Social group implies an association of interacting with people who share some common characteristics and have a sense of belonging to the same community. These groups could be primary, secondary, task-focused, or time-limited (Benokraitis, 2013). It is immensely important for individuals to belong to some group since they provide an experience of socialization. Besides, people could enter social groupings unconsciously or not by free will. The current paper is dedicated to the assessment of social groups found in New Jersey.
In every town, there is an innumerable number of formal and informal groups. In Jersey City, NJ, there are more than 200 various social communities that include, for example, language, sport, photography clubs (Meetup, n.d.). The listed types of groups are rather trivial, and their existence does not raise any questions. However, there are some unusual communities which I was not aware of before. More precisely, I am surprised by the number of groups that unite landlords, real estate managers, and business professionals. In addition, I was not aware of groups aimed at the development of the moral side of individuals lives, such as meditation and bucket list clubs. I always have thought that these topics are very private and could not be discussed in larger communities.
The Internet has undoubtedly changed the way people find social groups and interact in them. The brightest example of this shift is the website Meetup.com where people could gain knowledge of social groups that exist all around the world. Without the assistance of the Internet, peoples ability to enter a group was limited because it was harder to become aware of a club or community. Nowadays, I suppose that social groups attract many more members via the world web. A person could also become motivated to join a group as even if he or she is inexperienced and just recently became interested in its activities.
Finally, I would like to conclude that these changes are for the better. That is so because people obtain broader access to information about specific social groups. What is more, the Internet enables people not to be limited only to real-life meetings. Activities of some social groups could still be conducted via online video communication systems, which is particularly significant in the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic when in the majority of countries, people have to stay in self-isolation.
References
Benokraitis, N. V. (2018). Introduction to sociology (5th ed.). Cengage. Meetup (n.d.). Web.