Order Maintenance in Society: Ideologies and their Role PDF

Powered by Order Maintenance in Society: Ideologies and their Role The mechanisms through which order is maintained involve power, ideology, force, and consensus. Formal and informal social control, as well as socialization and nature, shape people's behavior. Ideologies are sets of beliefs that exp...

Powered by Order Maintenance in Society: Ideologies and their Role The mechanisms through which order is maintained involve power, ideology, force, and consensus. Formal and informal social control, as well as socialization and nature, shape people's behavior. Ideologies are sets of beliefs that explain various aspects of life, such as the meaning of life, family organization, the superiority or inferiority of social groups, and how societies should be organized and governed. Ideologies are often seen as biased or partial accounts and can be used to justify specific attitudes and behaviors. The dominant ideology refers to the widely accepted set of ideas in a society, usually imposed by a powerful group. Marxists argue that ideologies can have a controlling or manipulative element, with the ruling class using institutions like the media and education system to impose their dominant ideology. The culture industry, according to Adorno and Horkheimer, perpetuates ruling-class ideology through popular culture forms consumed passively by the people. Ideology can prevent the working class from realizing their true situation, resulting in what Marxists call 'false class consciousness.' Ideologies, as mental maps, provide structural roles in society, helping to contextualize events and guide economic, political, and cultural development. Power and its Influence on Society Power is defined as the capacity to bring about change actively or passively. Power can be categorized into force or coercive power and consensual power (authority). Consensual power can be further divided into charismatic power, traditional power, and rational/legal power. Power can be measured in terms of decision-making, including the ability to make decisions, prevent others from making decisions, or removing decision-making from the agenda. Those with power can impose their interests and definition of reality on others, creating order and stability. In modern societies, power has become opaque and difficult to see, as people are unaware of the power others have over them. Foucault argues that power is exercised in subtle ways, such as technological surveillance. Knowledge and language contribute to belief systems that control behavior by influencing how individuals think about the world. Beliefs, such as gender norms, shape behavior and interactions between individuals. Social Construction of Reality and Consensus The social construction of reality involves a complex relationship between beliefs, ideologies, power, and everyday ideas about roles, values, and norms. The construction process occurs through the interaction of broad structural elements of culture and individual perspectives. Activity 1.13 suggests taking a walk around school or college to classify the people encountered, such as strangers, acquaintances, friends, close friends, and best friends. The classification of people affects behavior towards them, shaping interactions and expectations. Consensus is a functionalist perspective that believes order is maintained through a general agreement on a set of values. The majority accepts the consensus, and it is not imposed by a ruling class. Those in authority have the power to punish those who break the consensus, reinforcing the boundaries of the value system. Collective rituals and symbols, like religious ceremonies or national anthems, can reinforce the consensus among society members. The consensus can change over time if opinion within society changes, leading to changes in rules and laws. Despite changes, societies can remain stable through adapting the consensus. To encourage conformity among school students, make a list of reasons why they conform to school rules. As a head teacher, strategies to increase conformity could be implemented. The specific strategies are not provided in the text.