Society

Comprises of people who interact in a

defined territory and share common
culture.
or
Large social grouping sharing the same
geographical or virtual territory, subject to
the same political authority and dominant
cultural expectations.
• Members of any given society are united by a
shared and relatively distinctive culture and
networks of social relationships with one
another
Theoretical Perspectives of Society

• Lenski & Lenski– Society & Technology

• Karl Marx– Society and Conflict
• Max Weber– the power of ideas that shapes
society
• Emile Durkheim– Society & Function
• Ibne Khaldun- Cyclic Development of Society
 Community
• a group of interacting people, possibly living in
close proximity, and often refers to a group
that shares some common values.

• It is attributed with social cohesion generally

in social units larger than a household.

• The word can also refer to the national

community or international community
 Lenski & Lenski

They offer ecological and evolutionary

perspective based on a combination of two
elements:
(1) the kind of environment to which the
society must adapt, and
(2) its level of technological development.
 Lenski & Lenski
• They call societal development as
sociocultural evolution
– “ the changes that occur as society gains new
technology”
• Technology: knowledge that a society applies
to the task and art of living in physical
environment
• "It has become appallingly obvious that our
technology has exceeded our humanity." -
Albert Einstein
 Five general types of societies

– Hunting & Gathering Societies

– Horticultural & Pastoral Societies
– Agrarian Societies
– Industrial Societies
– Postindustrial Societies
 Hunting & Gathering Societies

• Simple technology for hunting animals and

gathering vegetation
• Little control over environment
• Living in small bands of a few dozen people
• Kinship is the key organizing principle of these
societies- Family the only institution
• Some specialization related to age and sex but
men and women having about same social
importance
• They use simple weapons
 Horticultural & Pastoral Societies
• 10000 to 12000 years ago new technology of
horticulture and pastorals
• It increased food production i.e material surplus
• Not everyone had to secure food so new
professions emerged and barter system
developed
• The concept of ‘God as Creator’, ‘Khudawand’,
‘Parwerdegar’ and ‘Rab’ emerged
• ‘My God is my Shepherd.’
• A formal system of social inequality emerged
• A simple govt with military backing emerged
 Agrarian societies
• About 5000 years ago the technology of large scale farming using
plows and then tractors
• Innovations– irrigation, wheel, writing, numbers, and use of metals
• Permanent settlements
• Increasing production means greater specialization
• Money replaced barter system
• Greater social inequality
• Peasants and slaves made up a larger portion of population
• Elites, free from manual work, study philosophy, art, literature and
discover leisure time activities- the high culture
• Patriarchal social organization
• Religion reinforced influence and status of agricultural elites
• Elites gain social, economic, and military power
 Industrial Societies
• Use of sophisticated machinery with advanced sources
of power- the machine age
• Human and animal power was replaced with natural
energy resources
• More complex social organization and greater
occupational specialization
• Women at work places- family disturbances
• Rural-Urban divide
• Urban anonymity and cultural diversity
• Social unrest and revolutions
• Emergence of subcultures and countercultures
• Religion lost its importance
 Postindustrial Societies
• Technology that supports an information-based
economy- the Information Revolution
• New skill sets and work patterns emerged
• Cyber societies
• Virtual society, a society based on online identity,
which is evolving in the information age.
• Online offices
• Dot Com culture
• Service industries include government, research,
education, health, sales, law, banking, and so on
 Conclusion & the future
• Today, these types are often combined in various
ways (for example, industrializing horticultural
and agrarian societies today, such as Ghana and
Brazil)
• Nanotechnology
• Machine intelligence
• Space exploration and technology
• The mental life of human beings has been
transformed by modern developments
 Karl Marx
“the mental attitude of the people is the
product of material conditions”

*Conflict between classes- Haves and have-nots

*Social conflict- the struggle between segments

of society over valued resources
*It ignites social change
 Karl Marx- Society and Conflict
– Conflict and history-major engine of change is conflict rooted in a
society’s system of production
• Master vs Slaves- horticultural & Pastoral societies
• Feudals vs Serfs- agricultural societies
• Bourgeoisie vs Proletariat or Capitalists vs workers- industrial capitalist
societies
• Informed/Knowledge people vs lessinformed/ ignorants- information rich
societies (post industrial societies)
– Society and production
• Capitalists- people who own factories and other productive
enterprises
• Profit maximization- the capitalist’s mindset
• Proletariat- people who provide the labor
• Conflict between owners and workers
 Marx’s Model of Society
Superstructure
The dialectical
interaction
Material
between
conditions
Ideas values norms economic
determine
infrastructure
ideological
& normative
conditions
superstructure
Social institutions leads society
through
various
Technology and social process of revolutionary
economic production stages

Infrastructure
 Marx ..conti
• Marx believe that political system, family, religion and education
generally operate to support society’s economy
• Marx understood that inherent within capitalism was also a system
of power: it is both economic and political

– Actions undertaken in the name of economic necessity disguise

political decisions
– while dealing with inflation, raising interest rates protects the wealthy,
while causing unemployment among the poor.

• Materialism- how human experiences are shaped by material goods

they produce i.e mode of production shapes the society and culture

• Capitalist common sense vs False consciousness

• False consciousness- explanation of social problems in terms of
shortcomings of individuals rather than the flaws of society
 Capitalism and class conflict
• Class conflict is the antagonism between
entire classes over the distribution of society’s
wealth and power
• Workers must replace false consciousness
with class consciousness- the recognition
among workers of their unity and sense of a
class against capitalism
 Capitalism and Alienation
• Alienation- the social experience of isolation and
misery resulting from powerlessness
• 4 different ways in which capitalism and capitalist
societies alienate workers;
– Alienation from the act of working
– Alienation from products of work
– Alienation from other workers
– Alienation from human potential
• a man brings his ‘labour-power’ to market for sale as a
commodity
• The less he is attracted by the nature of the work, and
the mode in which it is carried on, the less, therefore,
he enjoys it.
• The result is SOCIALIST REVOLUTION
 Socialism
• An economic and political system based on
public or collective ownership of the means of
production. Socialism emphasizes equality
rather than achievement, and values workers
by the amount of time they put in rather than
by the amount of value they produce. It also
makes individuals dependent on the state for
everything from food to health care.
 Communism
• a theory or system of social organization in which all
property is owned by the community and each person
contributes and receives according to their ability and
needs.
• In a way, communism is an extreme form of socialism.
• "Socialism" is sometimes used interchangeably with
"communism" but the two philosophies have some
stark differences. Most notably, while communism is a
political system, socialism is primarily an economic
system that can exist in various forms under a wide
range of political systems.
 Max Weber
there is a close relationship between the religious beliefs of the
people and their economic activities.

He defined sociology as a study of human behavior, influenced

by the society’s value system which leads to social action.
 Max Weber- Idealism
• Human ideas-(beliefs, values, norms, outlook
of life)-shape society
• Two types of ideals--- Tradition vs Rationality
• Rationalization of society- the historical
change from tradition to rationality as the
dominant mode of human thought
• It’s the willingness of people to adopt the
latest technology
• Traditional cultures ignore or even resist
technological innovation
Weber’s great thesis : Protestantism & Capitalism
• Weber asserts that industrial capitalism is the legacy of
Calvinism
• Calvinists approached life in a very disciplined and
rational way.
• Predestination and Calvinists’ struggle for salvation
– Predestination i.e. God has predestined some people for
salvation and others for damnation
– Thus, the lives of Calvinists were framed by hopeful visions
of spiritual salvation and fears of eternal damnation
– Why should not those chosen for glory in the next world
see signs of divine favor in this world?
• Protestant ethics became capitalists business ethics
 Protestant Ethics- “work is worship”

Religious Ethics Business Ethics

• Industry
• Temperance
• Prudence
• Integrity
• Economy
• Punctuality
• Courage
• Perseverance
 Rational Social Organization
• Traditional authority rests on belief in established practices
and traditions

• Rational-legal authority rests on rules and laws.

• Characteristics of rational social organization

– Distinctive social institutions
– Large-scale organizations- rational bureaucracies
– Specialized tasks
– Personal discipline
– Awareness of time
– Technical competence
– Impersonality
- rationality and alienation
 Bureaucracy: Definitions
• An organizational model rationally designed to perform
complex tasks efficiently. (Macionis)

• The type of organization designated to accomplish

large-scale administrative tasks by systematically
coordinating the work of many individuals.
(Blau & Meyer)

• Any large organization, public or private, characterized

by a clearly defined hierarchy of impersonal offices to
which persons are appointed based on technical
qualifications and through which they are subject to
strict discipline and control. (Weber)
27
 Characteristics of Bureaucracy
• Max Weber identified six key elements of the
ideal bureaucratic organization:
– Specialization (Fixed division of labor)
– Hierarchy of offices
– Rational-legal authority (Rules & regulations)
– Technical Competence
– Impersonality
– Formal written communications

28
 Criticism
• Recognizing bureaucracy as the most efficient form of
organization, and even indispensable for the modern
state, Weber also saw it as a threat to individual
freedoms.

• Parsons (1947) and Gouldner (1954) note that Weber

said authority rests both in the "legal incumbency of
office" and on "technical competence". This works if
superiors have more knowledge and skills, but often
this is not the case.

• Bureaucrats consider individuals as cases and not as

human beings.
29
 Criticism
• Bureaucracy and responsiveness- Red tapism,
delays, inefficiency, corruption
• Although bureaucracies are established to serve
the society, but with the passage of time as
bureaucracies get maturer, the society become
dependent of them
• Rules become ends in themselves instead of
means toward end i.e service delivery
• Impersonality, sometimes, becomes almost
impossible as public office holders are human
beings not machines
30
Emile Durkheim
 Emile Durkheim: Introduction
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) is considered one of the
"fathers" of sociology
• He emphasized that all social phenomena could be
recorded & studied as social facts

• A social fact is every way of acting, capable of

exercising on the individual an external constraint

• Social facts are the social structures and cultural norms

and values that are external to, and coercive over,
individuals.
• Social facts are not attached to any particular
individual; nor are they reducible to individual
consciousness.

• Thus, social facts can be studied empirically

• social facts have an independent existence

greater and more objective than the actions of
the individuals that compose society

• Social facts can be material or immaterial

 Emile Durkheim: Society has it’s own existence

• The totality of beliefs and sentiments common

to the average members of a society forms a
determinate system with a life of its own.
• It can be termed the collective or common
consciousness of the society.
• Collective consciousness is of key importance
to the society
 Society & Function
• Structure: society beyond ourselves
– Patterns of human behavior exist as
established structures- the social facts
– Society has power to guide its members
– There are social situations that exist apart
from any particular individual
– Once created by individuals society takes on
a life of its own & demands obedience.
 Society & Function

• Function: society as a system

– Social facts help society to function as a complex
system
• Individuals feel pain and loss due to criminal
act of its member(s) but crime is vital to the
ongoing life of society itself.
• When society defines certain acts as criminal
only then people construct ideas of morality
and collectively defend them
 Society & Function
• Personality: society in ourselves
– Every person builds a personality by internalizing
social facts
– Society regulates our behavior through moral
discipline
– The least regulated as well as over regulated
people tend to be more deviant
 Evolving societies
• Modernity and anomie
– Modern societies impose fewer restrictions on its
members which results in;
– anomie: a condition in which society provides
little moral guidance to its individuals
• Evolving societies: the division of labor
– Traditional societies have collective conscience so
strong that bind people together
– This system is called Mechanical Solidarity
– In Modern Societies solidarity is organic and is
based on specialization i.e division of labour
 Suicide
• “ every case of death resulting directly or
indirectly from a positive or negative death
performed by the victim himself and which
strives to produce this result.”
 Suicide
• Durkheim observed that the suicide rate was
higher among Protestants than Catholics.

• He argued that stronger social control among

Catholics results in lower suicide rates

• He also observed that men were more suicidal

than women, urban dwellers more than rural
dwellers and the socially mobile more than
the socially stable.
 Types of suicide
• Egoistic
– The conflict between individual’s desires and group
authority denying the fulfillment of desires of an
individual.
– It is due to lack of integration
• Altruistic
– The sacrifice done by an individual for the sake of a group,
nation or religion.
– It results due to over-integration
• Anomic
– An individual act of committing suicide due to anomie. e.g.
social disorder, economic depression
– It is due to social disintegration.
• He argued that those groups who were most
suicidal were also less well socially integrated and
experienced greater ambiguity about how to
behave and what is right and wrong.
• He theorized that one of the explanations for
suicidal behavior was a sense of normlessness ; a
disconnectedness of individuals from their social
world.
• Of course, there may have been other ways of
accounting for these observations but at least
Durkheim's explanation was consistent with the
facts.
 Conclusion
• In the simpler societies, people are connected
to others due to personal ties and traditions

• In the larger, modern society people are

connected due to increased reliance on others

• Because the specialized tasks are performed

by relevant people needed for the modern,
highly complex society to survive
• Durkheim discusses how modern society is
held together by a division of labor that makes
individuals dependent upon one another
because they specialize in different types of
work.
• Durkheim believed that society is the source
of morality
• therefore society could be reformed especially
through moral education
Ibn-e-Khaldun
 Ibn-e-Khaldun
• Abu Zayd Abdel Rahman Ibn Khaldun, a 14th
century Arab Muslim philosopher
• He wrote that humans developed from ‘the
world of the monkeys’ through a widening
process in which ‘species become more
numerous’
• He unveiled his ‘science of culture’
• His contributions accorded him with the title
‘the real father of sociology’.
• Arnold Toynbee calls Ibn Khaldun’s philosophy of
history ‘the greatest work of its kind that has ever
been created by any mind in any time or place’

• Ibn Khaldun’s theory of society was put forward

in The Muqaddimah or “Prolegomena”

• The core aspect of his theory involved the

explanation of human co-operation and conflict
 The Muqadimmah of Ibn Khaldun
• The Muqadimmah is essentially a sociological work;
– a sociology of politics;
– a sociology of urban life;
– a sociology of economics; and
– a sociology of knowledge

• The Moqadimah is an explanation of the patterns of human

relationships in connection with environment.

• Ibn Khaldun attempted to understand the causes of changes around

him

• He concluded that societies are living organisms that experience

cyclic birth, growth, maturity, decline, and ultimately death due to
universal causes
• In his theory, Ibn Khaldun talked about human
needs.
• human needs are derived from the nature of
man.
• Man needs to eat and drink. He also has to have
clothes and find a place to live in.
• So there are some natural needs due to the very
nature of man i.e. elementary and basic needs.
• The desire to fulfill these needs results in a
further use of his knowledge and intellect.
• Therefore secondary needs- production needs-
arise
• He further talked about the nature of
production and the necessity of cooperation
amongst the members of the society to fulfill
the production needs

• Production is characterized by
interdependence and interaction in the
production process

• It is not possible for an individual alone to

fulfill his needs through production process
 Ibn Khaldun’s view of societal development
The changes Each stage
in society has its
follow a
clockwise
Birth peculiar
social,
pattern economic, &
political
All the potential characteristics
of human Death Growth
progress &
cultural Society is a
development living
logically follow organism and
from man’s process of
desire to satisfy
his higher
Decline social
needs specially Maturity evolution
when his basic works on it
needs are
fulfilled
• He also described the process through which
peaceful or violent migrants blend with the native
population.

• He correctly associated the maturity stage of any

social system with affluence, luxury and
reluctance to perform menial tasks.

• This led to the employment of foreigners and

mercenaries, which initiated the conflicts that
lead to the decline phase.
• The work is based around his central concept
of ‘asabiyah’- social cohesion.
• The concept of “asabiyah" (Arabic: 'tribalism',
'clanism', 'communitarism' or in a modern
context 'nationalism')
• The asabiyah arises spontaneously in tribes
and other small kinship groups
• it can be intensified and enlarged by a
religious ideology
• His analysis looks at how this cohesion carries groups
to power but contains within itself the seeds of the
group’s downfall, to be replaced by a new group,
dynasty or empire bound by a stronger cohesion

• The bond, Asabiyyah, exists at any level of civilization,

from nomadic society to states and empires

• The asabiyah weakens as society grows and develops

• He identified the impact of climate and available

resources on migrations and social changes.
• He also identified the impact of governmental
policy and taxation on social change.

• The chief concern of his work was to identify

psychological, economic, environmental and
social facts that contribute to the
advancement of human civilization.
 Conclusion
• earlier writers interpreted history largely in a
political context
• he emphasized environmental, sociological,
psychological and economic factors governing
the apparent events.
• This revolutionized the science of history and
laid the foundation of Umraniyat (sociology)
• Ibn Khaldun richly influenced writers and
philosophers of Enlightenment Era