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A society is mostly characterized as an organized interrelated group of people

who act together for collective living, as they share the same language, territory,
and culture. However, a group of individuals in a certain place does not instantly
make a social group. This group may just be individuals who happen to be in one
place asserting theirs commonality. Simply stated, when human relation begins, a
group starts to be organized. There are sociological theories that can explain
various aspects of social group existence.

Sociological Perspective of Society

Social groups are fundamental parts of human life. They are a multitude of
people who see each other often and think of themselves as part of a group. There
appears to be groups of people everywhere. We could be a member of a church
group, college class, workplace, sports team, club, and others. The discipline of
Sociology focuses primarily on the study of social groups in a society.

Sociological Theories or Perspectives. Different sociological

perspectives enable sociologists to view social issues through a variety
of useful lenses.

Sociological Level of
Focus
Perspective Analysis
Structural The way each part of society functions
Macro or Mid
Functionalism together to contribute to the whole
The way inequalities contribute to
Conflict Theory Macro social differences and perpetuate
differences in power
Symbolic One-to-one interactions and
Macro
Interactionism communications

Structural – Functional Theory

Structural-functional theory, also called functionalism, sees society as a

structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of
the individuals in that society. Functionalism grew out of the writings of English
philosopher and biologist, Hebert Spencer (1820–1903), who saw similarities
between society and the human body. He argued that just as the various organs of
the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various parts of society
work together to keep society functioning (Spencer 1898). The parts of society that
Spencer referred to were the social institutions, or patterns of beliefs and
behaviors focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family,
healthcare, religion, and the economy.
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Émile Durkheim, another early sociologist, applied Spencer’s theory to
explain how societies change and survive over time. Durkheim believed that society
is a complex system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to
maintain stability (Durkheim 1893), and that society is held together by shared
values, languages, and symbols. Durkheim believed that individuals may make up
society, but in order to study society, sociologists have to look beyond individuals
to social facts. Social facts are the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs,
fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life (Durkheim
1895). Each of these social facts serves one or more functions within a society. For
example, one function of a society’s laws may be to protect society from violence,
while another is to punish criminal behavior, while another is to preserve public
safety.

Although suicide is generally considered an individual phenomenon, Émile

Durkheim was interested in studying the social factors that affect it. He studied
social ties within a group, or social solidarity, and hypothesized that differences in
suicide rates might be explained by religion-based differences. Durkheim gathered
a large amount of data about Europeans who had ended their lives, and he did
indeed find differences based on religion. Protestants were more likely to commit
suicide than Catholics in Durkheim’s society, and his work on this topic
demonstrated the utility of theory for sociological research.

Another noted structural functionalist, Robert Merton (1910–2003), pointed

out that social processes often have many functions. Manifest functions are the
consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated, while latent
functions are the unsought consequences of a social process. A manifest function
of college education, for example, includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a
career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education. Latent functions of your
college years include meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities,
or even finding a spouse or partner. Another latent function of education is creating
a hierarchy of employment based on the level of education attained. Latent
functions can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful. Social processes that have
undesirable consequences for the operation of society are called dysfunctions. In
education, examples of dysfunction include getting bad grades, truancy, dropping
out, not graduating, and not finding suitable employment.
Conflict Theory

Conflict theory looks at society as a competition for limited resources. This

perspective is a macro-level approach most identified with the writings of German
philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx (1818–1883), who saw society as being made
up of two classes, the bourgeoisie (capitalist) and the proletariat (workers), who
must compete for social, material, and political resources such as food and
housing, employment, education, and leisure time. Social institutions like
government, education, and religion reflect this competition in their inherent
inequalities and help maintain the unequal social structure.

In the economic sphere, Marx focused on the “mode of production” (e.g., the
industrial factory) and “relations of production” (e.g., unequal power between
workers and factory owners). The bourgeoisie owns and controls the means of

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production, which leads to exploitation due to the profit motive. In this
arrangement, proletarians have only their labor to sell, and do not own or control
capital. False consciousness is Marx’s term for the proletarian’s inability to see her
real position within the class system, a mis-recognition that is complicated by the
control that the bourgeoisie often exerts over the media outlets that disseminate
and normalize information. These are just some of the structural constrains that
prevent workers from joining together in what Marx called class consciousness, or
a common group identity as exploited proletarians and potential revolutionaries.

German sociologist Max Weber agreed with some of Marx’s main ideas, but
also believed that in addition to economic inequalities, there were inequalities of
political power and social structure that caused conflict. Weber noted that different
groups were affected differently based on education, race, and gender, and that
people’s reactions to inequality were moderated by class differences and rates of
social mobility, as well as by perceptions about the legitimacy of those in power.

Ida B. Wells articulated the conflict perspective when she theorized a

connection between an increase in lynching and an increase in black socio-
economic mobility in the United States from the late 1800s into the mid-20th
century. She also examined competition within the feminist movement as women
fought for the right to vote, yet the presumably egalitarian mainstream suffragist
movements were headed by white women who excluded black women from suffrage.
W.E.B. DuBois also examined race in the U.S. and in U.S. colonies from a conflict
perspective, and emphasized the importance of a reserve labor force, made up of
black men. Race conflict paradigms will be examined later in the course in the
module devoted to race and ethnicity.

Symbolic Interactionist Theory

Symbolic Interactionist Theory is a micro-level theory that focuses on

meanings attached to human interaction, both verbal and non-verbal, and to
symbols. Communication—the exchange of meaning through language and
symbols—is believed to be the way in which people make sense of their social
worlds.
Charles Horton Cooley introduced the looking-glass self (1902) to describe
how a person’s self of self grows out of interactions with others, and he proposed a
threefold process for this development: 1) we see how others react to us, 2) we
interpret that reaction (typically as positive or negative) and 3) we develop a sense
of self based on those interpretations. “Looking-glass” is an archaic term for a
mirror, so Cooley theorized that we “see” ourselves when we interact with others.

George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) is considered a founder of symbolic

interactionism, though he never published his work on this subject (LaRossa and
Reitzes 1993). Mead’s student, Herbert Blumer, actually coined the term “symbolic
interactionism” and outlined these basic premises: humans interact with things
based on meanings ascribed to those things; the ascribed meaning of things comes
from our interactions with others and society; the meanings of things are
interpreted by a person when dealing with things in specific circumstances (Blumer
1969). This sounds close to Cooley’s looking-glass self, but Mead’s contribution was
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really to the development of self, especially in childhood, which we’ll discuss in
more detail when we address theories of socialization. If you love books, for
example, a symbolic interactionist might propose that you learned that books are
good or important in the interactions you had with family, friends, school, or
church; maybe your family had a special reading time each week, getting your
library card was treated as a special event, or bedtime stories were associated with
warmth and comfort.

Social scientists who apply symbolic-interactionist thinking look for patterns

of interaction between individuals. Their studies often involve observation of one-
onone interactions. For example, while a conflict theorist studying a political
protest might focus on class difference, a symbolic interactionist would be more
interested in how individuals in the protesting group interact, as well as the signs
and symbols protesters use to communicate their message and to negotiate and
thus develop shared meanings.

The focus on the importance of interaction in building a society led

sociologists like Erving Goffman (1922–1982) to develop a technique called
dramaturgical analysis. Goffman used theater as an analogy for social interaction
and recognized that people’s interactions showed patterns of cultural “scripts.”
Since it can be unclear what part a person may play in a given situation, as we all
occupy multiple roles in a given day (i.e., student, friend, son/ daughter, employee,
etc.), one has to improvise his or her role as the situation unfolds (Goffman 1958).

Explore

Forms of Social Group

Groups are formed as an assemblage of people who often interact with

each other on the basis of a common outlook concerning behavior and a sense of
common identity. A social group may consist of two or more individuals who do
things together with a common goal and interest.

Examples:

family church mate neighborhood

relatives schoolmate co- organization
couples workers business team mate
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friends clubs

Group
- is any collection of people who interact on the basis of shared expectations
regarding one another’s behavior ( Kornblum, 2003).
- is consist of two or more people who are bound together in relatively stable
patterns of social interaction and who share a feeling of unity ( Hughes and
Kroeler, 2009)
- is comprised of two or more persons who are in social interaction, who are
guided by similar norms, values and expectations, and who maintain a
stable pattern of relationship over a period of time.
- Is a specified number of individuals where each recognizes members from
nonmember;
- it is a collection of individuals characterize by:
a) Communication
b) Recognition
c) Specialized roles

Three Requirements for a group

1. There must be two or more people.
2. There must be interaction.
3. The members must be together physically. Factors that influence
Groups
1. Motivational base shared by individuals (based on needs, interests,
desires, noble activities, insecurities, or problems)
2. Size of the group
3. Type of group goals
4. The kind of a group cohesion/unity (the capability to function and interact
collectively in the direction of their goals)
General Characteristics of a Group
Group is characterized by the following:
1. A group has identity identifiable by both its members and outsiders.
2. A group has a social structure in the sense that each part or member has a
position related to other positions.
3. Each member in a group has roles to play.
4. There is mutual reciprocity among members in a group.

Group as distinguished from other Collection of People like:

1. Aggregate - a simple collection of people who are in the same place at the
same time without interacting with each other
Eg. People inside the movie house, people riding in an LRT/MRT
2. Category - a simple collection of people who share distinctive characteristics
(age, sex, race, income/social class, occupation, religion, political beliefs,
ethnicity
Eg. Males/females in the society; the infants; children; youth; adults/ the
aged; slum dwellers; the middle class; the millionaires
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3. Collectivity - Collection of people in a given place and time
Eg. Crowds, masses, public and social movements are temporary groups

IMPORTANCE OF A GROUP
1. A group is a major source of solidarity and cohesion.
2. A group reinforces and strengthens our integration into society.
3. A group shares basic survival and problem-solving techniques to satisfy
personal and emotional needs.
4. A group gives meaning and support to an individual.

HOW IS A GROUP FORMED?

1. The desire to achieve an objective
2. To meet the needs of the individual member
3. People are treated alike by others

CLASSIFICATION OF GROUPS
A. PRIMARY GROUPS B. SECONDARY GROUPS
- personal and intimate relationship - Large
- face to face communication - impersonal, aloof relationship
- permanence duration - indirect communication
- a strong sense of loyalty or “we” - temporary duration
feeling - weak group cohesiveness based
- small in size on self-interest
- informal structure - rational decision-making
- traditional or non-rational - formal structure
decision-making

GROUP BOUNDARIES A. IN- GROUP

- group with which the individual identifies and which gives him sense of
belonging, solidarity, camaraderie, esprit de corps, and a protective attitude
toward the other members.
- The members are loyal to each other and share common norms, activities,
goals and background.

B. OUT-GROUP
- viewed as outsiders by the in-group;
- Any member of the in-group has insufficient contact with the members of the
out-group
- Members of the in-group have feelings of strangeness, dislikes, avoidance,
antagonism, indifference and even hatred toward the out-group

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C. REFERENCE GROUP
- Group that is significant to us as models even though we ourselves may not
be a part of the group.
- Is one which an individual does not only have a high regard for but one after
which he or she patterns his/her life
- Its central aspect is self-identification rather than actual membership

TYPES OF GROUP BOUNDARIES A. FORMAL GROUP BOUNDARIES

- groups in which duties and privileges are clearly defined and expectations
are prescribed, independent of the person who happens to occupy a given
position
- Individual roles are explicitly designed as president, v-president,
secretary, and treasurer
- With constitution or set of by-laws

B. INFORMAL GROUP BOUNDARIES

- Arises spontaneously out of the interactions of two or more people
- They are unplanned, have no explicit rules for membership, and do not
have specific objectives to be attained
- The members exchange confidences, share a feeling of intimacy and
acquire a sense of belongingness.

CONSEQUENCES OF GROUP BOUNDARIES

a. people gain a clearer sense of their diversity
b. ethnocentrism may grow
c. serious personal and social problems may arise

Functions of Social Groups

We typically belong to a certain type of social group, with each group

having its own functions.
The primary group plays a vital part in the socialization process. It forms
the social nature and ideals of individuals especially in shaping the culture and
personality where a person learns social norms, beliefs, morals, and values. On the
other hand, secondary group members tend to relate to others only in specific roles
and for practical reasons. This group helps in fulfilling various types of human
needs and brings about social awareness and social change. Also, this group helps
fulfill various special interests in such fields as sports, dance, music, and others.
An in-group may form within our secondary group such as our
workmates,

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group mates, or assembly which functions as a group of people who can connect
with each other because of their sense of identity and belongingness while out
group functions as a competitor or rival group that an individual is opposed to.
Reference group provides a standard of measurement. This group has a
strong impact on how a person thinks and acts as it may serve as guide to a
member’s behavior and social norms. Thus, networks function as a social media
influencer.
Social networks are influential in a wide range of online platforms used
for building social relationships with other people including sharing of political
opinions, likes and dislikes, and can even show trending societal issues or
personalities.