People are nested in groups, which in turn are nested in?

Question

I am looking for a summary term for a collective of groups. Specifically, I would like to make a general statement that people are nested in groups, which in turn are nested in (?).

Some examples to illustrate:

Students are nested within classes (groups), which in turn are nested within a school (?).
Students are nested in sorority chapters (groups), which in turn are nested within a sorority (?).
Employees are nested in departments (groups), which in turn are nested within an organization (?).

I can summarize classes, departments, and sorority chapters with the summary term "group".

I have tried summarizing schools, sororities, and organizations with the summary terms "collective" and "society", yet I am not satisfied with either.

"Collective" appears to imply a common goal. While departments in an organization likely pursue a common goal (e.g., improve company performance), I feel the term "collective" draws away attention from the fact that departments may also have competing interests. I am thus looking for a more neutral term than "collective".
"Society" seems unsuitable because its meaning is already defined: "A society is a group of people involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations." All people I talked to therefore found it confusing to refer to an organization as society.

Edit 1. I am hoping to find a term that is intuitive and descriptive. For example, I find that collective has an intuitive meaning (collection of items/people). While I like super-group, I feel the term does not convey the same intuitively graspable description for people who never encountered this term in mathematics.

Edit 2. Subgroup appears more intuitively graspable. However, I would like to start at the group level and find an overarching term from there (rather than going from group to subgroup).

How far do you want to go? Every group that falls under a bigger group is a sub-group, every group that contain another group is a super-group. That way you are set for infinity :) — oerkelens, Feb 23 '17 at 12:29
@oerkelens, I like this solution! However, it made me realize I had not formulated my question with sufficient detail. Please see my edits. — Flo, Feb 26 '17 at 15:05
"You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!" — tchrist, Feb 26 '17 at 23:24

Rockhorse Park · Answer 1 · 2017-02-27T07:41:59.450

1

Perhaps: People are nested in Groups, which in turn are nested in Communities.

Such that:

Students are nested within classes (groups), which in turn are nested within a school community.

Students are nested in sorority chapters (groups), which in turn are nested within a sorority community.

Employees are nested in departments (groups), which in turn are nested within an organizational community.

edited Feb 27 '17 at 07:41

answered Feb 26 '17 at 23:02

Rockhorse Park

64

+1, this seems to me an elegant solution for many settings! I feel it does not quite apply to departments in an organization, though. – Flo Feb 27 '17 at 07:35
Perhaps departments in an organizational community. – Rockhorse Park Feb 27 '17 at 07:38
I expanded a little for clarity & to reflect your examples more directly. – Rockhorse Park Feb 27 '17 at 07:44
thanks, I appreciate your effort, but I was looking for a single word. – Flo Feb 27 '17 at 11:08
Hmm. Community is the one word. Perhaps I did not clearly understand your examples, after all. – Rockhorse Park Feb 27 '17 at 16:34
Possibly I've not clearly understood your question. – Rockhorse Park Feb 27 '17 at 16:43

score -3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 23 '17 at 11:25

-3

You can refer to "classes" and the like as subgroups of "schools" and the like (groups).

answered Feb 23 '17 at 11:25

Marinus

106

People are nested in groups, which in turn are nested in?

2 Answers2