D2.Soc.13.9-12: Characteristics of Groups and How Groups, Individuals and Society Shape One Another

Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Two lab partners and a team of three get the same science project. Predict two ways the team of three might work differently from the pair. Then predict what happens to each if one person drops the class."

   List predictions on the board in two columns, pair and trio. Students often notice that a trio can outvote one member and can carry on if one person leaves, while a pair cannot. Tell students that a German sociologist made the same comparison in 1902, and that the size of a group is one of the characteristics they will learn to identify today.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Key terms. A group is two or more people who interact regularly, share a sense of belonging and hold expectations of one another. An aggregate is people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, such as shoppers in one store, and a category is people who share a trait but do not interact, such as everyone born in one year. Norms are a group's shared rules and expectations for behavior; roles are the positions members fill, such as leader or treasurer. A dyad is a group of two and a triad a group of three. The table is a summary written for this page; sociologists use several overlapping lists.

   Six characteristics of groups (summary written for this page)

   Characteristic	Question to ask	Example from a school orchestra
   Interaction	Do the members deal with one another regularly?	Rehearsals three afternoons a week
   Shared identity	Do members see themselves as part of a "we"?	Members say "our concert," not "the concert"
   Norms	What rules and expectations do members follow?	Arrive tuned; no phones during rehearsal
   Roles and structure	What positions exist, and who decides?	Conductor, section leaders, librarian
   Boundaries	How does a person get in, and how is membership marked?	An audition; names listed in the program
   Size	How many members, and how does the number shape the group?	45 players, so decisions go through section leaders

   Influence between groups and the people around them runs in four directions: (1) groups affect individuals, for example by teaching skills or pressing members to conform; (2) groups affect society, for example by spreading new practices; (3) individuals affect groups, by founding, leading, recruiting or leaving; (4) society affects groups, through laws, institutions such as schools, and conditions such as income or housing.

   Reading 1. Georg Simmel signed this article from the University of Berlin. Albion W. Small translated this article for the American Journal of Sociology in 1902. Simmel writes in long sentences; read for one question: what changes when a group has two members instead of three? "Antithesis" here means standing face to face with someone, and "superpersonal" means existing above any one person.

   1The peculiar conferring of characteristics upon a relationship through the duality of persons concerned in it is exhibited by everyday experiences. For instance, how differently a common lot, an undertaking, an agreement, a shared secret binds each of two sharers, from the case when even only three participate. The specific character of this difference is determined by the fact that the relationship, as a unity composed of its individuals, as a special structure beyond these, has a different bearing upon each of its participants from that of a more complicated structure to each of its members. However it may appear to third parties as an independent, superindividual unity, yet, as a rule, that is not the case for its participants, but each regards himself in antithesis only with the other, but not with a collectivity extending beyond him. The social structure rests immediately upon the one and the other. The departure of each single individual would destroy the whole, so that it does not come to such a superpersonal life of the whole that the individual feels himself independent; whereas, even in the case of an association of only three, if one individual departs, a group may still continue to exist.

   [...]

   2This peculiar intimacy appears most simply in the contrast between it and combinations of three. In such a case each individual element operates as a court of appeal between the two others, and exhibits the double function of such an organ. It operates both in combining and separating. Where three elements, A, B, C, constitute a community, there is added to the immediate relationship which exists, for example, between A and B, the immediate relationship which they gain by their common relation to C. This is unquestionably a sociological enrichment, apart from the bond by the straight and shortest line; each pair of elements are now joined by a broken line. Points upon which the pair could find no immediate contact are put in reciprocal relationship by the third element, which offers to each another side, and joins these, nevertheless, in the unity of its personality. Separations which the parties could not of themselves reconcile are accommodated by the third, or by their being included in a comprehensive whole. On the other hand, the direct union is not merely strengthened by the indirect, but it may also be destroyed. There is no relationship so complete between three that each individual may not, under certain circumstances, be regarded by the other two as an intruder, even if it is only to the extent of sharing in certain moods, which can develop their concentration and timid tenderness only with undisturbed glance from eye to eye. It may also be observed how extraordinarily rare and difficult it is for three people, even in the case of a visit to a museum or in the presence of a landscape, to come into a really united state of feeling, which, however, may occur with relative ease between two.

   Reading 2. Edward A. Ross, named in the magazine as "Prof. Edward A. Ross," wrote this article for Popular Science Monthly in July 1897. By "mob" he means any crowd whose members come to share one mood, not only a violent one. Suggestion means an idea or feeling that one person picks up from others without reasoning about it, and inhibitive power means the ability to hold oneself back. In paragraph 3, "primitive impulse" means the first impulse, not anything about so-called primitive peoples.

   1The inhibitive power which measures our ability to go our own way undisturbed grows with the variety and number of suggestions that reach us. This may be because conflicting suggestions block each other off. The power of independent choice seems to develop best when the clash of suggestions reduces to a minimum the ascendency of the outer world over the individual. This is why age, travel, and contact with affairs build up character. But when numerous identical suggestions beset one, one's power of resistance is gradually undermined. As many taps of a hammer fracture the bowlder, so the onset of multitudinous suggestion breaks the strongest will. Men who can readily throw off the thousand suggestions of everyday life will be quite swept away by the reiteration of a single idea from all sides. As a mighty organ compels even benches and windows to vibrate in unison with it, so the crowd dominated by a single mood emits a volume of suggestion that gives an emotional pitch and tone to every individual in it.

   2Besides the volume of suggestion possible in a crowd, there is usually a condition of excitement or expectancy. Frequently, too, there is a pressure on the body which prevents voluntary movement while conveying promptly to each all those electrifying swayings and tremors that express the emotions of the mass. The mere physical contact in the excited crowd, therefore, provides certain conditions of suggestibility.

   3A cross-section of the mob sometimes shows a concentric structure. There is in the center a leader from whom suggestions proceed. These, caught up by those near by and most dominated by his personality, are transmitted to the next circle with an added force. Thus the suggestion passes outward from zone to zone of the crowd, at each stage gathering volume and hence power to master the rest. That, therefore, which started at the center as fascination becomes sheer mental intimidation at the rim. This symmetrical type of mob has led some to look in every case for the leader who controls the mass by his personality or prestige. But the quest for a nucleus, while it makes the study of mobs more mysterious and sensational, certainly does not make it more scientific. Rarely does the primitive impulse proceed from one man. Usually the first orientation of minds is brought about by some object, spectacle, or event. This original phase, the moment it is observed by the members of the crowd, gives rise to three results: (1) By mere contagion the feeling extends to others till there is complete unanimity; (2) each feels more intensely the moment he perceives that the rest share his feeling; (3) the perceived unison calls forth a sympathy that makes the next agreement easier, and so paves the way for the mental unity of the crowd.

   • Size as a characteristic: Source 1, paragraph 1

     Use Simmel to explain why two friends who run a small dog-walking business together depend on each other more than three friends would.

     Result: Simmel writes that in a group of two "The departure of each single individual would destroy the whole," while "in the case of an association of only three, if one individual departs, a group may still continue to exist." If one of the two friends quits, the business as a partnership ends; with three, the other two can carry on. Size is a characteristic of the group, not of any one member.

   • A group's effect on individuals: Source 2, paragraph 1

     Explain Ross's account of why a person in a crowd is harder to keep independent than the same person alone.

     Result: Ross says independent choice grows when "conflicting suggestions block each other off," but "when numerous identical suggestions beset one, one's power of resistance is gradually undermined." A crowd sends one message from all sides at once, so it "gives an emotional pitch and tone to every individual in it." The effect comes from the crowd, not from any one member.

   • How a crowd's mood forms: Source 2, paragraph 3

     Ross lists three results once members of a crowd notice the same thing. Put them in your own words.

     Result: (1) The feeling spreads "By mere contagion" until all share it; (2) each person feels it more strongly on seeing that the others share it; (3) the shared feeling makes the next agreement easier. Each step is an effect of the group on its members, and each step makes the group more united.

   • Counting relationships (page illustration of Simmel's point)

     How many pairs of members are there in a group of 2, of 3 and of 6? Use pairs = n(n - 1)/2.

     Result: 2 members: 2 x 1 / 2 = 1 pair. 3 members: 3 x 2 / 2 = 3 pairs. 6 members: 6 x 5 / 2 = 15 pairs. Adding one member to a pair triples the relationships, which is one way to see Simmel's claim that the third member changes the group's form. The formula is this page's illustration; Simmel does not give it.

   Close the segment: Simmel and Ross both make claims about all groups or all crowds. What kind of evidence does each give? Students should notice that both rely on reasoning, everyday experience and comparisons (Ross's organ that makes windows vibrate, his hammer that breaks a boulder) rather than on counts or measurements. Source 3, later in the lesson, is different: it reports numbers.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Source 4 together. It is an invented case with invented numbers, written for this page.

   1Invented case with invented numbers, written for this page. In the spring of 2021, a retired park ranger in the invented town of Linden Falls pinned a notice to the library bulletin board asking for help clearing fallen trees from the Ridge Loop, a 16-mile trail in the hills above town. Nine people came to the first Saturday work day. By the end of the summer they were calling themselves the Ridge Loop Trail Crew.

   2By 2024 the crew had 24 members. On work days everyone wears an orange vest and signs in on a clipboard at the trailhead. Two rules, written by the founder, are read aloud before every work day: no one works alone, and no one runs a saw without a partner watching. Experienced members train newcomers, one member looks after the tool shed, another plans the work-day calendar, and the founder runs a monthly meeting where members vote on which section to repair next. Anyone may join, but a person counts as a member only after three work days.

   3In an end-of-season questionnaire in 2024, which 18 of the 24 members returned, 14 wrote that they had made at least one new friend on the crew and 11 wrote that they now spend more time outdoors than before they joined. Several added that they now pick up litter on any trail they walk, even when no one is watching.

   4The crew changed the town as well. Between 2021 and 2024 it cleared or repaired 11 of the Ridge Loop's 16 miles. The town's parks office began listing the work days on the town calendar, and in 2023 two nearby high schools began sending student volunteers on the first Saturday of each month.

   5In 2025, two changes reached the crew at almost the same time. In March, the town council, pointing to insurance costs, passed a rule that every volunteer who uses power tools on town land must first complete a four-hour safety course. In May, the founder moved away to be closer to family, and no one agreed to take over the monthly meeting. By December the crew had 15 members.

   6Asked about the drop, one member who stayed said: "Some people left because of the course, I think, and some because the meetings stopped. We never asked them which."

   1. Characteristics (paragraph 2). Find one detail for each of the six characteristics in the table. (Interaction: Saturday work days. Shared identity: the crew's name and the orange vests. Norms: no one works alone, no saw without a partner watching. Roles: trainers, tool-shed keeper, calendar planner, the founder who runs meetings. Boundaries: membership after three work days. Size: 24 members by 2024.)
   2. Growth (paragraphs 1-2). The crew grew from 9 to 24 members. Find the increase and the percent increase. (24 - 9 = 15 more members; 15 / 9 is about 1.67, an increase of about 167 percent.)
   3. Effects on members (paragraph 3). What share of the questionnaires report a new friend, and what share of all 24 members returned one? (14 / 18 is about 78 percent; 18 / 24 = 75 percent.) Note the weakness on the page: the 6 members who did not answer may differ from those who did, and the answers are the members' own reports, so the case shows what members say the group did for them, not a measured change.
   4. Who made the group? Paragraph 1 names one person who started the crew. Is the crew's growth only the founder's doing? Hold the question for Activity 2.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Source 3 on their own. It is a 1925 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on 4-H clubs, which the report also calls boys' and girls' clubs, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Its cover names the sponsor as "Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, United States Department of Agriculture and State Agricultural Colleges Cooperating": a federal and state program, not a private club. A practice in the report means a new or improved farm or home method, such as canning fruits and vegetables or bread-making (the report's own examples). The study covered a rural cross section of several towns and one school section of the city of Malden. One caution belongs on every reading: this is one county in one spring, and the people who collected the data were officers of the program being studied.

   1The data were collected by Federal and State administrative and supervisory officers during May, 1925. Calls were made at all farm and village homes in the rural area selected and information obtained from adults, club members and young people of club age, but not in club work. In the urban area only club members or their parents were interviewed. Where the members of the family involved were not at home, the data were obtained from the other members of the family. [...]

   [...]

   2The data indicate, however, the active support given the work by all the county extension agents. The State club leaders have made contacts with nearly one out of every four homes with boys and girls of club age. The importance of local leaders in junior extension work as conducted in Middlesex County is brought out by the fact that the number of families reporting contacts with local leaders equaled 91.5 per cent of the families with boys and girls of club age and 37.7 per cent of all families.

   [...]

   3Club work seems to exert considerably greater influence on changes in practices on the farms and in the homes where club members live than elsewhere. (Table 11.) Fifty-one per cent of the families having boys and girls in club work reported changes in practices as compared with 3 per cent of the families without club members.

   [...]

   4Condition of Home Occupancy. - Of the 856 families interviewed, 669 or 78.2 per cent reported that they owned their homes, while 21.8 per cent reported that they rented (Table 14). Home ownership seems to exert a distinct influence on club membership and on the adoption of improved practices in the area studied. Thirty per cent of the owners had boys and girls in club work, whereas 20 per cent of the tenants had boys and girls in club work. Eighteen per cent of the families who owned their homes were influenced to adopt practices, whereas only 10 per cent of the tenant families were so influenced.

   [...]

   5The part played by different agencies in influencing boys and girls to take up club work has been a matter of much conjecture among club leaders. Table 21 is especially interesting in this connection. It shows in an outstanding way the support given the work by the school system in Middlesex County, 45.9 per cent of all club members being interested through the school to take up the work. An additional 17.2 per cent were influenced to take up the work as the result of direct contact with extension agents. That 11.6 per cent were influenced by other club members is significant from the standpoint of what club members can be encouraged to do in helping to expand their own organization. It is also significant from the standpoint of adolescent psychology.

   Selected figures from the 1925 report, Tables 11 and 14 (856 families interviewed)

   Families	Number	Percent with boys and girls in club work	Percent reporting changed practices
   With boys and girls in club work	237	-	51
   Without boys and girls in club work	619	-	3
   Owners of their homes	669	30	18
   Renters ("tenants")	187	20	10

   Reasons for becoming club members, 1925 report, Table 21, totals (569 reasons from 551 members; 18 urban members gave two reasons)

   Influenced to take up club work through	Number of members
   School	253
   Extension agents	95
   Other club members	64
   Local leaders	60
   Meetings and exhibits	52
   Miscellaneous	16
   Parents	7
   No reason given	22

   Task: make a four-row chart headed Direction of influence, Evidence from Source 3 (with paragraph or table), and How strong is this evidence? Fill one row each for group to individual, group to society, individual to group and society to group. Leave a row blank if Source 3 gives no evidence for it, and say so.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name two characteristics of a group. Then give one example of a group affecting a person and one example of society affecting a group, each from a different source."

   Teacher notes. (1) Simmel and Ross write "he" and "himself" for all people, as was usual in their time, and Source 3 calls renters "tenants." (2) Ross's 1897 article is used here only for its account of suggestion in crowds. His later books, such as The Old World in the New (1914), contain views on immigrant groups that this page does not share; check before assigning other Ross readings. (3) Ross and Simmel reason from examples, not measured data; treat their claims as hypotheses to test. (4) Source 3 compares families with and without club members, but families that chose to join may already have differed, and the data were gathered by officers of the program. Its numbers show patterns, not proof that clubs caused the changes. (5) Source 4 is invented, and so are its numbers. (6) The page uses "4-H" for the clubs; the 1925 report uses both "4-H club work" and "boys' and girls' club work."

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 2, what role does Simmel say each member of a group of three can play for the other two?

   AA court of appeal between the other two BA rival who usually splits the other two CA leader who gives orders to the other two DAn outsider who stays apart from the other two

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 2, the indirect tie through a third member can strengthen the direct union of the other two. What else does Simmel say it can do to that union?

   AProtect it BDestroy it CFormalize it DPublicize it

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Simmel mention a visit to a museum in Source 1, paragraph 2?

   ATo show that public places weaken a group's bonds BTo show that art is a bond that unites strangers CTo show that three people rarely reach one shared feeling DTo show that three people share interests more easily than two

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 1, which examples does Simmel give of things that bind each of two sharers differently from when three take part?

   AA marriage, a friendship and a business partnership BA museum visit, a landscape and a shared mood CA law, a custom and a fashion of one's class DA common lot, an agreement and a shared secret

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, paragraph 1, what does Ross say builds up a person's power to go his or her own way?

   AHearing one idea repeated from all sides BAge, travel and contact with affairs CPhysical contact within a large crowd DObedience to one admired leader

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Besides the sheer volume of suggestion, which two conditions in a crowd does Ross say add to suggestibility in Source 2, paragraph 2?

   ABoredom and physical distance BSilence and careful advance planning CExcitement and physical contact DHunger and a long wait

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Ross's "concentric" crowd (Source 2, paragraph 3), what happens to a suggestion as it passes from the center to the rim?

   AIt gathers volume and power BIt weakens and then fades CIt splits into rival ideas DIt returns to the leader unchanged

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which feature of the method in Source 3, paragraph 1, makes it hardest to compare club work in the rural area with club work in the city of Malden?

   ACalls were made at every farm and village home BAdults and young people were both interviewed CIn the city only club families were interviewed DFamily members answered for those who were not at home

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Table 11 of the 1925 report lists 237 families with boys and girls in club work among the 856 families interviewed. About what percent of all the families is that?

   AAbout 28 percent BAbout 38 percent CAbout 51 percent DAbout 72 percent

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Source 3, paragraph 4 and the table report that 20 percent of the 187 renting families had boys and girls in club work. About how many renting families is that?

    AAbout 20 families BAbout 37 families CAbout 94 families DAbout 150 families

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 3, paragraph 5, the report says the 11.6 percent figure for members influenced by other club members is significant. What does the report say it shows club members can be encouraged to do?

    ATeach new farm practices to their parents BChoose the local leaders for their clubs CHelp expand their own organization DReplace the county club agents

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which of these is a group, rather than an aggregate or a category?

    APassengers waiting at one airport gate BEveryone in the state who owns a bicycle CSpectators watching a street performer DFive neighbors who meet weekly to plan

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A study group grows from 4 members to 8. Using pairs = n(n - 1)/2, how many pairs of members does the larger group have?

    A12 pairs B28 pairs C56 pairs D64 pairs

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 4, paragraph 5, which change is an effect of society on the Ridge Loop Trail Crew?

    AThe founder's move away from town BThe council's safety-course rule CMembers' new friendships on the crew DThe crew's repairs on the Ridge Loop

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Use Source 1, paragraph 1 to explain why the Ridge Loop Trail Crew (Source 4) could go on after its founder left, and then explain why it still lost members.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Invented situation: at a school pep rally, a student who never starts chants joins the whole gym in one. Use Source 2, paragraph 1 to explain why the same student would probably not start the chant alone at home.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 3, paragraph 4 says home ownership "seems to exert a distinct influence on club membership." Give the evidence, then offer one other explanation for the difference and say what data would help decide between the two.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Source 4, membership fell from 24 to 15 in 2025. Find the percent decrease, and explain why the case cannot tell us which of the two changes in paragraph 5 caused the drop.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Ross doubts that a crowd's first impulse usually comes from one leader (Source 2, paragraph 3). Do the 1925 4-H figures (Source 3, paragraph 2 and Table 21) suggest that individuals mattered in building those clubs? Use numbers.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Invented situation: a neighborhood running club meets every Thursday, has a coach, a T-shirt with its name and a rule that no runner is left behind on the route. Identify three characteristics of the club as a group, and give one effect the club could have on its members and one effect a town decision could have on the club.

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These standards connect to D2.Soc.13.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.