A large structured secondary group formed to achieve. Primary and secondary groups as subjects of social relations

According With These criteria distinguish two types of groups: primary and secondary. Primary group– it is two or more individuals who have direct, personal, close relationships with each other. Expressive connections prevail in primary groups; we treat our friends, family members, lovers as an end in themselves, loving them for who they are. A secondary group is two or more individuals who are engaged in an impersonal relationship and come together to achieve some specific practical goal. . In the secondary groups, the instrumental type of connections prevails; here individuals are considered as means to an end, and not as an end in itself of mutual communication. An example is our relationship with a salesperson in a store or with a cashier at a service station. Sometimes the relationships of the primary group follow from the relationships of the secondary group. Such cases are not uncommon. Close relationships often arise between colleagues, because they are united by common problems, successes, jokes, gossip.

The difference in relationships between individuals is most clearly seen in primary and secondary groups. Under primary groups refers to groups in which social contacts give an intimate and personal character to intra-group interactions. In groups such as a family or a group of friends, its members tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed. They are interested in each other primarily as individuals, have common hopes and feelings, and fully satisfy their needs for communication. In secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Friendly personal contacts with other members are not required here, but all contacts are functional, as required. social roles. For example, the relationship between a leader and subordinates is impersonal and does not depend on friendly relations between them. The secondary group may be a labor union or some association, club, team. But the secondary group can also be considered two individuals trading in the bazaar. In some cases, such a group exists to achieve specific goals, including certain needs of members of this group as individuals.

The terms "primary" and "secondary" groups characterize the types of group relationships better than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve the achievement of objective goals, for example, in production, but it differs more in the quality of human relationships, the emotional satisfaction of its members, than in the efficiency of the production of products or clothing.

Secondary the group can function in conditions of friendly relations, but the main principle of its existence is the performance of specific functions.

Thus, the primary group is always oriented towards the relationships between its members, while the secondary is goal oriented.

The term “primary” is used to refer to problems or issues that are considered important and urgently needed. Undoubtedly, this definition is suitable for basic groups, since they form the basis of the relationship between people in society. First, primary groups play a decisive role in the process of socialization of the individual. Within such primary groups, infants and young children learn the basics of the society in which they were born and live. Such groups are a kind of training grounds on which we acquire the norms and principles necessary in the future. public life. Sociologists view seed groups as bridges connecting individuals to society as a whole, since seed groups transmit and interpret the cultural patterns of society and contribute to the development in the individual of a sense of community, so necessary for social solidarity.

Second, seed groups are fundamental because they provide the environment in which most of our personal needs are met. Within these groups, we experience feelings such as understanding, love, security, and a sense of well-being in general. Not surprisingly, the strength of primary group bonds has an impact on group functioning.

Third, seed groups are fundamental because they are powerful tools of social control. The members of these groups hold and distribute many of the vital goods that give meaning to our lives. When rewards do not achieve their purpose, members of primary groups are often able to achieve obedience by censuring or threatening to ostracize those who deviate from accepted norms.

More importantly, seed groups define social reality by "organizing" our experience. By proposing definitions for various situations, they seek from the members of the group behavior corresponding to the ideas developed in the group. Consequently, the primary groups perform the role of bearers of social norms and at the same time their conductors.

Secondary groups almost always contain some number of primary groups. A sports team, a production team, a school or student group is always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, into those with interpersonal contacts more or less frequent. When leading a secondary group, as a rule, primary social education, especially when performing single tasks associated with the interaction of a small number of group members.

Internal and external groups. Each individual singles out a certain set of groups to which he belongs, and defines them as "mine". It can be "my family", "my professional group", "my company", "my class". Such groups will be considered internal groups, that is, those to which he feels himself to belong and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the group as "we". Other groups to which the individual does not belong - other families, other groups of friends, others professional groups, other religious groups - will be for him outside groups, for which he selects the symbolic meanings "not us", "others".

In the least developed, primitive societies, people live in small groups, isolated from each other and representing clans of relatives. Kinship relationships in most cases determine the nature of ingroups and outgroups in these societies. When two strangers meet, the first thing they do is look for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the in-group. If kinship ties are not found, then in many societies of this type people feel hostile towards each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

IN modern society relations between its members are built on many types of ties besides kinship, but the feeling of an inner group, the search for its members among other people, remains very important for each person. When an individual enters an environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out if there are among them those who make up his social class or a layer that adheres to it. political views and interests.

Obviously, the hallmark of people belonging to an ingroup should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things, and have some unanimity about the spheres of activity and goals of life. Members of the outgroup may have many traits and characteristics common to all groups in a given society, they may share many feelings and aspirations common to all, but they always have certain particular traits and characteristics, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously and involuntarily mark these traits, dividing previously unfamiliar people into “we” and “others”

The term "reference group", first introduced by the social psychologist Muzafar Sherif in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which the individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem . The boy, playing the guitar or doing sports, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee in an organization, seeking to make a career, focuses on the behavior of top management. It can also be seen that ambitious people who have unexpectedly received a lot of money tend to imitate in dress and manners the representatives of the upper classes. Sometimes the reference group and the internal group may coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager is guided by his company more than by the opinion of teachers. At the same time, an external group can also be a reference group, the examples given above illustrate this.

There are normative and comparative referential functions of the group. Normative function of the reference group manifested in the fact that this group is the source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wanting to become an adult as soon as possible, tries to follow the norms and value orientations adopted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to another country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as quickly as possible so as not to be a "black sheep". Comparative function It manifests itself in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. C. Cooley noted that if a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects individual reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms a self-image based on the assessments of these groups.

Analysis social structure of society requires that the elementary particle of society, concentrating in itself all types of social ties, act as the unit under study. As such a unit of analysis, the so-called small group was chosen, which has become a permanent necessary attribute of all types of sociological research. However, only in the 1960s XX Art. emerged and began to develop a view of small groups as real elementary particles public structure.

Small groups are only those groups in which individuals have personal contacts each with each. Imagine a production team where everyone knows each other and communicates with each other in the course of work - this is a small group. On the other hand, the workshop team, where workers do not have constant personal contact, is a large group. About students in the same class who have personal contact with each other, we can say that this is a small group, and about all students of the school - a large group.

small group name a small number of people who know each other well and constantly interact with each other

Example: sports team, school class, nuclear family, youth party, production team

The small group is also called primary, contact, informal. The term "small group" is more common than "primary group". The following are known definitions small group

J. Homans: a small group represents a certain number of people interacting with each other for a certain time and small enough to be able to contact each other without intermediaries

R. Bales: a small group is a certain number of people actively interacting with each other during more than one face-to-face meeting, so that everyone gets a certain idea of ​​\u200b\u200ball the others, sufficient to distinguish each person personally, respond to him or during a meeting , or later, remembering it

The main features of a small group:

1. Limited number of group members. The upper limit is 20 people, the lower one is 2. If the group exceeds the "critical mass", then it breaks up into subgroups, cliques, factions. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer people.

2. composition stability. A small group, unlike a large one, rests on the individual uniqueness and indispensability of the participants.

3. Internal structure. It includes a system of informal roles and statuses, a mechanism of social control, sanctions, norms and rules of conduct.

4. The number of links increases exponentially if the number of members increases arithmetic. In a group of three people, only four relationships are possible, in a group of four - 11, and in a group of 7 - 120 relationships.

5. The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction in it. The larger the group, the more often the relationship loses its personal character, formalizes and ceases to satisfy the members of the group. In a group of 5 people, its members get more personal satisfaction than in a group of 7. A group of 5-7 people is considered optimal. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer individuals.

6. The size of the group depends on the nature of the group's activities. Financial committees of large banks, responsible for specific actions, usually consist of 6-7 people, and parliamentary committees, engaged in theoretical discussion of issues, include 14-15 people.

7. Belonging to a group is motivated by the hope of finding in it the satisfaction of personal needs. A small group, unlike a large one, satisfies the greatest number of vital human needs. If the amount of satisfaction received in the group falls below a certain level, the individual leaves it.

8. Interaction in a group is stable only when it is accompanied by mutual reinforcement of the people participating in it. The greater the individual contribution to the group's success, the more motivated others are to do the same. If one ceases to make the necessary contribution to meeting the needs of others, then he is expelled from the group.

SMALL GROUP FORMS

A small group takes many forms up to very complex, branched and multi-tiered formations. However, there are only two initial forms - the dyad and the triad.

A dyad consists of two people. For example, couples in love. They constantly meet, spend leisure time together, exchange signs of attention. They form stable interpersonal relationships based primarily on feelings - love, hatred, goodwill, coldness, jealousy, pride.

The emotional attachment of lovers makes them take care of each other. Giving his love, the partner hopes that in return he will receive no less reciprocal feeling.

Thus, initial law of interpersonal relations in a dyad- exchange equivalence and reciprocity. In large social groups, say, in a production organization or a bank, such a law may not be observed: the boss demands and takes more from the subordinate than he gives in return

Triad - active interaction of three people. When in a conflict two oppose one, the latter is already faced with the opinion of the majority. In a dyad, the opinion of one person can be considered both false and true in equal measure. Only in the triad does a numerical majority appear for the first time. And although it consists of only two people, the point is not in the quantitative, but in the qualitative side. In the triad, the phenomenon of the majority is born, and with it, a social relationship, a social principle, is truly born.

Dyad- extremely fragile association. Strong mutual feelings and affection instantly turn into their opposite. A love couple breaks up with the departure of one of the partners or cooling of feelings

The triad is more stable. It has less intimacy and emotion, but a better division of labor More complex division of labor gives more independence to individuals. Two unite against one in solving some issues and change the composition of the coalition in solving others. In a triad, everyone alternates roles and as a result no one dominates.

The social group is characterized regularity: the number of possible combinations and roles grows much faster than the size of the group expands.

The structure of connections and relationships in a small group is studied by the sociogram method

The relationships between group members can be schematically represented in the form of a sociogram, which indicates who is interacting with whom and who is actually the leader of the group.

Imagine a working group in an enterprise where you need to conduct a survey. Everyone had to speak out with whom exactly he prefers to work together, spend leisure time, with whom he would like to go on a date, etc. Mutual choices are applied to the drawing: each type of connection is a special line shape.

Note. Solid arrow - leisure, wavy - date, corner - work.

It follows from the sociogram that Ivan is the leader of this group ( maximum amount shooter, and Sasha and Kolya are outsiders.

Leader- a member of the group who enjoys the greatest sympathy and makes decisions in the most important situations (he has the greatest authority and power). He is promoted due to his personal qualities.

If there is only one leader in a small group, then there may be several outsiders.

When there is more than one leader, the group splits into subgroups. They are called clicks.

Although there is only one leader in the group, There may be several authorities. The leader relies on them, imposing his decisions on the group. They form public opinion groups and form its core. If, for example, you need to have a party or go on a hike, then the core acts as an organizer.

So, the leader is the focus of group processes. Members of the group seem to delegate (by default) to him the power and the right to make decisions in the interests of the entire group. And they do it voluntarily.

Leadership is a relationship of dominance and subordination within a small group.

Small groups tend to have two types of leaders. One type of leader, the “production specialist,” is concerned with evaluating current tasks and organizing actions to accomplish them. The second is a “specialist psychologist” who is good at dealing with interpersonal problems, relieves tension between people and helps to increase the spirit of solidarity in the group. The first type of leadership is instrumental, aimed at achieving group goals; the second is expressive, focused on creating an atmosphere of harmony and solidarity in the group. In some cases, one person assumes both of these roles, but usually each of the roles is performed by a separate leader. No role can necessarily be seen as more important than the other; the relative importance of each role is dictated by the particular situation.

A small group can be either primary or secondary, depending on what type of relationship exists between its members. As for the large group, it can only be secondary. Numerous studies of small groups conducted by J. Homans in 1950. and R. Mills in 1967, showed, in particular, that small groups differ from large ones not only in size, but also in qualitatively different socio-psychological characteristics. The differences in some of these characteristics are given below as an example.

Small groups have:

1. Non-Group Goal Actions

2. group opinion as a permanent factor of social control

3. conformism to group norms.

Large groups have:

1. rational goal-oriented actions

2. group opinion is rarely used, control is carried out from top to bottom

3. conformity to the policy pursued by the active part of the group.

Thus, most often small groups in their constant activity are not guided by the final group goal, while the activity of large groups is rationalized to such an extent that the loss of the goal most often leads to their disintegration. In addition, in a small group, such a means of monitoring and implementing joint activities as a group opinion. Personal contacts allow all members of the group to participate in the development of a group opinion and control over the conformity of group members in relation to this opinion. Large groups, due to the lack of personal contacts between all their members, with rare exceptions, do not have the opportunity to develop a common group opinion.

Small groups are of interest as elementary particles of the social structure in which social processes, the mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, role relationships are traced.

GROUPS SEPARATED BY THE NATURE OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THEIR MEMBERS

DIVISION OF GROUPS ON THE BASIS OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S BELONGING TO THEM

Ingroup and outgroup. Each individual singles out a certain set of groups to which he belongs, and defines them as "mine". It can be "my family", "my professional group", "my company", "my class". Such groups will be considered ingroups, i.e. those to which he feels himself to belong and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the ingroup as "we". Other groups to which the individual does not belong - other families, other groups of friends, other professional groups, other religious groups - will be outgroups for him, for which he selects the symbolic meanings "not us", "others".

In the least developed, primitive societies, people live in small groups, isolated from each other and representing clans of relatives. Kinship relationships in most cases determine the nature of ingroups and outgroups in these societies. When two strangers meet, the first thing they do is look for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the ingroup. If kinship ties are not found, then in many societies of this type people feel hostile towards each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

In modern society, relations between its members are built on many types of ties besides kinship, but the feeling of the group, the search for its members among other people, remains very important for every person. When an individual enters an environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out if there are among them those who make up his social class or a layer that adheres to his political views and interests. Someone who goes in for sports, for example, is interested in people who understand sports events, and even better, those who support the same team as him. Inveterate philatelists involuntarily divide all people into those who simply collect stamps, and those who are interested in them, and are looking for like-minded people, communicating in different groups.

It is obvious that the mark of people belonging to an ingroup should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things and have some unanimity about the spheres of activity and goals of life.

Outgroup members may have many traits and characteristics common to all groups in a given society, they may share many feelings and aspirations common to all, but they always have certain particular traits and characteristics, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously and involuntarily mark these features, dividing previously unfamiliar people into “we” and “others”.

In modern society, an individual belongs to many groups at the same time, so a large number of in-group and out-group ties can intersect. An older student will consider a junior student as an outgroup individual, but a junior student and an older student may be members of the same sports team where they are in an ingroup.

Researchers note that ingroup identifications, intersecting in many directions, do not reduce the intensity of self-determination of differences, and the difficulty of including an individual in a group makes exclusion from ingroups more painful. Thus, a person who has suddenly received a high status has all the attributes to get into high society, but cannot do this, since he is considered an upstart; a teenager desperately hopes to participate in the youth team, but she does not accept him; a worker who comes to work in a brigade cannot take root in it and sometimes serves as a subject of ridicule. Thus, exclusion from ingroups can be a very brutal process. For example, most primitive societies consider strangers to be part of the animal world, many of them do not distinguish between the words "enemy" and "stranger", considering these concepts to be identical. Not too different from this point of view is the attitude of the Nazis, who excluded the Jews from human society. Rudolf Hoss, who ran the Auschwitz concentration camp where 700,000 Jews were exterminated, characterized the massacre as "the removal of alien racial-biological bodies." In this case, in-group and out-group identifications led to fantastic cruelty and cynicism.

The behavior expected from representatives of an outgroup at a meeting depends on the type of this outgroup. We expect hostility from some of them, a more or less friendly attitude from others, and indifference from others. Expectations for certain behaviors from members of outgroups undergo significant changes over time. So, a twelve-year-old boy avoids and does not like girls, but after a few years he becomes a romantic lover, and a few years later a spouse. During sports match representatives of different groups treat each other with hostility and may even hit each other, but as soon as the final whistle sounds, their relations change dramatically, become calm or even friendly.

We are not equally included in our ingroups. Someone may, for example, be the soul of a friendly company, but in the team at the place of work they do not enjoy respect and be poorly included in intra-group communications. There is no identical assessment by the individual of the outgroups surrounding him. A zealous follower of religious teaching will be more closed to contacts with representatives of the communist worldview than with representatives of social democracy. Everyone has their own outgroup rating scale.

R. Park and E. Burges (1924), as well as E. Bogardus (1933) developed the concept of social distance, which allows you to measure the feelings and attitudes shown by an individual or a social group towards various outgroups. Ultimately, the Bogardus scale was developed to measure the degree of acceptance or closeness towards other groups. Social distance is measured by separately considering the relationships that people enter into with members of other groups. There are special questionnaires, answering which members of one group evaluate the relationship, rejecting or, conversely, accepting representatives of other groups. Informed members of the group are asked, when filling out the questionnaires, to indicate which of the members of other groups they know they perceive as a neighbor, work comrade, as a marriage partner, and thus relationships are determined. Social distance questionnaires cannot accurately predict people's actions if a member of another group actually becomes a neighbor or workmate. The Bogardus scale is only an attempt to measure the feelings of each member of the group, the disinclination to communicate with other members of this group or other groups. What a person will do in any situation depends to a large extent on the totality of the conditions or circumstances of this situation (this is called situational determination of behavior).

reference groups. The term "reference group", first introduced into circulation by the social psychologist Mustafa Sherif in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which the individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem. A boy, playing the guitar or doing a spot, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee in an organization, seeking to make a career, focuses on the behavior of top management. It can also be seen that ambitious people who have unexpectedly received a lot of money tend to imitate in dress and manners the representatives of the upper classes.

Sometimes the reference group and ingroup may coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager is guided by his company to a greater extent than by the opinion of teachers. At the same time, an outgroup can also be a reference group; the above examples illustrate this.

There are normative and comparative referential functions of the group.

The normative function of the reference group is manifested in the fact that this group is the source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wanting to become an adult as soon as possible, tries to follow the norms and value orientations adopted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to another country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as quickly as possible so as not to be a "black sheep".

The comparative function is manifested in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. Remember what we said about the concept of the mirror self. C. Cooley noted that if a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects individual reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms a self-image based on the assessments of these groups.

Stereotypes. Outgroups are usually perceived by individuals as stereotypes.

A social stereotype is a shared image of another group or category of people. When evaluating the actions of a group of people, we most often, in addition to our desire, attribute to each of the individuals in the group some features that, in our opinion, characterize the group as a whole. For example, there is an opinion that all blacks are more passionate and temperamental than people representing the Caucasoid race (although in fact this is not so), all the French are frivolous, the British are closed and silent, the inhabitants of the city of N are stupid, etc. The stereotype can be positive (kindness, courage, perseverance), negative (unscrupulousness, cowardice) and mixed (Germans are disciplined, but cruel).

Having arisen once, the stereotype extends to all members of the corresponding outgroup without taking into account any individual differences. Therefore, it is never completely true. Indeed, one cannot, for example, speak of traits of negligence or cruelty towards an entire nation or even the population of a city. But stereotypes are never completely false, they must always correspond to some extent to the characteristics of the person from the stereotyped group, otherwise they would not be recognizable.

The mechanism of the emergence of social stereotypes has not been fully explored, it is still not clear why one of the features begins to attract the attention of representatives of other groups and why it becomes a general phenomenon. But one way or another, stereotypes become part of culture, part of moral norms and role-playing attitudes. Social stereotypes are supported by selective perception (only frequently repeated incidents or cases that are noticed and remembered are selected), selective interpretation (observations related to stereotypes are interpreted, for example, Jews are entrepreneurs, rich people are greedy, etc.), selective identification ( you look like a gypsy, you look like an aristocrat, etc.) and, finally, a selective exception (he does not act like an Englishman, he does not at all look like a teacher, etc.). Through these processes, the stereotype is filled, so that even exceptions and misinterpretations serve as a breeding ground for the formation of stereotypes.

Stereotypes are constantly changing Poorly dressed, chalk-stained schoolteacher as a private stereotype has actually died. A fairly stable stereotype of a capitalist in a top hat and with a huge belly has also disappeared. We have already forgotten that at the beginning of the century the Finns were considered "wild and ignorant Finns", and the Japanese before the Second World War - "Asians incapable of progress" Unfortunately, disappeared in in our society, the stereotype of women as weak, delicate and graceful of the human race.

Stereotypes are constantly born, changed and disappear because they are necessary for members of a social group. With their help, we get concise and concise information about the outgroups around us. Such information determines our attitude towards other groups, allows us to navigate among the many surrounding groups, and ultimately determine the line of conduct in communication with representatives of outgroups. People always perceive the stereotype faster than the true personality traits, since the stereotype is the result of many, sometimes well-aimed and subtle judgments, despite the fact that only some individuals in the outgroup fully correspond to it.

The difference in relationships between individuals is most clearly seen in primary and secondary groups.

Primary groups are those groups in which each member sees the other members of the group as persons and individuals. The achievement of such a vision occurs through social contacts that give an intimate, personal and universal character to intragroup interactions, which include many elements of personal experience. In groups such as a family or a group of friends, its members tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed. They are interested in each other primarily as individuals, have common hopes and feelings, and fully satisfy their needs for communication.

In secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Friendly personal contacts with other members are not required here, but all contacts are functional, as required by social roles. For example, the relationship between the site foreman and subordinate workers is impersonal and does not depend on friendly relations between them. The secondary group may be a labor union or some association, club, team. But the secondary group can also be considered two individuals trading in the bazaar. In some cases, such a group exists to achieve specific goals, including certain needs of members of this group as individuals.

The terms "primary" and "secondary" groups characterize the types of group relationships better than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve the achievement of objective goals, for example, in production, but it differs more in the quality of human relationships, the emotional satisfaction of its members, than in the efficiency of the production of products or clothing. So a group of friends meet in the evening for a chess game. They can play chess rather indifferently, but nevertheless please each other with their conversation. The main thing here is that everyone should be a good partner, not a good player. The secondary group can function in conditions of friendly relations, but the main principle of its existence is the performance of specific functions. From this point of view, a team of professional chess players assembled to play in a team tournament certainly belongs to the secondary groups. It is important here to select strong players who can take a worthy place in the tournament, and only then it is desirable that they be on friendly terms with each other. Thus, the primary group is always oriented towards the relationships between its members, while the secondary is goal oriented.

Primary groups usually form a personality, in which it is socialized. Everyone finds in it an intimate environment, sympathy and opportunities for the realization of personal interests. Each member of the secondary group can find in it an effective mechanism for achieving certain goals, but often at the cost of losing intimacy and warmth in relationships. For example, a saleswoman, as a member of a team of store employees, must be attentive and polite, even when she does not like the client, or a member of a sports team, when moving to another team, knows that his relationships with colleagues will be difficult, but more opportunities will open up before him. to achieve a higher position in this sport.

Secondary groups almost always contain a number of primary groups. A sports team, a production team, a school class, or a student group are always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, into those who have interpersonal contacts more and less often. When managing a secondary group, as a rule, primary social formations are taken into account, especially when performing single tasks related to the interaction of a small number of group members.

According With These criteria distinguish two types of groups: primary and secondary. Primary group– it is two or more individuals who have direct, personal, close relationships with each other. Expressive connections prevail in primary groups; we treat our friends, family members, lovers as an end in themselves, loving them for who they are. A secondary group is two or more individuals who are engaged in an impersonal relationship and come together to achieve some specific practical goal. . In the secondary groups, the instrumental type of connections prevails; here individuals are considered as means to an end, and not as an end in itself of mutual communication. An example is our relationship with a salesperson in a store or with a cashier at a service station. Sometimes the relationships of the primary group follow from the relationships of the secondary group. Such cases are not uncommon. Close relationships often arise between colleagues, because they are united by common problems, successes, jokes, gossip.

The difference in relationships between individuals is most clearly seen in primary and secondary groups. Under primary groups are understood as such groups in which social contacts give an intimate and personal character to intra-group interactions. In groups such as a family or a group of friends, its members tend to make social relationships informal and relaxed. They are interested in each other primarily as individuals, have common hopes and feelings, and fully satisfy their needs for communication. In secondary groups, social contacts are impersonal, one-sided and utilitarian. Friendly personal contacts with other members are not required here, but all contacts are functional, as required by social roles. For example, the relationship between a leader and subordinates is impersonal and does not depend on friendly relations between them. The secondary group may be a labor union or some association, club, team. But the secondary group can also be considered two individuals trading in the bazaar. In some cases, such a group exists to achieve specific goals, including certain needs of members of this group as individuals.

The terms "primary" and "secondary" groups characterize the types of group relationships better than indicators of the relative importance of this group in the system of other groups. The primary group can serve the achievement of objective goals, for example, in production, but it differs more in the quality of human relationships, the emotional satisfaction of its members, than in the efficiency of the production of products or clothing.

Secondary the group can function in conditions of friendly relations, but the main principle of its existence is the performance of specific functions.

Thus, the primary group is always oriented towards the relationships between its members, while the secondary is goal oriented.

The term “primary” is used to refer to problems or issues that are considered important and urgently needed. Undoubtedly, this definition is suitable for basic groups, since they form the basis of the relationship between people in society. First, primary groups play a decisive role in the process of socialization of the individual. Within such primary groups, infants and young children learn the basics of the society in which they were born and live. Such groups are a kind of training grounds on which we acquire the norms and principles necessary in further social life. Sociologists view seed groups as bridges connecting individuals to society as a whole, since seed groups transmit and interpret the cultural patterns of society and contribute to the development in the individual of a sense of community, so necessary for social solidarity.

Second, seed groups are fundamental because they provide the environment in which most of our personal needs are met. Within these groups, we experience feelings such as understanding, love, security, and a sense of well-being in general. Not surprisingly, the strength of primary group bonds has an impact on group functioning.

Third, seed groups are fundamental because they are powerful tools of social control. The members of these groups hold in their hands and distribute many vital goods, giving meaning to our lives. When rewards do not achieve their purpose, members of primary groups are often able to achieve obedience by censuring or threatening to ostracize those who deviate from accepted norms.

More importantly, seed groups define social reality by "organizing" our experience. By proposing definitions for various situations, they seek from the members of the group behavior corresponding to the ideas developed in the group. Consequently, the primary groups perform the role of bearers of social norms and at the same time their conductors.

Secondary groups almost always contain some number of primary groups. A sports team, a production team, a school or student group is always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, into those with interpersonal contacts more or less frequent. When managing a secondary group, as a rule, primary social formations are taken into account, especially when performing single tasks related to the interaction of a small number of group members.

Internal and external groups. Each individual singles out a certain set of groups to which he belongs, and defines them as "mine". It can be "my family", "my professional group", "my company", "my class". Such groups will be considered internal groups, that is, those to which he feels himself to belong and in which he identifies with other members in such a way that he regards the members of the group as "we". Other groups to which the individual does not belong - other families, other groups of friends, other professional groups, other religious groups - will be for him outside groups, for which he selects the symbolic meanings "not us", "others".

In the least developed, primitive societies, people live in small groups, isolated from each other and representing clans of relatives. Kinship relationships in most cases determine the nature of ingroups and outgroups in these societies. When two strangers meet, the first thing they do is look for family ties, and if any relative connects them, then both of them are members of the in-group. If kinship ties are not found, then in many societies of this type people feel hostile towards each other and act in accordance with their feelings.

In modern society, relations between its members are built on many types of ties besides kinship, but the feeling of an inner group, the search for its members among other people, remains very important for every person. When an individual enters an environment of strangers, he first of all tries to find out if there are among them those who make up his social class or a layer that adheres to his political views and interests.

Obviously, the hallmark of people belonging to an ingroup should be that they share certain feelings and opinions, say, laugh at the same things, and have some unanimity about the spheres of activity and goals of life. Members of the outgroup may have many traits and characteristics common to all groups in a given society, they may share many feelings and aspirations common to all, but they always have certain particular traits and characteristics, as well as feelings that are different from the feelings of members of the ingroup. And people unconsciously and involuntarily mark these traits, dividing previously unfamiliar people into “we” and “others”

The term "reference group", first introduced by the social psychologist Muzafar Sherif in 1948, means a real or conditional social community with which the individual relates himself as a standard and to the norms, opinions, values ​​and assessments of which he is guided in his behavior and self-esteem . The boy, playing the guitar or doing sports, focuses on the lifestyle and behavior of rock stars or sports idols. An employee in an organization, seeking to make a career, focuses on the behavior of top management. It can also be seen that ambitious people who have unexpectedly received a lot of money tend to imitate in dress and manners the representatives of the upper classes. Sometimes the reference group and the internal group may coincide, for example, in the case when a teenager is guided by his company more than by the opinion of teachers. At the same time, an external group can also be a reference group, the examples given above illustrate this.

There are normative and comparative referential functions of the group. Normative function of the reference group manifested in the fact that this group is the source of norms of behavior, social attitudes and value orientations of the individual. So, a little boy, wanting to become an adult as soon as possible, tries to follow the norms and value orientations adopted among adults, and an emigrant who comes to another country tries to master the norms and attitudes of the indigenous people as quickly as possible so as not to be a "black sheep". Comparative function It manifests itself in the fact that the reference group acts as a standard by which an individual can evaluate himself and others. C. Cooley noted that if a child perceives the reaction of loved ones and believes their assessments, then a more mature person selects individual reference groups, belonging or not belonging to which is especially desirable for him, and forms a self-image based on the assessments of these groups.

An analysis of the social structure of society requires that the unit under study be an elementary particle of society, concentrating in itself all types of social ties. As such a unit of analysis, the so-called small group was chosen, which has become a permanent necessary attribute of all types of sociological research. However, only in the 1960s XX Art. a view arose and began to develop of small groups as real elementary particles of the social structure.

Small groups are only those groups in which individuals have personal contacts each with each. Imagine a production team where everyone knows each other and communicates with each other in the course of work - this is a small group. On the other hand, the workshop team, where workers do not have constant personal contact, is a large group. About students in the same class who have personal contact with each other, we can say that this is a small group, and about all students of the school - a large group.

small group name a small number of people who know each other well and constantly interact with each other

Example: sports team, school class, nuclear family, youth party, production team

The small group is also called primary, contact, informal. The term "small group" is more common than "primary group". The following are known small group definitions

J. Homans: a small group represents a certain number of people interacting with each other for a certain time and small enough to be able to contact each other without intermediaries

R. Bales: a small group is a certain number of people actively interacting with each other during more than one face-to-face meeting, so that everyone gets a certain idea of ​​\u200b\u200ball the others, sufficient to distinguish each person personally, respond to him or during a meeting , or later, remembering it

The main features of a small group:

1. Limited number of group members. The upper limit is 20 people, the lower one is 2. If the group exceeds the "critical mass", then it breaks up into subgroups, cliques, factions. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer people.

2. composition stability. A small group, unlike a large one, rests on the individual uniqueness and indispensability of the participants.

3. Internal structure. It includes a system of informal roles and statuses, a mechanism of social control, sanctions, norms and rules of conduct.

4. The number of links increases exponentially if the number of members increases arithmetic. In a group of three people, only four relationships are possible, in a group of four - 11, and in a group of 7 - 120 relationships.

5. The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction in it. The larger the group, the more often the relationship loses its personal character, formalizes and ceases to satisfy the members of the group. In a group of 5 people, its members get more personal satisfaction than in a group of 7. A group of 5-7 people is considered optimal. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include 7 or fewer individuals.

6. The size of the group depends on the nature of the group's activities. Financial committees of large banks, responsible for specific actions, usually consist of 6-7 people, and parliamentary committees, engaged in theoretical discussion of issues, include 14-15 people.

7. Belonging to a group is motivated by the hope of finding in it the satisfaction of personal needs. A small group, unlike a large one, satisfies the greatest number of vital human needs. If the amount of satisfaction received in the group falls below a certain level, the individual leaves it.

8. Interaction in a group is stable only when it is accompanied by mutual reinforcement of the people participating in it. The greater the individual contribution to the group's success, the more motivated others are to do the same. If one ceases to make the necessary contribution to meeting the needs of others, then he is expelled from the group.

SMALL GROUP FORMS

A small group takes many forms up to very complex, branched and multi-tiered formations. However, there are only two initial forms - the dyad and the triad.

A dyad consists of two people. For example, couples in love. They constantly meet, spend leisure time together, exchange signs of attention. They form stable interpersonal relationships based primarily on feelings - love, hatred, goodwill, coldness, jealousy, pride.

The emotional attachment of lovers makes them take care of each other. Giving his love, the partner hopes that in return he will receive no less reciprocal feeling.

Thus, initial law of interpersonal relations in a dyad- exchange equivalence and reciprocity. In large social groups, say, in a production organization or a bank, such a law may not be observed: the boss demands and takes more from the subordinate than he gives in return

Triad - active interaction of three people. When in a conflict two oppose one, the latter is already faced with the opinion of the majority. In a dyad, the opinion of one person can be considered both false and true in equal measure. Only in the triad does a numerical majority appear for the first time. And although it consists of only two people, the point is not in the quantitative, but in the qualitative side. In the triad, the phenomenon of the majority is born, and with it, a social relationship, a social principle, is truly born.

Dyad- extremely fragile association. Strong mutual feelings and affection instantly turn into their opposite. A love couple breaks up with the departure of one of the partners or cooling of feelings

The triad is more stable. It has less intimacy and emotion, but a better division of labor More complex division of labor gives more independence to individuals. Two unite against one in solving some issues and change the composition of the coalition in solving others. In a triad, everyone alternates roles and as a result no one dominates.

The social group is characterized regularity: the number of possible combinations and roles grows much faster than the size of the group expands.

The structure of connections and relationships in a small group is studied by the sociogram method

The relationships between group members can be schematically represented in the form of a sociogram, which indicates who is interacting with whom and who is actually the leader of the group.

Imagine a working group in an enterprise where you need to conduct a survey. Everyone had to speak out with whom exactly he prefers to work together, spend leisure time, with whom he would like to go on a date, etc. Mutual choices are applied to the drawing: each type of connection is a special line shape.

Note. Solid arrow - leisure, wavy - date, corner - work.

It follows from the sociogram that Ivan is the leader of this group (the maximum number of shooters, while Sasha and Kolya are outsiders.

Leader- a member of the group who enjoys the greatest sympathy and makes decisions in the most important situations (he has the greatest authority and power). He is promoted due to his personal qualities.

If there is only one leader in a small group, then there may be several outsiders.

When there is more than one leader, the group splits into subgroups. They are called clicks.

Although there is only one leader in the group, There may be several authorities. The leader relies on them, imposing his decisions on the group. They form the public opinion of the group and form its core. If, for example, you need to have a party or go on a hike, then the core acts as an organizer.

So, the leader is the focus of group processes. Members of the group seem to delegate (by default) to him the power and the right to make decisions in the interests of the entire group. And they do it voluntarily.

Leadership is a relationship of dominance and subordination within a small group.

Small groups tend to have two types of leaders. One type of leader, the “production specialist,” is concerned with evaluating current tasks and organizing actions to accomplish them. The second is a “specialist psychologist” who is good at dealing with interpersonal problems, relieves tension between people and helps to increase the spirit of solidarity in the group. The first type of leadership is instrumental, aimed at achieving group goals; the second is expressive, focused on creating an atmosphere of harmony and solidarity in the group. In some cases, one person assumes both of these roles, but usually each of the roles is performed by a separate leader. No role can necessarily be seen as more important than the other; the relative importance of each role is dictated by the particular situation.

A small group can be either primary or secondary, depending on what type of relationship exists between its members. As for the large group, it can only be secondary. Numerous studies of small groups conducted by J. Homans in 1950. and R. Mills in 1967, showed, in particular, that small groups differ from large ones not only in size, but also in qualitatively different socio-psychological characteristics. The differences in some of these characteristics are given below as an example.

Small groups have:

1. Non-Group Goal Actions

2. group opinion as a permanent factor of social control

3. conformism to group norms.

Large groups have:

1. rational goal-oriented actions

2. group opinion is rarely used, control is carried out from top to bottom

3. conformity to the policy pursued by the active part of the group.

Thus, most often small groups in their constant activity are not guided by the final group goal, while the activity of large groups is rationalized to such an extent that the loss of the goal most often leads to their disintegration. In addition, in a small group, such a means of control and implementation of joint activities as a group opinion is of particular importance. Personal contacts allow all members of the group to participate in the development of a group opinion and control over the conformity of group members in relation to this opinion. Large groups, due to the lack of personal contacts between all their members, with rare exceptions, do not have the opportunity to develop a common group opinion.

Small groups are of interest as elementary particles of the social structure, in which social processes are born, mechanisms of cohesion, the emergence of leadership, and role relationships are traced.

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PRIMARY GROUP

PRIMARY GROUP

the term introduced by Cooley to refer to such a real group of interconnected people, which is characterized by: a) personal, intimate, affective connections; b) direct, "face to face", communication; c) refers. stability; d) small size. The first one is the main one. In P. g. (family, a group of neighbors, a company of teenagers, a group of close friends, etc.) to a person is determined by the unique features of his personality. Hence - the big role of personal sympathies, the lack of a template and formalism, informal. In relations with other groups, members of the PG usually act as a whole - "We", identifying themselves with each other. In other social groups and formations (state, army, Big city, political party, etc.) a person is approached as a representative of a certain. social stereotype. The attitude towards him is one-sided, determined by K.-l. objective sign: position held, or race, or gender, or income, etc. There are more connections between people here, but they are impersonal, superficial, unstable in time and space, and often do not require personal contact. Trying to concretize P. g., some followers of Cooley offer to distinguish between traditional (primordial) P. g., friendly or personal (formed by mutual sympathy) P. g., and ideological. P. g. (arising on the basis of strongly experienced common values). Criticizing Cooley, many bourgeois. sociologists note that in practice P. g. "in pure form"are extremely rare. Therefore, it is proposed to distinguish between intimate (affective, based on sympathy) groups and utilitarian groups; groups of direct contact (groups of presence) and groups not connected by direct communication; original groups and derivatives, etc. Many modern. Sociologists talk about primary and secondary relationships, presenting them as the poles of some abstract continuum, according to which the real relationships of people are decomposed depending on whether partners are perceived as unique human personalities or only as carriers of certain social functions.

in sociology and social psychology P. g. is regarded as the most important socialization and social control. P. g., first of all, is called primary, because it is here that it first gets acquainted with society, assimilates the main. values, norms of behavior, etc. Here it is formed and reinforced by its own. "I". Empirically established that the weakening of the "primary" connections correlated with the growth of mental. disorders, crime, suicide, alcoholism, desertion (from the army, as well as from the family, from production, etc.), etc. The collapse of bonds of the "primary" type is one of the centers. bourgeois problems. sociology.

Cooley believed that P.G. is primary not only for the individual, but also for society, since social institutions grow on the basis of the ideas embodied in P.G. sociologists explain the psychological. reasons, others - the growth of industrialization and division of labor. What unites them is their lack of understanding of the fact that the decisive influence on relations between people is exerted by the economic. the basis of society. It is under the conditions of capitalism that nothing remains in the relations of people to each other, "... except for naked interest, a heartless "chistogan"" (Marx K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 4, p. 426 ). Love and family and neighborhood cannot escape this influence. That is why P. g., if it is understood as a kind of non-historical. turns out to be a lifeless abstraction.

In the owls literature notes that "... there is no direct transition from the whole team and personality, but only a transition through the mediation of the primary team ..." (Makarenko A.S., Soch., vol. 5, 1958, p. 164 ). "On him lies the first in front of society, he bears the first in front of the whole country, only through each of its members enters" (ibid., p. 355). The primary collective is a "cell", a "cell" of society, subject to the action of the general laws of the social organism. However, interpersonal relationships also play an important role. Apparently, further study of the primary collective will require the identification of various types links and forms of control and, accordingly, the introduction of some additional. categories.

Lit.: Zaluzhny AS, The doctrine of the team. Methodology, M.–L., 1930; Shnirman A. L., Features of the primary group of students in high school, L., 1955 (Uch. Zap. Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute, v. 12. Department of Psychology); Makarenko A. S., Family and children, Soch., vol. 4, M., 1957; him, the Methodology of the organization will educate. process, in the same place, t. 5, M., 1958; his same, My pedagogical. views, ibid.; his same, Problems of education in owls. school, ibid. its same, Purpose of Education, ibid.; Moreno J., Sociometry, trans. from English, M., 1958; Becker G. and Boskov A., Sovrem. sociological in its succession and change, trans. from English, M., 1961: The team and the development of the student's personality, L., 1962 (Uch. zap. Leningrad. state. ped. in-ta, t. 232); Kharchev A. G., Marriage and family in the USSR, M., 1964; Kon I. S., Pozitivivm in sociology, L., 1964; Sociology in the USSR, vol. 1, M., 1965, sec. 4; Cooley Ch. H., Human nature and the social order, N. Y.–Chi.–Boston, ; his, Social organization, N. Y., 1909; his own, Social process, N. Y., 1918; Freud S., Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse, Lpz.–W., 1921; Mayo E., The human problems of an industrial civilization, N. Y., 1933; Mead G., Mind, self and society, Chi., 1934; Ηomans G. C., The human group, N. Y., ; Shils E. A., Primary groups in the American army, in: Continuities in social research. Studies in the scope and method of "The American soldier", ed. by R. Merton and P. F. Lazarsfeld, Glencoe (Ill.), 1950; his own, Primary groups, in the book: The policy sciences recent developments in scope and method, ed. by D. Lerner and H. D. Lasswell, Stanford, 1951; Rohrer J. H. and Sherif M., Social psychology at the crossroads, N. J., 1951; Parsons T., The social system, Glencoe, 1952; Research methods in the behavioral sciences, ed. by L. Festinger and D. Katz, N. Y., 1953; Gross E., Some functional consequences of primary controls in formal work organization, "American Sociological Review", 1953, No 18; Small groups, ed. by P. A. Hare, E. F. Borgatta, R. F. Bales, N. Y., 1955; Parsons T., Vales R. F., Family, socialization and interaction process, Glencoe (Ill.), 1955; Sargent S. and Williamson R., Social psychology, 2 ed., N. J., 1958; Ogburn W. and Nimkoff M., Sociology, 3 ed, Boston, 1958; Shibutany T., Society and personality, N. Y., 1961; Group dynamics, research and theory, ed. by D. Cartwright and A. Zander, 2 ed., Evanston (Ill.), 1962.

V. Olshansky. Moscow.

Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970 .

See what the "PRIMARY GROUP" is in other dictionaries:

primary group- In FDM systems, a group of 12 analog channels, which usually occupies the spectrum from 60 to 108 kHz (basic group A) and less commonly from 12 to 60 kHz (basic group B). Each primary group consists of 4 three-channel groups (pregroups), and ... ...

See GROUP PRIMARY. Antinazi. Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2009 ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

PRIMARY GROUP- (primary group) a small group, such as family, friends or work colleagues. Cooley (1909) classified groups into primary, having their own norms of behavior and involving many face-to-face interactions, and secondary, which, thanks to ... ... Big explanatory sociological dictionary

Primary group- - a small social group whose members are connected by personal and long-term relationships ... Social Work Dictionary

primary group of voice-frequency channels of a FDM transmission system- primary group A set of twelve voice frequency channels of the FDM transmission system or four pregroups occupying adjacent sections in the frequency range with a total width of 48 kHz. [GOST 22832 77] Topics of the transmission system Synonyms primary ... ... Technical Translator's Handbook

primary group of digital telecommunication signals- primary group A multi-channel digital telecommunication signal characterized by a symbol rate of 2.048 million s 1. [GOST 22670 77] Data network topics Synonyms primary group EN primary block ... Technical Translator's Handbook

primary stop bar group- (eg liquid metal fast nuclear reactor) [A.S. Goldberg. English Russian Energy Dictionary. 2006] Energy topics in general EN primary shutdown rods … Technical Translator's Handbook

Primary group of voice-frequency channels of the FDM transmission system- 11. Primary group of voice frequency channels of the FDM transmission system Primary group D. Primargruppe E. Group F. Groupe primaire A set of twelve voice frequency channels of the FDM transmission system or four pregroups occupying in ... ... Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

Primary group of digital telecommunication signals- 106. Primary group of digital telecommunication signals Primary block Multi-channel digital telecommunication signal characterized by a symbol rate of 2.048 ms 1

In sociology, there is another, somewhat different approach to the division into primary and secondary socialization. According to him, socialization is divided into primary and secondary, depending on who acts as its main agent. With this approach, primary socialization is a process that takes place within the framework of small - primarily primary - groups (and they, as a rule, are informal). Secondary socialization proceeds in the course of life within the framework of formal institutions and organizations (kindergarten, school, university, production). This criterion is of a normative-substantive nature: primary socialization proceeds under the watchful eye and decisive influence of informal agents, parents and peers, and secondary - under the influence of the norms and values ​​of formal agents, or institutions of socialization, i.e. kindergarten, schools, industries, army, police, etc.

Primary groups are small contact communities where people know each other, where there are informal, trusting relationship(family, neighborhood). Secondary groups are rather large social groups of people between whom there are predominantly formal relations, when people treat each other not as individual and unique personalities, but in accordance with the formal status they have.

A fairly common occurrence is the entry of primary groups into secondary ones as components.

The main reason why the primary group is the most important agent of socialization is that for the individual the primary group to which he belongs is one of the most important reference groups. This term denotes that group (real or imaginary), the system of values ​​and norms of which acts for the individual as a kind of standard of behavior. A person always - voluntarily or involuntarily - correlates his intentions and actions with the way those whose opinion he values ​​\u200b\u200bcan evaluate them, regardless of whether they are watching him really or only in his imagination. The reference group can be the group to which the individual belongs at the moment, and the group of which he was a member before, and the one to which he would like to belong. The personified images of the people who make up the reference group form an “internal audience”, to which a person is guided in his thoughts and actions.

As we have already said, the primary group is usually a family, a group of peers, a friendly company. Typical examples of secondary groups are army units, school classes, production teams. Some secondary groups, such as trade unions, can be viewed as associations in which at least some of their members interact with each other, in which there is a single normative system shared by all members and some common sense of corporate existence shared by all members. In accordance with this approach, primary socialization takes place in primary groups, and secondary - in secondary groups.

Primary social groups are the sphere of personal relations, i.e. informal. Such behavior between two and big amount people, the content, order and intensity of which is not regulated by any document, but is determined by the participants in the interaction itself.

An example is a family.

Secondary social groups are the sphere business relations, i.e. formal. Formal contacts (or relationships) are called, the content, order, time and regulations of which are regulated by some document. An example is the army.

Both groups - primary and secondary - as well as both types of relationships - informal and formal - are vital for every person. However, the time devoted to them and the degree of their influence differently distributed over different periods of life. For full-fledged socialization, an individual needs experience of communication in those and other environments. This is the principle of the diversity of socialization: the more heterogeneous the experience of communication and interaction of an individual with his social environment, the more fully the process of socialization proceeds.

The process of socialization includes not only those who learn and acquire new knowledge, values, customs, norms. An important component of this process are also those who influence the learning process and shape it to a decisive extent. They are called agents of socialization. This category includes both specific people and social institutions. Individual agents of socialization can be parents, relatives, babysitters, family friends, teachers, coaches, teenagers, leaders of youth organizations, doctors, etc. Social institutions act as collective agents (for example, the family is the main agent of primary socialization).

Socialization agents are specific people (or groups of people) responsible for teaching cultural norms and mastering social roles.

Socialization institutions - social institutions and institutions that influence the process of socialization and direct it: school and university, army and police, office and factory, etc.

Primary (informal) agents of socialization are parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, close and distant relatives, babysitters, family friends, peers, teachers, coaches, doctors, leaders of youth groups. The term "primary" refers in this context to everything that constitutes the immediate, or immediate, environment of a person. It is in this sense that sociologists speak of the small group as primary. The primary environment is not just the closest to a person, but also the most important for the formation of his personality, since it comes first both in terms of the degree of significance, and in the frequency and density of contacts between him and all its members.

Secondary (formal) agents of socialization are representatives of formal groups and organizations: school, university, enterprise administrations, officers and officials of the army, police, church, state, as well as those with indirect contacts - employees of television, radio, press, parties, courts, etc.

Informal and formal agents of socialization (as we have already pointed out, sometimes they can be entire institutions) affect a person in different ways, but both of them affect him throughout his entire life cycle. However, the impact of informal agents and informal relationships usually reaches its maximum at the beginning and end of a person's life, and the effect of formal business relationships is felt with the greatest force in the middle of life.

The reliability of the above judgment is obvious even from the point of view of common sense. A child, like an old man, is drawn to his relatives and friends, on whose help and protective actions his existence depends entirely. Old people and children are noticeably less socially mobile than others, more defenseless, they are less active politically, economically and professionally. Children have not yet become the productive force of society, and the elderly have already ceased to be; both of them need the support of mature relatives who are in an active life position.

After 18-25 years old, a person begins to actively engage in professional production activities or business and make his own career. Bosses, partners, colleagues, comrades in study and work - these are the people whose opinion a mature person listens to the most, from whom he receives the most information he needs, which determine his career growth, salary, prestige and much more. How often do grown-up children-businessmen who, it seems, quite recently held their mother's hand, call their "mothers"?

Among the primary agents of socialization in the above sense, not all play the same role and have equal status. There is no doubt that in relation to a child undergoing primary socialization, parents are in a privileged position. As for peers (those who play with him in the same sandbox), they are simply equal to him in status. They forgive him much of what parents do not forgive: erroneous decisions, violation of moral principles and social norms, arrogance, etc. Each social group can give an individual in the process of socialization no more than what they themselves are trained or in which they themselves are socialized . In other words, a child learns from adults how to be “correct” to be an adult, and from peers - how to be “correct” to be a child: to play, fight, cheat, how to treat the opposite sex, be friends and be fair.

A small group of peers (Peer group) 151 at the stage of primary socialization performs the most important social function: it facilitates the transition from a state of dependence to independence, from childhood to adulthood. Modern sociology indicates that this type of collectivity plays a particularly important role at the stage of biological and psychological maturation. It is the youthful peer groups that have a distinct tendency to possess: 1) a fairly high degree of solidarity; 2) hierarchical organization; 3) codes that deny or even oppose the values ​​and experiences of adults. Parents are unlikely to teach how to be a leader or achieve leadership in the company of peers. In a sense, peers and parents influence the child in opposite directions, and often the former nullify the efforts of the latter. Indeed, parents often look at their children's peers as their competitors in the struggle for influence over them.