Social Research: Groups in Society

Robert Croker Faculty of Policy Studies Nanzan University

What are we looking at?

What are we looking with?

What are we looking for?

Which groups do you belong to?

• ethnicity • nationality • gender • age • marital status • religion

Which groups do you belong to?

• high school and university • faculty (学部) (Policy Studies, Systems Engineering) • school and university club or circle

• your hometown, your street or area

• your part-time job

Which groups do you belong to?

Which groups do you belong to?

Choose one group you belong to …

• What are the core identities? • e.g. What is a ‘Nanzan student’?

• What are the boundaries? • e.g. What is not a Nanzan student’?

Choose one group you belong to …

• What are the symbols of your group?

Symbols

visual symbols spoken symbols

What are the symbols?

What are the symbols?

What are the symbols?

What are the symbols?

Choose one group you belong to …

• What are the rituals of your group? Rituals – activities that we do often, that have a special meaning

What are the rituals of your group?

Thinking about rituals

• Rituals – activities we do often, that have a special meaning

• Surface meanings – the reason most people think we do this ritual • Deep meaning – the real reason!

Why do societies have groups?

• human beings are naturally social – we want to belong to groups

• groups naturally occur in society

• groups give us our identity

• teach us how to ‘be human’

Homework for Friday April 20

• e-mail Robert: robertcroker@mac.com

• case study of one group: • write a 2-page report (bullet points) OR draw a mind-map (see next slide) • topics: identities, symbols,

rituals, and rules

Mind-Mapping

simple mind-map

detailed mind map