WHATS A SOCIETY? Accordi ‘to sociologists, a society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture. Social groups consist of two or more people who interact and identify with one another. ‘August Comte the father of sociology saw society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function. Emile Durkheim the founding father of the modern sociology treated society as a reality in its own right. Talcott Parsons Society is 2 total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out of the action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or symbolic. G.H Mead conceived society as an exchange of gestures which involves the use of symbols. Morris Ginsberg defines society as a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behavior which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from them in behavior. Cole sees Society as the complex of organized associations and institutions with a community. Maclver and Page society is a system of usages and procedures of authority and mutual aid of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behavior and liberties. This ever changing complex system which is called society is a web of social relationship Territory: Most countries have formal boundaries and territory that the world recognizes as theirs. However, a society's boundaries don’t have to be geopolitical borders, such as the one between the United States and Canada. Instead, members of a society, as well as nonmembers, ‘must recognize particular land as belonging to that society. Interaction: Members of a society must come in contact with one another. If a group of people ‘within a country has no regular contact with another group, those groups cannot be considered part of the same society. Geographic distance and language barriers can separate societigs within a country. Culture: People of the same society share aspects of their culture, such as language or beliefs. Culture refers to the language, values, beliefs, behavior, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life. It is a defining element of society. . ‘TYPES OF SOCIETY ‘A. Hunting and Gathering Societies . Hunting and gathering societies survive by hunting game and gathering edible plants. Until about 112,000 years ago, all societies were hunting and gathering societies. ‘There are five basic characteristics of hunting i a eo ve ind gathering societies: ‘The primary institution is the family, which decides how food is to be shared and how children are to be socialized, and which provides for the protection of its members. ‘They tend to be small, with fewer than fifty members. They tend to be nomadic, moving to new areas when the current food supply in a given area has been exhausted. Members display a high level of interdependence. Labor division is based on sex: men hunt, and women gather.8. Horticultural Societies In a horticultural society, hand tools are used to tend crops. The first horticultural societies sprang up ‘about 10,000-12,000 years ago in the most fertile areas of the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The tools they used were simple: sticks or hoe-like instruments used to punch holes in the ground so that ‘crops could be planted. With the advent of horticultural machinery, people no longer had to depend on the gathering of edible plants—they could now grow their own food. They no longer had to leave an ‘area when the food supply was exhausted, as they could stay in one place until the soil was depleted. Pastoral Societies ‘A pastoral society relies on the domestication. and breeding of animals for food. Some geographic regions, such as the desert regions of North Africa, cannot support crops, so these societies learned how to domesticate and breed animals. The members of a pastoral society must move only when the grazing land ceases to be usable. Many pastoral societies still exist in Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia D. Agricultural Societies ‘The invention of the plow during the horticultural and pastoral societies is considered the second social evolution, and it led to the establishment of agricultural societies approximately five thousand to six thousand years ago. Members of an agricultural or agrarian society tend crops with an animal harnessed to a plow. The use of animals to pull a plow eventually led to the creation of cities and formed the basic structure of most modern societies. ‘The development of agricultural societies followed this general sequence: ‘+ Animals are used to pull plows. ‘+ Larger areas of land can then be cultivated. ‘+ As the sollis aerated during plowing, it yields more crops for longer periods of time. ‘+ Productivity increases, and as long as there is plenty of food, people do not have to move. ‘+ Towns form, and then cities. * + As crop yields are high, itis no longer necessary for every member of the society to engage It some form of farming, so some people begin developing other skill. Job specialization increases. ‘+ Fewer people are directly involved with the production of food, and the economy becomes more complex. E. Industrial Societies An industrial society uses advanced sources of energy, rather than humans and animals, to run large machinery. Industrialization began in the mid-1700s, when the steam engine was first used in Great Britain as a means of running other machines. By the twentieth century, industrialized societies had changed dramatically: + People and goods traversed much longer distances because of innovations in transportation, such as the train and the steamship. * Rural areas lost population because more and more people were engaged in factory work and had to move to the cities. ‘+ Fewer people were needed in agriculture, and societies became urbanized, which means that ‘the majority of the population lived within commuting distance of a major city. ‘+ Suburbs grew up around cities to provide city-dwellers with alternative places to live.F. Postindustrial Societies ‘The Industrial Revolution transformed Western societies in many unexpected ways. All the machines and inventions for producing and transporting goods reduced the need for human labor so much that the economy transformed again, from an industrial to a postindustrial economy. ‘A postindustrial society, the type of society that has developed over the past few decades, features an ‘economy based on services and technology, not production. There are three major characteristics of 3 postindustrial economy: 1, Focus on ideas: Tangible goods no longer drive the economy. 2. Need for higher education: Factory work does not require advanced training, and the new focus Con information and technology means that people must pursue greater education. 3. Shift in workplace from cities to homes: New communications technology allows work to be performed from a variety of locations. ABASIC ELEMENTS OF HUMAN SOCIETY From a sociological standpoint, all human societies can be described using four different domains; these domains have some presence in all human societies even ifthe exact characteristics within those domians and social emphasis on particular domains over others domains varies from society to society. Economic System This domain describes how a society produces and then ‘+ Tribal economic systems ‘+ Patrimonial economic systems '* Colonial economic systems ributes its limited resources. State or Political System . This domain describes the institutions in a particular society that have a legitimate monopoly on violence, force, and power and thus can organize the society. Cultural System ‘The stores of information, including the imagery and media of expression that binds a group, that are passed through generations. The cultural system of a society creates a sense of meaning; a vision that allows humans to understand the past, present, and future, and their role in time/place. Family System . ‘The standard ways in which children are raised. References: http://www. sparknotes.com/sociology/s f http://econdevelooment-socialchange.wikispa /a+Basic+Elements+of+ HumansSocie http://www sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Definition.php