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aggregate

Definitions of Aggregate

  1. (noun) A collection of anonymous individuals who are temporarily in the same physical location, with minimum interaction and influence on each other and without a sense of group solidarity.
  2. (noun) A collection of individuals that share a commonality and are combined to create a category for study.

Examples of Aggregate

  • Definition 1:
    • shoppers at a mall; 2. drivers on the same road; 3. people standing in a line to buy tickets to a show
  • Definition 2:

Aggregate Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: ag·gre·gate

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /A-gri-gayt/
  • British English – /A-grigit/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈæɡrəɡət/
  • British English – /ˈaɡrᵻɡət/

Usage Notes

  • Plural: aggregates
  • Not to be confused with crowds.
  • To break down an aggregate into its constituent parts you (verb) disaggregate it through the process of (noun) disaggregation.

Related Quotation

  • “When we think of a crowd, many of us think of aggregates, . . . a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time but who share little else in common. However, the presence of a relatively large number of people in the same location does not necessarily produce collective behavior” (Kendall 2011:659).

Related Video

Additional Information

Related Terms

Reference

Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Works Consulted

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.

Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2011. Sociology: The Core. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ritzer, George and J. Michael Ryan, eds. 2011. The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.

Stolley, Kathy S. 2005. The Basics of Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).

Cite the Definition of Aggregate

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “aggregate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 13, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/aggregate/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

aggregate. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/aggregate/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “aggregate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 13, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/aggregate/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“aggregate.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 13 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/aggregate/>.