2.3: Groups

The first and most important unit of measure in sociology is the group, which is a set of two or more people who share a common identity, interact regularly, have shared expectations, and function in their mutually agreed upon roles. Most people use the word "group" differently from the sociological use. They say group even if the cluster of people they are referring to don't even know each other (like six people standing at the same bus stop). Sociologists use aggregate to denote a number of people in the same place at the same time. So, people in the same movie theater, people at the same bus stop, and even people at a university football game are considered aggregates rather than groups. Sociologists also discuss categories. A category is a number of people who share common characteristics. Browneyed people, people who wear hats, and people who vote independent are categories-they don't necessarily share the same space, nor do they have shared expectations. In this text we mostly discuss trends and patterns in family groups and in large categories of family types.

Family groups are crucial to society and are what most of you will form in your own adult lives. Groups come in varying sizes. Dyads are groups with two people and triads are groups with three people. The number of people in a group plays an important structural role in the nature of the group's functioning. Dyads are the simplest groups because two people have only one relationship between them. Triads have four relationships ( 1 -persons A and \(\mathrm{B}, 2\)-persons A and \(\mathrm{C}, 3\)-persons B and \(\mathrm{C}, 4\)-persons \(\mathrm{A}, \mathrm{B}\), and C ). A group of four has ten relationships. Each additional person adds multiple new relationships. Think about how the interaction you share with your mother (or someone else) changes when your little sister (or someone else) is present. A newly married couple experiences great freedoms and opportunities to nurture their marital relationship. A triad forms when their first child is born. Then they experience a tremendous incursion upon their marital relationship from the child and the care demanded by the child. As Bill Cosby said in his book Fatherhood, "Children by their very nature are designed to ruin your marriage." \({ }^6\)

As sociologists further study the nature of the group's relationships they realize that there are two broad types of groups: primary groups, which tend to be small, informal, and intimate (e.g., families, friends), and secondary groups, which tend to be larger, more formal, and much less personal (e.g., you and your doctor, this class). Typically with your primary groups, say with your family, you can be much more spontaneous and informal. On Friday night you can hang out wherever you want, change your plans as you want, and experience fun as much as you want. Contrast that to the relationship with this class. You have to come to class at the scheduled time and complete assignments and exams.

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Footnotes

6. Cosby, B. (1987). Fatherhood. New York: Doubleday.