BASIC CONCEPTS
Society, Group, Community (Rural
and Urban), Association,
Institution
Dr. Anil Kumar
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
STJM PG College, Bilhaur, Kanpur
E-mail: anil.aina@gmail.com, Mob. 9451087122

Society
In the Structure of Society Marion Levy 4 Criteria which must be
present in the group to be considered as society are:
a. Existence longer than the life span of an individual.
b. It should recruit new members at least in part by means of
sexual reproduction.
c. General system of action
d. System of action should be self-sufficient.
 Society is a system of usages and procedures, authority and
mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of
human behaviour and other liberties. MacIver and Page.
 Society may be defined as the total complex of human
relationships in so far as they grow out of action in terms of
mean end relationship. Talcott Parsons

Features and Types of Society
Features
 Society is web of social relationship.
 Society means likeness.
 Society also implies differences.
 Differences are subordinate to likeness.
 Interdependencies
 Cooperation
 Society- Aggregate- Organism
Types
 Tribal Society
 Agrarian Society
 Industrial Society
 Post Industrial Society- Denial Bell
 Modern Society- Capitalist, Universal, Rational
 Risk Society-Ulrich Beck
 Rural-Urban etc.

Group
 A Social Group is a plurality of persons who have a common
identity, at least some feelings of unity, certain common goals
and shared norms, and fairly high level of interaction.
 A social group is any collection of human beings, who are
brought into social relationships with one another. (MacIver
and Page, Society, 213).
 Groups are aggregates or categories of people, who have a
consciousness of membership and of interaction. (Horton and
Hunt, Sociology, 158).
 Characteristics
◦ Reciprocal Relations
◦ Sense of Unity
◦ Common Interest
◦ Similar Behaviour
◦ Group Norms

Types of Groups
 Charles Cooley coined term Primary Group-
◦ Relatively Small Size
◦ Face to Face Association
◦ Unspecialized character of that association
◦ Relative Intimacy (Kingsley Davis questioned on we feeling, because it’s a
characteristics of community)
◦ Durable Relationship
 Secondary Group-
◦ Impersonal
◦ Contractual
◦ Formal
◦ Rational Relationship

Types of Groups
 In- Group, Out Group- W. G. (William Graham) Sumner
 In- Group Belongings, Feel Pride, Strong Loyalty - Family, Clan, Alumni
 Out Group – Hate, Enemy, Opposition in Politics
 We Group, They Group
 Reference Group- Hyman, R. K. Merton
◦ Aspiring members, Potential Members and Actual Members
◦ The American Soldiers (Book)
 Quasi Group – A class, Sub-Caste
 Electronic Communities- Face book Friends, Twitter and Whatsapp

Community
 Three elements are relevant to a definition of community.
 A community exists:
when a set of households is relatively concentrated in a
delimited geographical area;
their residents exhibit a substantial degree of integrated social
interaction; and
have a sense of common membership, of belonging together,
which is not based exclusively on ties of consanguinity.
 Definitions:
 Community is a human population living within a limited
geographic area and carrying on a common interdependent
life. (Lundberg, Sociology, 128)
 Community is the total organisation of social life with a limited
area. (Ogburn and Nimkoff, A Handbook of Sociology,
269).

Features of Community
 Group of People/ Concrete
 Definite Locality
 We Feeling
 Natural Membership- Individual Born in Community
 Specific Name
 Rural Community- Culture
 Urban Community – Civilization
 Types of Community
A Residence Community (Ecological Community)-Village, City, State.
Moral or Psychic Community- Values, Belief or Origin

Association
 We define association as that organised group, which created
to satisfy the common interest. MacIver and Page
 An association can be called a group of people who come
together to achieve any particular purpose or goal and that too
for a limited period of time.
 “An association is a group of social beings related to one
another by the fact that they possess or have instituted in
common an organization with a view to securing specific end or
specific ends.” Ginsberg
 MacIver defines an association as 'an organization deliberately
formed for the collective pursuit of some interest or set of
interests, which its members share'

Association
 Modem societies are characterized by presence of numerous
associations. These associations are of different varieties, of
different types, of different sizes and with different objectives.
 Features
◦ concrete structure/Group of People
◦ Created/established
◦ Common Interest/Specific End(s)
◦ Membership is voluntary
 Examples
◦ Architects Association, India
◦ UP Architects Association
◦ Alumni Associations
◦ Educational Institutions, NGOs, CBOs, SHGs

Institution
W. G. (William Graham) Sumner
 Condition – Need- Idea – Habit- Folkway tujhfr;k¡Custom izFkk;sa- Mores
:f<;k¡ –Institutions laLFkk;sa
Alex Inkeles
 First, are the political institution, concerned with the exercise of power
and which a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Institution
involving the relations with other societies, including war, are also
considered to fall into the political category.
 Second there are the economic institution, concerned with the
production and distribution of good and services.
 Third, Expressive –integrative institution, including those dealing with
art, drama, ARCHITECTURE and recreation, represent a third set. This
group also includes institutions which deal with ideas, and with the
transmission of received values. We may, therefore, include scientific,
religious, philosophical, and educational organizations within this
category.
 Forth, Kinship institutions, the forth main category, are principally
focused around the problem of regulating sex and providing a stable and
secure framework for the care and rearing of the young.

Institution
 Institution are the established forms or conditions of
procedure characteristic of group activity. – Maclver and
Page, Society.p15
 An institution consists of a concept (idea, notion, doctrine or
interest) and a structure.– W. G. Sumner, Folkways, p. 53.
 The term total institution was coined by the
American sociologist Erving Goffman.
◦ Resocialization is defined as radically changing an inmate’s
personality by carefully controlling his or her environment.
◦ Resocialization is a two-part process. First, the staff of the
institution tries to erode the residents’ identities and
independence. Second, the resocialization process involves the
systematic attempt to build a different personality or self.