Words such as uncle or grandmother, discussed earlier, provide examples of social categories. These are categories of social organization that we can use to say how we are connected or related to others. We can provide technical definitions (e.g. “male parent’s brother”), but in many situations a word such as uncle is used for a much larger number of people, including close friends, who are outside the class of individuals covered by the technical definition. The word brother is similarly used among many groups for someone who is not a family member. We can use these words as a means of social categorization, that is, marking individuals as members of a group defined by social connections.