Chapter V: How Society Is Organized

Lesson 1: Social Group

Social Group - social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share
similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity.

Primary Group - is typically a small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring
relationships. These groups are marked by members' concern for one another, in shared activities and
culture. Examples include family, childhood friends, and highly influential social groups.

Secondary Group - are groups in which one exchanges explicit commodities, such as labour for wages,
services for payments, etc. Examples of these would be employment, vendor-to-client relationships, etc.

In-group - a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. For example
identify with their peer group, family, community, sports team, political party, gender, religion, or
nation.

Out-group - by contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify.

Reference Group - A reference group is any group that people use as a point of comparison to form their
own attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors.

Network - a network may not be a physical group or a group that is populated by actual people. It is
formed by the social linkage invoked and availed by an individual for some personal, economic, religious,
or political reasons.

Lesson 2: Kinship, Marriage and Household

Kinship - is a social institution that refers to relations formed between members of society. Sociologist
define kinship as the different forms of socially accepted relations among people developed through
blood or consanguineal relationships, marriage or affinal relationships, adoption, and other culturally
accepted rituals.

Types of Kinship

Kinship by Blood - consanguineal kinship or kinship based on blood is considered as the moat basic and
general form of relations.

a. Descent - refers to a biological relationship.

b. Lineage - refers to the line where one's descent is traced

Principles of Descent
1. Unilineal Descent - descent is usually traced by most societies through a single line of ancestors from
either male and female line.

Two Basic Forms of Unilineal Descent

a. Patrilineal - form of descent, both males and females belong to the kin group of their father but they
do not belong to their mother's kin group.

b. Matrilineal - form of descent, focuses on the unilineal descent that is traced through the female line.

2. Bilateral Descent - trace their descent through the study of both parents' ancestors.

Kinship by Marriage - affinal kinship or kinship based on marriage refers to the type of relations
developed when a marriage occurs.

Marriage - is an important social institution wherein two persons, a man and a woman, enter into a
family life.

Marriage Acrosa Cultures

a. Endogamy - compulsory marriage in their own village, community, ethnic, social, or religious group.

b. Exogamy - refers to a marriage custom where an individual is required by society's norms and rules to
marry outside of their own group, community, or social classes.

c. Monogamy - refers to the marriage or sexual partnering custom or practice where an individual has
only one or female partner or mate.

d. Polygamy - refers to the practice of having more than one partner or sexual mate.

Two Types of Polygamy

1. Polygyny - a man has a multiple female partners or mates.

2. Polyandry - a woman has a multiple male partners and mates.

Postmarital Residency Rules

1. Patrilocal - rule of residence occurs when married couples stay in the house of the hesband's relatives
or near the husban's kin.

2. Matrilocal - rule of residnece happens when the couples live with the wife's relatives or near the
wife's kin.

3. Biolocal - residence happens when the newlywed couple stay with the husband's relatives and wife's
kin alternately.
e. Referred Marriage - some find partners through the other people like friends and relatives who act as
matchmakers.

f. Fixed or Arranged Marriage - marriage are not referred but they are arranged by tha parents of the
groom and bride.

Types of Arranged Marriage

1. Child Marriage - it happens when parents arrange for the marriage of their child long before the
marriage takes place. The marriage will consumed in the future.

2. Exchange Marriage - there is a reciprocal form of exchange of spouses between two coubtries, tribes,
or groups.

3. Diplomatic Marriage - occurs when an arranged marriage has been established between two royal or
political families in order to forge a political or diplomatic alliances.

4. Modern Arranged Marriage - the child's parents, with the consent of the child, choose from several
possible mates.

Kinship by Rituals

Compadrazgo - literally translated as "godparenthood," is a ritualized form of forging co-parenthood or

family.

The Family and the Household

Family - basic unit of society. It is made up of a group of individuals who are linked together by marriage,
blood relations or adoptions.

Types of Family

1. Nuclear Family - usually made up of two adults and their socially recognized children.

2. Extended Family - whose members are beyond the nuclear family made up of parents and their
offspring.

3. Blended or Reconstituted Family - where the parents have a child or children from previous marital
relationships but all the members stay and congregate to form a new family unit.

Kinship of Politics

1. Political Dynasty - most politicians elected in public offices and government postions are relatives.
(Anti-Political Dynasty Bill)

2. Political Alliances - poltical parties tend to align and forge cooperation with stronger parties or with
the administration party to ensure victory in the elections.
Lesson 3: Political and Leadership Structures

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

BANDS AND TRIBES

Band - is typically formed by several families living together based on marriage ties, common
descendants, friendship affiliations, and members have a common interest, or enemy. The power
structure within a band is less hierarchical as member families are seen to be equal and there is no class
differentiation based on wealth.

Informal Leadership - is accorded to members who possess certain skills and knowledge such as the gift
of memory, hunting or healing skills, or those other special ability.

Band Fissioning - band splitting along family lines.

Social Velocity - leaving the band to form their own.

Tribe - a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by

social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a
recognized leader.

Pantribal Associations - these come in the form of councils or tribal elders.

Chiefdoms - formal leadership exists and authority rests solely on the members of a select family.

Elite - a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or
society.

Chiefdoms can either be simple or complex

a. Simple Chiefdom - is characterized by a central village or community ruled by a single family.

b. Complex Chiefdom - is compoed of several simple chiefdoms ruled by a single paramount chief
residing in a single paramount center.

Tributary System - elites demand tributes in the form of agricultural crops and produce from the
commoners.

NATIONS AND STATES

Nations - group of people that shared a common history, language, traditions, customs, habits, and
ethnicity. These groups are conscious of their identity and of their potential to become autonomous and
unified.

Scholars refer to nations as either "imagined" or "abstract."

Benedict Anderson - considers a nation as imagined is the sense that nations can exist as a state of mind.
Paul James - considers a nation as abstract. He argues that a nation is objectively impersonal even if
each individual is able to identify with others.

State - is a political unit consisting of a government that has a sovereignity presiding over a group of
people and a well-defined territory.

Citizens - people that comprise a state.

Nation-State - citizen of a state belong to only one nation, such state.

POLITICAL LEGITIMACY AND AUTHORITY

The task of organizing a political community requires the existence of leaders. Leaders, in order to be
effective, need to possess authority that is considered legitimate by the members of the community.

AUTHORITY VIS-À-VIS LEGITIMACY

Authority - is the power to make binding decisions and issue commands.

Legitimacy - is a moral and ethical concept that bestows one who possess power the right to exercise
such power since such is perceived to be justified and proper.

WEBER AND THE TYPES OF LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

Max Weber - identifies three types of authority based ob the source of their legitimacy.

1. Tradiotional Authority - whose legitimacy is derived from well-established customs, habits, and social
structures.

2. Charismatic Authority - whose legitimacy emanates from the charisma of the individual, which for
some can be seen as a "gift of grace," or the possession of "gravitas" or an authority derived from a
"higher power," such as those that are associated with the divine right of kings.

3. Rational-legal or Bureaucratic Authority - draws its legitimacy from formal rules promulgated by the
state through its fundamental and implenting laws.

Lesson 4: Economic Institutions

NONMARKET INSTITUTIONS

Reciprocity - exists when there is an exchange of goods or labor between individual in a community.
Transfer - entails a redistribution of income that is not matched by actual exchange of goods and
services.

Redistribution - can be considered as combination of the features of transfer and reciprocity, where the
economic exchange involves the collection of goods from members , the pooling of these goods, and
then the redistribution of these good among the same members.

MARKET INSTITUTIONS

Market System - is a type of economic system that allows the free flow of goods between and among
private individuals and firms with very limited participation from the government.

Market system characterized by the following:

1. Private Ownership - individuals and firms are encouraged to build factories, till lands, and create new
and better things because they stand to benefit from their own efforts, hard work and creativity.

2. Freedom of Enterprise and Choice - allows all economic actors-whether an entrepreneur, a worker, or
a consumer-to pursue activities that will yield the most benefits for as long as the activities are within
legal limits.

3. Invisible Hand - integrates both the idea of self-interest and competition in the market place, which
brings about a socially optimum result even in the absence of government intervention.

4. Market - is a mechanism and not necessarily a place which brings buyers and sellers together for a
desired transaction.

5. Prices - serve as a signaling device to indicate the value of a good or service to both the buyers and
the sellers and guide their actions on whether they should buy or not or supply more or less.

6. Capital Goods and Technology - the market system rewards technological innovation by bringing more
profits to whomever the idea of a new product or production technique came from.

7. Specialization - critical to a market economy is the ability to produce goods and services effieciently. It
is easier to produce goods more efficiently with specialization. Human specialization is called division of
labor.

8. Use of Money - facilitates an easier exchange between transacting parties.

9. Active but Limited Government - the government is still needed , like when there is a market failure
and a monopoly emerges. The government is also needed to carry out interventions to promote the
welfare of all segments of the economy, which includes those who may not have access to the factors of
production, like land, capital, and even labor.
Market Transaction - involves parties who sell their goods and services in exchange for cash from
consumers.

Free Market Economy - is one where the price of a good or service is determined by the forces of supply
and demand.