Social groups: concept, examples, classification, functions

The formation of knowledge about society as a social phenomenon began to be built from the moment a person understands himself as its constituent part. Further development of the social structure: its stratification and complexity led to the need to generalize and systematize accumulated knowledge. However, only from the beginning of the 19th century after the proclamation in 1839 by the French philosopher Auguste Comte of a new science - sociology, which studies society, it became an independent object of scientific research.

What is society

If we consider the concept of “society” in a global sense, then it is a group of people united by various connections and relationships.

In sociology, this concept is interpreted as a human collective, united by historically established forms of interconnection and interaction to satisfy its needs.

The structural diversity and at the same time the inseparability of society force us to study it as a social system that has its own internal structure and consists of various macro (collectives) and micro (individual people) elements.

These elements are divided into natural ones:

• family;
• people;
• race, etc.

And artificially created ones:

• professional communities;
• religious denominations;
• political parties.

They do not exist in isolation, but are in close interaction with each other, each performing its own functions within the global social system, which operates according to its own rules.

Society as a social structure has specific features:

• includes all social groups; conveys the interests of all members;
• socializes and adapts team members;
• independently determines the essence of his own activities;
• determines the principles and norms of its existence, thereby regulating the behavior of its individual members or the entire team.

The main spheres of society are economics, politics, social and cultural activities.

Methods of dividing into social groups

Let's look at a few of the most important features used by sociologists, marketers and other researchers to identify social groups.

• Age. Almost everything in a person’s life depends on this characteristic: his interests, social and family status, health and many other characteristics that are important for sociological, marketing and other research.
• Floor. A person’s sphere of interests, needs, health characteristics, lifestyle and much more also depend on gender.
• Territory of residence. This may be a specific region of residence or type of area (rural, urban).
• Profession. A social group identified on this basis may include representatives of a specific profession (doctor) or a certain specialization (surgeon, orthopedist, ophthalmologist).
• Religious affiliation. There are about 5,000 different religious movements in the world. Major religions have followers in the billions.
• Nationality. Despite the growing popularity of cosmopolitanism, most people in the world identify themselves with a particular nation.

Of course, one person, based on the listed characteristics, can be classified into several social groups. He will relate to some throughout his life (gender, nationality), others will change (age), and others he may change himself (profession, religious affiliation, place of residence).

Classification of types of society

Since society is a complex multifaceted formation with many specific features that manifest themselves differently in each specific case, it is not possible to create one universal classification that covers the entire variety of features. Therefore, there are a great many classifications and typologies of society based on individual indicators characteristic of the issue being studied. They serve as the basis for determining the differences and similarities of different social groups.

The most famous classifications of societies are based on their dependence on the historical stage of development.

Here are some of them.

By availability of writing

Considering writing as a sign of the civilization of a society, two types are distinguished.

Pre-literate - whose members already knew oral speech, but did not know written language. They did not have systematized historical and scientific knowledge; information for descendants is presented in the form of legends or traditions. Spatiotemporal information is extremely limited, as is information about other peoples. There is a lack of theology, cosmology and cultural progress.

The first appearance of writing arose in the Sumerian civilization, it dates back to the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. Then the Egyptians adopted writing, and later in 2000 BC. e. it originated in China. Therefore, anything that dates back to an earlier time is considered pre-literate.

Written - indicates a certain cultural level of the people, whose representatives are able to encode information by placing it on material media.

The letter could be:

• subject;
• syllabic;
• alphabetical;
• pictograms (image);
• hieroglyphs.

The following information carriers were used:

• clay tablets;
• birch bark letters;
• stone pillars;
• papyrus;
• paper;
• electronic media.

An example of object writing is the famous Peruvian knot writing “quipu”, which captured information using rope knots of different colors and quantities.

According to the emergence of hierarchy

The presence of hierarchical relationships, implying multi-level management, as well as stratification into social strata, demonstrates the organization of society according to the simple-complex principle.

Simple - without leaders, subordinates and class stratification, that is, the society of primitive people.

Complex - having a state apparatus, social divisions, enshrined legally, economically, religiously and politically.

Both typologies described above are correlated with each other according to such characteristics as the absence of writing and social stratification in a simple and pre-literate society, and the presence of writing and hierarchical ramifications in a complex and written one.

By socio-economic formation

In the mid-19th century, Karl Marx proposed his own typology of societies, based on two criteria:

• mode of production;
• type of ownership.

Both of them constitute a socio-economic formation - a historical type of society, which is characterized by the state of productive forces and production relations.

One socio-economic formation can be made up of groups of different nationalities, cultures, political systems, religions, lifestyles and standards of living, which, however, have similar forms of ownership and a similar mode of production.

The following formations are distinguished:

Primitive - there is no class division and no form of individual property. The mode of production is defined as appropriative.

Slaveholding - there is private ownership of the means of production. Society is divided into slaves who have no property and slave owners who organize production.

Feudal - a division arises into land owners - feudal lords and landless peasants who cultivate feudal estates and run their own small farms for the sake of feeding the feudal lords on their land.

Capitalist - two classes are formed: the bourgeoisie - the owners of the means of production, and the proletariat - the working class. Freedom of entrepreneurship is realized and private ownership flourishes.

Communist - there is no class division, and the means of production become public property.

Rules of behavior in a social group

Many social groups are characterized by certain rules of behavior called “group norms.” The most common group norms are:

• manner of speech, slang features;
• behavior style;
• clothing style, characteristic wardrobe items (cap, sneakers) or accessories (backpack, briefcase);
• customs and rituals;
• daily habits.

In formal social groups, adherence to group norms is often a requirement (for example, students must wear a uniform and bring a backpack or briefcase to school). In informal social groups there are no formal rules requiring adherence to group norms, but failure to comply may result in disrespect, lack of recognition, and other sanctions from other members.

Types of society

American sociologist Daniel Bel created a theory of the division of society, an alternative to the Marxist socio-economic formation, proposing to differentiate world history into three stages:

• pre-industrial (traditional);
• industrial;
• post-industrial.

Traditional stage

Traditional society, called pre-industrial, is characterized by the absence of industrial production (industry). The defining activity in it was agricultural. The main mechanism of social progress was the direct transfer of experience and accumulated knowledge from the older generation to the younger and unquestioning adherence to traditions.

This social type was based on:

• monarchical system of power;
• subsistence farming;
• religious worldview of the majority of its members.

Its characteristic features were:

• predominance of manual labor;
• use of primitive production technologies;
• low rates of economic development;
• focus on the experience of past generations and fear of change;
• class stratification;
• low social variability;
• the predominance of collective values;
• the determining influence of religious dogmas on public life;
• patriarchal family structure;
• satisfaction of household needs.

The period of existence of the traditional social system covers a huge time period from the formation of humanity to the last millennium of our era.

Industrial stage

Industrial society - characterized by the level of technical development. This is a society in which most of it is employed in industrial production, the level of which is highly developed relative to its time.

It is characterized by:

• automation of production processes;
• serial and conveyor machine production;
• making scientific activity publicly accessible and fundamental;
• the emergence of mass cultural phenomena (mass culture);
• class stratification;
• formation of civil society;
• vesting citizens with certain rights and freedoms.

The signs of such a social system are:

• machine production as the leading productive form;
• factory organization of work process;
• economic approach to the structuring of society;
• economic growth and the desire for it, as the main driving force of the entire society;
• the desire to realize social needs (finance, career growth, standard of living);
• focus on maximum adaptation to the present time;
• empirical (experimental) research and majority opinion (mass participation) are the main form of decision-making.

The origin of industry in its modern sense dates back to the 18th century, despite the fact that the early phase of the industrial revolution began already in the 17th century.

Functions of social groups

Another important point in understanding what a social group is is knowing its functional significance (that is, the benefits it can bring to its members). Sociologists call the following functions of social groups:

1. Expressive function. Every person needs the expression of his emotions, the approval of his views and ideas. His social group gives him the opportunity to express himself and provides him with respect and approval from other members.
2. Emotional support. In any difficult situation, a person needs to feel that he is not alone and that he has a circle of emotionally close people. Sometimes it’s family or friends, and sometimes it’s like-minded people.
3. Socialization. A social group can help a person find his place in society, meet potential friends, and find a life partner (read more about socialization in this article).
4. Instrumental function. The importance of social groups in terms of mutual assistance cannot be underestimated. For example, national diasporas often help people find employment in a foreign country.