Reference Group

A reference group is a group whose values, lifestyles or achievements an individual uses to judge oneself and others. It need not be a group to which the person belongs; by supplying standards of comparison, it shapes what the person understands as success, failure and a desirable life.

How success standards are formed

Reference groups influence both the goals people value and the criteria by which they assess progress.

• Through their normative function, they define desirable goals such as educational attainment, occupational status, income, family roles or public recognition.
• Through their comparative function, they provide a benchmark against which individuals evaluate their own position and achievements.
• Repeated exposure to a group's expectations can produce anticipatory socialisation, in which individuals adopt the conduct of a group they hope to join.
• Family, peers, professional communities and admired social categories can therefore produce different meanings of success.

Membership and aspiration

A reference group may be a membership group, an aspirational non-membership group or a group from which the individual seeks distance.

• Membership groups provide immediate standards through approval, sanctions and everyday comparison.
• An aspirational group can encourage investment in education, skills, manners or consumption associated with upward mobility.
• A negatively valued group may operate as a contrast, leading individuals to define success by avoiding its perceived traits.
• Individuals commonly use several reference groups, so standards of success may conflict across family, occupation, class, generation or gender.

Consequences for individuals and society

Reference-group comparison connects personal ambition with the wider structure of inequality and opportunity.

• Comparison with better-positioned groups may motivate mobility, but it can also create relative deprivation when expectations exceed perceived attainment.
• Success may become status-oriented when visible income, consumption or prestige receive greater recognition than less visible achievements.
• Because access to education, employment and social networks is unequal, identical reference standards can produce unequal pressures and outcomes.
• Reference groups can also broaden aspirations by making previously unfamiliar occupations, roles and ways of life appear attainable.