Human Society
Contents Introduction Meaning Definitions Characteristics Theories of Origin of Society: Organic Theory Social Contract Theory Relationship between Individual and Society
Introduction: The term ‘Society’ is the most fundamental one in Sociology. It is derived from the Latin word ‘Socius’, which means companionship or friendship. Companionship means sociability. It is this element of sociability which defines the true essence of society. Aristotle said that ‘Man is a social animal.’ He cannot live alone i.e. he always lives in the company of other people. Both nature and necessity compel him to live in a society. Human life and society always go together. Contd...
Meaning: For a common man, society implies a group of some people. But for Sociologists, it is not just a group of people but it is a set social relationships which exists when the members are aware of each other’s existence and have some interests or objects in common. It is a group of people who share a common culture, occupy a particular territorial area and feel themselves to constitute a unified and distinct entity. It is the mutual interactions and interrelations of individuals and groups. contd…
Definitions: Society is “a web of social relationship”. - MacIver “A society is 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”. - Morris Ginsberg “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. - MacIver and Page “The term society refers not to group of people, but to the complex pattern of the norms of interaction, that arise among and between them”. - Lapiere contd…
Characteristics: Society consists of people. Social relationships. Mutual interaction and mutual awareness. Society depends on likeness. Society rests on difference too. Co – operation. Conflict. Society implies interdependence. Society is dynamic. Social control and norms. Society is abstract. contd…
Theories of Origin of Society: Organic Theory: Herbert Spencer is the main exponent of this theory: He tried to establish an analogy between the society and an individual organism. The origin of societies is the same as the origin of species. The society is subject to the same laws of growth and decay to which the human body is. Society as well as individual organism grow in size. Contd…
They grow from comparatively a simple structure to that of an increasingly complex one. Increasing differentiation leads to increasing mutual dependence of the component parts. The life and normal functioning of each becomes dependent on the life of the whole. The life of the whole becomes independent and lasts longer than life of the component parts. Hence, society is like a social organism. Individuals are the limbs of the society and behave as cells of the body whose activity and life are meant for the sake of the whole. Limbs separated from body have no life, and similarly individuals separated from society have no life. The individual exist in and within society. Contd…
Criticism: In human body, there is continuity and unity between the cells of the body. Such unity is completely missing in society. Further, the way in which human bodies are born and die cannot be compared with the birth and death of society. Society does not show physical unity but indicates a social and mental state of affairs. contd…
Social contract theory: Hobbes Locke Social contract theory: Thomas Hobbes, J. Locke, J.J.Rousseau are the main advocates of this theory. According to Hobbes, early man was nasty and brutish and did not know about society. To end the uncertainty in life and to pass days happy, he decided to live in society and thus society was found. Locke believed that in the society he was leading a peaceful life. There were also certain social laws which the people had made for themselves and which they were
Rousseau willing to obey as well. But the people had no recognized system of justice with the result that they entered into an agreement to sacrifice their liberty and became members of a regular society. It was with this agreement that the society originated. According to Rousseau, need and necessity of the society was realized only to serve increasing social problems and in order to live peacefully in the society, people entered into an agreement, which brought society into being. contd…
Criticism: Society did not come into being by virtue of any contract, it emerged spontaneously and followed its own line of development. It gives freedom to the individual with regard to the membership of society. The very fact of our birth establishes that we are born in a society. It raises the controversy: who was born first, individual or society. contd…
Relationship between Individual and Society: The individual is a unit of society. His very existence is woven into the fabric of society. He knows himself and his fellow – beings within the framework of society. Individual potentialities unfold and take on form only in course of experience in a social environment. Individual learns to satisfy the needs in a socially approved fashion. His likes and dislikes, hopes and ambitions, his interpretations of society itself are derived from the social world around him or society. Contd…
The society guides individuals’ action or human behavior. However, it does not mean that individual and society are always in harmony. When individualism overpowers the thought process of individuals, it destroys the very spirit of society which is based on collectivism.
Thank you Compiled by Ms.Amrit Deep Kaur Department of Sociology PGGC for Girls, Sector – 42, Chandigarh