Clique

In the primary group, the sociologist Charles H. Cooley understands one which is characterized by intimate connections with contacts face to face and cooperation.

A primary group is in many respects "primary"; but chiefly in this sense that it is of fundamental importance for the development of the social nature and ideals of a particular individual. The psychological result of the intimate connection is the fusion of individualities in a common whole, so that just the individual self, at least, comes up in many ways in the common life and purpose of the group. The easiest way to describe this social wholeness, is to call it a "we." It involves the kind of social empathy and mutual identification for which "we" is the natural expression. One lives in the feeling of the whole and finds the main aims of his will in this feeling.

In the background of this term is Cooley's particular conception of the social nature of man. Company is responsible for Cooley a mental organization way of individuals; he refuses to be artificial, the individual and society conceptually to juxtapose.

Structural features of primary groups

Cooley calls the five:

• The communication of group members face to face ( face-to -face )
• Low specialization / division of labor
• Relative resistance of the primary group (eg family )
• A small number of members ( at least 2 to 3)
• Comparatively large intimacy of group members to each other ( eg, family, close friends )

These features are also essential for the group dynamics of primary groups. These structural features are used as a methodological ideal type, since each primary group can not necessarily be characterized by them.

This contrasts with the secondary groups, which can attract a whole different kind of meaning and function throughout life for the individual.