UCSP 4

• All society is organized around conflict, unequal division of labor and important decision making for the whole group
• Modern societies are expected to provide protection, law and order, economic security and a sense of belonging to their members
• In social sciences, it is their main goal to understand and create theories on how society is being organized
• Group


  Where people have the chance to interact with other people and think of themselves as belonging together
• The group exists as long as individuals are interested in belonging to it
• Each society is made up of smaller groups and associations that are built on social class, personal interest, or common goals
• Social group


  A number of individuals interacting with each other with respect to: 1) Common motives and goal, 2) An accepted division of labor, i.e. roles, 3) Established status (social rank, dominance) relationships, 4) Accepted norms and values with reference to matters relevant to the group, 5) Development of accepted sanctions if and when norms were respected or violated
• Primary group


  A small social group whose members shares personal and lasting relationships. Members of the primary spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of activities and leisure time together, and feel that they know one another well. They show real concern for one another and the primary group play a significant role in an individual's development
• Primary groups


  • Family
  • Friends
  • Love relationships
• Secondary group


  Large cluster of people who have a mutually shared purpose, often aiming to complete tasks. They are much less likely to be an influence to an individual's identity. They sometimes involve weak emotional and interpersonal ties compared to the primary group. They interact on a less personal level and their relationships are temporary
• Secondary groups


  • School/Class
  • Work or Place of Employment
• In-group


  A group wherein people feel that they are part of the social group. It is the social category or group with which you identify strongly
• Out-group


  A social category or group with which an individual does not identify
• There are a lot of factors which create the identity if an individual is in the in-group or out-group, such as race, culture, age, and religion
• In-group favoritism


  The fact that under certain conditions people will preference and have affinity for one's in-group over the out-group
• In-group favoritism


  • Managers trust people who are from their same race compared to other races
• Intergroup aggression


  In-group try to harm another person because they feel that they are part of the out-group
• Intergroup aggression


  • Sport fans try to shout at people who are not fans of their team
• Out-group derogation


  The phenomenon in which an out-group is perceived as being threatening to the members of the in-group
• Out-group derogation


  • Gang wars, where one group considers the other group as a threat to them
• Reference group


  A group to which we compare ourselves. It serves as a standard to which we measure our behaviors and attitudes. Reference groups are used in order to guide our behavior and attitudes and help us identify social norms
• Types of reference groups

  • Informal reference group
  • Formal reference group
  • Membership reference
  • Disclaimant reference groups
  • Aspirational reference group
  • Dissociative reference group
• Social network


  A theoretical construct useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies
• Levels of social network analysis

  • Micro
  • Meso
  • Macro
• Micro level


  Smallest level of analysis of social networks, explaining that a social network typically starts with an individual. It is divided into: Dyadic level, Triadic level, Actor level, and Subset level
• Meso level


  Level of analysis that begin with a population size that falls between the micro- and macro level, including organizations and scale-free networks
• Macro level


  Analyses that generally trace the outcomes of interactions, such as economic or other resources transfer interactions over a large population
• Kinship


  The "web of social relations" that humans form as part of a family, which is the smallest units of society
• Family


  A social and economic unit that consists of one or more parents and their children
• Points about the definition of family

  • A family is a socioeconomic unit
  • A family can have one or more parents
  • A family can have parents who are not married
  • A family can have parents with same gender
  • A family should have at least one child
• Two primary purposes of a family

  • To orient the individual of the norms of the society
  • To provide physical support as the individual matures
• Blood Relative


  Type of kinship links individuals based on their genetic relations
• Consanguinity


  Kinship based on blood—or birth: the relationship between parents and children as well as siblings
• Unilineal Descent


  Allows an individual to be affiliated to the descent of one sex group only – either the male or the female
• Types of Unilineal Descent

  • Matrilineal descent
  • Patrilineal descent
• Matrilineal descent


  Leads an individual to trace kinship relations through the female's line
• Patrilineal descent


  Allows an individual to trace his or her kinship through the male's line only
• Bilateral Descent


  Kin through both the male and female sides equally
• Marriage


  The socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and obligations
• Types of Families based on Marriage System

  • Patrifocal and Matrifocal
  • Monogamous
  • Polygamous
  • Extended Family