Introduction

Society is a complicated web of social relationships that are both formal and informal. These relationships exist between (i) two or more individuals, (ii) between individuals and groups, and (iii) between different groups.

The entire community, or even society as a whole, is a group; in fact, these entities can be seen as a ‘group of groups’. A society’s interactional field consists of groups—formal and informal, of alliances and coalitions, and social networks. They form the structure of a society.

Groups exist as relatively permanent entities. Individual members come and go. The arrival of new members or the departure of old ones changes the demography and actual composition of the group, but the continuity of the group remains intact. We had elaborated this point while discussing the concept of society.

Let us understand this feature through an example. In the India of today, there are many who were not around in, say, 1947; and many who were there then are gone now—they are either dead or have left the country to settle abroad. But these movements have not diminished the identity of India as a society. In the same fashion, a group’s life can be longer or shorter than the life span of any particular member. Although groups are relatively permanent, they can also cease functioning and new groups can emerge. The longevity of groups differs; groups such as a society have greater longevity, but other groups within the society may have a shorter life span, depending on the purpose for which they are constituted. The birth and death of groups, or changes in their membership profiles, are part of the dynamics of social change.