social group - a stable set of people that has excellent, only inherent features (social status, interests, value orientations).

social community - this is a real-life, empirically fixed set of people, characterized by relative integrity and acting as an independent subject of historical and social action.

Signs of social community:

1. similarity of living conditions;
2. commonality of needs;
3. existence of joint activities;
4. the formation of one's own culture
5. social identification of community members, their self-assignment to it.

The emergence of social groups:

1. associated with the social division of labor and the specialization of activities;
2. caused by the historical diversity of living conditions, culture, social norms and values.

Types of social groups

Basis for classification	Group name	Her essence	Examples of social groups
population	Malaya Group	Not big number people (from 2-3 to 20-30 people) who know each other well, are engaged in some common business and are in direct relationship with each other. Common goals, tasks of activity, psychological and behavioral characteristics are characteristic. Represents the elementary cell of society.	Family, school class, aircraft crew, group of friends, etc.
	Big Group	A large set of people occupying the same position in the structure of society and having, as a result, common interests.	Nation, class, stratum, etc.
Character interactions	Primary Group	A group in which interaction is direct, interpersonal and involves mutual support.	A group of friends, peers, neighbors, etc.
	Secondary Group	A group in which interaction is conditioned by the achievement of a specific goal and is of a formal business nature.	Industrial and economic organizations, trade unions, political parties, etc.
existence	Nominal group(social category)	An artificially constructed group that is allocated for the purposes of population statistics.	Living in separate and communal apartments, passengers of commuter trains, buyers of Aist washing powder, etc.
	Real Group	A group whose selection criterion is the real signs perceived by people (gender, age, nationality, income, profession, place of residence).	Men, women, Russians, children, teachers, citizens, etc.
Way of organizing and regulating interaction	Formal (official) group	A group created and existing only within the framework of officially recognized organizations.	School class, sports team "Spartak", etc.
	Informal (informal) group	A group that usually arises and exists on the basis of the personal interests of its members, which may coincide with or diverge from the goals of official organizations.	A poetic circle, a bard song club, an organization of fans of the Zenit football club, etc.

Membership in a group has a direct impact on a person's behavior, which can be both positive and negative.

Collectively, social groups form the social structure of society.

The social structure of society - this is the internal structure of a society or social group, ordered by certain norms of interaction of parts.

The social structure of society:

1) social groups;

2) social strata;

3) social communities;

4) social institutions;

5) social relations.

Quasigroup - an unstable, informal set of people, united, as a rule, by one or very few types of interaction, having an indefinite structure and system of values ​​and norms.

Varieties of quasigroups:

1) audience;

2) fan group;

Main properties of quasigroups:

1) anonymity;

2) suggestibility (suggestion);

3) social contagion;

4) unconsciousness.

QUESTIONS:

1. Establish a correspondence between social groups and the criteria for their selection: for each position given in the first column, select the corresponding position in the second column.

	SELECTION CRITERIA		SOCIAL GROUPS
	Lifestyle
	involvement in power structures
	relation to the means of production
	education
	role in the social organization of labor

Answer

2. Find in the list below the social groups identified on the basis of religious affiliation. Write down the numbers under which they are indicated. List all correct answers.

	Christian Democrats
	shintoists
	Protestants
	Zen Buddhists
	pacifists
	Arab nationalists

Answer

3. Expand on three examples the variety of criteria, the allocation of social groups.

Answer

As examples revealing the variety of criteria for identifying social groups, the following can be given:

1) demographic criterion: distribution of the population according to such characteristics as age (children, adolescents, youth, middle-aged and elderly people), gender (men, women), marital status (married / married, divorced, widowed), marital status (single, family), etc.;

2) ethnic criterion: determination of a person's belonging to an ethnic group (tribe, nationality, nation);

3) racial criterion: determination of the unity of origin and area of ​​​​settlement, the commonality of hereditary physical characteristics of people (three main groups: Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid races);

4) settlement criterion: the allocation of social groups depending on their place of residence (townspeople, rural residents, etc.);

5) professional criterion: in accordance with the type of labor activity of people (doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, etc.).

4. You are instructed to prepare a detailed answer on the topic "Social group". Make a plan according to which you will cover this topic. The plan must contain at least three points, of which two or more are detailed in sub-points.

Answer

One of the options for the disclosure plan for this topic:

1) What is a "social group"?

2) Criteria for the allocation of social groups:

a) by income level;

b) on a confessional basis;

c) on a demographic basis;

d) on an ethno-social basis.

3) Types of social groups by the nature of interaction:

a) primary;

b) secondary.

4) Types of social groups by size:

b) big.

5) Types of social groups by the fact of existence:

a) nominal;

b) real.

6) The social structure of society.

Education as a social institution

Education in modern countries is a very wide and highly developed differentiated multi-level social systems (subsystems of society) of continuous improvement of the knowledge and skills of members of society, which play an important role in the socialization of the individual, its preparation for obtaining one or another social status and the performance of appropriate roles, in stabilization, integration and improvement of social systems. Education plays a very important role in determining the social status of an individual, in the reproduction and development of the social structure of society, in maintaining social order and stability, and exercising social control.

Education, along with the army, church and industry, is one of the lifts of social mobility. Having received knowledge and high qualifications, it is much easier to make a career in modern society than a) it was in pre-industrial and industrial society, b) if a person did not possess them.

For a long time and to this day, education as a social institution has been the main mechanism for social testing, selection and distribution of individuals by social strata and groups. The education system was entrusted with the functions of social control over the processes of intellectual, moral, and physical development of the younger generation. And on the system of vocational education, in addition, also the functions of control over the distribution of the generation entering an independent working life, according to various cells of the social structure of society: classes, social groups, strata, production teams.

Thus, education is one of the main channels of social mobility, playing an important role in the social differentiation of members of society, their distribution both among social strata and within these strata. The position of an individual in society, the opportunities for his successful promotion up the career ladder are determined by the quality of the education received, which is largely related to the prestige of the educational institution.

The way it is. An uneducated person cannot get a highly paid and responsible job, no matter what social background he may be. The educated and the uneducated have unequal life chances, but the situation can always be corrected by improving one's qualifications, one has only to make individual efforts. What distinguishes inequality in the field of education from other types of inequality, say, inherited, is that it puts a person in an unprivileged position temporarily. But if you were born the son of a king or a hereditary nobleman, then this is forever. Nothing can be done about such inequalities based on prescribed statuses.

(G. E. Tadevosyan)

1. What definition of education in modern countries does the author give? Indicate four positions that, in the author's opinion, constitute the social role of education.

3. What are the four social elevators indicated by the author? Give them, illustrating their manifestation with specific examples.

State the main difference between inequality determined by education and other types of inequality. Based on the text, knowledge of the social science course, facts public life, give three other manifestations of inequality in modern society.

Answer

1. 1. Definition is given:

“Education in modern countries is a very wide and highly developed differentiated multi-level social systems (subsystems of society) of continuous improvement of the knowledge and skills of members of society, which play an important role in the socialization of the individual, its preparation for obtaining one or another social status and the performance of appropriate roles, in stabilizing , integration and improvement of social systems”.

2. Four positions are indicated that reveal the social role of education:

1) in determining the social status of a person;

2) in the reproduction and development of the social structure of society;

3) in maintaining social order and stability;

4) in the implementation of social control.

2. The correct answer must contain the following elements:

three functional features education, for example:

1) the main mechanism of social testing, selection and distribution of individuals by social strata, groups;

2) implementation of the functions of social control over the processes of intellectual, moral, physical development of the younger generation;

3) professional education implements the function of control over the distribution of the generation entering independent working life into various cells of the social structure: classes, social groups, strata, production teams;

4) education is one of the main channels of social mobility, playing an important role in the social differentiation of members of society, their distribution both among social strata and within these strata.

Functional features can be given in other formulations that are close in meaning.

3. The correct answer must contain the following elements:

elevators of social mobility are indicated and specific examples illustrating them, for example:

1) education (a young man received the profession of a lawyer at a university and was hired as a consultant in a large firm);

2) the army (during the French Revolution, the peasant Michel Ney joined the army and became Marshal of France under Napoleon);

3) the church (for example, the peasant Nikita Minov, having entered monasticism and started church service, reached the highest rank, became Patriarch Nikon);

4) production (for example, a specialist, starting from an ordinary employee of a company, has grown to a director, a top manager of an enterprise).

4. The correct answer must contain the following elements:

1. The main difference between inequality in the field of education is indicated, for example:

inequality in the field of education depends on the will and desire of the person himself, it can be corrected by improving one's qualifications.

2. Other types of inequality characteristic of modern society, let's say:

1) inequality based on prescribed statuses, such as ethnicity or social origin;

2) inequality based on a person's place of residence, metropolitan or provincial;

3) inequality associated with the peculiarities of appearance or health status, conditions of upbringing in the family.

Essay topics:

1. (Second round of the final stage All-Russian Olympiad schoolchildren in social studies 2014)

"The only force capable of moderating individual selfishness is the force of the group."

Émile Durkheim

2. (The second round of the final stage of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren in social science 2013)

“It doesn't matter who is in front of you: a crowd of academicians or a crowd of water carriers. Both are a crowd."

any relatively stable set of people interacting and united by common interests and goals. In every S.G. some specific relationships of individuals between themselves and society as a whole are embodied within a certain historical context. External distinguishing features of S.G.: 1) the statics of the existence of S.G. manifests itself in the continuous dynamization of group processes in a latent or explicit form; 2) S.G. characterized by a certain set social norms, the institutionalization of values ​​reproduced by the group context; 3) S.G. has its own role structure with sufficiently pronounced functional loads. There are a significant number of criteria that characterize the specific mode of action of each S.G.: they are divided according to the number of individuals included in them (large, medium, small), according to the individual characteristics of the individuals included in them, according to the nature of the internal structure, according to status in society, according to the level of cohesion, according to the degree of interaction between members, according to its cultural characteristics. The history of the study of S.G. has a long tradition. Hobbes also tried to define S.G. as "... a certain number of people united by a common interest and cause", and singled out ordered and disordered groups, political, private and others. In the future, this term acquired a deeper social connotation. One of the founders of the theory of S.G. is Simmel, who considered a whole range of regularities and aspects of the interaction of micro- and macrostructures. A significant contribution to the study of S.G. was introduced by Kuhl, who considered the influence of primary groups on the socialization of the individual. Further development theory S.G. received in the works of E. Mayo, who focused his attention on the study optimal conditions cooperation in production group formations, and Moreno, who introduced into circulation a technique for measuring the nature and level of interpersonal interaction, known in practice as sociometry. General problems of interaction S.G. with society within the framework of functional analysis were studied by Parsons. The greatest development of the theory of S.G. received within the framework of psychology, where it was the introgroup characteristics that were emphasized, through the prism of which the outside world was further projected. It was in this context that three general psychological approaches to the study of the group as a whole and intergroup interaction came to life: 1) motivational (Freud, Berkowitz, Adorno), where the postulate was the moment of group formation on the basis of common benefits and goals from the standpoint of outgroup hostility and intragroup cohesion; 2) situational (A. Tejfel, M. Shirif), where the only basis for the formation of a group are goals: "... individuals striving for a goal through interdependent actions become a group, they develop a social hierarchy and specific norms; 3) cognitive ( Ferguson, Kelly, Horowitz, etc.) when group formation takes place where two or more people begin to perceive themselves from the position of ingroup-outgroup categorization. Any set of people is more likely to characterize themselves as a group when the subjectively perceived difference between them less than the difference between them and other people in given conditions.In sociological theories, the issue of studying S.G. had a certain functional connotation in the context of reaching not the atmosphere of the existence of the group, but the processes of its interaction with other social formations in society. of view, there are also ontological approaches, such as holism (theories of social systems, structural-functional analysis, etc.), cultural concepts (anthropological, humanitarian concepts, etc.), biologism. In each of the directions, the concept of S.G. has its own interpretation.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

SOCIAL GROUP

a set of people constituting a unit of the social structure of society. In general, this year can be divided into two types of groups. The first includes aggregates of people distinguished by one or another essential feature or features, for example. socio-economic, prof. groups, national, age and other population groups. The members of these groups can be separated in space (and sometimes in time), they do not usually constitute a localized social unity (workers, engineers and technicians, persons aged 9 to 24, etc.). Other kinds of groups include all those aggregates of people in which there is a system of social ties and relations of members of the aggregate that characterizes its internal. structure. Distinguish. a feature of such a year is the presence of a program, a plan for its activities, in which each member of the group is included. The group structure is characterized by its two levels: functional dependencies between group members (eg, division of labor) and interpersonal dependencies (eg, sympathy or enmity relations). There is usually one more difference in the structure of the group: the structure fixed in official regulations (for example, the hierarchy of power in the group, determined by instructions for certain posts), and the structure that actually develops in people's relations depending on their personal qualities. rather than an official position. The first type of structure is usually called. the formal structure of the group, the second - informal. The trace is different. types of groups: small group (relationships between group members imply a system of personal relations established between them); group-organization (relations of group members do not imply a system of personal relations established between them, but mainly based on an impersonal system of functional dependencies); a random group (two or three talking passers-by); the crowd (the relations of people in this group are not subject to either a functionally defined plan or a consciously accepted division of functions, but are formed spontaneously); group-collective (relations of group members are based on the conscious assimilation by each member of the group of the general goals of the group's activities as the goals of their own activities). Great value for understanding and scientific. analysis of people's behavior in groups takes into account the subjective ideas of group members about their own. group. These representations are fixed in sociology and social psychology in the concept of a reference group, i.e. groups, to which the person himself orients his behavior. Burzh. sociology, often closing in the field of socio-psychological. and psychological. patterns of functioning of this year, tears them away from the broad socio-economic. processes occurring in society, depicts in the form of self-contained, autogenous social units. Marxist sociology, analyzing groups as self-sufficient. education, at the same time puts forward the requirement to study groups and their life in connection with the factors and processes that make up the background and environment of their activities. Int. The laws of this year are closely connected with the functioning of broad social systems; the mechanisms of activity of this year reflect the laws of the life of society. The notion and concept of a natural year began to be developed for the first time in the works of the utopian socialists (Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen). This year was understood as an association of people on the basis of the voluntary acceptance of labor and education. functions and was opposed in this form to bourgeois. individualism and coercion. bourgeois regulations. org-tions. In the works of Marx and Engels, a historical-materialist concept was invested in the concept of this year. content; An important contribution to the development of the problem of this year was made by Lenin: ch. Marxism sees the mechanism of formation and functioning of this year in the material interests of people, in their attitude to property, in the place they occupy in the system of societies. relations. The most important S. g. are societies. classes. In the positivist sociology of the 19th century. the concept of a group was opposed to the concept of socio-economic. class. For the views of Spencer, Lebon this year was characterized by mechanism: the understanding of the group as the sum of "social atoms". Durkheim developed the doctrine of "collective consciousness" as the basis for the existence of all social associations, incl. and S. g. In the works of Ch. Cooley, J. Mead, J. Homans and others are analyzed - most often on the materials of socio-psychological. research - int. the structure of a small group, forms of relations between leaders and subordinates, incentives to improve the efficiency of teams, etc. In Marxist sociology, the study of this year is carried out both in theoretical and concrete terms - work on the social structure, classes, strata, national and other socialist groups. society, questions of the structure and forms of life of various kinds of this year - labor, political, religious. Lit.: Semyonov V., The problem of classes and class struggle in modern. bourgeois sociology, M., 1959; Novikov N.V., Criticism of modern. bourgeois "sciences of social behavior", M., 1966; Sociology in the USSR, vol. 1–2, M., 1966; Shchepansky Ya., Elementary concepts of sociology, trans. from Polish, Novosibirsk, 1967, ch. eight; Problems of changing the social structure of owls. society, M., 1968; Classes, social strata and groups in the USSR, M., 1968; Moreno J. L., Sociometry, trans. from English, M., 1958; Sorokin P., Society, culture and personality, N. Y.–L., 1947; Lewin K., Field theory in social science, ; Homans G. C., The human group, L., ; Parsons T., The social system, Glencoe (Ill.), ; Group dynamics, research and theory, ed. D. Cartwright, A. Zander, ?. ?., 1953; Knowles M. S., Knowles H., Introduction to group dynamics, N. Y., . See also lit. at Art. Classes, Social stratification. N. Novikov. Moscow.

An important variety of social communities are social groups. social group- this is a set of people who have a common social attribute and perform a socially necessary function in the structure of the social division of labor and activity (G.S. Antipova).

social group- this is a set of individuals interacting in a certain way with each other, aware of their belonging to a given group and recognized as members of this group from the point of view of others (American sociologist R. Merton).

social group- this is an education of two or more people who come into contact with a specific goal and consider this contact significant (C.R. Mills).

Social groups, unlike mass communities, are characterized by:

1) stable interaction, which contributes to the strength and stability of their existence in space and time;

2) a relatively high degree of cohesion;

3) a distinctly expressed homogeneity of the composition, that is, the presence of signs inherent in all individuals included in the group;

4) entry into wider communities as structural formations.

Depending on the density, the forms of implementation of connections and their constituent members differ. large and small, primary and secondary social groups.

The main object of sociological research is small social groups (a small social group can consist of 2 to 15 - 20 people). A small social group is small in composition, its members are united by common activities and are in direct, stable, personal communication.

The characteristic features of a small social group are:

Small composition;

Spatial proximity of its members;

duration of existence;

Commonality of group values, norms and patterns of behavior;

Voluntary entry into the group;

Informal control over the behavior of members.

Typology of small groups.

Currently, about fifty different bases for the classification of small groups are known.

According to the level of group consciousness the following types of groups are distinguished (according to L.I. Umansky):

1. G group-conglomerate- a group that has not yet realized the common goal of its activity (similar to this concept diffuse or nominal groups);

2. G group association having a common goal; all other signs (preparedness, organizational and psychological unity) are absent;

3. G group cooperation characterized by the unity of goals and activities, the presence of group experience and preparedness;

4. G group-corporation, which is higher than cooperation by the presence of organizational and psychological unity (sometimes such a group is called autonomous). The corporation is characterized by the manifestation of group egoism (opposing oneself to other groups, individuals, society) and individualism up to asociality (for example, a gang);

5. K collective- a group distinguished by the highest level of social development, goals and principles of humanism;

6. G omphoteric(lit. "downed") team, in which psychophysiological compatibility is added to all other qualities (for example, the crew of a spaceship).

formal group the following features are inherent: a clear and rational goal, certain functions, a structure based on a hierarchy, assuming the existence of positions, rights and obligations determined by the relevant rules, formal relations between people are determined directly by their official position, and not by their personal qualities.

At informal group(neighbors, companies at home or at work, etc.), which most often unites from 2 to 30 people, there are no fixed goals and positions, the structure of relationships and the norms of relationships are determined directly by the personal qualities of people; there are no clearly regulated rules for membership, entry and exit from the group; members of an informal group know each other well, see each other often, meet and are in a relationship of trust, but not blood relationship.

The formal group, for its part, can be either official (enterprise, brigade, trade union, public or state organizations, etc.) or an unrecognized official structure, i.e., unofficial (secret organization, illegal group, etc.). Consequently, not every formal group is official, and therefore one should not use the terms “formal”, “official” (respectively, “informal”, “unofficial”) group as unambiguous.

The division into groups we have considered bears in itself a certain element of relativity; on the one hand, an informal group can turn into a formal one, for example, friends found an organization; on the other hand, a group can be both formal and informal, such as a school class.

Reference group. This term denotes that group (real or imaginary), the system of values ​​and norms of which acts as a kind of standard for the individual. A person always (voluntarily or involuntarily) correlates his intentions and actions with how those whose opinion he values ​​\u200b\u200bcan evaluate them, regardless of whether they are watching him really or only in his imagination.

The reference group can be:

To which the individual belongs at the moment;

of which he was formerly a member;

To which he would like to belong.

The personified images of the people who make up the reference group form an “internal audience”, to which a person is guided in his thoughts and actions.

By time of existence groups stand out temporary, within which the association of participants is limited in time (for example, conference participants, tourists as part of a tourist group) and stable, the relative constancy of the existence of which is determined by their purpose and long-term principles of functioning (family, employees of the department, students of the same group).

Small groups are part of the immediate social environment in which a person's daily life is carried out and which largely determines him. social behavior, determines the specific motives of his activity, influences the formation of his personality.

A variety of small social groups are primary groups(the term was introduced into sociology by C. Cooley). The hallmark of these groups, according to Cooley, is direct, intimate, interpersonal contact its members, which is characterized by a high level of emotionality.

Through these groups, individuals get the first experience of social unity (an example of primary social groups is a family, a student group, a group of friends, a sports team). Through the primary group, individuals are socialized, they master patterns of behavior, social norms, values ​​and ideals.

secondary group It is formed from people between whom only minor emotional relationships have developed. Their interaction is subordinated only to the achievement of certain goals. In these groups, individually unique personality traits do not matter, but the ability to perform certain functions is more valued.

The main type of secondary social group is a large social group formed to achieve certain goals - organization(political, productive, religious, etc.).

So, secondary groups:

Usually quite significant in size;

Arise to achieve a specific goal;

They maintain formal relationships;

Relationships are limited (represented by contacts).

The types of primary and secondary groups are presented in the table.

Table 1 - Types of primary and secondary groups

Large social groups- communities of people that differ from small groups in the presence of weak constant contacts between all their representatives, but united no less and therefore have a significant impact on public life.

Large social group- this is a quantitatively unlimited social community that has stable values, norms of behavior and socio-regulatory mechanisms (parties, ethnic groups, industrial and industrial and public organizations).

To large social groups can be attributed:

- ethnic communities(races, nations, nationalities, tribes);

- socio-territorial communities(sets of people permanently residing in a certain territory, with a similar lifestyle). They are formed on the basis of socio-territorial differences;

- socio-demographic communities(communities distinguished by gender and age characteristics);

- social classes and social strata(sets of people who have common social characteristics and perform similar functions in the system of social division of labor.

A social group is understood as any set of people identified according to socially significant criteria: gender, age, nationality, race, place of residence, profession, income level, education, and some others.

social group- it is a kind of mediator between the individual and society as a whole, as well as the environment in which collective processes occur.

More than 5 billion people live on the planet, and the number of social groups, according to experts, reaches 8-10 billion. This is possible due to the fact that one individual can be in 5-6 groups.

Not only society, but also the individual lives according to the laws of the group. Scientists have proven that many of the characteristics of a person: the ability for abstract thinking, speech, self-discipline and morality - arose as a result of group activity. In the group, norms, rules, customs, traditions, rituals, ceremonies are born - in other words, the foundation of social life is laid. Today, a person does not think of himself outside the group: he is a member of the family, student class, youth party, production team, sports team. Belonging to a group provides an individual with the possibility of social self-identification and active interaction with other people.

Classification of social groups
1. Depending on the extent to which the objective belonging of an individual to a given group presupposes a subjective awareness of this belonging, nominal groups, real groups and aggregates are distinguished.

Nominal groups– social categories artificially distinguished for the purpose of statistical analysis of the structure of the population (for example, passengers of suburban trains, families living in separate or communal apartments, etc.). Interpersonal relations in nominal groups are practically not mediated by any activity.

Real groups are called so because the belonging of individuals to these groups is determined by signs that are important from the point of view of the social identification of the individual. These signs include:

• gender (men and women);
• income level (rich, poor and wealthy people);
• nationality (Russians, Americans, Evenks, Turks, etc.);
• age (children, teenagers, youth, adults, old people);
• marital status (single, married, divorced, widowed);
• profession (drivers, teachers, military personnel, etc.);
• place of residence (townspeople, rural residents).

Representatives of the same real group have similar stereotypes of behavior, lifestyle, value orientations.

On the border between nominal and real groups are aggregates- populations of people identified on the basis of behavioral characteristics. They combine features of real and nominal groups. These include classroom groups, some varieties of the crowd.

2. Depending on the size, large, medium and small social groups are distinguished. Large social groups are aggregates of people that exist on a scale of the whole society: classes, social strata, professional groups, ethnic communities (nations, nationalities), age groups (youth, pensioners), etc. medium The groups include production associations of enterprise employees, territorial communities (residents of the same village, city, district, etc.). Small Groups are small aggregates of people united by common goals, interests, values, norms and rules of conduct. This includes groups such as family, friendly companies, neighborhood communities.

social organization- a community of people artificially constructed for some legitimate purpose (for example, the production of goods or the provision of paid services) with the help of institutionalized mechanisms of subordination (power and subordination, reward and punishment). Examples of social organizations are industrial enterprises, farms, banks, schools, hospitals, etc. Social organizations can be very large (hundreds of thousands of people), large (tens of thousands), medium (from several thousand to several hundred), small (from a hundred people to several people). Social organizations are an intermediate type of association between large and small social groups.

social community- a set of individuals, characterized by relative integrity, acting as an independent subject of historical and social action and behavior and performing one or another activity.

Types of social communities:

1. social class communities (classes, social strata);
2. socio-demographic communities (men, women, children, parents, families, etc.);
3. ethnosocial communities (nations, nationalities, tribes, national and ethnographic groups);
4. socio-territorial communities (city, village, region);
5. socio-professional communities.

Ethnosocial communities Also called consanguineous. These include clans, tribes, nationalities, nations, families, clans.

A family- the smallest consanguineous group of people related by the unity of origin (grandmother, grandfather, father, mother, children). Several families that have entered into an alliance form a clan. Families united in clans. A clan is a group of blood relatives who bear the name of an alleged ancestor. The clan retained common ownership of the land.

Tribe- a higher form of social organization, covering a large number of clans and clans. Tribes have their own language or dialect, territory, formal organization (leader, tribal council). The number of tribes reached tens of thousands of people. During the cultural and economic development tribes were transformed into nationalities, and those - at the highest stages of development - into nations.

People- an ethnic community that occupies a place on the ladder of social development between the tribes and the nation. Nationalities arise in the era of slavery and represent linguistic, territorial, economic and cultural communities. Peoples are more numerous than tribes, and not all of their representatives are related to each other by blood relations.

Nation- an autonomous political community not limited by territorial boundaries. Representatives of one nation no longer have a common ancestor and a common origin. They don't have to have mutual language, religion, but there is a common history and culture. Nations arise during the period of overcoming feudal disunity and the birth of capitalism, when classes, an internal market and a single economic structure are formed, literature and art appear. Nations are more numerous than nationalities, and number tens and hundreds of millions of people. National patriotic and national liberation movements, ethnic strife, wars and conflicts arise as a sign that a nation has been formed and is fighting for its sovereignty.

INTRODUCTION

A social group is a set of people who have a common social attribute and perform a socially necessary function in overall structure social division of labor and activity. Such signs can be gender, age, nationality, race, profession, place of residence, income, power, education.

P.A. Sorokin wrote: “... outside the group, history does not give us a person. We do not know an absolutely isolated person living out of communication with other people. We are always given groups.” Society is a collection of very different groups: large and small, real and nominal, primary and secondary. Group- this is the foundation of human society, since it itself is one of such groups. Therefore, the study of social groups, their characteristics and analysis are very relevant today.

The purpose of this work is to analyze and characterize social groups. To achieve this goal, we consider it necessary to solve the following tasks:

to define the concept of a social group;

to propose a classification of social groups;

l identify and characterize the forms of manifestation of group solidarity;

Give a description of the small group.

When writing the work, we used the works of the following authors: Z.T. Golenkova, M.M. Akulich, V.N. Kuznetsov, O.G. Filatova, A.N. Elsukov, A.G. Efendiev, E.M. Babosov and others.

THE CONCEPT OF A SOCIAL GROUP. CLASSIFICATION OF GROUPS

Wanting to increase the effectiveness of his actions, a person seeks to enter into a network of relationships that, by uniting the efforts of people, makes them able to act as a single whole - as a social group.

Z.T. Golenkova defines a social group as a set of people who have a common social attribute and perform a socially necessary function in common system division of social labor and activity.

EAT. Babosov notes that a social group is the most general and special concept of sociology, meaning a certain set of people who have common natural and social characteristics, united by common interests, values, norms and traditions.

From our point of view, the most accurate is the definition of a social group proposed by A.N. Elsukov, who believes that "a group in the strict sense of the word should be understood as a primary social association of people who are in direct (formal or informal) contact, perform certain social functions and are characterized by common goals and interests" .

In sociological theory, the concepts of "group", "primary group" and "small group" are distinguished. In order not to get confused in terminological subtleties, we will use these concepts as equivalent. From the point of view of A.A. and K.A. Radugin, social groups, in contrast to mass communities, are characterized by:

stable interaction, which contributes to the strength and stability of their existence;

a high degree of cohesion;

· distinctly expressed homogeneity of the composition, i.e., the presence of signs inherent in all members of the group;

· entry into wider communities as structural elements .

Examples of primary social groups can be: groups of children kindergarten, school classes, student groups, groups of neighbors, a group of friends, a sports team, members of the sports section, a production team, a team of a workshop or shift, a team of teachers, employees of a department or dean's office, a theater troupe, members of an orchestra, employees of subsections of ministries and government agencies management, small units of law enforcement agencies, etc.

Most of these group formations have a formal status and structure. Here there are leaders and ordinary members, there are professional functions and roles, the totality of which forms the structure of the group. Personal likes (or dislikes) are present here, but they are secondary to official duties. A group is particularly cohesive when its official structure and relationships coincide with personal sympathies, or, as they say, formal and informal structures coincide.

Along with formal group associations, there are also informal ones - these are interest or hobby groups (hunters, fishermen, music lovers, fans), as well as various kinds of criminal associations (gang, mafia, clan).

The positive value of group associations is manifested in the fact that the group not only summarizes the capabilities and efforts of each member, but also leads them to a new integral unity (what a group of 10 people can do, 10 people individually cannot do). This integral unity is manifested in the degree of cohesion of the members of the group, in the nature of their interaction. Therefore, an important indicator of the life of a group is its organization, that is, the discipline and coordination of actions of each member of the group.

The socializing role of the group (and we are talking about the primary group) is manifested in a number of factors:

l integrating role;

ü increasing the level of individual motivation;

l protective role of the team.

A group, like any complex object, has its own structure and functional relationships. Distinguish between formal and informal group structure. The first represents the division of roles (functions) within the group according to prescribed rules, the second - the sensual-emotional attitude of group members to each other, their likes or dislikes.

The typology of social groups can be carried out according to several criteria (grounds). Thus, the American sociologist E. Eubank identified seven main features that make it possible to classify social groups: 1) ethnic or racial affiliation; 2) the level of cultural development; 3) types of group structure; 4) tasks and functions performed by the group in wider communities; 5) the prevailing types of contacts between members of the group; 6) different kinds connections in groups; 7) other principles.

According to the degree of cohesion, primary and secondary groups are distinguished.

Primary groups- groups in which people are in direct contact, connected by personal or business relationships. An example of such groups is a family, children's groups of preschool institutions, school classes, a student group, a school teaching staff, a team of teachers of a department at a university, members of a sports team, a primary military unit, and a production team. This category also includes groups such as a group of friends, peers, close neighbors, members of gardening partnerships, music lovers who know each other. Some of these groups may also be of a criminal nature and may be referred to as gangs.

Secondary groups are broader associations of people. In such associations, business and formal ties are preserved and become more complicated, but personal ties are weakening. In this case, they talk about school students, students of a faculty or university, workers in a workshop or factory, etc.

According to the forms of education, formal and informal groups are distinguished.

Formal groups- such associations of people, the composition and functions of which are regulated by official documents: legal norms, charters, service instructions, professional requirements, etc. Therefore, a formal group has a strict structure, an ordered hierarchy, prescribed role functions that regulate the activities of its members. In this case, one speaks of the formal structure of the group and the formal relations between its members. The primary formal group is the initial link in the social structure of society.

informal groups arise spontaneously on the basis of friendly, trusting relations between its members. Basically, these are groups of friends, comrades, buddies who not only live, study or work together, but also relax together, have fun, support each other in difficult situations, etc. The rallying factor here is sympathy, friendship, love, a sense of affection , common interests, etc. Informal primary associations can also arise within the framework of formal groups. For example, in a student group or in a school class as official group associations, there are always microgroups of a friendly or friendly nature. A harmonious combination of formal and informal connections and interests determines the normal and fruitful functioning of the primary link in the social structure.

Sometimes informal relationships can turn into formal ones - these are cases when a friendly team is transformed into a rigidly organized group. For example, informal relations that develop between persons of criminal behavior gradually acquire the character of rigidly structured entities with clearly defined functions and severe discipline - this is a gang, mafia, criminal family, group racketeering, etc.

Each person can be a member of several formal and informal groups, where he is considered as "their own" at the place of residence, study or work. At the same time, a person is not only a member of his group, but he can also observe the activities of other groups, of which he is not a member, but with the values ​​and norms of which he correlates his views and behavior. Such groups are called reference groups.

Means play an important role in the formation of reference stereotypes. mass media, creating a certain "image" of both individuals and group associations: sports teams, popular music groups, political groups, etc. Moreover, such groups can be real and imaginary, invented by the person himself as a synthesis of several stereotypes.

Depending on the number of members and the conditions of intra-group interaction, social groups are divided into small, medium and large.

Small social groups include such associations of people in which all members are in direct contact with each other; as a rule, they number from two to several dozen people. These groups include: a family, a company of friends, a neighborhood community, a school class, a student group, a sports team, a primary production cell (brigade), a primary party organization, a primary military team (company, platoon), etc. The small group thus acts as the primary organization of people.

With the exception of the company of friends and the neighborhood community, all these groups have clearly defined legal norms for their organization and behavior, which, however, does not exclude informal forms of relationships. The combination of formal and informal norms of collective relationships is an indispensable condition for the most optimal functioning of the group as a single social whole.

By the nature of the association of people into small groups, the following types of them are distinguished: 1) a diffuse group - members of the group enter into interpersonal relationships that are mediated not by the content of group activity, but only by personal sympathies (a friendly team); 2) an association - group members enter into interpersonal relationships that are mediated only by personally significant goals (for example, an association of hunters, fishermen, numismatists, etc.), 3) a corporation - group members enter into interpersonal relationships mediated by private group interests; 4) collective - members of the group enter into interpersonal relations mediated by the unity of personal and public interests.

Social groups of medium scale are relatively stable communities of people working at the same enterprise, being members of any public organizations or living in one fairly large but limited area (residents of a city, district, region). The first type can be called production and organizational groups, the second - territorial.

A distinctive feature of the first type of medium-sized social groups is the presence of one or another program, a plan of joint action, in the implementation of which all members of the group are included. In such a group, the composition of individuals, the structure and content of their joint activities, interpersonal relationships, and the characteristics of the organization are determined by the goals for which it is created and functions. It clearly outlines the management system, methods for making and implementing decisions and sanctions, formalized communications. In contrast, the second type of such groups - territorial associations - are spontaneous group formations that unite people only on the basis of their place of residence.

Large social groups include stable aggregates of a significant number of people acting together in socially significant situations and functioning across the country (state) or their associations. These include classes, social strata, professional groups, ethnic associations (nationality, nation, race) or demographic associations (groups of men, women, youth, pensioners, etc.). The belonging of individuals to a given variety of social groups is determined on the basis of a certain set of socially significant features - class affiliation, the content and nature of large-scale social activity, demographic indicators, belonging to major religious denominations, etc. The members of these groups, due to their large number, can be separated in time and space and not enter into direct communication with each other, but, nevertheless, due to a number of unifying factors, they constitute precisely a group community. Special meaning have those characteristics that give the group a class character.

Thus, a group is such an association of people within which the social and production activities of people take place, it is the initial unit of the organizational structure of society. The coordinated functioning of groups determines the harmonious functioning of the collective of the enterprise, organization, institution and society as a whole. Primary groups and their systems determine the initial elements of the social structure. At the same time, they themselves have their own structure and dynamics. The study of this structure is the initial stage in the study of the structure and functioning of society as a whole.