Group Structure and Social Organization

The purpose of this research is to examine group structure as a mode of social organization and the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) of group members on the ways in which groups function. Although the relationships between group members and the roles that individuals assume within groups can be undertaken for myriad kinds of groups--political, social, economic, and health-related. In particular, the focus will be on whether and to what extent group structure (1) effects outcomes through multiple rather than unitary paths; (2) gives group members superior resources in managing health-related changes in risk factors, diseases, and medical procedures; and (3) is influenced in fundamental ways by the SES makeup of a given group.

In order to examine the impact that group structure may have on individual outcomes, a working definition of the term may be useful. That, in turn, should help explain the principles underlying group formation and enable the research to identify the effect of SES on group processes and behavior. The definitional difficulty is that, even though the bare-bones sociological understanding of group structure is that it deals with roles that individuals assume when they join a group and how the roles interoperate, there is great variation in how group structure is analyzed.

Max Weber's social theory is one point of departure. Weber takes the view that the individual derives psychological self-worth from association with social groups or subgroups that

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