Sociology

You probably find yourself in differnet types of social situations every day. Whether you realize it or not, society and the different groups to which you belong have a big impact on you.


What is a group?

Have you ever said or done something because of the people youm are with? If you have, you know that your behavior can be influenced by a group. In sociology, a group is more than just individuals who happen to be in the same place at the same time. To be a group, two or more individuals must:

• Interact with each other.
• Share a common goal.
• Have relationship that is fairly stable.
• Be interdeoendent.
• Recognize a relationship among themmsleves.

You may belong to a number of groups.These groups may include your family. a sports team, a group of co-workers, a religous group, or an after school club. Each group has certain standards of behavior called norms.

Norms are spoken or unspoken rules that tell us how we should behave. They tell us how others expect us to behave. We rely on social norms to hlep us act appropriately in social situations. For example, while waiting in line to see a movie ,we know that others expect us to wait our turn rather than to push to the front of the line.