.S. Intergroup interaction: socio-psychological problems. M., 1990.

2. Western European sociology XIX-early. XX centuries / Ed. IN AND. Dobrenkov. M., 1996.

3. Krichevsky R.L., Dubovskaya E.M. Small group psychology. Theoretical and applied aspects. M., 1991.

4. Fundamentals of Sociology: A course of lectures in 2 hours / Ed. A.G. Efendieva. M., 1994.

5. Radugin A.A., Radugin K.A. Sociology: A course of lectures. M., 1997.

6. Sociology. Reader / Ed. A.I. Kravchenko. M., 1997.

7. Schepansky J. Elementary concepts of sociology. M., 1969.

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Social group concept

Group is one of the main elements of the social structure of society and is a collection of people united by any essential feature - common activity, general economic, demographic, ethnographic, psychological characteristics... This concept is used in jurisprudence, economics, history, ethnography, demography, psychology. In sociology, the term "social group" is commonly used.

Not every community of people is called a social group.... If people are just in a certain place (on a bus, at a stadium), then such a temporary community can be called “aggregation”. A social community that unites people only on one or several similar grounds is also not called a group; the term "category" is used here. For example, a sociologist might classify students between the ages of 14 and 18 as youth; elderly people to whom the state pays benefits, provides benefits for the payment of utilities - to the category of pensioners, etc.

Social group Is an objectively existing stable community, a set of individuals interacting in a certain way based on several characteristics, in particular, the shared expectations of each member of the group in relation to others.

The concept of a group as an independent one, along with the concepts of personality (individual) and society, is already found in Aristotle. In modern times, T. Hobbes was the first to define a group as "a known number of people united by a common interest or common cause."

Under social group it is necessary to understand any objectively existing a stable set of people connected by a system of relationships regulated by formal or informal social institutions. Society in sociology is viewed not as a monolithic entity, but as a set of many social groups interacting and being in a certain dependence on each other. Each person during his life belongs to the multitude similar groups, including a family, a friendly team, a student group, a nation, etc. The creation of groups is facilitated by similar interests and goals of people, as well as the realization of the fact that by combining actions one can achieve a significantly greater result than by individual action. At the same time, the social activity of each person is largely determined by the activities of those groups in which he is included, as well as by interaction within and between groups. It can be argued with complete confidence that only in a group does a person become a person and is able to find complete self-expression.

Concept, formation and types of social groups

The most important elements of the social structure of society are social groups and . As forms of social interaction, they represent such associations of people, joint, solidarity actions of which are aimed at meeting their needs.

There are many definitions of the concept of "social group". So, in the opinion of some Russian sociologists, a social group is a collection of people with common social characteristics, performing a socially necessary function in the structure of the social division of labor and activity. The American sociologist R. Merton defines a social group as a set of individuals who interact in a certain way with each other, who are aware of their belonging to this group and who are recognized as members of this group from the point of view of others. He identifies three main features in a social group: interaction, membership and unity.

Unlike mass communities, social groups are characterized by:

stable interaction, contributing to the strength and stability of their existence;
a relatively high degree of unity and cohesion;
clearly expressed homogeneity of the composition, suggesting the presence of signs inherent in all members of the group;
the possibility of entering broader social communities as structural units.

Since each person in the process of his life is a member of a wide variety of social groups, differing in size, nature of interaction, degree of organization and many other characteristics, it becomes necessary to classify them according to certain criteria.

There are the following types of social groups:

1. Depending on the nature of the interaction - primary and secondary (Appendix, Scheme 9).

Primary group, by the definition of C. Cooley, is a group in which the interaction between members is direct, interpersonal and characterized by a high level of emotionality (family, school class, peer group, etc.). Carrying out the socialization of the individual, the primary group acts as a link between the individual and society.

Secondary group- this is a larger group, in which interaction is subordinated to the achievement of a specific goal and is of a formal, impersonal nature. In these groups, the focus is not on the personal, unique qualities of the group members, but on their ability to perform certain functions. Organizations (industrial, political, religious, etc.) are examples of such groups.

2. Depending on the way of organizing and regulating interaction - formal and informal.

Formal group is a group with a legal status, interaction in which is regulated by a system of formalized norms, rules, laws. These groups have a deliberately set purpose, normatively fixed hierarchical structure and act in accordance with the administratively established order (organizations, enterprises, etc.).

Informal group arises spontaneously, based on common views, interests and interpersonal interactions... It is deprived of official regulation and legal status. These groups are usually led by informal leaders. Examples are friendly companies, informal associations among young people, rock music lovers, etc.

3. Depending on the individuals belonging to them - ingroup and outgroup.

Ingroup- this is a group to which the individual feels a direct belonging and identifies it as “mine”, “our” (for example, “my family”, “my class”, “my company”, etc.).

Outgroup- this is a group to which this individual does not belong and therefore evaluates it as “alien”, not his own (other families, another religious group, another ethnic group, etc.). Each individual of the ingroup has its own scale for evaluating outgroups: from indifferent to aggressively hostile. Therefore, sociologists propose to measure the degree of acceptance or closeness in relation to other groups according to the so-called Bogardus' social distance scale.

Reference group- this is a real or imaginary social group, the system of values, norms and assessments of which serves as a standard for the individual. The term was first coined by the American social psychologist Hyman. The reference group in the system of relations "personality - society" performs two important functions: normative being for the individual a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations; comparative, acting as a standard for the individual, allows him to determine his place in the social structure of society, to evaluate himself and others.

4. Depending on the quantitative composition and the form of implementation of connections - small and large.

Is a directly contacting small group of people united to carry out joint activities.

A small group can take many forms, but the original are "dyad" and "triad", they are called the simplest molecules small group. Dyad consists of two people and is considered an extremely fragile association, in triad actively interact three persons, it is more stable.

The characteristic features of the small group are:

small and stable composition (as a rule, from 2 to 30 people);
spatial proximity of group members;
stability and duration of existence:
a high degree of coincidence of group values, norms and patterns of behavior;
the intensity of interpersonal relationships;
a developed sense of belonging to a group;
informal control and information saturation in the group.

Large group- This is a group that is large in composition, which is created for a specific purpose and the interaction in which is mainly mediated (labor collectives, enterprises, etc.). This also includes numerous groups of people who have common interests and occupy the same position in the social structure of society. For example, social class, professional, political and other organizations.

A collective (Latin collectivus) is a social group in which all vital connections between people are mediated through socially important goals.

Characteristic features of the team:

combination of interests of the individual and society;
commonality of goals and principles that act for team members as value orientations and norms of activity. The team performs the following functions:
subject- the solution of the problem for which it is created;
socio-educational- a combination of the interests of the individual and society.

5. Depending on socially significant features - real and nominal.

Real groups are groups distinguished according to socially significant criteria:

floor- men and women;
age- children, youth, adults, the elderly;
income- rich, poor, prosperous;
nationality- Russians, French, Americans;
marital status- married, single, divorced;
profession (occupation)- doctors, economists, managers;
location- townspeople, villagers.

Nominal (conditional) groups, sometimes called social categories, are allocated for the purpose of conducting a sociological study or statistical accounting of the population (for example, to find out the number of privileged passengers, single mothers, students receiving personal scholarships, etc.).

Along with social groups in sociology, the concept of "quasigroup" is distinguished.

A quasigroup is an informal, spontaneous, unstable social community that does not have a definite structure and value system, the interaction of people in which is, as a rule, an external and short-term nature.

The main types of quasigroups are:

Audience is a social community, united by interaction with a communicator and receiving information from him... The heterogeneity of the given social education due to the difference in personal qualities, as well as cultural property and the norms of the people included in it, determines the different degree of perception and assessment of the information received.

- a temporary, relatively unorganized, unstructured congestion of people united in a closed physical space by a community of interests, but at the same time devoid of a clearly perceived goal and related to each other by the similarity of an emotional state. Allocate General characteristics crowds:

suggestibility- people in the crowd are usually more suggestible than outside;
anonymity- the individual, being in the crowd, as if merges with it, becomes unrecognizable, believing that it is difficult to "calculate";
spontaneity (contagion)- people in a crowd are susceptible to rapid transmission and change of emotional state;
unconsciousness- the individual feels invulnerable in the crowd, out of social control, therefore his actions are "saturated" with collective unconscious instincts and become unpredictable.

Depending on the way the crowd is formed and the behavior of people, the following types are distinguished in it:

random crowd- an indefinite set of individuals, formed spontaneously without any purpose (to watch a celebrity suddenly appear or a traffic accident);
conventional crowd- a relatively structured gathering of people influenced by planned predetermined norms (spectators in the theater, fans in the stadium, etc.);
expressive crowd- a social quasigroup formed for the personal pleasure of its members, which in itself is already a goal and a result (discos, rock festivals, etc.);
active (active) crowd- a group performing some actions, which can act in the form of: gatherings- an emotionally agitated, violent crowd, and rebellious crowd- a group characterized by special aggressiveness and destructive actions.

In the history of the development of sociological science, various theories have emerged that explain the mechanisms of crowd formation (G. Le Bon, R. Turner, and others). But for all the dissimilarity of points of view, one thing is clear: to manage the command of the crowd, it is important: 1) to identify the sources of the emergence of norms; 2) identify their carriers by structuring the crowd; 3) purposefully influence their creators, offering the crowd meaningful goals and algorithms for further actions.

Among quasigroups, social circles are the closest to social groups.

Social circles are social communities that are created for the purpose of exchanging information between their members.

Polish sociologist J. Szczepanski distinguishes the following types of social circles: contact- communities that constantly meet on the basis of certain conditions (interest in sports competitions, sports, etc.); professional- gathering to exchange information exclusively on a professional basis; status- formed about the exchange of information between people with the same social status (aristocratic circles, women's or men's circles, etc.); friendly- based on the joint holding of any events (companies, groups of friends).

In conclusion, we note that quasigroups are some transitional formations that, with the acquisition of such characteristics as organization, stability and structuredness, turn into a social group.

The whole story of people's lives is the story of their relationships and interactions with other people. In the course of these interactions, social communities and groups are formed.

Most general concept is an social community - a set of people united by common conditions of existence, regularly and efficiently interacting with each other.

In modern sociology, several types of communities are distinguished.

Primarily, nominal communities- a set of people united by common social characteristics, which are established by the research scientist to solve the set by him scientific tasks... For example, people of the same hair color, skin, loving sports, collecting stamps, spending their holidays at sea can be united, and all these people may never come into contact with each other.

Mass communities- this is a really existing set of people, randomly united by common conditions of existence, and does not have a stable goal of interaction. Typical examples of mass communities are fans of sports teams, fans of pop stars, members of mass political movements. The features of mass communities can be considered the randomness of their occurrence, the temporality and uncertainty of their composition. One of the types of mass community is crowd... French sociologist G. Tarde defined a crowd as a set of persons gathered at the same time in a certain place and united by feeling, faith and action. In the structure of the crowd, leaders stand out, on the one hand, and everyone else on the other.

According to the sociologist G. Le Bon, the behavior of the crowd is due to a certain infection that provokes collective aspirations. People infected with this infection are capable of ill-considered, sometimes destructive actions.

How can you protect yourself from this infection? First of all, people of high culture, well-informed about political events, are immune to it.

In addition to the crowd, sociologists operate with such concepts as audience and social circles.

Under audience means a set of people united by interaction with a specific individual or group (for example, people watching a performance in a theater, students listening to a lecture by a teacher, journalists attending a press conference of a statesman, etc.). The larger the audience, the weaker the connection with the unifying principle. Please note that during the broadcast of a meeting of a large group of people, the TV camera can snatch someone from the audience who fell asleep, someone who is reading a newspaper or drawing figures in his notebook. The same situation often occurs in student audiences. Therefore, it is important to remember the rule formulated by the ancient Romans: "The speaker is not the measure of the listener, but the listener is the measure of the orator."

Social circles- communities created for the exchange of information between their members. These communities do not set any common goals, do not undertake joint efforts. Their function is to exchange information. For example, to discuss the change in the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies, the performance of the national team in the qualifying round of the World Cup, the government's planned reforms in the field of education, and so on. A variety of such social circles is the professional circle, for example, scientists, educators, artists, artists. The most compact in composition is the friendly circle

Social circles can nominate their leaders, shape public opinion, be the basis for the formation of social groups.

The most common concept in sociology is a social group.

Under social group means a set of people united on the basis of joint activities, common goals and having an established system of norms, values, life guidelines. In science, there are several signs of a social group:

Stability of the composition;

Duration of existence;

Definition of composition and boundaries;

General system of values and norms;

Awareness of their belonging to a group by each individual;

Voluntary nature of the association (for small groups);

By uniting individuals by external conditions of existence (for large social groups).

In sociology, there are a number of grounds for classifying groups. For example, by the nature of their connections, groups can be formal and informal. According to the level of interaction within the group, primary groups are distinguished (family, a company of friends, like-minded people, classmates), which are characterized by a high level of emotional ties and secondary groups, which have almost no emotional ties (labor collective, political party).

Here is an example of the classification of social groups on different grounds in the form of a table.

Table: Types of social groups

Basis for the classification of groups	Group type	Examples of
by the number of participants	small medium large	family, a group of friends, a sports team, a board of directors of a firm, a workforce, residents of a microdistrict, university graduates, ethnic groups, confessions, programmers
by the nature of relationships and connections	formal informal	political party, labor collective cafe visitors
at the place of residence	settler	townspeople, villagers, residents of the capital city, provincials
depending on gender and age	demographic	men, women, children, old people, youth
by ethnicity	ethnic (ethnosocial)	Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Vepsians, Mari
by income level	socio-economic	rich (high income people), poor (low income people), middle strata (middle income people)
by nature and occupation	professional	programmers, operators, teachers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, turners

The list goes on and on. It all depends on the basis of the classification. For example, a certain social group can be considered all users of personal computers, subscribers mobile communications, a collection of subway passengers, and so on.

A rallying, group-forming factor is also citizenship - a person's belonging to the state, expressed in the totality of their mutual rights and obligations. Citizens of one state are subject to the same laws and have common state symbols. Belonging to one or another political party and organization establishes ideological affinity. Communists, liberals, social democrats, nationalists have different ideas about the future and the correct structure of society. In this respect, they are very similar to political communities and religious associations (confessions), only they pay more attention not to external changes, but inner peace people, their faith, good and evil deeds, interpersonal relationships.

Special groups are formed by people with common interests. Sports fans from different cities and countries share a passion for their favorite sport; fishermen, hunters and mushroom pickers - search for prey; collectors - the desire to increase their collection; lovers of poetry - worries about what they read; music lovers - impressions of music and so on. We can easily find all of them in a crowd of passers-by - in the clothes of fans (fans) there are the colors of his favorite team, music lovers walk with players and are completely absorbed in their music, etc. Finally, students around the world are united by a desire for knowledge and education.

We have listed fairly large communities that unite thousands and even millions of people. But there are also countless smaller groups - people in line, passengers of one compartment on a train, vacationers in a sanatorium, museum visitors, neighbors on the porch, street comrades, party participants. Unfortunately, there are also socially dangerous groups - teenage gangs, mafia organizations, racketeers, drug addicts and substance abusers, alcoholics, beggars, homeless people (homeless people), street hooligans, gamblers. All of them are either directly related to the underworld, or are under his scrutiny. And the boundaries of the transition from one group to another are very imperceptible. A regular casino visitor can instantly lose all his fortune, go into debt, become a beggar, sell an apartment or join a criminal gang. The same threatens drug addicts and alcoholics, many of whom at first believe that they will give up this hobby at any moment if they wish. It is much easier to get into the listed groups than to get out of them, and the consequences are the same - prison, death or an incurable disease.

The classification of social groups, as a rule, is based on the subject area of analysis, in which the main feature that determines the stability of a given group formation is highlighted. There are many classifications in the sociological literature. Thus, the American sociologist E. Eubank has developed seven main features that can be used to classify social groups: ethnicity or race; level of cultural development; types of structure existing in the group; tasks and functions performed by the group in wider communities; the prevailing types of contacts between group members; different kinds connections existing in groups; other principles.

Other methods of classification include, for example, dividing groups on the basis of individuals belonging to them. Each individual singles out a certain set of people to whom he belongs, and defines these groups as his own ("my family", "my class", etc.). Such groups are called in-groups - a person feels that he belongs to it and identifies himself with its members ("we"). Other groups to which the individual does not belong will be outgroups for him ("not us", "others").

The reference group is close to the in-group, i.e. a real or conditional (imaginary) social group, the system of values and norms of which is the standard for the individual.

Social groups differ in other features, for example, according to the nature of the relationship between its members, social groups are divided into small and large, primary and secondary. Social troupes, which are characterized by the presence of direct personal interactions, contacts, of course, can include a small number of partners (from 2 to 15 - 20 people). Therefore, they are called small groups (a term proposed by C. Cooley). The presence of direct contact affects intragroup interactions, makes them more personalized and facilitates the identification of the "I" of the individual with the general group "We". This is the main object of sociological research.

Primary groups are a type of small social groups. Distinctive features These groups, according to Cooley, are direct, interpersonal contact of its members, which is characterized by a high level of emotionality. These groups are “primary” in the sense that it is in them that individuals receive the primary experience of social unity.

Secondary groups are formed from people whose emotional relationships are of a low level. Their interaction is subject only to the achievement of certain goals and social contacts. The very social contacts in these groups are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian in nature, the individuality of the individual does not matter - the ability to perform certain functions is more appreciated. The main type of secondary social group is a large social group formed to achieve certain goals, i.e. organization (political, industrial, religious, etc.). Usually these are groups of thousands of people scattered over vast spaces, the connections between which cannot be in the nature of direct contacts, therefore, mediated solidary interaction is of particular importance.

It should be borne in mind that a small group can be either primary or secondary, depending on what type of relationship exists between its members. As for the large group, it can only be secondary.

Currently great attention is paid to the study, first of all, of small groups, since in addition to the convenience of working with them due to their small size, such groups are of great interest as elementary particles of the social structure in which social processes arise, mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, and role relationships are traced.