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While all groups serve different functions, they do not all influence individuals in the same way. Some groups provide deep personal bonds, while others exist primarily for practical purposes. Sociologists classify groups into different types to better understand how they shape social identity and interactions.
Primary Groups and Secondary Groups
A person can belong to several groups at once, but not all of those groups will be of the same importance or have the same effect or role in his or her life.
A primary group offers a great deal of intimacy. Members of a primary group meet the following criteria:
- Meet frequently on a face-to-face basis.
- Have a sense of identity or belonging that lasts a long time.
- Share little task orientation.
- Have emotional intimacy.
A secondary group is more formal and less personal. Members of a secondary group meet the following criteria:
- Do not meet frequently, or they meet only for short periods of time.
- Share a sense of identity or belonging only until the group ends.
- Are task-oriented.
- Feel little emotional intimacy.
Example: A family is an example of a primary group, and an after-school job in a fast-food restaurant is an example of a secondary group.
|
|
Family (Primary Group) |
After-School Job (Secondary Group) |
|
Frequency of Meeting |
Every day for years or decades |
Several hours a week, probably less or none if the person finds a different job |
|
Duration of Sense of Identity |
A lifetime, despite changes in composition (moving out, divorce, remarriage, or death) |
Usually disappears when not at place of work |
|
Task Orientation |
None. A person belongs to a family simply by virtue of existence. |
A person is there to accomplish a specific task and do their job. |
|
Emotional Intimacy |
Strong. Family members see each other at their best and worst and are privy to one another’s feelings. |
It is inappropriate to show strong emotion or to discuss personal problems. Relationships are generally impersonal and work-related. |
In-Groups and Out-Groups
An in-group is a group to which we belong and to which we feel loyalty. An out-group is a group to which we do not belong and to which we feel no loyalty.
We judge people to be members of our group based on factors including religion, race, nationality, job category, and level of education. When we meet a person for the first time, we often size them up to see if they are “one of us.” One person’s perception of another to be a member of the same group can foment feelings of loyalty or shared identity. Individuals who meet by chance and happen to share something in common, such as their hometown or alma mater, often feel an immediate kinship.
Example: An example of in-groups and out-groups can be seen in sports. Fans of a particular sports team often form a strong in-group identity based on shared loyalty and pride in their chosen team. Rival fans are often perceived as an out-group. This dynamic can sometimes lead to playful competition but may also escalate into heated rivalries, where members of each group stereotype or criticize each other. These rivalries highlight how group identity creates a sense of belonging within the in-group while reinforcing division with the out-group, often based on nothing more than team affiliation.
Sometimes we perceive a person to be a member of an out-group and interpret his or her behaviors very differently from our own. Men may think of another man who strives to succeed professionally as being “ambitious,” but they might label a woman who exhibits the same behaviors as being “pushy.” The members of a particular religious background might consider themselves “secure” in their beliefs but call members of another religion “self-righteous” for demonstrating similar levels of certainty in their respective religions. These examples demonstrate how belonging to an in-group can shape how we evaluate and apply labels to the behaviors and attitudes of perceived out-groups.
Identifying a group as an out-group can serve several functions. By pointing out a group that we are not part of, we increase our commitment to the groups of which we are members. If we claim that a particular out-group espouses beliefs that we disavow, we confirm our ideological compatibility with the groups to which we belong. By claiming that an out-group is bad, we are implying that, in comparison, our group is good.
Reference Groups
The group to which we compare ourselves for purposes of self-evaluation is called a reference group.
Example: Halle graduates from college and lands a job as a marketing assistant in a large corporation. To find out whether the proposed salary is fair, she can compare the offer against those of the other members of her graduating class or against the salaries of marketing assistants at similar corporations nationwide. Her reference groups would be her graduating class and all marketing assistants, respectively.
Self-evaluation is largely a social phenomenon; in that we look for others with whom to compare ourselves. In our society, people compare themselves to others in similar age groups and with similar educational levels to determine how successful they are materially. If a person who rents an apartment sees that others of the same age and education own their own homes, his or her self-evaluation will be negative. On the other hand, if a person owns a home and a vacation home while his or her peers own only one home, his or her self-evaluation will be positive.
Primary or secondary groups can serve as a reference group. If we feel stymied in our career progress, we look to our best friends to see how they are doing and then evaluate ourselves in comparison to them. If we think that we should be paid more, we can look to other members of our company and see how much they are making.
A general category can also serve as a reference group. If a person worries about approaching thirty without being married, he or she can look at a general cross-section of thirty-year-olds to see whether the majority of them are married and adjust the self-assessment accordingly. People often use celebrities as reference groups. If a woman wants to know whether she’s slim enough and uses a supermodel as a reference, the answer will probably be no. If she compares herself to a more full-figured woman, the answer might be yes. A young man who aspires to a career in sports will compare his career progress to that of his favorite player and judge himself by how closely his career mirrors that of his idol.
