Notes: Robert Merton - Reference Group | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Robert K Merton 
 
Reference group 
Famous book (1949) Social Theory and Social Structure. 
 
1. A reference group is one to which you always refer in order to evaluate your 
achievements, your role performance, your aspirations and ambitions. 
 
2. It is only a reference group that tells you whether you are right or wrong, 
whether whatever you are doing, you are doing badly or well. 
 
3. Even non-membership groups, the groups to which you do not belong, may act 
like reference groups. 
 
4. You aspire to become a member of a group to which you do not belong but 
which is more powerful, or more prestigious. 
 
5. As a result, this time in order to evaluate your achievements, performance, you 
refer to a non-membership group. 
 
6. Human beings look at themselves not solely through the eyes of their group 
members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups. 
 
  
Page 2


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Robert K Merton 
 
Reference group 
Famous book (1949) Social Theory and Social Structure. 
 
1. A reference group is one to which you always refer in order to evaluate your 
achievements, your role performance, your aspirations and ambitions. 
 
2. It is only a reference group that tells you whether you are right or wrong, 
whether whatever you are doing, you are doing badly or well. 
 
3. Even non-membership groups, the groups to which you do not belong, may act 
like reference groups. 
 
4. You aspire to become a member of a group to which you do not belong but 
which is more powerful, or more prestigious. 
 
5. As a result, this time in order to evaluate your achievements, performance, you 
refer to a non-membership group. 
 
6. Human beings look at themselves not solely through the eyes of their group 
members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
American soldier study 
 
1. Merton’s understanding of relative deprivation is closely tied to his 
treatment of reference group and reference group behaviour. 
 
2. American soldiers looked at themselves and evaluated their role-
performance, career achievements, etc. w.r.t to their civilian married 
American counterparts. 
 
3. The married soldier is not asking, what he gets and what other married 
soldiers like him get. 
 
4. Instead, he is asking what he is deprived of.  
 
5. Now his unmarried associates in the army are relatively free. 
 
6. They don’t have wives and children, so they are free from the 
responsibility from which married soldiers cannot escape. 
 
7. In other words, married soldiers are deprived of the kind of freedom that 
their unmarried associates are enjoying. 
 
  
Page 3


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Robert K Merton 
 
Reference group 
Famous book (1949) Social Theory and Social Structure. 
 
1. A reference group is one to which you always refer in order to evaluate your 
achievements, your role performance, your aspirations and ambitions. 
 
2. It is only a reference group that tells you whether you are right or wrong, 
whether whatever you are doing, you are doing badly or well. 
 
3. Even non-membership groups, the groups to which you do not belong, may act 
like reference groups. 
 
4. You aspire to become a member of a group to which you do not belong but 
which is more powerful, or more prestigious. 
 
5. As a result, this time in order to evaluate your achievements, performance, you 
refer to a non-membership group. 
 
6. Human beings look at themselves not solely through the eyes of their group 
members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
American soldier study 
 
1. Merton’s understanding of relative deprivation is closely tied to his 
treatment of reference group and reference group behaviour. 
 
2. American soldiers looked at themselves and evaluated their role-
performance, career achievements, etc. w.r.t to their civilian married 
American counterparts. 
 
3. The married soldier is not asking, what he gets and what other married 
soldiers like him get. 
 
4. Instead, he is asking what he is deprived of.  
 
5. Now his unmarried associates in the army are relatively free. 
 
6. They don’t have wives and children, so they are free from the 
responsibility from which married soldiers cannot escape. 
 
7. In other words, married soldiers are deprived of the kind of freedom that 
their unmarried associates are enjoying. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Concept of Group and Group Membership 
 
Merton speaks of three characteristics of a group and group memberships. 
1. Objective criterion, viz., the frequency of interaction - In other words, the 
sociological concept of a group refers to a number of people frequently 
interact with one another. 
2. Interacting persons define themselves as members - In other words, they 
feel that they have patterned expectations or forms of interaction, which 
are morally binding on them and on other members. 
3. The persons in interaction are defined by others as ‘belonging to the 
group’.  
These others include fellow members as well as non-members. 
Groups differ from collectivities and social categories. 
 
There is no doubt that all groups are collectivities, but all collectivities are not groups. 
 
Nation, for example, is a collectivity, not a group, because all those who belong to a 
nation do not interact with one another. 
 
Concept of Non-Membership 
 
It is true that non-members are those who do not meet the interactional and 
definitional criteria of membership. 
 
But, at the same time, as Merton says, all non-members are not of the same kind. 
Broadly speaking. non-members can be divided into three categories -  
1. Some may aspire to membership in the group 
2. Others may be indifferent toward such affiliation 
3. Still others may be motivated to remain unaffiliated with the group. 
 
  
Page 4


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Robert K Merton 
 
Reference group 
Famous book (1949) Social Theory and Social Structure. 
 
1. A reference group is one to which you always refer in order to evaluate your 
achievements, your role performance, your aspirations and ambitions. 
 
2. It is only a reference group that tells you whether you are right or wrong, 
whether whatever you are doing, you are doing badly or well. 
 
3. Even non-membership groups, the groups to which you do not belong, may act 
like reference groups. 
 
4. You aspire to become a member of a group to which you do not belong but 
which is more powerful, or more prestigious. 
 
5. As a result, this time in order to evaluate your achievements, performance, you 
refer to a non-membership group. 
 
6. Human beings look at themselves not solely through the eyes of their group 
members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
American soldier study 
 
1. Merton’s understanding of relative deprivation is closely tied to his 
treatment of reference group and reference group behaviour. 
 
2. American soldiers looked at themselves and evaluated their role-
performance, career achievements, etc. w.r.t to their civilian married 
American counterparts. 
 
3. The married soldier is not asking, what he gets and what other married 
soldiers like him get. 
 
4. Instead, he is asking what he is deprived of.  
 
5. Now his unmarried associates in the army are relatively free. 
 
6. They don’t have wives and children, so they are free from the 
responsibility from which married soldiers cannot escape. 
 
7. In other words, married soldiers are deprived of the kind of freedom that 
their unmarried associates are enjoying. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Concept of Group and Group Membership 
 
Merton speaks of three characteristics of a group and group memberships. 
1. Objective criterion, viz., the frequency of interaction - In other words, the 
sociological concept of a group refers to a number of people frequently 
interact with one another. 
2. Interacting persons define themselves as members - In other words, they 
feel that they have patterned expectations or forms of interaction, which 
are morally binding on them and on other members. 
3. The persons in interaction are defined by others as ‘belonging to the 
group’.  
These others include fellow members as well as non-members. 
Groups differ from collectivities and social categories. 
 
There is no doubt that all groups are collectivities, but all collectivities are not groups. 
 
Nation, for example, is a collectivity, not a group, because all those who belong to a 
nation do not interact with one another. 
 
Concept of Non-Membership 
 
It is true that non-members are those who do not meet the interactional and 
definitional criteria of membership. 
 
But, at the same time, as Merton says, all non-members are not of the same kind. 
Broadly speaking. non-members can be divided into three categories -  
1. Some may aspire to membership in the group 
2. Others may be indifferent toward such affiliation 
3. Still others may be motivated to remain unaffiliated with the group. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Anticipatory Socialisation 
 
In the context of non-membership reference groups. 
 
It is like preparing oneself for the group to which an individual aspires but does not 
belong. 
 
It is like adopting the values, life-styles of a non-membership reference group. 
 
Anticipatory socialisation may serve the twin functions - 
1. of aiding his rise into that group 
2. of easing his adjustment after he has become part of it. 
 
 
 
Dysfunctional consequences - 
 
If the system is very closed-->anticipatory socialisation would be dysfunctional for 
him. 
 
There are two reasons - 
1. not be able to become a member of the group to which he aspires. 
2. imitation of the values of a non-membership group, he would 
be disliked by the members of his own group. 
As Merton says, he would be reduced to being a ‘marginal man’! 
 
Anticipatory socialisation is functional for the individual only ‘within a relatively open 
social structure providing for mobility’. 
 
In a closed system the individual is unlikely to choose a non-membership group as a 
reference group. 
 
Reference groups, says Merton, are of two kinds. 
 
Page 5


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Robert K Merton 
 
Reference group 
Famous book (1949) Social Theory and Social Structure. 
 
1. A reference group is one to which you always refer in order to evaluate your 
achievements, your role performance, your aspirations and ambitions. 
 
2. It is only a reference group that tells you whether you are right or wrong, 
whether whatever you are doing, you are doing badly or well. 
 
3. Even non-membership groups, the groups to which you do not belong, may act 
like reference groups. 
 
4. You aspire to become a member of a group to which you do not belong but 
which is more powerful, or more prestigious. 
 
5. As a result, this time in order to evaluate your achievements, performance, you 
refer to a non-membership group. 
 
6. Human beings look at themselves not solely through the eyes of their group 
members, but also through the eyes of those who belong to other groups. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
American soldier study 
 
1. Merton’s understanding of relative deprivation is closely tied to his 
treatment of reference group and reference group behaviour. 
 
2. American soldiers looked at themselves and evaluated their role-
performance, career achievements, etc. w.r.t to their civilian married 
American counterparts. 
 
3. The married soldier is not asking, what he gets and what other married 
soldiers like him get. 
 
4. Instead, he is asking what he is deprived of.  
 
5. Now his unmarried associates in the army are relatively free. 
 
6. They don’t have wives and children, so they are free from the 
responsibility from which married soldiers cannot escape. 
 
7. In other words, married soldiers are deprived of the kind of freedom that 
their unmarried associates are enjoying. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Concept of Group and Group Membership 
 
Merton speaks of three characteristics of a group and group memberships. 
1. Objective criterion, viz., the frequency of interaction - In other words, the 
sociological concept of a group refers to a number of people frequently 
interact with one another. 
2. Interacting persons define themselves as members - In other words, they 
feel that they have patterned expectations or forms of interaction, which 
are morally binding on them and on other members. 
3. The persons in interaction are defined by others as ‘belonging to the 
group’.  
These others include fellow members as well as non-members. 
Groups differ from collectivities and social categories. 
 
There is no doubt that all groups are collectivities, but all collectivities are not groups. 
 
Nation, for example, is a collectivity, not a group, because all those who belong to a 
nation do not interact with one another. 
 
Concept of Non-Membership 
 
It is true that non-members are those who do not meet the interactional and 
definitional criteria of membership. 
 
But, at the same time, as Merton says, all non-members are not of the same kind. 
Broadly speaking. non-members can be divided into three categories -  
1. Some may aspire to membership in the group 
2. Others may be indifferent toward such affiliation 
3. Still others may be motivated to remain unaffiliated with the group. 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Anticipatory Socialisation 
 
In the context of non-membership reference groups. 
 
It is like preparing oneself for the group to which an individual aspires but does not 
belong. 
 
It is like adopting the values, life-styles of a non-membership reference group. 
 
Anticipatory socialisation may serve the twin functions - 
1. of aiding his rise into that group 
2. of easing his adjustment after he has become part of it. 
 
 
 
Dysfunctional consequences - 
 
If the system is very closed-->anticipatory socialisation would be dysfunctional for 
him. 
 
There are two reasons - 
1. not be able to become a member of the group to which he aspires. 
2. imitation of the values of a non-membership group, he would 
be disliked by the members of his own group. 
As Merton says, he would be reduced to being a ‘marginal man’! 
 
Anticipatory socialisation is functional for the individual only ‘within a relatively open 
social structure providing for mobility’. 
 
In a closed system the individual is unlikely to choose a non-membership group as a 
reference group. 
 
Reference groups, says Merton, are of two kinds. 
 
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
1. Positive reference group - is one, which one likes and takes seriously in order to 
shape one’s behaviour and evaluate one’s achievements and performance. 
 
2. Negative reference group - which one dislikes and rejects and which, instead of 
providing norms to follow, provokes one to create counter-norms.