SOCIOLOGY

(definition: Science of society, social institutions, and social relationships, and specifically the
systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behaviour of organized
human groups. It emerged at the end of the 19th century through the work of Emile Durkheim in
France, Max Weber and Georg Simmel in Germany, and Robert E. Park and Albion Small in the U.S.
Sociologists use observational techniques, surveys and interviews, statistical analysis, controlled
experiments, and other methods to study subjects such as the family, ethnic relations, schooling,
social status and class, bureaucracy, religious movements, deviance, the elderly, and social change.)
limitations of the definition.
References to key words from Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought Culture, Sociology, Popular
Culture, gestalt, material culture, non-material culture

civilization (they go hand in hand chicken & the egg raison dtre for each

other)

urban (a predominantly urban phenomenon so even the so called folk

culture has arisen as a result of the bourgeoisie conditioning )

language (mother tongue how we are genetically coded in the language of

our birth importance of biology as much as environment)
(Foucaldian
genealogy)

tradition (rites / rituals / prevalent customs folk & popular culture)

(Foucaldian archaeology)

Uniqueness (peculiarities within each group of individuals due to their own

particular histories)

region (climatic, landscape, geography)

ethnicity / experience

The sum total of the above - culture as a gestaltic phenomena

Infra cultural biological understanding
Pre cultural physiological understanding
Micro cultural day to day understanding
Importance :

transition from nomad to settlement oral

folk
established institutions
Who we are inside is how we build naturally (separate from desire)

CONCEPTS OF CULTURE

Cultural diversity (differences between cultures)

Cultural Identity (uniqueness / U.S.P. within a culture)
Cultural relativism (all cultures are equally valid & to be judged relative to
their own value system)
Cultural Universals (commonalities irrespective of culture need for
sustenance & shelter, human bonding familial ties modes & mechanisms
may vary but essential need is common)

APPROACH TO CULTURE

Anthropological
Hierarchy of needs (Maslows pyramid)
Self reference criteria
Diffusion theory
High & low context
Perception

GRADATION OF CULTURE
Folkway every day customs
Mores Accepted norms

towards a more formalized rigid structure

Laws formal, coded

retribution down the line

violation gradually invites stricter

Values abstract ideals

Norms definitive rules
(LAWS)
INSTITUTIONS
(an institution is an established complex pattern of behavior in which a number of
persons participate to improve group interests schools, marriage)

CULTURE

MATERIAL
(artifacts)
NON MATERIAL (beliefs,
values, knowledge,
behavior)

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
MATERIAL CULTURE

ARTEFACTS, TOOLS, TECHNOLOGY

BUILT FORM (architectural remnants not the theory)

NON - MATERIAL
LANGUAGE

STORIES, HISTORIES, MYTHS, LEGENDS , JOKES

ROLE OF THE COMIC BOOK HERO
RITUAL, RITES, CEREMONIES, CELEBRATIONS, HEROS

AESTHETICS

SYMBOLS & SYMBOLIC ACTION

BELIEFS,
ASSUMPTIONS
MENTAL MODELS

EDUCATION
ATTITUDES & SOCIAL
ORGANISATION

ATTITUDES
RULES, NORMS, ETHICAL CODES, VALUES

YANTRA,
MANTRA,
TANTRA

R
E
L
I
G
I
O
N

CULTURAL LAG THEORY

(technological evolutionism)
William F. Ogburn, 1922 Social Change with respect to culture & original nature
& On culture and Social Change
A cultural lag occurs when one or two parts of culture which are correlated,
changes before or in greater degree than the other part does, thereby causing less
adjustment between the 2 parts that existed previously. - 1957
Culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations and social problems
and conflicts are caused by this lag.

MATERIAL CULTURE
(lag , drag)
ADAPTIVE CULTURES

RESULTANT IMPACT (particularly critical in a 21st century context) : RESOURCE

DEPLETION
Desirable :
Interaction of technology / geography / culture

CULTURAL CHANGE
RAPID

due to war / conquest

GRADUAL

INVENTION
o Material
o idealogy

: agriculture

ACCUMULATION
DIFFUSION
ADJUSTMENT

: industrial revolution
transport

: writing

: internet

printing

COLLECTIVE ACTION
PERCEIVED BENEFIT
THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
: THEORY OF NOSTALGIA (GOLDEN
AGE)
: THEORY OF INEVITABLE PROGRESS
(FOR A BETTER WORLD)
: THEORY OF CHANGE RUNS IN
CYCLES

: OTHERS SUPERNATRAL, RACIAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL

MAN

Dynamic

ENVIRONMENT

RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL CHANGE

o
o
o
o

Stability of folkway, more, social institutions prevalent

Habit
Value attachment
Vested interest

SOCIALIZATION IN HUMANS
SOCIAL INTERACTION
phenomena)

CIVIL INATTENTION (predominantly urban

Why do we need to study socialization & related processes?

The routine of daily life forms the bulk of social activity (microsocialization)

Eventually become larger social systems & institutions (macrosocialization)

COMMUNICATION

Verbal social rules, conversation

Non Verbal facial expressions & body gesture

o

Happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear surprise (these constitute

symbolic notions)

INNATE * INDIVIDUAL * CULTURAL

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY term coined by Harold Garfinkel the folk methods people use to
make sense of what others do and say
Language + Context = shared understanding

Response Cries - slip of the tongues -Sigmund Freud CONTROLLED ALERTNESS

ENCOUNTERS - A life of markers & brackets

Focused interaction

Unfocussed interaction

Dramaturgical model actors on a stage - a recreation of a perception

FRONT REGIONS - formal, stylized roles, on stage performances
BACK REGIONS behind the scene, private,
PROXEMICS (ref. E.T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension) microcultures
- fixed features / semi fixed features / informal
PERSONAL SPACE
Intimate distance
distance

Personal Distance

(1 1.5 ft)

(1.5 4 ft)

Social Distance
(4 12 ft)

Humphrey Osmond Socio Petal & Socio Fugal Star & Grid
SOCIO VARIATIONAL FEATURES

Physical
Voice
Odour (body & mouth)
Physical proximity
Eyes

(> 12 ft)

Public

Inside / outside
REDUNDANCY
Cultural
Religion
Movies
Literature
Architectural
Street patterns (star & grid)
House inside / outside
Doors / windows / rooms
Faade

The concept of the line & the concept of the point.

The nothing space of the ma