Meaning of the term: reference group. Reference group

Throughout life, a person enters into social interaction with many people and groups of people and finds himself in different social communities. He chooses some of them, and falls into others by chance.

Reference group – a specially important group of people, a reference model with which a person relates, compares and identifies himself. Reference groups are the most interesting from a psychological point of view, since they influence the personality, being an integral component of socialization. Standards of behavior, ideals, moral standards adopted in the reference group are guidelines for a person, his behavior and self-esteem depend on this group.

So, the significance of the reference group is expressed in the fact that it:

influences a person's self-esteem,
determines criteria for evaluating other people,
defines norms of behavior, moral standards,
forms social attitudes, social orientation of the individual,
determines values, priorities, principles, human needs,
influences the formation of an individual’s personal opinions and views.

A group can be either real and permanently existing (for example, a family), or conditionally existing or virtual (for example, computer burglars).

Reference groups in human life

As a rule, a person considers himself to belong to several reference groups. The number of such groups increases as a person grows older.

At first, only his family is important for the baby, he is guided by the norms and rules established in it. During this period, the child learns the basic concepts of morality and ethics.

Then the child ends up in a children's group. The influence of the reference children's group on the child is very noticeable when the child begins to ask his parents to buy him, for example, a toy that the majority of children in the group have. At this age, it is difficult for a child to distinguish his own needs from the needs of the group. Therefore, most often the justification for immoral children’s actions is the phrase: “Everyone did it that way, that’s why I did it too!” The baby learns to coexist with other people, communicate, make friends, take into account the interests of others, and be involved in the group.

For a teenager, the company of friends and the class in which he studies is of great importance.. If it is “fashionable” in the class to be smart, a child who studies well will study even harder. In this case, the reference group will be “positive” for him. If in the class there are more respected individuals who do not want to study at all, the child will either adapt to the requirements of the group and begin to study worse, or will show such a personality trait as nonconformism and will continue to study well. In the second case, the reference group will become “negative” for him, but will still remain significant.

A teenager is most inclined to compare himself with others; he strives for ideals and wants to be a respected member of a peer group. Teenagers join various groups of youth subcultures, fans of musical groups, computer games and other significant communities.

It is very important for a person, when relating himself to significant others, to have his own opinions and views, and to be able to resist manipulation and negative influence. The more developed and conscious a person is, the more demanding he is in choosing a significant group. In adolescence, a person can become involved with antisocial individuals and groups, following the desire to be in “bad” but authoritative company.

Reference group theories

Definition 1

A reference group in sociological science acts as an association with which an individual correlates his own and social values and norms. In this case, the psychological aspect is very important, because only the acceptance of values makes the group a reference group, and the denial of its norms leads to the fact that it loses its key meaning.

Reference group theory is based on many concepts, the key of which is J. Mead's symbolic interactionism. Also very popular are the ideas of J. Mead about the so-called “generalized friend”, through which the individual carries out his interactions with other participants in society, and society influences his psychological attitudes.

Note 1

The term “reference group” itself was introduced by social psychologist G. Hyman in 1942. It was very often used by the author to study the individual from the point of view of his own property status in relative comparison with the statuses possessed by other people.

It was from this moment that other scientists began to use the concept very widely. For example, T. Newcomb designated by it a group to which an individual isolates himself from a purely psychological point of view. For this reason, he shares its norms and goals. Newcome was also one of the first to propose a classification of reference groups, highlighting positive and negative. Positive reference groups include such group associations, their norms and values, which make a person want to become part of this particular group. A negative reference group, on the contrary, causes negative emotions and a desire to join a group that will oppose it.

Normative function of the reference group

Note 2

One of the first to highlight the functions of the reference group was G. Kelly in 1952. He suggested that this type of group can perform two key functions: normative and comparative (evaluative).

The normative function determines the key standards of behavior of an individual within a social group. In essence, an individual becomes part of a reference group only on the condition that he follows its values, rules and norms. In the modern world, a norm is a key indicator that regulates an individual’s social behavior and influences his value and ideological attitudes. But any individual strives to improve, while focusing himself on generally accepted standards and forms of behavior. Thus, based on examples of behavior within the reference group, he adopts the style of communication, manners of behavior, as well as rules of etiquette and dress code. In general, a person strives to do everything possible to become part of the reference group and set normative standards himself.

Often the reference group is influenced by fashion. There are a large number of countries that are considered trendsetters: Italy, France. In them, those standards and norms first appear, which are then accepted as unprecedented and undeniable and spread throughout the world. But the spread is also uneven and depends on how ready the residents themselves are to follow these norms and accept a new style of clothing and behavior.

Comparative function of the reference group

So, we have touched on the essence of the normative function, and now we will move on to the second - comparative (or, as it is also called, evaluative). This function of reference groups acts as a kind of standard for comparison. With its help, an individual can evaluate himself, as well as other people who are in his close or distant environment. The assessment includes family members, friends, acquaintances, work colleagues and ordinary passers-by.

The comparative-evaluative function makes a person want not only to build his attitude towards the reference group, but also to find out its attitude towards himself. But in most cases, the reference group does not have information about the individual, and thus he makes his own assessment of compliance with norms, using characteristic reference features.

R. Merton a little later identified several key conditions under which an individual is more likely to choose as a normative reference group not the group to which he is directly related and of which he is a member, but an external group:

First, if the group to which the individual belongs does not provide sufficient prestige to its own members;
Secondly, if the individual himself is to some extent isolated in his own group, and also has a low, non-dominant status in it;
Thirdly, the greater the social mobility in society (which means the greater the opportunity for the individual to make changes within the framework of his social status and group affiliation), the more likely it is that he will choose as a reference group the group where members have higher social status. Status depends on the position held, income level and well-being. It also includes the ownership of expensive things and the ability to manage expensive property and lead a fashionable lifestyle.

Of course, when comparing himself with other members of society, an individual can be either motivated to further improve his own status, or, on the contrary, disappointed. Many authors note the psychological component, since a person is very susceptible to the success of an outsider. Not everyone is able to objectively compare themselves with representatives of the reference group. Often, not having special skills and talents, a person in comparison overestimates his strengths, and, finding himself in the reference group, does not meet its requirements. In this regard, he has to return back to his group. This happens quite often during employment: due to failures, a person suffers on a psychological level, which leads to his lack of motivation to make further attempts to find a job. That is why it is very important to focus specifically on aspects of social psychology, which play a very important role in determining the reference group, its characteristics and functionality.

People whose norms and values act as a standard for him. The concept of "R. G." arose to describe and explain the fact that in their behavior people are guided not only and not so much by the group to which they actually belong, but by the one to which they refer themselves for comparison. assessments of their achievements and status. For individual R. G. can act as a standard for self-esteem (comparative R. G.) and as a source of his attitudes, norms and values (normative R. G.) .

R. G. may or may not coincide with the group to which it belongs. There are also “real” and “fictional”, “positive” and “negative” R. G. (for example, due to a hostile attitude towards “R. G. teachers”, the child sometimes acts contrary to their requirements).

How does it happen to an individual? several R. G. With age, they increase, depending on the content of the problem being solved, they turn to different R. G., the norms of which may be mutually reinforcing, not intersect, or enter into conflict. The latter leads to intrapersonal conflicts, and sometimes to mental illness. diseases. With the emergence of new R. G. the former can retain their influence. Theory R. G. studies their types, factors and causes of formation. One of Ch. its problems are the study of the determinants of individuals’ choice of certain R. G.

Concept R. G. used in the study of personality formation and social regulation of individual behavior (“anticipating”, eg, is explained by the fact that the individual in advance assimilates the norms and values of the group of which he hopes to be a member); when analyzing the relationship between the objective position of a person in the social structure and his subjective idea of this, to study the causes of the emergence of some inter-individual and intra-personal conflicts and T. n. Study of R. G. It is important to educate individuals for optimization. work, crime prevention, increasing the effectiveness of propaganda.

Sociology today, lane With English, M., 1965; Shibutani T., Social psychology. lane With English, M., 1969; Yakovlev A.M., Crime and social psychology. M., 1971; Metreveli V.G., On the issue of the theory of R. G. V modern bourgeois sociology, “Sociological. Research", 1975, No. 4; Olshansky V.B., Group of presence and, in book: Social psychological. M., 1975; Kon I.S., Psychology of adolescence, M., 1979; Social personality, M., 1979; Shchedrina E. V., Referentiality as a characteristic of the system of interpersonal relations, in book: Psychological collective, M., 1979; Andreeva G.M., Social psychological. M., 1980; Merton R.K., Social theory and social structure, Glencoe, 19682.

Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 .

REFERENCE GROUP

(from the English to refer - refer) - in sociology, social psychology and psychology, denoting a social (economic, political, professional, cultural, etc.) group to which an individual consciously refers himself. R. g. is the everyday consciousness of members of society. The concept of R. was introduced in Amer. social psychology in the 30s. 20th century in connection with the establishment of the fact that individuals belonging to a certain social group, they build their own (in work, in everyday life) in accordance with the norms and values accepted in the social group to which they consider themselves. Therefore, initially R. was used to designate such ideas of an individual about his social affiliation, which do not coincide with his actual ones. social status. He helped, according to G. Hyman, to explain “why some individuals do not assimilate the positions of the groups in which they are directly included” (“Reflections on reference group,” in The Public Opinion Quartery, 1960, v. 25, p. 385). Subsequently, it was found that an individual’s behavior is determined not only by his membership in a group, but also by his ideas about his social affiliation. The theory of R. g. studies the factors of their formation, the types of R. g. A distinction is made between “real” and “fictitious” R. g. (in the first case, the individual, for example, classifies himself as an “engineer”; in the second, as a “spiritual elite", which does not really exist as a group). R. g. may coincide with the actual one. group of the individual (the engineer considers himself to be a technical intelligentsia) or not to coincide (the capitalist considers himself to be a worker).

For bourgeois sociologists are characterized by a fetishization of individuals’ subjective classification of themselves into one group or another. At the same time, the concept of R.g. can serve as a tool for studying the mechanism of interaction between objective social position and subjectively felt (R.g.) as factors in the formation of individual behavior. R.'s theory finds application in the analysis of various social phenomena. Functionalist sociologists (in particular, Merton) use it to explain deviant behavior. It is also used in creating systems of social stratification of society. The concept of R. g. is important for understanding the phenomena of anti-societies. criminal behavior. It is used in psychology (to explain internal personality conflicts), in psychiatry (primarily in the form of the concept of “social role conflict”). The concept of R. g. is of great importance in educational practice. work (at school, first of all): taking into account which group the student belongs to (capable, incapable, active, etc.). Taking into account the everyday beliefs of individuals is important for the effectiveness of propaganda. In Sov. sociology term "R. g." sometimes translated as "reference group".

G. Andreeva, N. Novikov. Moscow.

Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970 .

REFERENCE GROUP

REFERENT (from Latin réfère - compare, compare, report) - real or imaginary social, acting for the individual as a standard, a role model; a group he would like to belong to. Both small and large can act as a reference group. The concept of “reference group” was first introduced in the 30s. 20th century G. Hyman. For a child, the reference group is , for a teenager - a community of peers, for a young person - often in general, for an adult - representatives of a specific prestigious profession. Thus, for a novice athlete, the reference group is professional hockey players, football or basketball players, for a novice scientist - outstanding luminaries of science, etc. The higher the level of social maturity of an individual, the more demands he places on the community that he chooses as a reference group. And vice versa, the lower the degree of social maturity, the worse the quality of the chosen reference group. Young people who do not have a secondary or higher education, who have not made a successful career, who were brought up in single-parent or unsuccessful families, often take the path of crime also because the reference group they seek to imitate are local “authorities”, people with a criminal past.

Initially, the term “reference group” denoted a community of which an individual is not a member, but to which he strives to belong. Later, it began to be interpreted more broadly, including the group to which the individual belongs and which has authority for him. The correct reference group plays two important social roles - comparison and socialization. When comparing himself with a reference group, the individual evaluates his current social position and chooses the desired benchmark for future advancement or building a social career. In the process of socialization, he assimilates the norms and values of the reference community, that is, he first identifies himself with it, and then internalizes (assimilates) its cultural patterns of behavior. The reference group also functions as a center of social gravity, when an individual, dissatisfied with his group of belonging, moves up the social ladder to another. Social mobility is facilitated by the presence of a center of repulsion - the antipode of the reference group. For young people today, this is the army, which they strive not to get into and therefore direct their efforts to enroll in a university that provides a deferment. The reference group also performs the function of a “support group”, increasing the social well-being of the individual and providing him with physical protection.

A. I. Kravchenko

New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .

Standard (reference) groups

Key concepts of the topic

Reference group.

Social interaction group. Real reference group.

Imaginary reference group

as a result of social construction.

The individual's connection with reference groups.

Positive reference group.

Negative reference group.

The relative nature of reference groups.

Information reference group. Experts.

Self-identification group.

Value reference group.

Concept reference group was introduced into scientific circulation by Herbert Hymon in his work “Archives of Psychology” in 1942. By reference he understood the group that an individual uses for a comparative assessment of his own position or behavior. Haymon distinguished between the group to which an individual belongs and the reference or standard group, which serves as a criterion for comparison (Marshall 1996: 441).

The most extensive analysis of reference groups in the context of the functionalist tradition was given by Robert Merton and Alice Kitt in a work published in 1950.

An individual may belong to a reference group or be very far from it. Interaction group (R. Merton's term), or member group, - This is the immediate social environment of the individual. This is the group he belongs to. If we value membership in a given group, if we strive to gain a foothold in it and consider the norms and values of its subculture as the most authoritative, strive to be like the majority of its members, then this group can be considered as a reference group. In this case, the interaction group and the reference group simply coincide, but their qualitative characteristics are completely different. If we consider ourselves superior to the members of our group or consider ourselves as strangers in it, then no matter how closely we are connected with it, this group is not a reference group. In this case, the group does not offer attractive norms and values.

The reference group can be a real social group or imaginary , which is the result social construction , act as a statistical community, whose members may not even suspect that for some they are one cohesive group. Thus, for decades, for many Soviet people there was such a mythical reference group as “the West”, “America”.

The more ossified and closed a given society is, the more likely it is that an individual’s reference group is his social interaction group. Thus, in pre-capitalist societies, a class social structure dominated, in which most people were born into a certain class (a group with a social status established by laws) and remained in it all their lives, passing on their class status by inheritance. In such a society, for a peasant to compare himself with the court aristocracy and imitate it was the height of absurdity. Capitalist or state socialist (e.g. Soviet) societies are open to social mobility. This means that someone born into a peasant family has a chance of breaking through to the very top of the political, administrative or economic hierarchy. In such a society, it is quite reasonable for an individual to be at the bottom, but imitating those at the very top. In such a society, rapprochement with the reference group is potentially real. The "American Dream" as America's most important myth states that every American can become a president or a millionaire. American mythology is full of examples indicating the reality of this dream. Soviet mythology also contains many examples of heroes who rose from “simple workers and peasants” to the highest positions in the state. In post-Soviet society, the bulk of the country's richest people just yesterday were on the same floor as most of us.

The connection of an individual with reference groups is often unstable, mobile, and vague. This means that at different stages of his biography he may have different reference groups. In addition, when choosing different elements of a lifestyle and making different purchases, an individual can focus on different reference groups.

For example, if I am an athlete, then when choosing sportswear, a certain team or its stars may act as a reference group for me, but if I am not a fan, but just a normal athlete, then the opinion of a sports star on issues that go beyond sports are no longer authoritative. And when choosing toothpaste, I will listen to the dentist, but not my favorite champion.

Standard (reference) groups can be positive and negative. Positive reference group - this is that real or imaginary group that serves as a role model, an attractive standard. The closer an individual is to it in terms of lifestyle, the more satisfaction he feels. Negative reference group - this is a real or imaginary (constructed) group, acting as a repulsive example, this is a group, contact, association with which one strives to avoid.

The set of reference groups has relative character . This means that in a society consisting of many social groups and subcultures, there is no single set of positive and negative reference groups that is valid for everyone. That group, which is a role model for some people, is considered by others as an anti-standard (“God forbid we be like them”). In this case they say: “You dressed up like:.” In our society, such a “compliment” can be a comparison with a milkmaid, a collective farmer, a villager, a new Russian, a nun, a “tough” bandit, etc.

Reference groups are divided into several types: informational (sources of reliable information), self-identification, value.

An information reference group is a group of people whose information we trust. It doesn’t matter whether we fall into error or are close to the truth. The main distinguishing feature of such a group is that we trust the information coming from it. This group appears in two main forms:

a) Carriers of experience. Such a group can be people who have tried “their own skin” this product or service. We turn to their amateur experience to confirm or refute doubts regarding the brand of goods planned for purchase.

b) Experts , that is, specialists in this field. This is a group that is considered by others as the most knowledgeable in a particular area, whose judgment most accurately reflects the real qualities of a phenomenon, product, service, etc.

When does the need for an expert arise? It is turned to when a problematic situation arises within the framework of everyday life, when the flow of everyday life is disrupted (Ionin 1996: 97). A man ate all his life without thinking about his teeth. And suddenly they reminded him so much that he could not think about anything but teeth. The car drove for a number of years, and then stopped... The flow of normal life is disrupted, and our knowledge is not enough to get out of the problem situation.

We also turn to experts to maintain the normal course of everyday life. Encyclopedists became extinct a little later than mammoths, so even the most outstanding of our contemporaries are amateurs in most areas with which they encounter. What can we say about the mass of ordinary people? Naturally, when choosing goods and services, we have no choice but to rely on the opinion of experts. I don’t understand anything about medicine, so I choose toothpastes, brushes, medications, relying mainly on the opinion of doctors. I am an amateur in radio engineering, so when choosing radio products I rely on the judgment of people who are or seem to me to be experts.

An expert's assessment can dramatically change the cost of a product. Thus, most paintings are bought by amateurs, because art criticism is a special science that requires long-term professional training, which ultimately does not lead to wealth. Those who have enough money to buy valuable paintings cannot, as a rule, combine their income-generating activities with a serious study of art. Therefore, the same painting exhibited on the Arbat or at a prestigious exhibition has a completely different price: in the first case, it is a product without a quality certificate, in the second, admission to a prestigious exhibition is a sign of quality for amateurs. The same situation applies to books published in a capital or provincial publishing house. For amateurs, the capital acts as a positive reference group, and the province as a negative one. Only an expert does not need someone else's opinion to select a product. However, an expert is always a narrow specialist, and outside his narrow sphere of competence he is an amateur.

The reference group of self-identification is the group to which the individual belongs and is under the pressure of its norms and values. He might have wanted to avoid this compulsion, but, as the saying goes, “to live with wolves is to howl like a wolf.” The group directly or indirectly forces him to adhere to a style of behavior, including consumption, that is considered as “appropriate” for a member of this group, and to avoid a style that is considered “indecent” or “strange” by the group.

A value reference group is a real or imaginary group of people who are considered by a given individual as bright carriers, exponents of the values that he shares. Since this group not only secretly sympathizes with these values, but actively professes them through its lifestyle and has moved much further along the path of realizing these values, the individual imitates this group and strives to follow the style of behavior accepted in it. He is not a member of this group, and is sometimes very far from it both in physical and social space. Most often, the role of such a reference group is played by the “stars” of sports, cinema, pop music and heroes, outstanding figures in the field to which a given individual gravitates.

(4) A utilitarian reference group is a group that has an arsenal of positive and negative sanctions, that is, it is capable of both rewarding and punishing an individual. A variety of real and imaginary social groups can act in this capacity.

For example, an employee of an institution dresses the way his boss likes, so as not to irritate him and not create obstacles to his own career. Before work, stepping on the throat of his own song, he does not drink vodka or eat garlic, even if he really wants to, because he knows that his boss has the power to fire him for such features of his consumption style. The young man selects a style of behavior that evokes sympathy, if not from everyone, then from a select part of the girls, or even just one, but the best. Girls in this case act as a utilitarian reference group that has such an arsenal of positive and negative sanctions as obvious and hidden manifestations of sympathy, love, antipathy, and contempt.

The influence of the reference group has a particularly strong effect on the behavior of a significant part of girls and women. It is among them that the willingness to make the greatest sacrifices, inconveniences in order to cause delight or simply the attention of that part of the men who are the reference group, or envy, approval from other women acting as the second reference group is especially noticeable.

Thus, doctors have long proven that high heels have a harmful effect on women’s health. However, again and again the fashion for them returns, and millions wear these beautiful but uncomfortable shoes. For what? As the king of London shoe fashion, Manolo Blahnik, explained, " high heels elevate a woman, make her strong in order to drive men crazy and conquer the world"(Maslov 6.11.97). Thus, the key to understanding women's consumer behavior often lies in the tastes of men.

This mechanism of group influence usually manifests itself in the presence of a number of conditions. (1) Most often, this type of reference group exerts influence when performing actions that are visible to others or leading to results that cannot be unnoticed by others (for example, buying outerwear). (2) The individual feels that those around him have at their disposal positive or negative sanctions towards him (approval - ridicule, etc.). (3) The individual is motivated to strive to obtain the rewards of the group and avoid punishment from its side (for example, strives to achieve a career or win the sympathy of the opposite sex) (Loudon and Bitta: 277).

When making various purchases, an individual experiences pressure from reference groups of varying strengths. Thus, when buying food, clothing and other essential goods in conditions of dire need, people do not look back at their reference group: hunger and cold dictate these purchases. However, given the choice of a specific type of essential commodity, the individual is already under the influence of his reference group.

Many products bear the imprint of prestige: various kinds of delicacies, expensive alcoholic drinks. Each group has its own table setting standards: if you want to be considered one of your own, set the table no lower than the standards accepted in this group (the influence of the self-identification group). If for the owners the value reference groups are in the West, then imported products of a specifically Western type (Coca-Cola, pickled corn, specific seasonings, etc.) prevail on the table. If the owners are guided by the customs of Russian antiquity, then the emphasis will be on domestic, simple products, and national cuisine. Similarly, a clothing brand is associated with a selected reference group. At the same time, essential items that are not to be shown to outsiders are selected with minimal influence from reference groups.

When purchasing items that are considered luxury in a given country, the influence of the reference group is strong across the board.

Items

necessity

Items

Public consumption

Essential items for public consumption

Russian influence

1) By type of product - weak (almost everyone consumes it).

2) On a brand - strong (a brand is a symbol of prestige).

Examples: watch, suit.

Luxury goods for public consumption.

Russian influence

1) On the type of product - strong (the product itself is a symbol).

2) For the brand - strong.

Examples: high-end cars, foreign resorts, precious jewelry.

Private consumption

Essential items for private use.

Russian influence

1) For the type of product - weak.

Examples: mattress, bed linen, underwear, etc.

Luxury goods for private consumption.

Russian influence

1) Based on the type of product - strong.

2) For the brand - weak.

Examples: computer games, food processor, electric knife.

Ionin L.G. Sociology of culture. M., 1996.

Loudon D., Bitta A.J. Della. Consumer Behavior. Concepts and Applications. Third edition. N.Y., 1988.

Peter J.P., Olson J.C. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy. Third edition. Boston, Homewood, 1993.

Serving as a kind of reporting system for a person, a standard for others and himself. This is the source of the formation of value beliefs, orientations and

Classification they are carried out for several reasons:

according to the functions performed, comparative and normative ones are distinguished;
based on membership - ideal and presence groups;
Taking into account the individual’s agreement or denial of values and norms, there are negative and positive ones.

Let us consider the highlighted phenomena in more detail.

A normative reference group is a source of norms that regulate human behavior, serving as a guideline in relation to significant problems. Comparative is the standard for assessing others and yourself.

The reference group of presence is a community of which the individual will be a member. It is significantly different from ideal. Within its framework, the individual wishes to be guided by its norms and values in behavior, in assessments of events, and in attitude towards people. But for some reason a person does not enter into it, although it is attractive to him. Moreover, an ideal community can be either real or fictitious. In this case, heroes and historical figures serve as examples for assessments, life beliefs and ideals.

In positive reference values and norms fully correspond to the ideas of each individual. In the negative, the significance and importance of assessments and opinions that are propagated in the community are alien and contrary to the beliefs of the individual. Therefore, in his behavior he tries to receive negative assessments, “disapproval” of his position on her part.

Typology

1). The reference reference can be real, as well as imaginary, which is the result of construction. Its members often do not even suspect that they are one close-knit community.

2). An information reference group is a group of people whose information we trust. It highlights:

knowledge and experience holders who have used the service or group;
Experts are usually assessed as the most knowledgeable in a given field, whose judgment can accurately reflect the existing qualities of a product, phenomenon, service, and so on.

3). A community of self-identification is a group to which a person is forced to belong, being constantly under the pressure of its values and norms. In such a situation, the individual would like to avoid outside influence, but he fails to do so.

4). The most common is the value reference group. Sociology was able to generate rich theoretical and empirical material in its study. A value community is a real or imaginary group of people, which is considered by the individual as a bright carrier, an exponent of the beliefs that he shares. But since she actively professes them through her lifestyle, a person strives to constantly imitate her, following the accepted way of behavior. As a rule, an individual does not belong to a given group, being far from it in both social and physical spaces. This role is played by the “stars” of cinema, sports, heroes, pop musicians, as well as outstanding figures in the sphere that is significant to a person.

5). A utilitarian group is a community that has an arsenal of negative and positive sanctions. She is capable of both punishing and rewarding an individual. It is usually joined by imaginary and real people who share its beliefs.

But you need to keep the following in mind. The same reference group can act in different capacities, since this will largely depend on the specific situation and the conditions of its functioning.