Lecture 2

Basic Concepts of Sociology

(Group, Community, Society, Associations, Organizations, and Social Interaction)

Sociology is rightly defined as scientific study of human interaction. Sociology is about society,
its constituent institutions, its inter-relationship and the actors. Sociologists study the patterns in
social interactions.

Group:

Two or more people regularly interacting on the basis of shared expectations of others’ behavior;
interrelated statuses and roles.

The basic premise of sociology is that human behavior is largely shaped by the groups to which
people belong and by the social interaction that takes place within those groups. The main focus
of sociology is the group not the individual. The sociologist is mainly interested in the interaction
between the people - the ways in which people act towards respond and influence each other.

Community:

The term community is one of the most elusive and vague in sociology and is by now largely
without specific meaning. At the minimum it refers to a collection of people in a geographical
area. Three other elements may also be present in any usage.

(1) Communities may be thought of as collections of people with a particular social structure

(2) A sense of belonging or community spirit.

(3) All the daily activities of a community, work and non-work, take place within the geographical
area, which is self-contained. Different accounts of community will contain any or all of these
additional elements.

We can list out the characteristics of a community as follows:

1. Territory
2. Close and informal relationships
3. Mutuality
 4. Common values and beliefs
5. Organized interaction
6. Strong group feeling
7. Cultural similarity

Talcott Parsons defined community as collectivity the members of which share a common
territorial area as their base of operation for daily activities.

According to Tonnies community is defined as an organic natural kind of social group whose
members are bound together by the sense of belonging, created out of everyday contacts covering
the whole range of human activities.

Types of Communities

• Communities are commonly divided into three general types – tribal, rural and urban.

• Tribal, rural or urban by references to its population, physical limits, legal status, occupations,
social and economic institutions, relationships, folkways, etc.

• P.A. Sorokin and C.C. Zimmerman, in “Principles of Rural-Urban Sociology”, have stated that
the factors distinguishing rural from urban communities include occupation, size, and density of
population, as well as mobility, differentiation and stratification.

Society:

The term society is most fundamental to sociology. It is derived from the Latin word Socius which
means companionship or friendship. Companionship means sociability.

According to George Simmel it is this element of sociability which defines the true essence of
society. It indicates that man always lives in the company of other people. Man is a social animal
said Aristotle centuries ago. Man needs society for his living, working and enjoying life.

Society has become an essential condition for human life to continue. We can define society as a
group of people who share a common culture, occupy a particular territorial area and feel
themselves to constitute a unified and distinct entity. It is the mutual interactions and interrelations
of individuals and groups.

Definitions:
Wright – Society is not a group of people; it is the system of relationship that exists between the
individual of the group.

G.D.M. Cole – Society is a complex of organized association and communication with a

community.

Giddings – Society is a union itself the organization the sum of formal relations in which
associating individuals are bound together.

Mac Iver – Society is web of social relationship

Characteristics of Society
• Society consists of people
• Mutual interaction and mutual awareness
• Society depends on likeness
• Society rests on differences too
• Co-operation and division of labor
• Society implies interdependence also
• Society is dynamic
• It refers to the reciprocal contact between two or more persons.
Association:
We use the words association and institution very commonly in our daily talks. Sometimes these
words are used interchangeably to mean one and the same. But these words are used in a specific
way in sociology. Hence it is necessary for us to know the meaning and nature of and differences
between these two terms.
When a group or collection of individuals organizes in self expressly for the purpose of pursuing
certain of its interests together on a co-operative pursuit, an association is said to be born.

Men have diverse needs, desires and interests. They have three ways of fulfilling their ends.

• Firstly, they may act independently, each in his own way without bothering about others.
• Secondly, men may seek their ends through conflicts with one another.
• Finally, men may try to fulfil their ends through co-operation and mutual assistance. • This co-
operative pursuit has a reference to association.
Definition
R.M. MacIver defined, an association is “an organization deliberately formed for the collective
pursuit of some interest, or a set of interests, which its members share”.
Morries Ginsberg said, an association is “a group of social beings related to one another by the
fact that they possess or have instituted in common an organization with a view to securing a
specific end or specific ends”.
An association is a group of people organized for the achievement of a particular interest or
interests.
An association is “a group organized for the pursuit of an interest or group of interests in common”.
Types of Association
• Political association
• Religious association
• Student’s association
• Laborer’s association
• Economic associational or business organizations
• International association: The Rotary Club, The Lions’ Club, YMCA, YWCA, etc.,
The association may be found in different field. No single association can satisfy all the interests
of the individual or individuals. Since man has bundle of interests, he organizes various association
for the purpose of fulfilling his varied interests. It follows then that a man may belong to more
than one association. He may be member of a political association, religious association, a
professional association, a cultural association, an entertainment club, a sports club, a rotary club
and so on.
Characteristics of Association
Association – a human group
Common interest or interests
Co-operative spirit
Organization
Regulation of relations
Durability of association