Primary and secondary social groups. The family is the primary social group. Other types of primary social groups: common features and characteristics Large structured secondary group formed to achieve

Social institutions.

Most of us start our lives in an organization - in a maternity hospital. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, nurses and others work there; they all care about our health. Leaving the maternity hospital, we find ourselves in other organizations - a nursery, Kindergarten, elementary and secondary school - each of them has a certain structure and order of work. After leaving school, we again cannot avoid organizations. As adults, we go to work in one of them. We deal with organizations such as financial administration, army, police, courts, banks, shops, etc. After retirement, we will have to face social security and health care organizations; it is possible that we will end up in a hospital or even in a nursing home. Even when a person dies, organizations do not leave him to his fate. It is handled by funeral homes, banks, law firms, tax agencies, and courts where heirs settle the affairs of the deceased.

Organizations are relatively recent. In less developed societies, health care, education, care for the elderly, etc. carried out in the family or family members.

But in industrialized countries, life becomes much more complicated and there is a need to create many organizations. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in detail the essence of organizations and their forms.

Between the members of the primary groups (family, group of friends) personal relationships are established, expending many aspects of their individuality. In contrast, secondary groups form to achieve certain goals. Their members play, for example, strictly defined roles, and there is almost no emotional relationship between them. The main type of secondary group is an organization - a large social group formed to achieve certain goals. Department stores, publishing houses, universities, post office, army, etc. - this list can be continued endlessly.

V real life it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between the two entities: the primary group and the formal organization. For example, some groups are similar to organizations in that they exist to achieve specific goals, but are similar in structure to seed groups. These are charismatic groups. They are led by a leader of great charm and great attraction or charisma; members of the group deify the leader and are ready to serve him faithfully. A typical charismatic group is Christ and his disciples.

The essence of a charismatic group is the inconstancy of their organizational structure and dependence on a leader. They do not have an official hierarchy (for example, the positions of vice president or secretary, etc.) that exists as long as the group exists, regardless of its composition at any time. given time. The roles of the members of such groups are determined in accordance with their relationship to the leader. There is no such thing as promotion here - everything depends only on the location of the leader to one or another member of the group. Since personal relationships can be very fluid, group structure is also unstable. Moreover, in charismatic groups there are no stable intra-group norms, in contrast to more structured organizations, whose leaders strengthen their power with the help of established rules and norms.

Since charismatic groups are unstable, they usually persist as long as the leaders have magnetic power. However, since the leaders are not immortal, the rules are set according to which their successors are chosen. Sooner or later, these followers are convinced that in order to keep the group on long time faith alone is not enough. It also matters how the members of the group make a living. Often a group solves this problem by taxing its members or by selling a product. In the course of the formation of certain rules, methods and traditions, a hierarchy of officials is formed. Thus, a much more orderly organization is formed.

Max Weber called this process the routinization of charisma. It happens in a lot of groups. For example, Ross (1980) examined three organizations that were formed to help the population of Midwestern cities hit by hurricanes. Although these three groups differed in many respects, it is striking that they went through the same stages before becoming organizations. At the "crystallization" stage, each group comprehended the needs of society and made decisions about measures to meet them. Then there was a transition to the stage of "recognition", when the leaders entered into contact with other organizations to discuss their goals and joint efforts; thus, they received recognition from others. This led to the third stage, called "institutionalization", when activities began to be carried out in a conventional way. By this time, stable forms of interaction are established between members of the group and with representatives of other organizations. It is interesting to note that as a result of this process, each group became more ordered; fewer people were needed to achieve its goals,

so the group got smaller.

When discussing the specifics of moving from group to organizational structure, you may have thought that there are many forms of organization. If so, then you were right. One such form is the voluntary association, which resembles an informal group; its opposite is total organization.

Voluntary associations are common throughout the world. These include religious groups such as the World Zionist Convention or the Women's Christian Union, professional societies such as the American Sociological Association and the American Planning Institute, and associations whose members are associated common hobbies, such as the Kennel Club or the Society for the Protection and Encouragement of Vocal Quartets Among Barbers of America.

A voluntary association has three main features:

1. it was formed to protect the common interests of its members;

2. membership is voluntary - it does not provide for the presentation of requirements for certain people (which is observed during conscription for military service) and it is not assigned from birth (such as citizenship). As a result, the leaders have relatively little influence on the members of the voluntary association, who have the opportunity to leave the organization if they are not satisfied with the activities of the leaders;

3. This type of organization is not affiliated with local, state, or federal government agencies (Sills, 1968).

Voluntary associations are often created to protect some common interest of its members. Total type institutions are formed to promote the public good, the essence of which is formulated by state, religious and other organizations. Examples of such institutions are prisons, military schools, etc.

The inhabitants of total institutions are isolated from society. Often they are under the supervision of guards. Guards oversee many aspects of their lives, including food, housing, and even personal care. It is not surprising that many regulations are issued to maintain order and the dependence of the inhabitants of these institutions on the guards. As a result, a strong group of guards and a weak group of those who obey them are formed.

Erwin Hoffmann (1961), who coined the term "total institutions", identified several types of such organizations:

1. hospitals, houses and sanatoriums for people who cannot take care of themselves (the blind, the elderly, the poor, the sick);

2. prisons (and concentration camps) intended for people considered dangerous to society;

3. military barracks, naval vessels, closed educational institutions, labor camps and other institutions established for specific purposes;

4. male and nunneries and other retreats where people go away from the world, usually for religious reasons.

Often, isolation from the outside world is enforced on newcomers to a total institution through complex or rigid rituals. This is done to achieve a complete rupture of people with their past and submission to the norms of the institution.

social institutions.

Another type of social systems is formed on the basis of communities, the social ties of which are determined by associations of organizations. Such social ties are called institutional, and social systems are called social institutions. The latter act on behalf of society as a whole. Institutional ties can also be called normative, since their nature and content are established by society in order to meet the needs of its members in certain areas of public life.

Consequently, social institutions perform in society the functions of social management and social control as one of the elements of management. Social control enables society and its systems to enforce normative conditions, the violation of which is detrimental to the social system. The main objects of such control are legal and moral norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. The effect of social control is reduced, on the one hand, to the application of sanctions against behavior that violates social restrictions, on the other hand, to the approval of desirable behavior. The behavior of individuals is conditioned by their needs. These needs can be met different ways, and the choice of means to satisfy them depends on the system of values adopted by a given social community or society as a whole. The adoption of a certain system of values contributes to the identity of the behavior of members of the community. Education and socialization are aimed at conveying to individuals the patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given community.

Social institutions govern the behavior of community members through a system of sanctions and rewards. In social management and control, institutions play a very important role. Their task is not only to coercion. In every society there are institutions that guarantee freedom in certain types of activity - freedom of creativity and innovation, freedom of speech, the right to receive a certain form and amount of income, housing and free medical care, etc. For example, writers and artists have guaranteed freedom creativity, search for new artistic forms; scientists and specialists are obliged to investigate new problems and search for new technical solutions, etc. Social institutions can be characterized in terms of both their external, formal (“material”) structure, and their internal, content.

Outwardly, a social institution looks like a collection of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a specific social function. From the content side, it is a certain system of expediently oriented standards of behavior of certain individuals in specific situations. So, if there is justice as a social institution, it can outwardly be characterized as a set of persons, institutions and material means administering justice, then from a substantive point of view, it is a set of standardized patterns of behavior of eligible persons providing this social function. These standards of conduct are embodied in certain roles characteristic of the justice system (the role of a judge, prosecutor, lawyer, investigator, etc.).

The social institution thus determines the orientation of social activity and social relations through a mutually agreed system of expediently oriented standards of behavior. Their emergence and grouping into a system depend on the content of the tasks solved by the social institution. Each such institution is characterized by the presence of an activity goal, specific functions that ensure its achievement, a set of social positions and roles, as well as a system of sanctions that ensure the promotion of desired and the suppression of deviant behavior.

The most important social institutions are political ones. With their help, political power is established and maintained. Economic institutions provide the process of production and distribution of goods and services. The family is also one of the important social institutions. Its activities (relations between parents, parents and children, methods of education, etc.) are determined by a system of legal and other social norms. Along with these institutions, such socio-cultural institutions as the education system, health care, social security, cultural and educational institutions, etc., are also of significant importance. The institution of religion still plays a significant role in society.

Institutional ties, like other forms of social ties on the basis of which social communities are formed, represent an ordered system, a certain social organization. This is a system of accepted activities of social communities, norms and values that guarantee similar behavior of their members, coordinate and direct people's aspirations in a certain direction, establish ways to meet their needs, resolve conflicts that arise in the process of everyday life, provide a state of balance between the aspirations of various individuals. and groups of a given social community and society as a whole. In the case when this balance begins to fluctuate, one speaks of social disorganization, of the intensive manifestation of undesirable phenomena (for example, such as crimes, alcoholism, aggressive actions, etc.).

Primary called small groups of people who enter into direct and direct interaction, based on the individual characteristics of each. These groups are distinguished by a special emotionality, a kind of intimacy. The family is a prime example of a primary group.

Secondary social group- this is usually a large social group, which is based on the impersonal interaction of people united in it to achieve specific goals. Everyone knows that in any work collective, on a student course, groups are formed on the basis of personal sympathy, community of vital interests, sports, and so on. These latter act as primary groups. The first are secondary groups, for whose members the main thing is to jointly perform specific functions (for example, participation in the production process, study) and achieve certain goals (earning money, higher education).

Social groups according to the method and nature of organization are divided into formal and informal. In formal groups, the rules their organizations, actions and behavior of their members are established, regulated or authorized in an official way. Examples are a production team, a team of school teachers, etc.

informal groups they do not have official regulation, they are formed on the basis of interpersonal relations and on the initiative of the individuals themselves, their common interests, mutual sympathies, etc. Sometimes they are called emotional groups or "interest groups". Examples of informal groups are groups of friends, a jazz music society, and the like.

Special mention should be made of the concept "reference group". This is a real or imaginary, usually small social group, the system of values and norms of which serves as a model, a standard for a particular person. An individual may or may not be a member of such a group, but he checks his behavior against this model, expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction with it. An example of the important role of such a group in explaining the behavior of young people is the situation when a child or a young man begins to behave completely differently from what his parents and school teach him, but the way, for example, action movie heroes behave, who have become an example for him to follow.

In conclusion, we should dwell on quasi-groups, although many sociologists believe that they cannot be recognized as social groups.

Quasigroups have the following distinguishing features:

1) spontaneity of education;

2) instability of relationships;

3) lack of diversity in interactions (this is either only the reception or transmission of information, or only an expression of protest or delight, etc.);

4) short duration of joint actions.

Quasi-groups most often exist for a short time, after which they either completely disintegrate, or, under the influence of the situation, turn into stable social groups. Examples of quasi-groups are: the public, which is a spiritual community; crowd - any short-term gathering of people who have gathered in one place of interest.

Primary and secondary groups

A primary group is a group in which communication is maintained by direct personal contact, the highly emotional involvement of members in the affairs of the group, which leads the members to a high degree of identification with the group. The primary group is characterized by a high degree of solidarity, a deeply developed sense of "we".

G.S. Antipina identifies the following features characteristic of primary groups: "small composition, spatial proximity of their members, immediacy, intimacy of relations, duration of existence, unity of purpose, voluntary entry into the group and informal control over the behavior of members" .

For the first time, the concept of "primary group" was introduced in 1909 by C. Cooley in relation to a family in which stable emotional relationships develop between members. C. Cooley considered the family "primary", because it is the first group, thanks to which the process of socialization of the baby is carried out. He also referred to "primary groups" groups of friends and groups of nearest neighbors [see. about this: 139. S.330-335].

Later this term began to be used by sociologists in the study of any group that had close personal relationships between its members. Primary groups perform, as it were, the role of the primary link between society and the individual. Thanks to them, a person is aware of his belonging to certain social communities and is able to participate in the life of the whole society.

The importance of primary groups is very great, in them, especially during early childhood, the process of primary socialization of the individual takes place. First, the family, and then the primary educational and work collectives, have a huge impact on the position of the individual in society. Primary groups form the personality. In them, the process of socialization of the individual, the development of patterns of behavior, social norms, values and ideals takes place. Each individual finds in the primary group an intimate environment, sympathies and opportunities for the realization of personal interests.

The primary group is the most informal group, since formalization leads to its transformation into a group of another type. For example, if formal ties begin to play an important role in the family, then it breaks up as a primary group and transforms into a formal small group.

C. Cooley noted two main functions of small primary groups:

1. Act as a source of moral norms that a person receives in childhood and is guided by throughout his subsequent life.

2. Act as a means of supporting and stabilizing an adult [see: II. P.40].

The secondary group is a group organized to achieve certain goals, within which there are almost no emotional relationships and in which subject contacts, most often mediated, predominate. Members of this group have an institutionalized system of relations, and their activities are regulated by rules. If the primary group is always focused on the relationship between its members, then the secondary group is always goal-oriented. Secondary groups tend to coincide with large and formal groups that have an institutionalized system of relationships, although small groups can also be secondary.

The main importance in these groups is given not to the personal qualities of the members of the group, but to their ability to perform certain functions. For example, in a factory, the position of engineer, secretary, stenographer, worker can be occupied by any person who has the necessary training for this. The individual features of each of them are indifferent to the plant, the main thing is that they cope with their work, then the plant can function. For a family or group of players (for example, in football) individual characteristics, personal qualities each are unique and mean a lot, and therefore none of them can be simply replaced by another.

Since in the secondary group all roles are already clearly distributed, its members very often know little about each other. Between them, as you know, there is no emotional relationship, which is typical for family members and friends. For example, organizations associated with labor activity, the main will be relations of production. In the secondary groups, not only the roles, but also the methods of communication are already clearly defined in advance. Due to the fact that conducting a personal conversation is not always possible and effective, communication often becomes more formal and is carried out through telephone calls and various written documents.

For example, a school class, a student group, a production team, etc. always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, between which there are more or less often interpersonal contacts. When leading a secondary group, it is imperative to take into account the primary social education.

Theorists point out that over the past two hundred years there has been a weakening of the role of primary groups in society. Sociological studies carried out by Western sociologists over the course of several decades have confirmed that secondary groups currently dominate. But there has also been ample evidence that the basic group is still quite stable and is an important link between the individual and society. Research on seed groups was carried out in several areas: the role of seed groups in industry, during natural disasters, etc. was clarified. The study of people's behavior in different conditions and situations showed that primary groups still play an important role in the structure of the entire social life of society. The reference group, as noted by G.S. Antipina. - "this is a real or imaginary social group, the system of values and norms of which acts as a standard for the individual" .

The discovery of the "reference group" phenomenon belongs to the American social psychologist H.Hyman (Hyman H.H. The psychology of ststys. N.I. 1942). This term was transferred to sociology from social psychology. Psychologists at first understood a “reference group” as a group whose standards of behavior an individual imitates and whose norms and values he learns.

In the course of a series of experiments that G. Hyman conducted on student groups, he found that some members of small groups share the norms of behavior. accepted not in the group to which they belong, but in some other one, to which they are guided, I.e. accept the norms of groups in which they are not really included. G. Hymen called such groups reference groups. In his opinion, it was the "reference group" that helped to clarify the "paradox why some individuals do not assimilate54 the positions of the groups in which they are directly included" [cit. according to: 7. p.260], but they learn the patterns and standards of behavior of other groups, of which they are not members. Therefore, in order to explain the behavior of an individual, it is important to study the group to which the individual “refers” himself, which he takes as a standard and which he “refers to”, and not the one that directly “surrounds” him. Thus, the term itself was born from English verb to refer, i.e. refer to something.

Another American psychologist M. Sherif, whose name is associated with the final approval of the concept of "reference group" in American sociology, considering small groups that influence the behavior of an individual, divided them into two types: membership groups (of which the individual is a member) and non-membership groups, or actually reference groups (of which the individual is not a member, but with the values and norms of which he correlates his behavior) [see: II. S.56-57]. In this case, the concepts of reference and member groups were already considered as opposites.

Later, other researchers (R. Merton, T. Newcomb) extended the concept of "reference group" to all associations that acted as a standard for an individual in assessing his own social position, actions, views, etc. In this regard, both the group of which the individual was already a member, and the group of which he would like to be or was a member began to act as a reference group.

The "referent group" for an individual, J. Szczepanski points out, is such a group with which he voluntarily identifies himself, i.e. "its models and rules, its ideals become the ideals of the individual, and the role imposed by the group is performed devotedly, with the deepest conviction" .

Thus, there are currently two uses of the term "reference group" in the literature. In the first case, it refers to the group opposed to the membership group. In the second case, a group arising within a membership group, i.e. a circle of persons selected from the composition of a real group as a "significant social circle" for the individual. The norms adopted by the group become personally acceptable to the individual only when they are accepted by this circle of people [see: 9. p.197],

Asch Conformity Experiments), published in 1951, was a series of studies that impressively demonstrated the power of conformity in groups.

In experiments led by Solomon Ash, students were asked to participate in eye tests. In fact, in most of the experiments, all but one of the participants were decoys, and the study was to test the response of one student to the behavior of the majority.

Participants (real test subjects and decoys) were seated in the audience. The task of the students was to announce aloud their opinion on the length of several lines in a series of displays. They were asked which line was longer than the others, and so on. The decoys gave the same, obviously wrong answer.

When the test subjects answered correctly, many of them experienced extreme discomfort. At the same time, 75% of the subjects obeyed the fundamentally erroneous representation of the majority on at least one issue. The total proportion of erroneous answers was 37%; in the control group, only one person out of 35 gave one erroneous answer. When the "conspirators" were not unanimous in their judgment, the subjects were much more likely to disagree with the majority. When there were two independent subjects, or when one of the dummy participants was given the task of giving the correct answers, the error fell by more than four times. When one of the dummy gave incorrect answers, but also not coinciding with the main one, the error was also reduced: up to 9-12%, depending on the radicalism of the “third opinion”.

3.3.4.2. Primary and secondary groups

G.S. Antipina identifies the following features characteristic of primary groups: “small composition, spatial proximity of their members, immediacy, intimacy of relations, duration of existence, unity of purpose, voluntary entry into the group and informal control over the behavior of members” .

For the first time, the concept of "primary group" was introduced in 1909 by C. Cooley in relation to a family in which stable emotional relationships develop between members. C. Cooley considered the family to be “primary”, because it is the first group, thanks to which the process of socialization of the baby is carried out. He also referred to "primary groups" as groups of friends and groups of nearest neighbors [see. about this: 139. S.330-335].

Later, this term was used by sociologists in the study of any group that had close personal relationships between its members. Primary groups perform, as it were, the role of the primary link between society and the individual. Thanks to them, a person is aware of his belonging to certain social communities and is able to participate in the life of the whole society.

The importance of primary groups is very great, in them, especially during early childhood, the process of primary socialization of the individual takes place. First, the family, and then the primary educational and work collectives, have a huge impact on the position of the individual in society. Primary groups form the personality. They are the process of socialization of the individual, the development of patterns of behavior, social norms, values and ideals. Each individual finds in the primary group an intimate environment, sympathies and opportunities for the realization of personal interests.

The primary group is most often an informal group, since formalization leads to its transformation into a group of a different type. For example, if formal ties begin to play an important role in the family, then it breaks up as a primary group and transforms into a formal small group.

C. Cooley noted two main functions of small primary groups:

1. Act as a source of moral norms that a person receives in childhood and is guided by throughout his subsequent life.

2. Act as a means of supporting and stabilizing an adult [see: II. P.40].

The main importance in these groups is given not to the personal qualities of the members of the group, but to their ability to perform certain functions. For example, in a factory, the position of engineer, secretary, stenographer, worker can be occupied by any person who has the necessary training for this. The individual features of each of them are indifferent to the plant, the main thing is that they cope with their work, then the plant can function. For a family or a group of players (for example, in football), the individual characteristics, personal qualities of each are unique and mean a lot, and therefore none of them can be simply replaced by another.

Since in the secondary group all roles are already clearly distributed, its members very often know little about each other. Between them, as you know, there is no emotional relationship, which is typical for family members and friends. For example, in organizations associated with labor activity, the main ones will be industrial relations. In the secondary groups, not only the roles, but also the methods of communication are already clearly defined in advance. Due to the fact that conducting a personal conversation is not always possible and effective, communication often becomes more formal and is carried out through telephone calls and various written documents.

Theorists point out that over the past two hundred years there has been a weakening of the role of primary groups in society. Sociological studies carried out by Western sociologists over the course of several decades have confirmed that secondary groups currently dominate. But there has also been ample evidence that the basic group is still quite stable and is an important link between the individual and society. Research on seed groups was carried out in several areas: the role of seed groups in industry, during natural disasters, etc. was clarified. The study of people's behavior in different conditions and situations has shown that primary groups still play an important role in the structure of the entire social life of society (see: 225. P. 150-154].

According With These criteria distinguish two types of groups: primary and secondary. Primary group– it is two or more individuals who have direct, personal, close relationships with each other. Expressive connections prevail in primary groups; we treat our friends, family members, lovers as an end in themselves, loving them for who they are. A secondary group is two or more individuals who are engaged in an impersonal relationship and come together to achieve some specific practical goal. . In the secondary groups, the instrumental type of connections prevails; here individuals are considered as means to an end, and not as an end in itself of mutual communication. An example is our relationship with a salesperson in a store or with a cashier at a service station. Sometimes the relationships of the primary group follow from the relationships of the secondary group. Such cases are not uncommon. Close relationships often arise between colleagues, because they are united by common problems, successes, jokes, gossip.

The difference in relationships between individuals is most clearly seen in primary and secondary groups. Under primary groups are understood as such groups in which social contacts give an intimate and personal character to intra-group interactions. In groups such as a family or a group of friends, its members tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed. They are interested in each other primarily as individuals, have common hopes and feelings, and fully satisfy their needs for communication. In secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Friendly personal contacts with other members are not required here, but all contacts are functional, as required by social roles. For example, the relationship between a leader and subordinates is impersonal and does not depend on friendly relations between them. The secondary group may be a labor union or some association, club, team. But the secondary group can also be considered two individuals trading in the bazaar. In some cases, such a group exists to achieve specific goals, including certain needs of members of this group as individuals.

The terms "primary" and "secondary" groups characterize the types of group relationships better than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve the achievement of objective goals, for example, in production, but it differs more in the quality of human relationships, the emotional satisfaction of its members, than in the efficiency of the production of products or clothing.

Secondary the group can function in conditions of friendly relations, but the main principle of its existence is the performance of specific functions.

Thus, the primary group is always oriented towards the relationships between its members, while the secondary is goal oriented.

The term “primary” is used to refer to problems or issues that are considered important and urgently needed. Undoubtedly, this definition is suitable for basic groups, since they form the basis of the relationship between people in society. First, primary groups play a decisive role in the process of socialization of the individual. Within these primary groups, infants and young children learn the fundamentals of the society in which they were born and live. Such groups are a kind of training grounds on which we acquire the norms and principles necessary in further social life. Sociologists view seed groups as bridges connecting individuals to society as a whole, since seed groups transmit and interpret the cultural patterns of society and contribute to the development in the individual of a sense of community, so necessary for social solidarity.

Second, seed groups are fundamental because they provide the environment in which most of our personal needs are met. Within these groups, we experience feelings such as understanding, love, security, and a sense of well-being in general. Not surprisingly, the strength of primary group bonds has an impact on group functioning.

Third, seed groups are fundamental because they are powerful tools of social control. Members of these groups hold and distribute many of the vital goods that give meaning to our lives. When rewards do not achieve their purpose, members of primary groups are often able to achieve obedience by censuring or threatening to ostracize those who deviate from accepted norms.

More importantly, seed groups define social reality by "organizing" our experience. Offering definitions for various situations, they seek from the members of the group behavior corresponding to the ideas developed in the group. Consequently, the primary groups perform the role of bearers of social norms and at the same time their conductors.

Secondary groups almost always contain a number of primary groups. A sports team, a production team, a school or student group is always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, into those with interpersonal contacts more or less frequent. When managing a secondary group, as a rule, primary social formations are taken into account, especially when performing single tasks associated with the interaction of a small number of group members.

Internal and external groups. Each individual singles out a certain set of groups to which he belongs, and defines them as "mine". It can be "my family", "my professional group", "my company", "my class". Such groups will be considered internal groups, that is, those to which he feels himself to belong and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the group as "we". Other groups to which the individual does not belong - other families, other groups of friends, other professional groups, other religious groups - will be for him outside groups, for which he selects the symbolic meanings "not us", "others".

In the least developed, primitive societies, people live in small groups, isolated from each other and representing clans of relatives. Kinship relationships in most cases determine the nature of ingroups and outgroups in these societies. When two strangers meet, the first thing they do is look for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the in-group. If kinship ties are not found, then in many societies of this type people feel hostile towards each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

V modern society relations between its members are built on many types of ties besides kinship, but the feeling of an inner group, the search for its members among other people, remains very important for each person. When an individual enters an environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out if there are among them those who make up his social class or a layer that adheres to his political views and interests.

Obviously, the hallmark of people belonging to an ingroup should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things, and have some unanimity about the spheres of activity and goals of life. Members of the outgroup may have many traits and characteristics common to all groups in a given society, they may share many feelings and aspirations common to all, but they always have certain particular traits and characteristics, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously and involuntarily mark these traits, dividing previously unfamiliar people into “we” and “others”

The term "reference group", first introduced into circulation by the social psychologist Muzafar Sherif in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which the individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, opinions, values and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. . The boy, playing the guitar or playing sports, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee in an organization, seeking to make a career, focuses on the behavior of top management. It can also be seen that ambitious people who have unexpectedly received a lot of money tend to imitate in dress and manners the representatives of the upper classes. Sometimes the reference group and the internal group may coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager is guided by his company to a greater extent than by the opinion of teachers. At the same time, an external group can also be a reference group, the examples above illustrate this.

There are normative and comparative referential functions of the group. Normative function of the reference group manifested in the fact that this group is the source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wanting to become an adult sooner, tries to follow the norms and value orientations accepted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to another country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as quickly as possible so as not to be a "black sheep". Comparative function It manifests itself in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. C. Cooley noted that if a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects individual reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms a self-image based on the assessments of these groups.

An analysis of the social structure of society requires that the unit under study be an elementary particle of society, concentrating in itself all types of social ties. As such a unit of analysis, the so-called small group was chosen, which has become a permanent necessary attribute of all types of sociological research. However, only in the 1960s XX Art. a view arose and began to develop of small groups as real elementary particles of the social structure.

Small groups are only those groups in which individuals have personal contacts each with each. Imagine a production team where everyone knows each other and communicates with each other in the course of work - this is a small group. On the other hand, the workshop team, where workers do not have constant personal contact, is a large group. About students in the same class who have personal contact with each other, we can say that this is a small group, and about all students of the school - a large group.

small group name a small number of people who know each other well and constantly interact with each other

Example: sports team, school class, nuclear family, youth party, production team

The small group is also called primary, contact, informal. The term "small group" is more common than "primary group". The following are known small group definitions

J. Homans: a small group is a certain number of people interacting with each other for a certain time and small enough to be able to contact each other without intermediaries

R. Bales: a small group is a certain number of people actively interacting with each other during more than one face-to-face meeting, so that everyone gets a certain idea of \u200b\u200ball the others, sufficient to distinguish each person personally, respond to him or during a meeting , or later, remembering it

The main features of a small group:

1. Limited number of group members. The upper limit is 20 people, the lower one is 2. If the group exceeds the "critical mass", then it breaks up into subgroups, cliques, factions. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer people.

2. composition stability. A small group, unlike a large one, rests on the individual uniqueness and indispensability of the participants.

3. Internal structure. It includes a system of informal roles and statuses, a mechanism of social control, sanctions, norms and rules of conduct.

4. The number of links increases exponentially if the number of members increases arithmetic. In a group of three people, only four relationships are possible, in a group of four - 11, and in a group of 7 - 120 relationships.

5. The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction in it. The larger the group, the more often the relationship loses its personal character, formalizes and ceases to satisfy the members of the group. In a group of 5 people, its members get more personal satisfaction than in a group of 7. A group of 5-7 people is considered optimal. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer individuals.

6. The size of the group depends on the nature of the group's activities. Financial committees of large banks, responsible for specific actions, usually consist of 6-7 people, and parliamentary committees, engaged in theoretical discussion of issues, include 14-15 people.

7. Belonging to a group is motivated by the hope of finding in it the satisfaction of personal needs. A small group, unlike a large one, satisfies the greatest number of vital human needs. If the amount of satisfaction received in the group falls below a certain level, the individual leaves it.

8. Interaction in a group is stable only when it is accompanied by mutual reinforcement of the people participating in it. The greater the individual contribution to the group's success, the more motivated others are to do the same. If one ceases to make the necessary contribution to meeting the needs of others, then he is expelled from the group.

SMALL GROUP FORMS

A small group takes many forms up to very complex, branched and multi-tiered formations. However, there are only two initial forms - the dyad and the triad.

A dyad consists of two people. For example, couples in love. They constantly meet, spend leisure time together, exchange signs of attention. They form stable interpersonal relationships based primarily on feelings - love, hatred, goodwill, coldness, jealousy, pride

The emotional attachment of lovers makes them take care of each other. Giving his love, the partner hopes that in return he will receive no less reciprocal feeling.

In this way, initial law of interpersonal relations in a dyad- exchange equivalence and reciprocity. In large social groups, say, in a manufacturing organization or a bank, such a law may not be observed: the boss demands and takes more from the subordinate than he gives in return

Triad - active interaction of three people. When in a conflict two oppose one, the latter is already faced with the opinion of the majority. In a dyad, the opinion of one person can be considered both false and true in equal measure. Only in the triad does a numerical majority appear for the first time. And although it consists of only two people, the point is not in the quantitative, but in the qualitative side. In the triad, the phenomenon of the majority is born, and with it, a social relationship, a social principle, is truly born.

Dyad- extremely fragile association. Strong mutual feelings and affection instantly turn into their opposite. A love couple breaks up with the departure of one of the partners or cooling of feelings

The triad is more stable. It has less intimacy and emotion, but a better division of labor More complex division of labor gives more independence to individuals. Two unite against one in solving some issues and change the composition of the coalition in solving others. In a triad, everyone alternates roles and as a result no one dominates.

The social group is characterized regularity: the number of possible combinations and roles grows much faster than the size of the group expands.

The structure of connections and relationships in a small group is studied by the sociogram method

The relationships between group members can be schematically represented in the form of a sociogram, which indicates who is interacting with whom and who is actually the leader of the group.

Imagine a working group in an enterprise where you need to conduct a survey. Everyone had to speak out with whom exactly he prefers to work together, spend leisure time, with whom he would like to go on a date, etc. Mutual choices are applied to the drawing: each type of connection is a special line shape.

Note. Solid arrow - leisure, wavy - date, corner - work.

It follows from the sociogram that Ivan is the leader of this group (the maximum number of shooters, while Sasha and Kolya are outsiders.

Leader- a member of the group who enjoys the greatest sympathy and makes decisions in the most important situations (he has the greatest authority and power). He is promoted due to his personal qualities.

If there is only one leader in a small group, then there may be several outsiders.

When there is more than one leader, the group splits into subgroups. They are called clicks.

Although there is only one leader in the group, There may be several authorities. The leader relies on them, imposing his decisions on the group. They form public opinion groups and form its core. If, for example, you need to have a party or go on a hike, then the core acts as an organizer.

So, the leader is the focus of group processes. Members of the group seem to delegate (by default) to him the power and the right to make decisions in the interests of the entire group. And they do it voluntarily.

Leadership is a relationship of dominance and subordination within a small group.

Small groups tend to have two types of leaders. One type of leader, the “production specialist,” is concerned with evaluating current tasks and organizing actions to accomplish them. The second is a “specialist psychologist” who is good at dealing with interpersonal problems, relieves tension between people and helps to increase the spirit of solidarity in the group. The first type of leadership is instrumental, aimed at achieving group goals; the second is expressive, focused on creating an atmosphere of harmony and solidarity in the group. In some cases, one person assumes both of these roles, but usually each of the roles is performed by a separate leader. No role can necessarily be seen as more important than the other; the relative importance of each role is dictated by the particular situation.

A small group can be either primary or secondary, depending on what type of relationship exists between its members. As for the large group, it can only be secondary. Numerous studies of small groups conducted by J. Homans in 1950. and R. Mills in 1967, showed, in particular, that small groups differ from large ones not only in size, but also in qualitatively different socio-psychological characteristics. The differences in some of these characteristics are given below as an example.

Small groups have:

1. Non-Group Goal Actions

2. group opinion as a permanent factor of social control

3. conformism to group norms.

Large groups have:

1. rational goal-oriented actions

2. group opinion is rarely used, control is carried out from top to bottom

3. conformity to the policy pursued by the active part of the group.

Thus, most often small groups in their constant activities are not oriented towards the ultimate group goal, while the activities of large groups are rationalized to such an extent that the loss of a goal most often leads to their disintegration. In addition, in a small group, such a means of control and implementation of joint activities as a group opinion is of particular importance. Personal contacts allow all members of the group to participate in the development of a group opinion and control over the conformity of group members in relation to this opinion. Large groups, due to the lack of personal contacts between all their members, with rare exceptions, do not have the opportunity to develop a common group opinion.

Small groups are of interest as elementary particles of the social structure, in which social processes are born, mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, and role relationships are traced.

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