Secondary groups: characteristics, functions and examples

A summary of the characteristics of secondary groups according to Social Psychology.

Our family, friends and partner are fundamental groups of people for our emotional well-being and personality formation. They constitute the main sets of people we relate to, but this does not mean that they are the only ones.

Our co-workers or classmates with whom we have to do work are also groups of people to whom we belong, although what they think and what they may say about us does not affect us as much as our loved ones do.

Here we are going to talk about secondary groups, groups of people created for a specific purpose, be it work, academic or social.These groups are not as intimate and warm as our families or friends can be.

What are secondary groups?

Secondary groups are more or less stable groups of people whose members relate to each other to achieve a common objective, be it work, academic or of any other nature, or because the situation in which they find themselvesThey may be work-related, academic or of any other kind, or because the situation in which they find themselves forces them to interact. As a general rule, the relationships among its members are superficial and not very intimate, disappearing once the common goal has been achieved or the situation that forced them to interact has passed.

Although they are not as important to our lives as the primary groups, i.e., family, friends or partners, they can influence our social relationships, our social status, the way we relate to each other, and the way we interact with each other. can influence our social relationships, psychological well-being and life success.. It is for this reason that sociology and other social sciences have delved into the study of these groups that, although their life may be especially short and not very warm or emotionally pleasing, can have a lesser or greater impact on our lives.

How are they formed?

Generally, secondary groups are formed when its members have to achieve a common goal or live the same situation and, in order to overcome it, they have to live together and collaborate..

A clear example of this type of group would be the offices of any company, whose workers must collaborate and coexist harmoniously to achieve the objectives. The group has been formed because they all happen to work in the same place and must coordinate in order to keep the company afloat.

Just as the formation of a secondary group can occur relatively suddenly, so too can its dissolution.. In most cases, secondary groups cease to exist when they have achieved their common goals, or the situation that formed the group has ceased to exist. A clear example is group work at university, which quickly dissolves as soon as the work is handed in or the grade is received, especially if the group has been formed by the teacher.

Characteristics of secondary groups

The following are the main characteristics of secondary groups.

Formal and impersonal relationships

In primary groups, such as family or friends, the members tend to establish deep and lasting bonds.. Their members have influence with each other. This is not the case in secondary groups, where relationships between members tend to be quite impersonal, formal in nature and without much influence.

It is not common to find warmth and emotional support in secondary groups such as an academic group work or a company office.The interactions among members are based on accomplishing common tasks, not providing psychological support to each other.

Relationships can become so formal and impersonal that, in fact, sometimes members do not even know each other. This can occur perfectly well in a large company, in which its departments work in a coordinated manner but its workers are unlikely to know all the employees personally.

High number of members.

And speaking of large companies, we come to the next characteristic of secondary groups: they usually have a high number of members. This contrasts with the primary groups, in which the normal thing is to have few people as members.This makes it easier to have warmer and more personal relationships.

It is not that they always have many members, as can be seen in academic groups that can have 4 or 5 people. However, it is normal to see that these groups are quite extensive, as is a large company, a political party or all the officials of a state, groups that can have thousands of people.

3. Goal-oriented

As we have already seen, secondary groups are formed either because the situation requires it or, as is usually the case, because a goal must be achieved. They are therefore are oriented towards a specific goal that all members expect to be achieved.. Once this goal has been achieved, and if no more groups are formed, the group usually disbands relatively quickly.

4. Optional membership

The normal thing in the primary groups, as it is the family, friends or couple, is that its membership is not optional. It is true that we can stop talking to our family, break up with our partner and look for a new one or change our group of friends, however, in most cases it is a set of circumstances and coincidences that make us part of them, situations that we cannot choose.

In the secondary groups there is more freedom to belong.. It is not that it is entirely optional to belong to these groups, but the choice is motivated by conscious decisions of the individual, who knows that he/she is not going to join a group of friends nor is it expected to have intimate relationships of any kind with its members. An example of optional membership in a secondary group would be joining a company.

While it is true that the employer is the one who ultimately decides whether to hire us or not, we have been the ones who have wanted to belong to that company, something that cannot be decided with our family.

5. Existence of formal rules

Although not always, it is quite common to see in the secondary groups formal and explicit rules that regulate the relations between its members, especially in the professional field.especially in the professional sphere. These rules are responsible for maintaining the stability of the group and fostering the development of the best possible conditions for achieving common objectives.

6. Different levels of activity among members

Because they tend to be large in size, it is common to see different levels of activity among the members of secondary groups. Members tend to play very different roles and act differently depending on interests, roles to be fulfilled, motivation and objectives.

Taking again the example of a large company, it is to be expected that it is organized into different departments with different functions and members fulfilling different roles. Thus, in many cases, secondary groups are like matrioshkas, in many cases, secondary groups are like matrioshkas, made up of other secondary groups specialized in fulfilling a specific function within them..

7. Position-dependent status

Normally in primary groups all members have a similar social position, without a marked hierarchy. It is true that there may be a leader in the group of friends or the figure of the patriarch or matriarch in the family, but as a general rule, they tend to have the same status.

In secondary groups, status is dependent on position, given that there is a hierarchy.. Each member has a different status that comes directly from the social position he/she holds within the group, this being especially visible in companies with the figure of the director, head of the section or department, president....

Bibliographical references:

• Lickel, Brian, Hamilton D. L., Wieczorkowska, G., Lewis, A., Sherman, S. J. and Uhles, A. N.. (2000). Varieties of groups and the perception of group entitativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(2): 223-46. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.223. PMID 10707331
• Merton, R. K. and Rossi, A. S. (1968). Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behavior. 279-334 in Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.