Introduction to Sociology - SOC101 PDF

Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Introduction to Sociology SOC101 Table of Contents Page no. Lesson 1 The Origins of Sociology………...

Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Introduction to Sociology SOC101 Table of Contents Page no. Lesson 1 The Origins of Sociology………………………………………. 1 Lesson 2 Sociological Perspective……………………………. 4 Lesson 3 Theoretical Paradigms………………………………………….. 7 Lesson 4 Sociology as Science……………………………………………. 10 Lesson 5 Steps in Sociological Investigation……………………………… 12 Lesson 6 Social Interaction………………………………………………. 14 Lesson 7 Social Groups………………………………………………….. 17 Lesson 8 Formal Organizations……………………………………… 20 Lesson 9 Culture………………………………………………………….. 23 Lesson 10 Culture (continued)…………………………………………….. 25 Lesson 11 Culture (continued)………………………………........................ 27 Lesson 12 Socialization: Human Development……………………………. 30 Lesson 13 Understanding the Socialization Process……………………… 33 Lesson 14 Agents of Socialization…………………………………............ 36 Lesson 15 Socialization and the Life Course …………………………….. 38 Lesson 16 Social Control and Deviance ………………………………… 41 Lesson 17 The Social Foundations of Deviance…………………………. 43 Lesson 18 Explanations of Crime………………………………………… 45 Lesson 19 Explanations of Crime (continued)…………………………….. 47 Lesson 20 Social Distribution of Crime: Explanations…………………….. 51 Lesson 21 Social Stratification: Introduction and Significance……………... 55 Lesson 22 Theories of Class and Stratification-I…………………………… 57 Lesson 23 Theories of Class and Stratification-II…………………………. 59 Lesson 24 Theories of Class and Stratification-III…………………….. 61 Lesson 25 Social Class As Subculture……………………………………… 62 Lesson 26 Social Mobility………………………………… ……………… 64 Lesson 27 The Family: Global Variety …………………….……………… 67 Lesson 28 Functions of Family………………………….. ……………… 69 Lesson 29 Family and Marriage in Transition………….…………………... 71 Lesson 30 Gender: A Social Construction…………………............................ 74 Lesson 31 Gender Socialization…………………………………................... 76 Lesson 32 Explanations of Gender Inequality……………………………... 79 Lesson 33 Functions of Schooling…………………………………………. 82 Lesson 34 Issues in Education…………………….………………………. 84 Lesson 35 Population Study and its Significance…………………………… 86 Lesson 36 Theory of Population Growth…………………………………. 89 Lesson 37 Population Profile of Pakistan………………………………….. 92 Lesson 38 Population Profile of Pakistan (continued)…………………….. 96 Lesson 39 Implication of Population Growth……………………………. 102 Lesson 40 Population Policy……………………………………………… 109 Lesson 41 Environment and Society……………………………………….. 112 Lesson 42 Environmental Issues…………………………………………. 114 Lesson 43 Social Change…………………………………………………. 117 Lesson 44 Causes of Social Change……………………………………….. 119 Lesson 45 Modernity and Post Modernity………………………………… 122 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 1 THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGY Lesson Overview:  Auguste Comte  Herbert Spenser  Karl Marx  Emile Durkheim  Max Weber  The Fields of Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups and societies. There was no sociology as a distinct discipline before the advent of 19th century. As a distinct discipline it emerged about the middle of the 19th century when European social observers began to use scientific methods to test their ideas. It looks that three factors led to the development of sociology. The first was the Industrial revolution.  By the mid 19th century Europe was changing from agriculture to factory production. There was the emergence of new occupations as well as new avenues of employment away from the land.  Masses of people migrated to cities in search of jobs. Pull and push factors were instrumental in such migrations. In the countryside, due to the nature of agricultural society, there were no occupations that could be alternatives to agriculture. Hence people got pushed to look for new places whereas the urban/industrial places with new job opportunities provided a pull to the same population.  At the new places there was anonymity, crowding, filth, and poverty. Ties to the land, to the generations that had lived there before them, and to the ways of their life were abruptly broken. Eventually the urban life brought radical changes in the lives of people.  The city greeted them with horrible working conditions: low pay; long and exhausting working hours; dangerous work; foul smoke; and much noise. To survive the vagaries of life, families had to permit their children to work in these uncongenial conditions.  People in these industrial cities developed new ideas about democracy and political rights. They did not want to remain tied to their rulers. Therefore the ideas about individual liberty, individual rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness emerged, which actually laid the foundation to future political revolution. The second factor that stimulated the development of sociology was imperialism. Europeans successfully conquered many parts of the world. They were exposed to radically different cultures. Startled by these contrasting ways of life, they began to ask why cultures differed. The third impetus for the development of sociology was the success of the natural sciences. People moved to question fundamental aspects of their social world. They started using the scientific method (systematic observation, objectivity) to the study of human behaviour. Auguste Comte The idea of applying the scientific method to the social world, known as positivism, was apparently first proposed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857). He was French. He migrated from a small town to Paris. The changes he himself experienced, combined with those France underwent in the revolution, led Comte to become interested in the two interrelated issues: social order (social static) and social change (social dynamics). What holds the society together (Why is there a social order)? And once the society is set then what causes it to change? Why its directions change? Comte concluded that the right way to answer such questions was to apply the scientific method to social life. There must be laws that underlie the society. Therefore we should discover these principles by applying © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 1 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU scientific method to social world. Once these principles discovered then we could apply these for social reform. He advocated for building new societies on twin foundations of science and industry rather than on religion and landowner-serf relationship. This will be a new science and Comte named it as Sociology (1838) – the study of society. Comte is credited with being the founder of sociology. Other early pioneer names are: Herbert Spenser (1820-1903) He was an Englishman and is sometimes called second founder of sociology. He too believed that society operates under some fixed laws. He was evolutionary and considered that societies evolve from lower to higher forms. In this way he applied the ideas of Darwin to the development of human society, and hence this approach may be called as Social Darwinism. By following the basic principle of Social Darwinism Spenser advocated that ‘let the fittest survive’. There should be no reform because it will help in the survival of lower order individuals. (Charity and helping the poor were considered to be wrong). Spenser was a social philosopher rather than a social researcher. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Karl Marx was a German. According to him the key to human history is Class Conflict. Not really a sociologist but wrote widely about history, philosophy, economics, political science. Because of his insights into the relationship between the social classes, he is claimed to be an early sociologist. He introduced one of the major perspectives in sociology – conflict perspective. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) He was French. His primary goal was of getting sociology recognized as a separate academic discipline. His systematic study comparing suicide rates among several countries revealed an underlying social factor: People were more likely to commit suicide if their ties to others in their communities were weak. He identified the key role of social integration in social life. Max Weber (1864-1920) Max Weber was a German. He used cross-cultural and historical materials in order to determine how extensively social groups affect people’s orientations to life. The Fields of Sociology There is a big diversity in fields of interest in Sociology. There is long list of fields that have been provided by the American Sociological Association as a Guide to Graduate Departments which is given below: Biosociology Occupations/Professions Collective Behaviour/Socioal Movements Penology/Corrections Community Political Sociology Comparative Sociology/Macro sociology Race/Ethnic/Minority Relations Criminal Justice Religion Criminology/Delinquency Rural Sociology Cultural Sociology Small Groups Demography Social Change Development/Modernization Social Control Deviant Behaviour/Social Disorganization Social Networks Economy and Society Social Organizations/formal/complex Education Social Psychology Environmental Sociology Socialization Ethno methodology Sociological Practice/Social Policy History of Sociology/ Social Thought Sociology of Aging/Social Gerontology Human Ecology Sociology of Art/Literature Industrial Sociology Sociology of Knowledge © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 2 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU International development/Third World Sociology of Language/Social Linguistics Law and Society Sociology of Markets Leisure/Sports/Recreation Sociology of Mental Health Marriage and the Family Sociology of Science Mass Communication/Public Opinion Sociology of Sex and Gender Mathematical sociology Sociology of Work Medical Sociology Sociology of World Conflict Methodology: Qualitative Approaches Stratification/Mobility Methodology: Quantitative Approaches Theory Micro computing/Computer Applications Urban Sociology Military Sociology Source: American Sociological Association Guide to Graduate departments, 1992: 290-308. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 3 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 2 THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Lesson Overview:  Seeing the general in the particular  Gender is also a social construction  Society affects what we do  Applying the sociological perspective  Benefits of Sociological Perspective Sociology is a reasoned and rigorous study of human social life, social groups, and societies. At the heart of sociology is a distinctive point of view called “the sociological perspective”. Thus sociology offers a perspective, a view of the world. For example: why do human lives seem to follow certain predictable pattern? The truth is that:  Our lives do not unfold according to sheer chance,  Nor do we decide for ourselves how to live, acting on what is called ‘free will’. We make many important decisions everyday, of course, but always within the larger arena called “society”. The essential wisdom of sociology is that: Our social world guides our actions and life choices just as the seasons influence our activities and clothing. This is sociological perspective. Perspective means a view or an outlook or an approach or an imagination (of the world). Hence sociological perspective means an approach to understanding human behavior by placing it within its broader social context. People live in a society. Society is a group of people who share a culture and a territory. People’s behavior is influenced by their society. To find out why people do what they do, sociologists look at social location, where people are located in a particular society. For human beings the existence of society is essential. It is essential:  For the survival of human child at birth; and also  For social experience – for purposes of ‘nurturance’. The human child is so helpless at the time of birth that without the help of other members of society (family for example) the mere survival is at stake. Then the other important aspect is to ‘nurture’ this human being into a ‘social being’ i.e. a participating member of the society. For developing the child into a regular participating ‘social being’ the role of society is crucial. The cases of isolated children (Anna, Isabelle, and Genie) provide evidence to the fact that without the interaction with members of society the natural potentials are lost and the child may not become a normal ‘social being’. Each society nurtures the child into a ‘social being’ within its own societal perspective. Seeing the general in the particular: Peter Burger (1963) described the sociological perspective as seeing the general in the particular. It means identifying general patterns in the behavior of particular people. Although every individual is unique, a society shapes the lives of its members. People in the USA are much more likely to expect love to figure in marriage than, say, people living in a traditional village in rural Pakistan. Nevertheless, every society acts differently on various categories of people (children compared to adults; women compared to men, rich compared to poor). General categories to which we belong shape our experiences. Children are different from adults, more than just biological maturity. Society attaches meaning to age, so that we experience distinct stages in our lives i.e. childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, late adulthood, and old age. In fact all these stages with respect to the lines of demarcation (years as cutting points) are determined by society. What is the position © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 4 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU of a particular age category in the society and what are the roles and responsibilities assigned to members of that age group are all determined by that society. Therefore age is social construction. Children are often considered as dependent, whereas adults as responsible. What about the old? What is the cutting age point for this group and what are the society’s expectations about this group in Pakistani rural society? Are these expectations in Pakistani rural society different from Pakistani urban society? [Give some thought to this issue.] Although societies define the stages of life differently, yet there are differences by social class within the same society. Here a particular social class may be considered as a sub-society in itself and may have their own distinct definition of stages of life. For example concept of ‘childhood’ may be different in the lower class than what one finds in the middle class of Pakistani society. In the lower class, child shoulders the adult responsibilities much earlier (starts at around age 10 years) than a child from the middle or upper class. In the lower class there is a “hurried childhood” and that is how we come across the concept of “child labor”. This concept of “child labor” is not only associated with the lower class within the national boundaries but also internationally with the low-income countries compared with the high-income countries. Gender is also a social construction Male and female is a biological distinction but there are different role expectations attached to these two categories of human beings in different societies. Societies give them different work and different family responsibilities. The advantages and opportunities available to us differ by gender. Not going into the rationale of such differences, for the present one could simply say that it is the society that determines the image of a gender. Further to the societal variations in gender outlooks, one could see gender differences by social class in the same society. Society affects what we do To see the power of society to shape individual choices, consider the number of children women have. In the US the average woman has slightly fewer than two children during her lifetime. In Pakistan it is four, in India about three, in South Africa about four, in Saudi Arabia about six, and in Niger about seven. Why these striking differences? Society has much to do with decisions women and men make about childbearing. Another illustration of power of society to shape even our most private choices comes from the study of suicide. What could be a more personal choice than taking one’s own life? Emile Durkheim showed that social forces are at work even in the apparently isolated case of self-destruction. One has to look into such individual decisions in social context. You may look at the social forces that are at work for the suicide cases in Pakistan. Applying the sociological perspective People should develop the ability to understand their own lives in terms of larger social forces. This is called sociological imagination, a concept given by C. Wright Mills. Sociological imagination is the strategies that can help you sort out the multiple circumstances that could be responsible for your social experiences, your life choices, and your life chances. Therefore, think sociologically, which implies to cultivating the sociological imagination. It is easy to apply sociological perspective when we encounter people who differ from us because they remind us that society shapes individual lives. Also an introduction to sociology is an invitation to learn a new way of looking at familiar patterns of social life. Benefits of Sociological Perspective Applying the sociological perspectives to our daily lives benefits us in four ways: 1. The sociological perspective helps us to assess the truth of community held assumptions (call it “common sense”). We all take many things for granted, but that does not make them true. A sociological approach encourages us to ask whether commonly held beliefs are actually true and, to the extent they are © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 5 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU not, why they are so widely held. Consider for yourself: gender differences; ethnic differences; racial differences; and social class differences. Where do these differences come from? 2. The sociological perspective prompts us to assess both the opportunities and the constraints that characterize our lives. What we are likely and unlikely to accomplish for ourselves and how can we pursue our goals effectively? 3. The sociological perspective empowers us to participate actively in our society. If we do not know how the society operates, we are likely to accept the status quo. But the greater our understanding, the more we can take an active hand in shaping our social life. Evaluating any aspect of social life – whatever your goal – requires identifying social forces at work and assessing their consequences. 4. The sociological perspective helps us recognize human variety and confront the challenges of living in a diverse world. There is a diversity of people’s life styles, still we may consider our way of life as superior, right, and natural. All others are no good. The sociological perspective encourages us to think critically about the relative strengths and weaknesses of all ways of life, including our own. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 6 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 3 THEORETICAL PARADIGMS Lesson Overview: Salient Paradigms  The Structural-Functional Paradigm  The Social-Conflict Paradigm  The Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm Theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related. The job of sociological theory is to explain social behavior in the real world. For example why some groups of people have higher suicide rates than others? In building theory, sociologists face two basic facts: What issues should we study? How should we connect the facts? How sociologists answer these questions depends on their theoretical “road map” or paradigm. (It is pronounced as para-daia-um.) Paradigm is a basic image of society. A theoretical paradigm provides a basic image of society that guides thinking and research. For example: Do societies remain static? Do they continuously keep changing? What keeps them stable? What makes societies ever changing? Salient Paradigms Sociology has three major paradigms reflecting different images of society: 1. The Structural-Functional 2. The Social-Conflict 3. The Symbolic-Interaction 1. The Structural-Functional Paradigm: It is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. The paradigm is based on the idea that: 1. Our lives are guided by social structure i.e. relatively stable patterns of social behavior. Social structure gives our lives shape, whether it be in families, the workplace, or the classroom. 2. Social structures can be understood in terms of their social functions, or consequences for the operation of society as a whole. All social structures – from simple handshake to complex religious rituals – function to keep society going. All social structures contribute to the operation of society. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) compared society to the human body. The structural parts of human body. the skeleton, muscles, and various internal organs – show interdependence, each contributing to the survival of the entire organism. Similarly various social structures, such as the family, educational system, and the economy are interdependent, working in concert to preserve the society. Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) saw society as a system, and sought to identify the basic tasks that any and all societies must perform to survive and the way they accomplish these tasks. Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) looked at functions in a different way: 1. The consequences of any social pattern are likely to differ for various categories of people. For example conventional family pattern provides for the support and development of children, but it also confers privileges on men while limiting the opportunities for women. 2. People rarely perceive all the functions of a social structure. He therefore distinguishes between manifest functions – the recognized and intended consequences of a social pattern --- and latent functions – the largely unrecognized and unintended consequences. Manifest functions of © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 7 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU educational institution – imparting knowledge, preparing young people for job market – Latent function could be keeping so many young people out of the labor market. 3. Not all the effects of any social system benefit everyone in society. There could be social dysfunctions i.e. undesirable consequences for the operation of society. Not everyone agrees on what is beneficial and what is harmful. Is women empowerment functional? Critical Evaluation The chief characteristic of structural-functional paradigm is its vision of society as orderly, stable, and comprehensible. Goal is to figure out ‘What makes the society tick.’ How can we assume that society has a “natural” order? If that is natural then there should be no variation in the social pattern of people at different places, and there should be no change over time. How about the inequalities in society that generate tension and conflict? Approach appears to be conservative. 2. The Social-Conflict Paradigm The social conflict framework sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change. Unlike structural-functional paradigm, which emphasizes solidarity, this approach highlights division based on inequality. Factors like gender, ethnicity, social class, and age are linked to the unequal distribution of money, power, education, and social prestige. A conflict analysis suggests that, rather than promoting the operation of society as a whole, social structure typically benefits some people while depriving the others There is an on-going conflict between dominant and disadvantaged categories of people – rich and poor, white and the colored, men in relation to women. People on top strive to protect their privileges, while the disadvantaged try to gain more resources for themselves. Schooling perpetuates inequality by reproducing the class structure in every new generation. Who goes to school, to college, to university, to vocational training institution? How do the structural-functionalists look at the above analysis? Structural- Functionalists assert that such tracking benefits all of society because students receive training that is appropriate to their academic abilities. Conflict sociologists counter the argument saying that ‘tracking’ often has less to do with talent than with a student’s social background, so that the well to do are placed in higher tracks and the poor children end up in lower tracks. Young people from privileged families gain the best schooling, and, when they leave college, they pursue prestigious, higher income careers. That is not the case for children from poor families. In both cases the social standing of one generation is passed on to another, with the schools justifying the practice in terms of individual merit. Conflict sociologists not only try to understand the inequality in society but also try to influence to reduce inequality in society. They want to change the system. Critical Evaluation This school of thought has a large following. This paradigm highlights inequality and division in society, but it largely ignores how shared values and interdependence can generate unity among members of a society. To a great extent, this paradigm has political goals, therefore it cannot claim objectivity. Conflict theorists counter that all approaches have political consequences. 3. The Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm The structural-functionalists and social-conflict paradigms share a macro-level orientation, meaning a focus on broad social structures that shape society as a whole. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 8 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU The symbolic interaction paradigm provides a micro-level orientation, meaning a focus on social interaction in specific situations. The symbolic-interaction paradigm sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. “Society” amounts to the shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another. Human beings are the creatures who live in the world of symbols, attaching meaning to virtually everything. Symbols attached to reality (material or non material). Meanings attached to symbols. Symbols are the means of communication. Therefore: Symbols as the basis of social life  Without symbols we would have no mechanism of perceiving others in terms of relationships (aunts and uncles, employers and teachers). Only because we have these symbols like aunts and uncles that define for us what such relationships entail. Compare these symbols with symbols like boyfriend or girlfriend; you will see that the relationships change quite differently.  Without symbols we cannot coordinate our actions with others; we would be unable to plan for a future date, time, and place. Without symbols there will be no books, movies, no schools, no hospitals, and no governments. Symbols make social life possible.  Even self is symbol, for it consists of the ideas that we have about who we are. May be changing. As we interact with others we may constantly adjust our views of the self, based on how we interpret the reactions of others. We define our realities. The definitions could vary. The definitions could be subjective. For example who is a homeless? Who is a police officer – a provider of security or creator of anxiety. It has a subjective meaning. Max Weber is an exponent of this paradigm. He emphasized the need to understand any social setting from the point of view of the people in it. A person is the product of his experiences with others Critical Evaluation Without denying the usefulness of abstract social structures like the family, and social class this paradigm reminds us that society basically amounts to people interacting. How individuals experience society. This approach ignores the widespread effects of culture as well as factors like social class, gender, and race. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 9 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 4 SOCIOLOGY AS SCIENCE Lesson Overview:  Goals of Science  Characteristics of Scientific Method Science is knowledge but every kind of knowledge is not science. Science is a method for the discovery of uniformities in this universe through the process of observation and re-observation; the results are organized, systematized, and made part of the body of knowledge. In this way science is a logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation. Following this method creates scientific knowledge, which rests on empirical evidence, that is, information that we can verify with our senses. Goals of Science The goals of science can be:  To explain why something happens.  To make generalizations. Discovery of uniformities/principles/laws.  Look for patterns in the phenomenon under observation, or recurring characteristics.  To predict. To specify what will happen in the future in the light of current knowledge. For the attainment of the stipulated goals the procedure followed is to collect information through sensory experiences. Hence we call it observations and there is repetition of observations. Researcher would like to be positive about his findings. Therefore he would like to be definite, factual, and positively sure. Hence the researcher would develop clear observational criteria i.e. measuring indicators for adequate explanations. This approach is called Positivism. Auguste Comte coined the term ‘positivism’, which means knowledge based on sensory experience. Characteristics of Scientific Method 1. Empirical The focus of attention is that phenomenon which is observable by using five senses by the human beings. If one person has observed others can also make that observation which implies that it is repeatable as well as testable. 2. Verifiable Observations made by any one researcher could be open to confirmation or refutation by other observers. Others could also use their sensory experiences for the verification of the previous findings. The replicability of the phenomenon is essential for repeating the observation. In this way the intuitions and revelations are out of this process because these are having been the privileges of special individuals. 3. Cumulative The knowledge created by this method keeps on growing. The researchers try to develop linkages between their findings and the findings of previous researchers. The new findings may support the previous researches, refute them, or may modify but certainly there is an addition to the existing body of knowledge. The new researchers need not start from scratch, rather they have a rich reservoir of knowledge at their disposal and they try to further build on it. 4. Self-Correcting Possibility of error is always there but the good thing is its identification and correction. The research findings are shared with other professionals in seminars, conferences, and by printing these in professional journals. The comments are received and errors, if any, are corrected. Even the scientists are not categorical in their statements. They would usually make a statement as is supported by the evidence available at the time. Hence the statement is open to challenge by the availability of new evidence. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 10 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU 5. Deterministic Through scientific method the scientists try to explain why things happen? There could be number of factors producing a particular effect but the researchers try to find out the contribution of each factor as well as of different combinations of the same factors. In this way he tries to identify the factor or combination of factors that produce the maximum effect. In this way he tries to locate the minimum number of causal factors that explain the variation in the effect. This is the principle of parsimony. Such an exercise is an effort to determine cause-and- effect relationship. 6. Ethical and ideological neutrality Researchers are human beings who have values, beliefs, ideologies, and norms. Effort is made that the personal values, beliefs, and ideologies do not contaminate the research findings. If these influence then the purity of the information is adulterated and the predictions made by the scientists will not hold true. Hence the scientific work should objective and unbiased. Since the human beings are studying the human beings to what extent they can be unbiased? 7. Statistical Generalization Statistics is a device for comparing what is observed and what is logically expected. They are subjecting information to statistical analysis. 8. Rationalism The collected facts have to be interpreted with arguments. Therefore the scientists try to employ rigorous rule of logic in their research work. Any knowledge that is created by applying scientific method is to be called as science. Sociology uses scientific method for the understanding, identifying the patterns, and predicting the human behavior. Therefore, sociology is science of human social life. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 11 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 5 STEPS IN SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION Lesson Overview: Steps in sociological investigation  Broad Area of Interest Identified  Exploration/Consultation  Problem Definition  Theoretical Framework  Hypothesis (es)/ Research Question  Research Design  Data Collection  Testing the Hypothesis  Report Writing The research process requires a sequence of steps. By and large, the following steps are undertaken in a sociological investigation. 1. Broad Area of Interest Identified: Broad problem area refers to the entire situation where one sees a possible need for research and problem solving. The specific issues that need to be researched within this situation may not be identified at this stage. For example the broad area of interest may be the entire field of education, or within education could be the examination system, student teacher relations, the extra-curricula activities, course contents, and so on. Within the broad area of education, look at one observation about the mass failure of students in their graduate examination of different universities. Such identification may be based on ones experiences and or on general observations in which one may have sensed that certain changes are occurring or certain changes need to take place for the improvement of the situation. When the observed phenomena are seen to have potentially important consequences, then one could proceed to the next step. 2. Exploration/Consultation: This step involves preliminary information gathering on the issue that has been observed. In our example of students’ mass failure at graduate level, this could be done by having informal consultations with several people in the education department (teachers, examiners, administrators), students, as well as with their parents exploring the perceived reasons for the existing situation. Additionally one could go to Internet and see if some previous studies relevant to the issue have been conducted nationally or internationally. Professional journals, research reports, students research work in the library could be a big help in clearly identification of the research problem. 3. Problem Definition: Problem definition or problem statement, as it is often referred to, is a clear, precise, and succinct statement of the question or issue that is to be investigated with the goal of finding an answer or solution. In our example, problem definition could pertain to finding the reasons for such a mass failure of students at the graduate level. 4. Theoretical Framework: Theoretical framework is an attempt to integrate all information in a logical manner, so that the factors responsible for the problem can be conceptualized and tested. In this step the critical factors are examined as to their contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved. The network of associations identified among different factors (variables) would then be theoretically woven together with justification as to why they might influence the problem under study. This will give us a theoretical model of the study. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 12 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU 5. Hypothesis (es)/ Research Question (s): The formulation of hypothesis (which is a testable statement) or a number of hypotheses is the next logical step. From the theorized network of associations among the factors (variables), certain testable hypothesis or hypotheses can be generated. In place of hypothesis one could also go for the formulation a question or questions to be researched. For example is students’ mass failure due the existing examination system? Is mass failure due to the existing study patterns of the students? One could go for many more questions. 6. Research Design: At this stage the researcher spells out the procedure for data collection with the help of which the formulated hypothesis could be tested or the answers to the questions could be found. The researcher clearly tells whether he will set up an experiment, or conduct a survey, or follow some other technique of data collection. He will also tell what tools of data collection will be used and how the data shall be analyzed. 7. Data Collection: Once the technique of data collection has been finalized then the next step is the actual data collection in the field. 8. Testing the Hypothesis (es) / Answering question (s): Once the data have been collected then it has to be processed, analyzed, and hypothesis (es) tested. The same data is to be used to see the extent to which it is possible to find answers to the research questions. In our example the data are likely help in identifying the factors for the mass failure of students. 9. Report Writing: Report writing is the last step, which is expected to contain information on each one of the steps that was taken for carrying out this research process. On the basis of the results of the study one could diagnose the forces operating in the students’ mass failure in our example. This diagnosis will be utilized for making recommendations for the solution of the problem that was in focus. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 13 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 6 SOCIAL INTERACTION Lesson Overview: Components of Social Interaction  Social Status  Role  The Social Construction of Reality  Communication Social act is the goal directed (oriented) activity of human beings. Social interaction is the reciprocal influencing of the acts of persons and groups. Reciprocal social relationship is that situation in which the actual or expected behavior of one person affects the behavior of others. As a result there is an exchange of acts between or among individuals. In this way social interaction is the process by which people act and react in relation to each other. Through interaction we create the reality. Understanding what reciprocal social relationships are is vital to understanding human society and what it means to be a participant in it. Awareness of the people with whom you interact is a necessary component of any social relationship. People interact in some expected way and try to follow it in their day-to-day activities. In this way the styles of interaction get established, hence we social interaction gets patterned. People tend to behave and act toward one another in pretty much the same way most of the time. Therefore social behavior tends to be repetitious, and to this extent is predictable. For example greetings among people tend to follow a pattern. Assalam o alaakum. Wa Aalaookum u Salam. How are you? Alhamdoo-lilla. And how are you? At some other place greetings may be more elaborate as inquiring about the health of all family members. Components of Social Interaction 1. Social Status Social status is a recognized social position that an individual occupies in a social situation. In common usage status might indicate the power, prestige and privileges associated with one’s position. Sociological meaning of social status is different from every day meanings that are usually associated with ‘prestige’. STATUS IS WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE IN RELATION TO OTHERS. Status is also a key component of one’s identity and thereby of interaction. Occupation is such a major part of most people’s self-concept that is often part of a social introduction as well as interaction. Even long after retirement people continue to introduce themselves in terms of their life’s work. There are some other concepts related with social status. These are: a. Status Set: Status set refers to all the statuses a person holds at a given time. You might be a son/daughter of your parents, a brother/sister to your siblings, a friend to your social circle, a player in a team. Then in life you occupy other status sets by virtue of your occupation, marital status (husband/wife), and a parent. Over lifetime, individuals gain and lose dozens of statuses. How do we attain our status? Broadly two ways and thereby these are called two types of statuses. b. Ascribed and Achieved Status A social position that someone receives at birth or someone assumes involuntarily later in life is an ascribed status. These are those statuses about which one has little or no choice. Examples can be a son, a Pakistani, a teenager. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 14 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Achieved status refers to a social position that someone assumes voluntarily and that reflects personal ability and effort. Examples include being a student, a player, a spouse, and a singer. Many statuses are a combination of both an ascription and achievement. People’s ascribed statuses influence the statuses they achieve. A person’s social class influences his/her occupational achievements. C. Master Status A master status is a status that has an exceptional importance for social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life. One’s occupation is an example. 3. ROLE Role is a behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status. Role is the dynamic aspect of one’s status: an individual holds a status and performs a role. There are a number of other aspects of role like: a. Role Set Since we occupy many statuses simultaneously therefore we perform multiple roles. The performance of such multiple roles related to a status is referred to as role set. Role set refers to a number of roles attached to a single status. You have a status of student, think of how many roles do you have to perform. b. Role Conflict and Role Strain Role conflict is incompatibility among roles corresponding to two or more statuses. Roles of a woman being a mother and an employee in an office may conflict with each other. Roles connected with a single status may make competing demands on an individual, therefore may create strain in the performance of those roles simultaneously. Hence role strain refers to incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status. A teacher being friendly with the students as well as the maintainer of discipline in the class could be an example. c. Role Exit A person begins the process of role exit by reflecting on his life and coming to doubt his ability to continue in a certain role. He may imagine alternative role and may go for it. It may be linked status exit, which may be voluntary or involuntary. A person decides to leave a job voluntarily and has a role exit. A person retires and again has a role exit. “Process of becoming ex”, an ex- chairman, an ex-director are the examples. 3. The Social Construction of Reality Reality of one’s self. We construct our reality. Let me explain. I enter this room and immediately I become what I have to become, what I can become. I construct my self. That is, I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you. And, of course, you do the same with me. The whole of this process of construction of one’s self/reality is based on learning through social interaction. Social construction of reality is the process by which people creatively shape reality through interaction. Through social interaction we negotiate the reality i.e. some agreement about what is going on, though people may have different perceptions of the event. Social construction of the life span of people into childhood, adulthood, and old age can be the examples. Situations that we define as real become real in their consequences or in their being functional. Reality as perceived by the people as they have constructed. What is the reality of a commonly used phrase: How are you? Do we mean physically? Mentally? Spiritually? Financially? 4. Communication Communication is another important component of interaction for which we need to have a language – verbal as well as non-verbal. Human beings develop symbols, signs, and codes that they associate with the realities of life. These signs, symbols, and codes stand for the reality or phenomenon (material/non © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 15 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU material), they are not the phenomenon itself. Meanings are attached to the symbols and there is some agreement on the meanings. Meanings can be situation specific and may vary by different cultures. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 16 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 7 SOCIAL GROUPS Lesson Overview:  Different meanings of group  Two essentials of social group  Types of social groups  Group Size  A New Group: Emergence of Electronic Communities Different meanings of group: Any physical collection of people. Group shares nothing but physical closeness. It is just an aggregation, a collectivity. 1. Number of people who share some common characteristic – which is often called as category. 2. Number of people who share some organized pattern of recurrent interaction. It can be an educational institution where people come and work, study, play. 3. Number of people who share consciousness of membership together and of interaction. Two essentials of social group  social interaction and consciousness of membership. A social group is two or more people who identify and interact with each other. Human beings come together in couples, families, circles of friends, neighborhoods, and in work organizations. Whatever it form, a group is made up of people with shared experiences (through social interaction), loyalties, and interests. Not every collection of individuals can be called a social group. Let us look at some other concepts that are often mixed up with social group. For example: Category: People with a status in common, such as women, Muslims, Pakistanis, students, teachers, and workers. They may know others who hold the same status; the vast majority may be strangers to each other. So there is no interaction on the whole. Nevertheless, there are always pockets of small groups within any broad category who interact with each other and are conscious of membership. Crowd: A temporary cluster of individuals who may or may not interact at all. They are too transitory, and are too impersonal. It might be students sitting together in a class, or people waiting for a train on the railway platform. Change in circumstances may turn the crowd into a social group. TYPES OF SOCIAL GROUPS Primary and Secondary Groups Primary group is a small social group whose members share personal and enduring relationships. They are bound together by primary relationships. The relationships are informal, intimate, personal and total. These groups are among the first we experience. The examples can be: Family, play group, friends. They provide sense of security to the members. People usually have an emotional attachment, they are loyal, and the relationships are end in itself. Secondary group is a large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific interest or activity. Just the opposite of primary groups their relationships are secondary. Such relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another. Most secondary groups are formal, impersonal, segmental, and utilitarian. These groups are goal oriented. The interaction may be impersonal though pleasant. Example can be students taking sociology course in the present semester. They might be together only for the semester and may never see each other. Co-workers at a place of work, members of a political party could be other examples. In-Groups and Out-Groups © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 17 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU In-group is social group commanding a member’s esteem and loyalty. My pronouns: I feel I belong to them. Others: I am outside them. In-group exists in relation to an out-group. Out-group is a social group toward which one feels in competition or opposition. In modern societies the membership may overlap. In the National Assembly members are elected on the tickets of different political parties. They have competed against each other (out-group to each other) but after the election they are members of the one group i.e. National Assembly. Exclusion from in-group may be brutal in simple society—Social boycott. In-group expects loyalty, recognition, and helpful to its members. These groups are important because they affect our behavior. Group Size Size of the group plays an important role in how group members interact. In small size groups the members can have highly intense relationships but such groups are less stable. Look at the group of two persons having a highly emotional interaction, but if one of them leaves, the group comes to an end. The Dyad is social group with two members. The Triad is a social group with three members. It is more stable than the dyad. As groups grow beyond three people, they become more stable and capable of withstanding the loss of even several members. At the same time, increase in-group size reduces the intense personal interaction, which is possible only in the smaller groups. Reference Group How do we assess our own attitudes and behavior? Frequently, we use a reference group, a social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions. A young person might assess the rewards for his work by comparing the rewards given to other coworkers for similar work. Reference groups can be models, which could be ideals for individuals. Parents can be reference groups for their children. Individuals can also be models and we can call them as reference individuals. A teacher can be a reference individual for students. Reference groups and reference individuals can be living or non-living persons; they can also be from the fiction. Quaid –I-Azam can be a reference individual for Pakistanis. Children pick up many of their reference individuals from the cartoons they watch on television. Reference groups or individuals can also be negative models whereby some individuals don’t want to adopt the behavior patterns of such individuals. Stereotypes It is a group-shared image of another group or category of people. It is an exaggerated description applied to every person in some category. Such images could be about a minority group, about youth, about Muslims, about Christians, about Pakistanis, about laborers. Stereotypes could become the basis of prejudice, which is a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people. Social Distance One measure of prejudice is social distance, that is, how closely people are willing to interact with members of some category. It is the degree of closeness or acceptance we feel about other groups. Networks A network is a web of weak social ties. Think of a network as “fuzzy” group containing people who come into occasional contact but who lack a sense of boundaries and belonging. Network is “social web” expanding outward, often reaching great distances and including large numbers of people. Some networks are close to being groups, as is the case with college fellows who stay in touch after graduation by e-mail and telephone. Usually a network includes people we know of – or who know of us – but with whom we interact rarely. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 18 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU A New Group: Emergence of Electronic Communities In the 1990s, due to technology, an entirely new type of human group made its appearance through Internet. These are the people who have a relationship with one another and who think of themselves as belonging together. Internet is a series of thousands of computers hooked together worldwide. On the Internet, thousands of newsgroups, called use nets, people who communicate on almost any conceivable topic. This new way of communicating has developed out of new technology. New forms of electronic communication, sometimes called the information superhighway or cyberspace, have made our homes “less bounded environment”. While remaining within the walls of our homes, we can instantly “travel” electronically to previously remote settings around the world. There, we can share information with people who have never met, or seen, and even develop friendship with them. The result is a new type of group known as an electronic community. In some cases, the term “electronic primary group” seems more appropriate to refer to this new type of group, for people regularly interact with one another, share personal information, identify with one another, and develop a sense of intimacy – even though they have “met” only electronically. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 19 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 8 ORGANIZATIONS Lesson Overview:  Types of Formal Organizations  Bureaucracy  Characteristics of Ideal-Typical Bureaucracy  Problems of Bureaucracy Formal organizations are large, secondary groups that are organized to achieve their goals efficiently. They are the product of rationalization of society, which means the acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs. Past is the best guide for the present i.e. traditional orientation tends to be abandoned. Rationality was a totally different way of thinking that came to permeate society. This new orientation transformed the way in which society is organized. As a result, formal organizations, secondary groups designed to achieve explicit objectives, have become a central feature of contemporary society. Examples can be business corporations, government departments, colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and military organizations. Such organizations are deliberately created ‘social machines with human parts’. In these organizations social relations are impersonal, formal, and planned. These organizations have major influence on the everyday lives of members of modern societies. [They] permeate virtually every aspect of modern life. … We are usually born and die in organizations, are educated by them, and we work, play, and pray in them. We pay taxes to and obey the laws of a supra-organization, the state. Indeed the latter “certifies” our birth, our death, and much that happens in between. (Etzioni and Lehman, 1978) Formal organizations operate in a deliberate way, not to meet personal needs, but to accomplish complex jobs. Offices/statuses remain intact but the members come and go. Types of Formal Organizations Three types of organizations have been distinguished on the basis of why people participate i.e. Utilitarian, Normative, and Coercive. Utilitarian Organizations Just about everyone who works for income is member of utilitarian organization, which pays its members to perform the jobs for which they were hired. Large business enterprises, for example, generate profits for their owners and salaries and wages for their employees. Most people must join an organization for making a living. Normative Organizations People join normative organizations not for income but to pursue goals they consider morally worthwhile. They are also called voluntary organizations. The interests of such organizations can be community services, social action, and environmental protection. They are concerned with specific social issues. Examples can be Edhi Trust, Red Crescent, The Lions Club. Voluntary organizations strive for participatory democracy, in which all members have an equal opportunity to discuss and decide important questions affecting the organization. Coercive Organizations These organizations have involuntary membership. These are total institutions that feature very strict control of members by top-ranked officials. Members are physically and socially separated from ‘outsiders’ or ‘civil society’. The examples can be prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and military units. Total institutions transform a human being’s overall sense of self. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 20 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU From differing vantage points, many organizations may fall into all these categories. A psychiatric hospital, for example, serves as a coercive organization for a patient, a utilitarian organization for a health professional, and a normative organization to a hospital volunteer. BUREAUCRACY Bureaucracy is an organizational model rationally designed to perform complex tasks efficiently. In a bureaucratic business or government agency, officials deliberately enact and revise policy to make the organization as efficient as possible. Characteristics of Ideal-Typical Bureaucracy 1. Specialization. There is division of labor in the bureaucracy and each member has a specific task to fulfill. All the tasks are coordinated to accomplish the purpose of the organization. 2. Hierarchy of offices. Bureaucracies arrange the personnel in a vertical ranking. Each person is supervised by ‘higher ups’ and in turn supervising others in lower positions. Usually with fewer people in higher positions, the structure takes the form of a bureaucratic ‘pyramid’. In this hierarchy assignments flow downward and accountability flowing upward. Each level assigns responsibilities to the level beneath it, while each lower level is responsible to the level above for fulfilling these assignments. 3. Written rules and regulations. Rationally enacted rules and regulations control not only the organization’s own functioning but also its larger environment. In general, the longer a bureaucracy exists and the larger it grows, the more written rules it has. 4. Technical competence. A bureaucratic organization expects its officials and staff to have the technical competence to carry out their duties, and regularly monitors worker performance. Evaluation is based on performance and not on favoritism. 5. Impersonality. Rules take precedence over personal whims. Members of a bureaucracy owe allegiance to the office, not to a particular person. The impersonality ensures that the clients as well as workers are all treated uniformly. Each worker in bureaucracy becomes a small cog in a large machine. Each worker is a replaceable unit, for many others are available to fulfill each particular function. From this detached approach stems the notion of the “faceless bureaucrat”. 6. Formal, written communication. Heart of bureaucracy is not people but paperwork. Rather than casual, verbal communication, bureaucracy relies on formal, written memos and reports. Over time, this correspondence accumulates into vast files. Problems of Bureaucracy Bureaucracy can dehumanize and manipulate individuals, and it poses a threat to personal privacy and political democracy. Bureaucratic Alienation Efficiency vs. potential to dehumanize the people it is supposed to serve. The very same impersonality that fosters efficiency keeps officials and clients from responding to each other’s unique, personal needs. Follow bureaucratic procedure. Bureaucratic environment gives rise to alienation where a human being is reduced to a part (cog) of big bureaucratic machinery. Bureaucratic Inefficiency and Ritualism Red tape: The tedious preoccupation with organizational routine and procedures. Rule is a rule. Bureaucratic ritualism (Merton): Preoccupation with rules and regulations to the point of thwarting an organization’s goals. Ritualism stifles individual’s creativity and strangles organizational performance. Modest salary – no stake to perform efficiently – no incentive – all ritualism – and the resultant corruption. Bureaucratic Inertia Bureaucratic inertia refers to the tendency of the bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate them. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 21 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU If bureaucrats have little motivation to be efficient, they certainly have every reason to protect their jobs. Thus the officials typically strive to perpetuate their organization even when its purpose has been fulfilled. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 22 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 9 CULTURE Lesson Overview:  Do non-humans have a culture?  Specific features of culture  Components of Culture Culture is people’s way of life. It is their pattern of behavior, which has been created by human beings. Culture includes: Intangible (non-material) items like values, beliefs, norms, language, and ideas (ideologies: perception of reality) that govern the way of life. The way we play our roles. + Tangible things – material objects. Human beings have created this way of life, which includes both material and non-material objects. Hence some Anthropologists call it as man- made part of the environment. Culture is the patterns of behavior and the products of the patterns of behavior Do non-humans have a culture? Non-humans guided by instincts. They have a biological programming. Humans guided by culture, which may be called as social programming. Culture is learned, shared, transmitted, and it is changing. Some specific features of culture:  Universality: Culture is universal. There is no society without culture. As part of the cultures there are many aspects that are found in almost all the societies. For example the institutions like marriage and family, religion, education, polity, economy, and sports are found all over the world. Societies have developed values, norms, beliefs, and other patterns of behavior that govern the system of marriage and family. One could find such a pattern all over the world, and the same is applicable to religion, education, political behavior, economic behavior, and so on.  Variability: There is variability in the universals of culture. By looking at the institution of marriage and family one could see so much of variation in it within Pakistan, notwithstanding the differences in other societies. The arranged marriages, love marriages, exchange marriages, marriages by purchase, marriages within as well as outside the kin network, are all variations that are found in Pakistan. Then one could see the differences in wedding ceremonies all over the country. Joint families and nuclear families, single earner families and dual earner families, patriarchal families and egalitarian families, patrilocal families and matrilocal families are some other aspects reflecting the variability of family in Pakistani society. Similarly one comes across variations in religion all over the world. Kingship, dictatorship, democracy, parliamentary form of democracy or presidential form, adult franchise or selective voting rights, voter age are all variations in the political systems followed by different nations. Economic systems also vary from the extremes of socialism and capitalism to any variation on the scale.  Learned: Culture is learned through the process of interaction with others. It is not inherited through the biological process. We learn to talk, to walk, and to act as our elders train us. Nature has given us the potential to talk but we speak variety of languages, which are all created by human beings and there is so much of variation within as well as outside Pakistan. Also human being have the capacity to learn a variety of languages. Similarly other ways of life, which is culture, are learned.  Shared: Culture is not the property of one individual or of a group. It is shared with other members of society. You are sharing T V transmission with others, sharing a classroom with others, sharing the road with others, and sharing the knowledge with others. You are sharing culture with others because you are a social being. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 23 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU  Transmitted: Culture does not end with the death of a person or a group. During its lifetime that individual or group tries to pass on its culture to the future generation. This is how every new crop of babies does not start from a scratch rather they build on what they have already received. That is how culture grows and that is how our culture becomes richer ad richer.  Changing: Culture is continuously changing. The patterns of behavior transmitted by one generation to another are continuously in the process of modification for catering to the changing needs of time and demands of people. New technologies are developed and are borrowed from other groups and societies. With the increase in the contact between different societies the cultures are changing very fast and may be moving toward some kind of global culture. Three similar terms: Culture, Nation, and Society Culture: Shared way of life. Nation: A political entity within designated borders. Society: The organized interaction of people in a nation or within some other boundary. Pakistan: nation and society, but may have many cultures. Multicultural: Includes various ways of life that blend together. Components of Culture Symbols: Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. Whistle, flashing light, thumbs up are all symbols. Human beings have the capacity to create symbols with different meanings associated with each. These symbols are used as means of communication and thereby become part of our language. Even the buildings, dress, the flag, and a type of color may be taken as symbols indicating some aspect of human behavior as well as society’s outlook. Red, green, white, blue, pink, each of the colors stands for something in the society. Blue jeans are quite commonly used in Pakistan. Can you find out that these are symbol of what? Language: System of symbols that allows members of a society to communicate with one another. Symbols may be oral and these could be written words. We have oral cultural traditions. Human beings have developed different alphabet as part of written language. Language is the major means of cultural transmission. Is language uniquely human? © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 24 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 10 CULTURE (continued) Lesson Overview:  Components of Culture (continued)  Ideal culture and Real culture  Material and Non-Material Culture  Cultural diversity Values: Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty that serve as broad guidelines for social living. What ought to be. Examples of values: Equal opportunity, Achievement or success, Material comfort, Activity and work. Science, Freedom, Physical fitness, Health, Punctuality. Wealth, Education, Competition and Merit. Honesty, Dignity of labor, Patriotism. Justice and Democracy. Environmental protection, Charity and Development. Sometimes there could be inconsistency in the values which can lead to conflict. Beliefs: Specific statements that people hold to be true. Values are broad principles that underlie beliefs. Values are abstract standard of goodness, while beliefs are particular matters that individuals consider to be true or false. Norms: Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. These are the shared expectations of the people that govern their behavior. Proscriptive norms: Mandating what we should not do. Forbidding from certain actions. Prescriptive norms: What we should do. Mores and Folkways: W. G. Sumner gave these concepts. Mores (MORE-ays): Society’s standards of proper moral conduct. Such standards have been considered as essential to maintaining a way of life. These are the notions of right or wrong developed by society. Violation of mores brings a strong reaction from others. Folkways: Society’s customs for routine, casual interaction. These are of less moral significance. Examples can be: proper dress, appropriate greetings, and common courtesy. People usually ignore the violation of folkways. “Ideal” culture and “Real” Culture Ideal culture: Social patterns that are mandated by cultural values and norms. The ideal values and norms, which are prevalent in the society. Real culture: Actual social patterns those only approximate cultural expectations. The norms and value that people actually follow. It can also be how many people follow these cultural patterns. Or how much a person observes a cultural pattern. Since this can be explained in numbers therefore it may also be called a statistical norm. Material and Non-Material Culture Tangible and intangible culture as explained earlier. Cultural Diversity There are many ways of life; hence there are differences in culture. In one society there could be differences in patterns of marriage and family, patterns of education, patterns of worship, and patterns of earning a living. One finds cultural difference within the province and across the provinces in Pakistan. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 25 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Countries like Canada, which are inhabited by immigrants, display a big cultural diversity. People have migrated from all over the globe to Canada and brought cultural differences with them and in many cases are trying to continue with them. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 26 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 11 CULTURE (continued) Lesson Overview:  Culture by social class  Sub-Culture  Multiculturalism  Counter-Culture  Cultural change  Cultural Lag  Causes of cultural change  A global culture  Culture and Human Freedom Culture by social class Cultural diversity can involve social class. In everyday life, we usually use the term “culture” to mean art forms such as classical literature, music, dance, and painting. We describe people who regularly go to the theater as “cultured,” because we think they appreciate the “finer things in life.” We speak less generously of ordinary people, assuming that everyday culture is somehow less worthy. Such judgments imply that many cultural patterns are readily accessible to only some members of society. This is how particular cultural patterns are associated with certain classes. We can further stretch the argument to other components of culture for finding variations in different classes. People often divide society in different social classes and find that each class represents differences in their norms, values, beliefs, attitudes, and thinking. These norms, values, and attitudes may relate to the institutions of marriage and family, religion, education, earning a living, or their political behavior, one could find the differences. In this perspective culture is often divided into as: High culture: Cultural patterns that distinguish a society’s elite. Popular culture: Cultural patterns those are widespread among a society’s population. Culture of poverty: Cultural patterns shared by the poor. Sub-Culture Cultural patterns that set apart some segments of a society’s population. Cluster of patterns which both are related to the general culture of the society yet distinguishable from it. The example could be: student sub- culture, business sub-culture. Multiculturalism A policy followed by some governments whereby they recognize cultural diversity in the society and promote the equality of all cultural traditions. Canadian government is following such a policy. Counter-Culture It is a subculture, which is in active opposition to the dominant culture. Cultural patterns that strongly oppose widely accepted patterns within a society. Example could be of hippies, and drug users. Cultural change Cultural change is the process of alteration of culture over time. Any difference in a particular pattern between two points in time may be called cultural change. This may be a change in the family pattern, which is changing from ‘joint family system’ to a ‘nuclear family system’ in Pakistani society. Cultural Lag © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 27 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU All parts (elements) of culture do not change at the same rate; some of them change faster than the other. For example material culture may change faster than the non-material culture. We often see it is difficult to change the habits quickly. The different rate of change in the two integrated elements of culture can result in one element lagging behind the other. William F. Ogburn called this gap between the two parts of culture as ‘cultural lag’. Such a cultural lag usually disrupts the system. For example we see so many automobiles on the road. There is an increase in their speed as well. There is a sharp increase in mobility. Let us look at another related aspect; these automobiles need a similar change in the quality of roads, which has not changed accordingly or you can say that it has lagged behind. Resultantly there is a lot of disruption leading to traffic jams, accidents, and pollution. You can also look at the ‘traffic sense’ among the public, be they the drivers, the passengers, the cyclists, or the pedestrians. This lag between the increase in automobiles and the inculcation of traffic sense in public also creates disruption in the system. Causes of cultural change Three factors bring change in the culture of a society. These are: Inventions: The process of creating new cultural elements out of the existing elements. Since the modern man has a comparatively richer reservoir of cultural elements at his disposal, therefore he creates more inventions than the man in the olden times. The modern man does not have to reinvent the wheel; he has to use this wheel, improve upon it and bring something new. Discovery: It is the process of finding that already exists. Diffusion: It means the spread of cultural traits from one society to another. It is the borrowing of culture by one group from another. For purposes of diffusion contact between the two groups or societies is necessary. In the olden times, due to the lack development of means of transportation and communication, contact between different societies was limited. Therefore the diffusion was also limited. Whatever the diffusion took place it was more a result of physical contact. But in the modern times there is a revolution in the means of transportation and communication. Presently people don’t have to be in physical contact with other societies for knowing about each other’s culture and for borrowing from each other. With the help of electronic media people get exposure to other cultures and may like to borrow their cultural traits. With the facilitation of diffusion process cultural change is quite rapid now days. Ethnocentrism The practice of judging other’s culture by the standards of one’s own culture. People consider their own culture as superior to others and apply their standards for evaluating the patterns of behavior of others. The whole judgment is centered on one’s own culture. Xeno-centrism Considering other’s culture as superior to one’s own. Cultural relativism The practice of judging a culture by its own standards; a particular pattern of behavior is right or wrong as it is declared by the people who follow it. Since those people are follow a particular practice, supposedly it might be serving some useful function in that society. Nevertheless, the same practice may be useful for one group and may be harmful for the other in the same society. A global culture Today, more than ever before, we can observe many of the same cultural practices being followed the world over. We find people wearing jeans, hear the familiar music, and see advertising for many of the same products in different countries. People learn some international language for purposes of communication. Are we moving toward the single global culture? © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 28 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Societies now have more contact with one another than ever before, involving the flow of goods, information, and people. We are globally connected through:  The global economy: the flow of goods.  Global communication: the flow of information.  Global migration: the flow of people. These global links make the cultures of the world more similar. But there are three limitations to the global culture thesis. First, the global flow of goods, information, and people is uneven. Generally speaking, urban areas have stronger ties to one another, while many rural villages remain isolated. Then the greater economic and military power of the Western society means that this society influences the rest of the world more than happens the other way around. Second, the global culture thesis assumes that people everywhere are able to afford various new goods and services. That is not so as the poor countries cannot afford it. Third, although many cultural practices are now found throughout the world, people everywhere do not attach the same meaning to them. People have to interpret the other’s cultural practices from their own perspective. Culture and Human Freedom Culture may put all kinds of constraints on the behavior of people and at the same time there is the freedom, which may be provided by the same culture. Culture as constraint: Cannot live without culture therefore we have to accept it. We are the prisoners of culture. Culture as freedom: Culture provides the opportunity to make and remake our world. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 29 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 12 SOCIALIZATION: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Lesson Overview:  Nature  Nurture  Social Isolation  Provision of Learning Situations Human development is based on two assumptions: 1. The newborn having the capacity to become a member of human society. The infant has the capacity to learn human social behavior. This capacity is provided by nature to every normal child. But 2. The newborn child cannot become social being unless there is interaction with other human beings. Helpless at birth, the human infant depends on others to provide nourishment and care. Human infants are the most helpless of all; a human child cannot survive unaided for at least four or five years of life. It is a matter of survival of human child; and then to transform the human child into a social being he needs interaction with other members of human society without which learning capacity is lost. This process of transformation is socialization. Socialization is process whereby people learn through interaction with others that which they must know in order to survive and function within society. In this process, as defined by the local culture, they learn what roles are associated with their status. Also, as prescribed by the culture, they learn how to play those roles. Therefore it is a matter of NATURE and NURTURE. NATURE Nature implies the contribution of heredity to the human being, which may include physical- characteristics and what is inside the human body. Presumably physical and psychological characteristics can be transmitted through heredity. Whatever is being transmitted through heredity may be considered as human potential given by nature. Biological determinism prevailed in the late 19th century. Proponents of this position opined that inborn factors exerted greater influence on human behavior and personality. In the second decade of the 20th century biological determinism was displaced by socio-cultural determinism. For the sake of argument the twins, having the same heredity, should show the same behavior even if they were raised apart, but it does not happen like that. In fact their behavior, to a great extent is affected by environment [physical, cultural, social], which may be part of the process of nurture. Nevertheless, lot of genetic engineering has also come into operation for tinkering with the physical and psychical make up. NURTURE As said earlier, in the 20th century, the biological explanations of human behavior were challenged. It was assumed that much of the human behavior was not instinctive; rather it was learned. Thus, people everywhere were equally human, differing only in their learned cultural patterns, which highlighted the role of nurture. Today social scientists are cautious about describing any behavior as instinctive. This does not mean that biology plays no part in human behavior. Human life, after all, depends on the functioning of the human body. We also know that children often share biological traits (like height, hair color, and complexion) with their parents and that heredity plays a part in intelligence, aptitude, and personality. Ignoring the contribution of genetic engineering, by and large, the physical characteristics are biologically determined; though having social interpretations. We learn these social interpretations through interaction with other © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 30 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU members of human society. Without denying the importance of nature, then, nature matters more in shaping human behavior. More precisely, nurture has become our nature. As part of nurturing, opportunities are to be provided for the development of human potentials. If the society does not provide learning opportunities, the human potentials given by nature may be lost. Social Isolation Tragic cases of children isolated by abusive family members show the damage caused by depriving human beings of social experience. Three such cases quoted in your textbook have already been referred to earlier. These cases are of:  Anna – discovered at age 5 years.  Isabelle – discovered at age 6 years.  Genie – discovered at age 13 years. (These cases may be studied in the textbook). All the evidence points to the crucial role of social experience to human development. Human beings can recover from abuse and short-term isolation. But there is a point at which isolation in infancy causes permanent development damage. Provision of Learning Situations The provision of learning situations is very crucial in the development of human potentials. Human group plays a pivotal role in this respect by:  The provision of learning situations;  The provision of guidance; and  Controlling the behavior. Human groups like the family with whom the child normally has the first contact provide these learning opportunities. These learning situations are provided automatically in the day-to-day routine activities in the family. The children listen to people talking around them, see them walking, and playing different roles. A girl looks at her mother the way she looks after the cooking arrangements, the way she cooks the food, the way she looks after the guests, and other household chores. She is very likely to copy the behavior of her mother. Provision of automatic learning situation is necessary but may not be sufficient to learn to talk, to walk, and to perform certain role. The group (family) has to provide guidance to the child by intentionally arranging the learning situations. The parents may have to provide real guidance to the children for in the pronunciation of certain words, taking steps in walking, wearing of clothes, answering the telephone, and so on. Parents try to nurture their child as it is considered appropriate under the cultural norms. Since all behavior is governed by the cultural values and norms, the parents make it sure that the child acts as it is culturally permissible. Therefore they try to control the actions of their child by applying rewards and punishments. For an appropriate behavior just giving a pat on the shoulder may reward the child, or placing a kiss on the face, or giving a big hug, each may be rewarding. There could be other ways of appreciating the role being played by the child, a socialize in this situation. Similarly the group may apply punishments to the socialize in case the behavior is not in accordance with cultural expectations. Such punishments may be the withdrawal of love and affection, social boycott, withholding of pocket money, corporal punishment, and so on as permissible under the cultural norms. Whereas the group provides the learning situations to the child, the child also takes certain actions about what he or she experiences in the learning situations. These actions are:  Imitation;  Experimentation; and  Adjustment. In many cases the socialize tries to copy the behavior of others in the learning situations. The socialize may be talking like others, walking like them, shouting like them, and so on. To what extent he or she can © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 31 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU imitate can be determined by the outcome of the experience of giving a trial to any imitative behavior. The experimentation of the performance of any role may take place in the presence of the primary group, be it the parents, or the peer group. This primary group gives its evaluation of the performance, whereas the socialization is likely to make adjustments in the role performance, and, by and by, develops his/her self- image. In this way, as explained in the preceding discussion, the nature provides the potentials, which are developed through nurture. This whole process may be called socialization, which is a lifelong learning experience by which individuals develop their human potentials and learn the patterns of their culture. As a result of socialization process the individuals develop their self-concept. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 32 Introduction to Sociology – SOC101 VU Lesson 13 UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS Lesson Overview:  Freud’s Model of Personality  George Herbert Mead: The Social Self  Charles H. Cooley: The looking Glass Self Socialization is a complex, lifelong process. In this lecture we shall focus on the works of three pioneer researchers, namely Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939), George Herbert Mead (1863 -1931), and Charles Horton Cooley (1864 -1929) F