Lectures of Sociology

1. TOPIC:
SOCIAL
GROUP
Dr. Zahid Zulfiqar Rana
Visiting Lecturer Sociology, (BZU) Multan
ranazahidzulfiqar@gmail.com

2. “Group is a collection of two or more
individuals who are switched on for a longer
time on the basis of common expectations and
mutual relationship”(F. E. MERILL ).
“Whenever two or more individuals come
together and influence one another, they
may be said to constitute a group”
(Ogburna & Nimkoff).

3. Collection of Individuals
Interaction among Members
Mutual Awareness
We-feeling
Group Unity and Solidarity
Common Interests
Similar Behavior
Group Norms
Groups are Dynamic
Stability
Influence on Personality

4. Primary
group
Secondary
group
In-group
Out-group
Formal
group
Informal
group
Vertical
group
Horizontal
group
Quasi-social
group

5. Charles
Horton
Cooley (1864-
1929)
introduced
the Primary
Group.
According to
Charles Horton
Cooley “Primary
group is a small
social group whose
members sharing
personal and
lasting
relationships”.

6. Mutual intimacy
Personal relationship
Small size
Unity
Security
Physical proximity
Control over members
Individual interest is subordinate to group interest
Cooperation
Similar background
Personality development

7. MACLEVER used
the term of
Secondary group
in his Book
“Society”.
Secondary
groups can be
roughly
defined as the
opposite of
everything
already said
about primary
group (Kingsly
Davis).
The groups
which provide
experience of
lacking in
intimacy are
called
secondary
group
(Ogburn).

8. LIMITED OBJECTIVES
FORMAL AND IMPERSOANL RELATIONS
OPTION OF MEMBERSHIP
CO-STATUS RELATIONSHIP
DIVISION OF LABOUR
LARGE IN SIZE
GOAL ORIENTED
EFFICIENCY
WIDER OPPORTUNITY
ACTIVE AND INACTIVE MEMBERS

9. Primary group has
personal orientation
Usually long term
Broad, families, circles
of friends
Secondary group is
Goal oriented
Variable, often short
term
Co-workers, political
organization

10. American Sociologist
W. G. Sumner in his
book “Folkways” has
classified group into
In-group Out-group

11. The group in
which the
individual
identifies
oneself is
called in-group
(Sumner).
Is a social
group toward
which a
member feels
respect and
loyalty.

12. Feelings of
brotherhood
Ethnocentric
in nature
Creates
Solidarity
Have Common
feelings
Have a Love
sympathy and
fellow-feeling

13. Out- group a social group toward
which a person feels a sense of
competition or opposition.
The Group in which the individual
does not identify himself is called
as out group (Sumner).

14. Feelings of hate for the members of
out-group
Lack of ethnocentrism
Lacking the solidarity among members
Individual feelings are dominant
Lack of love and affection

15. It is a group which has formal organization,
role and status, people have their entrance
which is according to certain rules and
regulations and there is a written code of
conduct for the group to function. Members
are given punishment for violating the rules
and regulations of the norms of the group.
All the members have roles to play.

16. Fixed rules and
regulations
Written rules
Fixed objectives
People have
formal relations

17. UTILITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS: large businesses, for
example generate profits for their owners and income for
their employees.
NORMATIVE ORGANIZATIONS: people join normative
organizations not for income but to pursue some goal they think is
morally worthwhile. Sometimes called voluntary associations, they
include community service groups, such as the Lions Club, Al
Khidmat foundation, Youth Organization etc.
COERCIVE ORGANIZATIONS: Membership in coercive
organization is involuntary. People are forced to join these
organizations as a form of punishment (prisons) or
treatment (some psychiatric hospitals).

18. Formal organization date back thousand of
years. Elites who controlled early empires relied
on government officials to collect taxes,
undertake military campaigns, and build
monumental structures, from the Great Wall of
China to pyramids of Egypt.
This is the example of traditional formal
organization. Max Weber, introduced the
modern formal organization in the name
of Bureaucracy.

19. Bureaucracy is a formal
organization dominated by
impersonal relationship. The
workers are hired on the basis of
their skills and qualification. There
is a clear chain of command. All
members are bound to follow the
written instructions.

20. Specialization
HIERARCHY OF
POSITIONS
RULES AND
REGULATIONS
TECHNICAL
COMPETENCE
IMPERSONALITY
FORMAL, WRITEN
COMMUNICATIONS

21. It is that type of group which has
no organization and no rules and
regulations. Members are
scattered and become united
when needed. for example,
gupshup, people walking in
bazar etc.

22. INFORMAL GROUP HAS A LOOSE
DISCIPLINE AND DUTIES ARE NOT FIXED.
NO STANDARD OF ELIGIBILITY FOR
MEMBERS OF INFORMAL GROUP.
THERE ARE NO FIXED OBJECTIVES
INFORMAL RELATIONS

23. D. Miller divided
groups in to
Vertical
group
Horizontal
groups.

24. The vertical groups are larger,
inclusive groups such a nations,
religious organizations and political
parties. The horizontal groups are
small divisions consisting mainly, of
members from , social class, a group of
professionals such as doctors, teachers
and engineers.

25. The horizontal group
includes persons of the same
status. A nation, for
instance, is a vertical group,
which a class represents
horizontal grouping.

26. Quasi-groups are those kinds of social
grouping which lack the essential features of
social groups. In this kind of grouping, there
may be no functional integration among
members. There is little or no structured and
patterned social relationships. This kind of
social interactions is common in Urban
heterogeneous settings. They characterize
individualistic societies. Such groups lack
meaningful social structures and social
interaction.