INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

CULTURE AND SOCIETY(9410)

MUNAWAR SIDDIQUE
CC430340
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY

ASSIGNMENT NO 1
UNIT NO 1 TO 4
QUESTION NO 1:
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Sociology is the scientific study of human society. Elaborate?

ANSWER:
SOCIOLOGY IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF
HUMAN SOCIETY:

Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions.

Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion,
from the family to the state, from the divisions of race and social class
to the shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social stability to
radical change in whole societies. Unifying the study of these diverse
subjects of study is sociology’s purpose of understanding how human
action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding
cultural and social structures.
Sociology is an exciting and illuminating field of study that analyzes
and explains important matters in our personal lives, our communities,
and the world. At the personal level, sociology
investigates the social causes and consequences of such things as
romantic love, racial and gender identity, family conflict, deviant
behavior, aging, and religious faith. At the societal level, sociology
examines and explains matters like crime and law, poverty and wealth,
prejudice and discrimination, schools and education, business firms,
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urban community, and social movements. At the global level,

sociology studies such phenomena as population growth and migration,
war and peace, and economic development.
Sociologists emphasize the careful gathering and analysis of evidence
about social life to develop and enrich our understanding of key social
processes. The research methods sociologists use is varied.
Sociologists observe the everyday life of groups, conduct large-scale
surveys, interpret historical documents, analyze census data, study
video-taped interactions, interview participants of groups, and conduct
laboratory experiments.

The research methods

and theories of sociology yield powerful insights into the social
processes shaping human lives understanding those social processes, we
also come to understand more clearly the forces shaping the personal
experiences and outcomes of our own lives. The ability to see and
understand this connection between broad social forces and personal
experiences — what C. Wright Mills called “the sociological
imagination” — is extremely valuable academic preparation for living
effective and rewarding personal and professional lives in a changing
and complex society.
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Students who have been well trained in sociology know how to think
critically about human social life, and how to ask important research
questions. They know how to design good social research projects,
carefully collect and analyze empirical data, and formulate and present
their research findings. Students trained in sociology also know how to
help others understand the way the social world works and how it
might be changed for the better. Most generally, they have learned how
to think, evaluate, and communicate clearly, creatively, and effectively.
These are all abilities of tremendous value in a wide variety of
vocational callings and professions.
Sociology offers a distinctive and enlightening way of seeing and
understanding the social world in which we live and which shapes our
lives. Sociology looks beyond normal, taken-for- granted views of
reality, to provide deeper, more illuminating and challenging
understandings of social life. Through its particular analytical
perspective, social theories, and research methods, sociology is a
discipline that expands our awareness and analysis of the human
social relationships, cultures, and institutions that profoundly shape
both our lives and human history.
Sociology is the study of human behavior. Sociology refers to social
behavior, society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction,
and culture that surrounds everyday life. Sociology, a social science
that studies human societies, their interactions, and the processes that
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preserve and change them. It does this by examining the dynamics of

constituent parts of societies such as institutions, communities,
populations, and gender, racial, or age groups. Sociology also studies
social status or stratification, social movements, and social change, as
well as societal disorder in the form of crime, deviance, and revolution.
A dictionary defines sociology as the systematic study of society and
social interaction. The word “sociology” is derived from the Latin word
socius (companion) and the Greek word logos (speech or reason),
which together mean “reasoned speech about companionship”. How
can the experience of companionship or togetherness be put into words
or explained? While this is a starting point for the discipline,
sociology is actually much more complex. It uses many different
methods to study a wide range of subject matter and to apply these
studies to the real world. Social life overwhelmingly regulates the
behavior of humans, largely because humans lack the instincts that guide
most animal behavior. Humans therefore depend on social institutions
and organizations to inform their decisions and actions. Given the
important role organizations play in influencing human action, it is
sociology’s task to discover how organizations affect the behavior of
persons, how they are established, how organizations interact with one
another, how they decay, and,
ultimately, how they disappear. Among the most basic organizational
structures are economic, religious, educational, and political institutions,
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as well as more specialized institutions such as the family, the

community, the military, peer groups, clubs, and volunteer
associations. Sociology, as a generalizing social science, is surpassed in
its breadth only by anthropology—a discipline that encompasses
archaeology, physical anthropology, and linguistics. The broad nature
of sociological inquiry causes it to overlap with other social sciences
such as economics, political science, psychology, geography,
education, and law. Sociology’s distinguishing feature is its practice of
drawing on a larger societal context to explain social phenomena.
Social research has influence throughout various industries and sectors
of life, such as among politicians, policy makers,
and legislators; educators; planners; administrators; developers; business
magnates and managers; social workers; non-governmental
organizations; and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals
interested in resolving social issues in general. As such, there is often a
great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and
other statistical fields.
Sociology helps us look more objectively at our society and other
societies. It directs attention to how the parts of society fit together
and change, as well as makes us aware of the
consequences of that social change. The basic insight of sociology is that
human behavior is shaped by the groups to which people belong and by
the social interaction that takes place within those groups. We are who
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we are and we behave the way we do because we happen to live in a

particular society at a particular point in space and time. Sociologists
study all aspects and levels of society. A society is a group of people
whose members interact, reside in a definable area, and share a culture.
A culture includes the group’s shared practices, values, beliefs, norms
and artifacts. One sociologist might analyze video of people from
different societies as they carry on everyday conversations to study the
rules of polite conversation from different world cultures.
Another sociologist might interview a representative sample of people
to see how email and instant messaging have changed the way
organizations are run. Yet another sociologist might study how
migration determined the way in which language spread and changed
over time.

A fourth sociologist might study the history of international agencies

like the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund to examine
how the globe became divided into a First World and a third World
after the end of the colonial era.
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QUESTION NO 2:
Define interaction. Discuss the role off space and time in
any interaction situation.
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ANSWER:
SOCIAL INTERACTION

In sociology, social interaction is a dynamic sequence of social actions

between individuals (or
groups) who modify their actions and reactions due to actions by
their interaction partner(s).
Social interactions can be differentiated into accidental, repeated,
regular and regulated.
A social interaction is a social exchange between two or more
individuals. These interactions form the basis for social structure
and therefore are a key object of basic social inquiry and
analysis. Social interaction can be studied between groups of two
(dyads), three (triads) or larger social groups.
Social structures and cultures are founded upon social interactions.
By interacting with one
another, people design rules, institutions and systems within which they
seek to live. Symbols are used to communicate the expectations of a
given society to those new to it, either children or outsiders. Through
this broad schema of social development, one sees how social interaction
lies at its core.
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The empirical study of social interaction is one of the subjects of

microsociology, which concerns the nature of everyday human social
interactions and agency on a small scale.
Methods include symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology, as
well as later academic sub-divisions and studies like psychosocial
studies, conversational analysis and human- computer interaction.

With symbolic interactionism, reality is seen as social, developed

interaction with others. It argues that both individuals and society cannot
be separated far from each other for two reasons. One being that they are
both created through social interaction. The second reason is they cannot
be understood in terms without the other. Ethnomethodology, an offshoot
of symbolic interactionism, which questions how people’s interactions can
create the illusion of a shared social order despite not understanding each
other fully and having differing objects have an effect upon one another.
The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as
opposed to a one-way causal effect. Closely related terms are interactivity
and interconnectivity, of which the latter deals with the interactions of
interactions within systems: combinations of many simple interactions can
lead to
surprising emergent phenomena. Interaction has different tailored
meanings in various sciences. Changes can also involve
interaction. Casual examples of interaction outside science include:
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Communication of any sort, for example two or more people talking

to each other, or communication among groups, organizations, nations
or states: trade, migration, foreign relations, transportation.
The feedback during the operation of a machine such as a computer or
tool, for example the interaction between a driver and the position of his
or her car on the road: by steering the driver influences this position, by
observation this information returns to the driver.
As the traditional medium of communication (paper) is static and two-
dimensional, we are used to seeing representations of time mapped
into space. In comic books and also technical manuals we see
sequences of images laid out giving an idea of temporal progression.
Single comic book images may use various forms of blurring,
streamlines or other ways of giving an
impression of movement (even multiple images of the same object in
the same frame). These visual cues to movement are increasingly being
recognized by the computer graphics and HCI communities. In the
scientific community the most prevalent example of embedding time
into space is the graph where time is mapped directly onto one of the
spatial dimensions. It is important to note that although this
representation is to some extent a technological artefact of the nature of
paper, it also serves an important perceptual role, it is easier to perceive
trends in a spatial representation of the data than if the same data were
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animated (with no graphical trace). In a dynamic visualization we

can use time itself as part of the representation.
First time can represent the passage of time itself. For example, we
may see an animation of the movement of an object. The mapping
between visualization time and real time may not be one to one, just
as spatial representations may be at various scales.
For example, we may see a video sequence of continental drift which
both scales the surface of the earth to fit onto our TV screen, and runs
at 10 million years per second!
Second time can represent the change in some other parameter, in
effect allowing us to'visualize' an extra dimension. An example of this
are the movies generated from the 'digital human body' images. One is
shown successive 2D images of different cross- sections across the body
and time represents distance along the body.

Finally, time may map onto interaction - the users' own subjective
time as they manipulate various parameters themselves. Both the above
categories may be used in traditional pre-recorded media, but interaction
adds different aspect. In fact, interactive visualization can be used with
either of the previous two categories .Space and time interaction in
human vision:
The interaction of space and time affects perception of extents:
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(1) the longer the exposure duration, the longer the line length
is perceived and vice versa;
(2) the shorter the line length is, the shorter the exposure duration
is perceived.
Previous studies have shown that space-time interactions in human
vision are asymmetrical;spatial cognition has a larger effect on temporal
cognition rather than vice versa (Merritt et al., 2010). What makes the
interactions asymmetrical? In this study, participants were asked to
judge exposure duration of lines that differed in length or to judge the
lengths of the lines with different exposure time; to judge the task-
relevant stimulus extents that also varied in the task- irrelevant stimulus
extents. Paired spatial and temporal tasks in which the ranges of task-
relevant and -irrelevant stimulus values were common, were conducted.
In our hypothesis, the imbalance in saliency of spatial and temporal
information would cause asymmetrical space- time interaction. To assess
the saliency, task difficulty was rated. If saliency of relevant stimuli is
high, the difficulty of discrimination task would be low, and vice versa.
The saliency of irrelevant stimuli in one task would be reflected in the
difficulty of the other task, in the pair of tasks. If saliency of irrelevant
stimuli is high, the difficulty of paired task would be low, and vice
versa. The result supports our hypothesis; spatial cognition
asymmetrically affected on temporal cognition when the difficulty of
temporal task was significantly higher than that of spatial task.
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Balance of saliency, task difficulty, and spatial/temporal interaction.

In our hypothesis, asymmetrical space-time interaction is caused by
the imbalance in saliency of the spatial and temporal information, and
the imbalance in difficulties in the spatial and temporal tasks. When
the saliency of relevant stimuli is high, the automaticity in cognitive
processes, such as

discrimination, could be high, and thus the task difficulty could be low;
and vice versa. The saliency of irrelevant stimuli in one task would be
reflected in the difficulty of the other task, in the pair of spatial/temporal
tasks. If saliency of irrelevant stimuli is high, the difficulty of paired
task would be low, and vice versa. When space cognition
asymmetrically affects time cognition, saliency of spatial information
would be high and/or saliency of temporal information would be low.
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QUESTION 3:
Define Social group and explain its different types with example.

ANSWER:
SOCIAL GROUP
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A group is becoming social when interaction interplays among its

participants. Social interaction is its basic condition. People walking in
markets, in fairs, travelling in train are not social groups. Because social
interaction among them does not exist. Two persons, in Amsterdam and
New York, having interaction on telephone form it although they are far
away from each other. Therefore social interaction is the basic condition
of social groups.
Meaning of Social Group:
Social group is the foundation of society and culture. Man is also a
product of group life. Most of the Anthropologists believe that man
started his life on this earth by living together. Man has always been
dependent upon his fellow beings in defense, food and shelter. The
satisfaction of various needs could be done only by cooperation among
various people in society. This reciprocal help brought them into social
contact with one another and here the social group was founded. It was
the real foundation of human society. Imam Ghazali is also of the view
that for the satisfaction of various needs the people formed social
groups. Shah Wali Ullah Mohaddis Dehlvi said that for continuity of
human race and satisfaction of other needs of food, house and clothes
the human society was founded.
Social Group Definition:
According to Merrill: “Two or more persons are in communication
over an appreciable period of time and who act in accordance with
common function or purpose”.
A.W. Green says “An aggregate of individuals which persists in
time, which has one or more interests or activities in common and
which is organized”.
Emory S. Bogardus: “a number of persons, two or more who have
common objects of attention, who are stimulating to each other, who
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have common loyalty and participate in related activities are called

as group”.
Characteristics of Social Groups:
The basis of grouping may be numerous but the division of
population on the basis of age, sex,
income, profession and other gave them various types of social groups.
Following are the
1. Given number of Individual two or more
2. Reciprocal Relations exists among the its members
3. These are formed for Common Goals and Objectives
4. Having Sense of unity and solidarity which results loyalty
and sympathy
5. A strong sense of awe-feeling which develop cooperation
6. Group Norms and regulations (written or unwritten) must be
followed for group control
7. Similar Behavior to achieve common goals
8. Awareness about its membership to differentiate them from
other groups
9. These are dynamic instead static
10.Group Control (direct or indirect control) for member’s activities
Types of Social Groups

1. Primary Groups
2. Secondary Groups
3. In & Out
4. Formal and Informal
5. Reference
6. Ethnic
7. Caste
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8. Pressure
9. Vested Interest
1. Primary Group Meaning, Definition and Characteristics:
Many scientists coined definitions of social group in different contexts.
Some of the important definitions are given. Cooley gave this type of
social group in the book “social organizations”: “Primary group is the
simplest and the most universal of all the forms of associations. This
attains social solidarity among the members due to high rate of
interaction, intensity in social contacts, and duration of contact being
extensive and having a common focus
of attention for the members.”
According to MacIver and Page, group means “any collection of human
beings who are brought into social relationship with one another”.
According Ogburn and Nimkoff “whenever two or more individuals
come together and influences one another, called socialgroup”. Emory
S. Bogardus defines it as: “a number of persons, two or more, who have
common objects of attention, who are stimulating to each other, who
have common loyalty and participate in similar activities”.
Meaning of Primary Group:
Primary groups are primary in the sense that the members within are
emotionally attached together sharing their basic ways of life with one
another. In the basic affairs of life which are most essential for a social
life those who fall into mutual sharing of one another form a group
prime in importance called Primary group. Emotions, attitude, ideas
and habits of individuals develop within this. Characteristics of Primary
Group:
Following are the important characteristics of primary group:
1. Face-to-face interaction: Primary groups are characterized by
close intimate and face to face interaction.
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2. Intimacy: Here everyone knows everyone else and there is strong

intimacy among the members. They are even known to nick names
of their members.
3. Mutual Aid & Help: Mutual aid assistance among the members of the
groups always found. They cooperate with each other at the time of help.
4. Consciousness of kind: Consciousness of kind exists. If means they
recognize one another and express, it whenever needed.
5. We – Feeling: we – feeling (sense of unity and commonality) is found
among the members of the group. It means they live together as one
body.
6. Small in Size: Primary groups are smaller in size. Large number
decreases intimacy and loose the bond of the group.
7. Physical proximity or nearness: face-to-face relation can be found
only when members live in a particular area more or less on permanent
basis.
8. Frequent Interaction: Interaction among members of the group is
frequent and it can be many times in a day.
9. Personal relation: In this, interest of each is centered in others
as persons. They interact
with each other on the basis of personal relation.
10.Similarity of background: Members must have more or less
similar background.
These conditions are necessary for a primary group. Family members
like father, mother, brother, sister, wife, and children are its members.
Neighborhood members are also a part of this. Close friends and
relatives are also part of this group.
Any person who is influenced and builds his personality from other
persons is a member of his primary group. All such persons affecting
personality of individual are his primary group members. Any person to
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whom you cannot refuse is a member where you are belonging. It is the
most important for the individual.
Examples of Primary Groups in Sociology:
Family neighborhood, play group, gossip group and the gang are the
examples of primary
group.
What are the Functions of Primary Groups in Society?
Primary group is important for both individual and society and the
medium which help to learn
from our culture. These groups make individuals of the society to lead
better social life.
Following are the important functions
1. Personality Development of individual of society by
establishing social nature & ideas
2. These Satisfy psychological needs of members of society like
mental peace and security
etc.
3. A source of motivation in pursuit of their members’ interest
and objectives through
inspiration and cooperation and promoting efficiency
4. Increasing the democratic spirit of individuals with strong behavior
with people and social
institutions
5. These are the important informal factors of social control of
its members and to organize
their relations in a more formal way.
2. Secondary Group in Sociology Meaning, Definition
and Characteristics:
Meaning of Secondary Group:
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The people within their contact second to the primary group form
secondary group no matter whatever the type of relationship is there.
Sometimes they are also special interest group. The intimacy within
the group is relatively lower than that in primary. The relations of
teacher and student, buyer and seller, voter and candidate, are
secondary. The frequency, duration, intensity and focus in interaction
may be there but their degree being lower than the one in primary
group. The group is second in importance of life to the participants. He
is first affected by the primary members and later by those in the
secondary. Definition:
Ogburn & Nimkoff: “groups which provide experience lacking
in intimacy can be called secondary group.”
Frank D. Watson: “the secondary group is larger and more formal, is
specialized and direct in its contact and relies more for unity and
continuance upon the stability of its social- organization than does the
primary group.”

Characteristics of Secondary Group:

1. Large in size: Its members are relatively larger in size than the
primary one. They can be thousands and hundreds of thousands
of members.
2. Less physical proximity: their physical proximity is rarely found
and most of the members reside quite way from each other.
3. Impersonal or secondary relation: Its basic elements are indirect,
impersonal contractual as well as non-inclusive relations. Usually, they
come close to each other for achieving common interests.
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4. Membership: Membership in this case is mainly voluntary.

Individuals are free to join or avoid it. There is no emotional bondage
on the members.
5. Specific ends or interests: Members of the secondary groups are
interested just because they have specific ends to aim at. That’s why,
it is also called special interest group.
6. Indirect communication: contacts and communication in the case
of secondary group are mostly indirect. Telephone, internet, post and
telegraph are the mains sources of it.
7. Social control: Here means of social control are usually formal. Laws
and other regulations are enforced on the members by the authorities.
The degree of relationship among members is not very strong here.
This group is second in importance.
Example of Secondary Groups in Sociology:
Members of the same profession, mohallah fellows, residents of the
same village, class fellows, playmates, relatives, members of the same
political party, people offering prayers in the masjid in congregation are
secondary group members.
Importance of Secondary Groups:
It is an important fact that group have substantial impact on members
whether the members of primary or secondary. Secondary groups are
more organized and tend to accomplish its members’ aims and
objectives, thus have more influence on its members. In the early ages
primary groups were so important due to small and agriculture based
society. But in the age of industrialization and Information technology
members of society prefer secondary groups. The individual man of
the society cannot escape for its dominancy and must rely on, to fulfill
his needs of the day.
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1. These are efficient in fulfilling their own and their members aims
and goals.
2. These provide better opportunities to boost in in the field
of education, business,
communication etc.
3. Wider outlook means these are large size and its members are
spread all over because it
accommodates variety of individuals.
4. The members are practically involving in completing a specific goal
and are functional in
character.
3. IN &OUT GROUP:

In sociology and social psychology, in-groups and out-groups are social

groups to which an individual feel as though he or she belongs as a
member, or towards which they feel contempt, opposition, or a desire
to compete, respectively. People tend to hold positive attitudes towards
members of their own groups, a phenomenon known as in-group bias.
The term originates from social identity theory which grew out of the
work of social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner.
In-group favoritism refers to a preference and affinity for one’s in-group
over the out-group or anyone viewed as outside the in-group. This can
be expressed in evaluation of others, linking ,allocation of resources, and
many other ways. A key notion in understanding in-group/out-group
biases is determining the psychological mechanism that drives the bias.
One of the key determinants of group biases is the need to improve self-
esteem. That is individuals will find a reason, no matter how
insignificant, to prove to themselves why their group is superior.
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Intergroup aggression is any behavior intended to harm another person

because he or she is a member of an out group. Intergroup aggression
is a byproduct of in-group bias, in that if the beliefs of the in-group are
challenged or if the in-group feels threatened, then they will express
aggression toward the out-group. The major motive for intergroup
aggression is the perception of a conflict of interest between in-group
and out-group. The way the aggression is justified is through
dehumanizing the out-group, because the more the out-group is
dehumanized the “less they deserve the humane treatment enjoined by
universal norms.”
The out-group homogeneity effect is one’s perception of out-group
members as more similar to one another than are in-group members, e.g.
“they are alike; we are diverse.” The out-group homogeneity effect has
been found using a wide variety of different social groups, from political
and racial groups to age and gender groups. Perceivers tend to have
impressions about the diversity or variability of group members around
those central tendencies or typical attributes of those group members.
Thus, out-group stereo typicality judgments are overestimated,
supporting the view that out-group stereotypes are over-generalizations
in an experiment testing out-group homogeneity, researchers revealed
that people of other races are perceived to look more alike than
members of one’s own race. When white students were shown faces of a
few white and a few black individuals, they later more accurately
recognized white faces they had seen and often falsely recognized black
faces not seen before. The opposite results were found when subjects
consisted of black individuals.
Prejudice is a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinct
group, based solely on their membership within that group. There are
three components. The first is the affective component, representing
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both the type of emotion linked with the attitude and the severity of the
attitude. The second is a cognitive component, involving beliefs and
thoughts that make up the attitude. The third is a behavioral component,
relating to one’s actions – people do not just hold attitudes, they act on
them as well. Prejudice primarily refers to a negative attitude about
others, although one can also have a positive prejudice in favor of
something. Prejudice is similar to stereotype in that a stereotype is a
generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics
are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual
variation among the members.
4. REFERENCE GROUP:
Social comparison theory is centered on the belief that there is a drive
within individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. Individuals evaluate
their own opinions and define the self by comparing themselves to
others. One important concept in this theory is the reference group.
A reference group refers to a group to which an individual or
another group is compared.
Sociologists call any group that individuals use as a standard for
evaluating themselves and their own behavior a reference group.
Reference groups are used in order to evaluate and determine the nature
of a given individual or other group’s characteristics and sociological
attributes. It is the group to which the individual relates or aspires to
relate himself or herself psychologically. Reference groups become the
individual’s frame of reference and source for ordering his or her
experiences, perceptions, cognition, and ideas of self. It is important for
determining a person’s self-identity, attitudes, and social ties. These
groups become the basis of reference in making comparisons or
contrasts and in evaluating one’s appearance and performance.
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Robert K. Merton hypothesized that individuals compare themselves

with reference groups of people who occupy the social role to which the
individual aspires. Reference groups act as a frame of reference to
which people always refer to evaluate their achievements, their role
performance, aspirations and ambitions. A reference group can either be
from a membership group or non-membership group. An example of a
reference group is a group of people who have a certain level of
affluence. For example, an individual in the U.S. with an annual income
of $80,000, may consider himself affluent if he compares himself to
those in the middle of the income strata, who earn roughly $32,000 a
year. If, however, the same person considers the relevant reference
group to be those in the top 0.1% of households in the U.S., those
making $1.6 million or more, then the individual’s income of $80,000
would make him or her seem rather poor.
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QUESTION: 4
Define and differentiate between culture and society. Also briefly
explain the elements of a
culture.

ANSWER:
CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Culture consists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other

characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society.
Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to
society's shared values, and contribute to society. Thus, culture includes
many societal aspects: language, customs, values, norms, mores, rules,
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tools, technologies, products, organizations, and institutions. This

latter term institution refers to clusters of rules and cultural meanings
associated with specific social activities. Common institutions are the
family, education, religion, work, and health care.
Popularly speaking, being cultured means being well‐educated,
knowledgeable of the arts, stylish, and well‐mannered. High culture—
generally pursued by the upper class—refers to classical music, theater,
fine arts, and other sophisticated pursuits. Members of the upper class
can pursue high art because they have cultural capital, which means the
professional credentials, education, knowledge, and verbal and social
skills necessary to attain the “property, power, and prestige” to “get
ahead” socially. Low culture, or popular culture— generally pursued by
the working and middle classes—refers to sports, movies, television
sitcoms and soaps, and rock music. Remember that sociologists define
culture differently than they do culture, high culture, low culture, and
popular culture. Sociologists define society as the people who interact
in such a way as to share a common culture. The cultural bond may be
ethnic or racial, based on gender, or due to shared beliefs, values, and
activities. The term society can also have a geographic meaning and
refer to people who share a common culture in a particular location. For
example, people living in arctic climates developed different cultures
from those living in desert cultures. In time, a large variety of human
cultures arose around the world.
Culture and society are intricately related. A culture consists of the
“objects” of a society,
whereas a society consists of the people who share a common culture.
When the terms culture and society first acquired their current meanings,
most people in the world worked and lived in small groups in the same
locale. In today's world of 6 billion people, these terms have lost some
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of their usefulness because increasing numbers of people interact and

share resources globally. Still, people tend to use culture and society in
a more traditional sense: for example, being a part of a “racial culture”
within the larger “U.S. society.”

Comparison Chart:
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON

CULTURE SOCIETY

Meaning Culture refers to the set of beliefs, practices, learned behavior

and moral values that are passed on, from one generation to another.

Society means an interdependent group of people who live together in a

particular region and are associated with one another.
What is it? It is something that differentiates one society from the other.
It is a community of people, residing in a specific area, sharing common
culture over time.
What it does? It unites the social framework through influence .It shapes
the social framework through pressure. Represents Rules that guide the
way people live.
Structure that provides the way people organize themselves.
Includes Beliefs, values and practices of a
group. People who share common beliefs and
practices. Examples Fashion, lifestyle, tastes &
preferences, music, art, etc. Economy, village,
city etc.
 27

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

Values and Beliefs:

The first, and perhaps most crucial, elements of culture we will discuss
are its values and beliefs. Values are a culture’s standard for discerning
what is good and just in society. Values are deeply embedded and
critical for transmitting and teaching a culture’s beliefs. Beliefs are the
tenets or convictions that people hold to be true. Individuals in a
society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values. To
illustrate the difference, Americans commonly
believe in the American Dream—that anyone who works hard
enough will be successful and wealthy. Underlying this belief is the
American value that wealth is good and important.
Values help shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad,
beautiful and ugly, sought or avoided. Consider the value that the United
States places upon youth. Children represent innocence and purity, while
a youthful adult appearance signifies sexuality. Shaped by this value,
individuals spend millions of dollars each year on cosmetic products and
surgeries to look young and beautiful. The United States also has an
individualistic culture, meaning people place a high value on
individuality and independence. In contrast, many other cultures are
collectivist, meaning the welfare of the group and group relationships
are a primary value.
Living up to a culture’s values can be difficult. It’s easy to value good
health, but it’s hard to quit smoking. Marital monogamy is valued, but
many spouses engage in infidelity. Cultural diversity and equal
opportunities for all people are valued in the United States, yet the
country’s highest political offices have been dominated by white men.
 28

Values often suggest how people should behave, but they don’t
accurately reflect how people do behave. Values portray an ideal
culture, the standards society would like to embrace and live up to. But
ideal culture differs from real culture, the way society actually is, based
on what occurs and exists. In an ideal culture, there would be no traffic
accidents, murders, poverty, or racial tension. But in real culture, police
officers, lawmakers, educators, and social workers constantly strive to
prevent or repair those accidents, crimes, and injustices. American
teenagers are encouraged to value celibacy. However, the number of
unplanned pregnancies among teens reveals that not only is the ideal
hard to live up to, but the value alone is not enough to spare teenagers
the potential consequences of having sex.
One way societies strive to put values into action is through rewards,
sanctions, and punishments. When people observe the norms of
society and uphold its values, they are often rewarded. A boy who
helps an elderly woman board a bus may receive a smile and a “thank
you.” A business manager who raises profit margins may receive a
quarterly bonus.
People sanction certain behaviors by giving their support, approval, or
permission, or by instilling formal actions of disapproval and
nonsupport. Sanctions are a form of social control, a way to encourage
conformity to cultural norms. Sometimes people conform to norms in
anticipation or expectation of positive sanctions: good grades, for
instance, may mean praise from parents and teachers. From a criminal
justice perspective, properly used social control is also inexpensive
crime control. Utilizing social control approaches pushes most people to
conform to societal rules, regardless of whether authority figures (such
as law enforcement)
are present.
 29

When people go against a society’s values, they are punished. A boy

who shoves an elderly woman aside to board the bus first may receive
frowns or even a scolding from other passengers. A business manager
who drives away customers will likely be fired. Breaking norms and
rejecting values can lead to cultural sanctions such as earning a
negative label—lazy, no-good bum—or to legal sanctions, such as
traffic tickets, fines, or imprisonment.
Values are not static; they vary across time and between groups as
people evaluate, debate,and change collective societal beliefs. Values
also vary from culture to culture. For example, cultures differ in their
values about what kinds of physical closeness are appropriate in
public. It’s rare to see two male friends or coworkers holding hands in
the United States where that
behavior often symbolizes romantic feelings. But in many nations,
masculine physical intimacy is considered natural in public. This
difference in cultural values came to light when people reacted to
photos of former president George W. Bush holding hands with the
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in 2005. A simple gesture, such as hand-
holding, carries great symbolic differences across cultures. Norms:

So far, the examples in this chapter have often described how people are
expected to behave in certain situations—for example, when buying
food or boarding a bus. These examples describe the visible and
invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured, or
what sociologists call norms. Norms define how to behave in
accordance with what a society has defined as good, right, and
important, and most members of the society adhere to them.
Formal norms are established, written rules. They are behaviors worked
out and agreed upon in order to suit and serve the most people. Laws are
 30

formal norms, but so are employee manuals, college entrance

exam requirements, and “no running” signs at swimming pools.
Formal norms are the most specific and clearly stated of the
various types of norms, and they
are the most strictly enforced. But even formal norms are enforced to
varying degrees and are
reflected in cultural values.
For example, money is highly valued in the United States, so monetary
crimes are punished. It’s against the law to rob a bank, and banks go to
great lengths to prevent such crimes. People safeguard valuable
possessions and install antitheft devices to protect homes and cars. A
less strictly enforced social norm is driving while intoxicated. While
it’s against the law to drive drunk, drinking is for the most part an
acceptable social behavior. And though there are laws to punish drunk
driving, there are few systems in place to prevent the crime. These
examples show a range of enforcement in formal norms.
There are plenty of formal norms, but the list of informal norms—casual
behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to—is longer. People
learn informal norms by observation, imitation, and general
socialization. Some informal norms are taught directly—“Kiss your
Aunt Edna” or “Use your napkin”—while others are learned by
observation, including observations of the consequences when someone
else violates a norm. But although informal norms define personal
interactions, they extend into other systems as well. In the United States,
there are informal norms regarding behavior at fast food restaurants.
Customers line up to order their food and leave when they are done.
They don’t sit down at a table with strangers, sing loudly as they prepare
their condiments, or nap in a booth. Most people don’t commit even
 31

benign breaches of informal norms. Informal norms dictate

appropriate behaviors without the need of written rules.
Norms may be further classified as either mores or folkways. Mores
(mor-ays) are norms that embody the moral views and principles of a
group. Violating them can have serious consequences. The strongest
mores are legally protected with laws or other formal norms. In the
United States, for instance, murder is considered immoral, and it’s
punishable by law (a formal norm). But more often, mores are judged
and guarded by public sentiment (an informal norm). People who violate
mores are seen as shameful. They can even be shunned or banned from
some groups. The mores of the U.S. school system require that a
student’s writing be in the student’s own words or use special forms
(such as quotation marks and a whole system of citation) for crediting
other writers. Writing another person’s words as if they are one’s own
has a name—plagiarism. The consequences for violating this norm are
severe and usually result
in expulsion.
Unlike mores, folkways are norms without any moral underpinnings.
Rather, folkways direct appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices
and expressions of a culture. They indicate whether to shake hands or
kiss on the cheek when greeting another person. They specify whether
to wear a tie and blazer or a T-shirt and sandals to an event. In Canada,
women can smile and say hello to men on the street. In Egypt, that’s not
acceptable. In regions in the southern United States, bumping into an
acquaintance means stopping to chat. It’s considered rude not to, no
matter how busy one is. In other regions, people guard their privacy and
value time efficiency. A simple nod of the head is enough. Other
accepted folkways in the United States may include holding the door
 32

open for a stranger or giving someone a gift on their birthday. The

rules regarding these folkways may change from culture to culture.
Many folkways are actions we take for granted. People need to act
without thinking in order to get seamlessly through daily routines;
they can’t stop and analyze every action (Sumner 1906).
Those who experience culture shock may find that it subsides as they
learn the new culture’s folkways and are able to move through their
daily routines more smoothly. Folkways might be
small manners, learned by observation and imitated, but they are by
no means trivial. Like
mores and laws, these norms help people negotiate their daily lives
within a given culture.
Symbols and Language:
Humans, consciously and subconsciously, are always striving to make
sense of their surrounding world. Symbols—such as gestures, signs,
objects, signals, and words—help people understand that world. They
provide clues to understanding experiences by conveying recognizable
meanings that are shared by societies.
The world is filled with symbols. Sports uniforms, company logos,
and traffic signs are symbols.
In some cultures, a gold ring is a symbol of marriage. Some symbols
are highly functional; stop signs, for instance, provide useful
instruction. As physical objects, they belong to material culture, but
because they function as symbols, they also convey nonmaterial cultural
meanings. Some symbols are valuable only in what they represent.
Trophies, blue ribbons, or gold medals, for example, serve no other
purpose than to represent accomplishments. But many objects have both
material and nonmaterial symbolic value.
 33

A police officer’s badge and uniform are symbols of authority and law
enforcement. The sight of an officer in uniform or a squad car triggers
reassurance in some citizens, and annoyance, fear, or anger in others.
It’s easy to take symbols for granted. Few people challenge or even
think about stick figure signs on the doors of public bathrooms. But
those figures are more than just symbols that tell men and women which
bathrooms to use. They also uphold the value, in the United States, that
public restrooms should be gender exclusive. Even though stalls are
relatively private, most places don’t offer unisex bathrooms.
Symbols often get noticed when they are out of context. Used
unconventionally, they convey strong messages. A stop sign on the
door of a corporation makes a political statement, as does a camouflage
military jacket worn in an antiwar protest. Together, the semaphore
signals for “N” and “D” represent nuclear disarmament—and form the
well-known peace sign (Westcott 2008). Today, some college students
have taken to wearing pajamas and bedroom slippers to class, clothing
that was formerly associated only with privacy and bedtime. Though
students might deny it, the outfit defies traditional cultural norms and
makes a statement.
Even the destruction of symbols is symbolic. Effigies representing
public figures are burned to demonstrate anger at certain leaders. In
1989, crowds tore down the Berlin Wall, a decades-old symbol of the
division between East and West Germany, communism, and
capitalism.While different cultures have varying systems of symbols,
one symbol is common to all:language. Language is a symbolic
system through which people communicate and through which culture
is transmitted. Some languages contain a system of symbols used for
written communication, while others rely on only spoken
communication and nonverbal actions.
 34

Societies often share a single language, and many languages contain

the same basic elements.
An alphabet is a written system made of symbolic shapes that refer to
spoken sound. Taken together, these symbols convey specific
meanings. The English alphabet uses a combination of twenty-six
letters to create words; these twenty-six letters make up over 600,000
recognized English words (OED Online 2011).
Rules for speaking and writing vary even within cultures, most notably
by region. Do you refer to a can of carbonated liquid as “soda,” pop,”
or “Coke”? Is a household entertainment room a “family room,” “rec
room,” or “den”? When leaving a restaurant, do you ask your server for
a “check,” the “ticket,” or your “bill”?
Language is constantly evolving as societies create new ideas. In this
age of technology, people have adapted almost instantly to new nouns
such as “e-mail” and “Internet,” and verbs such as “downloading,”
“texting,” and “blogging.” Twenty years ago, the general public
would have considered these nonsense words.
Even while it constantly evolves, language continues to shape our
reality. This insight was established in the 1920s by two linguists,
Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. They believed that reality is
culturally determined, and that any interpretation of reality is based on a
society’s language. To prove this point, the sociologists argued that
every language has words or expressions specific to that language. In
the United States, for example, the number thirteen is associated with
bad luck. In Japan, however, the number four is considered unlucky,
since it is pronounced similarly to the Japanese word for “death.”
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is based on the idea that people experience
their world through their language, and that they therefore understand
 35

their world through the culture embedded in their language. The

hypothesis, which has also been called linguistic relativity, states that
language shapes thought (Swoyer 2003). Studies have shown, for
instance, that unless people have access to the word “ambivalent,” they
don’t recognize an experience of uncertainty from having conflicting
positive and negative feelings about one issue. Essentially, the
hypothesis argues, if a person can’t describe the experience, the person
is not having the experience.
In addition to using language, people communicate without words.
Nonverbal communication is symbolic, and, as in the case of
language, much of it is learned through one’s culture. Some gestures
are nearly universal: smiles often represent joy, and crying often
represents sadness.
Other nonverbal symbols vary across cultural contexts in their meaning.
A thumbs-up, for example, indicates positive reinforcement in the
United States, whereas in Russia and Australia, it is an offensive curse
(Passero 2002). Other gestures vary in meaning depending on the
situation and the person. A wave of the hand can mean many things,
depending on how it’s done and for whom. It may mean “hello,”
“goodbye,” “no thank you,” or “I’m royalty.” Winks convey a variety of
messages, including “We have a secret,” “I’m only kidding,” or “I’m
attracted to you.” From a distance, a person can understand the
emotional gist of two people in conversation just by watching their
body language and facial expressions. Furrowed brows
and folded arms indicate a serious topic, possibly an argument.
Smiles, with heads lifted and
arms open, suggest a lighthearted, friendly chat.

.....................................................................................................................
 36

QUESTION: 5
Describe the role of early thinkers in development
of sociology.

ANSWER:

DEVEOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Creating a Discipline:
Auguste Comte (1798–1857):

In 1838 Auguste Comte, a Frenchman, coined the term sociology,

from the Latin socius (companion or associate) and the Greek term
logia (study of speech).Comte believed sociology could unify other
sciences and improve society. The French Revolution, which began in
1789, greatly impacted Comte, as did the Industrial Revolution in
Europe (1760- 1840). Questions related to economic class, social
status, urbanization, and the dangers of factory work raised new issues
about society and social interaction.
Like other thinkers influenced by the Enlightenment (a philosophical
movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized reason
and individualism), Comte believed society developed in stages. In
The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842) and A General
View of Positivism (1848), Comte described The Law of Three
Stages as follows:
 37

1. theological stage where people took religious views of society

2. metaphysical stage where people understood society as natural (not

supernatural)
3. the scientific or positivist stage, where society would be governed
by reliable knowledge
and would be understood in light of the knowledge produced by
science, primarily
sociology.
Comte originally studied to be an engineer, but later became a pupil of
social philosopher
Claude Henri de Rouvroy Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825).
They both thought that social
scientists could study society using the same scientific methods
utilized in the natural sciences.
Comte also believed in the potential of social scientists to improve
society. He held that once scholars identified the laws that governed
society, sociologists could address problems such as
poor education and poverty. Comte named the scientific study of
social patterns positivism. He believed that using scientific methods to
reveal the laws by which societies and individuals interact would usher
in a new scientifically oriented “positivist” age of history. In this view,
rational claims are seen as scientifically and systematically verifiable,
and are opposed to metaphysical and or
supernatural explanations. Although much of Comte’s Courses, a six-
volume treatise, has been discarded, particularly the highly simplified
and under-examined approach to social development, Comte’s lasting
contribution to sociology has been his classification of sciences.
 38

He presented a hierarchy of the sciences, with sociology at the top of a

list that begins with mathematics, and then moves to astronomy,
physics, chemistry, and biology. He argued that the sciences increase in
complexity and decrease in generality as you move up the hierarchy, and
that they build upon each of the foundational sciences below. Comte
declared sociology the most complex science for its attempt to integrate
all of the other sciences in order to explain natural laws of increasing
complexity.
Harriet Martineau (1802–1876):
Harriet Martineau was a writer who addressed a wide range of social
science issues. She was an early observer of social practices,
including economics, social class, religion, suicide,
government, and women’s rights. Her writing career began in 1831 with
a series of stories titled Illustrations of Political Economy, in which she
tried to educate ordinary people about the principles of economics.
Martineau was the first to translate Comte’s writing from French to
English and thereby introduced sociology to English-speaking scholars.
She is also credited with the first systematic methodological
international comparisons of social institutions in two of her most
famous sociological works: Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of
Western Travel (1838). Martineau found the workings of capitalism at
odds with the professed moral principles of the United States; she
identified faults of the free enterprise system in which workers were
exploited and impoverished while business owners became wealthy. She
further noted that the belief in all being created equal was inconsistent
with the lack of women’s rights. Much like Mary Wollstonecraft,
Martineau was often discounted in her own time by the male domination
of academic sociology.
 39

Karl Marx (1818–1883):

Karl Marx was a German social philosopher and economist. In 1848 he

and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) coauthored The Communist
Manifesto, which is one of the most influential political manuscripts in
history. It presents Marx’s theory of society, which differed from what
Comte proposed.
Marx rejected Comte’s positivism. He believed that societies grew and
changed as a result of the struggles of different social classes as they
sought control over the means of production. At the time he was
developing his theories, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of
capitalism had led to great disparities in wealth between the owners of
the factories and workers. Capitalism, an economic system characterized
by private or corporate ownership of goods and the means to produce
them, grew in many nations.
Marx predicted that inequalities of capitalism would become so extreme
that workers would eventually revolt. This would lead to the collapse of
capitalism, which would be replaced by communism. Communism is an
economic system under which there is no private or corporate ownership
of the means of production. Instead, economic resources are owned
communally and are distributed as needed. Marx believed that
communism was a more equitable system than capitalism.
While his economic predictions may not have come true in the time
frame or in the locations he predicted, Marx’s idea that economic, class-
based conflict leads to changes in society is still one of the major
theories used in modern sociology.
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917): Durkheim helped legitimize and define
sociology as a formal academic discipline by establishing the first
European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895
 40

and by publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method (1895).

In another important work, Division of
Labor in Society (1893), Durkheim articulated his theory of
how societies transform from a
primitive state into a capitalist, industrial society. According
to Durkheim, people rise to their
proper levels in society based on merit.
Durkheim believed that sociologists could study objective “social
facts.” He also believed that
through such studies it would be possible to determine if a society was
“healthy” or “pathological.” He saw healthy societies as stable, while
pathological societies experienced a breakdown in social norms between
individuals and society.
In 1897, Durkheim attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of his
rules of social research when he published a work titled Suicide.
Durkheim examined suicide statistics in different police districts to
research differences between Catholic and Protestant communities. He
attributed the differences to socioreligious forces rather than to
individual or psychological causes.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931):
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in Mississippi to parents were freed
after the Civil War and who went on to be politically active during
Reconstruction (1865-1877). Wells’ parents and younger brother died
during a yellow fever epidemic in 1878 when she was just 16 years
old. She became a teacher in a Black elementary school (Wells
attended some college prior to her parents’ deaths) so that her five
other siblings would not be separated and sent to foster homes. She
relocated from Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee to earn higher
wages, and to pursue further education.
 41

In 1884, when Wells was just 24 years old, she refused to give up her
seat in a first-class ladies’ train car and was subsequently dragged from
the car by the conductor and two men. After being criminally charged,
Wells fought the case all the way to the Tennessee Supreme Court,
based on the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which banned racial
discrimination in public accommodations. Although Wells lost after the
Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision, her passion for
equality and social justice only became stronger and more influential.
(Her direct action would be echoed by Rosa Parks’ civil disobedience
71 years later.) In 1891, she was fired from her teaching job for
criticizing the quality of Blacks-only schools in Memphis and thus
began a new career in journalism, starting at the Memphis Free Speech
and Headlight newspaper, which she later co-owned. After the lynching
of three of her friends in 1892, Wells became one of the nation’s most
vocal anti-lynching activists. She launched an extensive investigation of
lynching and published her findings in a pamphlet titled “Southern
Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases,” in 1892. Wells exposed lynching
as a barbaric practice of whites in the South used to intimidate and
oppress African Americans who represented economic and political
competition—and a subsequent threat to entrenched, hierarchical
power—for whites. A white mob eventually destroyed her newspaper
office and presses, though this did not stifle her voice or prevent her
investigative reporting from finding a national audience, particularly
through a distribution network of Black-owned newspapers.

Wells was one of the founding members of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1908, but her name was
left off the list of founding members. She also worked to have full
 42

inclusion for Black women in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and

participated in the 1913 Suffrage March in front of the White House.
Although not formally trained as an academic sociologist, Wells was
the epitome of a public sociologist because she examined racial and
gender inequalities and made them public issues. In Southern Horrors:
Lynch Laws in All Its Phases she stated, “The people must know before
they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press” (1892).
This forward-thinking statement is one of her many legacies in
sociology. Max Weber (1864–1920):
Prominent sociologist Max Weber established a sociology department
in Germany at the Ludwig Maximillian’s University of Munich in 1919.
Weber wrote on many topics, including political change in Russia and
social forces that affect factory workers. He is best known for his book
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904). The theory that
Weber sets forth in this book, which describes how religious belief
shapes work habits and thus affects the larger social, political, and
economic world, is still controversial. Some believe that Weber argued
that the beliefs of many Protestants, especially Calvinists, led to the
creation of capitalism. Others interpret it as simply claiming that the
ideologies (i.e., belief systems) of capitalism and Protestantism are
complementary.

Weber believed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to use standard

scientific methods to accurately predict the behavior of groups. This
view stood in opposition to positivism, which applied systematic,
scientific interpretive frameworks to social phenomena in the same
sense that one might apply them to natural phenomena. Instead, Weber
proposed a more empathic interpretive method that would take into
account one’s own cultural biases and orientations.
 43

With fellow sociologist Wilhelm Dithery, Weber introduced the

concept of verstehen, a German word that means to understand in a
deep, empathetic way. In seeking verstehen, outside observers of a
social world—an entire culture or a small setting—attempt to
understand it from an insider’s point of view.
In his book The Nature of Social Action (1922), Weber described
sociology as striving to
“interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal
explanation of the way in which action proceeds and the effects it
produces.” He and other like-minded sociologists proposed a philosophy
of ant positivism whereby social researchers would strive for
subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural
norms, and societal values.
This approach led to some research methods whose aim was not to
generalize or predict (as is traditional in science), but to systematically
gain an in-depth understanding of social worlds. The different
approaches to research based on positivism or ant positivism are often
considered the foundation for the differences found today between
quantitative sociology and qualitative sociology. Quantitative sociology
uses statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of
participants. Researchers analyze data using statistical techniques to see
if they can uncover patterns of human behavior. Qualitative sociology
seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-
depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources (like
books, magazines, journals, and popular media).