Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION
2. SOME BASIC CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLOGY
3. What is Society?
4. What is Community?
5. What is Institution?
6. What is Social Organisation?
7. What is Social Structure?
8. What is Association?
9. Definition
10. Types of Social Structure

INTRODUCTION

Sociology is the scientific study of society, social relationships, social institutions, and patterns of human behaviour. It seeks to understand how individuals interact with one another, how societies are organized, and how social forces influence people’s beliefs, values, attitudes, and actions. Rather than viewing human behaviour as purely individual, sociology examines it within a broader social, cultural, economic, political, and historical context.

The basic concepts of sociology provide the foundation for understanding society and analysing social phenomena. Concepts such as society, culture, socialization, status, role, social group, institution, norm, value, social control, and social change help explain how societies function and how individuals become active members of society. These concepts also enable sociologists to study continuity and change in social life across different cultures and historical periods.

A clear understanding of these concepts is essential for students of sociology, particularly for competitive examinations such as UPSC, UGC NET, and university-level studies. They form the basis for understanding classical and contemporary sociological theories, analysing current social issues, and interpreting the complex relationship between individuals and society.

In this chapter, we will explore the fundamental concepts of sociology in a systematic and comprehensive manner, supported by definitions, examples, key thinkers, and their relevance to contemporary society.

SOME BASIC CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLOGY

There are different terms, which are used in daily life, but have specific meaning in sociology. It is necessary for you all to understand the meaning and definition of each to have better understanding of the terms that you come across while working in the community or any health setting.

What is Society?

Society is defined not merely as an aggregates of individuals and groups living together, but is explained as a concept in sociology, where a system of set pattern mechanism exists comprising a complex web of norms, interactions and interrelations of individuals and groups that keep them bound together with a common purpose of co-inhabitation from generations together within a given territorial dimension.
A society is a group of people who share common culture, occupy a particular territorial area and feel unified and distinct entity. According to Maclver and Page, Society is the web of social relationships.

What is Community?

Although family as a social entity sometimes are self sufficient, but families do not live by themselves. For some reasons ranging from economic interdependence to shared cultural values, families normally bond together to form communities. The community, rather than the family, then becomes the social setting for most everyday economic, political, religious, educational, recreational, and similar activities. In brief, a community is a social organization that is territorially localized and through which its members satisfy most of their daily needs and deal with most of their common problems.

What is Institution?

A social institution is a procedure, practice and an instrument, combination of variety of customs and habits accumulated over a period of time. Institutions are instruments and tools of human transactions. An institution is thus a stable cluster of norms, values and roles. Or A social institution is an organized complex pattern of behaviour in which a number of persons participate in order to further group interest. The family, the school, the church, the club, the hospital, the political parties, professional associations are all social institutions. Within each institution, the rights and duties of the members are defined.

What is Social Organisation?

The term ‘social organisation’ refers to interdependence of different aspects of society: and this is an essential characteristic of all enduring social entities. Herbert Spencer used the term ‘social organisation’ to refer to the interrelations of the economic, political and other divisions of society. Social organisation is a process of merging social factors into ordered social relationships, which become infused with cultural ideas.

What is Social Structure?

Social structure refers to the pattern of interrelations between individuals. Every society has a social structure, a complex of major institutions, groups, and arrangements, relating to status and power. Social structure is an arrangement of social activities that is seen to exist over some period of time and that is believed to depict underlying pattern of social order It must be noted here that social order is often stable but never static. That is, the basic feature of a particular arrangement of social relationships may persist for some time, but these patterns exist among ongoing relationships, which in one way or another always varying.

What is Association?

As social life is becoming increasingly complex, with social actors pursuing a widening variety of goals through collective action, they create various kinds of specialised organisation. Each of these organisations is limited in its range of activities, focuses on only one or a few aspects of social life. The generic name for such specialised organisation is association. An association is a social organisation that is more or less purposefully created for attainment of relatively specific and limited goals, for example a Trained Nurses Association of India, Teachers Association.

The concept Of Social Structure

Definition

The social environments in which we exist do not just consist of random assortment of events or actions. There are underlying regulations, or patterning, in how people behave and in the relationships in which they stand with one another. It is these regulations to which the concept of social structure refers. To some degree it is helpful to picture the structural characteristics of societies as resembling the structure of building. But this metaphor can be applied to social structures strictly because, social structures are made up of human actions and relationships. We should understand human societies to be like buildings that are every moment being reconstructed by the very brick that compose them. The actions of all of us are influenced by the structural characteristics of the societies in which we are brought up and live; and at the same time, we recreate those structural characteristics in our actions. In short, Social structure is patterned social order as we observe it. You would be clearer about the concept as we proceed in this unit.

Social structure refers to arrangement of social activities that are seen to exist over some period of time and that is believed to depict underlying patterns of social order. Social structure results from process that means they are not static. That means that Social structures are relatively bounded and stable occurrence of social order together with associated culture. To recapitulate from the concepts we talked at the beginning of this unit Social structure refers to the pattern of interrelations between individuals. Every society has a social structure, a complex of major institutions, groups, and arrangements, relating to status and power.
Social structure is an arrangement of social activities that is seen to exist over some period of time and that is believed to depict underlying pattern of social order.

Types of Social Structure

From the above discussion it is fairly clear there are different types of social structures in a society and each one of us a member of more than one social structure. Be it a family, economic structure, religious structure, political structure etc.

i) Social Institutions
We have seen above that social institution is a procedure, practice and an instrument, hence an ensemble of a variety of customs and habits accumulated over a period of time. Institutions are instruments and tools of human transactions. An institution is thus a stable cluster of norms, values and roles.

ii) Family
We would be talking about family in detail in Unit 3 but in the context of social structure, we would make a passing reference. The family is an organized group based on a network of relationships. These relationships provide assignment of rights and duties between members.

iii) Economic Institution
Social institutions concerned with the management, production and distribution of human resources are referred to as economic institutions. Economic institutions have also been defined by Kingsley Davis, as those ‘basic ideas’, norms and statutes that govern the allocation of scarce goods in any society, whether society is primitive or civilized. The economic institutions thus govern the activities of the individuals with regards to production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in society.
The property and the contract are the most fundamental economic institutions. The economic institutions that constitute the economic system are wages, the system of exchange and division of labour, the property and the contract.

iv) Religious Institution
Religion has existed throughout the history of human society. It is an important aspect of human social life. Religion has been defined as ‘a belief in supernatural being’, by the anthropologist E. B. Tylor. These beliefs are associated with emotional state of mind such as fear, awe, happiness, reverence etc. As regards, to the social structure, every religion involves its specific rituals such as playing, dancing, chanting, fasting and eating certain kinds of food and so on. Religious institutions have believed to have been evolved into an organized forms based on a system of beliefs and ritual practices. There are different forms of the communities of believers such as the church, the sect and the cult. Church is well-established organization, and has a bureaucratic structure with hierarchy of office bearers among the believers. Hinduism also has some organized body in important temples of the country and the body of persons entrusted with the responsibility of management of temples.
As compared to well-established organized groups such as church, sects are smaller in size. They generally originate as remonstrate against the old established religion. It is initiated by a few and gradually others join it. The sect rejects the tenets of the conventional religion and attempts to convince people about the weaknesses of the traditional religion. Arya samaj is an example of sect of Hinduism.

v) Educational Institution
A child is born only as a biological being but soon becomes social being through socialization and education. Education is an effort of the senior people to transfer their knowledge to the younger members of the society. It is, therefore, also an institution that plays vital role in integrating an individual with his society and in maintaining the perpetuation of culture. Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist defines education as ‘the influence exercised by the adult generation upon those who are not yet ready for adult life’. He maintains that ‘society can survive only if there exists among its members sufficient degree of homogeneity. The
homogeneity is perpetuated and reinforced by education.

A child learns basic rules, regulations, norms and values of society through education. Sociologists mainly focus on the influence of social situations on the nature of education system and the role of education in social change. Durkheim argues that in complex industrial society, school serves an important functions which the family or peer group may not be able to do. In the family or peer group, a person has to interact with his kin or with his friend, but in a society at large, one has to interact with a person who is neither a kin nor a friend. School teaches an individual to learn to cooperate with strangers.

vi) State/Political Institutions
According to Max Weber, State is the most fundamental institutions of a political system. The state means the institution which exercises the monopoly over the legitimate use of power within a given territory. It can use force to implement its policies. To exercise political power, state has sub institutions that are involved to implement its policies. The judiciary and the legislature are the instruments that cooperate in the distribution of power. The essential elements of the state are a population, a defined territory, a government and sovereignty.

Legitimate power is the most significant element of political institution. Political institutions are also defined as those holding monopoly in the exercise of legitimate force. The political system in the remote past were such that the political power of rulers were relatively unqualified but state which emerged after Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution was endowed with qualified
power.

‘The state’ according to Max Weber, ‘is a human community which successfully claim the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory’. The Constitution of a state/country defines the limits of power of the state and its different organs. The power is legitimate so long as presents the ‘general will’ of the people and is voluntarily accepted by them. There are three bases of legitimization of power and can be classified into three corresponding types of authority. The authorities are: the traditional authority, the charismatic authority, and the legal rational authority. The traditional authority is that which people obey by habit.

They accept the power of someone simply because it has been done so in the past. For example, the tribal chief. Charismatic authority is the second type. People also behave voluntarily under the influence of a person who possesses some extraordinary qualities. They obey the person due to their faith in and respect for him. The authority in the modern industrial society is legal rational type. This authority is formal and its privileges are limited and defined by law. The actual power lies not in the person but in the position he occupies. The administrative staff of the state is an example of this category. This kind of authority is impersonal and rational in nature.

Source : egyankosh

What Is Culture?

Culture is a complicated and varied idea that is very important in shaping how people live and interact in society. It includes a lot of things like beliefs, values, rules, customs, symbols, and activities that people in a group or society share. Understanding culture is important for knowing how people behave, how they get along with each other, and how societies work.

Definition of Culture:
Culture can be thought of as the shared ways of understanding, acting, and using symbols that are common in a group or society. It includes both physical and non physical things like language, traditions, art, music, literature, food, religion, and social systems. Culture is passed down from one generation to the next through learning and teaching, and it helps shape who people are, how they see the world, and what they believe.

Components of Culture:
1.Beliefs and Values: Beliefs are ideas or ideas that people think are true. Values are the standards or principles that guide how people act and make decisions. These beliefs and values influence how people feel, act, and make choices.

2.Norms: Norms are rules or expectations that tell people how to behave in different situations. There are two main types:

– Folkways: These are informalrules that help with everydaybehavior and how peopleinteract with each other.

– Mores: These are moreseriousrules that are important for the functioning of society and are enforced through socialpunishments or rewards.

3.Symbols and Language: Symbols are things like objects, gestures, words, or pictures that stand for something else within a culture. Language is a system of symbol sussed for communication that helps people share thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Symbols and language help people talk to each other, understand each other, and pass on culture to the next generation.

Functions of Culture:
1.Gives Identity and Belonging: Culture helps people form a sense of who they are and where they fit in by providing shared symbols, traditions, and activities that bring people together and create a feeling of unity.

2.Guides Behaviour and Interaction: Culture helps set the rules, values, and expectations that tell people how to behave, how to relate to others, and how to make decisions. It helps keep society organized, stable, and predictable.

3. Helps with Communication and Understanding: Culture provides a common set of symbols and language that help people talk to each other, share ideas, and make sense of the world. It helps people better understand each other and work together as a group.