SOCIOLOGY
Definition: Social heritage of people – learned
patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next.
It is:
Provides individual with a set of a common
understanding used to fashion behavior.
‘Framework of Dos and ‘Don'ts’
Nonmaterial Vs. Material Culture Nonmaterial Culture
Abstract creations like values, beliefs, symbols,
norms, customs and institutional arrangements.
Material Culture Physical artifacts
1.
Values
2.
Norms
3.
Symbols
4.
Languages
Ideas regarding what is desirable and correct
that most members of a society share.
Are very general and abstract; they do not
explicitly specify certain behaviors.
(E.g. Integrity)
Provides us with criteria and concepts with
which to evaluate people, objects and events as to its worth, merit, beauty and morality.
There can also be conflict of values.
(e.g. Honesty Vs. Loyalty)
Can change over time.
Same values can translate into different
behaviors in different societies.
Informal RULES that groups adopt to regulate group
members’ behavior.
Usually subtle
Values Norms (Different norms can be based on same
values)
Help maintain the survival of the group.
Applies to specific circumstances, time, and place
Can change more rapidly than values.
Folkways
Less important norms
Ordinary conventions by which we
carry out our daily activities
Violators = strange/different
Mores
Important norms
Seen as vital to a society’s well-being
and survival.
Violators = bad/sinful/evil
Laws
- Formal norms enforced by threat of force
Members of the group accept the norms as
reasonable and proper standards within the group.
Norm became part of the group’s
operational structure.
Newcomers – adopt the group’s norms.
Injunctive Norms:
Behaviors perceived as being approved by
others.
More general
Descriptive Norms:
Behaviors adopted by how people are
actually behaving in particular situations/places.
Acts or objects that have come to be
socially accepted as standing for something else.
Human being live their lives primarily within
symbolic environment.
Symbols come to represent different things
through the people’s shared understandings.
Can be a sign, a place, a gesture, or even a
person
Can be local, regional, national, or
international.
Same object can have different meanings in
different societies.
Most powerful of all human symbols
Socially structured system of sound patterns (words and sentences) with specific meanings.
Can be sign language
Principle means by which human beings transmit culture from one generation to another.
Also, an important source of continuity and identity in a culture.
The best way to eat an elephant
in your path is cut him up into little pieces.. (African Proverb)
Drinking water under someone’s
elbow. (Thai proverb)
Waste cloth covering gold
(Thai proverb)
Verbal Communication:
The process of sending and receiving
messages with words/symbols with intended and inferred meanings.
Includes spoken/written/ sign languages
Nonverbal Communication:
The process of sending and receiving
messages without the use of words.
Both intentional and unintentional
Body Language:
Physical motions and gestures Paralanguage:
Vocal cues surrounding speech Proxemics:
Employment of social and personal space Touch:
Use of physical contact Artifacts:
Objects that signal gender, rank, status, and
attitude.
http://www.videojug.com/interview/manners
-and-body-language-across-cultures-2#how-do-greetings-differ-among-cultures
Cultural Differences
Culture Universals
Cultural components that have universal
application.
Being present at some point in every society's
development
George Peter Murdock (1950): 88 general
categories of behavior that are found among all cultures.
Ethnocentrism
We judge the behavior of the other groups by
the standards of our own culture
Helps provide social glue that hold the
members of a group together. But can also cause intergroup conflicts.
Cultural Relativism
We view the behavior of people from the perspective of their own culture.
‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’ are cultural-specific
Value-free and neutral approach.
Objections: e.g. Inferiority of women, gendercide
Distinctive cultural patterns found within a
society.
Many modern nations: members participate
in the main culture of the society while simultaneously share with one another unique values, norms, traditions and lifestyles.
We can be part of many subcultures.
A subculture that are at odds with those of
the larger society.
Reject the behavioral standards and
guideposts that hold in the dominant culture.
The interweaving of people’s interactions
and relationships in more or less recurrent, stable patterns.
Something that is greater than the
individual – imposing order and predictability.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
is the result of social interactions.
is dynamic.
is continuously evolving.
Concepts that help sociologists understand social structures:
Status
Roles
Groups
Institutions
Societies
Positions within a group or society.
Ascribed Vs. Achieved Statuses
Ascribed status:
Status based on inborn characteristics E.g. gender, race, blood relations, age Achieved Status:
Status that is earned through ability Master Status:
A status which is seen as more important than
other statuses.
Set of culturally defined rights and duties.
We occupy a status, we play a role
Duties: responsibilities to others.
Rights: actions we can demand from
others.
Norms of Behavior:
Ways in which an individual
playing a role should behave
Role Performance:
Actual behavior of the person who
occupies the status
Role Set:
Set of different roles that are
attached to a status.
Role Conflict:
When an individual has to assume multiple
incompatible roles at the same time.
Role Strain:
When playing a role, there are conflicting
expectations from different groups.
Role Exit:
When people stop playing roles that have been
central to their lives.
Change their status.
Gro up
Institution
Society
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Two or more people in stable patterns of
social interaction and a sense of unity.
When people form groups:
1. Development of boundary with “in” and
“out”
2. Group develops “objective” existence
3. Group obtains distinct subculture
4. Members develop sense of allegiance
Expressive Ties:
Social links formed when we emotionally
commit ourselves to other people.
Instrumental Ties:
Social links formed when we cooperate with
other people to achieve a certain goal.
Primary Group:
Small group characterized by intimate and
informal interaction.
‘Expressive Ties’
Breeding grounds in which we acquire the
norms and values that equip us for social life.
E.g. Family members, lovers, friends.
Secondary Group:
Two or more people who are involved in an
impersonal relationship that come together for a specific purpose.
‘Instrumental Ties’
E.g. Class of students
Social Facilitation
Social Loafing
Groupthink
Conformity
Deindividuation
Group Polarisation
Diffusion of Responsibility
When an individual is motivated to a higher performance while in a social situation (when compared to being alone)
When individual work in
groups, they work less hard than they do when working individually.
Caused by lack of
motivation when group
members feel that they will not be individually
assessed.
Happens a lot but does not
occur when members believe the task or the group to be important.
A process through which a group can make
a bad or irrational decision.
Occurs in a highly cohesive group in which
members become so focus in maintaining harmony that they dismiss more realistic alternatives.
Individuals being influenced by a group into
behaving in a way which they would not as an individual.
Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to
match those of other people or a group standard
Solomon Asch (1907-1966) Social Psychologist at
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania USA
Published throughout the 1950’s
When Asch had his assistant choose the WRONG answer, the subject would also
choose the wrong answer 37% of the time
Phenomenon of relinquishing one's sense
of identity or self-awareness.
Happens when a group stresses obedience
to group norms (e.g. army, mob)
When this happens, an individual stops
thinking before they act and may be unaware of their own actions
An effect which occurs when an individuals
takes a more extreme point of view after participating in a group discussion.
Also known as:
The Bystander Effect
Occurs when members of a
group do not feel
responsible for an action because he or she believes that another person would do it.
Happens especially in
larger groups.
A social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses
and roles that are put in place by clear rules and procedures and are based on a division of function and authority.
Growth of bureaucracy came with the Industrial
Revolution
Contemporary organizations had increased in size
and complexity.
Weberian View
Bureaucracies =
rationalize and control the process by which people collectively pursue their goals.
Most efficient way of
conducting operations.
‘Ideal Type’
Clearly defined duties and responsibilities
Hierarchy of authority
Consistent system of abstract rules and regulations
Offices with qualifications based on technical
competence
Positions are property of the organization
Extensive permanent, written documentation
Marxist View
Organizational goals
serve those in power
Factories are structured
to isolate workers and ‘deskill’ workers.
Oligarchy
The concentration of power in the hands of a
few individuals.
1. Decisions are based on the leaders’ decisions. 2. Since officials have access to advantages and
information unavailable to others, many
offices can be used to ward off challengers.
3. Ordinary members tend to be apathetic to
the problems of the organization.
Parkinson’s Law
Bureaucracy expands not because of an increasing workload but because officials seek to have
additional subordinates hired in order to multiply the number of people under them in the hierarchy and coordination of their work requires still more officials.
Trained Incapacity
Bureaucracy encouraged their members to rely on established rules and regulations and to apply them in an unimaginative and mechanical fashion.
Principle social structure that organizes, directs, and
executes the essential tasks of living.
Major social institutions: government
religion education economy family
An institution may perform more than one function and
several institutions may contribute to the performance of same function.
A group of people we live within the same
territory and share a common culture.
Involves co-operation between individuals in
order to produce the things they need for their survival.
Regulates the behaviors of its members to meet
social needs and prevent conflicts.
Different from ‘nation-state’
Gro up
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Society
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Hunting and Gathering Societies
Horticultural Societies
Agrarian Societies
Industrial Societies