Social Group Measure

A Social Group Measure is a system measure that quantifies specific properties or characteristics of social groups (humans, social animals, and social AI agents).

• Context:
  • It can (typically) offer insights into Social Behavior, Social Relationships, and Social Dynamics across diverse social systems.
  • It can (typically) support Social Structure Analysis, Comparative Sociology, and Behavioral Ecology.
  • It can (typically) help assess Social Group Cohesion, Collective Intelligence, and Properties.
  • ...
  • It can (often) inform Policy-Making, Social Interventions, and Artificial Society Design.
  • It can (often) be utilized across Ethology, Sociobiology, and Social Neuroscience.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Human Group Measure to being an Animal Group Measure to being an Artificial Group Measure, depending on its target population.
  • It can range from being an Individual-Level Measure to being a Group-Level Measure, depending on its measurement scope.
  • It can range from being a Simple Social Metric to being a Complex Social Metric, depending on its measurement complexity.
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• Examples:
  • Population Composition Measures (to understand group structure), such as:
    • Demographic Measures (to assess population characteristics), such as:
      • Age Distribution Analysis like calculating age cohort proportions.
      • Social Status Measure like evaluating hierarchical positions.
  • Social Relationship Measures (to analyze group connections), such as:
    • Network Structure Measures (to quantify social ties), such as:
      • Density Analysis like measuring connection frequency.
      • Centrality Measure like assessing network positions.
  • Collective Behavior Measures (to evaluate group dynamics), such as:
    • Coordination Measures (to assess group synchronization), such as:
      • Flocking Pattern Analysis like measuring movement coordination.
      • Decision Agreement like calculating consensus levels.
  • Social Well-Being Measures (to assess group health), such as:
    • Quality of Life Indicators (to evaluate social conditions), such as:
      • Social Capital Assessment like measuring community trust.
      • Group Satisfaction Level like evaluating member contentment.
  • Individual Autonomy Measures (to gauge personal freedom), such as:
    • Choice Freedom Indicators (to assess decision independence), such as:
      • Resource Access Level like measuring individual control.
      • Behavioral Option Range like evaluating choice availability.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Individual-Level Measures focusing on personal attributes without social context such as Morphological Traits, Physiological States, Cognitive Abilities,
  • Asocial Environment Measures quantifying non-social aspects of habitats like Resource Distribution, Climate Variables, Geological Features,
  • Collective Coordination Measures assessing group-level synchronization or conformity without regard for individual choices,
  • Social Control Measures quantifying top-down suppression of individual deviance by dominant forces,
  • Group Selection Measures focusing on group-level fitness rather than individual autonomy,
• See also: Ethology, Sociobiology, Behavioral Ecology, Social Neuroscience, Evolutionary Anthropology, Human Behavioral Ecology, Cultural Evolution, Biosocial Science, Cliodynamics, Complex Adaptive Systems, Inclusive Fitness Theory, Multilevel Selection Theory, Social Niche Construction, Individuality in Evolution, Levels of Selection, Major Transitions in Evolution, Social Cognition, Collective Animal Behavior.

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References

1999

• (Murray et al., 1999) ⇒ CJ Murray, EE Gakidou, and J Frenk. (1999). “Health Inequalities and Social Group Differences: What Should We Measure?" In: Bulletin of the World Health Organization. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  • QUOTE: “… the measurement of health inequality and social group differences. There is intrinsic interest in both health inequalities and social group … measuring health inequalities and social group …”
  • NOTE: It analyzes the importance of health inequalities and social group differences, focusing on the measurement of these aspects.

1997

• (Macgowan, 1997) ⇒ MJ Macgowan. (1997). “A Measure of Engagement for Social Group Work: The Groupwork Engagement Measure (GEM)." In: Journal of Social Service Research. Taylor & Francis.
  • QUOTE: “… a measure of engagement for group … the measure’s applicability to later stages of group development. This study represents a rare empirical examination of engagement in social group …”
  • NOTE: It introduces a measure for engagement in social group work and evaluates its applicability to different stages of group development.

2006

• (Chebotarev & Shamis, 2006) ⇒ P Chebotarev, and E Shamis. (2006). “The Matrix-Forest Theorem and Measuring Relations in Small Social Groups." In: arXiv preprint math/0602070. arxiv.org
  • QUOTE: “… the structure of small social groups on the basis of … social groups are groups where public relations manifest themselves in the form of personal contacts or, simply stated, these groups …”
  • NOTE: It explores the structure of small social groups, examining how public relations within the groups are manifested.

2017

• (Iris, 2017) ⇒ MY Iris. (2017). “Equality of Whom? Social Groups and Judgments of Injustice." In: Theories of Justice. Taylor & Francis.
  • QUOTE: “… of aggregations of individuals to comparisons of social groups, in this case social classes. The importance of measuring inequality in terms of social groups such as class, gender, race, I …”
  • NOTE: It discusses the transition from measuring individual aggregations to comparing social groups, emphasizing the importance of understanding inequality through the lens of social classes, gender, race, etc.

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