What are primary and secondary social groups. Primary and secondary groups as subjects of social relations. Impact of primary groups on the activities of secondary groups. Groups categorized by nature

A social group is defined as a set of people who have some common social characteristic. Such a group performs a specific function in society.

Unlike the communities discussed above, the social group has the following features:

• there are stable interactions of people in it, which contributes to the strength and stability of the group for a long time;
• it has a relatively high degree of cohesion;
• the composition of the group is very homogeneous: it is characterized by a similar set of features and characteristics;
• can be part of broader communities as a constituent element, without losing its specificity.

It is useful to distinguish between primary and secondary social groups.

Primary social groups

To primary social groups are characterized by a high level of emotional ties, intimacy and solidarity. This solidarity can be of a group level, or it can be of a social dimension.

The characteristic features of the primary group are:

• small number of members;
• spatial proximity of group members;
• relative stability and duration of existence;
• community of values, norms and forms of behavior;
• the voluntary nature of people's connections;
• moral and informal ways of enforcing discipline.

The primary groups include a school class, a group, a course in an educational institution, a circle of friends and like-minded people. In the primary group, a person receives initial socialization, gets acquainted with patterns of behavior, evaluates older, emerging "natural leaders", masters social norms, values \u200b\u200band ideals. Developing in the primary groups, a person is also aware of his connection with certain social communities, with society as a whole.

Sociology conducts special studies of the features of the emergence and functioning of primary groups, since it is in them that many features of the mentality, ideology and social behavior of adult citizens are laid. IN last years Candidate and doctoral theses have already been devoted to these problems.

Seed groups are generally small groups.

Secondary social groups

Secondary social group is a community in which the connections and interactions of the participants are unemotional, most often pragmatic. The secondary group is most often focused on some goal. In such groups, impersonal relationships prevail, individual personality traits are not of particular importance, the ability to perform certain functions is valued mainly.

In secondary social groups, emotional connections are not excluded, but their main functions are to achieve the set goals. Some primary groups may exist and operate as part of a secondary group.

As a rule, the secondary groups are numerous. Group size has a significant impact on intragroup interactions and overall social relationships. This type of group includes, for example, the electorate of one or another party, as well as various interest movements (sports fans, motor associations, Internet lovers). Secondary groups unite people by ethnicity, by profession, by demographic basis, etc.

In our country, it is customary to distinguish between formal and informal groups.

Formal group a social community, the position of which is regulated by regulations - laws, regulations, statutes, service instructions, etc. B soviet time the position of various communities in the country was determined by the charter of the CPSU and the decrees of all governing bodies. Therefore, any charter public organization in the USSR contained a provision recognizing the "leading role of the party."

In some cases, institutions of a mass nature created by the authorities or citizens with the permission of the authorities for the implementation of certain specific tasks are also referred to the type of formal groups. Such institutions include a school, army, enterprise, bank, etc. Such institutions have a clear structure, hierarchy, strict division of labor, and relations between people are governed by rules and internal regulations.

It should be added that the concept of "formal groups" in a number of cases is used to designate institutions and organizations that exist only on paper, and, naturally, do not play the declared role in public life... This type of group includes "labor collectives", the creation of which was announced in the 1984 USSR law. These labor collectives were given such broad powers that they had no opportunity to exercise them. They were supposed to control the work of the deputies of the Supreme Soviet, local government bodies, courts, etc., determine the work program of the enterprise and institution, discuss and express their opinion on all issues concerning the country. Hence their formal character. Naturally, subsequent legislation forgot about labor collectives.

Sociology emphasizes that the peculiarity of such groups is precisely that they pursue real goals. And the point is not that there are no groups that do not correspond to these properties. They arise, are created, but their duration is insignificant.

Informal groups are generally considered to be those that are not provided for in legal norms, programs and political documents. They are distinguished by their amateur character. In some cases, such groups acquire significant distribution and influence. This applies, for example, to NGOs - “ non-governmental organizations". Ultimately, the institutions of power have to recognize them and translate them into the category “ formal organizations". Informal groups arise spontaneously on the basis of the initiative of one or more individuals. However, there are various legal rules governing the emergence and activities of such amateur groups. Basically to get legal status legal entity, the group must register with the appropriate government agency.

For some groups, a permissive principle of registration is established, that is, the group must receive official permission. For other groups, a declarative principle has been established, that is, the created association simply informs government agency about its creation. Such a procedure is established, for example, for the creation of a trade union, a small enterprise without a legal entity, etc. Note in this regard that in some countries such a notification procedure is carried out by mail, which eliminates the danger of corruption and lengthy bureaucratic red tape.

In informal groups of an amateur type, friendly relations operate, there is no rigid hierarchy and discipline. The number of such groups is usually small. They are built on the principle of "proximity" - territorial, emotional and psychological, or according to common interests (neighbors, hunters, fans, peers, friends, tourists). Relationships within such groups are of a personal nature, sympathies, habits, traditions, and mutual respect play an important role.

Informal groups are not closed in the sense that their members can simultaneously enter and act in other communities.

A special type of group includes a variety of "secret" associations that exist in almost all countries. If such groups begin to violate laws, they attract increased attention of law enforcement agencies.

At the same time, the study of such groups is rather difficult, since they rarely admit strangers into their ranks and do not share their intentions with them.

Regardless of what type the considered community groups, they all play and can play an important role in the social and political life of the country.

From all that has been said, an important conclusion follows about the need for serious scientific research of all processes occurring in society, especially those that are not amenable to direct observation.

GROUPS DIVIDED BY THE NATURE OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEIR MEMBERS

DIVISION OF GROUPS ON THE BEGINNING OF AN INDIVIDUAL

Ingroup and outgroup.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 in-groups, i.e. those to which he feels he belongs and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the in-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 outgroups for him, 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, they first start looking for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the ingroup. If family ties are not found, then in many societies of this type, people feel hostile to each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

IN modern society relations between its members are built on many types of ties in addition to family ties, but the feeling of a group, the search for its members among other people remain very important for every person. When an individual finds himself in the environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out whether among them there are those who make up his social class or a layer that adheres to it. political views and interests. Those, for example, who go in for sports, are interested in people who understand sports events, and even better, support the same team as him. Avid philatelists involuntarily divide all people into those who simply collect stamps, and those who are interested in them, and are looking for like-minded people, communicating in different groupsoh.

Obviously, the hallmark of people belonging to an in-group should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things and have some unanimity about areas of activity and goals in life.

Outgroup members can have many traits and characteristics common to all groups. this society, can share many common feelings and aspirations, but they always have certain particular traits and attributes, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of the members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously and involuntarily mark these traits, dividing previously unfamiliar people into "we" and "others."

In modern society, the individual belongs simultaneously to many groups, therefore big number in-group and out-group connections can overlap. A senior student will view a junior student as an individual belonging to an outgroup, but a junior student and a senior student may be members of the same sports team where they are part of an ingroup.

Researchers note that in-group identifications, intersecting in many directions, do not reduce the intensity of self-determination of differences, and the difficulty of including an individual in a group makes exclusion from in-groups more painful. So, a person who unexpectedly received a high status has all the attributes to get into high society, but cannot do this, since he is considered an upstart; the teenager desperately hopes to participate in the youth team, but she does not accept him; a worker who has come to work in a brigade cannot settle down in it and sometimes serves as a subject of ridicule. Thus, exclusion from ingroup can be a very cruel process. For example, most primitive societies consider outsiders a part of the animal world, many of them do not distinguish between the words "enemy" and "outsider", considering these concepts to be identical. The attitude of the Nazis, who excluded Jews from human society... Rudolf Hoss, who led the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where 700,000 Jews were killed, described this massacre as "the removal of alien racial biological bodies." In this case, in-group and out-group identifications led to fantastic brutality and cynicism.

The expected behavior of outgroup members when meeting depends on the type of outgroup. We expect hostility from some of them, more or less friendly attitude from others, and indifference from others. Expectations of specific behavior from outgroup members change significantly over time. So, a twelve-year-old boy avoids and does not like girls, but after a few years he becomes a romantic lover, and a few years later a spouse. During a sports match, representatives of different groups treat each other with hostility and may even hit each other, but as soon as the final whistle is sounded, their relationship changes dramatically, becomes calm or even friendly.

We are not equally included in our ingroup. Someone can, for example, be the soul of a friendly company, but in the team at the place of work they do not enjoy respect and be weakly included in intragroup ties. There is no identical assessment by the individual of the surrounding outgroups. A zealous follower of a religious doctrine will be closed for contacts with representatives of the communist worldview more than with representatives of social democracy. Each has its own scale for evaluating outgroups.

R. Park and E. Burgess (1924), as well as E. Bogardus (1933) developed the concept of social distance, which measures the feelings and attitudes shown by an individual or a social group towards various outgroups. Ultimately, the Bogardus scale was developed, which serves as a measure of the degree of acceptance or closeness in relation to other groups. Social distance is measured by looking separately at the relationships that people enter into with members of other groups. There are special questionnaires, answering which members of one group evaluate the relationship, rejecting or, conversely, accepting representatives of other groups. Informed group members are asked, when filling out the questionnaires, to indicate which of the familiar members of other groups they perceive as a neighbor, a workmate, as a marriage partner, and thus relationships are determined. Social distance questionnaires cannot accurately predict what people will do if a member of another group actually becomes a neighbor or workmate. The Bogardus scale is only an attempt to measure the feelings of each member of the group, unwillingness to communicate with other members of the group or other groups. What a person will do in any situation depends to a large extent on the combination of conditions or circumstances of a given situation (this is called situational determination of behavior).

Reference groups. The term "reference group", first introduced into circulation by the social psychologist Mustafa Sheriff in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which an individual relates himself as a standard and norms, opinions, values \u200b\u200band assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. The boy, playing the guitar or doing the spot, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee in an organization, seeking to make a career, is guided by the behavior of top management. It may also be observed that ambitious people, who unexpectedly received a lot of money, tend to imitate the representatives of the upper classes in dress and manners.

Sometimes the reference group and the in-group may coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager focuses on his company more than on the opinion of teachers. At the same time, the outgroup can be a reference, the examples above illustrate this.

Distinguish between normative and comparative reference functions of the group.

The normative function of the reference group is manifested in the fact that this group is a source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wishing to become an adult as soon as possible, tries to follow the norms and value orientations adopted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to another country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as soon as possible so as not to be a “black sheep”.

The comparative function is manifested in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard with which an individual can evaluate himself and others. Remember what we talked about about the concept of the mirror self. Ch. Cooley noted that if a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects separate reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms an I-image based on the assessments of these groups.

Stereotypes.Outgroups are usually perceived by individuals as stereotypes.

A social stereotype is a shared image of another group or category of people. When evaluating the actions of a group of people, we most often, in addition to our desire, ascribe to each of the individuals in the group, some traits that, in our opinion, characterize the group as a whole. For example, there is an opinion that all blacks are more passionate and temperamental than people representing the Caucasian race (although in reality this is not so), all the French are frivolous, the British are withdrawn and silent, the inhabitants of N are stupid, etc. The stereotype can be positive (kindness, courage, perseverance), negative (unscrupulousness, cowardice) and mixed (Germans are disciplined, but cruel).

Once it has arisen, the stereotype extends to all members of the corresponding outgroup without taking into account any individual differences. Therefore, it is never completely true. Indeed, it is impossible, for example, to talk about features of carelessness or cruelty towards an entire nation or even the population of a city. But stereotypes are never completely false, they must always correspond to some extent to the characteristics of a person from a stereotyped group, otherwise they would not be recognizable.

The mechanism of the emergence of social stereotypes has not been fully investigated, it is still not clear why one of the features begins to attract the attention of representatives of other groups and why it becomes a general phenomenon. But one way or another, stereotypes become part of culture, part of moral norms and role attitudes. Social stereotypes are supported by selective perception (only frequently recurring incidents or cases are selected that are noticed and remembered), selective interpretation (observations related to stereotypes are interpreted, for example, Jews are entrepreneurs, rich people are greedy, etc.), selective identification ( you look like a gypsy, you look like an aristocrat, etc.) and, finally, selective exception (he does not act like an Englishman, he does not look like a teacher at all, etc.). With the help of these processes, the stereotype is filled, so that even exceptions and misinterpretation serve as a breeding ground for the formation of stereotypes.

Stereotypes are constantly changing. The poorly dressed, chalk-stained school teacher, as a private stereotype, has actually died. The rather stable stereotype of a capitalist in a top hat and with a huge belly has also disappeared. We have already forgotten that at the beginning of the century, the Finns were considered “wild and ignorant Chukhonts”, and the Japanese before the Second World War were “Asians incapable of progress.” in our society, the stereotype of a woman as a weak, gentle and graceful representative of the human race.

Stereotypes are constantly being born, changed and disappeared because they are necessary for the members social group... With their help, we get concise and concise information about the outgroups around us. Such information determines our attitude towards other groups, allows us to navigate among the many surrounding groups and, ultimately, determine the line of behavior in communicating with representatives of outgroups. People always perceive a stereotype faster than true personality traits, since a stereotype is the result of many, sometimes accurate and subtle judgments, despite the fact that only some individuals in the outgroup fully correspond to it.

The difference in relationships between individuals is most pronounced in the primary and secondary groups.

Primary groups are groups in which each member sees the other members of the group as individuals and individuals. Achieving this vision occurs through social contacts that impart an intimate, personal and universal character to intragroup interactions, which include many elements of personal experience. In groups such as family or friendships, 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 in communication.

In the secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Here, friendly personal contacts with other members are not required, but all contacts are functional, as required by social roles. For example, the relationship of a site foreman and subordinate workers is impersonal and does not depend on the friendly relationship between them. The secondary group can be a labor union or some kind of 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 the specific needs of the members of this group as individuals.

The terms “primary” and “secondary” groups better characterize the types of group relationships than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve to achieve 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 clothes. So a group of friends meets in the evening for a chess game. They can play chess rather indifferently, but nevertheless please each other with their conversation. The main thing here is that everyone is a good partner, not a good player. The secondary group can function in conditions of friendly relations, but the main principle of its existence is the performance of specific functions. From this point of view, the team of professional chess players assembled to play in the team tournament certainly belongs to the secondary groups. It is important to select strong players who can take their rightful place in the tournament, and only then it is desirable that they be on friendly terms with each other. Thus, the primary group is always focused on the relationship between its members, while the secondary group is focused on the goal.

Primary groups usually form the personality, in which it is socialized. Everyone finds in it an intimate environment, sympathy and opportunities for the realization of personal interests. Each member of the secondary group can find in it an effective mechanism for achieving certain goals, but often at the cost of a loss of intimacy and warmth in the relationship. For example, a saleswoman as a member of a store's team of employees should be attentive and polite, even when the client does not arouse her sympathy, or a member of a sports team, when moving to another team, knows that relationships with colleagues will be difficult for him, but more opportunities will open before him. to achieve a higher position in this sport.

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

In sociology, there is another, slightly different approach to the division into primary and secondary socialization. According to him, socialization is divided into primary and secondary, depending on who acts as its main agent. With this approach, primary socialization refers to a process that takes place within small - primarily primary - groups (and they, as a rule, are informal). Secondary socialization takes place in the course of life within the framework of formal institutions and organizations (kindergarten, school, university, production). This criterion is of a normative-meaningful nature: primary socialization takes place under the watchful eye and decisive influence of informal agents, parents and peers, and the secondary one is influenced by the norms and values \u200b\u200bof formal agents, or institutions of socialization, i.e. kindergarten, schools, industries, army, militia, etc.

Primary groups are called small contact communities where people know each other, where there are informal, trusting relationships between them (family, neighborhood community). Secondary groups are social sets of people that are large enough in size, between which there are mainly formal relationships, when people treat each other not as individual and unique personalities, but in accordance with the formal status that they have.

A fairly frequent phenomenon is the entry of primary groups into secondary groups as constituent parts.

The main reason why the primary group is the most important agent of socialization is that for the individual the primary group to which he belongs is one of the most important reference groups. This term denotes that group (real or imaginary), the system of values \u200b\u200band norms of which acts for the individual as a kind of standard of behavior. A person always - voluntarily or involuntarily - correlates his intentions and actions with how they can be evaluated by those whose opinion he values, regardless of whether they are watching him realistically or only in his imagination. Reference1 can be the group to which the individual belongs at the moment, and the group of which he was a member before, and the one to which he would like to belong. The personified images of people who make up the reference group form an “internal audience”, which a person is guided by in his thoughts and actions.

As we said, the primary group is usually a family, a group of peers, a friendly company. Typical examples of secondary groups are army units, school classes, production teams. Some secondary groups, such as trade unions, can be viewed as associations in which at least some of their members interact with each other, in which there is a single normative system shared by all members and some common sense of corporate existence shared by all members. In accordance with this approach, primary socialization takes place in primary groups, and secondary - in secondary groups.

Primary social groups are the sphere of personal relationships, that is, informal ones. Such behavior between two or more people is called informal, the content, order and intensity of which is not regulated by any document, but is determined by the participants in the interaction itself.

An example is family.

Secondary social groups are the sphere of business relations, that is, formal ones. Formal are such contacts (or relationships), the content, order, time and regulations of which are regulated by any document. An example is the army.

Both groups - primary and secondary - as well as both types of relationships - informal and formal - are vital for every person. However, the time given to them and the extent of their influence differently distributed over different periods of life. For full socialization, an individual needs experience of communication in those and other environments. This is the principle of the diversity of socialization: the more heterogeneous the experience of communication and interaction of an individual with his social environment, the more fully the process of socialization proceeds.

The socialization process includes not only those who study and learn new knowledge, values, customs, norms. An important component of this process is also those who influence the learning process, to a decisive extent, shape it. They are called socialization agents. This category includes both specific people and social institutions. Individual agents of socialization can be parents, relatives, babysitters, family friends, teachers, coaches, adolescents, leaders of youth organizations, doctors, etc. Social institutions act as collective agents (for example, the family is the main agent of primary socialization).

Socialization agents are specific people (or groups of people) responsible for teaching cultural norms and mastering social roles.

Institutions of socialization are social institutions and institutions that influence the process of socialization and guide it: school and university, army and police, office and factory, etc.

Primary (informal) agents of socialization are parents, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, close and distant relatives, babysitters, family friends, peers, teachers, coaches, doctors, leaders of youth groups. The term "primary" refers in this context to everything that constitutes the immediate, or immediate, environment of a person. It is in this sense that sociologists speak of the small group as primary. The primary environment is not just the one closest to a person, but also the most important for the formation of his personality, since it is in the first place both in the degree of significance and in the frequency and density of contacts between him and all its members.

Secondary (formal) agents of socialization are representatives of formal groups and organizations: school, university, enterprises, officers and officials of the army, police, church, state, as well as those with whom contacts are mediated - employees of television, radio, press, parties, courts, etc.

Informal and formal agents of socialization (as we have already indicated, sometimes these can be whole institutions) affect a person in different ways, but both of them affect him throughout his entire life. life cycle... However, the impact of informal agents and informal relationships usually reaches its maximum at the beginning and at the end. human life, and the effect of formal business relations is felt most strongly by him in the middle of his life.

The reliability of this judgment is obvious even from the point of view common sense... A child, like an old man, is drawn to his relatives and friends, on whose help and protective actions his existence depends entirely. Old people and children are noticeably less mobile in social terms, more defenseless, they are less active politically, economically and professionally. Children have not yet become the productive force of society, and the old have already ceased to be it; both of them need the support of mature relatives who are in an active life position.

After 18-25 years, a person begins to actively engage in professional and industrial activities or business and make his own career. Bosses, partners, colleagues, schoolmates and workmates - these are the people whose opinion a mature person listens to the most, from whom he receives the most information he needs, which determine his career growth, salary, prestige and much more. How often do grown-up children-businessmen, who seem to have been holding their mother's hand quite recently, often call their "mothers"?

Among the primary agents of socialization in the above sense, not all play the same role and have equal status. There is no doubt that in relation to a child undergoing primary socialization, parents are in an advantageous position. As for his peers (those who play with him in the same sandbox), they are simply equal to him in status. They forgive him a lot of things that parents do not forgive: erroneous decisions, violation of moral principles and social norms, impudence, etc. Each social group can give an individual in the process of socialization no more than what they themselves are taught or what they themselves are socialized ... In other words, a child learns from adults how to be an adult “correctly”, and from peers how to be a child “correctly”: play, fight, cheat, how to relate to the opposite sex, be friends and be fair.

A small group of peers (Peer group) 151 at the stage of primary socialization performs the most important social function: it facilitates the transition from the state of dependence to independence, from childhood to adulthood. Contemporary sociology indicates that this type of collectivity plays a particularly important role at the stage of biological and psychological maturation. It is youthful peer groups that have a distinct tendency to possess: 1) a fairly high degree of solidarity; 2) a hierarchical organization; 3) codes that deny or even oppose adult values \u200b\u200band experiences. Parents are unlikely to be taught how to be a leader or achieve leadership in a peer group. In a sense, peers and parents influence the child in opposite directions, while the former often negate the efforts of the latter. Indeed, parents often look at their children's peers as competitors in a struggle to influence them.

Primary and secondary groups

The primary group is a group in which communication is maintained by direct personal contact, highly emotional involvement of members in the affairs of the group, which leads 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 size, spatial proximity of their members, immediacy, intimacy of relationships, duration of existence, unity of purpose, voluntariness of joining the group and informal control for 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 relations are formed 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 "basic groups" as groups of friends and groups of closest neighbors [see. about this: 139. С.330-335].

Later, this term was used by sociologists when studying any group, which was characterized by close personal relationships between its members. Primary groups act as a 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 the 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 labor collectives have a huge impact on the position of the individual in society. Primary groups form personality. They are in the process of socialization of the individual, the development of patterns of behavior, social norms, values \u200b\u200band ideals. Each individual finds in the primary group an intimate environment, sympathy and opportunities for the realization of personal interests.

The primary group is most often 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 disintegrates as a primary group and transforms into a formal small group.

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

1. To act as a source of moral standards that a person receives in childhood and which is guided throughout his entire subsequent life.

2. To act as a means of support and stabilization of an adult [see: II. P.40].

A secondary group is a group organized for the realization of certain goals, within which there are almost no emotional relationships and in which subject contacts, most often mediated, prevail. 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 - on the goal. 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 attached not to the personal qualities of the group members, but to their ability to perform certain functions. For example, at a factory, the position of an engineer, secretary, stenographer, or worker can be held by any person who has the necessary training. The individual characteristics of each of them are indifferent for 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, football), individual characteristics, personal qualities of each are unique and mean a lot, and therefore none of them can simply be replaced by another.

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

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

Theorists note that over the past two hundred years, the role of primary groups in society has weakened. Sociological studies carried out by Western sociologists for several decades have confirmed that secondary groups dominate at present. But there was also ample evidence that the seed group is still quite stable and is an important link between the individual and society. Basic heading studies were conducted in several areas: the role of basic heading in industry, during natural disasters, etc. The study of human behavior in different conditions and situations has shown that the basic groups still play an important role in the structure of the entire social life Society Reference group, as noted by G.S. Antipina. - "this is a real or imagined social group, the system of values \u200b\u200band norms of which acts as a standard for the individual."

The discovery of the phenomenon of "reference group" belongs to the American social psychologist H.H. Hyman (The psychology of ststys. N.I. 1942). This term was transferred to sociology from social psychology. At first, psychologists understood a "reference group" as a group whose standards of behavior the individual imitates and whose norms and values \u200b\u200bhe assimilates.

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 they belong to, but in some other group that they are guided by, i.e. accept norms of groups in which they are not really included. Such groups were called reference groups by G.Hayman. In his opinion, it was the "reference group" that helped to clarify the "paradox of 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 accepts as a standard and to which he "refers", and not the one that directly "surrounds" him. Thus, the term itself was born from the English verb to refer, i.e. to refer to something.

Another American psychologist M. Sheriff, with his name is associated with the final approval of the concept of "reference group" in American sociology, considering small groups that affect the behavior of an individual, divided them into two types: membership groups (of which the individual is a member) and non-membership, or actually reference groups (of which the individual is not a member, but with the values \u200b\u200band norms of which he correlates his behavior) [see: II. P. 56-57]. In this case, the concepts of the reference group and the membership group were considered as opposite.

Later, other researchers (R. Merton, T. Newcome) extended the concept of a "reference group" to all associations that acted as a standard for an individual in assessing his own social status, 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 before, began to act as a reference group.

The "referent-group" for an individual, says Y. Shche-pansky, is a group with which he voluntarily identifies himself. "its models and rules, its ideals become the ideals of the individual, and the role imposed by the group is performed with dedication, with the deepest conviction."

Thus, at present in the literature there is a double use of the term "reference group". In the first case, it refers to the group opposing the membership group. In the second case, a group emerging within a membership group, i.e. a circle of persons selected from the composition of a real group as a "significant social circle" for an individual. The norms adopted by the group become personally acceptable to the individual only when they are accepted by this circle of persons [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 an eye test. In fact, in most of the experiments, all but one of the participants were decoys, and the study was to test how one student reacted to the behavior of the majority.

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

The three main traits we have just looked at - interaction, membership, and group identity - are common to many groups. Two lovers, three comrades who go fishing on weekends, the bridge players' club, the scouts, the computer production association - they are all groups.But a group consisting of two lovers or three comrades is fundamentally different from a brigade that mounts a computer, sitting at one table. Lovers and friends form primary groups; computer assembly group - secondary.

Primary group consists of a small number of people, between whom relationships are established based on their individual characteristics. Primary groups are not large, for otherwise it is difficult to establish direct, personal relationships between all members.

Charles Cooley (1909) was the first to introduce the concept of the primary group in relation to the family, between whose members a stable emotional relationship develops. According to Cooley, the family is considered "primary," as it is the first group to play a major role in the socialization of infants. Subsequently, sociologists began to use this term when studying any group in which a close personal relationship has been formed that determines the essence of this group. Thus, lovers, groups of friends, club members who not only play bridge together, but also visit each other, are the primary groups.

Secondary group is formed from people between whom there are almost no emotional relationships, their interaction is due to the desire to achieve certain goals. In these groups, the main emphasis is not on personal qualities, but on the ability to perform certain functions. At an enterprise for the production of computers, the positions of a clerk, manager, courier, engineer, administrator can be occupied by any person with the appropriate training. If the people in these positions are doing their job, the organization can function. The personality of each person means almost nothing to the organization and vice versa, family members or groups of players are unique. Their personal qualities play an important role, none can be replaced by someone else.

Due to the fact that the roles in the secondary group are clearly defined, its members often know very little about each other. They usually don't hug when they meet. They do not develop the emotional relationships that are typical of friends and family members. In an organization related to work, the main are industrial relations. Thus, not only the roles, but also the modes of communication are clearly defined. Since face-to-face conversation is not effective, communication is often more formal and is done through written documents or phone calls.

However, one should not exaggerate a certain impersonality of secondary groups, allegedly devoid of originality. People form friendships and new groups at work, school, and within other secondary groups. If a sufficiently stable relationship develops between the individuals participating in communication, we can assume that they have created a new primary group.

PRIMARY GROUPS IN MODERN SOCIETY

Over the past two hundred years, social science theorists have noted a weakening of the role of primary groups in society. They believe that the industrial revolution, urban development and the rise of corporations led to the creation of a large, impersonal bureaucracy. To characterize these trends, concepts such as "mass society" and "community decline" were introduced.

But sociological research over several decades shows the complexity of these issues. Indeed, in modern world the dominance of secondary groups is observed. But at the same time, the primary group turned out to be quite stable and became an important link between the individual and the more formal, organizational side of life. Basic heading research focuses on several areas. Let's start by looking at the role of basic headings in industry.

Industry

Disasters

Social Control: A Chinese Example

Section 1 The main components of society.

Chapter 5. Social interaction

INDUSTRY

Sixty years ago, a group of social researchers studied the behavior of workers at Hawthorne's giant factory run by the Western Electric Company in Chicago. Scientists have sought to identify the factors affecting labor productivity and individual production of workers. For example, they believed that the number of work breaks affected productivity. So they selected a group of female workers and started an experiment. At first, female workers were given the opportunity to rest for a long time several times during the working day, then the rest periods were reduced, but became more frequent. The experimenters also shortened and lengthened the time allowed for lunch. In addition, lighting was intensified to varying degrees; brighter lighting was expected to improve productivity.

The results of the experiment surprised the researchers. When they lengthened rest periods, female workers' productivity increased. While shrinking, it continued to grow. But when the initial regime of work and rest was established, labor productivity increased even more. The same was observed in experiments related to changing the duration of lunch and the brightness of the lighting. With any change, the level of female production increased.

With these results, the researchers tried to identify factors other than working conditions that affected productivity. It turned out that the women selected for the experiment formed a group. It seemed to them that since they had been taken away, they acquired a special status, and they began to consider each other as representatives of a kind of "elite". Therefore, we tried to work as best as possible in accordance with the requirements of the researchers. This type of response came to be called hawthorne effect... It consisted in the following: probably the very fact that this particular group is being studied affects the behavior of its members even more than other factors that researchers seek to identify.

Based on this experiment and other data, the Hawthorne researchers concluded that the "human factor" plays an important role in work. When an employee acquired a new status of monetary reward, praise, or promotion, his productivity skyrocketed. This was also facilitated by efficient system responding to complaints. If an employee has the opportunity to discuss a problem with a patient boss who listens to him with compassion and respect, and if after that something changes for the better, workers' trust in management, their self-esteem and the desire for group unity increase.

The Hawthorne experimenters have also identified the beneficial role of small, well-organized groups of female workers. The members of such groups often tried to start fuss, jokes, games. After work, they played baseball, cards, went to visit each other. And these primary groups were able to influence the productivity of the entire plant. Despite attempts by management to control production by setting standards, these groups informally regulated the pace of work themselves. Those who worked too fast (they were called "upstarts") were subjected to social pressure from the group - they were teased, ridiculed or ignored. Often this pressure was so strong that workers deliberately worked slower and refused bonuses for exceeding production quotas (Rotlisberger, Dixon, 1947).