Sociology – it views human behavior a consequence of man being a social being.

- came from a Latin term socius which means companion or associate, and logos a Greek term for study.

- the study of man in relation with his companions or associates.

Like other social scientists, sociologists and psychologists are interested in the study of human behaviour but they differ presumably in one fundamental count. While sociologists tend to study the whole human society, as well as specific groups, institutions, and social organizations, psychologist seem to focus their concern on just single entity – the individual person

Our society has pervasive effects on our attitudes and manifested behaviors – more specifically on the way we think, feel, and act. So far-reaching its effects that Peter Berger considered it to be a “forbidding prison” and its members its “easy captives”.

In this connection, he raised the following significant points:Society does not only determines what we do but also what we are.It supplies our values, our logic and the store of information that constitutes our knowledge.Our language is not chosen by ourselves but imposed upon us by the particular social group that is in charge of our initial socialization. Society predefines for us that fundamental symbolic apparatus with which we grasp the world, order our experience, and interpret our own experience.

Our emotions and self-interpretation like our actions are predefined for us by society.

It not only control our movements, but shapes our identity, our thoughts and our emotions. The structures of society become the structures of our own consciousness.

It antedates us and it will survive us. It was there before we were born and it will be there after we are dead. Our lives are but episodes in its majestic march through time. In sum, society is the walls of our imprisonment in history.

Sociology considered the youngest social science, is classified as such because it has nothing to do with human beings in their living together and dealing with one another. It treat man’s relations with his fellowmen, seeking to explain how humans fit their activities together in orderly ways.

Sociology is dynamic and its dynamic lies on how people actually relate with one another.

Sociology was founded amidst conditions of widespread unrest and turbulence in Europe. The people then were decisively ripe for social change since they had been through a long period of stagnation and indecision. Ever since its inception, this discipline has primarily focused on the behaviour of people as members of society as they are greatly influenced by various social events. The manner they act and react is not incidental but it is rather consequential.

“Man is one but he is too many.” A paradox that is sociologically acceptable, meaning that all human beings have exactly the same needs but meeting such needs entails different, varied ways. For instance, all men eat but they differ in the kind of food they eat, in preparing it, and even the manner of eating it. The Chinese, for example, use the chopsticks; the Americans, use spoon and fork; and hosts of others, with their bare hands

As a synthesizing science, it attempts to come up with certain generalizations about human interactions and association, and about the nature, form, content, and structure of human groups and a particular society. In looking at human relationship, the sociologist looks at its encompassing and unifying aspects. It is in this account that makes it the direct opposite of history. While history is a particularizing and individualizing discipline, sociology is a generalizing one.

As a pure science, sociology aims to provide knowledge about human society, not the utilization of that knowledge. A sociologist is like a physicist who does not build bridges but provide engineers with the theoretical framework so they can put up concrete structures. He seeks knowledge, not social reforms. His is to study the society, not to change it. However, this study can produce information useful to others like the administrators, the legislators, the diplomats, the law enforcers, the guidance counselors, the social workers, and also the common citizens.

The traditional view of sociology lies on orienting it at the societal level – how the social structures and processes affect the behavior of every individual. However, a re-definition of this discipline is recently emerging and evolving. Sociology is defined as the study of the agreements that people make, organize, break, and change it. It is also the study of disagreements.

Sociology is not only macro but also holistic. Its studies all aspects of society from time of human conception to the time of death. Obviously, every aspect of group activity becomes great concern of every sociologist. Making sociology a subject that claims to deal with every aspect of man’s social life. It covers extremely broad range that includes aspects of human social conditions like population studies, social behavior, social institutions, cultural influences, and social change.

As a categorical discipline, it is a body of knowledge about human society, and not a system of ideas and values. It describes society for what it is not and what it should be or ought to be. It studies how men actually behave and treat one another, without trying to say what they ought to do. It does not decide on the directions in which society ought to go but rather it sees the presents realities about the society that may lead up to a certain direction.

When two people meet in the streets, they don’t form a society, neither do a group of people sitting in the park. It is only when these people link together, connect ideas and mind that a society is formed. Thus, society is living associated with others, those so living companionship, company, association, club, people taken collectively.

Just like a system, society is also made up of interrelated parts. It is made up of orderly combination or arrangements of parts into a whole. In a system, everything has a connection or manner of connection of parts as related to the whole. Similarly, a society is a state or quality of being in order. In a plan, everything and everybody fits perfectly. What happens to a part has implications to other parts and system as a whole. It is composed of the sum of parts plus the relations among them.

Therefore, a society according to the functionalist point of view, is “a vast network of connected parts, each of which contributes to the maintenance of the system as a whole.” It is a system of usages, a totality made up of interrelated and inter-dependent parts. It is a collection of people who feel bound together. The following are the elements of a system:1.Societies consist of a number of parts.2.These parts are interdependent so that changes in one part produces in at least one another part.3.That there will be a tendency for these parts to maintain some degree of equilibrium, balance, stabilities, steadiness in their relationships through the system.

“Society as a social system” has been the most and accepted manner of defining society. A social system, meanwhile, an organized set of interdependent social persons, activities, or forces. It maintains equilibrium or constancy among people. Similarly, a society is a special social system aiming for balance through interactions between individuals. Society under this category, is basically a system wherein interactions among group of people are vital, thus forming social relationships that become the primary foundation of the society

Even if such social interrelations exist, a society will not exist unless there is a commonality or, specifically, a shared culture within a particular group. This is because society as a term cannot be separately considered apart from the concept of culture. A society could not exist without a culture, for it would simply disintegrate, and similarly, a culture cannot exist without a society to maintain it.

Society is an organized collectivity of interacting people whose activities become centered around a set of common goals. It is a number of persons united for common interest and companionship. It may also be defined as a group of human beings cooperating in the pursuit of several of their major interests, which includes self-maintenance and self-perpetuation. Society as a goal-attaining mechanism gives us a clear picture of how a society should really be instead of being merely a group of people gathered in one place but may have contradicting goals in life.

Having a system of relationships, common qualities, and a collective goal are not enough to be able to understand the concept of society. One must consider that society is a unique but patterned system. Society or institutions represents the organized and patterned interactions among diverse individuals. It is made up o independent individuals, capable of free action and choice, guided by various desires and therefore bound to clash and disagree.

Society being unique and pattered does not actually show us its context on larger scale. Adopted from Peter Berger’s concept, society is now taken as totality which seems to be greater than itself. The concept of society includes continuity, complex associational relationships, and a composition including representatives of fundamental human types, specifically men, women, and children. According to Alfred Comte, it is no more decomposable into individuals than a geometric surface is into lines, or a line into points.

Parsons defined society as “a type of social system, in any universe of social systems, which attains the highest level of self-sufficiency as a system in relation to its environments.” It possesses the characteristics of political independence, that is a society is not a subsystem of any other system. It can also be seen as a relatively independent or self-sufficient population characterized by internal organization, territoriality, cultural distinctiveness and sexual recruitment.

As an ever-changing arrangement, society then contains variables that make it as such. Society is made up of characteristics created by human beings and are learned and modified by each new generation. It is a system which is in a continual state of conflict. Because of this, all societies evolve complex cultures that serve as a script to guide the many details of daily life. Moreover, we reshape society which we leave the next generation. It is also a web of social relationships characterized by an every changing complex system.

A society constitutes a wide scope of people. Having many assemblies of people makes it possible to form a society which becomes the “mother” group of these sub-groups. Society is an organized collectivity of persons, made up of a network of interconnected groups and organizations, which constitutes the structure of the society. It is not simply a series of interacting individuals. A society then can be categorized as such for it presents to us different hubs of people which serve as concrete manifestations of the orderly interaction between many thousands of people and groups.

Society does not actually dictate rather it serves a guide for the people in order to become better individual. Society is an organization which limits the activities of men by setting up standards for them to follow and maintain; whatever the imperfections and tyrannies it has exhibited in human history, it is a necessary condition with every fulfillment of life. It is a set of external constraining forces by which we are to judge the acceptability of political ideology.

Society in this category, may seem vague and quite idealistic at first glance. But then, one will discover truth in this with the following definitions below. Without society, we simply would face away for it is the dominant partner of the individual. It also gives content direction, and meaning to our lives. Also, every society has to meet certain fundamental requirements if it is to survive and provide a satisfying life for its members. Society is also a nurturant and supportive for the individual.

“God is society and society is God.” Society does not only made up of individuals and their surroundings but also an orderly divine will at work in nature and society. Interaction in the society as a consequence, tends to have a deeper emotional significance. In simpler terms, society becomes the primary element in achieving oneness with the divine being. It doesn’t necessarily mean that society is based on Catholicism, or any religion for that matter. It only suggest that society, because it consists of people that are united in God, as a result becomes a symbol of the Lord as well.

Society is not state of cooperation, harmony, peace and order but conflict and division as well. It is a struggle between the patricians and the plebeians, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the dominating group and subordinating group, capitalists and the laborers, and others. Society means a system which is in a continual state of conflict. The groups and individuals persons composing the society are believed to have conflicting interests and are continuously involved in a highly contested struggle.

People group together because they have something in common. They have the same interests, living in a common dwelling and have likeness and identified themselves with one another. This commonality binds them resulting in the formation of a society. Through this, society means a number of persons in a community regarded as forming a class having certain common interests, status. It is the broadest grouping of people who have a certain common set of habits, ideas and attitudes or cultures.

Two universal uniquely human characteristics:1.- our propensity for making extensive use of symbols (Goodman, 1978)

- our ability to create and sustain culture (Goodman, 1978)2.- man creates culture, which animal counterparts do not, or cannot

- but culture, in turn, creates us

We construct a social environment of our own, inventing and sharing the rules and patterns of behavior that shape our lives, and we use whatever knowledge we have acquired in modifying that environment. Shared culture is what makes our so-called social life possible. Speaking thus far, what is “culture”? What makes it so special that human existence will be quite difficult without it? What comprises culture?

Culture is both a body of content and a set of relationships, in such a way that language is a set of semantic content and a set of syntactic relations.

Culture is the systematic compilation of elements in every aspect of a person’s life as a result of his co-existence with other people of his kind.

Three major components of culture

1.Materials. Most obvious part of the legacy; it being the tangible part of culture; these are the works of art, the paintings, sculptures, artifacts, etc. Material culture becomes part of the totality of society’s physical environment.2.Cognitive. Body of shared thoughts, values, and standards of desirability, as well as the criteria for distinguishing good from bad, acceptable from unacceptable. These are mostly found in mores and folkways.3.Normative. Shared rules of conduct, directing what should and should not e done.

Culture is compared to a map which obviously not a concrete piece of land but rather an abstract representation of a particular area. If culture is properly portrayed, one will realize the existence of the distinctive feature of a way of life and their interrelationships. Culture serves as the outline of a group of people, as to how the members should go abut their lives.

Culture is the sum of the learned customs, beliefs, values, knowledge, artifacts, and symbols that are communicated constantly among a set of people who shares a common way of life.

Man is born a tabula rasa, a blank tablet. What he is, what he knows is not genetically transmitted, but rather socially acquired. Man learns things. One thing is clear, culture is not innate, instinctive or acquired through the biological heritage, but rather through his social environment.

A symbol of any object or sign that produces a shared social response.

Culture is a system of meaningful symbols that people in society create, store and use to organize their affairs (Turner, 1978). It is the sum total of meaning and life-style among persons who live with each other in a society. It is the shared meanings among the constituents of a society. Culture includes all modes of thought an behavior that are handed down by communication – i.e., by symbolic transmission – rather than by genetic inheritance.

Culture is personality writ large. there are two aspects of social life.

These are learned and shared, the most important variables necessary to comprehend the nature of human endeavor in any society.

in analyzing any social organization and, in this case, any society, it is helpful to conceive of culture as combining six types of shared knowledge ----

1. Symbol. Communication is possible only if the persons involved attribute the same meaning to stimuli such as sounds, gesture, or objects.

2. Technology. Material technology refers to knowledge of how to make and use things. Social technology is the knowledge about how to establish, maintain, and operate the technical aspects of social organization.

3. Roles. Behavioral expectations for those who occupy social positions in a society.

4. Ideologies. These are shared beliefs about the physical, social and metaphysical word.

5. Societal norms. These are societal prescriptions for how one is to act in given situations.

6. Values. These are the criteria used in evaluating objects, acts, feelings, or events as to their relative desirability, merit, or correctness.

Man is a social being, and because he coexists with his fellowmen, there is an interaction that occurs. Due to this interaction, man as a group, creates outputs, the fruits of their life together. The result of man’s living together is what sociologists call culture. Because men live in different societies with different cultural characteristics, they produce products distinctly of their own group.

The selectivity out of the potentialities afforded by human nature and physical surroundings and within the limits set by biological and physical nature is channeled by the historical process. Culture is omnipresent. It existed before we came and will survive us even after our death. The individuals in a group serve as the heirs of this social inheritance. While culture is viewed as an inheritance, it is priceless and no amount of money in the world can buy culture. It is handed down from generation to generation surviving hundreds, if not thousands of years, and modified through the years to serve its purpose, making it richer each generation.

Human beings are world -- building creatures and culture is the world they build. Each culture is a precipitate of history from the materials supplied by human biology and the natural environment to which human organisms must make certain minimal adjustments for survival. Man must protect himself, and for this reason, man must create instrument that will enable him to endure the various difficulties he may encounter, and will encounter in life.

Culture is like the beads in a necklace, beads, when scattered cannot serve their purpose unless they are linked by a chain. The same is true with culture which links people together for a common goal. An individual does not create culture, instead, he must be part of a group first, a group wherein he is at ease. Man cannot, by himself exist adequately. He needs other people, just as other people need him. An individual identifies himself with the culture he is born into, and he is identified by the culture.

How does culture work to constrain individuals? How does it become internalized in people so that their actions are controlled? Somehow, culture operates not only outside individuals but also inside them. Sigmund Freud recognized this process when he conceptualized the “Superego” as that part of the personality structure that inhibits people from committing acts considered wrong by their parents, a group, or the society as a whole (Eitzen, 1985).

SOCIALIZATION

CHAPTER: 3

Man is social in being. He is always subject to human contact and relations. Infants need their mothers so that they could be fed. Teenagers indulge in special forms of relationships with the opposite sex. Adults marry and raise their own children. In other words, people need each other. Because of this reality, the term socialization was coined.

From etymological derivation, it means the action, process and the result of relating with others.

Social – formation of interdependence relationships with fellows

Ization – action, process and or result of

People in different societies are potentially similar at birth but are taught different ways of communicating, expressing emotions, making decisions, caring for infants, and engaging in recreations. From the point of view of society, socialization is the way culture is transmitted and the individual is fitted into an organized way of life.

Through socialization, a society’s agreements are transmitted from one generation to the next. Socialization does not only aim to transmit culture to generations of members in any given society, it also strives for society’s continuity. Society is perpetuated by socialization, during which the wide potential of human beings is channeled into culturally approved directions.

The perpetuation of any society relies heavily on the successful transmission of cultural traits and characteristics to the succeeding generations of members. As such “socialization is the process by which the individual learns to conforms to the norms of his social group, acquires a status and plays a corresponding role. It includes “the knowledge and skills of the cultural patterns and of social relations in the society or subgroup but its foundations lie deeper still.”

In the course of socialization, the individuals learns a language, enters a network of social interaction, learns the values, and norms of the cultures, acquires technological skills, and becomes familiar with territory. Socialization is a matter of learning, not a biological inheritance. The process of socialization shapes an individual’s behavior patterns through the training that he or she receives from the society.

Technology is the body of methods for obtaining desirable goods and services by material means. Every culture has an extensive technology without which it could not continue. In order to participate in a technology, individuals most not only learn the necessary skills but more importantly, develop attitudes that complement them.

Socialization inculcates basic disciplines. It teaches skills, providing the individual with basic preparation for participation in adult activities. The preparation involves many complex skills or bits of knowledge that adults must master to cope up with their physical or social environments. The term socialization refers to all processes by which anyone – from infancy to old age – acquires her or his social skills, roles, and norms.

As a members of society, individuals occupy several social positions in the various institutional areas. Social roles are culturally defined. It contains the expectations of how individuals in a particular status will behave properly in any given situation. Socialization teaches social roles and their supporting attitudes. It is the process in which the individuals is taught how to perform in the various roles attached to his or her statuses.

It trains a person in the values, skills, and attitudes required for adequate performance of status role making him qualified for interaction in a given social system. Through socialization we do acquire the values, attitudes, motivations, and emotions that go with a given role. Socialization teaches social roles and their supporting attitudes. Socialization forms the human raw material of society into good working members.

The learning process of infants are made into normal human beings, possessed of culture and able to participate in social relation called socialization. This process which literally means to be “made social”, begins at birth and continues until death – we never cease to be shaped by our interactions with others. Only through socialization is human potential made actual.

Socialization is basically, how man as biological organism becomes fully human under the socializing influences of custom, culture, and group of life. During socialization the individual learns to think of himself or herself as a human self who has a personality. Each person develops a self as a result of socialization. It shapes the individual’s personality in accordance with the standards and values of the society.

Socialization is a life-long process – the biological and social sequence of birth, childhood, maturity, old age, and death. At each stage, we continually encounter new or changing conditions, both personal and social, and must learn to adjust to them. Socialization is continuous, it takes place throughout life, starting as soon as the infant leaves the womb and continuing until death. The initial socialization of the newborn infant a culture-bearing human being is a process that occurs only once in a normal life history.

Socialization is fundamentally a conservative process – lending support to the persistence of established agreements – it often serves as a source of change in society. Socialization can be force for change in the interaction between the socializing agents and the person being socialized. It can also result in social change whenever a groups official culture differs from what actually goes on in the group.

Chapter 4:SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

In the sociological context, a social institutions is much more than a part of infrastructure or a group of people. Without social institutions, there would be a complete deterioration of society and its culture. They are responsible for the needs of man, the most general of which is the formal or informal education of the succeeding generations of the practices, which are most beneficial to the society as a whole.

Social institutions, though of various forms, structures, and organizational procedures, embody one general function important to every society: the fulfillment of the basic human needs. These needs may be for goal-attainment, for moral and emotional maintenance, for adaptation, for the perpetuation of a species, or for integration of the individuals into the whole.

Hence, social institutions may be appropriately defined as patterns of behavior, systems of norms, cluster of values, or organizational structures, which center around the basic human needs. Social institutions, of course, are not only the systems which control people and action, but are also the sum of these actions controlled by the systems.

Social institutions are purposive ways of behavior through which people in association with one another get things done, purposive in the sense that each has its objective or goal – the satisfaction of social needs. They are set of practices that are recognized as carrying out activities that are essential to meet the social needs. They are systems of values, normative stipulations, and a set of goals which structure the actions of human beings who are collectively involved in the production of and exchange of some set of commodities.

They are systems of required concerted, cooperative, and reciprocal practices or activities whereby the people concerned satisfy their individual and social needs. They are structures that meet some persistent need or want. They are patterns of organization that determine the way people resolve some of their basic problems, and deal with the problems of life and survival as species.

Social institutions are organized to facilitate social control over people, especially given situations which are part of a patter, situations which have occurred similar before. Social institutions are complex normative patterns governing behavior in certain fundamental and recurring situations. They are the systems of control or, approved forms of procedure characteristics of a group activity.

It is not only the system which control people and action, but are also the sum of these actions controlled by the systems. According to Broom (1955), they are activities characterized by formal, impersonal rules. Social institutions, then, are regulatory patterns. They are interrelated groups of guides and directions for complex behavior patterns that make up a large part of the social structure in the society.

Social institutions are put up as an answer to certain need of society. It is an organizations of forms of procedure enabling people in a society to satisfy one or more of their long-ranged essential needs. According to the sociologists, social institutions are organizations, usually public or charitable ones, that serve public rather than private interests and do so in an accepted, orderly and enduring way.

Social institutions themselves are organized parts of society and culture, organized in a way which best suits the needs of the many. They are the comparatively permanent habits, attitudes, and material facilities which are organized into intricate and standardized systems and complexes. They are systems of interrelated folkways and laws are organized clusters of folkways centered around major human needs.

Social institutions are organizations, and yet they may also be attributed to the people who make up the said organizations. Social institutions are internal clusters of people and culture devoted to fulfilling primary social needs. It also act as the actors which embody the roles through which norms are specified and put into effect. They are well established groups or social practices that have endured a long time and thus have developed more planned forms of structured interaction.

They are groups characterized by formal, impersonal rules that embody the fundamental values of society. They are types of interacting human groupings having similar characteristics and purposes. They are groups characterized by formal, impersonal rules that embody the fundamental values of society.

In a given society, certain practices, when undergone continuously through a long period of time, become well-established. This means to say that they are accepted and adopted by the entire society as the most practical and beneficial things to do, and are passed down to the succeeding generations. They then become established patterns of behavior, and in turn, characteristics of the actions of the members of that society.

These established patterns, if they embody the function of social institutions for fulfilling societies basic needs, are social institutions. They are established laws, cut-offs, practices and systems, characteristics of a group or activity. They are social practices that established, patterned and predictable and that are supported by custom, tradition and/or law.

Norms are those practices which are accepted as “normal” types of behavior and roles by the majority of the members of a given society. Social institutions are those sets of interrelated norms, “normative system” which are centered around some type of human activity or some major problem of man in society. They are the embodiment of many norms which represent the established ways in which the members of society meet an important societal need.

They are sets of social processes and activities, including the norms or values they express or embody, focused on some major societal goal. They are complex networks or norms and relationships that make human society stable and thus possible. They are interrelated clusters of meanings and values. They are stable clusters of values, norms, roles and expectations that develop around the basic needs of society.

Social institutions are not only groups of people but the abstract totality of the relationships and interactions which occur between two individuals or groups of individuals. It is the system of social relationship and cultural elements that have developed in a society in response to some set of basic persistent needs. They embody the ultimate values of people. They are the interactions of people in groups.

They are groups of method between individual and groups reliable and durable in spite of all tendencies to the contrary. Important in the definition of “culture” is the point that they are transmitted through generations. Social institutions, too, are evidently passed on in much the same manner, as they are patterns of behavior that are transmitted.

Culture is defined as the collection of shared ways of thinking and believing that grow out of a group experience and are passed from one generation to the next. As the sum total of the values and norms of a society, social institutions are part of the culture. In fact, they are considered to be the biggest and most essential part of the culture. In this way, institutions may be defined as shared definitions (culture) of the basis by which one acts

They are cultural solutions which enable societies to exist as groups and communities. Institutions are a part of culture, culture shapes and establishes institutions. According to Bell, institutions are culturally established ways of doing things. They are systems of social relationships and cultural elements that have developed in society in response to some set of basic and persistent needs.

Social institutions are uniformed and patterned after society, while at the same time they pattern society. They are of the socialization process, and contribute to the passing down through generations of the basic tenets, practices, and customs of a society. They are structures that have considerable permanence and universality.

They are collectively the relatively permanent framework of culture and society. They are relatively persistent patterns of social behavior whose maintenance the actions of many men contribute. It is also activity needed for social continuity and set of activities important to the continued viability of a society.

Social institutions embody all the norms, behavioral patterns, and values of society which are internalized by all the members of the society, within and between different generations. It is the totality of those which are shared by all these members. In effect, social institutions have a unifying effect on the members of a society, both because it encompasses all the shared values and norms, and because it fashions its members to conform with the norms it contains.

It also the result of the fusion of individuals as a common whole. They are structures within the people cooperate in prescribed ways or certain occasions. They are means of regulation of conflict. They are organized system of social relationships which embodies certain common values and procedures and meets certain basic needs of society.

Social institutions encompasses all the practices and norms which are accepted and expected for individuals to conform to within a society. They govern the behavior of its individuals, and, in effect, facilitate making the collective behavior of individuals more predictable. This implies that orderliness in a society is tantamount to predictability.

Social institutions may also be defined as the elements in the social structure that help make social life orderly and predictable. They are expectations which can predict how members of a group will behave, and are believed to be how they should behave. They are sets of formal and informal rules governing most aspects of behavior possible within the group and which give regularity and predictability to the behavior.

CHAPTER IV:Social Status and Social Roles

“All the world’s a state,And all men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts.”

The foregoing are William Shakespeare’s famous lines and they may apply applicable the concepts to the concepts of social status and social role. Social statuses are similar to the parts performers play on stage. The behavior of people depends largely on the part they hold because parts in real life are based on culturally defined roles.

Roles may be viewed as the script that indicates belief, feelings, and actions people with certain status they are supposed to adopt. Role and status are two fundamental aspects of social structure. Roles may be viewed as the script that indicates the belief, feelings and actions people with certain status they are supposed to adopt. Statuses cannot be separated from the roles that go with them.

Every social person has its “place” in the group and in the society where he belongs. Society is not haphazard, accidental conglomeration of human beings. It is an orderly arrangement and the social structure can be conceptualized as a kind of scaffolding on which each separate part can be recognized.

Status is a structural element that implies socially recognized positions. It is the position, or rank, which the person’s contemporaries objectively accord to him within his society. It is the rank or position of an individual in a group, or a group in relation to other groups. It refers to the complex of culturally standardized and accepted categories to which individuals in a group may be assigned.

Social status has a hierarchical distribution in which a few persons occupy the highest positions. The simplest theoretical model of the status system would be a distribution in which a position was determined competitively by the possession of abilities relative to the demands of the society.

Thus, social status could mean any sort of hierarchical ordering – power, wealth, or honor. It is the position in the prestige hierarchy of a group or society. It is also defined as the hierarchical “position” of the individual in relation to others. It is a person’s or a collectivity’s relative honor and prestige in society. It refers to a special ranking on the basis of esteem, prestige, honor and respect.

Society is myriad of socially designated positions. Social status, in its active and conscious aspect, is an elementary form of office which is a standardized group of duties and privileges devolving upon a person in certain defined situations. It is a defined position for whose incumbents there are defined rights, limitation of rights and duties.

Thus, status refers to rights and obligations directing interaction with other people. Viewed as a part of a social position, status is the social position these duties and privileges create . It is one’s position in society, and the rights, duties and expectations associated with that position.

Status is a relational concept; it cannot be defined except in terms of how its occupant is supposed to think and feel and act toward occupants of other statuses. Status determines rights, duties and other behaviors, including the nature and extent of the relationships with the persons of other statuses.

It is culturally prescribed expectation toward those in this position. It is a set of cultural definitions that specify how a person is supposed to perceive and respond to objects and people when he/she is in particular relationship with them. It is a social position to be occupied for the purpose of relating to a group and interacting with one another in it.

Status defines who a person is. It can and does determine social identity. A little story can illustrate this. It concerns the doctor, who upon completing his examination of a young woman, said:

“Mrs. Jones, I have a very good news for you.”“My name, ” the young woman replied, “is Miss Jones, not Mrs. Jones.” “In that case, ” said the doctor, “I’m afraid I have very bad news for you.”This shows that status is a major source of identity.

Social status refers to the evaluation people make of one another. It weights the characteristics of a given position relative to other positions which it is compared with. It is likewise a construct, arrived at by combining and applying the criteria of social values current in the society

Social power, the influence that person is able to exert over others in society, is sometimes viewed as a criterion of the status which he possesses although one may use social power as a quick and ready rule of thumb to measure social status. It is obvious that people with high social status have much more influence in a community than people with low status.

Even the person who may said to have “achieved power” has done mainly because he first achieved the social position from which to exercise influence. It is justifiable to say that status is a factor of power. It sets limits of dominance or subordination. It refers to either the legally enforceable capacities and limitations of people or their relative superiority and inferiority.

The use of the concept role in association with the concept of status is one of the most concise and most frequently used method of defining social role explaining status-role continuity. Occasionally, there is some apparent confusion among some authors who use the two terms, interchangeably or synonymously. According to Ralph Lincoln:

“A role represents the dynamic aspect of status. The individual is socially assigned to a status and occupies it with relation to other statuses. When he puts the rights and duties which constitute the status into effect, he is performing a role. A Role and status are quite inseparable and the distinction between them is only of academic interest.”

“There are no roles without statuses or statuses without roles. Every individual has a series of roles deriving from the various patterns in which he participates, and at the same time, a role, general, which represents the sum total of these roles and determines what he does for his society and what he can expect from it.”

Social role is the behavior of one who occupies a particular status. It represents the behavior expected of the occupant of a given position or status. Social role guides the occupant of a status to set in accordance with the demands of the same. Moreover, it is a social relationship between occupants of two different statuses involving continual interaction between the performer and other people

Social role is the organization of habits and attitudes of the individual appropriate to a given position in a system of social relationships. Likewise, a social role is an internally consistent series of conditioned responses by one member of social situation which represents the stimulus pattern for similarly internally consistent series of conditioned responses of the others in that situation.

It is a specific pattern of attitude and behavior which one assumes for a specific situation. Social roles enable us to anticipate the behavior of others and to pattern our own actions accordingly. It standardizes the behavior of individuals by prescribing the behaviors expected of people in specified positions operating in the specifically defined standard situation.

Furthermore, social role enables us to anticipate the behavior of others and to pattern of our won actions accordingly. It standardizes the behavior of individuals by prescribing the behaviors expected of people in specified positions operating in specifically defined standard situation. It consists of the probable behavior that will be evoked in an individual by other under specified conditions, giving that behavior as indispensable measure of predictability. It is an attitude that has become fixed in a consistent and reiterated pattern of conduct.

The norms that are associated with these roles state the relationship of a person in a certain position to others. Social role is the culturally defined social norms which dictate reciprocal action. It is a system of norms and values that provide the script to the members of a given society.

It is the social relationship and the norms that govern them. It is based on a set of value and is played with the actor in a complementary role. It is the cluster of norms which spells out the rights and obligations that accompany each status. It is a segment of culture consisting of behavioral prescriptions or norms bearing one to one correspondence with social status.

Culture in general does not influence any given person, but a particular does. The individual is never familiar with, or participates in, the whole culture. He takes attitudes and values for granted. The patterns of organization of all societies begin with the division of the entire group into certain age-sex categories and the assigning of particular activities to each.

The member of each society perpetuate the culture by training each succeeding generation to its behavior patters and values. Social role is the creation of the culture in the sense that persons have performed it over and over again. Thus, providing a comprehensive pattern for behavior and attitudes.

A person occupying a certain status has something in his mind on how he is supposed to think and do about it. Thus, role may be defined as the member’s orientation or conception of the part he is to play in the organization. It refers to the individuals assumption of or assignment to the performance of a part in a specific situation as one of the members of the group.

It is recognized and specified by the social need toward which it is directed and by the social group in which it is enabled. It consists of behavior an individual has learned to enact in responding to the expectations of particular groups in specific situations.

Social role is a set of expectations which others share of the behavior an individual will exhibit as an occupant of a position or status category. It is socially defined or collective expectation. It is a set of agreed-on expectations we have about the behavior of people who occupy the statuses associated with these roles.

It is a set of explanations of individuals who occupy a given social position or status. Moreover, social role is a set of social expectations. It is a set of evaluate standard applied to an incumbent of a particular positions. It may be defined as the structurally given demands associated with the given social position.

Social role is a functional and dynamic concept concerning the social performance of the individual. It is the behavioral enacting of the patterned expectations attributed to that position. It is the manner in which that position is supposed to be filled.

It is the manner in which a person actually carries out the requirements of his position. It refers to the way in which members of a position act in accord with or in violation of a given set of organization norms. Social role suggest acting out of set of duties and privilege. Thus, it is a regular, recurring way of acting and feeling that is viewed as appropriate to social position.

For centuries, people have been aspiring for human society in which all would be equal. The fact that is people are unequal – not all are the same in things that can be measured like wealth or material possessions, nor are they in intangibles like character and intelligence. Unfortunately, social scientists tell us that equalities among people are more than accidental.

It has become the source of discontent among those who are lowly placed and even war among nations who fight over precious recourses such as oils and minerals. And when these inequalities take a more structured form and involves groups of people, social stratification takes place.

Social stratification may be defined as the structured social inequality. And the term structured refer to stratification being socially patterned. Social stratification exists when inequalities between positions and tasks become widely accepted and recognized.

The systems of stratification are relatively permanent because they are systematically linked with other institutions in society such as the economy, the family, marriage, religion, politics, or educational changes in the system stratification will lead to changes in these institutions.

The social stratification systems operate like social institutions in that they tend to perpetuate the status quo. And just like any social institution, social stratification requires organization or an organizing principle. And social stratification is one manifestation of the sociologist’s general interest in the basic principle of social organization.

It is simply a matter of certain individuals having more than others, rather it is a fundamental aspect of social organization. It is the single aspect of social structure that dominates current sociological investigations of the law. Social stratification results from the social inequality that is built into the social structure.

There always exist some rationale for system of allocation and distribution. Social stratification is a hierarchical configuration of families and individuals who have differential access to whatever is of value in the society at a given point. Called the social rewards or the resources given by society, social stratification encourages some people to undertake key jobs.

In social stratification, individuals and groups are ranked into strata that shared unequally in the distribution of societal rewards. It is a system of distributing rewards in which persons in the higher strata have more rewards than person in lower ones. It also provide incentives for those who follows.

Emphasis on material resources allows us to view stratification as a system of classes. It is based primarily on the unequal ownership and control of economic resources. Taken together, all the classes of a given type form what is known as a class system form what sociologists have come to call a system of stratification.

It is a system of classes in their external and internal relationships. It is a division of society into two ore more social classes. A class structured society is one in which all members don’t share equally in the basic resources that support life or influence and social prestige. Stratification arises not because of the vertical social mobility of individuals but because of inheritance.

When members of society are put into higher and lower positions so as to produce a hierarchy of respect and prestige in a class system results to stratification. It pays particular relationships of dominance and subservience among these groupings as well as their relative prestige. It is the formation of social classes or strata on levels in a hierarchy of prestige.

According to Buckley (Cose and Roseberg, 1976), it is “a system of unequally privileged groups, membership in which, is determined by the intergenerational transmission of roles, or the opportunities to attain them, through kinship affiliation”. It is one of the subsystems of society that differentiate internally.

Social stratification can be thought as social process because it deals with the splitting up of society into social categories that develop into social groups cooperating, completing and/or conflicting with one another for status quo. It is the process by which social groups and classes are assigned, resulting in their arrangement within a status hierarchy.

It is also the process of social ranking. Every society, regardless of its complexity, has a system of stratification that ranks people according to specific criteria. The process of ranking is readily evident in small communities and simple societies. People are ranked or evaluated at a number of levels. It can be based on many criteria such as wealth, cultural level, legal status, birth, personal qualities and ideology.

The process of ranking is readily evident in small communities and simple societies. As a society becomes more complex, however, the system of stratification is not clearly defined. It refers to ranking of persons into social aggregates or categories which are characterized by the possession of more or fewer rewards and penalties. It is the classification of people into those who have power, wealth, prestige, or education, and those who do not. It refers to the kinds of beliefs that classify people into groupings on the basis of such factors as income or education, race or ethnic background, sex and age. Social stratification refers to the ways societal structure arranges each class on its ascending and descending level in the social system.

Societies have set recognized status and roles on each individual, the result of which is differentiation. That is why stratification is a matter of moral evaluation. Since societies have a system of values, a person’s relative standing in the society reflected the extent to which his or her characteristics and achievement correspond to those values. It may the most important determinant of personality and social behavior, values, and attitudes.

American sociologist, Talcott Parsons defines social stratification as “the differential ranking of human individuals who compose relative to one another in certain socially important respects.” Social stratification is a form of differentiation: it refers to the process whereby individuals are sorted out as occupants of various social positions.

It is a special type of social differentiation, signifying the existence of a systematic hierarchy of social positions whose occupants are treated as superior, equal, or inferior relative to one another in socially important aspects. It is a social system of differentiation within which various roles and groups are placed in rank order and carry with them exaggerated distinctions that go beyond simple division of labor.

Systems of social inequality exist in all Systems of social inequality exist in all human societies. This assertion human societies. This assertion emphasizes two features that are emphasizes two features that are basic for an analysis of social basic for an analysis of social stratification. First inequalities – no stratification. First inequalities – no matter what their origin – appear in matter what their origin – appear in social context. Biological differences, social context. Biological differences, real or presumed, may be used as real or presumed, may be used as basis for social stratification, but basis for social stratification, but biology alone does not make a social biology alone does not make a social differences. differences.

The organization of society whereby some members have more and others have less – has been a constant them in moral, political, and philosophical writing through ages. Stratification systems contain social inequalities but the term stratification goes beyond inequality in certain key aspects. It refers to differences in social groupings, and among individuals.

The theory of stratification is the purely descriptive task of classification. The area of stratification merely describes for example, the “haves” and the “have nots,” the “upper crust”, the “middle class.” Its task is to symbolically arrange and establish social categories that may evolve into social groups and statuses and their corresponding roles into varying ranks of superiority and inferiority.

It is the division of two or more layers, each of which characterizes a relatively homogenous group and between which there are differences in privileges, restriction, rewards, and obligations. It illustrates a society consisting of levels that relates to each other in terms of superordination and subordination, be it in power, privilege or prestige.

The study of social stratification involves the examination or distinctions that may seem unfair or even outrageous. But social stratification is a common and powerful phenomenon in some of the world’s societies. Civilization in particular, with their large and heterogeneous populations, seem to be invariably stratified.

Social stratification is a feature of all but the smallest and most simple societies, and even in those communities, it is often possible to detect the elements of differential in power, prestige and possession of property. Stratification is universal in communities of any size. Its concept refers to differential or unequal distribution of wealth, prestige, power and privilege which characterizes almost all societies.

It is a dynamic system subject to changes that are consciously and unconsciously produced by participant in the systems. Social stratification is an ancient and dominant feature on human existence. It is potentially explosive topic although social stratification is inherently conservative in its effect on the individual and society, the rigidity of stratification may give rise to resentments that provoke radical efforts to overthrow the status quo.

It is also a process growing largely out of competitional conflict, leading to the formation of more or less fixed systems of class, rank or caste within a community or society. Its function is the necessity to respond to people as members of recognizable categories, whether we want it or not, because human abilities are limited and because modern civilizations requires many quick reactions in a rapid succession of situations.

CHAPTER VII:SOCIAL MOBILITY

“We not only want to survive, we want to succeed”

The above quotation might be used to describe how people see and feel about living in the world which gives emphasis on progress and improvements. We grow up with the thought that it is unforgivable not to aspire success in life and to never stop “reaching for the top.”

It is not enough to just live, we must also move forward and enhance our ways of living. We cannot afford to stay stagnant in a world that moves at an incredible rate, we must learn to be dynamic and move with it. Living in a society which has become more complex and competitive than ever, they key to successful living may lie in flexibility, adaptability, and having the competitive instincts and skills to “move up” the social ladder of success.

Social mobility may be accomplished by moving in a sideward manner. This means that there is a change of status without a change in class. An individual or sub-groups may move from one position to one another without a significant change up or down in the system of stratification.

In other words, social mobility is the movement from one social status to another within a social structure. It refers to the shifts in status. The more social mobility there is in a society, the more open its stratification system is. It is a movement of person from social group to social group. It is also exhibiting a movement in social status.

Social mobility may also be accomplished by moving vertically. This involves an upward and downward movement. There is an ascent or descent in the hierarchical social structure. An upward movement is the improvement of one’s condition in terms of material well-being and increased sophistication in the art of integrating valuable accumulations in “tasteful” or socially appreciated ways.

On the other hand, downward mobility, is the movement from higher to lower social categories in the social stratification system. Therefore, upward and downward mobility are two types of movement in social class. Thus, social mobility in terms of social class is used to denote the movement of individuals from one social class to another. Members of a particular society belong to various social classes since they differ in certain variables the most common of which is income.

It is the movement of individuals or groups from one position of a society’s stratification system to another. Vertical mobility implies an upward or downward movement. It is any movement of an individual upward or downward in the structures of inequality. This implies that social mobility may take place on any of the hierarchical dimensions. It is also an individual’s ability to change his social class membership by moving up or down the latter of stratification system.

In addition, social mobility is also seen as a change in the manner in which groups of people are appraised or judged to be placed in any of the social classes or to serve as a distinguishing factor among the various social strata. It is a change in social space, that is, a change in the way people are evaluated and where they are located or ranked in a social hierarchy such as the stratification system.

It is any movement or migration of people in time, physical space, or social framework. Social mobility viewed in this category is related to social class or members belonging to a group or association in terms of similarity in position. Values like personal achievement are taken into account to experience a great deal of mobility despite meeting the different barriers on the way.

Social mobility is the movement up or down the socioeconomic ladder that changes a person’s status in society. It is a change in status which may be movement up, down or sideways. It is also the movement of people in population, as from place to place, from job to job, or from one social class to another.

The movement from place to place is known as geographical mobility the movement in physical space. Geographical mobility in itself need not to have any particular relationship to social mobility although it may. Horizontal mobility involves occupational shifts and migration. This type of mobility is included in the previous definition. A combination in the change in the status and class is seen.

It is the movement of individuals, families, and family members up and down the class, status, and power hierarchy. It is also movement through social space or social position, vertically, horizontally, or intergenerationally. Intergenerational mobility is a change in social status from one generation to the next. It is typically measured by comparing the son’s occupation to his father.

Social mobility can be accomplished in two ways:

1.Occupation or other group which one is a member maybe reevaluated in the society so that one’s standing moves up or down with that of the group.2.A person may achieve social mobility by moving out of the groups with one level of social status into groups with another level.

Social mobility in a free society puts emphasis on the individuals being able to pursue an independent course in life unlike a caste system, which is a social stratification in which no mobility from social category to another is possible. Caste system prevents upward and downward mobility.

Thus, social mobility permits a society to fill its occupational niches with the most able people and offers the individual a chance to attain his or her life goal. It also involves certain costs. It is aided by all the influences that give people a more nearly equal change to develop their talents. It exerts a strong influence against the formation of distinct social classes.

Social mobility in this category signifies the absence of values or abstract ideas or connotations in dealing with the movement of an individual in the social class or the social status. It is also focuses itself, on the material or corporeal aspect of living rather than to ideas such as the different aspects of life another than the economic side and the talents and abilities an individual possesses.

It does not usually concern themselves with the possession of aesthetic, moral, and spiritual values. Therefore, social mobility focuses almost entirely on occupational positions as the sole indicator of social status. It is controlled primarily by the main chance to perform the instrumental activity of making more money rather than by the varied needs of the whole personality.

Social mobility as a movement to higher or lower category or as a movement in the status is also perceive as a disruptor in the community ties. This is in relation to the conflict theorists point of view that social mobility demonstrates the movement of the rich and the powerful to the top part of the social ladder leaving the unwealthy ones that the bottom.

No room is available for the poor ones to go up since it is already dominated by the affluent families. So, conflict takes place while others experience hardships. Social mobility is the major enemy of the community of intimate friendship. It also makes a major contribution to the decline of neighborhood life, community of place. It also often demands geographical mobility.

CHAPTER VIII: SOCIAL CONTROL

It is a democratic society, every individual enjoys certain rights – he can do what he wants provided he does not violate any law or he is not stepping on somebody’s toes. The last two acts show that his freedom is not absolute, it has its own limits. It also conjoins its individual members to exhibit the first kind of behavior and at the same time impresses on them to avoid the second one.

Social control is the process whereby a group or society enforces conformity to its demands and expectations. As such, it constrains members of a group to follow the norms set forth by the group. In a way, social control coerces people to conform and at the same time teaches them to want to conform to the rules of the society in which they live.

It refers to all collective efforts to ensure conformity to the norms. It is a means of promoting conformity to a group’s or society’s rules, social control is internal when it is implanted through socialization process, enabling individuals to control their own behavior. It is the process to which groups secure conformity to prevailing standards in the conduct of members.

Social control is made up of techniques and strategies for regulating human behavior in any society. It denotes the fact that a person is conditioned and limited in his actions by the groups, community, and society of which he is a member. It refers relatively patterned and systematic ways in which society guides and restrains individual behaviors so that people act in predictable and desired ways.

It is any means or the sum total of means by which a group influences or directs its members. It is when the group regulates the conduct of its members. It is when a group regulates the conducts of its members. It is any process that limits and constrains the actions of individuals or groups within a society. It is the system of norms and their enforcement.

Social control is any means of maintaining order and upholding the norms of society, including teaching and socialization as well as coercion. It helps order social life by rewarding some types of behavior and penalizing others. It indicates an aspect of sociological discussion concerned with the maintenance of order and stability in society.

Social control manifest the power over members of a group through group accepted codes, or power over a smaller group by a larger, more inclusive group. It is the sum total of means by which a group influences or directs its individual members. Such influence may be through the use of coercion, force, restraint, suggestion, or persuasion of one group over another the prescribed rules of the game. It refers to any verbal or bodily action by which one person determines the response of another.

CHAPTER IX:sOCIAL CHANGE

Social change has far-reaching effects on society, bringing about good as well as bad influence. It may be progressive or regressive, permanent or temporary, planned or unplanned, uni-directional or multi-directional and beneficial or harmful. Presently, all societies undergo social change, even those that are hardly touched by the modernization process.

Social change is the alteration of social structure in a given direction. It is the change in the social structure and relationship of a society and is often used interchangeably with cultural change. In involves changes in the structure of a social system resulting from external forces such as invasion or from internal strains, such as class antagonism

It has a long-term and relatively important consequences. It is alteration of stable patterns of social organization and interaction within societies as ideas come and go and as circumstances are altered. It is primarily a shift in the fundamental institutions and organizations in society. The modification of life, style of a society, its material and non-material culture and bringing about transformation of its social structure.

Social change is a significant alteration in cultural patterns, including norms and values. It is the process of modification to the agreements of society – its beliefs, values, norms, and organizations. Similarly, it is defined as modification in the elements of a culture; a process of changing agreements

It refers to large-scale changes in the culture and in the social location of human beings in society. It is the development of new meanings and values, or the substitution of new ones for old, and thus, it involves changes in the characteristics or behavior patterns in a society. It is change in economic and demographic, social structure and culture.

Social change means any alteration in the social behavior of any group or society. It is a change in society and social patterns like shift from cooperation to conflict or from segregation to integration. It refers to significant and major changes in patterned social behavior at the institutional or societal level, rather than to little changes within a small group.

Social change is a modification in established patterns of interhuman relationships and standards of conduct.

Social change is the process whereby measurable differences appear in a social system at a given interval of time. It is a change in any distributional aspects of a social system; the other change is in some structural aspect of the system. It is an alteration in state of society resulting in modification of old ways into new social forms.

Social change is the semantic heir of progress. It converges around the idea of development, involving change in society’s social, economic, and political structures.

Deviant behavior is any behavior that fails to conform to some specified standards which be prescribed by law, customs, public opinion, or any other criteria. This type of behavior violates institutionalized expectations which are shared and recognized as legitimate within social system.

It is merely not conforming to these norms. It is act wherein one violates a standard about what behavior is standard or normal in a given situation. Deviance evokes negative reaction from people, but in itself is not deviant. Sometimes, deviance also retracting from the norm through several physical and psychological factors. It runs counter to expected roles.

Deviant behavior is conduct that the people of society generally regard as aberrant, distorting, improper or immoral, and for which specific control are likely to be found. It is evaluated according to terms of expectations and rules associated with the status through which it is performed.

Deviance may be conceived as a process by which members of a group, community, or society interpret behavior as deviant, define persons who so behave as a certain kind of deviant, and accord them the treatment considered appropriate to such deviants. It is conduct that is perceived by others as contrary to the norms. No act is deviant of itself.

Deviance is behavior that differs markedly from social norms. It is anything of statistical distribution that differs significantly from normal actions. It is behavior that represents some from of undesirable difference. It is an alien element of society, a vagrant from of human activity, moving outside the more orderly currents of social life.

Deviations means that the person or act being described varies noticeably or markedly from the ordinary norms characterizing persons in the society. It refers to abnormalities and irregularities. Deviance may be alien, but it may be positive, meaning it is done in an approved direction. Deviance includes doing more called for by norms of a particular situation.

Deviant behavior is described as if it were leakage from machinery in poor condition, an accidental result of disorder and anomie, a symptom of internal breakdown. It is defined as being a real or perceived threat to the basic core values of the society. It undermines organization by destroying people’s willingness to play their parts, to make their contribution to the ongoing activity

It is violations considered as threats to the well-being of the group. Deviance is the behavior of a delinquent person. Therefore, deviant behavior is any behavior harmful to society. This behavior, if left uncontrolled, will become dysfunctional to society. It is a destructive legacy of distrust. It is commonly regarded as morally condemned differences that are perceived as wrong.

Deviant behavior is regarded as a social nature, not man’s nature. It is a behavior occurring when the sanctions governing conduct in any given setting seem to be contradictory. Deviations are symptoms of dissociation between culturally prescribed aspirations and socially structured ways of realizing them, or a situation of anomie or normlessness.

Deviance is behavior created by social groups when they make the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders. Deviance is behavior caused by the labeling of deviants. It is not quality of the act the persons commits, but rather the consequences of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an “offender.”

Deviance is relative to culture, historical period, situation, and the relative power of the individual engaged in deviant behavior. It is highly relative, the most powerful members of a group will always have the final word on which forms of behavior are proper and which are deviant. It is defined differently in various societies and even by members of the same society.

Deviant behavior is a function of the social structure. It is a natural part of society, everywhere, in all societies – as long as there are rules, there is deviance. It covers very wide range of acts and beliefs. It is a part of a social order, in the sense that it can be an expression of the same motivations that give rise to accepted behavior.

Deviance is an outcome of normal social processes, and it serves to maintain social systems. As a matter of fact, it is defined as essential the very organization of society. A product of collective definition, deviance provides the social system with a demarcation between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. It clarifies the social rules defined in a group. It is an integral part of all healthy societies.

Social deviance is change. It is adaptive – it is one way of adapting a social culture to social change. It is also an adaptation to the strain that develops when the actions of others relative to the individual do not conform to the norms governing their relationship. Deviance likewise implies conflict. It introduces social change, and its patterns may eventually become the socially accepted pattern.

Deviation is a process in which people “get out of control” those who depart from commonly held patterns of belief and conduct. Less formally, deviance is any act that makes people say, “something must be done.” It is a conduct thought to require the attention of social control agencies. Tolerance limits of society are also considered in defining deviance. It can occur within tolerance limits of a society and becomes a social problem when it exceeds such limits.

Most of us live in a world of order most of the time. We live in a normative world of group-shared expectations. Yet these expectations are not always met. No norm is always obeyed; individuals do not always conform to every set of expectations. Every individual who doesn’t conform to these expectations is said to be committing a deviant act and also causing a social problem.

A certain group or a society usually sees a problem if there is something that threatens or offends the group. A social problem is like a cancer, society is essentially a healthy organism that is invaded by alien and destructive substances.

A social problem exist when the collective society is threatened, by the very least, a public recognition that there is a sector of society, represented by its practices, which threatens or presents others or themselves from establishing or maintaining their claims to membership. Social problems hurt social system and hinder the realization of some of its goals.

It is said that nothing can be done to change something if it is not acted upon. A situation is considered a social problem when it comes to a point wherein it is unbearable that individuals unite and act in a concerted effort to alter that said situation.

Social problems, therefore, are restricted to the persistent individual or group behavior or the continued existence of social conditions that are contrary to the expressed norms of community members that people strive to correct by collective action. Basically, social problems are conditions affecting significant number of people in ways considered undesirable and about which it felt something can be done through collective social action.

The need to survive remains a major driving force which influences man’s actions. This is why most, if not all problems can be traced to man’s desire to survive and rise above the rest. Social problems are conditions in society (such as poverty, racism, and ageism) that induce material or psychic suffering for certain segments of the population.

They mainly stem from an uneven distribution of limited environmental resources within an increasingly large population. Social problems in the economic aspect are exemplifications of unequal rates of cultural change brought about by unequal advance of different parts of our civilization. Social problems, although mainly the territory of sociologist is also a concern of the economist.

As in our everyday lives, problems occur when something does not work the way it is supposed to be. As this happen, the normal flow of events is disrupted and the system encounters new occurrences which it is not used to and from this comes a condition of disorganization. This forms of social problem.

This concerns the malfunctioning of the operation of a group or malfunctioning of the interaction of groups. The problems arises specifically with respect to the defined goals and objectives of the society as a whole. They occur when social regulation and moral integration are weak and ineffective or when these are too strong.

Social problems also in many instances are so perplexing that they offend and scandalize the individuals who are exposed to them. They strike the society in a manner which goes against the set norms and values which they uphold and cling to. In this perspective, a social problems are started with regard to long term values which benefit or conserve the larger society.

Social problems are also a set of conditions which are defined as morally wrong by a majority or a politically powerful minority within a society. They consist of social situations which are a product of group life involving a substantial number of persons by the mores of the group and which must be dealt with in an organized, concerted ways.

Social problem may be categorized as a result of deviant behavior because these are generally caused by deviance and are exemplifications of deviant behavior. A social problem appears to be any difficulty or misbehavior of a fairly large number of persons which we wish to remove or correct.

Similarly, a social problem is also a breakdown or a deviation in social behavior involving a considerable number of people, which are of serious concern to many members of the society to which the aberrations occur. People attribute problems status to certain circumstances or behavior to which they assign an unfavorable meaning.

In a society, it is but normal for its members to interact with one another. Consequently, these interactions serve as a basis, for relationships to form and develop between them. Likewise, social problem pertains to human relationships and to the normative contexts since it represents interruptions in the expected or desired scheme of things; violations of the right or the proper, as society defines these qualities; dislocations in the patterns and relationships that society cherishes.

Moreover, these relationships are interwoven into the society that difficulties in social life and the relationship of society’s members are a big threat to the whole society. A social problem of this nature is a problem of human relations which are bound up with the total conditions of modern social life. It is safe to conclude that a social problem is a problem of the relation of men to one another.

This category is concerned with how near or how different a particular condition is from an ideal situation set by society. Deviations such as these from an ideal situation can be readily identified and labeled as a social problem. It involves a discrepancy, judged unacceptable, between social standards and social actuality.

Social problems of this type are created by failure to close the gap between the way people believe things should be and the way they really are. Social problems are handicaps to the achievement of that which society chooses to call normal social life. In short, social problems are handicaps between what is supposed to be ideal.

Among the categories of social problems, this category is the most philosophical. In philosophy, it is said that to an individual, whatever he says is and whatever is not. A social problem is generally defined as situation affecting a significant number of people that is believed by them and/or by a significant number of others in the society to be a source of difficulty or unhappiness

It is a collective difficulty which the total public or some constituent group of public thinks exist. A social problem must first and foremost be recognized by a significant number of people and must be regarded as capable of solution through collective action. It exists when a society – a large group or a powerful minority defines and perceives some condition as a problem and sets out to remedy it.

Individuals behave according to certain patterns of behavior which are in conformity with their culture. However, they would act differently in crises or disasters for which these individuals are unprepared. Upon the occurrence of these natural phenomena, social phenomena would take place, wherein traditional norms and values do not fit in. sociologists call these social phenomena as collective behavior which are relatively unstructured social situations not fully controlled by cultural norms of the groups.

A catalyst imposes changes with which it reacts, without changing itself. Although transitory in nature, collective behavior actively causes reforms in the society. It is actually an opportunity for change and reform made possible by the weakening of old forms, which is a creative process of the deepest theoretical and practical – a seedbed that sprouts and germinates changes.

It suggest total impending social change often giving specific dimension and direction to such change. In the same way, it is a search for new situational definitions and organizational structures; structures that meet the unfulfilled goals if individuals in groups and cope more successfully with the realities of changing natural and social environments.

Collective behavior, basically, refers to the actions of collectivities, not to a type of individual behavior. It is characteristics of complex cultures and is usually absent in simple societies. It is a term used by the sociologists to encompass a wide range of group behavior, including fads, crazes, panics and riots, as well as social movements; also the spontaneous collectivities and social movements that emerge from the unrest of an urban or mass society

It is also a term by sociologists to designate the point at which part of a mass interacts and becomes more than just a lot of individuals. It is relatively the spontaneous and unstructured way of thinking, feeling and acting that develop among a large number of people. It also refers to the similarity and parallelism of the behavior of each individual within a collectivity, directs towards the same objective.

Human behavior has always been influenced by culture, but in situations, such as disasters and injustice, individuals tend to behave differently. Their actions would not be used on some standards that were set by the society. Collective behavior refers to the relatively unorganized patterns of social interaction in human groups

It refers to unstructured and undefined social situations and their product, characterized by behavior which is not controlled by cultural norms and ordered social relations. This includes forms of social behavior in which usual conventions cease to guide social action, and people collectively transcend, bypass or subvert established institutional patterns and structures.

As a field of sociology, it has more diversed contents than any other field into which all sort of social phenomena found their way. It contains events that most of us have experienced only vicariously through movies and television. This sociological division serves as a kind of dumping ground for a wide variety of social phenomena that at first glance seemed to reflect the operation of collective impulse.

It is concerned with the rise new societies and new social unities; in so far as they formed in the efforts of societies and social group act collectively. However which way, this sub-area could discuss and study fads, crazes, hysterias and other odd events without imparting a sensationalist and nonsensical taint to general sociolgoy.

To mobilize is to prepare for or put into action. Collective behavior is an institutionalized mobilization for action in order to modify one or more kinds of strains on the basis of a generalized reconstitutions of company of action. It is a hotbed for social ferment, an incubator that keeps ideas warm until their time has come. It is a significant search for new meanings which under some conditions, mobilizes acts to reconstruct social relations.

Collective behavior is also compressed way of attacking problems created by strain. Primarily, it is a kind of spillover caused by strains and imbalances within an institutions, working either to rebalance or change the system. A safety valve for structural strains permitting things to be depressurized and to return to normal.

It occurs when structural social action is under strain and when institutionalized means of overcoming the strain are inadequate. In addition, as a response to troubling or problematic situations in which individual behavior is influenced by that of other people to the extent that one or more collectivities emerge.

Before a thing or an event can be a phenomenon, it has to be extraordinary or unusual. It has to be unexpected. It sociological terms, collective behavior is a social phenomenon; for it involves unexpected group behaviors in which traditional norms and values do not fit in.

It is a phenomenon which does not need to involve both social standards and relationships. It displays characteristics different from those expected of socialized individuals and formal organizations. By its very nature, it is rather “against” rational philosophy, education and government, and is on the side that what we called “charisma.”

Collective behavior is an adaptive response of social groups. It is a problem-solving behavior that involves people collectively defining problems, clarifying expectations for appropriate conduct and entering new social relationships. Although, emergent and transitory, it is an adaptive response to new and ambiguous situations.

The Women’s Liberation Movement is a classic example of social movement. It is an organization of women who advocate for equal rights. Demands by women for equality with men have been a continual theme in society for some time now. Throughout the 19th century, the major thrust of the feminist movement was for educational opportunities, entry into the professions, and the abolition of laws that denied married women legal rights.

A social movement is an agent of improvement, a medium of change. George Ritzer defined social movement as a conscious, purposive attempt to bring about social change. It has a particular constituency, its ultimate goal is the transformation of a larger portion of society. It is a group venture extending beyond a local community or a single event and involving a systematic effort to inaugurate changes in thought, behavior, and social relationships.

Social movements, further, has socially defined problems, an ideology, collective action, and goals directed toward ameliorative change. Social movement is an organized efforts to accomplish social change by mobilizing crowds and publics. People seek to improve their condition through social action. They generally are in the wake of vast social change as a revolution.

It attempts, through organized groups, to hasten or prevent social change, an important aspect of power relations in modern societies. It seeks to alter a society’s agreements. Social movements coalesce around points of strain in an attempt to correct publicly defined social problems. The key element in most definition of social movements is the requirement that they must be aimed at promoting or resisting change in society at large.

When some event has happened in society that led to several changes, and in effect has affected the members of that society, it is not surprising to receive varied reactions. It is but natural to get the response of these affected people, and one way of showing their dissatisfaction is through a social movement.

This begins as response to a collectively perceived problem, something in the prevailing social order which appears unjust. Social movements have their inception in a condition of unrest, and derive their motive power on one hand from hand dissatisfaction with the current form of life. It is a reaction of a large numbers of individuals in one segment of a population or by the majority of people in a country who suffer the same unrest or discontent simultaneously.

It arises because of the people’s perception of the inadequacies of the system to meet the needs of the people. Social movements are much more elaborate examples of generalized beliefs as responses to widely shared experienced of structural strain and programs for dealing with it. They characteristically emerge from situations of strain or disorganization.

It also occur in a context of deep dissatisfaction with the status quo in which the desire to dramatically alter the social structure is often expressed in explicitly defined deviant codes which set forth prescribed means for the organization of revolutionary change. These are organized attempts to overcome relative deprivation, that is, the feeling people have that they are unjustly being denied goods, services, and benefits that other groups are receiving.

Vastly evident social change is being initiated and funneled through a variety of social movements. These are formally alike in their objectives of achieving an intensified collective consciousness a depressed solidarity, and a new or renewed primary or total allegiance of their members to certain social identities, statuses, groups, or collectivities.

A social movement is a collectivity acting with some continuity to promote or resist change in the society or group of which it is a part. A social movement occurs when a fairly large number of people band together in order to alter or supplant some portion of the existing culture or social order. These are loose-knit groups that hopes to change the existing social order in some way.

It is defined as a social group of a particular kind – a group that is moving, dynamic, and going somewhere. Social movements then are conceptually defined as a kind of social collective that can viewed as collective enterprises to establish a new order of life. These are in effect disorderly collectivities of behavior. It may be defined as a collective enterprises designed to change existing social practices or institutions.

It is used to denote a wide variety of collective attempts to bring about a change in certain social institutions or to create an entirely new order. It represents an effort by a large number of people to solve collectively a problem that they feel they have in common. It is an informal organization of large number of persons to gain social goal.

Social movements are unified and relatively long-lasting manifestations of collective behavior which have a distinctive perspective and ideology, a strong sense of solidarity and idealism, and an orientation toward action. It is a major form of collective behavior that is a spontaneously formed large group created to support a set of shared purposes or belief in an attempt to effect change in some aspect of the social order.

Expressive movements is a form of dissent resulting from the existing structure of power. They are not directed to bring about changes in power relations but are a kind of response to a sense of powerlessness or alienation. The resistance movement is aimed at the existing trends in society and is a kind of reaction to the social order brought about by some form of structural strain. Social movements play a part in the process by which social problem is brought to public attention.

Social movements have a distinct perspective or viewpoint. They are oriented toward a specific goal or goals, and members have a sense of solidarity and esprit de corps. The movements largely involve the public affirmation of pride in status and solidarity with collectivities that have long been socially downgraded, stigmatized, or otherwise victimized in the social system. Social movement is a formative stage of interaction in human relations.

In social movement, there is an ideological break with the larger society, but the members of the movement seek to legitimize their value orientation. It tends to operate within the broad outlines of the ideology of the larger society, but has its special interpretation of these values or of means of their realization. A genuine social movement is always integrated by a set of constitutive ideas, or an ideology, although bonds of other nature may not be absent.

Reform movements – act as pressure groups but are for promoting or resisting actual changes in social norms and values. It is directed at changing certain aspects of social classes or a segment of the power distribution of social system.

Revolutionary Movement – aims to change the whole social order and replace the leadership. It arises from an awareness of the existence of oppression and injustice which becomes translated into social actions

Political movements – are based on the internal, optimistic belief that deprivation can be ameliorated through organization, action, and in extremist politics movements, and violence.

Spiritual movement – are based on the internal view of the world in which one’s fate is determined by God, astrological signs, or some other unalterable force from which one may gain relief only in psychological withdrawal and perhaps a hope for a happier existence in a supernatural afterlife.

the end

Presented by:Ms. Mary Grace Dela PeñaMs. Joy S. PradoBOA IV-1

Prof. Angela David