Definition of social group - What it is, Meaning and Concept

The Italian word gruppo arrived in Spanish as group .The concept allows naming a set of elements or beings. Social , by its part, is that linked to the society : a group of individuals living in a common space under certain norms.

social group is called set of human beings that interact with each other and share the same goal .The members of this group, therefore, have something in common that leads them to fulfill a certain role in the society .

Social groups are durable and structured .Their members are guided by similar values ​​ and respect the same rules , which allows them to act together and with a common purpose.

For a social group to exist, the group must have an identity that allows it to distinguish itself from other groups and that gives a sense of belonging to its members.If the member is recognized as a member of the social group and acts accordingly.

The family and the political parties are two examples of social groups.In both cases, beyond their differences, there are members who interact in a sustained manner over time , maintain a certain interdependence and pursue the same objective.People who share a train journey, on the other hand, do not constitute a social group: the group is not durable, interactions are not necessary, there is no common goal, etc.

In a society, in short, various social groups coexist.To reach this point it is necessary to the existence of the social stratification , a concept that can be defined as the way in which different strata (layers or levels) within a society, which are recognized by different criteria that serve to categorize them.Some of these criteria are status, personal wealth, income, occupation and political power.

Social groups respond to a fundamental and undeniable feature of society: inequality .Resources, both symbolic and material, are not distributed equally, and this gives rise to First division of its components.At this point we can talk about the social class , a group whose individuals have in common an economic or social characteristic, the same purchasing power or a position in the hierarchy of a particular organization bureaucratic that gives all the same opportunities and the same limitations.

It is important to point out that, in principle, one does not choose to belong to one or another social class, but to "fall" in this classification involuntarily.However, it is possible to access a higher one if our economic, political and social interests push us; similarly, a series of errors can lead us to descend on the social scale, and become part of a lower class.

If, in itself, the concept of social group is born from the unquestionable inequality that characterizes society and also serves to accentuate the differences of its members, when the criteria used to recognize groups are money or political power increases the risk of discrimination .Many would give anything to belong to "the upper class", but who could wish to be recognized as part of the low?

This concept is of interest to social sciences , which focuses on the study of human behavior in the context of a society.This name is also used to identify a series of fields of knowledge or disciplines that specialize in the characteristics of social groups that can be seen in a society of human beings, and this includes material manifestations as well as immaterial ones.