Page 157 - Essencials of Sociology

130 CHAPTER 5 Social Groups and Formal Organizations

Before we analyze groups, we should clarify the concept. Two terms sometimes
confused with group are aggregate and category. An aggregate consists of people who
temporarily share the same physical space but who do not see themselves as belonging
together. Shoppers standing in a checkout line or drivers waiting at a red light are an
aggregate. A category is simply a statistic. It consists of people who share similar char-
acteristics, such as all college women who wear glasses or all men over 6 feet tall. Unlike
group members, the individuals who make up a category don’t think of themselves as
belonging together and they don’t interact with one another. These concepts are illus-
trated in the photos on the next page.
Groups are so influential that they determine who we are. If you think that this is
an exaggeration, recall what you read in Chapter 3, that even your mind is a product
of society—or, more specifically phrased, of the groups to which you belong. To better
understand the influence of groups on your life, let’s begin by looking at the types of
groups that make up our society.

Primary Groups
As you will recall from Chapter 3, a major point about socialization is that you didn’t
develop “naturally” into a human adult. Your social experiences shaped you into what
you have become. In this shaping process, it is hard to overestimate how significant your
family has been. It was your family that laid down your basic orientations to life. Then
came friends, where your sense of belonging expanded. Family and friends are what soci-
ologist Charles Cooley called primary groups. By providing intimate, face-to-face inter-
action, your primary groups have given you an identity, a feeling of who you are. Here’s
how Cooley (1909) put it:
By primary groups I mean those characterized by intimate face-to-face association and co-
operation. They are primary in several senses, but chiefly in that they are fundamental in
forming the social nature and ideals of the individual.

From our opening vignette, you can see that youth gangs are also primary groups.
Producing a Mirror Within. We humans have intense emotional needs. Among them
are a sense of belonging and feelings of self-esteem. Because primary groups provide intense
face-to-face interaction as we are being introduced to the world, they are uniquely equipped
to meet these basic needs. They can make us feel appreciated—even that we are loved.
When primary groups are dysfunctional, however, and fail to meet these basic needs, they
produce dysfunctional adults, wounded people who make life difficult for others.
Regardless of the levels at which your primary groups have functioned—and not
one is perfect—their values and attitudes have become fused into your identity. You
have internalized their views, which are now lenses through which you view life. Even
as an adult—no matter how far you move away from your childhood roots—your early
aggregate individuals who tempo- primary groups will remain “inside” you. There, they will continue to form part of the
rarily share the same physical space perspective from which you look out onto the world. Your primary groups have become
but who do not see themselves as your mirror within.
belonging together
category people, objects, and
events that have similar characteris- Secondary Groups
tics and are classified together Compared with primary groups, secondary groups are larger, more anonymous, and
primary group a small group more formal and impersonal. These groups are based on shared interests or activities,
characterized by intimate, long- and their members are likely to interact on the basis of specific statuses, such as presi-
term, face-to-face association and dent, manager, worker, or student. Examples include college classes, the American
cooperation Sociological Association, and political parties. Contemporary society could not function
secondary group compared with without secondary groups. They are part of the way we get our education, make our liv-
a primary group, a larger, relatively ing, spend our money, and use our leisure time.
temporary, more anonymous, for- As necessary as secondary groups are for contemporary life, they often fail to satisfy
mal, and impersonal group based our deep needs for intimate association. Consequently, secondary groups tend to break
on some interest or activity
down into primary groups. At school and work, we form friendships. Our interaction