In early school I was taught in the very fundamentals of sociology that the smallest unit in sociology is a group - whether it's a transient group walking the same area, or waiting at the bus stop; or people working the various food stalls at the mall. They react to presence of each other and influence each other. They have distinct (if transient) common goal.

In other words, I don't know what materialism in any sense of the word has to do with it.