Social Group and Social Changes

RUNNING HEAD: Social Group and Social Changes

Social Group and Social Changes

SOC/100 Introduction to Sociology

Facilitator: Shayne Aloe-Chase, Ph.D.

University Of Phoenix

Social Group and Social Changes
      Throughout my life I have been involved in groups or organizations which consisted of the first primary group was my extended family with the secondary group as us boys (the neighborhood “in-group”) who ruled the neighborhood and were mostly related by blood.   Another primary group I later became a part of, in high school, was the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force while a secondary group was my friends who were not all members of the Cadets but were my “in-group” that I became a part of during my formative years.   There was also the Church that consisted of family but friends of the family as well and within that was the youth group.
      Growing up in a neighborhood where your parents also grew up and therefore your grandparents were only 4 houses apart made for a strong family organization; we were “a number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis” (Shaefer 2005, pg 130).   Not everyone usually has so many family members living in the same block and thus dominating the neighborhood.   You couldn’t turn in any direction and not run into a cousin, uncle, or aunt who helped to strengthen your self-worth and confidence, knowing that someone was always around for your protection.   My family as the primary group played a pivotal role in my initial socialization process and in the development of my role and status in my early life.   The family was instrumental in my day-to-day existence as I identified closely with them as my primary group and still does today though we aren’t all living in the same neighborhood anymore.
      The secondary or in-group of my cousins and even younger uncles taught me initially about developing leadership qualities as sometimes you were called upon to lead...