Society and Social Institutions

• Society

  • A group of individuals involved in persistent social interactions or large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.
  • It characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions.
• Society


  • Wider scope than the state
  • Prior to state
  • Natural unity of people bound together in social relationships
  • No formal organized agent
  • Concerned for both the internal and external human behavior
• State


  • Politically organized community of the people
  • Has a formal organized agent (government)
  • Concerned with the external aspects of human behavior
  • Sovereignty belongs to the state
  • Territory belongs to the state
  • Studied by Political Science
• Society


  Concerned for both the internal and external human behavior
• State


  Concerned with the external aspects of human behavior
• CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETY

  1. Likeness
  2. Differences
  3. Interdependence
  4. Cooperation
  5. Conflict
• TYPES OF SOCIETIES

  1. HUNTING - GATHERING

  2. PASTORAL

  3. HORTICULTURAL

  4. AGRICULTURAL

  5. FEUDAL

  6. INDUSTRIAL

  7. POST - INDUSTRIAL
• HUNTING-GATHERING

  •  People primarily survive by hunting animals, fishing and gathering plants.
  •  Heavily dependent to their environment for resources
  •  Quite mobile; hence, people are nomadic
  •  Tribal in nature
  •  Labor in hunting and gathering are equally divided among members
• 2. PASTORAL

  • Pasture animals for food and transportation
  •  This allows for more manageable food supply compared to hunting and gathering; hence, surplus of goods.
  • Trade was made possible because of stability of food supply.
  •  Other members engaged in non-survival activities such as traders, healers, spiritual leaders, craftspeople, and people with specialty professions
• 3. HORTICULTURAL

  •  Relies on cultivating fruits, vegetables, and plants.
  •  Heavily relies on their immediate environment; thus, people are nomadic as well.
  • Occasionally produced surplus of food, which allows for more storage and emergence of professions
  •  Use simple tools and not animals to produce food
• 4. AGRICULTURAL

  •  Uses technological advances to cultivate crops (e.g. wheat, grain, rice, corn, barley)
  • Increase in food supply; hence, led to a larger population than in earlier communities
  •  Social stratification appeared; women have lesser roles compared to men
  • Villages and towns expanded; hence, resulted to more conflicts
  •  Emergence of a system of rulers or “nobility”
• 5. FEUDAL

  •  A society based on the ownership of land
  •  The landlords (own the land) and the peasants (cultivate the land in exchange for military protection)
  •  The emergence of caste system which is multigenerational
  •  Capitalism replaced feudalism between 14th and 16th centuries
  •  Europe’s exploration to the Americas – which served as an impetus to capitalism
• 6. INDUSTRIAL

  • Society based on the use of machines to produce goods
  •  Industrial revolution
  •  Productivity has increased, transportation improved
  •  Great wealth attained by few who owned factories; the masses found jobs in factories/industries
• 7. POST-INDUSTRIAL

  •  Technical revolution – the advent of the computer microchip
  •  A society based on information, knowledge, and selling services
  •  Society is driven by human mind, aided by computer technology
• Socialization

  • is the process through which we learn the norms, customs, values, and roles of the society, from birth through death.
  • Mainly focuses on the acquisition of knowledge, language, values, skills and habits of society
• Enculturation

  • is the process by which we learn the requirements of our surrounding culture and acquire the behaviours and values appropriate for this culture. Thus, this is the main difference between socialization and enculturation.
  • Focuses more on the acquisition of cultural traits
• AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION AND ENCULTURATION

  1. Family
  2. School
  3. Peer Group
  4. Mass Media
  5. Religion
  6. Workplace
  7. Neighborhood
• Institution

  • It is a part of the culture; it is not a person or group; a patterned segment of the way of life of the people. Social relations and social roles form the major elements of the institution.
  • It is a configuration or combination of behavioural patterns shared by a plurality and focused upon the satisfaction of some basic group needs.
• Characteristics of Institution

  1. Institutions are purposive.

  2. Institutions are relatively permanent in their content.

  3. The institution is structured.

  4. Each institution is a unified structure

  5. The institution is necessarily value-laden.
• Classification of Institution

  Major Institutions

  Subsidiary Institutions
• BASIC MAJOR INSTITUTIONS

  1. Political Institutions
  2. Economic Institutions
  3. Familial Institutions
  4. Religious institutions
  5. Educational Institutions
  6. Recreational Institutions