MODULE 4

SOCIOLOGY AND THE

STUDY OF SOCIETY
UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS
SOCIETY
Society can be defined as a product of
human interactions as humans subscribe to
the rules of their culture. It is an
organization that caters to a human's need
for belongingness in a group.

SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
Just like anthropology, sociology also has discipline-based concepts that aid
in the understanding of human behavior and groups. The basic concept that
sociology interprets is that of society.
COMPARISON OF THEORIES ON SOCIETY

SOCIOLOGIST PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIETY

Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and

Auguste Comte
function.

Society as a reality in its own right. Collective consciousness is of key

Emile Durkheim
importance to society, which society cannot survive without.

Society is a total complex of human relationship in so far as they grow out

Talcott Parsons
of the action in terms of means-end relationship.

George Herbert Mead Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the use of symbols.

Society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of

Morris Ginsberg behavior that marks individuals off from others who do not enter into these
relations or who differ from them in behavior.
COMPARISON OF THEORIES ON SOCIETY

SOCIOLOGIST PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIETY

Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a

George Douglas Cole
community.

Society as a system of usages and procedures of authority and mutual aid

Robert MacIver and Charles Page of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and
liberties.

Source : Shandra ( 2007 )

Notice that the common terms that surfaced in these definitions are the
following : social, structure, function, complex, relationships, symbols,
exchange, behavior, institutions, and system.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Another branch of the social sciences is the discipline of sociology. Sociology is
the "scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social
interaction, and culture" (Calhourne, 2002). The operative term scientific refers to
the methodological and theoretical rigor that sociology applies in its study of
society and human behavior. The term sociology was coined by Auguste Comte
in 1830 to refer to a scientific inquiry that covers human social activities.
In 1959, C. Wright Mills coined the phrase "sociological imagination" to refer to
the ability of sociologist to understand society sysmatically. This ability involves
the process of detaching oneself from the common understanding of society
and creates an alternative approach that would situate a behavior or an event
within a great social framework. Mills further argued that this imagination could
be the conceptual tool by which people could unpack the maladies of their
society and address them.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Within the framework of society is a process called social
interaction. This is a compilation of ways and means by which
humans interact with each other within the confines of a society.
Hence, the prevailing culture witihn a society dictates the forms of
interaction used by individuals with one another.

Interaction is not merely defined by an actual physical contact, as it

covers every human interchange that is within a mutually subjective
orientation. This implies that as long as the parties involved are
aware of each other, interaction is possible.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
There are several points that can be made about social
interaction :
1. Space is not an issue.
2. There can be multiple and simultaneous interactions.
3. A dialog can have an active end and inactive end.
4. Subject-positionally is present in any interaction.
5. The meanings we ascribe to the actions of others are
informed by the values and norms that are upheld in our
society.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
This concept refers to the interrelationship of parts of the society. As a
society is an organization in itself, it is structurally divided into layers of
contexts and positions that help perpetuate its existence. The positions
created within a society constitute the category of status.
A group is a basic unit of an organization. It involves at least two individuals
who are in constant interaction based on their statuses and roles.
Institutions are established when roles, statuses, and groups are perpuated
within the context of a society.
Institutions are the building blocks of a society, as it is through these that
norms are produced from the consistent exchanges of individuals and
groups. Family, marriage, education, religion, and government are all
examples of institutions.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND AGENCY
This is the foundation of every society from which emanates the possible
roles, statuses, institutions, and organizations. Social structure is the
determining factor by which every other part of a society gains its context.
The common analogy used to describe social structure and the elements
of society is that of a building. The pillars and foundation of the building is
equated to the social structure. These parts provide the general
framework of the building - these determine its height, width, and shape.
What provides the building with its design and body are the institutions,
statuses, groups, and roles.
The concept of culture can be equated to the concept of social structure
as it functions in the same capacity. This is to say that culture defines the
norms, values, institutions, groups, and individual behavior within a
society.
According to Inden (2000), agency is the realized
capacity of people to act upon their world and not only
to know about or give personal or intersubjective
significance to it... the power of people to act
purposively and reflectively, in more or less complex
relationships with one another, to reiterate and
remake the world in which they live, in circumtances
where they may consider different courses of action
possible and desirable though not necessarily from the
same point of view.
This definition provides the argument that through structures in place
define the conditions in which an individual interacts with others and
institutions, the individual is capable of "remaking the world".
Individuals are capable of creating new systems and patterns of
interaction. In the exercise of agency, humans can be either the catalyst
of change or the instruments by which such change is played. As such,
agency should be treated as an active word- it constitutes actions that are
intended to instigate action from institutions that would alter social
structures.
Agency is defined as individuals or groups reflecting, acting, modifying,
and giving significance to the teaching of science in purposeful ways,
with the aim of empowering and transforming themselves and/or the
conditions of their lives. . . Thus agency is action-oriented.
SUBDISCIPLINES OF SOCIOLOGY
Studies that involve social structures such as institutions, social groups, social
stratification, social mobility, and ethnic groups fall within the scope of social
organization.
The study of the impact of group life to a person's nature and personality is the
focus of social psychology.
Social change and disorganization is the branch of sociology that inquires on the
shift in social and cultural interactions and the interruption of its process through
delinquency, deviance, and conflicts.
Human ecology pursues studies that relate human behavior to existing social
institutions.
Population or demography inquires on the interrelationship between population
characteristics and dynamics with that of a political, economic, and social system.
Applied sociology uses sociological research and methods to solve contemporary
problems.
METHODS IN SOCIOLOGY
There are two primary methodological perspectives in sociology: positivist and the
anti-positivist.
The positivist orientation perceives society as a quantifiable subject from which
objective conclusions can be made. As such, a positivisit perspective uses
methods employed by the natural sciences to understand social phenomenon.
Auguste Comte - introduced positivist perspective taking into consideration that
society is like an organism that could be measure through logic and mathematics.
As this orientation is predisposed to statistical analysis, quantitative methods such
as surveys are employed by sociologists to map a social phenomenon.
The relationships of the variables of the topics are tested through formulas of
correlation, regression, and the like. It is assumed that by statistically
understanding the phenomenon, its future trajectory can be predicted and
addressed efficiently. This type of orientation allows for a macro-level analysis of
society.
 Norm
Many Rules
Fatalistic
Emile Durkheim (1951)
An example of a work that uses
positivism is that of Durkheim (1951)
Integration on suicide, wherein he identified four
Strong ties
Weak Ties
Altruistic (4) types of suicide that are triggered
Egoistic
by the type of society that one is
living in.

According to him, individuals who fall

into the extremes of their society are
No Rules
bound to commit suicide.
Anomic
ALTRUISTIC SUICIDE

A person who lives in a society that promotes strong ties

among among its members is prone to commit Altruistic
Suicide as an act of preserving it.
Example: The Japanese kamikaze pilots purposively
crashed their planes into American ships and land-based
positions to inflict heavy casualty on the Americans. Their
actions were an ultimate sacrifice and contribution to their
country's campaign to win World War II.
EGOISTIC SUICIDE

On the opposite end, being part of societies

that do not foster strong ties among its
members can trigger an individual to commit
egoistic suicide wherein the individual feels
isolated, having no sense of a community.
ANOMIC SUICIDE
Results from living in a society with no rules. This context
propels an individual to commit suicide as he or she
experiences moral and existential crisis based on the
unavailability of guiding principles through which life can
be lived.
The death of several popular culture icons have been
attributed to this form of suicide, as they have
experienced the complexity of the popularity that
rendered them objects of consumers instead of living
persons.
FATALISTIC SUICIDE

Is experienced in societies that have many rules.

Individuals who fail to comply with the rules of their
society experience shame and disappointment.
The traditional culture of setting examples to siblings
through high performance among firstborn children has
been passed on to an only-child generation. This culture
forced every single child to be competitive in school to
please his or her parents. Failure to live up to this
standard has triggered countless suuicides among youth.
ANTI-POSITIVIST ORIENTATION

PROMOTES A REQUIRES QUALITATIVE

SUBJECTIVE
APPROACH WHEREIN
METHODS IN GATHERING
SOCIAL PHENOMENA DATA SUCH AS INTERVIEWS,
ARE UNDERSTOOD
THROUGH INDIVIDUAL
PARTICIPANT-
EXPERIENCES. OBSERVATIONS, ETC.
 Leading them to choose suicide as a
The work on suicide by Pearson and
form of either a statement or an
Lui (2011) presents the suicide of a
escape.
village woman in China named Ling.
They also noted that unlike the
Using ethnographic process, Pearson
suicide casein the West that is
and Lui concluded that the typical
defined by depression and long-term
Western orientation toward suicide,
mental illness, suicide in rural China
which focuses on depression and
was more spontaneous as individuals
other mental health-related factors.
thought about the act few hours or, at
Their suicide act is triggered by social
times, minutes prior to committing it.
and economic structural conditions.
The work of Pearson and Lui remains
Through the life of Ling, it shows that
to be applicable to the case of Ling's
women's status in society, which
society. This situates anti-positivist
generally renders them powerless and
works within the micro-level of
voiceless.
analysis.
VALUE OF SOCIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Sociology finds its value today in providing us

with a conceptual tool in understanding the plight
of humans as they adapt to their varying
environments and social conditions.
Sociology provides policy makers with concrete
bases for decisions that affect human population
and alter their social landscape.
Value of Sociology for the 21st Century
An example of sociological issues here in the Philippines is the
casae of unemployed youth who are in the process of waithood.
They are called TAMBAY. Clarence Batan, a sociologist studying
the youth, conducted a sociological study of tambay in a town of
Talim in the province of Rizal.
Using methods such as ethnography, he found out that most of the
youth have employment aspirations; due to their marginalization
however, they are disenfranchised from the labor system that
requires a set of employee attributes. Some remain to be a tambay
for as long as five years.
 THANK YOU
for listening!

Presentation by Nuevo and Labrador ( Saturn )