It has been so laid down for centuries that a person is a social being, for which it is practically impossible to live without society. Also, a person does not exist outside a certain social group.
Society as a set of social groups
Every society has a certain social structure - vertical and horizontal. The social structure, in turn, is formed by small and large groups, including a family, a work collective, a school class, a student group, etc. Each person during his life consists of several groups.
A group is a collection of two or more people who interact over a period of time. People unite in a group depending on the community of interests, goals, values, etc. Such groups are usually called social.
Allocate random social groups. They are characterized by massiveness and instability due to their spontaneous nature. These are people who came to the rally, spectators in a theater or cinema, passengers in a train carriage or a bus.
The groups of average stability in society include school classes, student groups, work collectives, etc. The most stable social community is the nation.
In turn, people belonging to groups, depending on its stability, form large and small social groups. A nation is a large social group, a team of builders is a small one.
Groups based on social content
The key feature by which people are divided into social groups is their social content. Sociologists distinguish five groups:
- socio-economic group (estate, class);
- socio-ethnic group (clan, tribe, nation);
- socio-demographic group (youth, old people, children);
- social and professional group (teachers, doctors, builders);
- a socio-territorial group (residents of territories, regions, republics).
One and the same individual is included in all five social groups, depending on what position he occupies in society. It is worth knowing that in the process of development of society, groups were not created and are not created artificially, by the will of man - they arose and formed spontaneously, that is, empirically. No one person will be able to avoid "membership" in this or that group.
However, a person at certain periods of his life can occupy a transitional position from one group to another. This usually does not last long. In modern society, there is the most striking division of people into social groups depending on the state of income, that is, the poor and the rich.
The science of sociology deals with the study of social groups and society as a whole.
