BASIC CONCEPTS OF

SOCIOLOGY
by Ehsan Ali
Lecturer Humanities & Social Sciences
A. GROUPS, COMMUNITY, SOCIETY
The basic concepts of sociology. Most definitions of "social interaction," "social relationship,"

"social group," "social norm," "status," "role," "attitude," "value," "function," and "culture" may be

restated so as to be generally acceptable. Each concept must be critically appraised before

being admitted to that uniform conceptual scheme whose attainment would attest the scientific

maturity of sociology.

Further discussed in following points:

1. Groups

2. Community

3. Society
1. GROUPS
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. ... Sociologists study the patterns
in social interactions.

What is GROUP in Simple words?

two or more people regularly interacting on the basis of shared expectations of others’
behavior; interrelated statuses and roles.
1. GROUPS
In the social sciences, 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. Other theorists disagree however, and are wary of
definitions which stress the importance of interdependence or
objective similarity.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS
• Size: To form a group, it must be having at least two members. Practically, the
number of group members ranges from 15 to 20. The more the members in the
group, the more complex it is to manage.
• Goals: Every group has certain goals, that are the reasons for its existence.
• Norms: A group has certain rules, for interacting with the group members.
• Structure: It has a structure, based on the roles and positions held by the
members.
• Roles: Every member of a group has certain roles and responsibilities, which are
assigned, by the group leader.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS
• Interaction: The interaction between the group members can occur in several
ways, i.e. face to face, telephonic, in writing or in any other manner.
• Collective Identity: A group is an aggregation of individuals, which are
separately called as members, and collectively called as a group.
Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) suggested that groups can broadly
be divided into two categories:
TYPES OF GROUP
1- Primary Groups
2- Secondary Groups
PRIMARY GROUPS
According to Cooley, primary groups play the most critical role in our lives. The
primary group is usually fairly small and is made up of individuals who generally
engage face-to-face in long-term emotional ways. This group serves emotional
needs: expressive functions rather than pragmatic ones. The primary group is
usually made up of significant others, those individuals who have the most impact
on our socialization. The best example of a primary group is the family.
SECONDARY GROUPS

Secondary groups are often larger and impersonal. They may also be task-focused and
time-limited. These groups serve an instrumental function rather than an expressive
one, meaning that their role is more goal- or task-oriented than emotional. A classroom
or office can be an example of a secondary group. Neither primary nor secondary groups
are bound by strict definitions or set limits. In fact, people can move from one group to
another. A graduate seminar, for example, can start as a secondary group focused on
the class at hand, but as the students work together throughout their program, they may
find common interests and strong ties that transform them into a primary group.
COMMUNITY
• A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as
norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place
situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town, or neighborhood) or
in virtual space through communication platforms

• In sociology, we define community as a group who follow a social structure within a

society (culture, norms, values, status). They may work together to organise social life
within a particular place, or they may be bound by a sense of belonging sustained
across time and space.
2. COMMUNITY
• “A community is a social group determined by geographical boundaries and/or common values and
interests.”
• Its members know and interact with each others
• It exhibits and create certain norms, values and social institutions.
• An area of social living.
• Whenever the members of any group, small, live together in such a way that they share their
interest.
• The social relationships may be found within it.
• Communities are inclusive and independent on others.
• The character of the community and the role of the individual in it depend much on its territorial
size, size of the population, nature of the local government and the economic pursuits of the people.
 COMMUNITY CONCEPT BY DIFFERENT
AUTHORS
• Bogardus – Community is a social group with some degree of “wefeeling” and living in given
area.
• Ogburn and Nimkoff – Community is the total organization of
social life with an limited area.
• Lundberg – Community is a human population living within a
limited geographic area and carrying on a common interdependence life.
• Kingsley Davis – the community “is the smallest territorial group
that can embrace all aspects of social life”.
BENEFITS OF COMMUNITY LIFE

• Provides the individual needed protection and security.

• Face dangers and overcome problems with the due assistance of the other members.
• Provides for co-operation of the members.
• Social, economic, cultural and other fields.
• Provides the individual opportunities for the manifestation of his talents and
abilities.
• Feelings of service-mindedness, selflessness, self-sacrifice, kindness, patience,
sublimity towards others and so on.
ELEMENT OF COMMUNITY

• Group of people
• Locality
• Community Sentiment
• Permanency
• Naturality
• Likeness
• Particular Name
ELEMENT OF COMMUNITY

Group of people:
• Whenever the individuals live together in such a way that they share the basic
conditions of a common life, we call them forming a community.
Locality:
• The group of people forms a community when it begins to reside in a definite
locality.
• Community always occupies a territorial area.
ELEMENT OF COMMUNITY

Community sentiment:
• Means a feeling of belonging together.
• It is “we-feeling” among the members.
Permanency:
• Its not transitory like a crowd.
• It essentially includes a permanent life in a definite place.
Naturality:
• Its not made or created by an act of will but are natural.
ELEMENT OF COMMUNITY

Likeness:
• There is a likeness in language, customs, mores etc.
A particular name:
• Every community has some particular name.
• Ex; Panjab are called Panjabis
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES
Communities are commonly divided into three general types –
1. Tribal
2. rural and,
3. 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.
Characteristics of Tribal, Rural & Urban
Community
Tribal Rural Urban
• Common name •The social homogeneity. •Social heterogeneity
• Common territory • Dominance of primary • Secondary relations
• Common language relations. • The anonymity of the city life
• Common culture • Informal social control. • Secondary control
• Endogamy • Occupations – agriculture. • Large-scale division of labor
• Political organization – councils • Importance of family. and specialization
of elders which control members. • Role of neighborhood. • Large-scale social mobility
• Economically active • Faith in religion. • Individuation
• Agricultural occupation • Conservatism and • Spatial segregation
dogmatism. • Unstable family
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RURAL AND
URBAN COMMUNITY
Rural
• Homogeneous
• Primary relations
• Simplicity and hospitality
• Informal means of social control
• Stable family
• Not career-conscious
• Not class-conscious
• Simple uni-group society
• Small number
Urban
• Heterogeneous
• Secondary relations
• Artificiality
• Formal means of social control
• Unstable family
• Very much career-conscious
• More class-conscious
• Complex multigroup society
• Big number
3. SOCIETY
• Man is a social animal.
• He lives in social groups, in communities and in society.
• Human life and society almost go together.
• Man cannot live as man, without society.
• Society has become an essential condition for human life to arise and to
continue.
• It is more than our environment. It is within us as well as around us.
MAN DEPENDS ON SOCIETY

• The individual is living, breathing, working, playing, resting, praying, enjoying,

suffering, etc., in society.
• It is in the society than an individual is surrounded and encompassed by culture, a
societal force.
• He has to conform to the norms, occupy statuses and become members of groups.
• Emotional development, intellectual maturity, social behavior, etc., are unthinkable
without society.
• No human being is known to have normally developed in isolation.
DEFINITION OF SOCIETY BY DIFFERENT
AUTHORS
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.
MacIver – 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 labour
• Society implies interdependence also
• Society is dynamic
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIETY AND
COMMUNITY
Society
• Society is a web of social relationship.
• A definite geographic area is not an
essential aspects of society.
• Society is a abstract.
• Community sentiments or
sense of we-feeling may be present or
may not be present in society.
• Society is a wider. There can be more
than one community in a society.
• The objectives and interest of society
are more extensive and varied.
• Society involved both likeness and
difference.
Community
• Community consisting of a group of a
individual living in a particular area
with some degree of we feeling.
• Community always denotes a definite
a locality or geographic area.
• Community is a concrete.
• Community sentiment is an essential
element of community.
• Community is smaller than society.
• The objectives and interest of a
community are comparatively less
extensive and varied.
• Likeness is more important than
difference in community.
DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
1- Transitional society
• Better able to cope with changes
• Young people simultaneously involved in two cultures
2- Modern society
• Best adapted to assimilate rapid changes
• Young people can fairly be sure that their life will be substantially different from their
parents’.
KINDS OF SOCIETY
Three Kinds of Societies
1- Transactional:
These are the societies whose primary focus is getting a good deal for their
members. ...

2- Generative. These societies focus on knowledge as a unique differentiator. ...

3- Scalable. These organizations leverage member knowledge for a seat at other
tables.
B. 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.
Meaning
• 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.
Definitions
The definition of an association is a relationship with an individual, group or
organization. ... An association is a group or organization to which you may
belong. An example of an association is the American Psychological Association.
OR
An association is a “using” relationship between two or more objects in which the
objects have their own lifetime and there is no owner. As an example, imagine the
relationship between a doctor and a patient. ... The objects that are part of
the association relationship can be created and destroyed independently.
OR
An Association is “ an organization deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of
some interests, or a set of interests, which its members share” (R.M. MacIver).
NON-VOLUNTARY & VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS 

Non-voluntary actions are not determined by thought and self-consciousness.

voluntary actions are performed by the subject deliberately to realize an end or goal,

and determined by thought and self-consciousness.
Or
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who voluntarily enter
into an agreement to form a body (or organization) to work together for a purpose.

In most of the cases no formalities are necessary to start an association.

Types of Association
• Political association: The BJP, Congress, Communist party, etc.,
• Religious association: The VHP, Ramakrishnan mission, Arya Samai, etc.,
• Student’s association: The ABVP, SFI, etc.,
• Laborer's association: The AITUC, INTUC, etc.,
• Professional association: The Indian Bar Council, Indian Medical Association,
etc.,
• Economic associational or business organizations: Hotel owners’
association, Chamber of Commerce, The Consumer’s Co-operative Society, etc.,
• International association: The Rotary Club, The Lions’ Club, YMCA, YWCA,
etc.,
Types of Association
• The association may be found in different fields.
• 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:
1- Association – A Human Group:
• An association is formed or created by people.
• Without people there can be no association.
• Un-organized group like crowd or mob cannot be an association.

2- Common Interest or Interests:

• It consists of those individual who have more or less the same interest.
• Ex. Those who have political interests may join political association, and those
who have religious interests may join religious association and so on.

3- Co-operative spirit:
• People work together to achieve some definite purpose.
• Ex. A political party has to work together as a united group on the basis of
cooperation in order to fulfil its objective of coming to power.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSOCIATION:
4- Organization:
• Association denotes some kind of organization.
• An association is known essentially as an organized group.
• Organization gives stability and proper shape to an association.
• Organization refers to the way in which the statuses and roles are distributed
among members.
5- Regulation of relations
• Every association has its own ways and means of regulating the relations of its
members.
• Organization depends on this element of regulation.
• They may be assume written or unwritten forms.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSOCIATION:
6- Durability of Association:

• An association may be permanent or temporary.

• There are some long-standing association like the state, family, religious
association etc.
• Some association may be purely temporary in nature.
Difference between Association and
Community
Association
• Membership is voluntary. Individuals
are at liberty to join them.
• Some specific interest or interests.
• Does not necessarily imply the spatial
aspects.
• May be stable and longlisting or it may
not be so.
• May have their legal status.
• Regulated the relations of their
members by written and unwritten
rules.
• It is partial. Part of community.
Community
• By birth itself individuals become members of a
community. In this way membership is rather
compulsory.
• Some general interests. • Marked by a locality.
• Relatively more stable and permanent.
• Has no legal status.
• Regulate the behavior of its members by
means of customs, traditions, etc.
• It is integral. It may have within its boundary,
several associations.
FUNCTIONS OF VOLUNTARY & NON VOLUNTARY
ASSOCIATIONS

In modern, democratic societies, voluntary associations serve a dual function:

they organize people from diverse backgrounds around a common purpose,
thereby contributing to social cohesion; and they build an intermediary sphere
between the political center of power and the electorate, thereby allowing for the….
While
Involuntary  associations are those whose relationships with an organization,
group, or community are without choice; rather they are mandatory, compulsory,
and enforced against their will.
THANK YOU