ABSTRACT
What Shakespeare implied about men and dogs is equally true about human groups: the apparent variety is immense and yet they all derive from a common stock. Even a cursory look around society will reveal an amazing number of seemingly different groups. There are groups formed for protection, such as neighbourhood watch schemes; for the removal of social nuisance behaviour, e.g. groups for those who offend by being racist, sexist or violent, or who sexually or physically abuse children or are guilty of rape; groups to exert pressure on decision-making bodies so as to try to obtain for a specific area amenities and facilities such as crossings for schoolchildren; literacy groups to enable those who cannot read or write to obtain adequate skills; groups which are set up to help those who are or who care for individuals with illnesses and handicaps like cystic fibrosis or mental illness or strokes; there are groups set up as special and specific therapy units for all manner of different problems, illnesses and complaints; there are groups which arise to meet the problems of those suffering from some particular need like Weight-Watchers and Alcoholics Anonymous; there are fitness groups, leisure groups, training groups, special-interest groups; learning groups and classes of all sorts; work groups, clubs, societies, issues groups, groups for justice for some end or other; sponsor groups and groups for specific communities, ethnic minorities and so on – the list is endless. But, as I hope to show quite clearly, most groups, whatever their kind or origin, have more in common than they have in difference. However, at this point I am concerned with their differences.
