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]]>Family get disorganized when one of the parent leave the home. Or if parents get divorce, it will have impact on the other family members the rules and regulations will change, due to the disturbance children will not fulfill their responsibilities. It will change the entire structure of the family. If workers go on strike for any reason the production of the factory will suffer. Factory will be disorganized because it depends on the workers. Without workers factory cannot carry out its functions production will suffer and the profit margin of factory will decline. We can say that factory will disorganize. Any group or institution will be disorganized if its members and units do not work properly.
Social disorganization can occur due to, the new development in the social system. Introduction of new element in the social system can break the bond between old norms, relationships and units. Society is in ever changing state but the change is gradual. If the change is abrupt and members of the social group are not ready to adopt then, it might create disorganization. Conflict between the units and members can also result in disorganization. Hebert spencer define social system with analogy of living organism. Different social institutions of society are like organs of living organism if one organ stop functioning it will disrupt the function of body. Therefore if one part of social system stop working it will disorganize the social system.
Disorganization of social system create many social problems in society. Such as, poverty, crime, drug abuse, illiteracy, unemployment etc. all these problem are associated with one another. Like there is association between the different institutions of social system, same goes with social problems. If government fails to provide education it will increase illiteracy rate in the country. Which will lead to unemployment and unemployment may result in crimes and poverty. Educational institutes should provide quality education to the member of society. Government and economic institution should provide job opportunities for the educated people.
If each and every institution plays its role, social problems will diminish from society itself. The main cause of social problems are the disorganization of institutions which leads to the disorganization of social system. Disorganized social system create many social problems in the society. Which disrupt the peace and order of the society. Social problems hinder the progress of society. Those societies which are disorganized are not progressive and cannot compete with organized society in any endeavor.
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]]>Concrete social systems are formed by cooperation. Like football team, family, college, mosque, church, youth club, teachers association, labor association etc. members of such social systems cooperate, collude and participate for the prime purpose of attaining objectives. For example, teachers, students, principle board members and administration work together to make a system of college. A system is operated through a set of norms. These set of norms dictate the relationships and duties of the members of social system.
The members of social system interact with one another more frequently compare to the people outside the group. Social system creates a bond and sense of unity among the members. The sense of unity make them function as a unit.
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]]>Upward mobility refer to, when an individual improve their social status and class and work their way from the bottom to the top of social ladder. Upward mobility is not only confined to economic prosperity, other factor are involved too in upward mobility such as, education, occupation, skills and matrimonial confederation. Stephen king belonged to a humble background, he work as a janitor before his publication work. He changed his social class and status and moved upward from the bottom of social class ladder. There are many who worked their way up from bottom such as Jenifer Lopez, Michael Jordon and Oprah Winfrey.
Some people in the society move at the bottom of social class ladder. When the financial condition, health or business of individual deteriorate they may move from top to bottom on social class ladder. There can be a lot more reasons for moving downward from top on social hierarchy. One may experience downward mobility because of loss in business, or quitting education or job, or may be because of breakup or divorce.
An individual who belong to upper class his parents may be middle class and his grandparents may be lower-class. The difference between the social classes of generation and generational change in social status and class is known as intergeneration mobility.
The difference between the social classes of same generation members is known as intergenerational mobility. An individual belonging to upper class does not mean that, his siblings belong to same class or possess same social status.
Structural change refer to the social change, which enable the whole group to move upward or downward on social class ladder. Industrial revolution in west brought economic prosperity in the society families moved upward from the bottom of social class hierarchy. Their life style, status and class improved because of this development. However, when recession hit the region many people lost their jobs and businesses which deteriorated the economic and living condition of people. Many well-off family moved from top to bottom on social class hierarchy.
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]]>The factors which determine stratification differ in dissimilar societies. In some society the wealth is considered as a benchmark for stratification. Those who have more economic resources which include salary, dividends, capital etc. are at the top tier of social hierarchy. In some society wiser people are given more consideration compare to the rich, in such societies stratification is done on the basis of prestige. Therefore, cultural norms of the society plays vital role in social stratification. Sociologist have distinguished two types of social stratification, which are as follow, close systems and open systems.
Closed system is the social settings in which an individual is not able to change his status and move to the other tier of social hierarchy. Cast system is the best example of closed system, in India roles of an individuals are decided on the basis of cast. Most working class people belong to the untouchables and their status do not change because they marry with in their cast. Moreover, they do not have resources to change their current status and move to the other layer of social hierarchy. Even if somehow they manage to become economically prosper, they will still be considered as inferior. Some casts are considered inferior and some are considered superior in India.
Open system is the social setting in which an individual is able to change his social status and move to the other level of social hierarchy. Class system is the good example of open system. In class system people are allowed to change their social status by receiving high level of education and white color job. People are free to marry anyone they like. For example on 29 April 2011, prince William got married with a commoner named Catharine. In England the commoner are at bottom of social hierarchy and duke is at the top. Which means that Catharine moved from the bottom of social class ladder to the top by marrying duke of England.
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]]>Commonly social control in a state is maintained through the legislature, judiciary and law enforcement agencies of state, such type of social control is categorized as formal social control. Individual who violate formal social control is supposed to be punished. Punishment is dependent on the severity of the deviance. For example, in some countries punishment for murder is life imprisonment, whereas, in others murder is punishable by death. Each and every social organization and institute has its own norms, which helps them to control the behavior of individual in a group or society.
Social control which is maintained through the norms of culture and religion is called informal social control. Deviant behavior of an individual might be controlled via resentment of friends and family. However, deviant behavior of an individual is not punishable in informal social control. Moreover, informal social control is more effective than formal social control in some societies, where cultural and religious norms are more regarded than state laws. Informal control is more effective in the rural areas and in the societies where homogeneity of culture is very high. Formal social control is effective in the societies which comprises of heterogeneous cultures.
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]]>The term primary group is coined by C.H Cooley in his book “social organization”. According to C.H Cooley, primary group is a small group, the characteristics of primary group is intimate face to face association and cooperation. Members of Street gang, family members living under same roof and students sharing a same room in hostel, can be considered as the primary groups. According to MacIver and Page, collection of individuals who are in relationship with each other is called primary group. It is called primary because the members of the group are emotionally attached with one another. They share the similar ways of life and interests. Family, close childhood friends and love relationships are the example of primary group. Individuals’ emotions, ideas, habits and beliefs develop in primary group.
The concept of secondary group was given by Maciver. Secondary groups are large in size and there is no intimate relationship amongst the individuals. The interaction among members is completely contractual and impersonal. Workplace and large educational institution are the examples of secondary group. In school teacher and student do interact but their relationship is solely based on teaching and learning. Therefore, it can be said that the relationship is merely mean to an end. Work place is another example of secondary group. Employees working in an organization interact with one another frequently but their relationship purpose is just to achieve the organizational goal.
Individual feeling of belongingness to a group is known as in-group. Out-group is a group to which an individual does not belong or the group other than his own. Members of in-group may feel threaten from out-group, furthermore, they may not agree with the ideology of the group or may be because the other group is different from their group culturally or racially. The size of the group can be as narrow as teenager’s football team or as wide as entire society. This “we and they feeling” between the groups are termed by William Graham Sumner in 1960 as in-group and out-group. For example if there is cricket match between Pakistan and India and India wins, to which Indians will say, we won the match and they lost. However, Pakistanis will say, we lost and they won. Therefore, for Indians, Pakistan is out-group and for Pakistanis India is out group. This relationship may exist between two states, teams, political organizations, ethnic groups and business organizations.
Primary group and in-group have impact on the behavior of an individual. The group an individual sees as a criterion for evaluating himself and his behavior is known as reference group. If an individual is inspired from street gang and wants to become a part of it. He will dress like them, try to behave like them and hangout where the gang do. If a person is inspired from a book club and he wants to join it. He will start reading the books which the members of book club is reading and will show interest in their discussion and take part in their discussions. Reference groups provide normative function by formulating and enforcing code of conduct. To get an approval of a group an individual have to follow the dictates of a group. Another function of reference group is comparison function. An actor will compare himself with the members of reference group (group of actors).
Groups make alliance with other groups as it grows larger, for similar purpose or objective. Coalition groups can be narrow and broad. NATO is the best example of coalition groups, alliance of 29 country for the security of European countries, against the soviet aggression and other external threat.
Formal groups has a pre-defined criteria of membership. Those who meet the criteria can become the member of the group. Such groups have code of conduct and there is penalty on violating the rules. UNO, New development bank, SOC, SAARC and EU are some examples of broad formal groups. School can be categorized as the narrow formal group.
Informal groups do not have any criteria for the membership. Anyone can join it anytime without meeting any standards. There is no rules and regulation in the non-formal groups. People in bar watching football match comes under the category of non-formal group. It does not require membership anyone can come, drink and watch game.
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]]>Social structure can be defined as the organized set of social institutions and recurrent patterns of relationships among individuals within institutions that together create society. Usually, our daily life encounters have similar patterns. Each day we interact with our family members at home (brothers, sisters and parents) or we come across same people at school or college — university or office (friends, colleagues and teachers). These patterned or repeated social interactions are called social structure.
Moreover, every society comprises of five basic social institutions including, family, politics, economy, religion and education. These basic social institutions have established norms that defines the appropriate behavior, status and roles of individuals within a particular institution. Each individual has different status and roles within different social institutions. Institutional norms specify individual roles in accordance with their status for instance, at home an individual status may be of son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife and father or mother. But at work he or she might be janitor or president of the state.
Furthermore, social structure can be found at every level of society. It could be found in peer group, family, recreational groups, Public Corporation, Private Corporation and so on. Individuals with in these groups have patterned relationships which are repeated Day by day. These relationships are either enforced via formal norms or through customs. However, sociologist study Social structure on three levels these include, macro, maso and micro level.
At macro level social scientist study the social structure via analyzing social institutions and their interdependence to identify how these factors form patterns of social relationship that are repeated day by day. Family, economy, politics, religion, media, law and education are interconnected social institutions which together form the social structure of society. Individuals’ relationships are organized by social institutions through established norms. Institutional norms regulate behavior of individuals. It defines set of appropriate behaviors, status and roles of individual in a given institution.
Social institutions organize patterned relationships among individuals. These relationships have hierarchical order that result in power differential. Hierarchical positions grant some individuals more power than others in a given institution and social relationship. For instance, institution of family is the organization of different social relationships and roles such as, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, etc… members within institution of family hold power in accordance with their hierarchical position. Usually, parents stand at the top of hierarchical ladder within family because of customs, status, roles, age and financial position. Therefore, they hold greater amount of power to make family decisions. Moreover, corporations or educational institutes organize social relationship among individuals such as, teacher and student —chancellor and teachers — employer and employee etc… however, an individual acquires the amount of power consistent with his or her hierarchical positions in a given institution or relationship. For instance, If we analyze the social relationship between chancellor and teachers at university. Chancellor holds more power compare to teachers because he stands at the top of hierarchical ladder. Therefore, he obtains the ability to formulate and change university policies. On the other hand, teachers cannot do so because their hierarchical position does not grant them authority of policy making. Moreover, teachers cannot defy the orders of chancellor. Whereas, chancellor could ignore and not consider the suggestions or concerns of teachers.
Like individuals some institutions or organization obtain more power than others. As discussed earlier that social institutions are interdependent. Malfunctioning of one institution can disorganize the entire structure of society. The actions or operations of individuals or institutions who obtain greater amount of power determine the structuring of individuals lives and society. For instance, in some societies women do not have a right to seek education which implies that, such societies have established gender biased norms. Which grant more privileges and power to men compare to women. Discriminatory institutional and social norms may give rise to social problems such as socioeconomic stratification. Social stratification is not merely product of class system but the outcome of systematic racism, sexism and other types of discrimination as well.
Maso level social structure refer to the institutionalized social networks. Social institutions organizes social relationships which determine the formation of different social networks and groups. The nature of social networks depend on the patterns of relationships organized by social institutions. Such social networks are the manifestation of meso social structure. Systematic Racism, sexism and other types of discrimination within social institutions result in Socioeconomic stratification. Social networks where relationships among individuals are structured by, difference in level of wealth, social status, ethnicity, race and level of education are the expression of social stratification.
Micro level Social structure refer to daily social interaction among individuals. Social interaction occurs on daily bases among peers, family members, colleagues etc… Institutional norms and customs shape patterned relationships further these relationships shape social interactions among individuals. For instance, we can use informal language in our peer group however, we cannot use informal language when we interact with our teachers, parents or elders.
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]]>It is the social interaction between two individuals. When doctor is treating a patient, it is interaction between two individuals’ doctor and patient. Doctor is treating, patient is being treated, doctor ask questions about physiological problems, patient answer to the best of his/her knowledge, doctor prescribes medicine, and patient take those medicine according to the prescription. All of this two way communication between doctor and patient is social interaction between two individuals. Mother feeding her child and the shopkeeper and customer encounter can also be categorized as social interaction between two individuals.
This is the form in which the physical and symbolic interaction is between the individual and group. Teacher teaching a class of 45 students, the communication is between the group of 45 and an individual. An employee suing his firm, speaker addressing the assembly are the examples of interaction between group and individual.
This is the form in which the physical and symbolic interaction is between the two groups. Two delegates discussing the alternative solutions for a problem, two countries in war with each other, two teams playing cricket match are the some examples of the interaction between two groups.
It is the form of socialization in which Individual interact with culture, via attending cultural events, watching movies and TV shows on satellite, presence on social media, reading magazines, newspapers and books etc. are few sociocultural activities through which an individual learn things and interact with other cultures as well. The things which an individual learn and adopt from mass media, with the passage of time becomes part of his/her own culture. On the other hand, few individuals may not like or approve of some TV shows and channels or medium of communication however, individual has a choice to watch and not to watch certain channel and can choose medium of communication by his own will, that’s what makes the process reciprocal.
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]]>There are two types of social interaction, which are as follow, direct or physical social interaction and symbolic interaction.
Direct interaction is the physical action amongst the individual. Physical interaction influence the actions of others in different ways. It requires the involvement of two and more than two individual and physical action or physical contact among them. For example, pulling, biting, boxing, playing cricket or football, wrestling etc. comes under the category of physical or direct social interaction. Furthermore, match between two team and war between two armies, both are physical social interaction.
Such interaction involves symbols and language. The common way of communication in human society is language. Every society has its language and the people of that society share that common language to communicate with each other such process is known as symbolic process. People share their feelings, thoughts and ideas via language. It is two way or reciprocal process between two and more than two individuals. Way of communication in human society is far more effective than animal society. Language is the foundation of development, expansion and evolution of culture. Animals do not have culture because they lack the trait of common language. Language is used to preserve the great experiences of mankind to transmit to the next generation. In the process of transmitting culture to the next generation language plays a vital role. Correspondence through e mail, social media and telephone also comes under the category of symbolic interaction.
BY Khushdil Khan Kasi
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]]>Social interaction is the building block of sociology. Sociology is the study of society, in order to understand society sociologist have to observe the social interaction amongst individuals. Social interactions is the process through which individuals in the society act and react towards each other. Social life of an individual initiate via the process of interaction. Social inter action is considered to be the key factor for analyzing the social life in the society. To put it in a nutshell social interaction is the fundamental factor and foundation of the social processes, social group, social structure, social order and social function. The gateway of sociology is social interaction.
Social interaction is defined and explained by multiple sociologist in different way. According to Dawson and Gettyes, social interaction is a process via which an individuals in a society merge the mind with one another. Merrill is of the view that, social interaction is the process where two or more people are in contact and the outcome of the contact is slight modification in the behavior of individuals. Moreover, cockiness defined social interaction as the process which influences the state of mind and overt behavior of an individual.
In the light of all the definition social interaction can be defined as the process which occurs between two and more individuals. It is the two way process in nature. The process can be entitled as stimulus response condition, among two and more than two people. When two people communicate with one another there is an interaction between them. When two people respond to each other on internet, phone and face to face it means there is interaction between them. A mother feeding her child is interacting with her child. Shopkeeper selling products to the customer, doctor treating the patient and children playing football together. In all the above example there is social interaction amongst individuals.
By Khushdil Khan Kasi
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