Terms, concepts and their

use in Sociology
Introduction
• Why does sociology need to have a special set of terms and concepts?
• Terminology is possibly more important for sociology, just because its subject matter is familiar and just
because words do exist to denote it. We are so well acquainted with the social institutions that surround us
that we cannot see them clearly and precisely.
• Many of the concepts reflect the concern of social thinkers to understand and map the social changes that the
shift from pre-modern to modern entailed. For instance sociologists observed that simple, small scale and
traditional societies were more marked by close, often face-to face interaction. The term for this known as
primary groups.
• Concepts arise in society. However just as there are different kinds of individuals and groups in society so
there are different kinds of concepts and ideas. And sociology itself is marked by different ways of
understanding society and looking at dramatic social changes that the modern period brought about.
• The important point is that these classifications and types that we discuss in sociology help us as the tools
through which we can understand reality. They are keys to open locks to understand society.
Social groups and Society
• Sociology is the study of human social life. A defining feature of human life is that humans interact,
communicate, and construct social collectivities.
• The comparative and historical perspective of sociology brings home two apparently innocuous(harmless)
facts.
a) The first that in every society whether ancient or feudal or modern, Asian or European or African,
human groups and collectivities exist.
b) The second that the types of groups and collectivities are different in different societies.
• Any gathering of people does not necessarily constitute a social group.
• Aggregates are simply collections of people who are in the same place at the same time, but share no
definite connection with one another. Passengers waiting at a railway station or airport or bus stop or a
cinema audience are examples of aggregates. Such aggregates are often termed as quasi groups.
• A quasi group is an aggregate or combination, which lacks structure or
organisation, and whose members may be unaware, or less aware, of the existence
of groupings. Social classes, status groups, age and gender groups, crowds can be
seen as examples of quasi groups.
• Quasi groups may well become social groups in time and in specific
circumstances.
 Social group has following characteristics:
A social group can be said to have at least the following characteristics :
(i) persistent interaction to provide continuity;
(ii) a stable pattern of these interactions;
(iii) a sense of belonging to identify with other members, i.e. each individual is conscious of the group itself and
its own set of rules, rituals and symbols;
(iv) shared interest;
(v) acceptance of common norms and values; and
(vi) a definable structure.

All forms of human gatherings and collectivities do not constitute a

social group.
Types of Groups

Primary Group and Secondary Group

• The term primary group is used to refer to a small group of people connected by intimate and
face-to-face association and co-operation. The members of primary groups have a sense of
belonging. Family, village and groups of friends are examples of primary groups.
• Secondary groups are relatively large in size, maintain formal and impersonal relationships.
The primary groups are person-oriented, whereas the secondary groups are goal oriented.
Schools, government offices, hospitals, students’ associations etc. are examples of secondary
groups.
Community and Society or Association
• The term ‘community’ refers to human relationships that are highly personal,
intimate and enduring, those where a person’s involvement is considerable if not
total, as in the family, with real friends or a close-knit group.
• ‘Society’ or ‘association’ refers to everything opposite of ‘community’, in
particular the apparently impersonal, superficial and transitory relationships of
modern urban life.
• We may draw a parallel between the community with the primary group and the
association with the secondary group.
In-Groups and Out-Groups
• A sense of belonging marks an ingroup. This feeling separates ‘us’ or
‘we’ from ‘them’ or ‘they’. Children belonging to a particular school
may form an ‘in-group’ as against those who do not belong to the
school.
• An out-group on the other hand is one to which the members of an
ingroup do not belong. The members of an out-group can face hostile
reactions from the members of the in-group. Migrants are often
considered as an out-group.
• However, even here the actual definition of who belongs and who does
not, changes with time and social contexts.
• The well known sociologist M.N. Srinivas observed while he was carrying out a census in
Rampura in 1948 how distinctions were made between recent and later migrants. He writes:
I heard villagers use two expressions which I came to realise were significant: the recent
immigrants were almost contemptuously described as nenne monne bandavartu (‘came
yesterday or the day before’) while old immigrants were described as arsheyinda bandavaru
(‘came long ago’) or khadeem kulagalu (‘old lineages’), (Srinivas 1996:33).
Reference Group
• For any group of people there are always other groups whom they look up to and
aspire to be like. The groups whose lifestyles are emulated are known as
reference groups.
• We do not belong to our reference groups but we do identify ourselves with that
group. Reference groups are important sources of information about culture,
lifestyle, aspiration and goal attainments.
• In the colonial period many middle class Indians aspired to behave like proper
Englishman. In that sense they could be seen as a reference group for the aspiring
section
Peer Group
• This is a kind of primary group, usually formed between individuals
who are either of similar age or who are in a common professional
group.
• Peer pressure refers to the social pressure exerted by one’s peers on
what one ought to do or not.
Social Stratification
• Social stratification refers to the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of
their access to material or symbolic rewards.
• Thus stratification can most simply be defined as structural inequalities between different groupings of
people.
• Often social stratification is compared to the geological layering of rock in the earth’s surface.
• Society can be seen as consisting of ‘strata’ in a hierarchy, with the more favoured at the top and the less
privileged near the bottom.
• Historically four basic systems of stratification have existed in human societies: slavery, caste, estate and
class.
• Slavery is an extreme form of inequality in which some individuals are literally owned by others. It has
existed sporadically at many times and places, but there are two major examples of a system of slavery;
ancient Greece and Rome and the Southern States of the USA in the 18th and 19 th centuries. As a formal
institution, slavery has gradually been eradicated. But we do continue to have bonded labour, often even of
children.
Caste
• The term caste is derived from the Portuguese word ‘casta’ which means pure breed. In other
words it also means a group/community of people.
• The word refers to a broad institutional arrangement that in Indian languages (beginning with the
ancient Sanskrit) is referred to by two distinct terms, varna and jati.
• Varna, literally ‘colour’, is the name given to a four-fold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya,
Vaishya and shudra, though this excludes a significant section of the population composed of the
‘outcastes’, foreigners, slaves, conquered peoples and others, sometimes referred to as the
panchamas or fifth category. Varna broad all India aggregative classification. Common to all of India.
• Jati is a generic term referring to species or kinds of anything, ranging from inanimate objects to
plants, animals and human beings. Jati is the word most commonly used to refer to the institution
of caste in Indian languages, though it is interesting to note that, increasingly, Indian language
speakers are beginning to use the English word ‘caste’. Regional or local sub- classification- involves
complex system- consisting of 100s or 1000s of castes and subcastes. Jati varies from region to
region.
 Six Features of Caste
• Caste is determined by birth – a child is born into the caste of its parents. Caste is never a matter of choice. One
can never change one’s caste, leave it, or choose not to join it, although there are instances where a person may be
expelled from their caste. Ascribed status: determined by birth, you are born into your status, no choice, permanent.
• Membership in a caste involves strict rules about marriage. Caste groups are “endogamous”, i.e. marriage is
restricted to members of the group.
• Caste membership also involves rules about food and food sharing. What kinds of food may or may not be eaten
is prescribed and who one may share food with is also specified
• Caste involves a system consisting of many castes arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status. In theory, every
person has a caste, and every caste has a specified place in the hierarchy of all castes. While the hierarchical position
of many castes, particularly in the middle ranks, may vary from region to region, there is always a hierarchy.
• Castes also involve sub- divisions within themselves, i.e., castes almost always have sub- castes and sometimes
sub- castes may also have sub- sub- castes. This is referred to as a segmental organization.
• Castes were traditionally linked to occupations. A person born into a caste could only practice the occupation
associated with that caste, so that occupations were hereditary, i.e. passed on from generation to generation. On the
other hand, a particular occupation could only be pursued by the caste associated with it members of other castes
could not enter the occupation.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY