Even the ancient Greeks knew that the man - a social animal.No society in the world would not be a single person, since only among the other people who have some patterns of behavior, cultural norms and rules, a person becomes a person.Social communities and social groups, in which a person gets in the course of its life, and is a teacher, and the guarantor of the existence of these social rules.In this article, we will briefly outline the definition and types of communities and groups.
notion of social community and social groups studied psychology, sociology and social philosophy.Scientists have not agreed on a clear definition of these social phenomena, so the scientific community, there are many theories.For example, scientists are still arguing that the determining factor.Man if its actions are determined by the structure of social groups, either as social communities and social groups determine human behavior.In sociology, these schools were named nominalism and realism, respectively.
In a narrow sense, social communities and social groups are understood as the union of the people on the inside, a clear relationship, which acts as a collective factor of social life.Broadly speaking, under these terms mean a group of people with common characteristics and features.
In the first case, these associations are an active participant in public life.Social communities and social groups are constantly transformed in the process of change, development or degradation of society.Their number is steadily growing up with the development and increasing complexity of society.For example, social communities and social groups, which act as social movements, are some of the essential factors of social change.Take, for example, such social groups and organizations, such as «Green Peace», the feminist movement in the early XX century, or the LGBT movement.The famous French sociologist studying social movements, is Alain Touraine.
famous German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in his works singled out these types of social communities and groups as Gemeynshaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society).In the first form of the individual is inextricably linked with its social community, it is dissolved in it.Tennis stressed that in such generalities developing partnership.A striking example of such communities is a village, an army staff or tribes.If, while walking down the street, you will see the familiar look and turned away or else exchanged a few insignificant words, then you live in a society-Gesellschaft.Such individualized society, a person for another person is a means and not an end."Loneliness in the crowd" a high level of anonymity, familiar to every citizen of the society.
not to say that some kind of unnatural and wrong to human existence.The first kind is inherent in traditional and archaic societies, while the second to the more developed and complex society, including a large number of people, their interests, and social institutions.
