B.A. (Hons.

) Economics

LESSON 3

INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

STRUCTURE

3.1 Learning Objective

3.2 Introduction
3.3 Individuals in the society
3.3.1 Social consciousness and social relations
3.3.2 Interpretation of individuals in different social domains
3.4 Base and superstructure: Concept of social formation
2.4.1 Production relations in capitalism
3.5 Summary
3.6 Glossary
3.7 Answers to In-text Questions
3.8 Self-Assessment Questions
3.9 References
3.10 Suggested Readings

3.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVE

The objective of this chapter is to make students aware about social consciousness and be
able to understand the process of evolution of social relations. After reading the chapter, you
should be able to make various interpretations of social relations. Students should also be
able to understand the continuous process in the making of society’s structure from an
economic perspective and the role of production relations and property rights in the evolution
of a society.

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 Introductory Microeconomics

3.2 INTRODUCTION

Society and individuals are closely related to each other. Individuals form society based on
various customs, rules and traditions. Mankind depends on society for various emotional,
psychological and spiritual needs. Individuals and society are interdependent and the growth
of one ensures the growth of the other. Society affects individuals in several ways as the
shape and personality of an individual is hugely impacted by prevailing customs and social
conditioning. Societal force plays an important role in building society’s superstructure which
keeps updating and upgrading with time and space. Strong and purposeful must learn to live
with the differences among each other and live as a unit. With this background, the chapter
attempts to make students understand social relations and its various interpretations in the
light of social, political and economic paradigm.

3.3 INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOCIETY

This chapter has as many variations as possible and layers, each holding its ground over
complex relations between individuals, society, and social relations. The debate over the
interdependence and relationship thereof between men and society often revolves around
individuals shaping society or social conditioning determining individuals. The essence of
this debate is that it has been discussed for ages and from myriad perspectives, yet the riddle
remains unsolved and least understood. Social relations have varied dimensions – social,
economic, political, cultural, etc. – and the amalgamation of all sizes gives society to
humankind, forming an inseparable part of human existence. Social relations can be
compared to three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gaseous. A solid-state is a metaphor for
those social values and social relations that are rigid and hard but not difficult to change. A
liquid state represents those social relations that change with time in a slow but steady
manner. On the other hand, a gaseous state is reflective of those social relations that adapt
quickly to societal changes. A society with all three forms of social ties delegates a vital
message that at any given point, the mutual co-existence of heterogeneous beliefs should not
be an exception but rather the norm. The vitality of a strong and purposeful society lies in the
honoring and tolerating of differences, not simply in the enjoyment of similarities.
On the flip side of it, society comprises individuals incapable of being self-sufficient in
aloofness or isolation. If society is an epitome of wholeness, men are a proportion of this
whole, who depend upon it to realize their peak potential of being and functioning. A man
should realise his nature and potential of being a man to the fullest. Any shortfall in being a
man reflects the state of the actuality that is raw and underprepared. With their initial state of

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 B.A. (Hons.) Economics

rawness, human nature is in the continuous pursuit of virtues and happiness, armed by its
distinctive rationality and inherent capacity.

Activity – 1
Can you recall being a child 12 years ago? You played with yourself, taking up different
roles of others – the role of a teacher, a policeman, a doctor, a mother wearing a saree, etc.
If you have ever done this in your distant memory, try answering the following:
i. Were you exploring your future role in society?
ii. Were you trying to identify yourself with either of these roles you enjoyed playing?
iii. Did you enjoy playing only those roles which you thought were significant and
powerful?
iv. From where did you learn about these roles in your childhood?

3.3.1 Social consciousness and social relations

Consciousness is the state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings. It is the
ability of men to perceive, interpret and understand their neighborhood. This social
consciousness germinates and grows into social relations as men are constantly reminded of
the fact that they affect one another. Social relations are an offshoot of family life, rules of
morality set by society, and age-old customs. There are political relations that develop under
the activity of state authority. The responsibilities and relationships between a government
and people are defined in the mechanism of governance such as democracy, kingship, etc.
Economic relations extend through the forging of social bonds around the material possession
of goods and services. These relations inculcate in men a pattern of repeated behavior
towards each other. Repeated behavior and inner consciousness act and react upon each other
forming ideas in men. Of all social relations, relations of production and consequent
economic ties are of specific importance to this chapter. In the close vicinity of economic
relations, there lie relations of distributions such as the collection of rent, interest, wages, and
profits.
3.3.2 Interpretation of individuals in different social domains
As per sociologists, individual (A’s) power can be ascertained in terms of his interaction with
his fellow beings to the extent he is able to convince others (say individual B) to comply with

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School of Open Learning, University of Delhi
 Introductory Microeconomics

his desires. Every action of an individual is always shaped by his personal experience and
interaction with his fellow beings in a group. Family is the starting point of that group, which
expands to society at the next stage. We often hear people saying that “society” forced them
to do something or not to do something. How can society force someone? Any action by an
individual is not taken in a vacuum. Society throws open a set of alternatives to an individual.
Existing cultural patterns and social forces leave no option for an individual but to opt for one
alternative over the other. This social pressure and cultural exposure to an individual defines
him and his choice.
Political theorists or Political Scientists analyse the disposition of power in society and
outline the power equation between individuals, groups, and states. This balance of power
comes with a responsibility upon each of them. The state is the will of the majority of people,
and an individual being a smaller entity of the larger universe, has no authority to bypass the
common will. It means that every individual is bound by the set of rules and regulations
determined by the authority of the state.
Individuals, on the other hand, maintain that the state is for the people and not the otherwise.
In other words, individuals make the state and not the state makes the individual and
therefore, the state is for the convenience of the people, and any interference by the state in
an individual’s affair is unwarranted.
Psychologists are of the view that cognitive factors of an individual affect performance and
learning. Cognitive factors refer to anything we do consciously in pursuit of learning,
memory, attention, perception, and decision making. Albert Bandura’s theory stress two
important points of social learning:
a) Occurrence of mediating process between response and stimuli
b) Observational learning plays an important role in behavior formation
Children observe people around them and develop a perception about them behaving in
various ways. They may be their parents, others within the family, TV personalities, friends
in their peer group, and teachers at school. Children consider them as their role models and
provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate. These behaviors may be pro-society,
manly, feminine or even anti-social.
Social identity theory, as propounded by Henri Tajfel, is an individual’s sense of who they
are based on their group memberships. Group affiliation gives an individual a sense of
belonging to the social world. People develop intergroup bias based on their group affiliation.
They tend to positively evaluate their ingroup (ingroup favoritism) relative to the outgroup.
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 B.A. (Hons.) Economics

Economists see individuals and society through the prism of production and distribution
relations. According to Karl Marx, the mode of production can have various structures like
slave mode of production and feudal or capitalist mode of production. A society can have all
the modes of production simultaneously. The mode of production and society’s material
means of production usually determine the social relations of production and distribution.
Men develop social relations determined by repeated economic activity of production. Social
relations of such a nature are weighed down by inertia and develop resistance to any change.
However, the Law of Progressive Development says that relations based on economic
activity, for that matter, any activity under social relations, can never prevail for long.
External stimuli of societal changes force men to alter their behavior. Man acts on nature and
is himself acted by it in the social process of labour.

IN – TEXT QUESTIONS
1. In what context does the author compare social relations to matter?
2. How is the relationship between men and society important?

3.4 BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE: CONCEPT OF SOCIAL FORMATION

In architectural science, the superstructure is the part of the building that is visible, can be
touched, and felt. The base is the underground preparation, on which the superstructure rests
and derives its balance and strength. However, with time, the building weakens, erodes, and
the entire superstructure is demolished. A new base is made for the replacement of the
previous superstructure that commensurate with people’s aspirations and fits the changing
requirement of society, modernity, and need. What is true for buildings is also true for
society.
Likewise, what could be society’s superstructure? A society’s superstructure consists of its
culture, norms, ideology, and identities inhabited by people. These key ingredients play an
important role in the formation of social institutions, political structure, and the state
apparatus of governance. According to Karl Marx, these key components of the social
superstructure legitimize the base. Let us understand the overall concept with this figure
below:

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School of Open Learning, University of Delhi
 Introductory Microeconomics

Social consciousness, social ideas,

Socio-psychological attitudes and conscious
social relations

Superstructure

Economic base or Production relations

Mode of
Production

Productive forces

Law of production forces operate

Nature/Resources

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School of Open Learning, University of Delhi
 B.A. (Hons.) Economics

The diagram above has social consciousness at the topmost part with nature and natural
resources at the bottom. In between these two, the entire process of progressive social
development takes place. The law of progressive development of productive forces operates
on natural resources. These forces operate for human survival as people work on these natural
resources to feed themselves. In the process, nature acts upon people. Such action and
reaction between nature and people is a continuous process. The combination of labor and
means of labor results in the development of productive forces.
3.4.1 Production relations in capitalism
The type of “property” plays an important role in determining social relations. “Property,”
being a legal concept, plays an important role in defining different kinds of social relations.
Owners of truly private property are free to do anything with their assets and do not have to
abide by any social or political obligations. Thus, the owners of private assets are separated
from people and society. A step further is capitalist property relations. A capitalist society is
one in which property is not only privately held, but the sole purpose of a capitalist society is
also capital accumulation. Of late, there is a new concept of generalized private property in
which rights to and obligations related to “natural” resources, commodities produced out of
labor, etc. are distributed in a manner that stability of interdependence of social categories
continue to remain in balance. People belonging to different social categories (not
individuals) who possess these generalized properties are not free to dispose of them as per
their personal choices. This is majorly because people belonging to one category (as owners
of one resource) carry social obligations to people belonging to another category (owners of
another resource). This chain endures relationships with different social categories despite
social inequality.
However, individuals entering different forms of social production relations are indispensable
and independent of their will – generally called “relations of productions”. It should be noted
that property relation is the driving force behind relations of productions. Private property
and generalized private property have different implications for production relations, that
men enter is independent of their choice.

IN – TEXT QUESTIONS
3. What forms of a society’s superstructure?
4. What forms an integral part of a society?

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School of Open Learning, University of Delhi
 Introductory Microeconomics

3.5 SUMMARY

Individuals with similar beliefs and virtues form a society with similar values. Change in
these parameters may give birth to a separate society with different values and virtues.
Individuals form an important component of the society. Society is to serve individuals.
Social relations are comparable to three states of matter. Consciousness is the state of being
aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings. It is the ability of men to perceive, interpret
and understand their neighbourhood. Sociologists, Political scientists, Psychologists and
Economists have homogeneous but slightly differentiated interpretations of individual and the
society. A society’s superstructure consists of its culture, norms, ideology, and identities
inhabited by people. These key ingredients play an important role in the formation of social
institutions, political structure, and the state apparatus of governance.

3.6 GLOSSARY

Social Consciousness: The state of being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings
Social Learning: Every Observational learning and mediating process between response and
stimuli
Society’s Superstructure: Social structure that includes the culture, ideology, norms, and
identities that people inhabit. It also includes social institutions, political structure, and the
state—or society's governing apparatus. Superstructure grows out of the base and represents
interests of the ruling class.

3.7 ANSWERS TO IN – TEXT QUESTIONS

1. In the context of social rigidities

2. Section 3.3.2
3. culture, norms, ideology, and identities inhabited by people
4. Production and distribution relations

3.8 SELF – ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Draw the distinction between a sociologist and political theorists’ approach toward
defining the relationship between individuals and society

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 B.A. (Hons.) Economics

2. Do you think Economists’ approach to establishing linkage between individuals and

society is more appealing than thinkers from other domains? Elaborate
3. What is mode of production, and how it is the determining factor behind social
relations?
4. The covid pandemic has brought many changes around you. Can you mention a few
examples of changes in social relations due to the pandemic? Did you experience any
change in relations among your classmates during the pandemic? Could you list other
such changes around you?
5. Discuss the foundation of the society’s superstructure. A mismatch between base and
superstructure lays the foundation of a new superstructure. How?
6. Action and reaction between nature and human beings are a continuous process.
Elaborate the statement in the context of society’s superstructure.
7. How property relation is the driving force behind the evolvement of production
relations?
8. Men cannot realize their true potential in isolation. Do you agree with the statement?
However, as per the research paper by Norman Li and Satoshi Kanazawa published in
the British Journal of Psychology, intelligent people prefer to be alone. Can you
explain this contradiction?

3.9 REFERENCES
Storper, M. (2005). Society, community, and Economic Development. Studies in
Comparative International Development, 39(4), 30–57.
Cockshott, P., & Cottrell, A. (2002). The relation between economic and political instances in
the communist mode of production. Science & Society, 66(1), 50-64.
Betai, R. S. (1961). INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute, 42(1/4), 141–149.
Nugent, D. (1993). Property Relations, Production Relations, and Inequality: Anthropology,
Political Economy, and the Blackfeet. American Ethnologist, 20(2), 336–362.
Coser, L. A. (1957). Social Conflict and the Theory of Social Change. The British Journal of
Sociology, 8(3), 197–207.

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 Introductory Microeconomics

3.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Marx, K., Mandel, E., & Fernbach, D. (1992). Capital: A critique of political economy.
Penguin Books in association with New Left Review
Harris, A. L. (1948). The Social Philosophy of Karl Marx. Ethics, 58(3), 1–42.

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School of Open Learning, University of Delhi