Group é a set of individualsthat together form a whole. There are several expressions that characterize the groups, for example: crowd, audience, public, band, march, clique, association, team, etc.
In sociology, the word group is applied indiscriminately to different sets of people, whose relationships are fused into a series of interconnected roles, and who interact in different ways. more or less standardized way and form the most diverse social groups, for example: members of a church, group of teachers, members of a club, students of a school etc.
The unity of action of a social group is fundamental and is produced by virtue of the conduct of its members, so that the action of the group, as a whole, has a purpose. For example: a football team where members adjust and coordinate in such a way the activities of each of them, and the entire team acts as if it were a machine in search of results.
Sociology, in the analysis of groups, classifies social groups into primary group and secondary group:
primary group
A primary group is one whose components, in a relatively small number, are closely associated. Contacts are predominantly personal, aiming at a close and integral coexistence of its members. The main primary group is the family, and it also includes friends and in some cases the neighborhood and in certain circumstances an entire society, necessarily small.
secondary group
Secondary group is the social group whose members, generally in large numbers, are associated by virtue of common interests, or to achieve pre-established goals. In them, contacts are predominantly impersonal. The secondary group is a macro group in which forms of indirect social control predominate, usually headed by people or specialized institutions. Among the secondary groups are large companies, unions, associations, political parties, etc.
Ethnic groups
Ethnic groups are groups formed by people who share a common cultural tradition, which unites them in an isolated social entity. From a certain point of view, any society with its particular culture constitutes an ethnic group. Even within the many politically unified societies of the modern world some ethnic groups stand out by their practices, beliefs, religion or language, and in certain cases, also by physical characteristics private individuals.