CHAPTER 2: SOCIETY

SOCIETY refers to the population of people that is organized in a cooperative manner to carry out the
major functions of life, including reproduction, sustenance, shelter, and defense.
Social Structure refers to the recurring patterns of behavior of that people create through their
interactions, their exchange of information, and their relationships.

IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE

STATUS is a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations,
rights and duties. Person’s status determines how he or she relates to other people.

Types of Statuses
Ascribed Status is assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents and
characteristics.
Achieved Status, unlike ascribed status, it comes to us through our own efforts.
Master Status is a social position that is exceptionally powerful in determining an individual’s
identity. Stigmas the kind of status may also be negative. Master statuses, blemishes of character,
such as conviction for a serious crime.

ROLE is closely related to status and it consist of the norms associated with a particular status. Role
set, most important statuses are accompanied by a cluster related but somewhat distinct roles.

GROUP is the building block of society.

Two terms of Group
Aggregate who temporarily share the same physical space but who do not see themselves as
belonging together.
Category consists of people who share similar characteristics. The members of a group, in contrast,
think themselves as belonging together, as they interact with one another.

Different types of Groups

Primary Group are characterized by warm personal ties among members. Family is the first and ideal
example.
Secondary Group are characterized by few emotional ties among members and limited interactions
involving only a part of the self, that contrast to primary group.

In 1995, William Graham Summer coined the terms “in -group” and” out -group”. In-groups is
one that we feel positively toward and identify with and that produces a sense of loyalty or “we”
feeling. Out-groups are those to which we do not belong and that we view in a neutral and possibly
hostile fashion. We view it as “they”, as different from and less desirable than ourselves.

Reference Groups are composed of people we look to evaluate our own behavior. They serve two
closely related but distinct functions: a normative function is providing guidance concerning how
to act, and a comparative function whereby we can assess ourselves in relation to others. When
these functions are provided by a single person, we call that individual a role model.
SOCIAL INSTITUTION is a set of widely shared beliefs, norms, or procedures necessary for meeting
the basic needs of society.

Five major tasks that a society must accomplish if it is to survive:

1. Replacing Personnel. Any group or society when they die, leave or become incapacitated.
2. Teaching new recruits. No group or society can survive if many of its members reject the
group’s established behavior and responsibilities.
3. Producing and distributing goods and services. Any relatively permanent group or society
must provide and distribute desired goods and services to its members.
4. Preserving order. The native people of Tasmania, a large island just south of Australia, are
now extinct. Preserving order and protecting itself from attack.
5. Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose. People must feel motivated to continue as
members of the group or society to feel the previous four requirements.

SOCIETIES AND THEIR TRANSFORMATION

Sociocultural evolution, the tendency for the societies’ social structures and cultures to grow more
complex over time.
Hunting and Gathering Societies. At present, fewer than 250,000 support themselves solely through
hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods.
Hunters and gatherers use simple weapons – the spear, bow and arrow Their real enemy is the
forces of nature.
Horticultural and Pastoral Societies. Ten to twelve thousand years ago, a new technology began to
change the lives of human beings. People discovered horticulture - the use of hand tools to raise
crops.
Pastoralism is the domestication of large animals to provide food.
Horticultural and pastoral societies are less egalitarian than hunters-gatherers. Even though land is
initially communally controlled, the idea of property rights emerges as people establish more
permanent settlements.
Agrarian Societies. It is a large-scale cultivation using plows harnessed to animals and more
powerful energy sources. “the dawn of civilization”.

Two major classes in Agrarian Societies

Landlords own the fields and the harvests produced by the peasants.
Landless peasants enter into an agreement with the land owners to live on and cultivate a parcel of
land

Industrial Societies. Industrialism is the production of goods using advanced sources of energy to
drive large machinery. It is based on the application of scientific knowledge to the technology of
production, enabling new energy sources to be harnessed.

Postindustrial Societies. One in which technology supports a service- and information-based

economy. Mass media, computers, and the World Wide Web.
CHAPTER 3: SOCIALIZATION
Socialization is the process that teaches individuals to become functioning human beings who must
fit into number of groups and be productive members of a society.

Theoretical Perspective on Socialization

Nature versus Nurture
Sociobiologists assert that nature, in the form of our genetic makeup, is a major factor in shaping
human behavior.
Sociobiology is the systematic study of how biology affects social behavior. According to Edward O.
Wilson, who pioneered sociobiology.

The Development of Self: The Interactionist Perspective

Socialization takes place in social relationships where even young children are active participants.

Cooley: The Looking Glass Self

According to Charles Horton Cooley, the looking glass self refers on our perception of how other
think of us.

Mead: Role-taking

Building on Cooley’s analysis, George Herbert Mead traced the development of self-awareness to
early social interaction.

During the initial two years, they go through the preparatory stage by simply imitating other people in
their immediate environment.

At age 3, children begin to go through the play stage by taking the roles of significant others, people
who have close ties to a child and exert a strong influence to the child.

Mead called them generalized others, people who do not have close ties to child but who do
influence their child’s internalization of the values of society.

Agents of Socialization

Agents of socialization are the persons, groups, or institutions that teach us what we need to know
in order to participate in society.

Family. Around the world, the first group to have a major impact on humans is the family.

School. A primary agent of socialization in industrial societies, and schooling begins very early for
some children. As part of their manifest function, or intended purpose, schools transmit formal
knowledge. Latent functions (or unintended consequences) that help the social system. This
functions help prepare the child to take role in the world beyond the family.
Sociologists have also identified a hidden curriculum in our schools. This includes all the informal,
unwritten norms that exist both inside and outside the classroom.

Peer Group. The term per group or peers refers to people approximately the same social position and
age as oneself.

Mass Media. the various forms of communication that reach a large audience without any personal
contact between the senders and receivers of the messages. They include newspaper, magazines,
books, television, radio, movies, videos, and Internet. Mass media refers to “a single communicator,
or sender, and many receivers.

News Media’s Role in Society

Gatekeeper, the media, its practices, system, and ownership structure can impact what and when
they report the news.

Watchdog role of the media helps strengthen public officials’ accountability to their citizens.

Agenda-setting role of the media refers to its ability to help shape the priorities and policies of the
government and the public.

Workplace. Learning to behave properly within an occupation.

Socialization in Adulthood

Anticipatory socialization, the process by which people learn to be parents in the future by playing
house. Developmental socialization, the process by which people learn to be more competent in
playing their currently assumed role.

Resocialization - the process by which people are forced to abandon their old self.

Desocialization, the process whereby people are stripped of the values.

Mortification, where they are methodically stripped of clothes, adornments.

Socialization through the life course

The stages from birth to death are called the Life course (Elder, 1975 in Henslin, 2002).

Childhood. Roughly the first 12 years of life, is viewed in modern society, as a carefree time for
learning and play.

Adolescence. The stage in the life course that extends roughly from puberty to age 20, is a modern
invention.

Rite of passage marks the transition from one stage of life to another.

Adulthood. Which is between the late teens. During early adulthood, until about age 40.

Old Age. Old age, the later years of adulthood and the final stage of life itself, begins about the mid-
60s.
CHAPTER 4: DEVIANCE
Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms.. One familiar type of deviance is crime.

Positive and negative deviance

Negative deviance involves behavior that fails to meet accepted norms. It occurs when people reject
the norms.

Positive deviance is over conformity to social expectations. It idealizes group norms and can be
disruptive and hard to manage as negative deviants.

The Relativity of Deviance

Many people escape discovery of deviant behavior (hidden deviance) and generally do not regard
themselves as deviants.

Howard Becker wrote that it is not the act itself, but rather the reactions to the act that make
something deviant.

Relativity of deviance

Audience Relativity – Deviance is socially created by collective human judgments and ideas. The
judgment of what is good or bad.

Actor Relativity – Evaluations of behavior by an audience can be altered depending on who is doing
the act.

Situational Relativity – Immediate situational circumstances can also influence definitions of

deviance.

THE THREE ELEMENTS OF DEVIANCE

Aday identified three elements of deviance

Expectation must exist, a norm that defines appropriate, acceptable behavior, ideas or
characteristics.

Violation. Deviance implies some violation of normative expectations, whether these violations are
real or alleged.

Reaction may be in the form of avoidance, criticism, warnings, punishment, or treatment.

ANOMIE

Coined by Emile Durkheim. It is defined as a state of normlessness.

Structural Strain Theory

Developed by Robert Merton, it explains that deviance is more likely to occur when there is a gap
between legitimate means.

MERTON’S 5 REACTION TO STRAIN

Conformity happens when people accept the goal and follow the legitimate means of achieving
them.
Innovation occurs when people remain committed to the goal but reject legitimate methods.
Innovators use alternative methods, including criminal ones, to achieve legitimate ends.

Ritualism happens when a person rejects the goal of economic success yet continues to work hard
as the appropriate aim was to succeed.

Retreatism people resort to such adaptation because they reject and withdraw from both the goals
and means of society. They are considered “dropouts” of the society.

Rebellion includes people who respond to strain by changing the goals set by society and offer
alternative means of achieving the new goals.