ABSTRACT
Several types of groups and groupings are classically identified by sociology. A collection of individuals sharing a common characteristic (such as car owners, persons between the age of 40 and 45, etc.) may be described as a nominal group or social category. Those sharing a common interest can be described as a latent group, as in Dahrendorf’s usage. Hence, the group described as consumers is constituted by that set of individuals having an interest in the quality of consumer products. The term organized group is used to describe a group endowed with means of collective decision-making (the oil producers’ cartel, OPEC, for example). By convention, the term semi-organized group can be used about latent groups ‘represented’ by those organizations which claim to defend their interests (e.g., the latent group of school children’s parents). The range of semi-organized groups naturally includes numerous forms which are distinguished from each other by the nature of the relationship between latent groups and their ‘representative’ organizations. Thus, the French Communist Party (PCF) does not represent the French working class in the same sense as the French Parlément represents the citizens of the French State, because many of those who vote for the PCF are not workers and many workers do not recognize the PCF as their ‘natural’ party. Another example may be given: that where the interests of a latent group are defended by an organization without any mandate from the group’s members. Having provided these definitions, the problematic of the collective theory of action can be dealt with in terms of two questions: Under what conditions is a latent group able to undertake action designed to promote the common interest of its members? By what processes and under what conditions can a latent group transform itself into a semi-organized or organized group?
