reference group

Examples of reference group in the following topics:

• Reference Groups

  • Sociologists call any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior a reference group.
  • One important concept in this theory is the reference group.
  • A reference group refers to a group to which an individual or another group is compared.
  • A reference group can either be from a membership group or non-membership group.
  • An example of a reference group is a group of people who have a certain level of affluence.

• Organized Crime

  • Organized crime refers to transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals.
  • Organized crime refers to transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit.
  • An organized gang or criminal set can also be referred to as a mob.
  • Bureaucratic and corporate organized crime groups are defined by the general rigidity of their internal structures.
  • The term "street gang" is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang", referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria.

• Ethnic Groups

  • An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common heritage, culture, and/or language; in the U.S., ethnicity often refers to race.
  • An ethnic group is a group of people who identify with each other through a common heritage, which generally consists of a common culture and shared language or dialect.
  • The group's ethos or ideology may also stress common ancestry, religion, or race.
  • Ethnicity in U.S. therefore usually refers to collectives of related groups, having more to do with physical appearance, specifically skin color, rather than political boundaries.
  • The many previously designated "Oriental" ethnic groups are now classified as the "Asian" racial group for the census.

• Informal Means of Control

  • Informal social control refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.
  • Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society.
  • Informal controls differ from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society.
  • Finally, re-socialization refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and reflexes, accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life.
  • A peer group is a social group whose members have interests, social positions, and age in common.

• Effects of Group Size on Attitude and Behavior

  • This makes sense if the size of the group has consequences for the way group members relate with each other.
  • Individual behavior deviates substantially in a group setting; therefore, it is difficult to determine group behavior by looking solely at the individuals that comprise the group.
  • Group attitudes and behavior depend upon several variables: size, structure, the purpose that the group serves, group development and various influences upon a group.
  • Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups.
  • Sociologists study interactions within groups, and between both groups and individuals.

• The Nature of Groups

  • A society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller.
  • One way of determining if a collection of people can be considered a group is if individuals who belong to that collection use the self-referent pronoun "we;" using "we" to refer to a collection of people often implies that the collection thinks of itself as a group.
  • accepted norms and values with reference to matters relevant to the group; and
  • " the social identity perspective expects group members to simply ask "who am I?
  • A law enforcement official is a social category, not a group.

• Prejudice

  • Prejudice refers to a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their perceived group membership (e.g., race, class, or gender).
  • Prejudice is common against people who are members of an unfamiliar cultural group.
  • Indeed, when experimental participants were asked to imagine themselves positively interacting with someone from a different group, this led to an increased positive attitude toward the other group and an increase in positive traits associated with the other group.
  • Stereotypes become overgeneralized and applied to all members of a group.
  • Apply the concepts of in-group favoritism and prejudice to a real-life situation

• In-Groups and Out-Groups

  • In-groups are social groups to which an individual feels he or she belongs, while an individual doesn't identify with the out-group.
  • In-group favoritism refers to a preference and affinity for one's in-group over the out-group or anyone viewed as outside the in-group.
  • "they are alike; we are diverse. " The out-group homogeneity effect has been found using a wide variety of different social groups, from political and racial groups to age and gender groups.
  • Prejudice primarily refers to a negative attitude about others, although one can also have a positive prejudice in favor of something.
  • Recall two of the key features of in-group biases toward out-groups

• Peer Groups

  • A peer group, whose members have interests, social positions, and age in common, have an influence on the socialization of group members.
  • A peer group is a social group whose members have interests, social positions, and age in common.
  • Peer groups have a significant influence on psychological and social adjustments for group individuals.
  • Peers, particularly group members, become important social referents for teaching members' customs, social norms, and different ideologies.
  • Peer groups cohesion is determined and maintained by such factors as group communication, group consensus, and group conformity concerning attitude and behavior.

• Social Identity Theory

  • We define appropriate behaviour by reference to the norms of groups we belong to, but you can only do this if you can tell who belongs to your group.
  • The first is referred to as social identity, the latter is referred to as personal identity.
  • In other words, people in groups choose to compare their groups with other groups in ways that reflect positively on themselves.
  • Inversely, people in a group may minimize differences between their group and another, slightly more prestigious group so one's own group tends to be seen more favorably (i.e., negative distinctiveness).Groups choose dimensions for comparison in order to maximize the positivity of their own group.
  • Thus, members of higher status groups work harder when competing against lower status groups.