Some Key concepts in Sociology

1. Social Structure
2. Community
4. Social Stratification
6. Caste
7. Social Change
8. Culture
9. Modernity
10. Modernization
1. Social Structure
SOCIAL STRUCTURE is:
1. The relationship of definite entities or groups to each other,

2. Enduring patterns of behaviour by participants in a social system in relation to each other,

3. Social interaction of actors in the social system based on rules and practices.

Groups
People social aggregations
(Individuals and (caste, class, ethnic Societies
their life groups) (Western,
experiences) Oriental)

How Society is ORGANIZED

Social Social
Social interaction
patterns of
relationships Based on rules
behaviour and practices
Components of social structure

Society
Large numbers of
Social Actors PLUS
human mentalities,
ideologies and actions.
Social Rules and
Practices

Actions and
outcomes of groups
and individuals
 Micro-foundations of social structure
Social structures exist on micro- foundations of
 Human mentalities, ideologies and behaviour
 Human actions.
Individuals and groups are influenced/controlled through
institutionalised norms and social rules and practices that
structure the actions of actors in the social system.

Large social structures Smalller informal social

operate through a high systems rely on widespread
degree of formal beliefs and attitudes ( such
institutions like the class as the Indian caste system).
structure, democracy etc.
3.Community
 Community
Community is a group of individuals living in a particular
area with some degree of “we-feeling”
Its Elements are:
1. Locality: a community lives in a locality and takes part
in all aspects of that locality’s social life (mohalla ,
neighbourhood). Living together facilitates people to
develop social contacts, give protection, safety and
security.
2. Community Sentiment: means a sense of
identification, a sense of awareness, a sense of living and
sharing some common interest in life with the group.
Without these there can not be any community.
3. Other Aspects of Community: • Stability • Naturalness
• Small size • Regulation of Relations
 Difference between Society and Community
Society
1 A LARGE population in a territory
with social relationships
and a common identity
2 Society is wider. There can be more than one
community in a society
3 May not have a definite geographic area
4 “We-Feeling” may or may not be present
5 The objectives and interest of society are
more extensive and varied.
6 Society involves both likeness and difference
Community
A Group of individuals living in a particular
area with some degree of “we-feeling”
Community is smaller than society
Has a definite locality / geographic area.
“Community sentiment” is an essential
element of a community.
In a community objectives and interests are
comparatively less extensive and varied.
Likeness is important than difference in
community
Social Stratification
 Social Stratification
 It is a system by which society ranks categories of people in a
hierarchy
 Stratification is the relative social position of persons in a given
social group, category, geographical region or other social unit.
 Stratification is usually based on three major premises:
a. Power: the ability to impose one’s will on others
b. Prestige: the respect given by others
c. Property: forms of wealth

 People are generally ranked in socioeconomic tiers based

on factors like:
 Wealth
 Income
 Social Status
 Occupation and
 Power
 There are four fundamental principles of
social stratification
 It is a creation of society – and is not based the fact that
birth in a social group does not make human beings or
individuals different from each other .
 It persists over generations
- Yet, most societies allow some sort of social mobility or
changes in people's position in a the social hierarchy.
- Social mobility may be upward, downward or horizontal
- Structural mobility is mobility brought about by changes in
the stratification hierarchy for instance as society becomes
more technologically advanced.

 It is universal but may change over time.

 It is based on social beliefs and most often leads to
inequality.
 Types of Social stratification
In modern Western Societies stratification is often broadly
divided into three main divisions of Social class : Upper
class, Middle class, and Lower class. Each of these classes
can be further subdivided into smaller classes (e.g., "upper-
middle” ).

In Feudal societies the stratification is simple

nobility/aristocracy and peasant.

In socialist societies it is Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.

The more complex the society, the more numerous the

layers or strata of social differentiation.
 Social Stratification is
patterned social inequality.
Saying that inequality is patterned indicates that the
differences occur:
1. on a wide-scale basis
2. with regularity
3. and along lines of certain specific, identifiable
characteristics (race, class, and gender)
4. It is also the unequal distribution of societal resources.

If we know whether a person or group possesses or does not

possess certain traits, then we will be able to predict with reasonable
accuracy how this person or group is likely to fare in the social
hierarchy
Ascribed status and Caste
 “Ascribed” statuses :
 Ascribed status is the social status “ascribed” to a person at birth.
In contrast, an achieved status is a social position a person acquires
through his/her personal ability and merit.

 Ascribed statuses can include race, gender, nationality and age.

 People often try to compensate for ascribed statuses by changing

their nationality, lying about their age, changing their gender.

 A caste system is an “ascribed” system and is based on the belief

that being born in a particular group gives people certain traits or
characteristics.

 A caste system ranks people rigidly. No matter what a person does,

he or she cannot change castes.
 Caste
 “Caste" is a social fact and determines the distributive aspects of a
society . It leads to an uneven distribution of opportunities and
outcomes.
 It has the element of coercion: caste prejudice and patterns of
discrimination are imposed on individuals without an "opt-out"
possibility.
 Caste creates social mechanisms through which discrimination of
individuals in society works.
 Many of the discriminating mechanisms are "informal" rather than
"formal.
 Caste discrimination is socially institutionalized and has been a
fact in Indian history.
 Caste is a structural feature of Indian society.
Social Change
 Social change
Paradigmatic change OR Alteration in the social order. It includes
changes in :
 Nature of a society ,
 Social institutions,
 Social behaviours,
 Social relations.

Social change may refer to the notion of

 Social progress or
 Socio-cultural evolution (from medieval world to Renaissance).
 Social revolution, such as the Socialist revolution in USSR
 Socio-economic structural change, eg,.from feudalism
towards capitalism
 Social movements ( Women's suffrage or the Civil rights
movement)

Social change may be driven by cultural, religious, economic,

scientific or technological forces.
Culture
Modernity and Modernization
 Modernity
The term coined by Charles Baudelaire (modernité)

1. A post-traditional, post-medieval historical

period,
2. Marked by the move from Feudalism- agrarianism
to:
 Capitalism
 Industrialization,
 Secularization
 Rationalization, the
 Nation - state and its
 constituent institutions and
 forms of surveillance (policing).
 What does Modernity include ?
1. Set of attitudes towards the world, the idea that the world
can be transformed by human intervention through
innovation and technology;
2. Economic institutions, to deal with complex industrial
production and a complex market economy;
3. Political institutions, including the nation-state and mass
democracy.
4. Dynamism, to adopt to changing politico- economic-social
situations

It is a society made up of a “complex of institutions” —

which, unlike any preceding culture, lives in the future, rather
than the past.
 For Planning purposes modernity means
1. increased movement of goods, capital , people, and
information among formerly ‘isolated’ populations, and
consequent influence beyond the local area.

2. increased formal social organization of mobile populaces,

development of "circuits" on which they and their
influence travel,

3. Societal standardization in aspirations and lifestyles,

4. increased specialization i.e., division of labour, and area

inter-dependency.
 What is Modernization?
Historians view it as:
 Urbanization
 Industrialization
 Spread of education.
Sociological critical theory considers it as
essentially a process of rationalization.
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When modernization increases within a society,
the individual becomes much more important,
eventually replacing the family or community as
the fundamental unit of society.
 Modernization
Refers to a model of a progressive transition
from a 'pre-modern' 'modern'

Society Traditional Modern

Industrial/Post
Economy Agricultural
industrial

Settlements Rural Urban

Political Monarchy/
Democracy
system autarchy
End of slides