Typologies of social groups: definition, concept and types

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 19:56

We all live in a society, or, in scientific terms, in society. Even before the creation of the science of sociology, it was possible to conditionally divide people into groups. Now there are a lot of them, and one person can relate to several at once. It all depends on what sign unites people. Let's consider the concept and typology of social groups, let's look at examples.

Concept

A social group is a set of individuals of a society united by some socially significant feature. Such a sign can be gender, age, nationality, profession, and so on.

The social group is a kind of mediator between the individual and the whole society. Being a member of such a group, the individual undergoes a certain socialization. In a social environment, with the help of internal interaction in a group, norms of collective behavior are formed, as well as characteristic features.

Typologies of social groups

Communities in societythere is a huge variety. After all, there can be very, very many signs for the separation of individuals. The following is the most common typology of social groups in sociology:

1. Classes and strata by social status (peasants, workers, entrepreneurs, civil servants, intelligentsia, bourgeoisie).

2. Communities by ethnicity (nations, nationalities, tribes and others).
3. Sociocultural communities (fans of various subcultures, rock music lovers, fan clubs, collectors).
4. Individuals united by territorial factor (residents of villages, cities, other various settlements, countries, continents, parts of the world).
5. Religious (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and others, as well as various sects and groups of people who are united by some rituals).
6. By profession (doctors, teachers, drivers, lawyers, programmers and other groups of professions and speci alties).
7. Socio-demographic (youth, pensioners).
8. Political associations (members of parties or political movements, liberals, conservatives, and others).
9. Family household groups (family, everyday life, their various types and forms).

This is the simplest classification, which is given as an example even in the school curriculum on the subject of social studies.

Characteristic features and signs

If you describe social groups (concept and typology) briefly, then all of them shouldhave the following features:

1. A certain way of interaction between individuals. For example, students of a certain group in a university can discuss laboratory work, lectures, be involved together during a seminar.
2. Each member of the group is aware of their belonging to it (a figure skating team of a country must have a sense of loy alty and duty to its state, defend the honor of the country at various competitions and championships).
3. The prevailing awareness of unity (a troupe of theater actors is perceived as a single whole by themselves, and the audience, and critics, and workers of this theater).

Society Diversity

It would be inappropriate to describe in the article only one, the most common type of typology of social groups. After all, there are a lot of classifications.

For example, consider the delimitation of social groups according to Ch. Cooley. According to his classification, they can be primary and secondary. What does it mean? Let's take a closer look:

1. Primary. In such groups, close, direct ties and cooperation are established between its members. It can be said that the connection in this case is established at a certain psychological level, all individuals of this group can say "we" about it. These include family, neighborhood, children in kindergarten, or the adult generation of a family.

   

2. Secondaries. There is practically no emotional component in the secondary groupsconnections between individuals. Each secondary is united by the desire for a specific goal. Therefore, the ability of each individual to perform specific functions, rather than personal qualities, comes to the fore.

Another typology of social groups and communities is formed based on the way of organizing and regulating interaction between individuals:

1. Formal - these are communities that have a legal status. Interaction within such a group is regulated by a set of rules and laws. They have a purpose, a hierarchical structure, and all actions are carried out according to the established administrative order (legal organizations, enterprises).
2. Informal. These groups do not have a legal status and are deprived of official regulation. They arise spontaneously and exist on the basis of some common interests (informal youth groups, fans of rock music, and others). Sometimes there is a leader in such communities.

If we consider the typology of social groups briefly from the perspective of an individual's attitude towards it, then one's belonging can be expressed in different ways. Let's take a closer look:

1. Ingroup - a person is aware of his belonging, perceives the community as his own and calls it "mine" (my family, my team, etc.).
2. Outgroup is the opposite. The individual does not belong to this community and perceives it as "foreign" (another family, another nation). Moreover, views on these other, not their own, communities in relation torange from indifferent to hostile-aggressive.

Next, we will analyze the typology of social groups and communities according to the degree of objectivity of their existence:

1. Nominal - a set of people, artificially singled out on some basis. There are no real relationships and interactions between these people, they usually unite to carry out some scientific, practical or socially significant tasks (for example, voters, people with higher education, buyers of a certain brand of soap, and others).
2. Real - a community of individuals between whom there are real connections and interactions, and the group itself can have relationships with others. All members of such a population of people clearly identify themselves with it (family, class, etc.).

Finally, we got to the concept and typology of social groups, which are worth considering in more detail. So, large and small communities.

Large social groups

A large social group is an association of participants who do not have direct interaction with each other, but are connected by psychological mechanisms of group communication. Large social groups have certain characteristics:

1. Structural and functional organization.
2. The life of such communities is regulated by group consciousness, customs and traditions.
3. Established mental warehouse and group psychology.
4. May influence personality type.
5. Within the groupa set of social norms. They govern interaction.

Typology of large social groups also takes place. There are several classifications.

By the nature of connections within and between large social groups:

1. Objective - individuals are united by bonds that do not depend on their consciousness and will.
2. Subjective-psychological - people consciously unite in such macrogroups.

By lifetime:

1. Long-lived (nations).
2. Temporarily existing (people in the lecture hall).

Organized:

1. Organized (political parties).
2. Disorganized (crowd of protesters).

On occurrence:

1. Spawned spontaneously (crowd in the subway).
2. Organized according to plan, in a conscious way (parties, associations).

According to the degree of contact of people within the community:

1. Conditional - groups united by a common feature (gender, profession, etc.). In such communities, there are no internal contacts between individuals.
2. Real big - in such groups there are contacts between people, quite close. But often they are united by some specific goal (rallies, meetings).

Depending on the degree of difficulty of joining a particular community, making a decisionfuture member about entering and leaving the community:

1. Open.
2. Closed.

Social psychology of groups, the typology of groups, with regard to large aggregates, includes a set of certain elements depending on the areas of the psyche: life values, goals and social. attitudes, public consciousness, mentality, public opinion, social customs, stereotypes of behavior, motives of activity, general needs and interests. And much more.

Small social groups

A small social group is a closely interconnected association of people who are united by common activities, have the same goals and interests. It is the presence of direct interaction with each other that is the group-forming factor for this type of community. Such groups are also called contact groups.

Small social groups have the following characteristics:

1. The number of community members is small, usually no more than 15.
2. Close communication between group individuals.
3. Interests, goals, activities - all this is common and joint, what unites the participants of such a community.
4. They are clearly localized in a certain place in space and stable in time.
5. Clear division of labor, functions and group roles between community members, coordination of their activities.
6. They are mentally united by norms of behavior, attitudes, values, life guidelines and principles.
7. Definiteorganization and management structure.
8. From the point of view of individuals not included in this small population - a clear identification of the community.

The typology of small groups in social psychology is not too different from the typology of large ones. Here you need to understand what exactly is the defining feature. Briefly, the typology of social groups can be represented as follows.

Depending on the type of organization (definitions above):

1. Formal.
2. Informal.

According to the nature of the predominant orientation of group activity:

1. Internal - the activity of the community is directed inward, towards its members (children's clubs, psychotherapeutic groups).
2. External - the nature of the activity of the community is directed outward (associations of volunteers, Masonic movements.

The same as the big ones, by the time of existence:

1. Temporary - the association of participants is limited in time (conference participants).
2. Stable - the relative constancy of which is determined by their purpose and long-term goals of functioning (family, students of the same group).

Just like in the big social networks. generalities:

1. Open.
2. Closed.

We examined the typology of groups in social work. For various sociological studies, these classifications and the division within them are used. It concernslarge and small groups. The following are the types of small social communities according to the level of common consciousness and their definitions.

Types and definitions of small social groups

In this case, they are:

• The group is a conglomerate. Its members do not know each other, but they ended up at the same time in the same territory. It can be said that they have not yet realized that the goal of their activities is common and unified.
• Nominal group. This is a collection of people who have come together and received a common name.
• Group - association. These people are united only by a common goal and joint activities. There are no signs of a psychological connection.
• Group - cooperation. A community of people who actively interact with each other. They are connected by the goal - to achieve a certain result in their activities. Distinctive features are group experience and preparedness.
• Group - autonomy. This is a holistic and separate set of people who work to achieve a common goal. For them, satisfaction is important not only with the result, but also with the pleasure of being active within the community.
• Group is a corporation. The same as cooperation, but the difference lies in the presence of organizational and psychological unity. Such a group is characterized by hyperautonomy, isolation, closeness and isolation from other communities.
• Collective. A group with a high level of social development and the principles of high humanism. Team members achieve a common common goal by harmonizing individual, group and publicgoals.
• Gomphoteric ("knocked down") team. The same as the collective, only psycho-physiological compatibility is added to all other signs and qualities. An example is the crew of a spaceship.

Professional social group. Example

Let's consider lawyers as a socio-professional group and a typology of lawyers. What is meant by this?

A lawyer is a person who is knowledgeable in the field of jurisprudence, who has professional knowledge and skills in the field of law and is able to apply them in practice.

Signs of the socio-professional group of lawyers:

1. A lawyer is a person who has a diploma of education in law (qualification - specialist), or actually works in legal practice.
2. Lawyers belong to the intelligentsia. This is an activity where high qualification of a specialist is primary.
3. They have such features as the coincidence of interests, goals and unity of action that the entire socio-professional community of lawyers, as well as individual elements of the professional group, possess.
4. They embody the connection between the state and law.
5. Their work has a special content (interpret legal actions, draft legal documents).

There is an interesting typology of lawyers (names are arbitrary):

1. Enthusiast - skillfully combines the spirit and the letter of the law,strives for excellence.
2. The serviceman is the same enthusiast, but without the desire to change the law and practice.
3. Pragmatist - understands the law, but strives primarily to "pass" the case.
4. Weather vane - may allow deviation from legal grounds under pressure from leaders.
5. Pedant - strictly guided by the letter of the law.
6. Antipedant - guided by the spirit of the law, but allows deviation from its letter.
7. Bureaucrat - allegedly "does not notice" the letter of the law, does everything for his own convenience and peace of mind.
8. Careerist - can give up the letter of the law for the sake of promotion;
9. Cynic - shows contempt for the spirit and letter of the law, violates the norms of morality and professional ethics in a rude manner.
10. False lawyer - uses his official position, can use the law for personal purposes.

We analyzed the social group (concept, types, typology) of lawyers. You can also take as an example completely different communities of people.

Leadership in social groups

In any association (including social ones) there is always an explicit or implicit leader. The following describes the concept and typology of leadership in a social group.

Let's understand the term. The leader is a member of the community, nominated on the basis of the interaction of individuals within the group. He has a higher level of involvement, participation, decision-making within a certain achievedtasks.

Let's briefly describe leadership typologies.

According to the content of leadership activities:

1. Business leadership (solves organizational problems, has business authority).
2. Emotional leadership (creates trust, inspires confidence, creates an atmosphere of psychological comfort).
3. "Information" leadership (erudite, has a high level of knowledge, can help in finding the right information).

By executable roles:

1. Organizer (group integration).
2. Initiator (promotion of new ideas and solutions).
3. Emotional mood generator (shapes the mood of the group).
4. Standard (example, idol).
5. Master (specialist in a certain type of activity).
6. Erudite (possessor of extensive knowledge).

These are the main classifications. There are several more. The main thing is that the social group must go through the following stages of leader formation: 1) identification; 2) its development; 3) taking into account the interests of the group; 4) informal leadership; 5) elimination of the destructive leader.

Conclusion

The article discusses various typologies of social groups. Why is it so important to have an idea about them, to be able to distinguish if a person is not a sociologist? We are all parts of society, and each of us belongs to one social group or another. Typologies are diverse, each type has its own characteristics, signs,membership conditions. It is interesting and touches all of us.