In the sociology studies
A group is usually a number of people who interact and identify with each other (Owen, 2018). Despite having broad definitions, it also includes all group of sizes from whole societies to dyads. While exaggerated that it may comprise a mere number of people, groups in sociology mean cohesiveness to a larger group. Every group shares common aspects like values, interest, kinship, roles and ethnic backgrounds (Owen, 2018). One way one can determine a collection of people who consider themselves as a group is based on the collection of the self-referent pronoun like ‘we’ which means they think as a group. Every social group gives us a set of roles and status tags that allow people’s expectation to become predictable (Owen, 2018).
It is also common that most of us usually have familiar roles and statuses
One example of a social status I portrayed is the achieved status because of the efforts I made to get where I am. For instance, I am an African-American who lives in California, and I was raised on the farm. Both my parents were farmers, but I grew up with the aim of desiring to become a sociologist. I worked hard to excel in my high school, and now that am in college I also have to prove myself that I will transit from the farm group. Coming from a traditional background, I first acquired the ascribed status but now since I am a sociologist student I have managed to get an achieved status. The current role I have is to try and acquire more knowledge from social group at school.
The conflict theory
The conflict theory is a social aspect that holds the stratification of how harmful or dysfunctional the society may be in terms of inequality because of the benefits of the rich at the expense of the poor. The conflict theorist believes that the society is a dynamic entity that undergoes through various changes that are driven by the class conflict (Carl, 2011). According to the conflict theorist, the society is made of people that compete for limited sources such as sexual partners, leisure, and money (Carl, 2011). When there is a competition for scarce resources, then the heart of social relationships is created. When competition is more significant than consensus, then the characteristics of the human contact is affected. Therefore the conflict theory suggests that the organizations and social structures are the cause of competition for resources as well as the inheritance of competition. When people us the resources well, they maintain their status in the society (Carl, 2011).
The functionalist perspective
The functionalist perspective tries to define the social institutions as ways of meeting a person's social needs. As it's also known as structural-functionalism, its primary focus is how the social structures fulfill the social requirements (Mooney & Knox, 2012). The perspective of the functionalist to try and explain the maintenance of societies through internal and stability cohesion that ensure a long-term existence. In this perspective, communities are seen to have similar functions as those of organisms that have different social institutions which work together to reproduce and maintain them. With this perspectives, various parts of the society should learn how to automatically manage their social status by naturally working together (Mooney & Knox, 2012).
References
Carl, J. D. (2011). Think social problems. Boston: Pearson.
Mooney, L. A., " Knox, D. (2012). Understanding social problems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
Owen, J. M. (2018). Ideologies Are (Usually) Not Monolithic. Princeton University Press. doi:10.23943/princeton/9780691173108.003.0003
