Humans are social beings who have organized into groups and societies throughout history in order to bond, survive, and fulfill various needs. Groups provide a sense of belonging, socialization, and transmission of culture. While not all collections of individuals form true social groups, authentic groups are characterized by regular interaction and communication among members who share common experiences, identities, and interests. Societies contain various types of groups that serve different purposes, from intimate primary groups to large, impersonal organizations. Group membership and reference groups help shape individuals' identities and behaviors.

1. Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

2. “We are lonesome animals. We spend all
our life trying to be less lonesome.”
- John Steinbeck

3.  Humans always move and live in groups
since the ancient times.
 Humans bond and survive together

4. Question:
•What drives us to organize society?
a. due to our instinct to survive
b. it is our nature to build & destroy
cities, civilizations, cultures & then
build again

5. QUESTION
Why is there a need for social group? Do we really
depend on it?

6. The answer is YES
• Everyone wants a sense of belonging
• Man is by nature a social being and he interacts with others…
(Aristotle)
• As members, we think of ourselves as a special “WE”

7. • Smaller units that compose a society
• It is a unit of interacting personalities with an
interdependence of roles and statuses existing
between members
GROUPS

8. Importance of Groups
(Salcedo 2002)
1. The group is a transmitter of culture.
2. The group is a means of social control.
3. The group socializes the individual.
4. The group is the source of ideas.
5. The group trains the individual in communications.

9. • Is two or more people who identify with and interact with one
another (Macionis, 2012).
• It is where human beings come together in couples, families,
circles of friends, churches, clubs, businesses, neighborhoods and
large organizations
• Whatever the form, it is made up of people with shared
experiences, loyalties and interests
• A collection of people who have something in common and who
believe that what they have in common is significant.
SOCIAL GROUPS

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOCIAL GROUP
1. Group members interact on a fairly regular basis through
communication.
2. Members should develop a structure where each member
assumes a specific status and adopts a particular role.
3. Certain orderly procedures and values are agreed upon.
4. The members of the group feel a sense of identity.

11. However, NOT EVERY COLLECTION OF
INDIVIDUALS FORM A GROUP
1. SOCIAL CATEGORY (people with a status in common )
shared social characteristic, like gender, race, ethnicity,
nationality, age, class, etc.
e.g.
EXAMPLES:
women, homeowners, soldiers, skilled workers,
professionals, millionaires, college graduates, and
Roman Catholics

12. However, NOT EVERY COLLECTION OF
INDIVIDUALS FORM A GROUP
2. CROWD
loosely formed collection of people in one place
EXAMPLES:
(e.g. students sitting in a large stadium with interaction at a
limited extent).

14. However, NOT EVERY COLLECTION OF
INDIVIDUALS FORMS A GROUP
3. SOCIAL AGGREGATE
• a collection of people who are in the same place at the same
time, but who otherwise do not necessarily have anything in
common, and who may not interact with each other.
EXAMPLES:
•When we walk down a crowded sidewalk, eat in
restaurant,
•Ride public transit with other passengers, and shop in
stores

15. 1. Motivational base shared by individual
2. Size of group
3. Type of group goals
4. Kind of group structure

16. Who
leads the
group?
A LEADER: someone who influences
other people in the group.
1.Instrumental leader: focused on a
group’s goal, giving orders and
making plans in order to achieve
those goals.
2.Expressive leader: looking to
increase harmony and minimize
conflict within the group.

17. Leadership
Styles
1. Authoritarian leaders: lead by giving
orders and setting down rules which
they expect the group to follow.
2. Democratic leaders: lead by trying
to reach a consensus instead of
issuing orders. They consider all
viewpoints to try and reach a
decision.
3. Laissez-faire leaders: they are
extremely permissive, and mostly
leave the group to function on its
own.

18. GROUPS WITHIN SOCIETY

20. Small, intimate and less specialized group, bound by a very
strong sense of belonging.
It is joined by primary relationships where people:
 spend a great deal of time together
 engage in a wide range of activities
 they feel that they know one another pretty
well.

21. A large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a
specific goal or activity.
Examples:
 Industrial Workers; business associates, Faculty
Staff, Company Employees
Involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of
one another.

22. It exist for only a short time, beginning and ending without
particular significance
Other Examples:
 Students enrolled in the same course at a
university who may not see one another after the
semester ends
Involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of
one another.

25. A member can
identify him/herself
within that group &
which individuals feel
at home.

26.  ethnicity, race, faith and ideology.
 common interests, pastime or hobbies like playing
chess, cooking, backpacking, gardening etc.
 very specific: being students of one school, citizens of a
country, employees of a company etc.

27. A social unit to which
individuals do not
belong due to
differences in social
categories and with
which they do not
identify.

28.  The Lasallians and Ateneans.
 I play chess intensely that I do
not hang-out with basketball
players.

29. The group is used to
determine the reference
point in so far as the
kind of expected
behavior or norm one
should act or manifest.

30.  A person can have multiple reference groups.
 It can be used as basis for what someone aspires to
be- role model.
 Has great influence in the way we create our own
identities, the groups we form & aspire us to be
what we want.

31. a series or web of social ties involving people or groups of
individuals connected to each other.
EXAMPLES:
Connected through friendship, family, business
relationship, academic institutions, religious
organizations.