Social communities and social groups in science

Even the ancient Greeks knew that man is a social animal. Without society on Earth, there would be no one person, because only among other people who have the same behaviors, cultural norms and rules, a person becomes a person. Social communities and social groups that a person gets into during his life are both a teacher and a guarantor of the existence of these social rules. In this article, we briefly outline the definition and types of communities and groups.

The concept of social community and social group is studied by psychology, sociology and social philosophy. Scientists did not come to a common opinion about a clear definition of these social phenomena, therefore there are many theories among the scientific community. So, for example, scientists are still arguing what is the determining factor. Man determines his social activities by the structure of groups, or whether social communities and social groups determine human behavior. In sociology these schools were named nominalism and realism respectively.

In the narrow sense of the word, social communities and social groups are understood as the unification of people with an internal, clear interconnection that acts as a collective factor of public life. In the broad sense of the term, these terms are understood to mean a group of people with common characteristics and characteristics.

In the first case, such associations are an active participant in public life. Social communities and social groups are constantly transformed in the process of change, development or degradation of society. Their number is growing steadily upward with the development and complexity of society. So, for example, social communities and social groups that act as social movements are some of the factors of significant social change. Take, for example, such social groups and organizations as "Green Peace", the feminist movement in the early 20th century or the LGBT movement. Alain Turen is a famous French sociologist who studies social movements .

The well-known German sociologist Ferdinand Tennis distinguished in his works such types of social communities and groups as Gemeinschaft (communities) and Gesellschaft (societies). In the first form, the individual is inextricably linked to his social community, he dissolves in it. Tennis stressed that it is in such communities that the partnership develops. A vivid example of such communities is a village, an army collective or tribes. If, while walking along the street, you saw a friend and turned your eyes away or exchanged a couple of minor words, then you live in the Gesellschaft society. Such a society is individualized, a person for another person is a means, not a goal. "Loneliness in the crowd", a high level of anonymity is familiar to every inhabitant of this society.

It can not be said that any of the species is unnatural and wrong for human existence. The first kind is inherent in traditional and archaic societies, while the latter is more developed and complex societies, including a large number of people, their interests and social institutions.