SOCIETY AS AN OBJECTIVE REALITY

The Concept of Society

 Sociology is the science of society and the social interactions taking place.
 The term society came from Latin word societas, which in turn was derived from
the noun socius – comrade, friend, ally, used to describe a bond of interaction
between parties that are friendly, or at least civil.
 Society also refers t the persistent interactions among members of a particular
group like kinship group and other institutions.
 Kendall (2000) defines society as a large social grouping whose members share same
geographical territory and are subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural
expectations.
 Perucci and Kendall (1983) point out two (2) aspects of society: 1) society is external to the individual. The
norms, beliefs, and values or culture of the society precede the individuals who are born into it or join it. The
culture persists even after the individuals have died or left. 2) the members perceive society and its
experiences as a constraint upon their lives
 The society exists in a natural environment to which its member must adapt if it is to survive.
 The society imposes on the group members and shapes their personalities. In turn, members try to shape
and change patterned forms of interaction and social relationships.
 Every society has its own distinct and unique culture. Culture and society and interdependent. All members
of the society shares the common culture, although, subcultures exist.
 Usually, society is used synonymously with nation-state. Societies are the same as nation-states if they are
autonomous or independent politically and the members share a common culture.
 There are other human clusters which do not form social groups but may be transformed into one. These are
called aggregate, social category, and the collectivity.
o Aggregate – sometime a number of persons cluster but do not interact with each other. They are
basically unstructured, are in close physical proximity, but they do not interact.
o Social Category – they are groups whose members may never have met and do not interact socially,
but possess common identifying status characteristics.
o Collectivity – temporary groups like crowds, masses, public and social movements are clusters of
people interacting with each other, but the interactions are passing or short-lived.
Social Structure
 Social structure is an abstraction; it cannot be seen directly but it can be inferred from observing human
behavior.
 Social structure refers to the patterned social relationships and interrelationships of the parts guided by
norms, expectations, and values of the social unit’s members.
Social Function
 It refers to the action that occurs in relation to a particular structure, including the results of activities by
individuals occupying particular statuses.
 The social activity of a given social structure has certain consequences which make for adaptation or
adjustment.
Social Groups
 One criterion for the classification of groups is the character of the social interaction obtained in the groups
as can be seen from such established classifications as the primary and secondary group, the in-group and
the out-group, Gemeinschaft and Gesselschaft, and the formal and informal groups.
o Primary Group – small face-to-face structure such as the family, is where personalities are fused into
a common whole. These are considered building blocks of larger society. They are characterized by
intimacy, sympathetic understanding and friendliness among the members.
o Secondary Group – interactions among the group are impersonal, business like, contractual, and
casual. Secondary groups are task-oriented and play specialized ties with the people.
o Gemeinschaft – is a community of intimate, private, and exclusive living and
familism. For the local equivalent, Filipinos have used the term damay and bayanihan, which
imply mutual helpfulness and the sharing of pleasure as well as of sorrow.
o Gesselschaft – in contracts to Gemeinschaft, Gesselscahft is ‘public life’ or the
world itself. It is where status is obtained in education and work place. Gesellschaft can be seen
in very large cities where individuals are self-centric. The gesellschaft society doesn’t believe in
social ties and group values as individual needs are given more importance than anything else.
 Social Reproduction
 If one defines society as “organization of groups that is relatively self-contained”, then the next question is
how societies manage to exist and persist across time and space.
 Louis Althusser, a French philosopher and sociologist used the term reproduction in the problem of
explaining how societies manage to survive over time.
 No society can endure over time if it does not support its very own reproduction. To do this, all societies
require the creation of institutions to perpetuate the existence of society
 Ideological State Apparatuses – institutions that are created and used by the society to mold its members to
share the same values and beliefs that a typical member of that society possesses.
 Repressive Ideological State Apparatuses – refers to the coercive institutions that are use physical force to
make the members conforms to the laws and norms of society like courts, police, and prison.
 According to Talcott Parsons, all societies will have to take care of its own reproduction if they are to persist
across time and space. He further listed four (4) general pre-requisites that all societies must have to attend
in order to survive.
 Parsons elaborated on the economic system (A), the political system (G), the societal community (I), and the
fiduciary system (L).
o Adaptation – the capacity of society to take resources from society and distribute them accordingly.
This function is carried out by the economy which includes gathering resources and producing
commodities to social redistribution.
o Goal Attainment – the capability to set goals and mobilize the resources and energies necessary to
achieve the goals set forth by society. This is set by political subsystems.
o Integration – also known as harmonization of the netire society to achieve consensus. By
integration, Parson meant the coordination, adjustment, and regulation of the rest of the
subsystmem so that the society will continue to function smoothly.
o Latency – or latent pattern maintenance, requires that society is able to constantly produce and
socialized actors who will follow norms and roles given to them by society. This means institutions
like family and school, which mediate belief systems and values between an older generation and its
successor.

SOURCES:
Gerry Lanuza & Raymundo, Sarah. UnderstandingCulture, Society, and Politics. 2016. REX Book Store. Pp. 28 – 35
Panopio, Isabel & Raymundo, Adelisa. Sociology: Focus on the Philippines. Fourth Edition. 2004. KEN Incorporated.
Pp. 155 – 181
Manasa, 2011. The Difference Between. http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/culture-
miscellaneous/difference-between-gemeinschaft-and-gesellschaft/#ixzz60ds9eSva

Prepared by

MOISES VON ROSAURO R. DE GRACIA

Subject Teacher