Social group

Group in social theory can refer to a social aggregate, category or a small, often non-institutionalized association of persons interacting with one another.

An aggregate usually refers to a group of persons gathered in one place. This may include crowds, audiences, and various forms of collective behavior including demonstrations, civil disturbances and riots.

A social category ordinarily refers to people who share a common attribute, such as gender, ethnicity, race, disease or condition, education level, occupational category and many other such distinctions.

The concept of an interactive group or association can be characterized by any of a number of traits, including size, level of interaction, and other traits. Often, more formalized, institutionalized and ongoing groups be have such names as association, society, club or membership organization.

The sociology of groups was a large and vigorous subfield of sociology during the 1940s and 1950s and continues to be an area of considerable interest in related fields including social work, and management.