Basic Concepts in Sociology: Society, Community, Association, Group, Status and Role
What this domain tests
This domain handles conceptual precision: separating society, community, association and institution; identifying types of social group; and applying status, role, norms and values. Examiners reward correct usage of a concept in an example, not memorised lists.
Core rules and concepts
- Society is 'a web of social relationships' (MacIver and Page) - abstract and universal, not tied to a place.
- Community is a group occupying a definite locality with common interests and a sense of 'we-feeling' - a village, a slum, a tribal hamlet.
- Association is deliberately created, voluntary and purpose-specific - a trade union, a cooperative housing society, a political party.
- Institution is an established complex of norms organised around a basic need - family, marriage, education, religion; caste itself is a social institution.
- Groups: primary groups are small, face-to-face and personal with ends in themselves (Cooley); secondary groups are large, formal and utilitarian; in-group/out-group (Sumner); reference group (Merton) serves comparative and normative functions.
- Status and role (Linton): status is a position, either ascribed or achieved; role is its dynamic enactment. Norms range from folkways (Sumner's everyday usages) through mores (strong moral norms) to laws (codified and state-enforced), while values are shared ideals.
Worked example
A registered housing society: the residents living in that locality form a community (locality plus we-feeling); the registered body is an association (voluntary, single purpose); members who meet only at annual general meetings belong to a secondary group; the secretary occupies an achieved status and enacts its role. Match each label to its defining criterion - locality, purpose, intimacy, position - rather than to size.
Traps that cost marks
- Labelling a community an association simply because it has an office or a name.
- Reversing status and role, or forgetting that caste and sex are ascribed statuses.
- Describing the family as a secondary group.
- Treating 'institution' as a building rather than a pattern of norms.