Groups

Below the national level we have hundreds of thousands of groups. From the perspective of the study of culture we may divide them in two, the larger and the smaller groups. Larger groups are too big to know one another and people are seen in terms of their contribution to that larger group. The smaller group is more oriented on individual persons.

Another way of looking at larger groups is to take a specific aspect as a starting point, such as all men and all women in a given state. In the same vein one may target a specific profession or industry, as is frequently done in marketing. Again, these groups are too large to know one another individually but the group has its own culture as shown by a characteristic behaviour.

The variety in types of larger groups is reflected in the scientific disciplines studying them. Specific larger groups often have their own niche in research, such as women’s studies and marketing.

The effort of understanding another culture may be helped along by looking at expressions of that culture, such as communication patterns, pride for this or that, heroes and symbols, habits and traditions, history and its effects.