David Beckham? Even if you never seek out an organized
club, you belong to the group of blues fans or soccer fans.
Do you favor gun control? Even if you don’t feel strongly
about the issue, you belong to the group of people who
favor gun control. Your gender, sexual orientation, race,
ethnicity, age, class, nationality, and even your hair color
place you in groups and form part of your identity. Often
our membership in a group is a core element of our iden-
tities. And other times, other people assume that just
because we are members of a particular group, that this
membership forms that core of identity—when it may, in
fact, do nothing of the sort. Imagine an Asian American
gay man who is an avid mountain biker. So avid, in fact,
that he joins every mountain biking club in his commu-
nity and is a central person in all its activities. It is the core
of his identity, he believes. But without his bicycle, other people assume that the core
of his identity is his membership in a racial and sexual group. “I’m a mountain biker,
who happens to be Asian American and gay,” he insists, “not a gay Asian American
who happens to be a mountain biker.” The various elements of our identity may fit
together neatly or we may struggle to integrate them. And the rest of society must see
our priorities the way we do, or we will experience conflict.
What’s visible and invisible to us as a facet of our identity is often related to the
organization of society. I recently asked my students in an introductory sociology class
to list the five most important elements of their identities on a piece of paper. Every
African American student listed their race as the first or second item, but not one
White student listed being “White” anywhere on their answers. Every woman listed
being a woman, but only 10 percent of men thought to put “male.” And every gay
or lesbian student listed sexual identity, but not one heterosexual student did. Virtu-
ally every student put his or her ethnicity, especially those who were Latino or Asian;
among European Americans, only the Italian, Irish, and Russian put their ethnicity
(no Germans, Swedes, French, or Swiss). The majority of Jews and Muslims listed
religion; half of all Protestants put “Christian,” but only 2 percent listed a denomi-
nation. And only a quarter of the Catholics listed Catholic.
Why would that be? Sociologists understand that identities based on group mem-
bership are not neutral, but hierarchically valued. Those identities that are most read-
ily noticeable are those where we do not fit in with others, not those in which we are
most like everyone else. We’re more aware of where we stand out as different, not
where we fit in.Types of Groups
There are many different types of groups, depending on their composition, perma-
nence, fluidity of boundaries, and membership criteria. You are born into some groups
(family, race). In other groups, you may be born into the group, but membership also
depends on your own activities and commitments, like ethnic or religious groups.
Some are based entirely on expression of interest (clubs, fans), and others based on
formal application for membership.Primary and Secondary Groups.Small groups (small enough so that you know
almost everybody) are divided into two types, primary and secondary. According to
the sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1909), primary groups,such as friends and
family, come together for expressive reasons:They provide emotional support, love,82 CHAPTER 3SOCIETY: INTERACTIONS, GROUPS, AND ORGANIZATIONSJEven though this man may
identify himself as a tennis
player, co-workers, acquain-
tances, and even his close
friends may ignore all of his
other statuses, seeing only
disabled, and thus force him
to root his identity more
firmly in that group.