The relation between individual and society is very close.

Essentially, “society” is the

regularities, customs and ground rules of antihuman behavior. These practices are
tremendously important to know how humans act and interact with each other. Society does not
exist independently without individual. The individual lives and acts within society but society is
nothing, in spite of the combination of individuals for cooperative effort. On the other hand,
society exists to serve individuals―not the other way around. Human life and society almost go
together. Man is biologically and psychologically equipped to live in groups, in society. Society
has become an essential condition for human life to arise and to continue. The relationship
between individual and society is ultimately one of the profound of all the problems of social
philosophy. It is more philosophical rather than sociological because it involves the question of
values. Man depends on society. It is in the society that an individual is surrounded and
encompassed by culture, as a societal force. It is in the society again that he has to conform to
the norms, occupy statuses and become members of groups. The question of the relationship
between the individual and the society is the starting point of many discussions. It is closely
connected with the question of the relationship of man and society. The re- lation between the
two depends upon one fact that the individual and the society are mutually de- pendent, one
grows with the help of the other.

But the individual does not dissolve into society. He retains his unique and independent
individuality and makes his contribution to the social whole: just as society itself shapes human
beings, so human beings shape society. The individual is a link in the chain of the generations.

Evaluate the transformation of human relationships by social systems and how societies
transform individual human beings. 57. Aristotle MAN is a social animal and must satisfy certain
natural basic needs in order to survive.

One definition of Social transformation is the process by which an individual alters the socially
ascribed social status of their parents into a socially achieved status for themselves. However,
another definition refers to large scale social change as in cultural reforms or transformations.
The first occurs with the individual, the second with the social system.

The Individual

This is different from social reproduction and social mobility because instead of looking at the
intergenerational mobility or the measure of the changes in social status which occur from the
parents' to the children's generation, social transformation focuses on how an individual can
alter the class culture to which they feel aligned. One socially transforms in three steps: by
associational embracement, associational distancing, and the distinct presentation of self.

Social transformation is considered an interpersonal negotiation because it requires that the

individual have their social position be validated by others for transformation. It is a reciprocal
relationship in which people have to be embraced and correctly identified with the cultural
expectations of their particular class membership. This is the only way that persons can move
from their own ascribed status to a new achieved status.

The Social System

Social transformation in this context requires a shift in collective consciousness of a society —

local, state, national or global — so that reality is refined by consensus. This often happens by
external stimulus and sometimes intentionally. Scientific discoveries have triggered many social
transformations throughout our history as have religious and royal edicts.