Primary and secondary social groups. Primary and secondary groups as subjects of social relations. The impact of primary groups on the activities of secondary groups What refers to the characteristics of secondary groups

15.03.2020

In sociology, there is another, somewhat different approach to the division into primary and secondary socialization. According to him, socialization is divided into primary and secondary, depending on who acts as its main agent. With this approach, primary socialization is a process that takes place within the framework of small - primarily primary - groups (and they, as a rule, are informal). Secondary socialization proceeds in the course of life within the framework of formal institutions and organizations (kindergarten, school, university, production). Such a criterion is of a normative and substantive nature: primary socialization proceeds under the watchful eye and decisive influence of informal agents, parents and peers, and the secondary - under the influence of the norms and values of formal agents, or institutions of socialization, i.e. kindergarten, school, production, army, militia, etc.

Primary groups are small contact communities where people know each other, where there are informal, trusting relationships between them (family, neighborhood community). Secondary groups are rather large social sets of people between which there are predominantly formal relations, when people treat each other not as individual and unique individuals, but in accordance with the formal status they have.

A fairly common occurrence is the entry of primary groups into secondary ones as components.

The main reason why the primary group is the most important agent of socialization is that for the individual the primary group to which he belongs is one of the most important reference groups. This term denotes that group (real or imaginary), the system of values and norms of which acts for the individual as a kind of standard of behavior. A person always - voluntarily or involuntarily - correlates his intentions and actions with how they can be evaluated by those whose opinion he values, regardless of whether they are watching him really or only in his imagination. The reference group can be the group to which the individual belongs at the moment, and the group of which he was a member before, and the one to which he would like to belong. The personified images of the people who make up the reference group form an “internal audience”, to which a person is guided in his thoughts and actions.

As we have already said, the primary group is usually a family, a group of peers, a friendly company. Typical examples of secondary groups are army units, school classes, production teams. Some secondary groups, such as trade unions, can be viewed as associations in which at least some of their members interact with each other, in which there is a single normative system shared by all members and some common sense of corporate existence shared by all members. In accordance with this approach, primary socialization takes place in primary groups, and secondary - in secondary groups.

Primary social groups are the sphere of personal relations, i.e. informal. Such behavior between two or more people is called informal, the content, order and intensity of which is not regulated by any document, but is determined by the participants in the interaction itself.

An example is a family.

Secondary social groups are the sphere of business relations, that is, formal ones. Formal contacts (or relationships) are called, the content, order, time and regulations of which are regulated by some document. An example is the army.

Both groups - primary and secondary - as well as both types of relationships - informal and formal - are vital for every person. However, the time devoted to them and the degree of their influence are distributed differently in different segments of life. For full-fledged socialization, an individual needs experience of communication in those and other environments. This is the principle of the diversity of socialization: the more heterogeneous the experience of communication and interaction of an individual with his social environment, the more fully the process of socialization proceeds.

The process of socialization includes not only those who learn and acquire new knowledge, values, customs, norms. An important component of this process are also those who influence the learning process and shape it to a decisive extent. They are called agents of socialization. This category includes both specific people and social institutions. Individual agents of socialization can be parents, relatives, babysitters, family friends, teachers, coaches, teenagers, leaders of youth organizations, doctors, etc. Social institutions act as collective agents (for example, the family is the main agent of primary socialization).

Socialization agents are specific people (or groups of people) responsible for teaching cultural norms and mastering social roles.

Socialization institutions - social institutions and institutions that influence the process of socialization and direct it: school and university, army and police, office and factory, etc.

Primary (informal) agents of socialization are parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, close and distant relatives, babysitters, family friends, peers, teachers, coaches, doctors, leaders of youth groups. The term "primary" refers in this context to everything that constitutes the immediate, or immediate, environment of a person. It is in this sense that sociologists speak of the small group as primary. The primary environment is not just the closest to a person, but also the most important for the formation of his personality, since it comes first both in terms of the degree of significance, and in the frequency and density of contacts between him and all its members.

Secondary (formal) agents of socialization are representatives of formal groups and organizations: school, university, enterprise administrations, officers and officials of the army, police, church, state, as well as those with indirect contacts - employees of television, radio, press, parties, courts, etc.

Informal and formal agents of socialization (as we have already pointed out, sometimes they can be entire institutions) affect a person in different ways, but both of them affect him throughout his entire life cycle. However, the impact of informal agents and informal relationships usually reaches its maximum at the beginning and end of a person's life, and the effect of formal business relationships is felt with the greatest force in the middle of life.

The reliability of the above judgment is obvious even from the point of view of common sense. A child, like an old man, is drawn to his relatives and friends, on whose help and protective actions his existence depends entirely. Old people and children are noticeably less socially mobile than others, more defenseless, they are less active politically, economically and professionally. Children have not yet become the productive force of society, and the elderly have already ceased to be; both of them need the support of mature relatives who are in an active life position.

After 18-25 years old, a person begins to actively engage in professional production activities or business and make his own career. Bosses, partners, colleagues, comrades in study and work - these are the people whose opinion a mature person listens to the most, from whom he receives the most information he needs, which determine his career growth, salary, prestige and much more. How often do grown-up children-businessmen who, it seems, quite recently held their mother's hand, call their "mothers"?

Among the primary agents of socialization in the above sense, not all play the same role and have equal status. There is no doubt that in relation to a child undergoing primary socialization, parents are in a privileged position. As for peers (those who play with him in the same sandbox), they are simply equal to him in status. They forgive him much of what parents do not forgive: erroneous decisions, violation of moral principles and social norms, arrogance, etc. Each social group can give an individual in the process of socialization no more than what they themselves have been taught or in what they themselves are socialized . In other words, a child learns from adults how to be “correct” to be an adult, and from peers - how to be “correct” to be a child: to play, fight, cheat, how to treat the opposite sex, be friends and be fair.

A small group of peers (Peer group) 151 at the stage of primary socialization performs the most important social function: it facilitates the transition from a state of dependence to independence, from childhood to adulthood. Modern sociology indicates that this type of collectivity plays a particularly important role at the stage of biological and psychological maturation. It is the youthful peer groups that have a distinct tendency to possess: 1) a fairly high degree of solidarity; 2) hierarchical organization; 3) codes that deny or even oppose the values and experience of adults. Parents are unlikely to teach how to be a leader or achieve leadership in the company of peers. In a sense, peers and parents influence the child in opposite directions, and often the former nullify the efforts of the latter. Indeed, parents often look at their children's peers as their competitors in the struggle for influence over them.

3.3.4.2. Primary and secondary groups

A primary group is a group in which communication is maintained by direct personal contact, the highly emotional involvement of members in the affairs of the group, which leads the members to a high degree of identification with the group. The primary group is characterized by a high degree of solidarity, a deeply developed sense of "we".

G.S. Antipina identifies the following features characteristic of primary groups: “small composition, spatial proximity of their members, immediacy, intimacy of relations, duration of existence, unity of purpose, voluntary entry into the group and informal control over the behavior of members” .

For the first time, the concept of "primary group" was introduced in 1909 by C. Cooley in relation to a family in which stable emotional relationships develop between members. C. Cooley considered the family to be “primary”, because it is the first group, thanks to which the process of socialization of the baby is carried out. He also referred to "primary groups" as groups of friends and groups of nearest neighbors [see. about this: 139. S.330-335].

Later, this term was used by sociologists in the study of any group that had close personal relationships between its members. Primary groups perform, as it were, the role of the primary link between society and the individual. Thanks to them, a person is aware of his belonging to certain social communities and is able to participate in the life of the whole society.

The importance of primary groups is very great, in them, especially during early childhood, the process of primary socialization of the individual takes place. First, the family, and then the primary educational and work collectives, have a huge impact on the position of the individual in society. Primary groups form the personality. In them, the process of socialization of the individual, the development of patterns of behavior, social norms, values and ideals takes place. Each individual finds in the primary group an intimate environment, sympathies and opportunities for the realization of personal interests.

The primary group is most often an informal group, since formalization leads to its transformation into a group of a different type. For example, if formal ties begin to play an important role in the family, then it breaks up as a primary group and transforms into a formal small group.

C. Cooley noted two main functions of small primary groups:

1. Act as a source of moral norms that a person receives in childhood and is guided by throughout his subsequent life.

2. Act as a means of supporting and stabilizing an adult [see: II. P.40].

The secondary group is a group organized for the realization of certain goals, within which there are almost no emotional relationships and in which subject contacts, most often mediated, predominate. Members of this group have an institutionalized system of relations, and their activities are regulated by rules. If the primary group is always focused on the relationship between its members, then the secondary group is always goal-oriented. Secondary groups tend to coincide with large and formal groups that have an institutionalized system of relationships, although small groups can also be secondary.

The main importance in these groups is given not to the personal qualities of the members of the group, but to their ability to perform certain functions. For example, in a factory, the position of engineer, secretary, stenographer, worker can be occupied by any person who has the necessary training for this. The individual features of each of them are indifferent to the plant, the main thing is that they cope with their work, then the plant can function. For a family or a group of players (for example, in football), the individual characteristics, personal qualities of each are unique and mean a lot, and therefore none of them can be simply replaced by another.

Since in the secondary group all roles are already clearly distributed, its members very often know little about each other. Between them, as you know, there is no emotional relationship, which is typical for family members and friends. For example, in organizations associated with labor activity, the main ones will be industrial relations. In the secondary groups, not only the roles, but also the methods of communication are already clearly defined in advance. Due to the fact that conducting a personal conversation is not always possible and effective, communication often becomes more formal and is carried out through telephone calls and various written documents.

For example, a school class, a student group, a production team, etc. always internally divided into primary groups of individuals who sympathize with each other, between which there are more or less often interpersonal contacts. When leading a secondary group, it is imperative to take into account primary social formations.

Theorists point out that over the past two hundred years there has been a weakening of the role of primary groups in society. Sociological studies carried out by Western sociologists over the course of several decades have confirmed that secondary groups currently dominate. But there has also been ample evidence that the basic group is still quite stable and is an important link between the individual and society. Research on seed groups was carried out in several areas: the role of seed groups in industry, during natural disasters, etc. was clarified. The study of people's behavior in different conditions and situations has shown that primary groups still play an important role in the structure of the entire social life of society (see: 225. P. 150-154].

Primary and secondary groups

G.S. Antipina identifies the following features characteristic of primary groups: "small composition, spatial proximity of their members, immediacy, intimacy of relations, duration of existence, unity of purpose, voluntary entry into the group and informal control over the behavior of members" .

For the first time, the concept of "primary group" was introduced in 1909 by C. Cooley in relation to a family in which stable emotional relationships develop between members. C. Cooley considered the family "primary", because it is the first group, thanks to which the process of socialization of the baby is carried out. He also referred to "primary groups" groups of friends and groups of nearest neighbors [see. about this: 139. S.330-335].

C. Cooley noted two main functions of small primary groups:

1. Act as a source of moral norms that a person receives in childhood and is guided by throughout his subsequent life.

2. Act as a means of supporting and stabilizing an adult [see: II. P.40].

The secondary group is a group organized to achieve certain goals, within which there are almost no emotional relationships and in which subject contacts, most often mediated, predominate. Members of this group have an institutionalized system of relations, and their activities are regulated by rules. If the primary group is always focused on the relationship between its members, then the secondary group is always goal-oriented. Secondary groups tend to coincide with large and formal groups that have an institutionalized system of relationships, although small groups can also be secondary.

The discovery of the "reference group" phenomenon belongs to the American social psychologist H.Hyman (Hyman H.H. The psychology of ststys. N.I. 1942). This term was transferred to sociology from social psychology. Psychologists at first understood a “reference group” as a group whose standards of behavior an individual imitates and whose norms and values he learns.

In the course of a series of experiments that G. Hyman conducted on student groups, he found that some members of small groups share the norms of behavior. accepted not in the group to which they belong, but in some other one, to which they are guided, I.e. accept the norms of groups in which they are not really included. G. Hymen called such groups reference groups. In his opinion, it was the "reference group" that helped to clarify the "paradox why some individuals do not assimilate54 the positions of the groups in which they are directly included" [cit. according to: 7. p.260], but they learn the patterns and standards of behavior of other groups, of which they are not members. Therefore, in order to explain the behavior of an individual, it is important to study the group to which the individual “refers” himself, which he takes as a standard and which he “refers to”, and not the one that directly “surrounds” him. Thus, the term itself was born from the English verb to refer, i.e. refer to something.

Another American psychologist M. Sherif, whose name is associated with the final approval of the concept of "reference group" in American sociology, considering small groups that influence the behavior of an individual, divided them into two types: membership groups (of which the individual is a member) and non-membership groups, or actually reference groups (of which the individual is not a member, but with the values and norms of which he correlates his behavior) [see: II. S.56-57]. In this case, the concepts of reference and member groups were already considered as opposites.

Later, other researchers (R. Merton, T. Newcomb) extended the concept of "reference group" to all associations that acted as a standard for an individual in assessing his own social position, actions, views, etc. In this regard, both the group of which the individual was already a member, and the group of which he would like to be or was a member began to act as a reference group.

The "referent group" for an individual, J. Szczepanski points out, is such a group with which he voluntarily identifies himself, i.e. "its models and rules, its ideals become the ideals of the individual, and the role imposed by the group is performed faithfully, with the deepest conviction" .

Thus, there are currently two uses of the term "reference group" in the literature. In the first case, it refers to the group opposed to the membership group. In the second case, a group arising within a membership group, i.e. a circle of persons selected from the composition of a real group as a "significant social circle" for the individual. The norms adopted by the group become personally acceptable to the individual only when they are accepted by this circle of people [see: 9. p.197],

Asch Conformity Experiments), published in 1951, was a series of studies that impressively demonstrated the power of conformity in groups.

In experiments led by Solomon Ash, students were asked to participate in eye tests. In fact, in most of the experiments, all but one of the participants were decoys, and the study was to test the response of one student to the behavior of the majority.

Participants (real test subjects and decoys) were seated in the audience. The task of the students was to announce aloud their opinion on the length of several lines in a series of displays. They were asked which line was longer than the others, and so on. The decoys gave the same, obviously wrong answer.

When the test subjects answered correctly, many of them experienced extreme discomfort. At the same time, 75% of the subjects obeyed the fundamentally erroneous representation of the majority on at least one issue. The total proportion of erroneous answers was 37%; in the control group, only one person out of 35 gave one erroneous answer. When the "conspirators" were not unanimous in their judgment, the subjects were much more likely to disagree with the majority. When there were two independent subjects, or when one of the dummy participants was given the task of giving the correct answers, the error fell by more than four times. When one of the dummy gave incorrect answers, but also did not coincide with the main one, the error was also reduced: up to 9-12%, depending on the radicalism of the “third opinion”.

The three main features we have just considered—interaction, membership, and group identity—are common to many groups. Two lovers, three friends who go fishing together on weekends, a bridge club, scouts, a computer company - they are all groups. But a group consisting of two lovers or three friends is fundamentally different from a team that mounts a computer, sitting at one table. Lovers and friends form primary groups; computer assembly group - secondary.

Primary group consists of a small number of people between whom relationships are established based on their individual characteristics. Primary groups are not large, otherwise it is difficult to establish direct, personal relationships between all members.

Charles Cooley (1909) first introduced the concept of the primary group in relation to the family, between the members of which there are stable emotional relationships. According to Cooley, the family is considered "primary" because it is the first group to play a major role in the socialization of infants. Subsequently, sociologists began to use this term in the study of any group in which close personal relationships have formed that determine the essence of this group. Thus, lovers, groups of friends, club members who not only play bridge together, but also go to visit each other, are primary groups.

secondary group It is formed from people between whom there are almost no emotional relationships, their interaction is due to the desire to achieve certain goals. In these groups, the main importance is given not to personal qualities, but to the ability to perform certain functions. At an enterprise for the production of computers, the positions of a clerk, manager, courier, engineer, administrator can be occupied by any person with appropriate training. If the people in these positions are doing their job, the organization can function. The individual characteristics of each mean almost nothing to the organization and vice versa, members of the family or group of players are unique. Their personal qualities play an important role, none can be replaced by someone else.

Due to the fact that the roles in the secondary group are clearly defined, its members often know very little about each other. As a rule, they do not hug when they meet. Emotional relationships that are characteristic of friends and family members are not established between them. In the organization associated with labor activity, the main ones are industrial relations. Thus, not only the roles, but also the means of communication are clearly defined. Because face-to-face conversation is not effective, communication is often more formal and takes place through written documents or phone calls.

However, one should not exaggerate a certain impersonality of secondary groups, supposedly devoid of originality. People enter into friendships and form new groups at work, at school, and within other secondary groups. If sufficiently stable relations develop between the individuals participating in communication, we can assume that they have created a new primary group.

PRIMARY GROUPS IN MODERN SOCIETY

Over the past two hundred years, theorists of the social sciences have noted the weakening of the role of primary groups in society. They believe that the industrial revolution, the development of cities and the emergence of corporations led to the creation of a large impersonal bureaucracy. To characterize these trends, concepts such as "mass society" and "community decline" were introduced.

But sociological research over several decades shows the complexity of these issues. Indeed, in the modern world there is a dominance of secondary groups. But at the same time, the primary group turned out to be quite stable and became an important link between the personality and the more formal, organizational side of life. Basic heading research is concentrated in several areas. Let's start with an analysis of the role of basic groups in industry.

Industry

disasters

Social Control: The Chinese Case

Section 1 The main components of society.

Chapter 5 Social Interaction

INDUSTRY

Sixty years ago, a group of social scientists studied the behavior of workers at the giant Hawthorne plant operated by the Western Electric Company in Chicago. Scientists sought to determine the factors affecting labor productivity and individual output of workers. For example, they believed that the number of breaks at work affects productivity. So they chose a group of workers and started the experiment. At first, female workers were able to take several long breaks during the working day, then the rest periods were reduced, but became more frequent. The experimenters also shortened and lengthened the time allowed for lunch. In addition, lighting was enhanced to varying degrees; brighter lighting was expected to improve productivity.

The results of the experiment surprised the researchers. When they lengthened their rest periods, the productivity of female workers increased. While shrinking, it continued to grow. But when the initial regime of work and rest was established, labor productivity increased even more. The same was observed in experiments involving changes in the duration of lunch and the brightness of lighting. With any changes, the level of production of women increased.

With these results, the researchers tried to identify other factors (besides working conditions) that affected productivity. It turned out that the women selected for the experiment formed a group. It seemed to them that because they were selected, they acquired a special status, and they began to consider each other as representatives of a kind of "elite". Therefore, we tried to work as best as possible in accordance with the requirements of the researchers. This type of response is called hawthorne effect. It was as follows: it is likely that the very fact that a particular group is being studied affects the behavior of its members even more than other factors that researchers seek to identify.

Based on this experiment and other data, the Hawthorne researchers concluded that the "human factor" plays an important role in work. When a worker acquired a new status associated with a monetary reward, praise, or promotion, his productivity skyrocketed. This was also facilitated by an effective system for responding to complaints. If the worker has the opportunity to discuss this or that problem with a patient boss who will listen with sympathy and respect, and if after that something changes for the better, the trust of the workers in the management, their self-esteem and the desire for group unity increase.

The Hawthorne experimenters also revealed the favorable role of small, well-organized groups of female workers. Members of such groups often sought to start a fuss, jokes, games. After work, they played baseball, cards, went to visit each other. And these seed groups could have an impact on the productivity of the entire plant. Despite attempts by management to control production by setting standards, these groups themselves informally controlled the pace of work. Those who worked too fast (they were called "upstarts") were subject to social pressure from the group - they were teased, ridiculed or ignored. Often this pressure was so strong that the workers deliberately worked more slowly and refused bonuses for exceeding the production norms (Roethlisberger, Dixon, 1947).

social institutions.

Most of us start our lives in an organization - in a maternity hospital. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, nurses and others work there; they all care about our health. After leaving the maternity hospital, we find ourselves in other organizations - nursery, kindergarten, primary and secondary school - each of them has a certain structure and work order. After leaving school, we again cannot avoid organizations. As adults, we go to work in one of them. We deal with organizations such as financial administration, army, police, courts, banks, shops, etc. After retirement, we will have to face social security and health care organizations; it is possible that we will end up in a hospital or even in a nursing home. Even when a person dies, organizations do not leave him to his fate. It is handled by funeral homes, banks, law firms, tax agencies, and courts where heirs settle the affairs of the deceased.

Organizations are relatively recent. In less developed societies, health care, education, care for the elderly, etc. carried out in the family or family members.

But in industrialized countries, life becomes much more complicated and there is a need to create many organizations. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in detail the essence of organizations and their forms.

Between the members of the primary groups (family, group of friends) personal relationships are established, expending many aspects of their individuality. In contrast, secondary groups form to achieve certain goals. Their members play, for example, strictly defined roles, and there is almost no emotional relationship between them. The main type of secondary group is an organization - a large social group formed to achieve certain goals. Department stores, publishing houses, universities, post office, army, etc. - this list can be continued endlessly.

In real life it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between the two entities: the primary group and the formal organization. For example, some groups are similar to organizations in that they exist to achieve specific goals, but are similar in structure to seed groups. These are charismatic groups. They are led by a leader of great charm and great attraction or charisma; members of the group deify the leader and are ready to serve him faithfully. A typical charismatic group is Christ and his disciples.

The essence of a charismatic group is the inconstancy of their organizational structure and dependence on a leader. They do not have an official hierarchy (such as positions of vice president or secretary, etc.) that exists as long as the group exists, regardless of its composition at any given time. The roles of the members of such groups are determined in accordance with their relationship to the leader. There is no such thing as promotion here - everything depends only on the location of the leader to one or another member of the group. Since personal relationships can be very fluid, group structure is also unstable. Moreover, in charismatic groups there are no stable intra-group norms, in contrast to more structured organizations, whose leaders strengthen their power with the help of established rules and norms.

Since charismatic groups are unstable, they usually persist as long as the leaders have magnetic power. However, since the leaders are not immortal, the rules are set according to which their successors are chosen. Sooner or later, these followers are convinced that faith alone is not enough to maintain the group for a long time. It also matters how the members of the group make a living. Often a group solves this problem by taxing its members or by selling a product. In the course of the formation of certain rules, methods and traditions, a hierarchy of officials is formed. Thus, a much more orderly organization is formed.

Max Weber called this process the routinization of charisma. It happens in a lot of groups. For example, Ross (1980) examined three organizations that were formed to help the population of Midwestern cities hit by hurricanes. Although these three groups differed in many respects, it is striking that they went through the same stages before becoming organizations. At the stage of "crystallization" each group comprehended the needs of society and made decisions about measures to meet them. Then there was a transition to the stage of "recognition", when the leaders entered into contact with other organizations to discuss their goals and joint efforts; thus, they received recognition from others. This led to the third stage, called "institutionalization", when activities began to be carried out in a conventional way. By this time, stable forms of interaction are established between members of the group and with representatives of other organizations. It is interesting to note that as a result of this process, each group became more ordered; fewer people were needed to achieve its goals,

so the group got smaller.

When discussing the specifics of moving from group to organizational structure, you may have thought that there are many forms of organization. If so, then you were right. One such form is the voluntary association, which resembles an informal group; its opposite is total organization.

Voluntary associations are common throughout the world. These include religious groups such as the World Zionist Convention or the Women's Christian Union, professional societies such as the American Sociological Association and the American Planning Institute, and associations whose members share common interests, such as the Kennel Club or the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Vocal Quartets among American Barbers. .

A voluntary association has three main features:

1. it was formed to protect the common interests of its members;

2. membership is voluntary - it does not provide for the presentation of requirements for certain people (which is observed during conscription for military service) and it is not assigned from birth (such as citizenship). As a result, the leaders have relatively little influence on the members of the voluntary association, who have the opportunity to leave the organization if they are not satisfied with the activities of the leaders;

3. This type of organization is not affiliated with local, state, or federal government agencies (Sills, 1968).

Voluntary associations are often created to protect some common interest of its members. Total type institutions are formed to promote the public good, the essence of which is formulated by state, religious and other organizations. Examples of such institutions are prisons, military schools, etc.

The inhabitants of total institutions are isolated from society. Often they are under the supervision of guards. Guards oversee many aspects of their lives, including food, housing, and even personal care. It is not surprising that many regulations are issued to maintain order and the dependence of the inhabitants of these institutions on the guards. As a result, a strong group of guards and a weak group of those who obey them are formed.

Erwin Hoffman (1961), who coined the term "total institutions", identified several types of such organizations:

1. hospitals, houses and sanatoriums for people who cannot take care of themselves (the blind, the elderly, the poor, the sick);

2. prisons (and concentration camps) intended for people considered dangerous to society;

3. military barracks, naval vessels, closed educational institutions, labor camps and other institutions established for specific purposes;

4. Men's and women's monasteries and other places of refuge where people withdraw from the world, usually for religious reasons.

Often, isolation from the outside world is enforced on newcomers to a total institution through complex or rigid rituals. This is done to achieve a complete rupture of people with their past and submission to the norms of the institution.

social institutions.

Another type of social systems is formed on the basis of communities, the social ties of which are determined by associations of organizations. Such social ties are called institutional, and social systems are called social institutions. The latter act on behalf of society as a whole. Institutional ties can also be called normative, since their nature and content are established by society in order to meet the needs of its members in certain areas of public life.

Consequently, social institutions perform in society the functions of social management and social control as one of the elements of management. Social control enables society and its systems to enforce normative conditions, the violation of which is detrimental to the social system. The main objects of such control are legal and moral norms, customs, administrative decisions, etc. The effect of social control is reduced, on the one hand, to the application of sanctions against behavior that violates social restrictions, on the other hand, to the approval of desirable behavior. The behavior of individuals is conditioned by their needs. These needs can be satisfied in various ways, and the choice of means to satisfy them depends on the value system adopted by a given social community or society as a whole. The adoption of a certain system of values contributes to the identity of the behavior of members of the community. Education and socialization are aimed at conveying to individuals the patterns of behavior and methods of activity established in a given community.

Social institutions govern the behavior of community members through a system of sanctions and rewards. In social management and control, institutions play a very important role. Their task is not only to coercion. In every society there are institutions that guarantee freedom in certain types of activity - freedom of creativity and innovation, freedom of speech, the right to receive a certain form and amount of income, housing and free medical care, etc. For example, writers and artists have guaranteed freedom creativity, search for new artistic forms; scientists and specialists are obliged to investigate new problems and search for new technical solutions, etc. Social institutions can be characterized in terms of both their external, formal (“material”) structure, and their internal, content.

Outwardly, a social institution looks like a set of individuals, institutions, equipped with certain material resources and performing a specific social function. From the content side, it is a certain system of expediently oriented standards of behavior of certain individuals in specific situations. So, if there is justice as a social institution, it can outwardly be characterized as a set of persons, institutions and material means administering justice, then from a substantive point of view, it is a set of standardized patterns of behavior of eligible persons providing this social function. These standards of conduct are embodied in certain roles characteristic of the justice system (the role of a judge, prosecutor, lawyer, investigator, etc.).

The social institution thus determines the orientation of social activity and social relations through a mutually agreed system of expediently oriented standards of behavior. Their emergence and grouping into a system depend on the content of the tasks solved by the social institution. Each such institution is characterized by the presence of an activity goal, specific functions that ensure its achievement, a set of social positions and roles, as well as a system of sanctions that ensure the promotion of desired and the suppression of deviant behavior.

The most important social institutions are political ones. With their help, political power is established and maintained. Economic institutions ensure the process of production and distribution of goods and services. The family is also one of the important social institutions. Its activities (relations between parents, parents and children, methods of education, etc.) are determined by a system of legal and other social norms. Along with these institutions, such socio-cultural institutions as the education system, health care, social security, cultural and educational institutions, etc., are also of significant importance. The institution of religion still plays a significant role in society.

Institutional ties, like other forms of social ties on the basis of which social communities are formed, represent an ordered system, a certain social organization. This is a system of accepted activities of social communities, norms and values that guarantee similar behavior of their members, coordinate and direct people's aspirations in a certain direction, establish ways to meet their needs, resolve conflicts that arise in the process of everyday life, provide a state of balance between the aspirations of various individuals. and groups of a given social community and society as a whole. In the case when this balance begins to fluctuate, one speaks of social disorganization, of the intensive manifestation of undesirable phenomena (for example, such as crimes, alcoholism, aggressive actions, etc.).

Primary and secondary social groups. Primary and secondary groups as subjects of social relations. The impact of primary groups on the activities of secondary groups What refers to the characteristics of secondary groups

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