Throughout our lives, we are part of the most different groups of people, either by our own choice or by circumstances beyond our control. Thus, we move in and out of various social groups, which are certainly important in shaping our education, values and worldviews.
In sociology, it is considered that social groups exist when in a given set of people there are stable relationships, in reason of common goals and interests, as well as feelings of group identity developed through continuous contact. Stability in interpersonal relationships and shared feelings of belonging to the same social unit are sufficient conditions. Furthermore, it is important to note that the group exists even if you are not close to the components. Proof of this is the fact that, when we leave the last class of the week, although we stay away from those who make up our classroom, the class by itself does not fall apart, still existing as a group. In the same way, we can think this for our families, which corroborates the fact that the group is a reality intermental, that is, even if the individuals are far away, the feeling of belonging remains within the consciousness of each one.
We can have social groups such as participation and non-participation groups, that is, those with or without a bond. Whether or not we belong to a certain group will be fundamental to determine our behavior in relation to others (taken as peers or as different), although we know that by on the one hand we have the right to identify or not with some group, on the other we must avoid prejudice and discrimination (in all possible aspects) of those in others groups. In addition to these, we can have other groups such as reference (positive or negative), normative and comparative, all serving as a guide or parameter for our social relations. Our positive reference groups are most often the groups we participate in. However, we may have individuals who seek acceptance in groups they do not belong, such as teenagers who have friendships with older young people and start to imitate the behavior in a period of identity crisis and questions so common to adolescence. In the case of the negative reference, the same is valid. The family that should be positive becomes negative for the teenager who wants to transgress a set of values defended by his family.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Extending this classification, we can think of both informal and formal groups. It is possible to say that informal groups are those that we are part of without a rule or norm, necessarily controlling membership. We are owned by various factors from a subjective point of view, for other reasons that may not be rational or by a random choice. A good example is our groups of friends, such as at school, at work, at the club, in the neighborhood where we live. Let's see that, if on the one hand we can be part of the same group as another individual just by The fact that we study at the same school, on the other hand, does not mean that in fact all students are friends. Informal groups can also be understood as primary groups, that is, they are small and concern relationships between the people given by similarity and affinity, and the ultimate goal of the relationship is the relationship itself, and not a means to achieve something.
Formal groups, on the other hand, are guided by high rationality, and the individual who belongs to them is guided by laws, by rules, by a rational-legal bureaucracy, when social relations are mediated by contractual devices, as in a company, by example. Formal groups can also be taken as secondary groups, as they are large and concern to relationships between people for common interests, with the ultimate goal of the relationship being interdependence. Relationships do not have the same degree of permanence as in informal groups, as relationships are just a means to achieve a common goal.
It is worth saying that with the development of capitalism as a mode of production there was a greater division of labor, resulting in a increase in formal groups, given the rationalization of human relations, fundamentally guided by the interdependence of individuals in this logic capitalist.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Sociology - Brazil School
