Social Groups - Types of Groups

Types of Groups

Primary groups According to Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929), a primary group is a small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships. People joined in primary relationships spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of activities, and feel that they know one another well. In short, they show real concern for one another. In every society, the family is the most important primary group. Groups based on lasting friendships are also primary groups.

Secondary groups, in contrast to primary groups, are large groups involving formal and institutional relationships. Secondary relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another. Most secondary groups are short term, beginning and ending without particular significance. They may last for years or may disband after a short time. The formation of primary groups happens within secondary groups.

Primary groups can be present in secondary settings. For example, attending a university exemplifies membership of a secondary group, while the friendships that are made there would be considered a primary group that you belong to. Likewise, some businesses care deeply about the well being of one another, while some immediate families have hostile relations within it.

Individuals almost universally have a bond toward what sociologists call reference groups. A reference group is a social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions.

Some examples of types of groups include the following:

Peer group

A peer group is a group with members of approximately the same age, social status, and interests. Generally, people are relatively equal in terms of power when they interact with peers.

Clique

A group of people that have many of the same interests & commonly found in a High School/College setting; most of the time they have a name & rules for themselves.

Club

A club is a group, which usually requires one to apply to become a member. Such clubs may be dedicated to particular activities: sporting clubs, for example.

Household

All individuals who live in the same home. anglophone culture may include various models of household, including the family, blended families, share housing, and group homes.

Community

A community is a group of people with a commonality or sometimes a complex net of overlapping commonalities, often–but not always–in proximity with one another with some degree of continuity over time.

Franchise

An organization which runs several instances of a business in many locations.

Gang

A gang is usually an urban group that gathers in a particular area. It is a group of people that often hang around each other. They can be like some clubs, but much less formal. They are usually known in many countries to cause social unrest and also have negative influence on the members and may be a target for the law enforcers in case of any social vices

Mob

A mob is usually a group of people that has taken the law into their own hands. Mobs are usually groups which gather temporarily for a particular reason.

Posse

A posse was originally found in English common law. It is generally obsolete, and survives only in America, where it is the law enforcement equivalent of summoning the militia for military purposes. However, it can also refer to a street group.

Squad

This is usually a small group, of around 3 to 15 people, who work as a team to accomplish their goals.

Dyad

This is a social group with two members. Social interaction in a dyad is typically more intense than in larger groups because neither member shares the other's attention with anyone else.

Triad

This is a social group with three members, which contains three relationships, each uniting two of the three people. A triad is more stable than a dyad because one member can act as a mediator should the relationship between the other two become strained.

Team

similar to a squad, though a team may contain many more members. A team works in a similar way to a squad.

In-group

It is a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty.

It is a group that an individual identifies in positive direction. If a person is part of the in-group then they are collectively part of an inner circle of friends. An inner circle may contain sub-groups within the inner circle including the apex (best friends), core (very close friends), outer rim, etc. This group provides a support structure and being exclusive offers protection from anyone in an Out-group (see below.)

Out-group

It is a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition.

It is a group that an individual identifies in negative direction.

Groups can also be categorized according to the number of people present within the group. This makes sense if the size of the group has consequences for the way group members relate with each other. In a small group, for example, "each member receives some impression ... of each other member distinct enough so that he or she ... can give some reaction to each of the others as an individual person." This personal interaction is not possible in larger groups.