Social Groups and Organization

Social Group(s)  ***A cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related on grounds other than kinship.  Primary Group: Is a social group in which members meet on a face- to-face basis.  Secondary Group: A group of people who identify with one another on some basis but may never meet with one another personally.  Age Set: A group of people close in age who go through certain rituals, such as circumcision, at the same time.

Friendship  Refers to the close ties between at least two people in which the ties are informal, voluntary and involve face-to-face interaction.  Generally speaking friends are non-kin but there are many cases where members of one’s family are considered friends.  Friendship=primary social group  Cross-culturally identifying friendship as a human universal is problematic. This is because the definition of friendship varies from culture to culture.  Clubs and Fraternities/Sororities  Social groups that define membership in terms of shared identity and objectives. These groups may comprise of people with like ethnic heritage, occupation or business, religion, or gender.

***Countercultural Groups  Youth Gang  A group of young people, found mainly in urban areas, who are often considered a social problem by adults and law enforcement officials.  Street Gangs  A more formal variety of youth gang. These groups have leaders and a elaborate hierarchy of members with different roles and responsibilities. Membership is usually marked through symbolic color, tattoo and etc.  Body Modification Groups  Includes people who have a sense of community strengthened through forms of body alteration– tattoos, body piercings, and branding etc.  Cooperatives  A form of economic group in which surpluses are shared among the members and decision making follows the democratic principle of each individual member have one vote. Agricultural and credit coops are the most common forms but there are also consumer coops.  Self-Help Groups  Groups formed to achieve specific personal goals, such as coping with illness, bereavement or lifestyle changes such as trying to exercise more or lose weight.

***Social Stratification  A set of hierarchical relationships among different groups as though they were arranged in layers, or “strata.”  Ascribed position A person’s standing in society based on qualities that the person has gained through birth.  Achieved position A person’s standing in society based on qualities that the person has gained through action. This is usually over the course of an individual’s life.  Status A person’s position, or standing, in society. This can be either ascribed or achieved. Refers to the present status of an individual.  Class Social class refers to a person’s or group’s position in society and is defined primarily in economic terms. This type of social organization found primarily in capitalist groups based on the ideology meritocratic individualism.

Ascribed Status: “Race/Ancestry, Ethnicity, Gender and Caste” Race/Ancestry: Racial stratification is a relatively recent form of social inequality. It results from the unequal meeting of two formerly separate groups through colonization, slavery, and other large-group movements. A main feature of behind racial thinking is its insistence that behavioral differences among people are, “natural, in born, or biologically caused.” Racial classifications in the Caribbean, Central and South America involve a complicated system(s) of status classification. The complexity is born from the waves colonization, slavery, and intermarriage. Mestizaje: A mixture in Central and South America of indigenous people who are cut off from their Indian roots, or literate and successful indigenous people who retain some traditional cultural practices.

Tutsis vs. Hutus (East Africa)  600 years ago, Hutus, Tutsis and Twas lived in relative harmony throughout Central and Eastern Africa. Tutsis, are a tall, warrior-like people, that moved south from Ethiopia and invaded the homeland of the Hutus. The Tutsis had a much smaller population and yet they conquered the Hutus. The Hutus agreed to raise crops for them in return for Tutsi protection. The areas where the Hutus and Tutsis live at present include– Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and southern Ethiopia.  Even during Colonialism when Belgium ruled the area the two groups lived as one, speaking the same language, intermarrying, and obeying a nearly god-like Tutsi king. However, The Belgians ascribed higher societal class to the Tutsis because of their elegant height, European or Caucasian features and lighter skin tone.

 Independence changed everything…  The monarchy was dissolved and Belgian troops withdrew from Rwanda-- a power vacuum where both Tutsis and Hutus fought to fill these higher political positions.  Two new countries emerged in Rwanda (dominated by the Hutus) and Burundi (dominated by the Tutsis) -- and the ethnic fighting flared up during the subsequent decades.  Genocide and Conflict between the Hutus/Tutsis  In 1994 a civil war erupted in Rwanda after the announcement of a peace agreement between Hutus and Tutsis was ratified in the summer.  800,000-1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically hunted down and massacred. Tutsi rebels finally won control and quelled the violence in Rwanda.  In Burundi, the Tutsis yielded power after a Hutu won the country's first democratic election in He was killed in an attempted coup 4 months later, and his successor in a suspicious plane crash in 1994, in which the Hutu leader of Rwanda was also killed.

Hutus vs. Tutsis (Rwanda, 1994)

Carnival, Rio de Janeiro

***Ethnicity  Is group membership based on a shared sense of identity that may be based on history, territory, language, or religion, or a combination of these features. Ethnicity can be a basis for claiming entitlements to resources( i.e.- land, buildings, or artifacts) and for defending or regaining those resources.  ***Diaspora population  A dispersed group of people living outside their original homeland.  Enclaves- Areas within a different country where people of like ethnicity gather, live, and continue their cultural traditions outside of their homelands. (i.e.- china town)

***Gender and Sexism  Patriarchy  The dominance of men in economic, political, social, and ideological domains.  Matriarchy  The dominance of women in economic, political, social and ideological domains.  Caste System  A form of social stratification linked with Hinduism and based on a person’s birth into a particular group.  Dalit or untouchables  The preferred name for the socially defined lowest groups in the Indian caste system; the name means “oppressed” or “ground down.”

Civil Society  The collection of interest groups that function outside the government to organize economic, political and other aspects of life.  Activist groups, civil society groups, and Social movements coupled with New social media (facebook, twitter, internet, etc)  MADD, Co-madres, etc.