SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Ingroups And Outgroups
Document Summary
Social groups: primary groups: examples and change, secondary groups, networks, organizations, institutions. As social animals, humans form a variety of groups. Today will go over some of these types of social groups. Identities: we all have emotional attachment to groups: if someone asks what are you? you might respond that you are part of a particular group, canadian, quebecois, muslim, etc, these groups are commonly called primary groups. Instrumental function: groups are also a very effective means of pursuing goals. Coordination and collaboration allow us to do things we could not possibly do as an individual. William sumner: first american sociologist, paid considerable attention to primary groups. Binary instinct: suggested it"s natural for all humans to divide themselves into in- groups and out-groups. In-group: group of people you believe you belong to: one"s community, familial/ascriptive character close, born into it without choice. Our earliest ancestors seem to have lived in small bands of people, ranging from a dozen to 100.
