- Merton in his famous book “Social Theory and Social Structure (1949)” detailed his study of the reference groups. Robert K. Merton Reference Groups
- According to him, a person to lead a normal way of life is not to live in isolation. Instead, he lives amongst relationships and gives his accord to the prospects of the groups to which he belongs.
Robert K. Merton Reference Groups.
- A reference group is one to which a person always refers to evaluate his triumphs, role performance, ambitions, and desires.
- This reference group is the only entity that states to him whether he is right or wrong, whether the work he/she is doing is in a correct manner or in a wrong way.
- These reference groups can be: Robert K. Merton Reference Groups
- relationship groups of which a person is a part of
- non-relationship groups
- A person looks at himself/herself not just through the eyes of their group members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups.
Concept of Relative Deprivation.
- After giving his reference group and reference group behavior, Merton’s put forward the theory of relative deprivation related to the reference group. Robert K. Merton Reference Groups
- Merton states that Happiness or deprivation are not rules, they depend on the scale of measure as well as on the frame of reference.
- For instance, a married soldier serving in a distant land. His unmarried companions in the army are rather free as they don’t have wives and children and are free from the responsibility from which married soldiers cannot escape. Robert K. Merton Reference Groups
In other words, married soldiers are deprived of a type of freedom that their unmarried fellows are enjoying. Similarly, a married soldier feels deprived when he matches himself with his civilian married friend who can live with his wife and children and fulfill his responsibility. The married soldier thus feels deprived that being a soldier he cannot afford to enjoy the regular, daily family life of a civilian. Robert K. Merton Reference Groups
Three necessary characteristics of a group or group memberships:
• First, an objective condition, i.e, the sociological concept of a group refers to people frequently interacting with one another.
• A second condition is that the interacting persons feel that they have forms of interaction, which are morally necessary for them and other members.
• The third condition is that the persons in interaction are defined by others as ‘belonging to the group’ that may include fellow members as well as non-members.
Anticipatory Socialisation.
- Merton tells of anticipatory socialization in the milieu of non-membership reference groups.
- He mentions that Anticipatory Socialisation is like preparing oneself for the group to which an individual aspires but does not belong.
- It is like accepting the values, and standard of living of a non-membership reference group.
Merton claims that anticipatory socialization ‘may serve the twin functions for an individual of aiding his rise into that a non-membership group and of easing his adjustment after he has become part of it’.
Positive and Negative Reference Groups.
Merton reveals that Reference groups can be of two types:
- Positive reference group: It is a reference group that one likes and takes seriously to shape one’s behavior and evaluate one’s achievements and presentation.
- Negative reference group: It is a reference group that one dislikes and rejects and which, instead of providing rules to follow, provokes a person to create counter-rules.
Criticism.
over-reliance on functionalism on the hypothesis that a social system is based on ideologies of agreement neglecting the features of opposition and conflict in the social system.
