Understanding Primary and Secondary Groups in Sociology

The study of social groups is the main focus of many sociologists because these groups illustrate how human behavior is shaped by group life and how group life is affected by individuals. The two groups on which social scientists mainly focus are primary and secondary groups, called primary because they are a persons primary source of relationships and socialization or secondary because they are of less importance but still significant to the individual. What Are Social Groups? Social groups  consist of two or more people who regularly interact and share a sense of unity and common identity. They see each other often and consider themselves as part of the group. Most people belong to many different types of social groups. They could include family, neighbors, or members of a sports team, a club, a church, a college class, or a workplace. What social scientists are interested in is how the members of these groups relate and interact. Early American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley introduced the concepts of primary and secondary groups in his 1909 book  Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind. Cooley was interested in how people develop a sense of self and identity through their relationships and interactions with others. In his research, Cooley identified two levels of social organization  that are composed of two different kinds of social structure. What Are Primary Groups? Primary groups are small and characterized by close, personal, and intimate relationships that last a long time, maybe a lifetime. These relationships are deeply personal and loaded with emotion. The members typically include family, childhood friends, romantic partners, and members of religious groups who have regular face-to-face or verbal interaction and a shared culture and frequently engage in activities together. The ties that bind the relationships in primary groups are made up of love, caring, concern, loyalty, and support. These relationships play important roles in the formation of individuals sense of self and identity because these people are influential in the development of values, norms, morals, beliefs, worldview, and everyday behaviors and practices of all members of the group. The relationships play important roles in the process of socialization that people experience as they age. What Are Secondary Groups? Secondary groups comprise relatively impersonal and temporary relationships that are goal- or task-oriented  and are often found in employment or educational settings. While the relationships within primary groups are intimate, personal, and enduring, the relationships within secondary groups are organized around narrow ranges of practical interests or goals without which these groups would not exist. Secondary groups are functional groups created to carry out a task or achieve a goal. Typically a person becomes a member of a secondary group voluntarily, out of shared interest with the others involved. Common examples include coworkers in an employment setting or students, teachers, and administrators in an educational setting. Such groups can be large or small, ranging from all the employees or students within an organization to the select few who work together on a project. Small secondary groups such as these often disband after completion of the task or project. A secondary group does not exercise a primary influence over its members because they do not live in the presence and thoughts of one another. The average member plays a passive role, and the warmth of the relationships in primary groups is missing Primary Groups vs. Secondary Groups An important distinction between secondary and primary groups is that the former often have an organized structure, formal rules, and an authority figure who oversees the rules, members, and the project or task in which the group is involved. Primary groups, on the other hand, are typically informally organized, and the rules are more likely to be implicit and transmitted through socialization. While it is useful to understand the distinctions between primary and secondary groups and the different kinds of relationships that characterize them, its also important to recognize that there can be overlap between the two. For example, an individual could meet a person in a secondary group who over time becomes a close, personal friend or a romantic partner who becomes a spouse. These people become part of the individuals primary group. Such an overlap can result in confusion or embarrassment for those involved, for instance, when a child enters a school where a parent is a teacher or administrator or when an intimate romantic relationship develops between coworkers. Key Takeaways Here is a nutshell description of social groups and the distinctions between primary and secondary social groups: Social groups  include two or more people who interact and share a sense of unity and common identity.Primary groups are small and characterized by close, personal relationships that last a long time.Secondary groups include impersonal, temporary relationships that are goal-oriented.Secondary groups often have an organized structure, an authority figure who oversees the rules, while primary groups are typically informally organized.There often is an overlap between primary and secondary groups that arises, for example, if an individual forms a personal relationship with someone in a secondary group. Sources: https://study.com/academy/lesson/types-of-social-groups-primary-secondary-and-reference-groups.html http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/difference-between/differences-between-primary-social-group-and-secondary-social-group/2232 https://quizlet.com/93026820/sociology-chapter-1-flash-cards/

Analysis Of Angela Carter s The Bloody Chamber

Most of Angela Carter’s work revolves around democratic feminism and her representation of the patriarchal roles subjugated to women. (Evangelou, 2013) ‘The Bloody Chamber’ by Angela Carter suggests many substitutions to infamous depictions of femininity. Angela Carter manipulates old-fashioned fairy tales in order to subvert conformist gender roles like submissive wives and male dominance. (Makinen, 1992) While Carter receives commendation for her work, Patricia Duncker critiques her as well, for maintaining traditionally told tales that female relationships are doomed to rivalry and competition. Duncker basically analyses the story, ‘The Snow Child’ and then promptly states that Carter does not explore the masculine desire evident in the fairy tale and which, for the most part, forms this division between women, leading to their ‘destruction’. (Duncker, 1984: 75) This essay will discuss the cogency of Patricia Dunker’s statement as shown in the ENG3705 Tutorial Letter. My argument is in favour of this statement and a discussion will be engaged in hereunder, using ‘The Snow Child’ by Angela Carter as a reference point to substantiate it. In the subversive modification of one of the most common fairytales, The Snow Child, Angela Carter addresses many feminist issues whilst drawing inspiration from the story of Snow White (Aziz Mohammadi, 2015). I would suggest that this particular story from The Bloody Chamber is significant in Duncker’s argument based on the fact that sheShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Angela Carter s The Bloody Chamber 1430 Words   |  6 Pagesnarrative concentrates its meaning. Sign and sense can fuse to an extent impossible to achieve among the multiplying ambiguities of an extended narrative.† – Angela Carter Angela Carter is known in the literary community for her use of fairytales and overt sexual imagery in promoting feminist platforms. At the time she wrote â€Å"The Bloody Chamber†, the Second Wave of Feminism and, subsequently, the rise of radical-libertarian feminism were crashing into the forefront of the global politics. This waveRead MoreCritical Analysis Of The Bloody Chamber By Angela Carter1611 Words   |  7 PagesCarter Castrates Freud: Criticism in ‘The Bloody Chamber’ of Psychoanalytic Theory While Psychoanalysis has provided many psychological breakthroughs in the field of mental health, it has also created great issue in relation to gender equality. Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory has contributed to the solidification of female oppression, and to the inferior status of women in the twentieth century. Psychoanalysis had become so intwined into the constructs of a male dominated society that it createsRead MoreEssay on The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter2054 Words   |  9 Pagesin Carter’s writing, particularly in her book ‘The Bloody Chamber’ which is commonly considered to be her masterwork, brimming with intertextualities and ambiguities. Some may find her work to be excessively violent or savage, perhaps even alienating. Yet others may have found this no-holds-barred approach to be exhilarating and refreshing in comparison to other authors of her time. In her re-writing of Perrault and Beaumont’s classic tales, Carter proposes a rea ding of several well-known stories withRead MoreFemale And Female Gender Roles3513 Words   |  15 Pagesdesires to be made eminent and therefore characters can transgress and in the process, cross their contemporary gender boundaries. Keats uses the gothic device of Negative capability in order to conceal the transgression of the females in his poetry, Carter revised gothic fairytales in order to display them from a feminist approach and Stoker uses gothic themes, set against the backdrop of the fluidity of Fin de sià ¨cle period, to allow characters to stray from their gender stereotypes. Victorian women

Contemporary Computing

Question: "Contemporary Computing could be seen as an assemblage" Discuss. Answer: Introduction The assignment is based on the concept of affordances which has been used as a contemporary theme for research on mobile learning and this shows how computational devices are used as forms of mobile learning systems and used as technologies for learning. The concept of affordances is used in the assignment or the research literature is critiqued and explored by the actor network theory which is used to position the categorisation of the discursive practices used to position the technologies in relation to the learning(Hanaki). The methodologies of using this procedure of mobile computing devices for the process of learning is being explored and the potential for any form of alternative research is also being considered. Mobile learning has received a multitude of theoretical as well as critical attention for empirical research. The mobile devices for computing are very sophisticated and pervasive for their potential in use of education. The definition of mobile learning should not be constrained only towards learning through mobiles but the focus has been shifted from device to human. Therefore a broader view has to be established that accounts for the student or learner which is more mobile and not on mobile technology which means the importance is given to the mobility of the learner. Methodology The main focus of this assignment would be to look for examples of initiative of mobile learning which would also be able to inform the development of the university programs in the medicine and health sector. The review of the literature that has been extracted for this assignment which uses several themes of methodology from where the discourse and the conclusions emerged like the widespread efficiency of the mobile computing devices(Kuriyama). The change in the meaning and the inaccuracy of the topic has led to further enquiries for the validation of the concept and to seek other form of processes that might cause problems for this non critical assumption. The presence of the term is not enough but the way it functions to support the concept of mobile learning. The investigation included the identification of recurrent patterns that were identified and the next step would be to sample it against the literature with a view of reducing the selection bias. The literature was chosen against a structure and based on criteria which had been undertaken in order to consider the suppositions. The two criterias were influence which has been indicated by the number of citations used in order to find out whether the enunciation of the concepts have been influential to the topic and other research fields the second was currency(Yasarcan). Complexity Of Technology The mobile devices in recent years have undergone huge changes and adoption in the present years and the research of the mobile learning processes too in the potential of their use in the formal education system. An analysis with respect to the actor network theory uses the allegory of the assorted networks explains that the agents , organisations and the machines are all the effects of generated in a form of patented network of not only simply human materials but a diverse range of materials. The principle of acting network theory states that the materials and the non-human elements of any form of network should be treated logically in the exact way as the human and social elements(Stiller). The intention behind the use of actor network theory is to clarify the number of networks that have grown and the analytical method to bring the process in light rather than to explain only the results. Different discourses have been used to describe the computer and the dependency on account of the computer technology. There are four dominant forms of treatises The boosters are the most dominant form of discourses that help to position the computers as a form of learning technology. The ant schoolers are a form of subgroup of the boosters where the computers are the dominant form of learning technology but credited In such form that the schools are credited to be less efficient form of learning centres and they dont have any role to play. The critical form of the discourses are lesser unified and represent a number of concerns and see the computers as politics just by another form of names. The main concern is with the equality, access and the potential for deliverance(Schuster). Doomsters are the subgroup of critical form of discourses and they have similarity to the anti-schoolers as they are of the view that the capacity of the computers can bring about a destructible change and are therefore completely opposed to the fact. The discourses are known to be the opposing forces and they are regarded as I direct reference to the opposing categories which can be challenged. The research asserts the affordances for knowledge as the concept of the affordance is used to position the device as technology for learning. Use Of The Actor Network Theory (Ant) To Tackle The Complexity The use of ANT has proven to be useful in order to capture the actors which are involved in the development of mobile learning technology for a number of reasons. The first thing is to focus on the actor networks as the fundamental building block for the development of the mobile learning technology(Kuriyama). The ANT looks at the relations between the actors and the complex social which comprises the entrepreneurial and the political activities as well as negotiations. It examines the manners in which the actors forms, strengthen and maintain the networks of the actors with the mobile learning technology and the process by which their aims and objectives will get interlocked while the process of alignment of the dynamic interests are carried on I the background. When the focus of the problems are on the evolution process of its construction and is opposed to being focused on the pre-defined or the elements which are fixed, the generation of the insights are developed keeping its con cern on the operation of mobile learning technology and they would shape up to be in addition to the attention it seeks for both anticipated and un anticipated consequences for its use in computer settings(KÃ…Â ¯rkov and Sanguineti). The ANT allows the investigations to ask such questions as how and why the mobile learning techniques come into play and how the other users and the actors ignore, conform, usurp and modify the interest of the computer designers. The ANT helps in the investigation of the fluidity of the reality of the mobile learning and the underlying the complex actor communications as they reveal(Najarian). The ANT helps in the facilitation of the formative assessments in order to study the mobile learning of the multiple certainties while they recognize the consequences of the co-existence of the realities in the actor networks while challenging expectedness of the out-dated cumulative of the outcome focused on the fundamental methods. The Issue Of Inclusion And Exclusion With the ANT everyone must thoroughly follow the actors in order to understand the form of the actor network consultations effect the shape of the technical artefacts. In practice snowballing can be used to identify the actors in the mobile learning which might decide what to include and what not to about the investigative works that is to be directed towards contextualising a particular mobile learning solution as the assemblage that the researchers which wish to chart. While following the actors one can be able to avoid the context or the specific actors(Yasarcan). The students in the present times are accessing the online courses from the mobile devices. The mobile learning has also helped in practice without the required institutional control of the devices or the context(Mckenna). A community that has been able to adopt the mobile devices within the craft brewing. This community consists professional brewers, hobbyists and some other on the higher education programmes. In the craft brewing community the mobile devices which have been willingly adopted and are referred being essential for the individual learning. Conclusion This assignment has been able to focus on the research findings which can act informally in order to position the mobile technologies for the use of learning. The uncritical use of the argumentative and the essential concept of affordance which has been used is very problematic in the way it is considered in the research. The classification of the framework of the groupings of the discourse like the boosters, anti-schoolers, critical and the doomster which are used as approach for the users are not used as neutral approach but as opposition or on competition with the other approaches so that the technologies can be positioned in different ways(Marin and Mohan). The assertion is challenged that the implementation and the research carried out for the concept of mobile learning has to be of primary concern due to the ubiquity and the occurrence of the devices. ANT has offered a process of intervention and has helped to unpack the assumptions which had been taken for granted priory and h as helped to consider the process of carrying out the research from a different perspective. References Filk, Thomas, and Albrecht von Mller. 'Evolutionary Learning Of Small Networks'.Complexity13.3 (2008): 43-54. Web. Hanaki, Nobuyuki. 'Action Learning Versus Strategy Learning'.Complexity9.5 (2004): 41-50. Web. Kuriyama, K. 'Sleep-Dependent Learning And Motor-Skill Complexity'.Learning Memory11.6 (2004): 705-713. Web. KÃ…Â ¯rkov, VĆºra, and Marcello Sanguineti. 'Learning With Generalization Capability By Kernel Methods Of Bounded Complexity'.Journal of Complexity21.3 (2005): 350-367. Web. Marin, Dylan, and Permanand Mohan. 'Personalisation In Mobile Learning'.IJMLO3.1 (2009): 25. Web. Mckenna, S. 'Learning Through Complexity'.Management Learning30.3 (1999): 301-320. Web. Najarian, Kayvan. 'On Learning Of Sigmoid Neural Networks'.Complexity6.4 (2001): 39-45. Web. Schuster, Peter. 'Generation Of Information And Complexity: Different Forms Of Learning And Innovation: A Simple Mechanism Of Learning'.Complexity10.4 (2005): 12-14. Web. Stiller, J. C. 'Adaptive Online Learning Of Generative Stochastic Models'.Complexity8.4 (2003): 95-101. Web. Yasarcan, Hakan. 'Improving Understanding, Learning, And Performances Of Novices In Dynamic Managerial Simulation Games'.Complexity(2009): NA-NA. Web.

Rationalism vs. Empiricism free essay sample

The thesis I defend in this essay is that knowledge can be of both positions. According to Rationalists (such as Descartes), all knowledge must come from the mind. Rationalism is concerned with absolute truths that are universal (such as logic and mathematics), which is one of the strengths of this position. Its weakness lies in the fact that it is difficult to apply rationalism to particulars (which are everywhere in our daily life! ) because it is of such an abstract nature. According to Empiricists, such as John Locke, all knowledge comes from direct sense experience. Lockes concept of knowledge comes from his belief that the mind is a blank slate or tabula rosa at birth, and our experiences are written upon the slate. Therefore, there are no innate experiences. The strength of the empiricist position is that it is best at explaining particulars, which we encounter on a daily basis. We will write a custom essay sample on Rationalism vs. Empiricism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The weakness of this position is that one cannot have direct experiences of general concepts, since we only experience particulars. Noticing that rationalism and empiricism have opposing strengths and weaknesses, Kant attempted to bring the best of both positions together. In doing so he came up with a whole new position, which I will soon explain. Kant claimed that there are 3 types of knowledge. The first type of knowledge he called a priori, which means prior to experience. This knowledge corresponds to rationalist thinking, in that it holds knowledge to be independent of experience. A priori knowledge is also necessary and universal, meaning it is true everywhere. Examples of a priori knowledge are concepts such as space, time, and substance. Analytic statements (in which the predicate is included in the definition of the subject) fall under this category as well, since they are always true. However, Kant says they are trivially true because analytic statements tell us what we already know. For example, the statement squares have four sides is analytic because it is true, but the fact that the square has four sides is obvious because it is included in the definition of a square, so it is trivial. Kant called the second type of knowledge a posteriori, which means after experience. A posteriori knowledge corresponds to empiricist philosophy, since this knowledge is contingent upon direct experience, which cannot be certain. A posteriori knowledge is associated with synthetic statements (where the predicate adds something to the subject), which give new information, but is not necessary. An example of an a posteriori statement is the sweater is green. Green is not an innate characteristic of sweaters, so a sweater of a different color is still a sweater. In other words, the characteristic Green is not necessary in order for the sweater to be considered a sweater. Kant thought that if one can come up with a statement that is both necessary and synthetic, it would not be trivial, yet it would still provide new information. So in combining the strengths of a priori knowledge and a posteriori knowledge (while leaving out the weaknesses), Kant came up with synthetic apriori statements. Kant used a mathematical example to elaborate on synthetic apriori statements. The statement 7 + 5 = 12 is a simple mathematical problem that might mislead people into believing that it is an analytical statement, since it deals with math (which is a rational, universal concept). One might assume that s/he knows the answer intuitively because s/he thought of the answer, 12, right away. But the number 12 does not exist within the 7 or the 5 alone. One must apply the concept of addition in order to reach the sum of twelve. Therefore, it is not analytical. It is much easier to see when adding much larger numbers, such as 8557 and 23372067. If this were analytical, I would be able to intuitively know the answer as easily as I came up with the answer 12 in the last problem. However, since the answer is not contained within the numbers being summed, this concept is synthetic and also gives new information. In conclusion, Kant recognized the strengths and weaknesses associated with each type of knowledge, and came up with a new type of knowledge that could rise above the weaknesses. In other words, knowledge doesnt have to choose sides, it can be of both positions.