4.3.3.1 Attracting Members to a Social Group

Attracting members to a social group enables it to afford better facilities and wield more influence if it has an agenda to pursue.

As described previously (4.3.2), social groups exert power over their members as well as offering them support. Different kinds of group have their own reasons for wanting to grow in size:

●  Informal social groupings or cliques enjoy an increased opportunity to make friends if they can attract more people into the group. The group’s members will then influence each other in various ways, but the prime purpose of such groups is friendship.

●  Social clubs with a shared interest benefit from having more members because they can then put on more events and enjoy better facilities. The English Bridge Union (EBU) is an example.

●  Some groups have a specific agenda. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, for example, includes among its purposes scientific research, education, protecting vulnerable species, and influencing public policy.

●  Some groups are politically active. The role of interest groups in politics is described in a later chapter (6.4.4).

●  Religious organisations exert a different kind of moral influence and have other reasons for wanting to grow the size of their congregations, as described below (4.3.3.3).

People talk to others face-to-face as a way of attracting members to a social group, but some groups pay for advertising or put on special events.

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This page is intended to form part of Edition 4 of the Patterns of Power series of books.  An archived copy of it is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition04/4331.htm.