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Society, Community, Association and Institution

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Sociologists like other scientists have technical vocabulary. Without a technical language, scientific communication becomes cumbersome and inefficient. Hence, it is important that in Sociology words like Society, Community, Association and Institution be clarified and rendered precise.

SOCIETY

Man is a social animal by both nature and necessity.

Definition –

1. MacIver – Society is a system of usages and procedures, of authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behaviour and liberties. This ever changing complex system which we call society is a web of social relationships.

2. C.H. Cooley – Society is a complex of forms or processes each of which is living and growing by interaction with the others, the whole being so unified that what takes place in one part affects the rest.

3. L.T. Hobhouse – “Tissues of relationships”

Society as an Abstract and Concrete Term

In abstract terms – a network of relationships between people or between groups.

In concrete terms – a collection of people or an organisation of persons

Three Views

1. Society as a Unity (Analogy of Organism)

Sociology is a consensus system

2. Society as a Multiplicity (Analogy of Machine)

Sociology is a Coercive system

3. Society as a Process

Sociology is an Interactive system

Elements of Society

1. Likeness

2. Difference

3. System of Stratification

4. Social Relations

5. Inter-dependence

6. Cooperation

7. Conflict [MacIver – Society is cooperation crossed by conflict]

8. Competition

9. Accommodation and

10. Assimilation

Society is a Process not a Product [It is becoming and not a being – MacIver]

Types of Society

1. Mechanical and Organic Solidarity [Durkheim]

Mechanical – solidarity of resemblance; Simple Division of labour; Repressive laws and Primitive societies.

Organic – Solidarity develops out of differences; Complex division of labour; Restitutive laws and Modern Societies.

2. Militant and Industrial Society [Spencer]

Militant – Compulsory Cooperation; Individuals exists for the sake of the State

Industrial – Voluntary cooperation; State exists for the sake of the Individuals

3. Folk and Urban Society [Redfield]

Folk – isolated, homogenous, traditionally organised

Urban – high population density, heterogeneous, formalised system of local govt.

Development of Society

1. Auguste Comte - Three stages

Theological or Fictious Stage [Priests and military]

Metaphysical or Abstract Stage [Churchmen and Lawyers]

Positive or Scientific Stage [Industrial administrators and Scientists]

2. Morgan - Three stages

Savagery [Fishing/ Bow and arrow/ Fire]

Barbarism [Domestication of animals and Cultivation] and

Civilisation [Alphabet and writing]

3. Marx - Five Stages

Primitive Communism

Ancient Society [Master - slaves]

Feudal Society [Lords- Serfs]

Capitalist System and

Socialism.

COMMUNITY

The word comes from two Latin words – com means together and munis means to serve.

Definition

1. MacIver – Community is a group of people who live together, who belong together, so that they share, not ties of particular interest but a whole set of interests, wide enough and complete enough to include their lives.

2. Kingsley Davis – Community is the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life.

Characteristics of a Community

A group of people, Territorial Character, Common Culture, We-Feeling, Division of Labour into specialised and interdependent functions, Particular Name, Wider ends.

Types of Communities

1. Primitive Vs Civilized

2. Rural Vs Urban

Changing Concept of Community

Lifestyle Communities – Osho Community

Borderline Communities – Monastery, Prison

Global Community

ASSOCIATION

Introduction – Three ways people try to fulfil their ends – act independently, through conflict, through a company or some cooperative basis.

Association is a group organized for the pursuits of an interest or group of interests in common.

Definition

MacIver – An association is an organisation deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of same interest or set of interests, which its members share.

Bogardus – An association is usually working together of people who wish to achieve certain purposes.

Kinds of Associations

1. Political Associations – BJP, Congress Party

2. Religious Associations – Arya Samaj

3. Students Association- ABVP, NSUI

4. Labourers Association – All India Trade Union Congress

5. Professional Associations – Indian Medical Association

6. Economic Associations – Hotel Owners’ Association

7. International Associations – YMCA, The Rotary Club

Essential Elements of Association

Concrete Form, Established, Aims and Objectives, Voluntary Membership

INSTITUTION

Definition

1. Lester F. Ward – Institution is a means for the control and utilization of the social energy

2. L.T. Hobhouse – The whole or any part of the established and recognised apparatus of social life.

W.G. Sumner – An institution consists of a concept [idea, notion, doctrine and interest] and a structure [a framework or apparatus]

Five Basic Institutions

A social Institution is a complex. It is an integrated set of social norms organised around the preservation of a basic social value. Sociologists often reserve the term Institution to describe normative systems that operate in five basic areas which may be designated as the primary institutions.

1. Family – in determining kinship

2. Government – in providing for the legitimate use of power

3. Economy – in regulating the distribution of goods and services

4. Education - In transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next

5. Religion - In regulating our relations to the supernatural

Types of Institutions

1. E.W. Burgess – Four fold Classification

a. Cultural Institutions

b. Economic Institutions

c. Recreational Institutions and

d. Social Control Institutions

2. W.G. Sumner – Crescive and Enacted Institutions

Crescive - Institutions developing gradually through the process of accretion [State]

Enacted – those appearing as a result of conscious and rational effort [College/Bank]

Functions of institutions

1. Manifest

2. Latent

According to Talcott Parsons, social control is the main function of the social institutions.

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Dr. Sam J. Abraham

M: 09413706290

Email: samjabraham@

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