Lesson 4: Sociology and the

Study of Society

1. Identify the subjects of inquiry and goals of

sociology
2. Describe society as a complex whole
3. Identify aspects of culture and society
 What is sociology?
Originally called social physics
socius – companion/associate
Logie – science/study
Another branch of the social sciences is the discipline
of sociology.
 
Sociology is the “scientific study of society,
occluding patterns of social relationships, social
interaction, and culture” (calhoune, 2002) The
operative term scientific refers to the methodological
and theoretical rigor that sociology applies in its
study of society and human behavior.
 Sociology focuses on:
• How social relationships
influence’s peoples attitudes and
bahavior
• How major social institutions
affect us
• How we affect other individuals,
groups and organizations
Big Idea
• Sociology studies societies to
promote social change, create
new theories, and document
human behavior.
• Read and Answer
The Industrial Revolution has been one of the primary
catalysts for the institution of sociology as a social science
discipline. Below is a link to an essay written by Prof.Erdal Yabuz of
Universite Yeditepe entitled “ The Industrial Revolution and Its
Consequences.” After reading the essay, answer the following:
• What factors brought upon the Industrial Revolution?
• Who were the key players (personalities and governments) in the
Industrial Revolution?
• What were the impacts of the Industrial Revolution to the
following:
• Economy
• Society
• Government
• https://www.yeditepe.edu.tr/dotAsset/74101.pdf(accessed 28
October 2015)
 Sociological Concepts
Just like anthropology, sociology also has discipline-based concepts that aid in the
understanding of human behavior and groups. The basic concept that sociology interprets is
that of society.
 

Disciplined of Sociology
Society
Society can be defined as a product of
human interactions as humans subscribe to
the rules of their culture. It is an organization
that caters to a human’s need for
belongingness in a group. The following table
presents the varying understanding of society
as prescribed by sociologists.
 Sociologist Perspective on Society
 
August Comte Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function.
Emile Durkheim Society as a reality in its own right. Collective consciousness is of key
importance to society, which society cannot survive without.
Talcott Parsons Society is a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out
of the actions in terms of means-end relationship.
George Herbert Mead Society is an example of gestures that involves the use of symbols.
 
Morris Ginsberg Society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of
behavior that marks individuals off from others who do not enter into these
relations or who differ from them in behavior
George Douglas Cole Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a
community
Robert Maclver and Society as a system of usages and procedures of a authority and mutual aid
Charles Page of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and
liberties.
 Social Interaction

• Within the framework of society is a process

called social interaction. This is a compilation
of ways and means by which humans
interact with each other within the confines
of a society.
• Interaction is not merely defined by an
actual physical contact, as it covers every
human interchange that is within a mutually
subjective orientation. This implies that as
long as the parties involved are aware of
each other, interaction is possible.
 Elements of Social Interaction

• The following are the elements of social

interaction:
1.Two or more than two persons
2.Reciprocal relationship among them
3.Influence on the event, behavior, brain of the
persons.
• These three conditions interrelate the people
among themselves and convert them into
social groups.
 Types of Social Interaction

• According to Young and Mack there are two types of

social interaction between people and societies
• Direct or Physical Interaction: it involves physical
action among the individuals. Beating, biting,
thrashing, pulling, pushing, killing, scratching, boxing,
wrestling, kissing etc. are the examples of direct
interaction.
• Symbolic Interaction: There are different types of
relationships between people. It involves the use of
language and symbols. It means communication
through a common language is symbolic process. This
is the most common method of human societies.
 Forms of Social Interaction in a Society
1.Between individual and individual: First, there is
the dialog among protesters about their stand
regarding the issue.
2.Between individual and group: Second, there is
the dialog between the protesters and the
government representatives (police and politicians).
3.Between group and group: Third, there is the
dialog among the protesters, the police, the
politicians, and the media personnel.
4.Between individuals and culture: Finally, there is
the interaction between the protesters and the
government.
Showing with the protest and as the anti-riot police guard

In a public protest such as the one shown in Figure 4.2, there are layers of social
interaction transpiring simultaneously.
 
 Social Organization
This concept refers to the interrelationship of parts of society. As a society is an
organization in itself., it is structurally divided into layers of contexts and positions that help
perpetuate its existence. The positions created within a society constitute the category of
status. This may include being a student, a son, and a parent.

Roles, each status prescribes a set of accepted

behaviors that defined the individual’s responses
and inclinations.
The role of a government official is to ensure
that the people’s needs are addressed through
government projects and policies. If the
government official fails to perform this role, then a
conflict occurs as the norm was not followed.
 Types of roles/status
• ACHIEVED STATUS=it’s earned,
accomplished or obtained with at
least some effort on the person’s
part.
• ASCRIBED STATUS=those in which a
person has no choice, they’re either
assigned at birth or assigned
involuntarily later in life.
 Group, is a basic unit of an organization. It involves at least two individuals
who are in constant interaction based on their statuses and roles.
Your school typically consists of two groups: teachers and students. You
interact with your teachers based on your role as student, Hence, your, manner
of speaking and the content of your statements are different when you are
interacting with your classmates from when you interact with your tea chers.

• Institutions, are established when roles, statuses, and groups are

perpetuated within the context of a society, Institutions are the
building blocks of a society, as it is through these that the norms are
produced from the consistent exchanges of individuals and groups.
• These institutions are also in constant recreation as human
interactions are affected by external forces such as environmental
shifts. Family, marriage, education, religion, and government are all
examples of institution.
Social Structure and Agency
This is the foundation of every society from which emanates the
possible roles, statuses, institutions, and organizations. It can be said
that social structure is the determining factor by which every other
part of a society gains its context. The common analogy used to
describe social structure and the elements of society is that of a
building.
 Within the field of sociology are specific inquiries on human behavior in groups.

 Social organization studies that involve social structures such as

institutions, social groups, social stratification, social mobility, and
ethnic groups.
 Social psychology focus the study of the impact of group life to a
person’s nature and personality.
 Social change and disorganization branch of sociology that inquires
on the shift in social and cultural interactions and the interruption of
its process through delinquency, deviance, and conflicts.
 Human ecology pursues studies that relate human behavior to
existing social institutions.
 Population or demography inquires on the interrelationship between
population characteristics and dynamics with that of a political,
economic, and social system.
 Applied sociology uses sociological research and methods to solve
contemporary problems.
 Methods in Sociology

There are two primary methodological perspectives in

sociology:
• The positivist orientation perceives society as a quantifiable
subject from which objective conclusions can be made. As
such, a positivist perspective uses methods employed by the
natural sciences to understand social phenomenon.
It was Auguste Compte who introduced this perspective
taking into consideration that society is like an organism that
could be measured through logic and mathematics.
An example of a work that uses positivism is that of
Durkheim (1951) on suicide, wherein he identified four types of
suicide that are triggered by the type of society that is living in.
 
Durkheim’s schema on suicide
Anomic – suicide due to a breakdown of social equilibrium; bankruptcy, loss of job, loss of
family
(not enough regulation)
Altruistic – suicide results from the over integration of the individual into social proof;
removing them self for the betterment of immediate family or immediate social group.
(too much integration)
Fatalistic – society sets an expectation that burdensome people should remove themselves.
(too much regulation)
Egoistic – social isolation leads a man to destroy himself
(not enough integration)
 
 Ac c o rd in g to Durkhe im (1951), ind ivid ua ls who fa ll in to th e e xtre m e s o f th e ir so c ie ty a re b o un d to
c o m m it suic id e .
• The Anti-positivist Orientation promotes a subjective approach wherein
social phenomena are understood through individual experiences. With
this, it counters the positivist assumption that general laws can be made
to understand human behavior. Such orientation requires qualitative
methods in gathering data such as interviews, participant-observations,
and other tools of ethnology.
• Example of this, the work on suicide of Pearson and Lui (20011)
presents the suicide of a village woman in china name Ling. China is
reported to have high incidences of suicide, especially among females in
rural area. (WHO, 2009).
• Using ethnographic process, Pearson and Lui concluded that the
typical Western orientation toward suicide, which focuses on depression
and other mental health-related factors, are not in the same operation
among rural Chinese women, as their suicide act is triggered by social
and economic structural conditions. Through the life of Ling, the authors
saw that women’s status in society, which generally renders them
powerless and voiceless, leads them to choose suicide as a form of
either a statement or an escape.
• Value of Sociology for the 21st Century
• Sociology was established at a time when society was
changing drastically due to technological and political
developments. Contemporary society is constantly facing
reality-altering developments not just in technology but also in
its environment as brought about by climate change.
• Sociology finds its value today in providing us with a
conceptual tool in understanding the plight of humans as they
adapt to their varying environments and social conditions.
Through the scientific analyses of social phenomena, sociology
provides policy makes with concrete bases for decisions that
affect human population and alter their social landscape.
• One of the pressing sociological issues in the
Philippines is the case of unemployed youth who are in the
process of waithood. These youth are called tambay.