UCSP - Lesson

How Society is Organized

Social Group- A number of people who interact on a regular basis, are bound together by roles and statuses and a distinctive set of relationships, and who feel a sense of unity and common identity. Membership in social groups is crucial to human social life because it provides people with sense of belonging

Social Groups

Primary Groups- Are those which are close-knit. They are typically small scale, include intimate relationships, and are usually long lasting. The members feel a strong personal identity with the group.

Secondary Groups- They are usually large, short-term, formal and specialized. Impersonal and temporary and involve limited aspects to a persons life. These groups are typically found at work and school.

Reference Groups- Both your in-group and primary group. A reference group is a group to which we compare ourselves.  Serve as a standard to which we measure our behaviors and attitudes. We use reference groups in order to guide our behavior and attitudes and help us to identify social norms.

In-group ‘we’- Any group to which a person thinks he/she belongs or identifies with. Have a sense of camaraderie & loyalty to each other.

dyad- consists of 2 people triad- consists of 3 people

Out-group ‘they’- Any group or collection of people to which a person thinks he/she doesn’t belong or identifies with.

-In-group favoritism or in-group bias refers to the tendency to favor an in-group, and out-group derogation refers to the tendency to feel threatened against the out group.

Not Social Groups

Social Category- A collection of people who share similar characteristics but are not engaged in a patterned social interaction and do not have a common identity of membership.

Social Aggregate- A collection of people who just happened to be in one place at the same time and who are hardly unaware of each other.

Other Social Groups

Formal Organization- Defined as a large and complex secondary group that is deliberately created and organized to achieve specific goods.

Bureaucracy- Clear cut division of labor, Formal written records, Hierarchy of authority and chain of command, Well stated rules and regulations, Impartiality; and, Assignment of roles and statuses based on technical qualifications

Social Institutions- Refers to a complex, patterned, integrated and relatively stable cluster of statuses, roles, groups, norms and values that work together to fulfill some specific needs that the society must satisfy. Family, Religion, Education, Economy, Politics and Health Care.