LESSON 4: The Concepts, Aspects and Changes in Society

CONCEPTS IN SOCIETY
 SOCIETY - It refers to a large, independent, and organized group of people living in the same
territory and sharing a common culture and heritage.
 FORMS OF SOCIETY

-Earliest and simplest form of society.

-Members are treated equally and decisions are made through
HUNTING AND
GATHERING consensus.
SOCIETY -Characterized by animal-hunting, fishing, and plant or fruit-gathering.
-The people in this society were called nomadic.

- Survival in this society was based on the domestication of animals.

PASTORAL - Members of this society remain longer in one place.
SOCIETY - Wealth is based on the number of animals a family have.

- Relied on the cultivation of plants, fruits, and vegetables.

HORTICULTURAL - Called mobile society as people travel to another place the moment
SOCIETY the supply of resources become scarce.
- Produce extra food and resources and exchange with other society.
- Advancement in technology was already utilized.
AGRARIAN OR - Scholars called this period the agricultural revolution which was
AGRICULTURAL characterized by an increase in food supplies.
SOCIETY - As communities grew bigger, conflicts with the neighboring
communities began to rise.
- Society based on the ownership of land.
- Rulers grant their followers or vassals the right to manage parcels of
FEUDAL land.
SOCIETY - Members of society are organized based on status.
- People are often traditional and are resistant to social change,
preferring to maintain the way things are in their community.
- Began inventing mechanized factories for food production and
began improving their mode of transportation to facilitate better
services in terms of commerce and trade.
INDUSTRIAL - This period of history was known as the Industrial Revolution which
started in England and eventually spread throughout the world.
SOCIETY
- This period was also characterized by the increase in cultural
diversity and the bureaucratic form of organization.
- Alienation is common and impersonal relationships exist among
individuals.
- This period is characterized by the increase in the standards of
POST- education, commerce, trade, and business.
INDUSTRIAL - Members of this society have higher educational attainment, better
training, and specialized roles.
SOCIETY - This era of technological advancement paved the way for the rapid
development in science and research.
- Consist of people who share common interests, ideas, sentiments,
VIRTUAL and beliefs via the internet, and called it the social network.
- This virtual world of humans is known as cyberspace where the
SOCIETY
members are not constrained by territorial boundaries and
geographical difficulties.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY
1. It is a social system. A social system consists of individuals interacting with each other. A system
consists of sub-parts whereby a change in one part affects the other parts. Thus, a change in one group
of individuals will affect the stability of the other parts of the system.

2. It is relatively large. The people must be socially integrated to be considered relatively large than if
the people are individually scattered. Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood, community
are socially integrated to be relatively large in scope.

3. It socializes its members and from those from without. Since most of society’s members are born to
it, they are taught the basic norms and expectations. Those who come from other societies, before being
accepted as functioning members, are socialized, and taught the basic norms and expectations of the
society.

4. It endures, produces, and sustains its members for generations. For society to survive, it must have
the ability to produce, endure and sustain its new members for at least several generations. For instance,
if a society cannot assist its members during their extreme conditions of hunger and poverty, that society
will not survive long.

5. It holds its members through a common culture. The individuals in a society are held together
because that society has symbols, norms, values, patterns of interaction, vision and mission that are
commonly shared by the members of such society.

6. It has clearly defined geographical territory. The members in a society must live in a certain specific
habitat or place and have a common belongingness and sense of purpose.

SOURCES OF SOCIAL CHANGE:

1. Innovation- is the social creation and institutionalization of new ideas, further this refers to the new
organizational forms process and routines and products.

2. Diffusion- the spread of innovations from one social setting to another.

3. Acculturation and Assimilation- Assimilation is a two-way process, and the majority culture is
changed as well as the minority culture. Acculturation occurs when the minority culture changes but is
still able to retain unique cultural markers of language, food and customs.

4. Discoveries- when people reorganized existing elements of the world they had not noticed before or
learned to see in a new way.