Part I Introduction
1. SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Augustie Comte, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Herbert Spencer were in the forefront of efforts to probe the depths of social order and social change. The cataclysmic social and economic changes following Industrial Revolution and French Revolution jolted new questions. According to C Wright Mills Sociological imagination is a mentality that sifts information in the quest for understanding the implications of the broader historical canvas for self and others.
The structural perspective holds that principles of social structure can be discovered through the analysis of social structure itself without reference to individuals. The Social-Psychological perspective focuses on the interplay among persons in the social structures within which they act out their lives. Durkheim was a strong adherent of the former. His study ‘Suicide’ analysis this phenomena from the structural perspective although it is highly personal and psychological.
Altruistic Suicide is said to occur when persons are so committed to the social structure to which they belong that the sacrifice of oneself for the structure’s welfare is an acceptable personal. Eg. Japanese Samurai.
Egoistic Suicide is associated with a social structure that fails to provide social anchorages for its members. Bords bet individual and structure are so loose that the involvement of self in the pursuit of larger ideals is difficult. Escape from meaningless, purposeless existence is had through suicide.
Anomic Suicide was the result of sudden shifts toward personal or societal disorganization.
Uses of Sociology
1. Comprehension of the interplay between self and social structure.
2. Ability to look behind the facades of social structure.
3. Intellectual liberation transcending the narrow confines of personal experience
“Tradition is a guide, not a jailor” S. Mangham
2. KEY CONCEPTS in SOCIOLOGY
Social Structure is an interrelated set of social relationships based on man-made patterns for thinking, feeling and behaving.
CULTURE ; CONCEPTS
Culture – Man-made patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that are socially transmitted to an entire society or to segments of the society.
Material Culture – Tangible products of human creation eg. Space-ship
Non-material Culture – Intangible products of human creation eg. Prohibition against murder.
Subculture Patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving subscribed to by identifiable societal subunits that in certain important respects are different from the larger society.
Social Values – General cultural principles embodying standards for thinking, feeling and behaving that evoke strong motional commitment.
Norms – Rules for thinking, feeling and behaving.
Mores – Norms that are considered essential to social well being (Prohibition against bastardy)
Folkways – Norms that are important but considered to be less significant for social welfare than mores (presence of love between spouses).
Laws – Norms that are formally defined, recorded and enforced by public authority. Many mores and folkways are eventually expressed in legal code.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE ; CONCEPTS
Social Position – A location within a system of social relationships (mother, father, son)
Role Prescriptions – Culturally defined rights and duties expected of all persons occupying a particular social position. Although listed as a social structure concept, role prescriptions are actually part of culture.
Role Behaviour – The manner in which role prescriptions are actually executed by a holder of a social position.
Role Expectations – The repertoire of behavior expected for oneself and anticipated from others within the context of interrelated social positions.
Social Interaction – Exchange of social influence in which the actions of one person affect the behavior of another person whose reactions in turn affect the first person and so on. This is the process by which role behavior occurs.
Episodic Social Relationship – A pattern of social interaction either of short duration (customer – clerk) or of infrequent occurrence (nurse – patient)
Continuous Social Relationship – A pattern of social interaction that is conducted on a relatively constant basis (father – son).
Non-cultural Influences on Social Structure
1. Biological Heritage refers to those physical traits passed across generations from parents to children.
2. Geographical environment – Most prominent in sociological consideration are mineral, plant and animal resources, climate and terrain.
1. Hitler’s ambition to conquer the world had deep roots in the philosophy of racial superiority penned by Nietzsche, Joseph Arthur de Gobinean and Houston Stewart Chambestain.
2. Geographical determination place natural environment at the centre of causation in the study of social structure.
Biological and Geographic factors condition culture and social structure by limiting human options.
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