MODULE 4

Sociology and the Study of

Society
The Sociological Perspective

Another branch of the social

sciences is the discipline of
sociology. Categorically, sociology
is the "scientific study of society,
including pattern of social
relationship, social interaction, and
culture' (Cathoune 2002).
 The operative term SCIENTIFIC
refers to the methodological and
theoretical rigor that SOCIOLOGY
applies in its study of society and
human behavior. The term
sociology was coined by Auguste
Compee in 1940 to refer to a
scientific inquiry that covers human
social activities.
 In 1959, C. Wright Mills coined the
phrases "sociological imagination" to
refer to the ability of sociologist to
understand society systematically. This
ability involves the process of detaching
oneself from the common understanding
of society and creates an alternative
approach that would situate a behavior
or an event within a great social
framework.
The clamor for social
understanding due to the rapid
changes in social and
economic structures brought
upon by the French cemented
the prominence of sociological
perspective in the field of social
sciences.
 BIG IDEA
Sociology studies societies to
promote social changes,
create new theories, and
document human behavior.
Sociological Concepts
Just like anthropology, sociology
also has a discipline based
concept that aid in the
understanding of human behavior
and groups. The basic concept
that sociology interprets is that of
society.
SOCIETY

Society can be defined as a

product of human interaction
as human subscribe to the rules
of their culture. It is an
organization that afters to a
humans need for belongingness
in a group.
The following table present the varying
understanding of society as prescribed by
sociology.
Comparison of Theories on Society
SOCIOLOGIST PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIETY
August Comte Society as a social organism possessing
a harmony of structure and function.

Emile Durkheim Society as a reality in its own right.

Collective consciousness is of key
importance to society, which society
cannot survive without.

Talcoll Parsons Society is a total complex of human

relationship in so far as they grow out of
the action in term of mean end
relationship.
George Herbert Mead Society is an exchange of gestures
that involves the use of symbols.

Morna Gersberg Society as collection of individuals

unified by certain relations to made of
behavior that marks individuals off from
others who do not enter into these
relationship or who differ from them in
behavior.

George Douglas Cole Society as the complex of organized

association and institutions with a
community.

Robert Macirer and Society as a system of usages and

procedures of authority and mutual
Charles Page end of many groupings and divisions of
controls of human behavior and
societies.

Source, Shandra (2007)

The common terms that surfaced
in these definition are:
1. Social 6. Relationship
2. Structure 7. Symbols
3. Function 8. Exchange
4. Complex 9. Behavior
5. Collective 10. Institutions;
and
11. System
Social Interaction

Within the framework of society is a

process called social interaction.
This is a compilation of WAYS and
MEANS by which human interact
with cash rather a....
Interaction is more merely
declined by an actual physical
subtract , as it covers every
human interchange that is within
a mutually subjective
(relientation). This implies that as
long as the parties involved are
aware of each other, interaction is
possible.
There are layers of social interaction transpiring
simultaneously.
Several points can be made about social
interaction.

1.space is not an issue. The protesters who are

making a dialog with the Chinese government
are separated from it by almost 3,000
kilometers.
2. There can be multiple and simultaneous
interactions. Am interaction can be
participated in by at least two parties or tens
of thousands. Each party can be engaged in
multiple interaction with other parties.
3. A dialog can have an active end and an
inactive end. Note that the Chinese
government did not respond to the demands
and statement made by the other party.
Nevertheless, despite the silence of the other
party, such an encounter is still considered as a
social interaction.
4. Subject positionality is prevent in any
interaction. The responses (or the
nonresponses) that individuals make in relation
to an interaction is determined by their
perception of their position in relation to the
other party.
5. The meaning we ascribe to the actions of
others are informed by the values and norms that
are upheld in our society.

Social Organization

This concept refers to the interrelationships of

parts of society. As a society is an organization in
itself, it is structurally divided into layers of contexts
and positions that help perpetuate its existence.
The positions created within a society constitute
the category of status.
Each status prescribes a set of accepted behavior
that defined the individuals responses and
inclinations. This set is called ROLES. The roles of
government officials is to ensure that the people's
needs are addressed through government
projects and politics.

A GROUP is a basic unit of an organization. It

involves at least two individuals who are in
constant interaction based on their statuses and
roles. Your school typically consists of two groups;
teachers, and students.
Institution are established when roles,
statuses, and groups are perpetuated
within the context of society. Institutions
are the building blocks of society, as it is
through these that norms are produced
from the consistent exchanges of
individuals and groups. These institutions
are also in constant recreation as human
interactions are affected by external
forces such as environmental shifts.
Example of Institutions
•family
•marriage
•education
•religion
•government
Social Structure and Agency

This is the foundation of every society from

which emonates the possible roles,
statutes, institutions, and organization. It
can e said that social structure is the
determining factor by which every other
part of society gains its context. The
common Analogy used to described
social structure and the elements of
society is that of a building.
What provides the building with its
design and body are the institutions,
statuses, groups, and roles. The
concept of culture can be equated
to the concept of social a structure
as it functions is the same capacity.
This is to say that culture defines the
norms, values, institutions, groups, and
individuals behavior within a society.
Note that this perspective
renders individuals to be
incapable of asserting
themselves in a society, as they
are bound by the rules of its
structure on in the context, their
culture. A divergent perspective
to this accommodates the
concept of agency.
According to Inden (2000) agency is.
This definition provides the argument
that though structure in place define the
conditions in which an individual
interacts with others and institutions, the
individuals ate capable of creating new
systems and patterns of interaction. As
such, agency should treated as an
active word, it constitutes actions that
are intended to instigate action from
institution that would alter social
structure.
Moore (2007) argues this, saying the
following; Agency is defined as
individuals or groups reflecting,
acting, modifying and giving
significance to the teaching of
science in purposeful ways, with the
aim of empowering and
transforming themselves and us the
conditions of their lives.This agency is
action oriented.
Subdisciplines of Sociology

Within the field of sociology are specific

inquiries on human behavior in groups
studies. That involves social structures such
as institutions, social groups, social
stratification, social mobility, and ethnic
group fall within the scope of social
organization. The study of the impact of
group life to a persons nature and
personality is the focus of social
psychology.
Social change and
disorganization in the branch of
sociology that inquiries on the
shift in social and cultural
interactions and the interruption
of its process through
delinquency, deviance and
conflicts.
Human ecology pursues studies that
relate human behavior to existing
social institutions. This is different from
social psychology and social
organization in that the social
institutions in which human subjects
belong to are treated in the context
of an ecological environmental
element that defines human
behavior.
Population or demography inquiries on
the interrelationship between population
characteristics and dynamics which that
of a political, economic and social
system.

Applied sociology uses sociological

research and methods to solve
contemporary problems. It often uses an
interdisciplinary approach to better
address social problems.
Methods in Sociology
There are two primary methodological
perspective in Sociology; Positivist and the
Anti Positivist.

Positivist orientation- perceives society as a

quantifiable subject from which objective
conclusions can be made.

• Uses methods employed by the natural

sciences to understand social phenomenon.
• Auguste Compte who introduced this
perspective taking into consideration
that society is like an organism that could
be measured through logic and
mathematics.
• This orientation is predisposed to
statistical analysis, quantitative methods
such as survey are employed by
Sociologists to map a social
phenomenon.
• This type of orientation allows for a
macro level analysis of society
Example of a work that uses positivism by
Durkheim (1951) he identified four types of
suicide that are triggered by the type of society
that one is having in.
Norm
Many Rules
Fatalistic

Left
Integration Right
Weak Ties Strong Ties
Egoistic Altruistic

No Rules
Anomic

Durkheim schema on suicide

According to Durkheim
(1951) individuals who fall
into the extreme of their
society are bound to
commit suicide. For
example a person who
lives in a society that
promotes strong ties
among its members is
prone to commit altruistic
suicide as an act of
preserving it.
Being part of societies that do
not faster strong ties among its
members can trigger an
individual to commit Egoistic
suicide wherein the individual
feels isolated having no sense of
a community.
Third type of suicide is Anomic l,
which results from living in a society
with na rules. This context propels an
individuals to commit suicide as he
or she experiences moral and
existential crisis based on the
unavailability of guiding principles
through which life can be lived.
Finally, there is Fatalistic suicide....
This type of suicide is due to
overregulation in society. Under the
overregulation of a society, when a
servant or slave commits suicide,
when a barren woman commits
suicide, it is the example of fatalistic
suicide.
Coming from a Positivist orientation.
Durkheim argues that suicide can be
prevented, as it is not a matter of
personal choice but it actually a
product of social realities which can
be altered to counter its effect. This
schema or suicide can be applied in
understanding all kinds of society,
hence the macro level theorizing that
positivism can only provide.
Alternately, the Anti Positivism orientation
promotes a subjective approach wherein
social phenomena are understood
through individual experiences.
• It counters the positivist assumption that
general laws can made to understand
human behavior.
• Requires quantitative methods in
gathering data such as interviews,
participant observations, and other tools
of ethnography.
The work on suicide by Pearson and Lui
(2011) presents the suicide of a village
woman in China named Ling. Using
ethnographic process. Pearson and Lui
concluded that the typical western
orientation toward suicide, which focuses
on depression and other mental health
related factors, are not in the same
operation among rural Chinese women, as
their suicide act is triggered by social and
economic structural conditions.
Unlike the work of Durkheim that
has a potential for general
application in understanding
suicide phenomena across
geographic regions, the work of
Pearson and Lui remains to be
applicable to the case within the
micro level of analysis.
Value of Sociology for the 21st
Century

Sociology was established as time

when society was changing
drastically due to technological and
political developments.

Contemporary society is constantly

facing reality altering development as
fraught about by climate change.
Sociology finds its value in providing a
conceptual tool in understanding the
plight of human as they adapt to their
varying environment and social
conditions.

Through scientific analyses of social

phenomena, sociology provides policy
makers with concrete bases fr decision
that affect human population and alter
their social landscape.
 BIG IDEA
Society is in a constant
process of change
One of the pressing sociological issues
in the Philippine is the case of
unemployment youth who are in the
process of waithhood. These youth are
called Tambay.

Clarence Batan, a sociologist studying

the youth, conducted a sociological
study of Tambay in a marginalized
town of Talien in the province of Rizal.
• He found out that most of the
youth have employment
aspiration, due to their
marginalized.
• Ge further argued that such
experiences perpetuate a web of
crises that promote
intergenerational poverty and
marginalization.
Quiz
 1. It is the scientific study of society, including
pattern of social relationship, social interaction, and
culture.
 2. He was the one to coined the term sociology in
1940 to refer to a scientific inquiry that covers
human social activities.
 3. He coined the phrases "sociological imagination"
to refer to the ability of sociologist to understand
society systematically.
 4. It can be defined as a product of human
interaction as human subscribe to the rules of their
culture.
 5. It is more merely declined by an actual physical
subtract , as it covers every human interchange that
 6. A basic unit of an organization. It involves at least
two individuals who are in constant interaction based
on their statuses and roles.
 7. Are the building blocks of society, as it is through
these that norms are produced from the consistent
exchanges of individuals and groups.
 8. This is the foundation of every society from which
emonates the possible roles, statutes, institutions, and
organization.
 9. Perceives society as a quantifiable subject from
which objective conclusions can be made.
 10. promotes a subjective approach wherein social
phenomena are understood through individual
experiences.
Identification
11.-15.
Examples of institution
16.-17.
Methods in Sociology
18.-20.
Subdisciplines of Sociology