Sociology - Study of Society and Social Relationships

Sociology: The Study of Society

• Sociology is the study of society, focusing on social relationships, interactions, and culture.
• A society is a group of people sharing a culture.

Types of Societies

• Hunting and gathering societies
• Horticulture and pastoral societies
• Industrial societies
• Post-industrial societies

Groups within Society

• Primary group: small, intimate, less specialized group with interactions over a period of time.
• Secondary group: large, less intimate, more specialized group with impersonal and objective-oriented relationships for a limited time.
• In-group: one's belonging, sense of identity.
• Out-group: one's not belonging, sense of competitiveness or hostility.

Socialization and Identity

• Socialization: a lifelong experience that shapes human potential and teaches society's expectations.
• Identity formation: socially constructed through interactions with others.

Norms

• Rules that guide behavior, categorized into:
  • Folkways: socially correct and proper everyday life (right vs rude).
  • Mores: ethical and moral conduct (right vs wrong).
  • Taboos: prohibitions and restrictions based on moral judgment and religious beliefs (right vs forbidden).
  • Laws: formal sanctions, legalized collection (right vs illegal).

Statuses and Roles

• Status: a social position held by a person.
• Role: behavior expected from someone who holds a particular status.
• Ascribed vs achieved status: social position assigned or earned.
• Role strain: stress caused by demands of a single role.
• Role conflict: demands by multiple roles.

Deviance and Conformity

• Deviance: violating standard conduct, expectations, or social norms.
• Forms of deviance:
  • Ritualism: common practice, habitual response (rejecting goals, accepting means).
  • Retreatism: attitude of being resigned to abandonment (rejecting both goals and means).
  • Innovation: accepting culture, rejecting traditional means (accepting goals, rejecting means).
  • Rebellion: replacing both elements of society (replacing both goals and means).
  • Conformity: socially accepted convention or standard (accepting both goals and means).

Social Control

• Organized action intended to change people's behavior, enforcing norms.
• Forms of social control:
  • Gossip
  • Law
  • Social ostracism
  • Reward and punishment

Human Dignity and Bill of Rights

• Human dignity: sense of self-respect, inherent right to all human beings.
• Bill of rights: natural rights, excluding non-citizens by definition.
• Common good: benefiting society as a whole, or a section of society.