Society is a comprehensive term and a complex structure that includes various types of social organizations which men have formed to fulfill their multifarious needs.

Society is a comprehensive term and a complex structure that includes various types of social organizations which men have formed to fulfill their multifarious needs. The social nature of man finds expression in numerous groups and associations which satisfy his various needs in life. Man cannot live in isolation; he wants the cooperation and help of others to fulfill his needs and to develop his personality.

Intimate social relationship for achieving certain ends or purposes gives rise to the formation of associations. An association may be defined as a group of people united for a specific purpose or a limited number of purposes.

MacIver defines, an association as a group organized for the pursuit of an interest or group of interests in common.” Sociologist Ogburn says that, “an association is an invention for organizing social activity.”

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Anthropologist Schurtz writes; “by association we mean the coming together of a group of human beings to engage in organised behaviour for designated goal and in conforming with a designated set of rules and norms.”

These definitions suggest the following features of association.