What is the Human Behavior?

Human behavior is an inherently complex subject matter which pertains to the manner and reasons
behind people’s actions. Of course, there are countless theories associated with human behavior and
various types of conduct. Understanding human behavior is very important in society; the knowledge
sheds light on patterns, the reasons people make certain decisions, and much more. Of course, the more
one understands about human behavior, the better one can position themselves and comprehend how
others see, interpret, and adapt to their various environments.

What is Modern Society? Human Action, Interaction, Relationship and Social Institutions

Social interaction is the social action of two or more people taking each other into account in their action
Social action refers to those actions which people are conscious of doing because of other people.

Human Action - something that people do or cause to happen.

Social action is about people coming together to help improve their lives and solve the problems that are
important in their communities. It can include volunteering, giving money, community action or simple
neighborly acts.

A social institution is a group or organization that has specific roles, norms, and expectations, which
functions to meet to social needs of society. The family, government, religion, education, and media are
all examples of social institutions.

Modern society is often called materialistic, where people no longer produce product for living. Instead
they produce goods to sell in the market. People don’t rely their own. For example they go to market for
groceries instead of owning gardens and animals. These societies stress on quality of education for all.

What is the need?

A need is dissatisfaction at a point of time and in a given context. Needs are distinguished from wants. In
the case of a need, a deficiency causes a clear

What is the Behavior?

Behavior is how someone acts. It is what a person does to make something happen, to make something
change or to keep things the same. Behavior is a response to things that are happening:

internally - thoughts and feelings

externally - the environment, including other people.

Observing behavior is the easy part. It is understanding why someone does what they do that is much
more complicated.

What is the Human Behavior?

Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity of human individuals or groups to respond to
internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Behavior is driven by genetic and environmental factors
that affect an individual.

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What is the Human Social Organization?

In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social
groups. Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition,
spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, structure, division of labor, communication systems, and so on.

How do we become human and considerate?

Being considerate means taking the time to think about how others are feeling. To be truly considerate,
you have to know how to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to have tact, and to be kind and gracious.
Sometimes, we can get caught up in our own needs and wants and can forget that there are other people
around who may be hurt or offended by our actions. Making a decision to be considerate can help us be
aware of the people around us while still asserting our needs.

Human Order?

Social order is how institutions, groups, and values work collaboratively to keep a society stable and in
order.

Social control is a concept within the disciplines of the social sciences. Social control is described as a
certain set of rules and standards in society that keep individuals bound to conventional standards as well
as to the use of formalized mechanisms.The disciplinary model was the forerunner to the control model.

Deviant behavior is defined as actions that violate social norms, which may include both informal social
rules or more formal societal expectations and laws. Socially acceptable behavior, on the other hand,
refers to the actions that are generally viewed as being appropriate to engage in when in the presence of
other people.

What we will be learning

Altruism
Control
Misattribution
Over judgement
Illusion
Nature-nature
Personality
Learning

Behaviour

Action or reaction to an object or organism

Behaviour can be conscious or unconscious
Overt or covert
Voluntary or involuntary

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Why do we need to understand the evolution of societies? (NOTE SIR)

Because it is from this point that we can begin to understand our “make up” - Our DNA.“Why we do
certain things the way we do”What has shaped us to think and how to use our brain

Why is it important to study the evolution of societies?

Understanding evolution helps us solve biological problems that impact our lives. There are excellent
examples of this in the field of medicine. To stay one step ahead of pathogenic diseases, researchers must
understand the evolutionary patterns of disease-causing organisms.

Understanding evolution is important

Understanding evolution helps us solve biological problems that impact our lives. There are excellent
examples of this in the field of medicine. To stay one step ahead of pathogenic diseases, researchers must
understand the evolutionary patterns of disease-causing organisms. To control hereditary diseases in
people, researchers study the evolutionary histories of the disease-causing genes. In these ways, a
knowledge of evolution can improve the quality of human life.

What is the Evolution societies?

Sociocultural evolution, sociocultural evolutionism or social evolution are theories of sociobiology and
cultural evolution that describe how societies and culture change over time. Whereas sociocultural
development traces processes that tend to increase the complexity of a society or culture, sociocultural
evolution also considers process that can lead to decreases in complexity or that can produce variation or
proliferation without any seemingly significant changes in complexity.

What Is the Sociocultural evolution?

Sociocultural evolution is "the process by which structural reorganization is affected through time,
eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form".

What is the Societies?

A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing
the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural
expectations.

What is the Modern Societies?

Modern society is often called materialistic, where people no longer produce product for living. Instead
they produce goods to sell in the market. People don’t rely their own.

For example, they go to market for groceries instead of owning gardens and animals. These societies stress
on quality of education for all

What were societies?

Depending on your definition of human society, the history of human society could start as
recently as 7,000 years ago when we first started to employ agriculture as a primary method of
obtaining food and started building large, permanent settlements or as far back as 2,000,000

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 billion years ago when homo habilis, the distant ancestor of homo sapiens (of which we are homo
sapiens sapiens), first appeared
Early human society as the early societies that formed in the middle Paleolithic, shortly after homo
sapiens sapiens first appeared, and evolved through the Neolithic, when hunter gatherer societies
started to experiment with agriculture and form semi-permanent and permanent settlements,
until the societies reached a universally accepted stage of civilization sometime in the early bronze
age.

This is around 4500 BC near Ban Chiang, Thailand, bronze was discovered and a few hundred years
later the Bronze Age was ushered in. In addition to the Egyptians and Sumerians, the Bronze Age
ushered in the Minoans of Crete, the Hittites of Asia Minor, and the Mycenaean civilization of
ancient mainland Greece. These civilizations soon developed writing and humans entered into
history. (Michael G. Lamoureux, March/April 2009)

Evolutionary Theory

As we know, the evolution theory says that simple organisms developed into complex organisms through
a process that consumed hundreds of centuries. Similarly, the evolutionary approach explicates that
society also passed through many stages before assuming the present complex state. Since the
evolutionary theory of society was woven around the concept that society resembles organism, a mention
of the Organismic theory is essential.

Organismic theory (Darwin) conceives society as a biological system, a greater organism, alike in its
structure, and function, exhibiting the same kind of unit as the individual organism and introduction to
Society subject to similar laws of development, maturation and decline. Society's cells are individual
persons; its organs and systems are associations and institutions.

What definitions are there in history

In "conjectural histories", authors such as Adam Ferguson (1723 1816), John Millar (1735–1801) and
Adam Smith (1723–1790) argued that societies all pass through a series of four stages: hunting and
gathering, pastoralism and nomadism, agriculture, and finally a stage of commerce.

a Movement from simple to complex society

a Homogeneity to heterogeneity
a Gradual and slow process
a an adaptation to changing environment and social context
a Series of related changes in social system
a Progress towards greater size, coherence and definiteness

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What is Social Darwinism?

Social Darwinism is the theory about the evolution of society which introduced by the Herbert Spencer
(NOTE SIR)

Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts
of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely
defined by scholars in Western Europe and North America in the 1870s.

Social Darwinism holds that the strong see their wealth and power increase while the weak see their
wealth and power decrease. Social Darwinist definitions of the strong and the weak vary, and also differ
on the precise mechanisms that reward strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress
competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism, while others, emphasizing struggle between
national or racial groups, support eugenics, racism, imperialism and/or fascism.

Spencer's Social Darwinism is centered around two fundamental principles

Principle of survival of the fittest

Principle of non-interference

Survival of the fittest

Social Darwinists believe in “survival of the fittest”—the idea that certain people become powerful in
society because they are innately better. Social Darwinism has been used to justify imperialism, racism,
eugenics and social inequality at various times over the past century and a half. (MY note)

Spencer coined this phrase

It implies that the strong will succeed and the weak shall perish
The fittest will be successful and they shall rule the weaker because they are more fit to do so

Non-interference

Spencer was a strong advocate of individualism

Opposed all forms of state interference with private property
Except for the police service, all other sectors should be in the private sector.
It should not interfere with the natural process of selection
Nature is more intelligent than man

Many Social Darwinists embraced laissez-faire capitalism and racism. They believed that government
should not interfere in the “survival of the fittest” by helping the poor, and promoted the idea that some
races are biologically superior to others. (My note)

Society evolves on the basis of Self-interest

Homogenous society

A homogenous society is a kind of society that has similar kinds of people, especially where there are no
significant ethnic differences.

self-interest

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Self-interest generally refers to a focus on the needs or desires of one's self. Most times, actions that
display self-interest are often performed without conscious knowing.

heterogenous society

A heterogeneous societal culture is one in which numerous population groups have specific and distinct
values and understandings. In a heterogeneous society many sets of shared meanings make up the
society.

What is the social problem?

A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people
and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed. This definition has
both an objective component and a subjective component. (My note)

According to Arnold Rose “A Social Problem may be defined as a situation which has influenced a good
majority of people. i.e.., they believe that this situation itself is responsible for their difficulties or
displeasures which may be removed”

Social change creates so many social problems in a functional society. The norms, values, customs,
traditions and law of the society get changes as the changes are occurring inside the society

"social problem" changes over time

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Social problems in modern society

Poverty

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter.
However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money. The World Bank Organization
describes poverty in this way: “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter.

Types of Poverty

Absolute poverty

Absolute poverty means living below the minimum requirements for physical well-being.

Relative poverty

Relative poverty is a measure of the deprivation of an individual or household compared to others in

society.

According to David Kurten, Poverty also involve social disintegration and environmental

Unemployment

Unemployment is a term referring to individuals who are employable and actively seeking a job but are
unable to find a job. Included in this group are those people in the workforce who are working but do not
have an appropriate job. Usually measured by the unemployment rate, which is dividing the number of
unemployed people by the total number of people in the workforce, unemployment serves as one of the
indicators of a country’s economic status.

Two kinds of people are not considered unemployed

1. those who do not have the capabilities or qualifications required for the job they seek
2. those who do not wish to work at all.

Unemployment rate which is a measure of unemployment shows the health of a country

Impact of Unemployment

Impact on Economy

The economy is affected adversely as productivity falls below the normal level. Unemployed people are
also a liability to the country since they have to be economically supported by the government

Social impact

Mental illness, Increasing crime rate, Political Instability, Poor living standards

Unequal opportunity (inequality)

Inequality is not just about wealth or income. It can also be seen in life expectancy, or how easily a person
can get healthcare, quality education or public services. There are inequalities between sexes and social
groups. Every facet of inequality greatly hampers our ability to meet the SDGs. We must measure them
all if we’re going to promote sustainable development.

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Types of Inequality

Class inequality
Gender inequality
Global inequality
Physical inequality
Racial inequality

Malnutrition

Undernutrition is a lack of nutrients, which can result in stunted growth, wasting, and underweight. A
surplus of nutrients causes overnutrition, which can result in obesity. In some developing countries,
overnutrition in the form of obesity is beginning to appear within the same communities as
undernutrition.

malnutrition can occur in varies reasons

unsuitable dietary choices

having a low income
various physical and mental health conditions

Characteristics of Modernity Society

Rise of the nation state.

Growth of tolerance as a political and social belief.
Industrialization.
Rise of mercantilism and capitalism.
Discovery and colonization of the Non-Western world.
Rise of representative democracy.
Increasing role of science and technology.
Urbanization.
It is also called postindustrial society having, highly complex, and advance industrial and technological
systems
This is a model of urbanization
Population size is very high having millions of people in cities.
This is due to heterogeneity in the needs of the people and volume of population.
These societies are hub of industrial and economic organizations
People are divided in to different social strata based on their socio-economic background
Due better education, industrialization, economic and job opportunities, a high degree of social
mobility is found among people of this type of society

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Social Institutions

A social institution is a group or organization that has specific roles, norms, and expectations, which
functions to meet to social needs of society. The family, government, religion, education, and media are
all examples of social institutions.

Social institutions are interdependent and continually interact and influence one another in everyday
society. For example, some religious institutions believe they should have control over governmental and
educational institutions.

Social institutions can have both manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are those that are
explicitly stated, while latent functions are not.
Each social institution plays a vital role in the functioning of society and the lives of the people that
inhabit them

Social Action

Max Weber (1864-1920) was one of the founding fathers of Sociology.

Interpretation of Modern Western Society
Weber saw both structural and action approaches as necessary to developing a full understanding
of society and social change.
Society based on Economy - Capitalism
Status, on the other hand, was based on noneconomic factors such as education, kinship, and
religion

Interaction

In sociology, social interaction is a dynamic sequence of social actions between individuals (or groups)
who modify their actions and reactions due to actions by their interaction partner(s).

(SOURCE - socialsci.libretexts.org)

There are several main elements of social interaction, including:

Information
Multiple parties involved
Goals to be achieved or tasks to be completed

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Relationships

Social structure is the relatively enduring patterns of behavior and relationships within a society.
Thus, a society is not only the group of people and their culture, but the relationships between
the people and the institutions within that group.
Culture is distinct from society in that it adds meanings to relationships.
Thus, while the relationship exists in both (i.e., they both have social structure), what the
relationship means differs by culture.

What are Social Organization

In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social
groups.

Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal
cohesion, leadership, structure, division of labor, communication systems, and so on.

And because of these characteristics of social organization, people can monitor their everyday work and
involvement in other activities that are controlled forms of human interaction. These interactions include:
affiliation, collective resources, substitutability of individuals and recorded control. These interactions
come together to constitute common features in basic social units such as family, enterprises, clubs,
states, etc. These are social organizations.

In an organized society, there is stability and change. Stability is the condition of equilibrium among the
parts of society. It is the state of smooth functioning. During this condition; the social problems decrease
in society. Change is the dynamic condition of society. An organized society is also changing for the
fulfillment of social needs. Abrupt changes in the form of revolution disrupt the existing social order and
disorganization occurs in society.

Characteristics of Social Organization

An organization is understood as a mechanism that brings different people together into a

network of interaction to perform different functions.
An organization is always a type of collectivity.
An organization has its own definite purposes.
An organization has its own definite purpose. Without any purpose or goal individuals come
together and establish among themselves a definite pattern or system of interaction.
Each organization has some specific aims or goals.
It has a formal structure of rules.
The family as an organization can run smoothly only when its members have mutual
understanding, cooperation and consensus among themselves.
An organization has its own norms or rules.
organization maintains its control over the behavior of its members and regulates their activities.

What are Social Group?

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A social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar
characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes
and varieties. For example, a society can be viewed as a large social group. The system of behaviors and
psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups is known as group
dynamics.

There are two types of Social groups

Primary Groups

Primary groups are small and characterized by close, personal, and intimate relationships that last a long
time, maybe a lifetime - example family

Secondary Groups

Secondary groups comprise relatively impersonal and temporary relationships that are goal- or task
oriented and are often found in employment or educational settings - example School

How is the Primary & Secondary Groups Structured?

Through

Caste and Class

Religion
Gender
Age
Ethnicity

The Modern Family

Nuclear and Extended Family Systems

Patrilineal and Matrilineal society
LGBT family systems

What is the Race

A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally
viewed as distinct within a given society.

race is a socially constructed, hierarchical categorization system used to classify people who share
biological traits that a society thinks are important. Whereas, an ethnic group is a group that has a shared
cultural heritage. It is important to know the difference between race and ethnicity because definitions
of race in the United States have changed over time to meet the needs of the racial group with the most
social, economic, and political power.

According to the human genome project at the National Human Genome Research Institute, our DNA is
99.9% the same and the differences between people are accounted for are less than 0.1% of DNA. In
other words, we should honor and appreciate the differences of one another, while keeping in mind we
are all part of the same side-by-side human family.

What is the Racism?

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Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited
attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another.

It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are
of a different race or ethnicity. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of
biological differences between peoples.

There are two types of racism

1. Interpersonal Racism

Unfair or harmful behavior, beliefs, or actions from one person directed against another person or other
people, based on race

2. Systemic Racism

Systemic racism exists in the social, economic, educational, and political systems in society. Many of the
issues that come with it have been escalated by the pandemic, including the unequal deaths of people of
color from COVID-19.

One drop rule

In southern part of United States, if a person had even a single drop of “black blood”, that person was
defined and viewed as Black, even if he or she appeared to be White.

Mulatto (one half black)

Quadroon (one-fourth)
Octoroon (one-eighth)
Quintroon (one-fifteenth)
Mustee (one sixteenth)

What is deferent between Race & Ethnicity

Race refers to the concept of dividing people into groups on the basis of various sets of physical
characteristics and the process of ascribing social meaning to those groups.

Ethnicity describes the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage,
religion and customs.

What is the Social order?

The term social order can be used in two senses:

In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the
ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order.

In the second sense, social order is contrasted to social chaos or disorder and refers to a stable state of
society in which the existing social structure is accepted and maintained by its members. The problem of
order or Hobbesian problem, which is central to much of sociology, political science and political
philosophy, is the question of how and why it is that social orders exist at all.

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Social order is a fundamental concept in sociology that refers to the way the various components of
society work together to maintain the status quo. They include: (Sir Note)

social structures and institutions

social relations
social interactions and behavior
cultural features such as norms, beliefs

Durkheim's Theory

Through his study of the role of religion in primitive and traditional societies, French sociologist Émile
Durkheim came to believe that social order arose out of the shared beliefs, values, norms, and practices
of a given group of people

Marx's Critical Theory

German philosopher Karl Marx took a different view of social order. Focusing on the transition from pre-
capitalist to capitalist economies and their effects on society, he developed a theory of social order
centered on the economic structure of society and the social relations involved in the production of goods.

Importance of Social Order

Social order is important because it builds connections among individuals and ensures they feel
part of society. For example, it helps a community live in harmony and avoid chaos.
Our society will have values, morals, and traditions to uphold its stability and move forward with
daily operations through social order.
it plays a crucial role in deviating individuals from illegal activities such as robbery that will lead to
chaos, thus affecting social order.
our beliefs rely on the morals and values within our society social order evolves with the evolution
of society.

Ethics

Sociology is the study of humans' development, structure, and functioning. Sociologists are the people
who study human behavior and social problems; however, they are required to complete all studies
ethically. Ethics are the moral principles that control behavior, specifically within a profession and daily
activities

Morality

One way of looking at morality is through the lens of sociology, which is the study of society. Morality is
only important when are in society. After all, if I lived out in the middle of nowhere and didn't have any
contact with any other human ever, I likely wouldn't encounter very many moral dilemmas.

Norms

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Social norms are a set of standards that people within the same group follow. They can vary from loose
expectations to unwritten rules, but they all serve an important purpose in terms of society’s order and
functioning because without them there would be chaos on earth.

Values

In simple sense, values refer to intangible qualities or beliefs accepted and endorsed by a given society.

Haralambos defines values as "A value is a belief that somethingis good and worthwhile. It defines what
is worth having and worth striving".

Law

The sociology of law refers to the sociological study of law and lawrelated phenomena, whereby law is
typically conceived as the whole of legal norms in society as well as the practices and institutions that are
associated with those norms.

Émile Durkheim likewise did not write a treatise that was specifically devoted to law, although he came
closer than Marx in that much of the argument of his The Division of Labour in Society (1893) was devoted
to explaining why the legal systems of so-called mechanically solidaristic societies are ‘retributive’, whilst
those of organically solidaristic societies should be ‘restitutive’. In addition, his Professional Ethics and
Civic Morals (1950) contains a sustained and significant account of the development of contract and
property law during the nineteenth century.

discipline and punishment

Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to
punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind
obedience. It may be inflicted on others or on oneself. Self-discipline refers to the practice of self-
restraint, controlling one's emotions, and ignoring impulses.

Punishment, the infliction of some kind of pain or loss upon a person for a misdeed

(i.e., the transgression of a law or command).

Theories and objectives of punishment

Retribution theory

The retributive theory of punishment holds that punishment is justified by the moral requirement that
the guilty make amends for the harm they have caused to society.

Utilitarian theories

According to utilitarian theories, punishment is justified by its deterrence of criminal behaviour and by its
other beneficial consequences for individuals as well as for society.

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