SOCI 101 Principles of Social Organizations · College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017 SOCI 101 Principles of Social Organizations

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

SOCI 101

Principles of Social

Organizations

Session 8 –SOCIETY, SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Lecturer: Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, UG Contact Information: [email protected]

Session Overview

Overview

• Sociology is said to be the scientific study society and social interaction. From the sociological perspective, society is said to constitute a structure—hence the concept social structure. This session deals society, social interaction and social structure. It defines society, social interaction and social structure and provides other terms that help us to analyse these various concepts.

• Goals and Objectives • define society, • Identify types of society • define social interaction, and social structure • explain how society constitutes social structure • identify the components of social structure as the social institutions and practices

Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 2

Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in this session are as follows:

• Topic One : Definition of Society

• Topic Two: Type of Societies

• Topic Three: Definition of Social Interaction

• Topic Four: Definition of Social Structure

• Topic Five: Concepts for Analysing Social Structure


Reading List

• Ballantine, J. and K. A. Roberts (2007) Our Social World: Introduction to Sociology, Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

• Berger P. L. (1963) Invitation to Sociology, New York: Anchor Books. • Dzorgbo D-B. S. (2013) Sociological Theory: Classical Ideas and their

Application in the African Context, Accra: Woeli Publishing Services • Giddens, A. (2004) Sociology: Introductory Readings, Cambridge: Polity

Press • Haralambos M. (1995) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, London:

Collins Educational. • Robertson, Ian (1987) Sociology: The Basic Concepts, New York: Worth

Publishers. • Schaefer R. (2004) Sociology, New York: McGraw-Hill. • Turner, J. H. (2006) Sociology New Jersey: Pearson • Robertson, Ian (1987) Sociology: The Basic Concepts, New York: Worth

Publishers.


Topic One:

Definition of society

SOCIETY refers to a group of people:

• who live in a clearly defined geographical area

• share more or less the same culture,

• interact regularly to carry out the essential tasks of live

• believe that they are one people

• are organized under one political authority and

• have the capacity for collective defence


Topic Two: Types of Societies

One important approach to categorizing societies into the various types is based on the way people derive their livelihood. Given this we have:

• Hunting and Gathering Societies

• Horticultural Societies

• Agricultural Societies

• Pastoralism

• Industrial Societies


Hunting and Gathering Society

They predominant depend solely what the environment can offer in terms of raw food.

The came into existence about 10,000–12,000 years ago,

Groups were based on mainly kinship ties move in bands of 5 to 10

They were highly mobile, division of labour is based on gender

Hunter-gatherers relied on their surroundings for survival—they hunted animals and foraged for uncultivated plants for food


Hunting and Gathering (cont’d)

• Hunter-Gatherers are NORMADIC meaning when resources became scarce, the group moved to a new area to find sustenance

• These societies were common until several hundred years ago, but today only a few hundred remain in existence, such as indigenous

• • Australian tribes sometimes referred

to as “aborigines,” or the Bambuti, a group of pygmy hunter-gatherers residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Hunter-gatherer groups are quickly disappearing as the world’s population explodes.


Types of Societies Horticulture

Horticulturalist

• Live sedentary life

• They stay at a particular place for a longer period of time

• They do some domestication of crops

• Practice subsistence farming


Horticulture (cont’d)

• They make use of simple

tools such as hoes, cutlass, digging sticks, etc.

• The practice slash and burn

• and shifting cultivation • Mainly driven by human

labour • Little use of fertilizer,

improved seeds, etc. • Mainly for subsistence


Type of Society: Agriculture

AGRICULTURAL SOCEITY

• Unlike Horticulture, Agriculture requires less labor

• There is the use of sophisticated machines in farming

• Make use of irrigation and domestication of animals

• Terracing

• The application of fertilizers (organic or chemical)

• Use of improved seeds

• Production for the market

• Processing of products into new forms


Pastoralism

3. PASTORAL SOCIETY • Pastoral societies rely on the domestication of animals as a

resource for survival.

• Unlike earlier hunter-gatherers who depended entirely on existing resources to stay alive, pastoral groups were able to breed livestock for food, clothing, and transportation, creating a surplus of goods.

• Herding, or pastoral, societies remained nomadic because they were forced to follow their animals to fresh feeding grounds.

• Around the time that pastoral societies emerged, specialized occupations began to develop, and societies commenced trading with local groups.


Industrial Society

• The use of machines to produce goods and services

• Market production

• Profit motive

• Alienation


Topic Three: Social Interaction

SOCIAL INTERACTION: refers to the ways in which people respond to one another.

• Interaction is the basis of social life

• It is the basis of building and maintenance of groups, families, communities and society

• Social interaction creates many times creates relatively repetitive and enduring social relations which constitutes structure or social structure

•


The Importance of Interaction in Everyday Life • Social interaction is possible because as human beings we have the ability to think, evaluate and

make meanings of what others say or do and also respond to them accordingly. Without interaction, we cannot carry on life with others; we cannot build relationships; we cannot function in groups; and we cannot cooperate with others in collective activities. Scial interaction as the renowned American sociologist George Herbert Mead (1934) maintains is the essence of life. Interaction makes social life orderly, predictable and meaningful. Ultimately, human societies are created and sustained by individuals engaged in social interaction.

Types of Interaction • Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication as Basis for Interaction • Direct and Indirect Interaction • The Social Construction of Reality The Social Stage: Actors, Positions and Impression Management Negotiated Order • Social interaction is a situation where actors and individuals are constantly sending out and

receiving subtle messages and meanings. Thus what emerges as the reality of a particular encounter is one that the participants in the given interaction situation have “arrived at”. The reality of a social interaction can thus be said to be a negotiated order. I


Topic Four: Social Structure

• Repeated and more or less predictable patterns of behavior

• Refers to the ways in which a society is organized into predictable relationships

• Social structure provides an organized and focused quality to our group experiences and it allows us to achieve our collective goals


Topic Five Concepts for Analyzing Social Structure • Status is the positions within a group or society. By

means of status we locate one another within specific social structures.

• Status can be ascribed, achieved and master status

• ASCRIBED: refers to status that are assigned to you by society

• ACHIEVED: status secured through competition or by choice

• MASTER STATUS: a status that overshadow the other statuses Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG Slide 17

Concepts for Analyzing Social Structure (cont’d)

• Role is a set of expectations that define the behaviour of the occupant of a status.

• Role set is the multiple roles associated with a single status.

• • Role Conflict exists when individuals are confronted with

conflicting expectations as a result of their simultaneous occupancy of two or more statuses.

• • Role Strain is the situation in which individuals find the

expectations of a single role incompatible, so that they have difficulty performing another role.


Social Structure(cont’d)

• Social Institutions are the key elements of social structure. Social institutions have been evolved by society to organize, direct, and execute the essential tasks of living.

• Through social institutions, society provides solutions to the fundamental problems of human existence



The major institutions are :

• Marriage and Family Institution

• Educational Institution

• Economic Institution

• Religious Institution

• Health Institution

• Political Institution



• Marriage and Family

Procreation

Regulation of sexual relations

Socialization of the young ones

Economic Product and Consumption

Emotional Care and Support, etc.


Social structure(Contd)

Religion: • Integration, moral values, coping and explaining the

unknown,

Politics • Maintenance of law and order • Warding off of external agression • The exercise of political authority • the distribution of power • Distribution of scarce resources


Social Structure(Contd)

Economy

• The production & distribution of the goods needed for survival

• Hunter-Gatherer

• Agrarian

• Industrial (Capitalism)

• Industrial (Socialism& Communism)


Social Structure(Contd)

Education

• Individuals to learn the culture of the society

• Acquisition of skills, values, etc.

Health

• The restoration of health and wellbeing of members of the community

• Types of Health providers

• Health seeking bahavious


Conclusion

In this session you have learnt to

• define society,

• Identify types of society

• define social interaction, and social structure

• explain how society constitutes social structure

• identify the components of social structure as the social institutions and practices


Documents

SOCI 101 Principles of Social Organizations · College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017 SOCI 101 Principles of Social Organizations