1. Types of Social Groups By
Shahid Umar

2. A Social Group is formed when 2 or more people are in the same physical location and aware of one another’s presence.

3. A Transitory Group is when several people happen to be in the same place at the same time but who may never be again. Their interaction is minimal.
Examples: people crossing the street at the same time at the same intersection; people getting onto the same elevator; people waiting in line at the counter.

4. A Recurrent Group is one that meets regularly.
Examples: the field hockey team; an annual family gathering; a monthly teachers meeting.

5. Formal Group
A Formal Group is one that has rules and regulations, scheduled meeting times, official roles assigned to members.
Examples: Non-Profit Organization
E.g. Edhi Foundation,

6. Informal Group
An Informal Group lacks the formality of the formal group. There may be unwritten rules, etc.
Examples: a group of friends; a family; commuters sharing a bus

7. Classification on the basis of Emotional Attachments In-Group & Out Group
An In-Group is simply any group someone belongs to and feels emotional attachment to the members.
Exmpl: Family members, Pakistan Army

8. Out Group
An Out-Group is one that someone doesn’t belong to and feels competition and/or hatred towards. These two are different for each individual. Examples: Rival gangs, Rival teams or their fans; cliques at school.

9. Mutual Interaction in Groups
Group members differ in the ways they interact with one another as well. This determines whether a group is Primary or Secondary. These differ in the following ways.

10. Emotional Intensity:
Primary: Strong emotional attachment among members. E.g. Love
Secondary: Little emotion felt among members toward one another

11. Scope
Primary: An individual’s entire personality is important to the group. Head of the Army
Secondary: Only a small piece of an individual’s personality is important to the group. E.g. Members of Army

12. Particularism
Primary: Each individual is important to the group. The group is particular about who can be a member.
Secondary: Membership is open to all.

13. Interaction
Primary: very informal. Members feel relaxed around one another
Secondary: formal. Rules exist to explain how and when interaction takes place

14. Aims
Primary: goal is simply to enjoy one another’s company
Secondary: the group meets for a specific reason. Members may have little in common beyond the reason for the group’s existence

15. Rules & Regulations
Primary: Rules may be understood rather than written down and are very flexible. Punishments for breaking them are also flexible.
Secondary: Rules are formalized and each member must follow the same rules. Punishments also are applied in a standard way for all members.

16. Membership in these groups overlap
Membership in these groups overlap. A group could be recurrent, formal and secondary (student council). It might also be recurrent, informal and primary (a dating couple). Members might belong to a formal group (co-workers on the job) but form informal groups (co-workers who become friends or even begin dating each other). They might interact in a primary and secondary way with differing members of the same group.