1. Primary and Secondary
Groups
Unit 3
Social Structure

2. Groups
• Group: two or more people who have one or
more goals in common and share common ways
of thinking and behaving
• Features:
 They are in regular contact with one another
 They share some ways of thinking, behaving
and feeling
 They take one another’s behavior into account
 They have one or more interests or goal in
common

3. Groups
• Groups play an important part in peoples lives
• Groups range in size and formality
• Groups draw lines around themselves creating
insiders and outsiders (boundaries)
 These boundaries can change over time

4. Social Categories and Aggregates
• Groups are sometimes mistaken with social
categories and social aggregates.
• Social Categories: people who share a social
characteristics
 Example: high school seniors, women
• Social Aggregate: people who happen to be at
the same place at the same time
 Example: people waiting in line at the airport

5. Primary Groups
• What is a primary group
 The term was first used by Symbolic
Interactionists Charles Cooley
 A primary group is made up of people who are
emotionally close, know each other well and
seek each other’s company
 People in these groups have primary
relationships (relationships that are intimate,
caring and fulfilling)
 Primary groups are important in socialization
 People participate in primary groups throughout
their life

6. How do they develop?
• There are several factors that are preferable for the
development of primary groups
 Small Size: It is hard to develop close personal
relationships in large groups. Small groups are
needed to get to know people well
 Face to Face Contact: F to F contact allows
people to communicate with nonverbals
 Continuous Contact: People need to meet on a
regular basis to develop a primary relationship
 Proper Social Environment: The environment
where the interaction takes place needs to be
suitable to the relationship

7. What are their Functions?
• There are 3 important functions of Primary Groups
 Emotional Support: Strong support ties keep
you going in difficult times
 Socialization: Teaches children and later adults
how to participate in social life as well as norms
and values
 Encourage Conformity: Apply pressure to
conform to their norms and values

8. Secondary Groups
• Secondary Group: people who share only part of
their lives while focusing on a goal or task
• These impersonal relationships exist only to
accomplish a specific purpose
• Members of these groups interact involving only
parts of their personality
 Secondary Relationships: impersonal
relationship involving only parts of the
personality
Examples: Employers/Workers, Clerks/Customers

9. What are they like?
• Members of these groups may be friends but the
relationship exists to accomplish a task. It doesn’t
look to create a friendship
• If a friendship becomes more important than the
task then the group becomes ineffective
• There are some cases where there is a crossover
between primary and secondary
 Friends who work at the same place