The On-Line Sociologist newsletter has been popping up in my mailbox recently, and today’s installment included in-group and out-group under key concepts.
In-Group: A social group an individual identifies with and sees as essential to their identity, creating feelings of loyalty and solidarity.
- Example: A person who strongly identifies with their nationality may feel pride and connection with others from the same country.
Out-Group: A group that an individual does not identify with and may view as fundamentally different or opposed to their in-group.
- Example: Someone with a strong religious affiliation may see members of other faiths as part of an out-group, which can lead to feelings of rivalry.
There are some great examples of in-groups and out-groups in the neighborhood setting, which also exemplify this sense that action for people within the group is altruistic, whereas action outside the group is competitive. Take school districts for instance. For activities within the district, volunteers come forward with their time and resources. The same educational supporters are more than willing to badmouth the adjacent district for being too lax, too uptight, not creative enough, and so on.
When I was young the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ was a popular framing of the other side of town that isn’t quite good enough. If you live over here, we will rideshare with you, we will look out for each other, but if you’re from the other side of the tracks, it’s not up to us. You are in the out-group.
Of course, the divide may require a nose stuck even higher in the air when discussing refined neighborhoods with famous people or the seriously affluent. And those folks want to be rated against the other ultra-rich, maybe even in another state. The competition here has reached a plateau that requires proper comparisons to reach across state lines, across to greater metropolis.
What in-group and out-group formations do you see near you? Cyclists versus auto drivers? Shift workers versus day workers?
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