Society

What is Society

Individual is the basic component of society. The interaction of individuals with each other gives birth to group. The social groups interact with each other and develop relationships with each other, leads to a society
The players in football or other games came together is not a society, but just an aggregate of people. Within the society there are patterns and groupings on the basis of likeness and differences. "Likeness" creates a chain of relations among the individuals having similarity in one or more conditions' like same profession, same residence, same caste, family and kinship, college, age, sex etc."
Consciousness of kind is developed and the people of similar interests are joined together rustling in the formation of various groups and categories.
Without difference in cultural conditions of a society the human life would have been monotonous and probably limited in which little change is predictable. The system of give and take relationship creates reciprocal roles in human life. These differences lead to variety of human behaviors and social division of labor; the process of specialization is developed.  Man is dependent on society for basic needs satisfaction i.e. food, protection, education, etc. There are societies on local as well as on national levels.

Meaning of Society

This term has been derived from a Latin word 'socious' that means association or companionship Thus society means 'A larger group of individuals, who are associative with each other'.

Definition of Society

Prof Wright: It is a system of relationships that exists among the individuals of the groups.
Linton: Any group of people who have lived and worked together long enough to get themselves organized and to think of themselves as a social unit with well defined limits".
A.W. Green: It is the largest group in which individual have relationships.
Maclver: It is a web of social relationship, which is always changing.
Adam Smith: Society is an artificial device of Natural economy.

Characteristics of Society - Sociology Notes

Following are the characteristics of society.

1. society is a largest human group.
2. It satisfies the needs of its members.
3. One of the characteristic of society is having sense of belonging and cooperation. It is more or less permanent association
4. It is abstract (Because social relationships can be felt and imagined and cannot be seen).
5. Everyone in society is dependent upon every other member.
6. It should be organized i.e. will be having division of labor.
7. It will be having likeness and differences. Due to these differences, variety in human behaviors and division of labor and specialization of roles is there.
8. "There is consciousness of kind." Among the members of society.
9. It is always changing.
10. It has its own means to survive.
11. It is a self-sufficient social system.
12. It lasts for a longer period of time than groups and communities.
13. It will form a social structure through social institutions i.e. family, education economic, political and religious institutions. These basic five institutions are found in all societies of the world.
14. One of the characteristic of society has its own culture.

Basis of Society

There are three major factors, which form the basis of society. These are as under:
1. Biological Factor This factor emphasizes that the people are grouped and associated with each other due to biological needs. This factor is pleading for the importance of biological factor for making a group or association.
2. Geographical Factor This is one of the important factors. It molds human behavior. Behavior represents the area. This factor is directing human behavior. It also gives limits for dos and don'ts. An individual is doing an activity or acting according to the geographical structure. The behavior of an individual is shaping according to the geographical condition 3. Socio-Cultural Factor This factor is highly responsible for making up human society. It controls the other two factors i.e. biological and geographical to a great extent. Culture gives structural aspect and social gives dynamism to that structure. Culture is the structural aspect and social is the functional aspect of society.

Composing Elements of Society

There are some elements, which compose a society. These elements are considered as essentials. These are given below:

1. Society is a big aggregate of people.
2. People are living together since very long.
3. The people are having sense of belonging to one another.
4. Society is more or less permanent association.
5. The people are having a common culture.

Aims of Society

Society is provided because of certain aims some of them are the following:

1. To develop social structure for the development of human beings. These human beings would be expected to act according to the same structure provided by the society.
2. The individuals are provided with liberties and privileges on one hand and duties and responsibilities on the other hand, to be performed in society.
3. Another aim is the social progress and social development of the people of the same society.

Following are the types of society

1. Static Society
2. Folk or Traditional Society
3. Modern Society
4. Nomadic Society
5. Sedentary Society
6. Gemeinschaft
7. Close society
8. Primitive Society
9. Rural Society
10. Urban society
11. Industrial Society
12. Secular Society
13. Sacred society

1. Static Society. A type of society that experiences little or no changes from one generation to another. A simple and non-literate society is considered to be static society. These kinds of societies remained so far thousands of years. Little changes are taking place in simple societies because of the transportation and communication systems, the spread of knowledge etc.
2. Folk or Traditional Society This is an ideal society having abstract model developed by Rovert Redfiled. A folk society is small, isolated, non-literate and homogeneous with s strong sense of group solidarity.
This has fewer social institutions, simple culture with old ways of life exists, old means of communication, slow social changes, and population is not much and homogeneous social life is found. There is no formal legal system.
3. Modern Society It is based on expansion of education, technology, and industry urban life. It has a complex culture. Heterogeneous social life is found.
4. Nomadic Society Nomadic societies have no permanent place of settlement. The people change their place with their luggage. They usually use camels, donkeys and other animals as a source of transportation. The cultural traditions have very forceful binding upon he members.
5. Sedentary Society It is opposite to nomadic, where people have permanent settlement in rural and urban areas.
6. Gemeinschaft Given by Ferdinand Tonnies a German sociologist, it is a German word means community. It is a generalized or ideal type of society in which social bonds are based on close personal ties of friendship, close association and kinship. It is closely approximated by rural agricultural societies.
7. Close society It refers to a social class is based primary on family status rather than personal abilities, capabilities and achievements. It is an intermediate form between an open class and a caste society system. The chances of achieved statuses are very limited in the fields of occupation, educational, religious, economic and political institutions. The chances of social mobility are lesser as compared to an open class.
8. Primitive Society One of the types of society refers to a non-literate one. The cultural environment controls the entire human activities. The culture has simple technology, cultural homogeneity and isolation from larger cultural influences.
9. Rural Society It is sparsely populated. The profession is mostly agriculture, can be called as agricultural society. They live in farmstead settlement. They are dispersed their farms. It. consists of less than 5000 populations. There is informal social system. The people have homogeneity in profession, dress, language and customs of social life is usually found, there is slow rate of change
10. Urban society Given by Robert Redfield Having a large heterogeneous population, complex division of labor, impersonal social relations, relation are also casual, secondary, complex and formal. There is formal social control. There is diversity in profession, education, religion etc.
11. Industrial Society It refers to a system of economic and social organism established by industrial revolution. Industrial society is characterized by the replacement of hand-made produce by the production of standardized automatic plants. Most of the people are engaged in non­agricultural occupations and professions in an industrial society. Interaction patterns are complex, secondary and formal. Economic activity is organized and there is a large scale manufacturing of goods. It is large modern political and social unit. Individual identity and social integration is related to the development of modern transportation and communication system. There is higher social mobility, division of labour, specialization and differentiation as compared to rural and folk societies.
12. Secular Society It is primarily a non-religious one in the sense that there is no official (state) religion. The example is USSR to a great extent. The extreme type of secular one is supposed to be highly unstable. Pragmatism is the cultural ethos of such a society. It is a heterogeneous one.
13. Sacred society This type of society is primarily homogeneous, integrated and stable. Human relationship and value systems are regarded as absolute, natural, rigid and fixed. Most of the societies of the "third" world countries could be placed under this category, although no society could come up to the ideal standard of such a sacred society. Religion is the cultural ethos of a sacred society. Societies at Makkah, Madina, and Vatican State etc. are the typical examples of sacred societies.