AIOU Solved Assignments 2019
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Here is the solved assignments of 4681 the subject name is Introduction to Sociology. As from name it is clear that it is all about the basic of sociology in which there is background of sociology why we need it why it is necessary to study it and some basics of culture and society. it is an easy subject to take a start it is a M.Sc Sociology 1 Samester subject.if you have any problem in understanding or wants notes of this subject contact us on Facebook.Click here
AIOU
MSc Sociology
Introduction To Sociology: Culture And Society(4681)
Introduction To Sociology: Culture And Society(4681)
Assignment No#2 (Unit 5-9)
Question #1
What is Socialization? Discuss in detail the different influence that involves in the process of socialization?
Socialization: -
In sociology, socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained".
Human infants are born without any culture. They must be transformed by their parents, teachers, and others into cultural and socially adept animals. The general process of acquiring culture is referred to as socialization
Socialization is strongly connected to developmental psychology. Humans need social experiences to learn about their culture and to survive.
Socialization essentially represents the whole process of learning throughout the life course and is a central influence on the behavior, beliefs, and actions of adults as well as of children.
Socialization may lead to desirable outcomes—sometimes labeled "moral"—as regards the society where it occurs. Individual views are influenced by society's consensus and usually, tend toward what that society finds acceptable or "normal". Socialization provides only a partial explanation for human beliefs and behaviors, maintaining that agents are not blank slates predetermined by their environment; scientific research provides evidence that people are shaped by both social influences and genes.
The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept, created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902, stating that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping themselves based on other people’s perception, which leads people to reinforce other people’s perspectives on themselves. People shape themselves based on what other people perceive and confirm other people’s opinion on themselves.
George Herbert Mead developed a theory of social behaviorism to explain how social experience develops an individual’s personality. Mead’s central concept is the self: the part of an individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image. Mead claimed that the self is not there at birth, rather, it is developed with social experience.
Process Of Socialization: -
Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth. Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial socialization. It is then that we acquire language and learn the fundamentals of our culture. It is also when much of our personality takes shape. However, we continue to be socialized throughout our lives. As we age, we enter new statuses and need to learn the appropriate roles for them. We also have experiences that teach us lessons and potentially lead us to alter our expectations, beliefs, and personality. For instance, the experience of being raped is likely to cause a woman to be distrustful of others.
A number of factors influence the socialization are as following:-
1. Family:
The family plays a very important role in the socialization of the child. In the beginning, the parents are the family for the child, because he depends on them for various things. After the parent's mention may be made of sisters, brothers, uncle, aunt, grandparents, and servants etc.
The child learns many things from them relating to social behavior. The adult members of the family must see that their behaviors are within reasonable control in order that children may not learn anything undesirable through imitating them.
The parents owe a special responsibility in this respect, because the child’s socialization begins first on the basis of parental behavior. The child learns many of his habits from parents. If the child has become problematic the responsibility is definitely of the parents from whom he has copied certain modes of behavior.
That is why it is said that it is not the children who are problematic. In fact, it is the parents who are problematic. Through his behavior, the child represents the personality of his parents. Hence the parents must place good examples before children.
The parents must evince control, stability and appropriateness in their behavior. Parents must see that their behavior in relation to children is according to the situation in hand. Too much pampering will spoil them and they will drift away from realities of life. This situation will affect their socialization adversely.
2. Mutual relation between parents:
There is a close link between the development of the child and the parents’ mutual relationship which may be of four types:—(1) The mother loves the father, but the father does not love her, (2) The father loves the mother but the mother does not love the father, (3) None of them love each other, and (4) There is intense love between them.
All these four situations influence the socialization of the child. The first three situations are unfavorable for socialization because they impair the child’s adjustment. Then, there is no stability and control in the child’s behavior, because he does not find the same in parents. When the life of parents is happy, they are able to take due care of the child and his socialization goes on smoothly.
3. Entry into a new family:
Some children have to go from one family to another. This may happen when a child is adopted by some issueless parents. Some women come to new houses with children from previous husbands.
This situation, too, is not favorable for good socialization. When the child is of only 2 or 3 years of age, he does not remember anything. Then he does not face many difficulties in his adjustment. But if he becomes of 7 or 8 years he may confront a difficult situation.
In a new family, his socialization will depend upon how others in the family behave with him. Indifference or too much fondling both will obstruct his normal socialization.
4. The relation with other members of the family:
After the parents, the child comes into contact with other members of the family. If there are only 2 or 3 small children in the family, the socialization of the child will take a particular shape. If there are old grand-parents and uncles and aunts, the socialization of the child will be of a different type.
The child learns the virtues of co-operation, self-sacrifice, love, sympathy, religiosity, feeling for rendering service to others, competition, bravery, and other social traits through contacts with other grown-up members of the family, the socialization of the child proceeds on a very flow pace. Then the child may pick up some unsocial traits. These un-social elements may disappear gradually when the child starts going to school.
5. The impact of sisters and brothers:
Sisters arid” brothers influence immensely the socialization of the child. It is from the sisters and brothers that the child learns how to behave with youngsters and elders. If the child happens to be the only child in the family, his socialization takes a particular form.
Then the child may develop selfishness and obstinacy in him. Members of the family usually pay special attention to the only child. They try to meet all his demands. Each movement of the child, then, is regarded as something very unique.
As a result, the child becomes very proud of himself and conscious of himself as superior-most. This feeling in him promotes many un-social traits in him. Consequently, he may lack such good social traits as co-operation, self-sacrifice, sympathy, and feeling of; service for others.
Accordingly, it is not difficult to infer about many other traits of an only child. However, this does not mean that an only child is sure to be spoiled. Many only children have succeeded in placing great ideals of life before others. But in the beginning, it is very likely that they may develop some bad social traits.
Socialization is also affected by the chronological position of the child amongst sisters and brothers. The eldest, the middle and the youngest are closely related to a certain type of socialization. The eldest one becomes prone to rule over other children. He usually issues commands to younger sisters and brothers.
The middle child nurtures a feeling of rivalry both against the eldest and youngest. Because of this position, the socialization of the eldest, middle and youngest child proceeds in different ways. Similarly, the socialization of single brother amongst many sisters and of a single sister amidst many brothers goes on in varying ways which can never be regarded as desirable.
Such children usually become spoiled. So our behavior with each child should be very psychological. Only then their socialization will proceed in a desirable manner.
6. The social and economic status:
The social and economic status influences the process of socialization. All like to meet children belonging to good social and economic status. Such children generally get ample opportunities to meet with various types of people.
Hence their socialization goes on at a good speed. Quite contrary to this, people do not welcome meeting children of low or bad economic and social status. Such children do not enjoy occasions to meet with various types of people. So their socialization takes a different turn. Such children may also develop an inferiority complex.
7. Neighbors and companions:
Neighbors and companions play an important role in socialization. Before starting going to school, the child spends much of his time with neighbors and companions. Even after his admission to a school, he maintains his contact with his neighbors and companions.
If the neighbors and companions are good the child forms good habits, otherwise, he goes astray and picks up undesirable modes of behavior that is why liquor shops and other bad places are regarded as vicious and the children are advised not to frequent them.
Bad companions mold the child towards bad habits. Needless to add that we have to see that the child does not associate himself with bad neighbors and depraved companions
8. Social anxiety:
All children like to behave in such a manner as to elicit praise from others. From the age of 12 to 22 or 23 years (i.e. during adolescence), he is very much keen to have the approval of his conduct from others.
It is so because now he has developed greater social consciousness. Adolescents are very much afraid of others’ adverse criticism and punishments from his elders in the family. No corporal punishment should be given to adolescents.
In very trying situations, at worst, they may be scolded. If needful, some of the conveniences given to them may be withdrawn. The adolescent undergoes anxiety for showing desirable behavior.
The more one has this type of social anxiety, the more he tries to seek praise from others. Thus this type of social anxiety works as a good motivation for desirable socialization.
10. The caste or class level:
Socialization of the child is influenced by the caste or class he belongs to. The child from a majority group may consider himself superior to that from a minority community. Similarly, in Hindus a child from a so-called high caste regards himself as superior to that from a caste which in his opinion is lower.
The children from lower castes consider themselves inferior to those from higher strata of society. For example, in U.S.A. the Negro children regard themselves inferior to white ones.
In each country there are many children who consider themselves inferior or superior to others because of their caste or class level. This feeling may create an imbalance in their behavior, and accordingly, their socialization is also affected.
11. The school:
The school is of vital importance in the socialization of the child for the first four or five years, the child learns various things in his family. Thus he is already socialized up to some extent before he starts going to school.
In the school the child confronts a new society. He comes to know about many things. All of us feel very much surprised to note how a young child of 5 or 6 years of age has picked up so many things in the school within a few weeks.
In a way, his whole personality is revolutionized. In the school the child realizes that he is only one unity of the group and like him there are several other units. This feeling brings in many changes in his behavior.
Now in place of his ‘self he is diverted to other children of the school. The child begins to feel that other children, too, must be having several needs and aspirations like him. Now he has to learn new methods of adjustment in the environment the teacher plays a very important role through his behavior in an ideal manner.
Thus within the school environment the child adopts many social elements. As a result, his socialization proceeds further. Now the child appears to be more social than before. He appears to be more tolerant and balanced.
The socialization in the school will depend upon the nature of the school and the teachers’ and other children’s behaviors. So we all should try to send our children to good schools.
12. Culture:
Socialization of the child is deeply related with culture. That is why differences are perceptible in the personalities and forms of socialization in children nurtured in varying cultures.
The culture of a high family is likely to be higher than that of a lower-class family. Therefore, differences are found in the nature of socialization in children coming from higher and lower families.
Question # 2
Explain the system of stratification. Elaborate on how deviance is functional for any society?
System of Stratification: -
The division of people into levels according to power, wealth, and prestige.
Slavery:
The most closed system is slavery, or the ownership of people, which has been quite common in human history (Ennals, 2007). Slavery is thought to have begun 10,000 years ago, after agricultural societies developed, as people in these societies made prisoners of war work on their farms. Many of the ancient lands of the Middle East, including Babylonia, Egypt, and Persia, also owned slaves, as did ancient China and India. Slavery especially flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, which used thousands of slaves for their trade economies. Most slaves in ancient times were prisoners of war or debtors. As trade died down during the Middle Ages, so did slavery.
But once Europeans began exploring the Western Hemisphere in the 1500s, slavery regained its popularity. Portuguese and Spanish colonists who settled in Brazil and the Caribbean islands made slaves of thousands of Indians already living there. After most of them died from disease and abuse, the Portuguese and Spaniards began bringing slaves from Africa. In the next century, the English, the French, and other Europeans also began bringing African slaves into the Western Hemisphere, and by the 1800s they had captured and shipped to the New World some 10–12 million Africans, almost 2 million of whom died along the way (Thornton, 1998).
The United States, of course, is all too familiar with slavery, which remains perhaps the most deplorable experience in American history and continues to have repercussions for African Americans and the rest of American society. It increasingly divided the new nation after it won its independence from Britain and helped lead to the Civil War eight decades later. The cruel treatment of slaves was captured in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic but controversial book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which ignited passions on both sides of the slavery debate.
Slavery still exists in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America, with some estimates putting the number of slaves in the tens of millions. Today’s slaves include (a) men first taken as prisoners of war in ethnic conflicts; (b) girls and women captured in wartime or kidnapped from their neighborhoods and used as prostitutes or sex slaves; (c) children sold by their parents to become child laborers; and (d) workers paying off debts who are abused and even tortured and too terrified to leave (Bales, 2007; Batstone, 2007).
Estate Systems
Estate systems are characterized by control of land and were common in Europe and Asia during the Middle Ages and into the 1800s. In these systems, two major estates existed: the landed gentry or nobility and the peasantry or serfs. The landed gentry owned huge expanses of land on which serfs toiled. The serfs had more freedom than slaves had but typically lived in poverty and were subject to arbitrary control by the nobility (Kerbo, 2009).
Estate systems thrived in Europe until the French Revolution in 1789 violently overturned the existing order and inspired people in other nations with its cries for freedom and equality. As time went on, European estate systems slowly gave way to class systems of stratification (discussed a little later). After the American colonies won their independence from Britain, the South had at least one characteristic of an estate system, the control of large plots of land by a relatively few wealthy individuals and their families, but it used slaves rather than serfs to work the land.
Much of Asia, especially China and Japan, also had estate systems. For centuries, China’s large population lived as peasants in abject conditions and frequently engaged in peasant uprisings. These escalated starting in the 1850s after the Chinese government raised taxes and charged peasants higher rents for the land on which they worked. After many more decades of political and economic strife, Communists took control of China in 1949 (DeFronzo, 2007).
Caste Systems:
In a caste system, people are born into unequal groups based on their parents’ status and remain in these groups for the rest of their lives. For many years, the best-known caste system was in India, where, supported by Hindu beliefs emphasizing the acceptance of one’s fate in life, several major castes dictated one’s life chances from the moment of birth, especially in rural areas (Kerbo, 2009). People born in the lower castes lived in abject poverty throughout their lives. Another caste, the harijan, or untouchables, was considered so low that technically it was not thought to be a caste at all. People in this caste were called the untouchables because they were considered unclean and were prohibited from coming near to people in the higher castes. Traditionally, caste membership in India almost totally determined an individual’s life, including what job you had and whom you married; for example, it was almost impossible to marry someone in another caste. After India won its independence from Britain in 1949, its new constitution granted equal rights to the untouchables. Modern communication and migration into cities further weakened the caste system, as members of different castes now had more contact with each other. Still, caste prejudice remains a problem in India and illustrates the continuing influence of its traditional system of social stratification.
A country that used to have a caste system is South Africa. In the days of apartheid, from 1950 to 1990, a small group of white Afrikaners ruled the country. Black people constituted more than three-quarters of the nation’s population and thus greatly outnumbered Afrikaners, but they had the worst jobs, could not vote, and lived in poor, segregated neighborhoods. Afrikaners bolstered their rule with the aid of the South African police, which used terror tactics to intimidate blacks (I. Berger, 2009).
Class Systems:
Many societies, including all industrial ones, have class systems. In this system of stratification, a person is born into a social ranking but can move up or down from it much more easily than in caste systems or slave societies. This movement in either direction is primarily the result of a person’s own effort, knowledge, and skills or lack of them. Although these qualities do not aid upward movement in caste or slave societies, they often do enable upward movement in class societies. Of the three systems of stratification discussed so far, class systems are by far the most open, meaning they have the most vertical mobility. We will look later at social class in the United States and discuss the extent of vertical mobility in American society.
Sociologist Max Weber, whose work on organizations and bureaucracies had much to say about class systems of stratification. Such systems, he wrote, are based on three dimensions of stratification: class (which we will call wealth), power, and prestige. Wealth is the total value of an individual or family, including income, stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets; power is the ability to influence others to do your bidding, even if they do not want to; and prestige refers to the status and esteem people hold in the eyes of others.
In discussing these three dimensions, Weber disagreed somewhat with Karl Marx, who said our ranking in society depends on whether we own the means of production. Marx thus felt that the primary dimension of stratification in class systems was economic. Weber readily acknowledged the importance of this economic dimension but thought power and prestige also matter. He further said that although wealth, power, and prestige usually go hand-in-hand, they do not always overlap. For example, although the head of a major corporation has a good deal of wealth, power, and prestige, we can think of many other people who are high on one dimension but not on the other two. A professional athlete who makes millions of dollars a year has little power in the political sense that Weber meant it. An organized crime leader might also be very wealthy but have little prestige outside the criminal underworld. Conversely, a scientist or professor may enjoy much prestige but not be very wealthy.
The Functionalist Perspective on Deviance:
Functionalism claims that deviance help to create social stability by presenting explanations of non-normative and normative behaviors.
In sociology, deviance describes an action or behavior that violates social norms, including a formally enacted rule (e.g., crime, Will Thomas),[1] as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). Deviance is a behavioral disposition that is not in conformity with an institutionalized set-up or code of conduct. Although deviance may have a negative connotation, the violation of social norms is not always a negative action; positive deviation exists in some situations. Although a norm is violated, a behavior can still be classified as positive or acceptable.
Social norms differ from culture to culture. A deviant act can be committed in one society but may be normal for another society. Perception of deviance alters over time, as the notion of what is a social norm often changes.
Deviance is relative to the place where it was committed or to the time the act took place. Killing another human is generally considered wrong for example, except when governments permit it during warfare or for self-defense. There are two types of major deviant actions, mala in se and mala prohibita.
Social strain theory was developed by famed American sociologist Robert K. Merton. The theory states that social structures may pressure citizens to commit crimes. A strain may be structural, which refers to the processes at the societal level that filter down and affect how the individual perceives his or her needs. Strain may also be individual, which refers to the frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy individual needs. These types of strain can insinuate social structures within society that then pressure citizens to become criminals.
Social Strain Theory: Five types of deviance.
In his discussion of deviance, Merton proposed a typology of deviant behavior that illustrated the possible discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means available to achieve these goals. A typology is a classification scheme designed to facilitate understanding. In this case, Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two criteria: (1) a person’s motivations or his adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person’s belief in how to attain his goals. According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these criteria:
- Conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals.
- Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals. For example, a member of the Mafia values wealth but employs alternative means of attaining his wealth; in this example, the Mafia member’s means would be deviant.
- Ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means for achieving the goals.
- Retreatism involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of achieving those goals.
- Rebellion is a special case wherein the individual rejects both the cultural goals and traditional means of achieving them but actively attempts to replace both elements of the society with different goals and means.
What makes Merton’s typology so fascinating is that people can turn to deviance in the pursuit of widely accepted social values and goals. For instance, individuals in the U.S. who sell illegal drugs have rejected the culturally acceptable means of making money, but still, share the widely accepted cultural value in the U.S. of making money. Thus, deviance can be the result of accepting one norm but breaking another in order to pursue the first. In this sense, according social strain theory, social values actually produce deviance in two ways. First, an actor can reject social values and therefore become deviant. Additionally, an actor can accept social values but use deviant means to realize them.
Critics point to the fact that there is an ample amount of crime/delinquent behavior that is “non-utilitarian, malicious, and negativistic” (O’Grady, 2011), which highlights that not all crimes are explicable using Merton’s theory. Crimes such as vandalism, for example, can’t be explained by a need for material acquisition.
How do you interpret social mobility? Discuss in detail the types of social mobility with an example of Pakistan.
Social mobility:-
Social Mobility refers to the ability to change positions within a social stratification system. When people improve or diminish their economic status in a way that affects social class, they experience social mobility.
Individuals can experience upward or downward social mobility for a variety of reasons. Upward mobility refers to an increase—or upward shift—in social class. In the United States, people applaud the rags-to-riches achievements of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez or Michael Jordan. Bestselling author Stephen King worked as a janitor prior to being published. Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi before becoming a powerful media personality. There are many stories of people rising from modest beginnings to fame and fortune. But the truth is that relative to the overall population, the number of people who rise from poverty to wealth is very small. Still, upward mobility is not only about becoming rich and famous. In the United States, people who earn a college degree, get a job promotion or marry someone with a good income may move up socially. In contrast, downward mobility indicates a lowering of one’s social class. Some people move downward because of business setbacks, unemployment, or illness. Dropping out of school, losing a job, or getting a divorce may result in a loss of income or status and, therefore, downward social mobility.
It is not uncommon for different generations of a family to belong to varying social classes. This is known as intergenerational mobility. For example, an upper-class executive may have parents who belonged to the middle class. In turn, those parents may have been raised in the lower class. Patterns of intergenerational mobility can reflect long-term societal changes.
Similarly, intragenerational mobility describes a difference in a social class between different members of the same generation. For example, the wealth and prestige experienced by one person may be quite different from that of his or her siblings.
Forms Of Vertical Social Mobility:
The vertical mobility can take place in two ways - individuals and groups may improve their position in the hierarchy by moving upwards or their position might worsen and they may fall down the hierarchy. When individuals get into seats of political position; acquire money and exert influence over others because of the new status they are said to have achieved individual mobility. Like individuals even groups also attain high social mobility. When a Dalit from a village becomes an important official it is a case of upward mobility. On the other hand an aristocrat or a member of an upper class may be dispossessed of his wealth and he is forced to enter a manual occupation. This is an example of downward mobility.
Inter-Generational Social Mobility:
Time factor is an important element in social mobility. On the basis of the time factor involved in social mobility there is another type of inter-generational mobility. It is a change in status from that which a child began within the parents, household to that of the child upon reaching adulthood. It refers to a change in the status of family members from one generation to the next. For example a farmer's son becoming an officer. It is important because the amount of this mobility in a society tells us to what extent inequalities are passed on from one generation to the next. If there is very little inter-generational mobility, Inequality is clearly deeply built into the society for people' life chances are being determined at the moment of birth. When there is a mobility people are clearly able to achieve new statuses through their own efforts, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.
Intra-Generational Mobility:
Mobility taking place in personal terms within the lifespan of the same person is called intra-generational mobility. It refers to the advancement in one's social level during the course of one's lifetime. It may also be understood as a change in social status that occurs within a person's adult career. For example, a person working as a supervisor in a factory becoming its assistant manager after getting a promotion.
Structural mobility:
Structural mobility is a kind of vertical mobility. Structural mobility refers to mobility that is brought about by changes in stratification hierarchy itself. It is a vertical movement of a specific group, class or occupation relative to others in the stratification system. It is a type of forced mobility for it takes place because of the structural changes and not because of individual attempts. For example historical circumstances or labor market changes may lead to the rise of decline of an occupational group within the social hierarchy. An influx of immigrants may also alter class alignments -especially if the new arrivals are disproportionately highly skilled or unskilled.
Individual mobility :
Individual mobility is a micro view of social mobility. Individual characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, level of education, skills, determination, occupation, place of residence and health determine individual mobility. Opportunity for individual mobility can be restricted by several factors. For example women, certain ethnic groups or disabled person, opportunities for upward mobility are limited.
Absolute Mobility :
Absolute mobility measures whether and by how much living standards in society have increased or decreased, often measured by what percentage of people have higher or lower income or social well being than their parents. The more the absolute mobility the better of the population is than their parents.
Relative Mobility :
Relative mobility refers to the fluidity of a society where if one person moves up in relative terms another by definition must have moved down i.e it is zero sum proposition. In contrast, absolute mobility is a zero sum game.
Questioned no# 4
Write notes on following:
1.Social group and organizations
2.Inequality by age and gender
Social group and organizations: -
A social group is two or more humans who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a collective sense of unity. This is a very broad definition, as it includes groups of all sizes, from dyads to whole societies. A society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller. Society can also be viewed as people who interact with one another, sharing similarities pertaining to culture and territorial boundaries.
A social group exhibits some degree of social cohesion and is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop or people waiting in a line. Characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests, values, representations, ethnic or social background, and kinship ties. One way of determining if a collection of people can be considered a group is if individuals who belong to that collection use the self-referent pronoun “we;” using “we” to refer to a collection of people often implies that the collection thinks of itself as a group. Examples of groups include families, companies, circles of friends, clubs, local chapters of fraternities and sororities, and local religious congregations.
Renowned social psychologist Muzafer Sherif formulated a technical definition of a social group. It is a social unit consisting of a number of individuals interacting with each other with respect to:
- common motives and goals;
- an accepted division of labor;
- established status relationships;
- accepted norms and values with reference to matters relevant to the group; and
- the development of accepted sanctions, such as raise and punishment, when norms were respected or violated.
Explicitly contrasted with a social cohesion-based definition for social groups is the social identity perspective, which draws on insights made in social identity theory. The social identity approach posits that the necessary and sufficient conditions for the formation of social groups is “awareness of a common category membership” and that a social group can be “usefully conceptualized as a number of individuals who have internalized the same social category membership as a component of their self concept. ” Stated otherwise, while the social cohesion approach expects group members to ask “who am I attracted to? ” the social identity perspective expects group members to simply ask “who am I? ”
Types Of Groups:-
Primary Groups
A primary group is typically a small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships.
Sociologists distinguish between two types of groups based upon their characteristics. A primary group is typically a small social group whose members share close, personal, enduring relationships. These groups are marked by concern for one another, shared activities and culture, and long periods of time spent together. The goal of primary groups is actually the relationships themselves rather than achieving some other purpose. Families and close friends are examples of primary groups.
- Close friends: They are examples of primary groups.
Charles Cooley
The concept of the primary group was introduced by Charles Cooley, a sociologist from the Chicago School of sociology, in his book Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind (1909). Primary groups play an important role in the development of personal identity. Cooley argued that the impact of the primary group is so great that individuals cling to primary ideals in more complex associations and even create new primary groupings within formal organizations. To that extent, he viewed society as a constant experiment in enlarging social experience and in coordinating variety. He, therefore, analyzed the operation of such complex social forms as formal institutions and social class systems and the subtle controls of public opinion.
Functions of Primary Groups
A primary group is a group in which one exchanges implicit items, such as love, caring, concern, support, etc. Examples of these would be family groups, love relationships, crisis support groups, and church groups. Relationships formed in primary groups are often long lasting and goals in themselves. They also are often psychologically comforting to the individuals involved and provide a source of support and encouragement.
Charles Cooley: The concept of the primary group was introduced by Charles Cooley, a sociologist from the Chicago School of sociology, in his book, “Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind” (1909).
Secondary Groups
Secondary groups are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal oriented; their relationships are temporary.
Unlike first groups, secondary groups are large groups whose relationships are impersonal and goal oriented. People in a secondary group interact on a less personal level than in a primary group, and their relationships are generally temporary rather than long lasting. Some secondary groups may last for many years, though most are short term. Such groups also begin and end with very little significance in the lives of the people involved.
Secondary relationships involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another. In contrast to primary groups, secondary groups don’t have the goal of maintaining and developing the relationships themselves.
Since secondary groups are established to perform functions, people’s roles are more interchangeable. A secondary group is one you have chosen to be a part of. They are based on interests and activities. They are where many people can meet close friends or people they would just call acquaintances. Secondary groups are also groups in which one exchanges explicit commodities, such as labor for wages, services for payments, etc. Examples of these would be employment, vendor-to-client relationships, a doctor, a mechanic, an accountant, and such. A university class, an athletic team, and workers in an office all likely form secondary groups. Primary groups can form within secondary groups as relationships become more personal and close.
Doctors as Secondary Groups: The doctor-patient relationship is another example of secondary groups.
In-Groups and Out-Groups
In-groups are social groups to which an individual feels he or she belongs, while an individual doesn’t identify with the out-group.
In sociology and social psychology, in-groups and out-groups are social groups to which an individual feels as though he or she belongs as a member, or towards which they feel contempt, opposition, or a desire to compete, respectively. People tend to hold positive attitudes towards members of their own groups, a phenomenon known as in-group bias. The term originates from social identity theory which grew out of the work of social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner.
In-group favoritism refers to a preference and affinity for one’s in-group over the out-group or anyone viewed as outside the in-group. This can be expressed in evaluation of others, linking, allocation of resources, and many other ways. A key notion in understanding in-group/out-group biases is determining the psychological mechanism that drives the bias. One of the key determinants of group biases is the need to improve self-esteem. That is individuals will find a reason, no matter how insignificant, to prove to themselves why their group is superior.
The out-group homogeneity effect is one’s perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members, e.g. “they are alike; we are diverse. ” The out-group homogeneity effect has been found using a wide variety of different social groups, from political and racial groups to age and gender groups. Perceivers tend to have impressions about the diversity or variability of group members around those central tendencies or typical attributes of those group members. Thus, out-group stereotypicality judgments are overestimated, supporting the view that out-group stereotypes are over-generalizations In an experiment testing out-group homogeneity, researchers revealed that people of other races are perceived to look more alike than members of one’s own race. When white students were shown faces of a few white and a few black individuals, they later more accurately recognized white faces they had seen and often falsely recognized black faces not seen before. The opposite results were found when subjects consisted of black individuals.
Reference Groups
Sociologists call any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior a reference group.
Social comparison theory is centered on the belief that there is a drive within individuals to gain accurate self-evaluations. Individuals evaluate their own opinions and define the self by comparing themselves to others. One important concept in this theory is the reference group. A reference group refers to a group to which an individual or another group is compared. Sociologists call any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior a reference group.
Reference groups are used in order to evaluate and determine the nature of a given individual or other group’s characteristics and sociological attributes. It is the group to which the individual relates or aspires to relate himself or herself psychologically. Reference groups become the individual’s frame of reference and source for ordering his or her experiences, perceptions, cognition, and ideas of self. It is important for determining a person’s self-identity, attitudes, and social ties. These groups become the basis of reference in making comparisons or contrasts and in evaluating one’s appearance and performance.
In sociology, a social organization is a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and social groups.
Characteristics of social organization can include qualities such as sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, structure, division of labor, communication systems, and so on. And because of these characteristics of social organization, people can monitor their everyday work and involvement in other activities that are controlled forms of human interaction. These interactions include: affiliation, collective resources, substitutability of individuals and recorded control. These interactions come together to constitute common features in basic social units such as family, enterprises, clubs, states, etc. These are social organizations.
Social organizations happen in everyday life. Many people belong to various social structures—institutional and informal. These include clubs, professional organizations, and religious institutions. To have a sense of identity with the social organization, being closer to one another helps build a sense of community. While organizations link many like-minded people, it is also cause a separation with others not in their organization due to the differences in thought. Social organizations are structured to where there is a hierarchical system. A hierarchical structure in social groups influences the way a group is structured and how likely it is that the group remains together.
A big social organization that everyone knows about is a hospital. Within the hospital are small social organization—for example, the nursing staff and the surgery team. These smaller organizations work closer together to accomplish more for their area, which in turn makes the hospital more successful and long lasting. As a whole, the hospital contains all the characteristics of being a social organization. In a hospital, there are various relationships between all of the members of the staff and also with the patients. This is a main reason that a hospital is a social organization. There is also division of labor, structure, cohesiveness, and communication systems. To operate to the utmost effectiveness, a hospital needs to contain all of the characteristics of a social organization because that is what makes it strong. Without one of these things, it would be difficult for this organization to run.
Inequality By age And Gender:-
In sociology, age stratification refers to the hierarchical ranking of people into age groups within a society. Age stratification could also be defined as a system of inequalities linked to age. In Western societies, for example, both the old and the young are perceived and treated as relatively incompetent and excluded from much social life. Age stratification based on an ascribed status is a major source inequality and thus may lead to ageism. Ageism is a social inequality resulting from age stratification. This is a sociological concept that comes with studying aging population. Age stratification within a population can have major implications, affecting things such as workforce trends, social norms, family structures, government policies, and even health outcomes.
At the core of the sociological analysis of gender is the distinction between biological sex and gender: sex is a property of the biological characteristics of an organism; gender is socially constructed, socially created. This is a powerful and totally revolutionary idea: we have the potential capacity to change the social relations in which we live, including the social relations between biologically defined men and women. Sometimes in the media, one hears a discussion in which someone talks about the gender of a dog.
. Gender Inequality 2 sociological use of the term, dogs don’t have gender; only people living within socially constructed relations are gendered.1 This distinction raises a fundamental question in sociological theory about what it means to say that something is “natural”. Gender relations are generally experienced as “natural” rather than as something created by cultural and social processes. Throughout most of history for most people, the roles performed by men and women seem to be derived from inherent biological properties. After all, it is a biological fact that women get pregnant and give birth to babies and have the capacities to breastfeed them. Men cannot do this. It is biological fact that all women know that they are the mothers of the babies they bear, whereas men know that they are the fathers of particular children only when they have confidence that they know the sexual behavior of the mother. It is a small step from these biological facts to the view that it is also a fact of nature that women are best suited to have primary responsibility for rearing children as well, and because of this, they should be responsible for other domestic chores.
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