It is primarily through our identification with social groups that we define ourselves Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take In developing an

Social groups refer to the group of people whom we have an association with. They go a long way in help us identifying ourselves. Our character and behavior are determined to a great extent by the social groups that we associate ourselves with. Since, it is impossible to judge a person solely through his actions, it is by means of groups that we decipher the innate qualities and aspirations of a person. In today's modern world, people take decisions based on discussions held among their close friends who most probably form a group. Consequently, the influence of social groups can be found at each and every stage of our lives.

First of all, when a child is born into a family, the persons whom the child knows are his or her parents. As a result, the child learns new habits and develops an idiosyncracy of himself by imbibing the qualities he likes from his or her parents. Additionally, the other people in the child's home contribute significantly towards the development of the child's character. Thus, the first kind of social group that a person encounters when introduced into this world is his or her parents.

As time goes on, children move on to school and here, the peer group influence plays a major role. As the saying goes "Birds of same kind flock together". Thus the children associate themselves with like-minded people and form friends. Further, they discuss all sorts of relevant issues within themselves, create policies to determine which kind of behavior is right or wrong etc... This behavior is exemplified in majority of the schools, wherein we can find gangs among the students - formed due to like-minded thinking among the students in a group. Eventually, the children develop moral behavior and qualities as a result of linking themselves with their peer group.

In the corporate world, the quality or the nature of an individual can be determined by the nature of profession that a person occupies in the company. A highly estimable post is attributed to the person's hardwork; At the same time, if a person happens to be an ordinary clerk, then he is deemed to be associating himself with mean people who do not have financial power or are illiterate. The kind of company environment affects the behavior of the employees to a great extent. For instance, if the rules in the company are lax, then hardly will any employee take efforts to complete the work in time; a majority of the employees will turn out not to complete the work within time and ultimately the morale of the employee will go down. In contrast, if an employee finds himself in the most devoted work environment, the environment will itself instill a sense of confidence in him and motivate him to reach greater heights irrespective of his qualification or calibre. Thus, the work environment plays a major role in determining the behavior of employees.

Moreover, considering the case of politics, we have several factions or parties competing for the ruling post, because each one has different set of motives. For instance, in the United States, we have two major parties: The Democratics and The Republicans; Each one has unique set of ideals and strives towards the development of the nation. By examining which party a person belongs to or associate himselves with, we can come to a conclusion about the belief held by the person. This case is applicable to party workers, who choose to devote their lives for the party because of the ideals found in the concerned party allures them to a great extent. Hence, identification with political parties also pave way for extracting the nature of a person without delving deep into his activities.

Some may argue that identification with social groups does not completely identify a person and can sometimes lead to us in a misleading direction. These people seem to claim that, the persons associated with a group may not necessarily possess the same characteristics as other members of the group. But this case occurs very rarely; only when a person relates himself with multiple contradictory political parties, we cannot come to a conclusion of the real nature of a person. However, in most of the cases, a person's character is reflected by the social party that he associates himselves with.

Thus, social groups help shape us right from the moment of our birth till we end up our lives. During each stage of our life, we associate oursleves with social groups that guides us to tackle the pitfalls and misadventures that we encounter in our lives. While it is true that social groups do not paint a complete picture of an individual, for the most part of the case, we will be able to clearly delineate the character of the individual.