Defining Groups

2. A secondary group is a group of individuals who do not know each other on a personal level but interact in pursuit of a common goal (Elwell).

3. An In-group is a social group an individual belongs to and identifies with (Elwell). In-groups often foster ethnocentrism, and have a "we versus they" attitude (Groups). Members have a feeling of distinctiveness and superiority over those not in their group.

4. An Out-group is a social group toward which one feels competition or opposition (Brussiere).

5. A reference group is any group used to evaluate oneself (Groups). It does not necessarily have to be a group you belong to. It is a group people draw on for the social norms which give order and meaning to their lives (Major).

6. A Social Network is a group of people interact with for various purposes but with no emotional attachment.

Primary group: Members of a primary group tend to interact on an intimate basis (face-to-face, phone, email, etc), and share social solidarity of long-standing (Major). They perform functions such as production, reproduction, socialization, education, and enforcing social discipline. Primary groups extend to include the community and voluntary organizations to which people may belong.

Secondary group: There is no emotional commitment between members of the group and

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as reflections of certain social norms held by the majority of a society, and these can be formal or informal. Enforced rules are applied differentially and usually facilitating favorable consequences for those who apply the label. Members of the rule-making society may label rule breaking deviant behavior depending on the degree of reaction over time. People who are likely to break the rules are essentially different from those who make the rules and are members of the rule making society (Becker). Those who are prone to breaking the rules see themselves as morally at odds with those who obey the rules. Becker uses the term 'outsider' to denote a rule breaker or deviant who accepts the label given to them, and view themselves as different from the mainstream society. Deviants may consider themselves more outside than others similarly labeled. Deviants view rule making or rule abiding members of society as outsiders of their social group. Becker believes these deviants go through a secondary step on the way to becoming a career criminal by accepting the label put on them as their master status (Becker). The rule breaker who identifies with the deviant label as their master status becomes an outsider and is denied the m
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1817
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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