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Week 2 - Recall To The Key Concepts of Society

The document discusses key concepts about the definition of society. It provides several definitions of society from different sources that commonly describe it as a grouping of people who interact and are united by some shared characteristics like culture, location, interests or goals. The document also distinguishes society from culture and discusses different levels and types of human social organization from bands to tribes to chiefdoms and states.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
28 views46 pages

Week 2 - Recall To The Key Concepts of Society

The document discusses key concepts about the definition of society. It provides several definitions of society from different sources that commonly describe it as a grouping of people who interact and are united by some shared characteristics like culture, location, interests or goals. The document also distinguishes society from culture and discusses different levels and types of human social organization from bands to tribes to chiefdoms and states.

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earl
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Recall to the

Key Concepts of Society


UTILIZE ANY MATERIALS
THAT WILL DESCRIBE
YOUR UNDERSTANDING
OF SOCIETY
⦁ In the New World Encyclopedia, society is
simply defined as a grouping of individuals,
which is characterized by common interest
and may have distinctive culture and
institutions. It is definitely an organized
group of people associated together for
religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific,
political, patriotic, or other purposes to
obtain a common goal.
 Society consists of people.
 Mutual awareness and mutual interaction.
 Society depends on likeness.
 Society rests on differences too.
 Co- operational and division of labor.
 Society functions interdependently.
 Society is dynamic.
 Social control
 Foundation of the government.
 Building block of nations.
 Stepping stone of every humandevelopment.
 Standard of good and evil.
 Settler of roles and responsibilities.
 Preserver of cultural heritage.
 Bridge that connects the past, present and future.
 Mother of generation.
 Measure of one’s individuality.
 Judge human success and failures
⦁ Society emerged in the fifteenth century and
is derived from the French société. The French
word, in turn, had its origin in the Latin societas,
a "friendly association with others," from socius
meaning "companion, associate, and
comrade or business partner."
Definition of Society
⦁ Essential in the meaning of society is that its
members share some mutual concern or
interest, a common objective or common
characteristics, often a common culture.
(Encyclopaedia of Sociology).
⦁ Prof Wright: It is a system of relationships
that exists among the individuals of the
groups.

⦁ Linton: Any group of people who have lived


and worked together long enough to get
themselves organized and to think of
themselves as a social unit with well defined
limits”.

⦁ A.W. Green: It is the largest group in which


individual have relationships.

http://studylecturenotes.com/what-is-society-meaning-and-definition-of-society/
⦁ Maclver: It is a web of social relationship,
which is always changing.

⦁ Adam Smith: Society is an artificial device of


Natural economy.

http://studylecturenotes.com/what-is-society-meaning-and-definition-of-society/
Society and Culture
⦁ Society and culture are similar concepts,
but their scopes are different. A society is
a complex whole with interdependent
parts, while culture is an attribute
characteristic of a community, the complex
web of shifting patterns that link
individuals together.
⦁ Clifford Geertz has suggested that "society" is
the actual arrangement of social relations
while "culture" consists of beliefs and
symbolic forms. Edward Burnett Tylor wrote
in 1871 that "culture or civilization, taken in
its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex
whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society."
⦁ Edward Burnett Tylor wrote in 1871 that
"culture or civilization, taken in its wide
ethnographic sense, is that complex whole
which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of
society."
⦁ Gerhard Lenski, a sociologist, differentiates
societies into four levels based on their level of
technology, communication, and economy:

 Hunters and gatherers


 Simple agricultural
 Advanced agricultural
 Industrial (Durkheim, 1982)
⦁ Morton H. Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman
Service, an integration theorist, who produced a
system of classification for societies in all human
cultures based on the evolution of social inequality
and the role of the state. This system of
classification contains four categories:
 Hunter-gatherer bands, which are generally
egalitarian (unrestricted/free).
 Tribal societies, in which there are some limited
instances of social rank and prestige.
 Chiefdoms, stratified structures led by chieftains.
 Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and
organized, institutional governments.
⦁ The fundamental unit of human society is the
family. Margaret Mead (1965), based on her
anthropological research, affirmed the centrality of
the family in human society. The following are
prominent or common types of society:
 Band
 Clans
 Tribe
 Ethnic group
 Chiefdom (Brazilian Indian Chiefs )
 State
⦁ A band society is the simplest form of human
society. A band generally consists of a small kinship
group, often no larger than an extended family or
small clan. Bands have very informal leadership;
the older members of the band generally are looked to
for guidance and advice.
⦁ Band customs are almost always transmitted orally.
⦁ Formal social institutions are few or non-existent.
Religion is generally based on family tradition,
individual experience, or counsel from a shaman.
⦁ Bands are distinguished from tribes.
⦁ Bands are generally larger, consisting of many
families.
⦁ Tribes have more social institutions and clearly
defined leadership such as a "chief," or "elder.“
⦁ Tribes are also more permanent than bands; a
band can cease to exist if only a small group
walks out.
⦁ A clan is a group of people united by kinship and
descent, which is defined by perceived descent
from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage
patterns are unknown, clan members nonetheless
recognize a founding member or "apical ancestor.“

⦁ As kinship based bonds can be merely symbolic in


nature, some clans share a "stipulated" common
ancestor, which is a symbol of the clan's unity.
When this ancestor is not human, this is referred
to a totem (such as an animal or plant) serving as the
emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of
its ancestry; usually carved or painted representation
of such an object.
⦁ Generally speaking, kinship differs from biological
relation, as it also involves adoption, marriage,
and fictive genealogical ties. Clans can be most
easily described as sub-groups of tribes and
usually constitute groups of seven to ten
thousand people.
⦁ A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally,
consists of a social group existing before the
development of, or outside of, states, though
some modern theorists hold that "contemporary"
tribes can only be understood in terms of their
relationship to states. The term is often loosely
used to refer to any non-Western or indigenous
society.
⦁ A social division within a traditional society
consisting of a group of interlinked families or
communities sharing a common culture and
dialect. In the contemporary western mind the
modern tribe is typically associated with a seat
of traditional authority (tribal leader) with whom
the representatives of external powers (the
governing state or occupying government)
interact.
⦁ The term "tribe" fell into disfavor in the latter part of the
twentieth century. For many anthropologists, when
the term was clearly defined it became an "ideal"
concept, with no basis in reality. Thus, it was
replaced with the designation "ethnic group," which
defines a group of people of common ancestry
and language, shared cultural history, and an
identifiable territory.
⦁ Nevertheless, the term tribe is still in common use and
the term used for recognized Native American
governments in the United States.
⦁ A human population whose members identify with
each other, usually on the basis of a presumed
common genealogy or lineage.
⦁ Ethnic groups are also usually united by common
cultural, behavioral, linguistic, or religious
practices.
⦁ In this sense, an ethnic group is also a cultural
community. This term is preferred over tribe, as it
overcame the negative connotations that the
term tribe had acquired under colonialism.
⦁ Any community led by an individual known as a chief.
⦁ In anthropological theory, one model of human social
development describes chiefdom as a form of social
organization more complex than a tribe, and less
complex than a state or a civilization.
⦁ The most succinct (but still working) definition of chiefdom
in anthropology belongs to Robert Carneiro: "An
autonomous political unit comprising a number of villages
or communities under the permanent control of a
paramount chief” (Mead & Heyman, 1965).
⦁ Chiefdoms have been shown by anthropologists and
archaeologists to be a relatively unstable form of social
organization. They are prone to cycles of collapse and
renewal, in which tribal units band together, expand in
power, fragment through some form of social stress, and
band together again.
⦁ An example of this kind of social organization
would be the Germanic Peoples who conquered
the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century
C.E. Although commonly referred to as tribes, the
Germanic Peoples were by anthropological
definition not tribes, but chiefdoms.
⦁ They had a complex social hierarchy
consisting of kings, a warrior aristocracy,
common freemen, serfs, and slaves.
⦁ Are characterized by pervasive inequality of
peoples and centralization of authority.
⦁ At least two inherited social classes (elite and
commoner) are present, although social class
can often be changed by extraordinary behavior
during an individual's life.
⦁ A single lineage/family of the elite class will be the
ruling elite of the chiefdom, with the greatest
influence, power, and prestige. Kinship is typically
an organizing principle, while marriage, age,
and gender can affect one's social status and
role.
⦁ A political association with effective dominion
over a geographic area. It usually includes the set of
institutions that claim the authority to make the rules
that govern the people of the society in that territory,
though its status as a state often depends in part on
being recognized by a number of other states as
having internal and external sovereignty over it.
⦁ In sociology, the state is normally identified with these
institutions: in Max Weber's influential definition, it is
that organization that has a "monopoly on the
legitimate use of physical force within a given
territory," which may include the armed forces, civil
service, or state bureaucracy, courts, and police.
Elements of the State

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⦁ Is a region controlled exclusively by a city, usually
having sovereignty.
⦁ Have often been part of larger cultural areas, as in the
city-states of ancient Greece (such as Athens, Sparta and
Corinth), the central Asian cities along the Silk Road (which
included Samarkand and Bukhara), or the city-states of
Northern Italy (especially Florence and Venice). Among the
most creative periods in human history are those in which
humanity organized itself in small independent centers.
However, these small creative groupings usually survived
for only short periods of time because they lacked the size
and strength to defend themselves against the onslaught of
larger social entities. Thus, they inevitably gave way to
larger organizations of society, the empire and eventually
the nation-state. Today, only Singapore, Monaco, and
Vatican City arguably remain autonomous city-states.
⦁ EVOLUTIONARY
The family groups live together in a nomadic life,
occupying one place after the other to nurture their
needs and wants. But later on, nomadic life became
a burden because the enlargement of the families
slowed down their mobility, and so a new way of life
was introduced.
This new initiated way of life has later led
families to settle down and learned the value of
having their own territory. Hence, bringing to the
birth we called now a SOCIETY.
⦁ POLITICAL
A system was established as necessary measure for their
protection. Leaders were selected and social norms were
imposed, upon which division of roles, and
responsibilities were assigned.
With that, certain rules and norms of conduct were
respected and upheld while social hierarchies were
modeled as well.
Politics is an inevitable activity of people which is
also intertwined with other social systems. Thus, it is from
which the government is established to provide control
mechanisms necessary for a peaceful and progressive
living.
After all, human is really a political being in nature.
⦁ ECONOMICAL
People on the other hand are undeniably,
must produce to address and sustain essential
needs of the now and next generation. This is to
provide means and ways to sustain man’s basic and
material needs to live. Hence, the acceleration for
production is imperative to answer the
increasing demand of man in society.
⦁ Agdalpen, R., Desingaño, A.G., & Dicen, J. (2019 ).Gender and
society.Muntinlupa City: Panday- Lahi Publishing House, Inc.
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!

Prepared by: Ms. Ma. Catherine A. Bacor,RSW

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