Ethnocentrism
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Ethnocentrism[/SIZE][/B]


[B]The term ethnocentrism then refers to the tendency for each society to place its own culture patterns at the centre of things. [/B]

[B]Ethnocentrism is the practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one's own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior. [/B]

It makes our culture into a yardstick with which to measure all other cultures as good or bad, high or low, right or queer in proportion as they resemble ours.

[B]Everyone learns ethnocentrism while growing up. [/B]
The possessiveness of the small child quickly translates "into my toys are better than your toys"

History for example, is often taught to glorify the achievements of one's own nation, and religious, civic and other groups disparage their competitors openly.

Ethnocentrism is a universal human reaction found in all known societies, in all groups and in practically all individuals.


[B]The functions of ethnocentrism in maintaining order are more apparent than those which promote social change. [/B]



[B][SIZE="3"]Positive Effects of Ethnocentrism[/SIZE][/B]

1.It encourages social solidarity in groups and in society by which the forces of co-operation become stronger.

2.It provides protection to group members by, creating sense of belonging among them, specially those Members who are weak, poor,hopeless.

3.It promotes nationalism and patriotism among the members of society.

4.Caste, Biradri and consanguine groups develop by it in which marriage and other social relations are facilitated.


[B][SIZE="3"]Negative Effects of Ethnocentrism[/SIZE][/B]

1.It creates tight boundaries among various social groups.

2.The inter-group relations are hampered due to prejudice against another.

3.The process of social relations among various groups gets slower.

4.The prejudice created by it creates conflict and tension among many groups.

5.The social forces of cooperation face problems in their operation.

6.It limits an individual in a small social group to which he belongs and is not influenced by the general social changes happening around him in the society.

7.He remains backward in a sense by this way and adopts little changes.

8.The national development in general is slowed down in such cultures when ethnocentrism is emphasized in books, newspapers,radio and television.

Positively, ethnocentrism promotes continuance of the status quo negatively, it discourages change.


[B]CONCLUSION:[/B]

Although we typically think of ethnocentrism as something that is very bad, it can at least arguably have some good consequences for group life.
Ethnocentrism is generally seen as a bad thing because it leads to prejudice and hatred of other groups.
Ethnocentrism is the belief that our own ethnic group is different from, and in some way superior to, other ethnic groups.
This can lead us to actively despise other groups and, at times, to try to harm them.
Thus, we can say that ethnocentrism led to such atrocities as the Holocaust or, on a lower level, to things like apartheid in South Africa or slavery in the United States.
However, we can at least argue that ethnocentrism can have a good side.
In general, it can be hard for modern societies to stick together and for people in such societies to feel much of a connection with one another.
When this happens, there can be problems such as crime or civil discord.
Ethnocentrism can help to prevent this.
If people have the attitude that their group is better than others, it can give them a sense of identity that binds them to one another.
In that way, ethnocentrism can lead to greater cohesion within a group.

Social and Cultural Change
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Social and Cultural Change[/SIZE][/B]


[B][SIZE="3"]Cultural change:[/SIZE][/B]

Cultural change means change occurring in any branch of culture including art, science,technology,philosophy etc as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organization.

First there is cultural change which becomes social change in social life.


[B]There are three important sources of cultural change:[/B]

[B]Invention:[/B]
Inventions produce new objects, ideas, and social patterns.
Invention of ideas, objects and social patterns bring social change.

[B]Discovery[/B]
occurs when people take note of existing elements of the world.
Medical advances, for example, offer a growing understanding of the human body.
Human body has been there but perhaps in the olden times humans did not know much about its functioning and dis-functioning.

[B]Diffusion[/B]
is the transference of cultural traits from place and/or group to another.
Diffusion creates change as products, people, and information spread from one culture to another.
Presently mass media of communication has demolished the physical boundaries for contacting other cultures.
Now perhaps you have to have a control over the “mouse” and reach anywhere in the world, know about its culture, understand it, and if like may borrow its cultural traits.
Inventions, discoveries, and diffusion, all bring change in culture which in turn bring change in the social structure and the relationships of people.



[B][SIZE="3"]SOCIAL CHANGE[/SIZE][/B]


Social change is the deviation from the past in the structure , organization and composition of social systems and
the change in the structure and functions of the society which the social system are a part.

More generally, social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviours or social relations , values and norms over time.


[B]Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society.
[/B]

[B][SIZE="3"]Causes of Social Change:[/SIZE][/B]

1.Technological and Economic Changes: (Agriculture advancement, industrialization)
2.Cultural
3.Religious
4.Economic
5.EDUCATION
6.MASS MEDIA
7.Modernization: standardizing as towards modern tools (Life Style, Technology)

8.Urbanization: Moving population from ruler areas to urban (Cities) areas.

9.Conflict and Competition: War: due to religion, ethnic tensions, competition for resources. Gender and Women’s

10.Political and Legal Power: Elected Official (Government) & Unelected Officials (Corporative Force)

11.Ideology: Religious Belief, Political or Regional Conviction.

12.Diffusion: Spreading the ones cultural to another culture.

13.Acculturation: the process in which a minority is absorbed into the majority and entirely loses its distinctiveness.


[B]Social change means the changes in the social structure and social relationships. [/B]

1.age structure of the population like 43 percent of the population of Pakistan is that of children, about 4 percent is that of old people and the rest may be adults.

2.rural and urban distribution of people.

3.Educational distribution of people is another angle of population structure;

4.there is lot of shifting from rural to urban areas.

5.changing birth rate as an aspect of social change.

6.changes taking place in the structure of families in terms of size, authority structure, age at marriage, number of children per woman.

7.change in the relationships of people. decline in the neighborliness, changes in the employer and employee relationships, change in the men and women relationships (women empowerment), and so on.



[COLOR="Blue"][B][SIZE="3"]Models of Social Change[/SIZE][/B]
[/COLOR]

[SIZE="3"][B]Evolutionary theory[/B][/SIZE]

According to evolutionary theory, society moves in specific directions.
Therefore, early social evolutionists saw society as progressing to higher and higher levels.

As a result, they concluded that their own cultural attitudes and behaviors were more advanced than those of earlier societies.

Auguste Comte subscribed to social evolution. He saw human societies as progressing into using scientific methods.

Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of functionalism, saw societies as moving from simple to complex social structures.

Herbert Spencer compared society to a living organism with interrelated parts moving toward a common end.

[B]Unilinear evolutionary theories[/B], which maintain that all societies pass through the same sequence of stages of evolution to reach the same destiny.


[B]Multilinear evolutionary theory[/B] holds that change can occur in several ways and does not inevitably lead in the same direction.

Multilinear theorists observe that human societies have evolved along differing lines.


[SIZE="3"][B]Functionalist theory[/B][/SIZE]
Functionalist sociologists emphasize what maintains society, not what changes it.

Although functionalists may at first appear to have little to say about social change, sociologist Talcott Parsons holds otherwise.
Parsons (1902–1979), a leading functionalist, saw society in its natural state as being stable and balanced. That is, society naturally moves toward a state of homeostasis.

To Parsons, significant social problems, such as union strikes, represent nothing but temporary rifts in the social order.

According to his equilibrium theory, changes in one aspect of society require adjustments in other aspects.

When these adjustments do not occur, equilibrium disappears, threatening social order.

Parsons' equilibrium theory incorporates the evolutionary concept of continuing progress, but the predominant theme is stability and balance.


Critics argue that functionalists minimize the effects of change because all aspects of society contribute in some way to society's overall health.

They also argue that functionalists ignore the use of force by society's powerful to maintain an illusion of stability and integration.

[SIZE="3"][B]Conflict theory[/B][/SIZE]

Conflict theorists maintain that, because a society's wealthy and powerful ensure the status quo in which social practices and institutions favorable to them continue, change plays a vital role in remedying social inequalities and injustices.


Although Karl Marx accepted the evolutionary argument that societies develop along a specific direction, he did not agree that each successive stage presents an improvement over the previous stage.

Marx noted that history proceeds in stages in which the rich always exploit the poor and weak as a class of people.

Marx's view of social change is proactive; it does not rely on people remaining passive in response to exploitation or other problems in material culture.

Instead, it presents tools for individuals wishing to take control and regain their freedom.

Unlike functionalism and its emphasis on stability, Marx holds that conflict is desirable and needed to initiate social change and rid society of inequality.


[B][SIZE="3"]Social change has following major characteristics.[/SIZE][/B]

[B]1.Change is Social:[/B]
Social change means a change in the system of social relationship. Social relationship is understood in terms of social process, social interactions and social organizations. So in any variation of social process, social interactions and social organizations social change-takes place.

[B]2.Universal:[/B]
Social change is universal. Because it is present in all societies and at all times. No society remains completely static. The rate or the degree of change may vary from society to society from time to time but every society keeps on changing. A changeless society is an unreality.

[B]3.Continuous:[/B]
Social change is a continuous process but not an intermittent process. Because the changes are neither stopped nor the societies are kept in museum to save them from change. It is an on-going process without any break. In the process of change every society grows and decays.

[B]4.Inevitable:[/B]
Change is inevitable. It is the human nature that desires change and also it is his tendency to bring change . Human wants are unlimited which always keep on changing. To satisfy these wants social change has become a necessity not only to him but also to the society.

[B]5.Temporal:[/B]
Social change is temporal. Change in anything or any object or in a situation takes place through time. Time is the most important factor and social change denotes time-sequence. Innovation of new things, modification and renovations of the existing behaviour take time.
So a social change is temporary or permanent on the basis of time. Sometimes some social changes may bring about immediate results while some others may take years to produce results. Similarly, some social changes spread rapidly and also disappear rapidly.

[B]6.Degree or rate of change is not uniform:[/B]
Its degree or rate or what we call the speed is not uniform. It varies from society to society and even in the same society from time to time.
Degree of change is high and low depending upon the nature of society like open and close, rural and urban and traditional,modern etc.
For example, in the rural social structure the rate of change is slower, whereas it is quick in the urban societies.

[B]7.Social Change may be planned or unplanned:[/B]
Social change takes place sometimes with planning and sometimes without planning.
Social change which occurs in the natural course is called the unplanned change.
The unplanned changes are spontaneous, accidental or the product of sudden decision.
Usually the change resulting from natural calamities like flood; drought, famines, volcanic eruption, etc. are the instances of unplanned changes.
It is the inborn tendency of human beings that they desire change.
So sometimes plans, programmes and projects are made effective by them to bring change in the society.
This is called planned change. As it is consciously and deliberately made, there is every possibility to have control on the speed and direction of change. For example, the five years plan made by the government.

[B]8.Some changes matter more than others. [/B]
Some changes (such as clothing fads) have only passing significance, whereas others (like computers) last a long time and may change the entire world.
Information technology may revolutionize the whole world just like the industrial revolution

[B]9.Social change creates chain-reactions:[/B]
Social change produces not a single reaction but chain-reactions as all the parts of the society are inter-related and interdependent. For example, the economic independence of women has brought changes not only in their status but also a series of changes in home, family relationship and marriages etc.

[B]10.Social change is controversial.[/B]
Social change brings both good and bad consequences.
Capitalists welcomed the industrial revolution because new technology increased productivity and increased profits.
However, the workers feared that the machines would make their skills outdated and resisted the push for progress.


[B][SIZE="3"]Determining role of culture effecting social change. Some of the important effects are given below. They are:[/SIZE][/B]

[B](i) Culture gives speed and direction to social change:[/B]
If the culture is too much conservative, then its rate of change becomes too low and vice versa. People whether accept change or not depends upon their attitudes and values which are the products of the culture.

[B](ii) Culture influences the direction and character of technological change:[/B]
It is the culture that decides the purpose to which a technical invention must be put.

[B](iii) Culture shapes economy and is effective towards economic growth:[/B]
Culture not only gives direction to technology but it shapes the economy which is too much effective towards economic growth.

[B](iv) It keeps the social relationship intact:[/B]
It makes people think not of their own but also of the others.
By regulating the behavior of the people and satisfying their primary drives pertaining to hunger, shelter and sex, it has been able to maintain group life.

Social stratification:
 

[SIZE="5"][B]SOCIAL STRATIFICATION:[/B][/SIZE]


Social strata are levels of social statuses.

[B]Members of a society who possess similar amount of wealth, power, and privileges occupy each social stratum.[/B]

Organized systems of such strata are conceptualized as social stratification system.

Social stratification refers to arrangements of any group or society into a hierarchy of positions that are unequal with regard to power, property and social evolution.

Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy.


[B]Determinants of social stratification in Pakistan:[/B]

Economic resources
Occupations
Prestige
Caste
Education
Political power… Are the determinants of social divisions


[B]Economic resources:[/B]
The size of landholdings in rural areas belong to upper classes.
While the tenants, blacksmiths, cobblers, barbers belong to the lower class.

[B]Occupation:[/B]
Landowners, industrialists, businessmen, high government officials, corporate officials belong to the upper class.

Servicemen, small businessmen, whose income equals to their expenditures, are the middle class.

Manual workers, carpenters, blacksmiths, washermen all constitute the lower class.

[B]Prestige:[/B]
Respect of an individual in society is related to the level of prestige that he enjoys.
Prestige includes nobility, harmlessness, participating in social welfare projects, helping the needy etc.

[B]Power:[/B]
Power gains one respect. In Pakistan, following characteristics could be important:
Outspoken in public, educated, well off in financial resources, interest in solving people's problems, active, religious oriented etc.

[B]Caste:[/B]
Caste system in Pakistan is an important element in social stratification. Some castes are considered high, some are low.

[B]Education:[/B]
Education like all other societies in the world, defines social status in Pakistan too.
Educated people are better rated and respected socially owing to their occupations, professions and status while illiterate people always belong to lower class.

[B][COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"]Generally, Four classes exist in Pakistan.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]

[B]High:[/B]
This class divides into two groups: lower‐upper and upper‐upper. The lower‐upper class includes those with “new money,” or money made from investments, business ventures, and so forth. The upper‐upper class includes those aristocratic and “high‐society” families with “old money” who have been rich for generations. These extremely wealthy people live off the income from their inherited riches. The upper‐upper class is more prestigious than the lower‐upper class.

Wherever their money comes from, both segments of the upper class are exceptionally rich. Both groups have more money than they could possibly spend, which leaves them with much leisure time for cultivating a variety of interests. They live in exclusive neighborhoods, gather at expensive social clubs, and send their children to the finest schools. As might be expected, they also exercise a great deal of influence and power both nationally and globally.

[B]Middle: [/B]The middle class are the “sandwich” class. These white collar workers have more money than those below them on the “social ladder,” but less than those above them. They divide into two levels according to wealth, education, and prestige.

The lower middle class is often made up of less educated people with lower incomes, such as managers, small business owners, teachers, and secretaries.

The upper middle class is often made up of highly educated business and professional people with high incomes, such as doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and CEOs.

[B]The working class:[/B]

The working class are those minimally educated people who engage in “manual labor” with little or no prestige. Unskilled workers in the class—dishwashers, cashiers, maids, and waitresses—usually are underpaid and have no opportunity for career advancement. They are often called the working poor. Skilled workers in this class—carpenters, plumbers, and electricians—are often called blue collar workers. They may make more money than workers in the middle class—secretaries, teachers, and computer technicians; however, their jobs are usually more physically taxing, and in some cases quite dangerous.

[B]Lower:[/B]
The lower class is typified by poverty, homelessness, and unemployment. People of this class, few of whom have finished high school, suffer from lack of medical care, adequate housing and food, decent clothing, safety, and vocational training. The media often stigmatize the lower class as “the underclass,” inaccurately characterizing poor people as welfare mothers who abuse the system by having more and more babies, welfare fathers who are able to work but do not, drug abusers, criminals, and societal “trash.”


[B][SIZE="3"]SIGNIFICANCE OF SOCIAL CLASS[/SIZE][/B]

Social class determines the life chances of an individual:

[B]It implies that the social class determines the fate we can expect in life.[/B]

opportunities and rewards are affected by class position.

Poor nutrition for the mother may affect the health and vigor of the fetus before birth,

[B]Social class influences physical and mental health: [/B]

Differential death rates are cause of unequal access to medical care and nutrition.

Lower class experiences stress from unemployment, dirty and dangerous work, the threat of eviction, expenses of life, and so on.

[B]Social class and family life:[/B]
Social class influences the mate selection, age at marriage, number of children, child rearing patterns,
women empowerment, educational aspirations and achievements.

Lower class children supposed to be obedient at home and at work, whereas middle class children are trained to be creative, independent, and tolerant.

[B]The vision of children about future varies by social class.[/B]

[B]Social class and education/employment opportunities: [/B]

[B]Type of education. [/B]Public schools are for the poor and private schools are for the rich.

With better qualifications from prestigious institutions children from affluent families have better employment opportunities.

[B]Social class and lifestyles:[/B]

Social class determines the lifestyle of the people.
Individual identities are structured to a greater extent around lifestyle choices – how to dress, what to eat, how to care one’s body, and where to relax.

[B]cultural tastes and leisure pursuits. [/B]

[B]distinctive lifestyle and consumption patterns. [/B]

[B]Social stratification is universal but variable. [/B]Social stratification is found everywhere. At the same time, what is unequal and how unequal people are vary from one society to another

[B]Social stratification persists over generations. [/B]In all societies parents pass their social position along to their children, so that patterns of inequality stay much the same from generation to generation. Some individual experience change in their position in the social hierarchy. For most people, social standing remains much the same over a lifetime.

People with the greatest social privileges express the strongest support for their society’s social stratification, while those with less social resources are more likely to seek change.


[SIZE="3"][B]THEORIES OF CLASS AND STRATIFICATION [/B][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR]

The ideas developed by Karl Marx and Max Weber forms the basis of most sociological analysis of class and stratification.

[B]Stratification and Conflict[/B]

Social conflict perspective argues that, rather than benefiting society as a whole, social stratification benefits some people at the expense of others. This analysis draws heavily on the ideas of Karl Marx, with contributions from Max Weber.

[SIZE="3"][B]Karl Marx: Class and Conflict[/B][/SIZE]

Marx (1818-1883) argued that the distinctions people often make between themselves – such as clothing, speech, education, or relative slavery – are superficial matters that camouflage the only real significant dividing line:

people either (the bourgeoisie) own the means of production or they (the proletariat) work for those who do.

This is the only distinction that counts, for these two classes make up modern society.

Means of production refer to the sources by which people gain their livelihood.

Hence people’s relationship to means of production determines their social class.

Before the rise of modern industry,there were two main classes those who owned the land and those actively engaged in producing from it (serfs, slaves and free peasantry).

In modern industrial societies, factories, offices, machinery and the wealth or capital needed to buy them have become more important.

The two main classes are those who own these new means of production –

the industrialists or capitalists called as Bourgeoisie – and those who earn their living by selling their labor to them – the property-less working class called as proletariat.

[B]According to Marx in Das Kapital three great classes exist in modern societies:[/B]

The owners of mere labor power, the owners of capital, and the landlords, whose respective sources of income are wages, profit, and ground-rent.

The relationship between classes is an exploitative one.

In feudal societies, exploitation often took the form of the direct transfer of produce from the peasantry to the aristocracy.

Serfs were compelled to give a certain proportion of their production to their aristocratic masters.

In modern industrial societies, the source of exploitation is less obvious, and Marx devoted much attention to trying to clarify its nature.

In the course of the working day workers produce much more than is actually needed by employers to repay the cost of hiring them.

[B][Value of product of labor – value of labor = the surplus value] This surplus value is the source of profit, which capitalists are able to put to their own use. [/B]

The labor becomes a commodity. Wealth is produced on a scale far beyond anything seen before, but workers have little access to the wealth their labor creates.

[B]The capitalist becomes richer while the proletariat gets poorer. [/B]

Marx used the term pauperization to describe the process by which the working class grows increasingly impoverished in relation to the capitalist class.

Even if the workers become more affluent in absolute terms, the gap separating them from the capitalist class continues to stretch ever wider.

These inequalities between the capitalist and working class were not strictly economic in nature.

Work itself becomes dull and oppressive in the modern factories resulting in dehumanizing the work environment.

[B]The capitalist class draws its strength from more than the operation of the economy. [/B]

Through the family, opportunity and wealth are passed down from generation to generation.

Moreover, the legal system defends this practice through the law of inheritance.

Similarly the exclusive schools bring children of the elite together, encouraging informal social ties that will benefit them throughout their lives.

In this way capitalist society reproduces the class structure in each new generation.

Marx saw great disparities in wealth and power arising from this productive system, which made class conflict inevitable.

Over time, Marx believed, oppression and misery would drive the working majority (labor class) to organize, challenge the system, and ultimately overthrow the capitalist system.

Such a class struggle has been part of the history of societies.

According to Marx; through this revolution the capitalist system is replaced by socialist system resulting in a classless society.

In such a society, humans will be able to live in a world where they are not prevented from realizing their full potential by the constraints of class societies.

In a classless society the principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” comes into operation.

[B]Critical evaluation:[/B]

How do we motivate people to do their job efficiently? Motivating people to perform various social roles requires some system of unequal rewards.

Severing rewards from performance generates low productivity.

In capitalist societies the wages of workers have increased.

Here people talk of The Affluent Worker.

Between the two classes a third class of petite bourgeoisie – small owners, managers, supervisors, and autonomous workers has emerged.

Such a situation is not going to let the capitalist system to collapse.



[B][SIZE="3"]Max Weber (1864-1920)[/SIZE][/B] built his approach to stratification on the analysis developed by Marx, but he modified and elaborated it.
Like Marx, Weber regarded society as characterized by conflicts over power and resources.
Yet where Marx saw polarized class relations and economic issues at the heart of all conflict, [B]Weber developed a multidimensional view of society.[/B]

[B]Max Weber gave a model of three elements for social stratification Class, Status:[/B]

1.Economic Resources
2.Prestige
3.Political Power

Social stratification is not simply a matter of class or economic resources , according to Weber, but is also shaped by two other aspects: status and power.

These three overlapping elements of stratification produce an enormous number of possible positions (inequality) within society, rather than the rigid bipolar model, which Marx proposed.

[B][COLOR="Blue"]Economic Differences[/COLOR][/B]
[B]According to Weber class divisions derive not only from control or lack of control of the means of production, but from economic differences, which have nothing directly to do with property.[/B] Such resources include especially the skills and credentials, or qualifications, which affect the types of job people, are able to obtain.

[B]Weber believed that an individual’s market position strongly influences his or her ‘life chances’. [/B]

The market positions (capacities) people have in terms of the skills they bring to the labor market as employees, explains the rewards they will receive.

Where people have good market capacity they will have very good life chances: these chances include income, perks, and pensions
together with less tangible benefits such as security of job, pleasant working environment and considerable autonomy at work.

Those in managerial or professional occupations earn more, and have more favorable conditions of work, for example, than people in blue-collar jobs.

[B]The qualifications they possess, such as degrees, diplomas and the skills they have acquired, make them more ‘marketable’ than others without such qualifications. [/B]

[B]Managers of corporations control the means of production although they do not own them. [/B]

If managers can control property for their own benefit – awarding themselves huge bonuses and magnificent perks.
it makes no practical difference that they do not own the property that they so generously use for their own benefit.


[COLOR="Blue"][B]Prestige(social honor):[/B][/COLOR] in Weber’s theory refers to differences between social groups in the social honor or prestige they are accorded by others. Presently status is being expressed through people’s styles of life. Markers and symbols of status—such as housing, dress, manner of speech, occupation – all help to shape an individual’s social standing in the eyes of others. People sharing the same status form a community in which there is a sense of shared identity.

While Marx believed that status distinctions are the result of class divisions in society, Weber argued that status often varies independently of class divisions. Possession of wealth normally tends to confer high status, but there are many exceptions. Olympic gold medalists, for example, may not own property, yet they may have very high prestige. Property and prestige is not one way street: although property can bring prestige, prestige can also bring property.

[COLOR="Blue"][B]Power, the third element of social class,[/B][/COLOR] is the ability to control others, even against their wishes. Weber agreed with Marx that property is a major source of power, but he added that it is not the only source.

With time, industrial societies witness the growth of the bureaucratic state. This expansion of government and other types of formal organizations means that power gains importance in the stratification system.


be groups possessing effective political power without economic leverage (military, trade union). Therefore inequality could there due to political power.

[B]In Weberian perspective society can be divided in 2+ classes as below:[/B]

[B]UPPER CLASS[/B]
Upper class
Upper middle class

[B]MIDDLE CLASS[/B]
Middle -middle class
Lower middle class

[B]WORKING CLASS[/B]
Skilled manual workers
Semi-skilled workers.
Unskilled manual workers.

[B]THE POOR[/B]

[B]Weber’s theory comes closer to explaining the dynamics of stratification in modern societies.[/B]

Weber anticipated the proliferation of classes, with a new class of white-collar employees, administrators, technicians and civil servants, who are growing in number and importance.

Property relations are important (Marx) but the market position and marketability is decisive in determining an individual’s class position.

[B]Weber rejected Marx’s view that the workers (or employees) have nothing but their labor to sell to the highest bidder. The reality is that:[/B]

•Workers possess skills.

•The distribution of skills can be controlled (keep it scarce).

•Increase skill marketability.

Comparative picture of the conflict approach by Marx and Weber

Social control and deviance
 

[B][SIZE="5"]SOCIAL CONTROL AND DEVIANCE[/SIZE][/B]

Every group within society, and even human society itself, depends on norms for its existence.
These very norms make social life possible by making behavior predictable.
We can count on most people most of the time to meet the expectations of others.
As a result there is some kind of social order in the society.

Social order is a group’s usual and customary social arrangements, on which members depend and on which they base their lives.
Without social order there is likely to be chaos.

[B][SIZE="3"]Social Control[/SIZE][/B]

Every society or group develops its mechanism for making its members to obey the norms for the smooth functioning of its life.
These are the attempts of society to regulate people’s thoughts and behavior.
This process, may be formal or informal, is referred to as social control.
Hence social control is a group’s formal and informal means of enforcing its norms.

[B][SIZE="3"]Deviance[/SIZE][/B]

Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to a violation of norms of culture.
Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to the violation of norms.
How a society defines deviance, which is branded as deviant, and what people decide to do about deviance all have to do the way society is organized.

[B][SIZE="3"]THE SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF DEVIANCE[/SIZE][/B]

In the sociological perspective all behavior – deviance as well as conformity – is shaped by society.
Therefore the society lays the foundation of deviance and that is how the title of this discussion.

The social foundations of deviance may be looked at from three dimensions:

[B]1. Cultural relativity of deviance[/B]

No thought or action is inherently deviant; it becomes deviant only in relation to particular norms.
Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to a violation of norms of culture.
One may look at three basic principles:

(1) It is not the action itself, but the reactions to the act that makes something deviant.
In other words people’s behavior must be viewed from the framework of the culture in which it takes place.

(2) Different groups are likely to have different norms therefore what is deviant to some is not deviant to others.

(3) This principle holds within a society as well as across cultures.
Thus acts perfectly acceptable in one culture – or in one group within a society – may be considered deviant in another culture, or in another group within the same society.

Sociologists use the term deviance non-judgmentally, to refer to any act to which people respond negatively.

When sociologists use this term, it does not mean that they agree that the act is bad, just because others judge it negatively.
If we have to understand a particular behavior, we must understand the meanings people give to that event. Consequently we must consider deviance from within a group’s own framework, for it is their meanings that underlie their behavior.

[B]2.Who defines deviance?[/B]

People become deviant as others define them that way. If deviance does not lie in the act, but in definition of the act, where do these definitions come from? The simple answer is that the definitions come from people. May be through trial and error process people determine the appropriate patterns of behavior for the smooth functioning of their society. They themselves decide what is desirable and what is undesirable for having social order in their society. These are actually the social norms of the people. These norms are incorporated in the mechanics of social control. The process may be a little different in a simple and small society than in a complex and large society having ethnic variations.

[B]3.Both rule making and rule breaking involve social power.[/B]

Each society is dominated by a group of elite, powerful people, who make the decisions for making rules,
which become part of the social control system in the society.
The powerful group of people makes sure that their interests are protected.
The machinery of social control usually represents the interests of people with social power.

A law amounts a little more than a means by which powerful people protect their interests.
For example the owners of an unprofitable factory have the legal right to shut down their business,
even if doing so puts thousands of workers out of work.
But if a worker commits an act of vandalism that closes the same factory for a single day is subject to criminal prosecution.


[B][SIZE="3"]IS DEVIANCE FUNCTIONAL?[/SIZE][/B]

When we think of deviance, its dysfunctions are likely to come to mind. Most of us are upset by deviance, especially crime, and assume that society would be better off without it. Surprisingly for Durkheim there is nothing abnormal about deviance; in fact it contributes to the functioning of the society in four ways:

[B]1.Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.[/B]

Living demands that we make moral choices. To prevent our culture from dissolving into chaos, people must show preference for some attitudes and behaviors over others. But any conception of virtue rests upon an opposing notion of vice. And just as there can be no good without evil, there can be no justice without crime. Deviance is indispensable to creating and sustaining morality.

[B]2.Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms.[/B]

A group’s ideas about how people should act and think mark its moral boundaries. Deviance challenges those boundaries. To call a deviant member to explain, say in effect, “ you broke a valuable rule, and we cannot tolerate that,” affirms the group’s norms and clarifies the distinction between conforming and deviating behavior. To deal with deviants is to assert what it means to a member of the group. For example there is a line between academic honesty and cheating by punishing students who do so.

[B]3.Deviance promotes social unity.[/B]

To affirm the group’s moral boundaries by reacting to deviants, deviance develops a “we” feeling among the group’s members. In saying “you can’t get by with that,” the group collectively affirms the rightness of its own ways.

[B]4.Deviance promotes social change.[/B]

Deviant people push a society’s moral boundaries, pointing out alternatives to the status quo and encouraging change. Groups always do not agree on what to do with people who push beyond their acceptable ways of doing things. Some group members even approve the rule-breaking behavior. Boundary violations that gain enough support become new, acceptable behavior. Thus deviance may force a group to rethink and redefine its moral boundaries, helping groups and whole societies, to change their customary ways. Today’s deviance can become tomorrow’s morality.

it is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that makes something deviant.[B]In other words, people’s behavior must be viewed from the framework of the culture in which that takes place. [/B]

Therefore it is group’s definition of behavior, not the behavior itself that makes it deviant.

[B]Perhaps everybody violates the norms of society, but every violation may not be defined as deviance. [/B]

[B]So “what is deviance”, is the creation of the society[/B]

i.e. an act to which people responds negatively is deviance.
Social creation of deviance and crime is also called social construction of deviance and crime.

[B]The preceding discussion can also be called as “relativity of deviance.” [/B]
An act, which is called deviance by one group in one culture, is considered as praise worthy by another group in another culture.
Similarly what is deviance at one time may not be considered so at another time.

Look at somebody who is called by one group as a terrorist and by another as a freedom fighter. Sociologists usually use the term deviance non-judgmentally

The concept of deviance can be applied to individual acts and to the activity of groups.

Deviant group behavior may result in deviant sub-culture.

[B][SIZE="3"]Causes of Deviance:[/SIZE][/B]

Broken family
Lack of interest in Education.
lack of Religious education and moral values.
Lack of basic facilities.
Desire of accumulation of wealth.
Parentless child.
Mass Media:teenagers learn new techniques,dramas,movies etc.


[B][SIZE="3"]Types or Agencies of social control:[/SIZE][/B]

[B]Formal:[/B]Law ,military,police,legislation.

[B]Informal:[/B]folkways,gossip,public opinion,mores,resentment,slander.


[B][SIZE="3"]Steps to attain social control:[/SIZE][/B]

Model orphanage homes.
Reducing unemployment.
Recreational activities:Parks,family play.
Religious Education.
Role of Media.
Rule of Law.
Efficient police.

Community
 

[SIZE="5"][B]Community[/B][/SIZE]

Kingsley Davis defined it as the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life.

For Karl Mannheim community is any circle of people who live together and belong together in such a way that they do not share this or that particular interest only but a whole set of interests.

At the minimum it refers to a collection of people in a geographical area.

[B]Three other elements may also be present in any usage. [/B]

(1) Communities may be thought of as collections of people with a particular social structure; there are, therefore, collections which are not communities. Such a notion often equates community with rural or pre-industrial society and may, in addition, treat urban or industrial society as positively destructive.

(2) A sense of belonging or community spirit.

(3) All the daily activities of a community, work and non work, take place within the geographical area, which is self contained. Different accounts of community will contain any or all of these additional elements.

[B]We can list out the characteristics of a community as follows: [/B]

1. Territory
2. Close and informal relationships
3. Mutuality
4. Common values and beliefs
5. Organized interaction
6. Strong group feeling
7. Cultural similarity

[B]A Community is a Sociological Construct:[/B]
Not only is the concept of a community a "construct" (model), it is a "sociological construct." It is a set of interactions, human behaviours that have meaning and expectations between its members. Not just action, but actions based on shared expectations, values, beliefs and meanings between individuals.


[B][SIZE="3"]13 Most Important Characteristics or Elements of Community[/SIZE][/B]

Some of the important characteristics or elements of community are as follows:

[B](1) A group of people:[/B]
A group of people is the most fundamental or essential characteristic or element of community. This group may be small or large but community always refers to a group of people. Because without a group of people we can’t think of a community, when a group of people live together and share a common life and binded by a strong sense of community consciousness at that moment a community is formed. Hence a group of people is the first pre-requisites of community.

[B](2) A definite locality:[/B]
It is the next important characteristic of a community. Because community is a territorial group. A group of people alone can’t form a community. A group of people forms a community only when they reside in a definite territory. The territory need not be fixed forever. A group of people like nomadic people may change their habitations. But majority community are settled and a strong bond of unity and solidarity is derived from their living in a definite locality.

[B](3) Community Sentiment:[/B]
It is another important characteristic or element of community. Because without community sentiment a community can’t be formed only with a group of people and a definite locality. Community sentiment refers to a strong sense of awe feeling among the members or a feeling of belonging together. It refers to a sentiment of common living that exists among the members of a locality. Because of common living within an area for a long time a sentiment of common living is created among the members of that area. With this the members emotionally identify themselves. This emotional identification of the members distinguishes them from the members of other community.

[B](4) Naturality:[/B]
Communities are naturally organised. It is neither a product of human will nor created by an act of government. It grows spontaneously. Individuals became the member by birth.

[B](5) Permanence :[/B]
Community is always a permanent group. It refers to a permanent living of individuals within a definite territory. It is not temporary like that of a crowd or association.

[B](6) Similarity:[/B]
The members of a community are similar in a number of ways. As they live within a definite locality they lead a common life and share some common ends. Among the members similarity in language, culture, customs, and traditions and in many other things is observed. Similarities in these respects are responsible for the development of community sentiment.

[B](7) Wider Ends:[/B]
A community has wider ends. Members of a community associate not for the fulfillment of a particular end but for a variety of ends. These are natural for a community.

[B](8) Total organised social life:[/B]
A community is marked by total organised social life. It means a community includes all aspects of social life. Hence a community is a society in miniature.

[B](9) A Particular Name :[/B]
Every community has a particular name by which it is known to the world. Members of a community are also identified by that name. For example people living in Odisha is known as odia.

[B](10) No Legal Status:[/B]
A community has no legal status because it is not a legal person. It has no rights and duties in the eyes of law. It is not created by the law of the land.

[B](11) Size of Community:[/B]
A community is classified on the basis of it’s size. It may be big or small. Village is an example of a small community whereas a nation or even the world is an example of a big community. Both the type of community are essential for human life.

[B](12) Concrete Nature:[/B]
A community is concrete in nature. As it refers to a group of people living in a particular locality we can see its existence. Hence it is concrete.

[B](13) A community exists within society and possesses distinguishable structure which distinguishes it from others.[/B]



[B][SIZE="3"]Rural Community[/SIZE][/B]

Rural communities are small, less dense and homogeneous

Rural areas are characterized with having small, tight-knit communities. where everyone knows everyone else,. Geographically small Villages or small towns are considered to be rural areas.
People know each other and are neighbors, friends, etc. Rural areas are classified according their small population and having farming abilities . Rural areas are more community based people and depend on social gatherings and other similar events.


[SIZE="3"][B]Urban Community [/B][/SIZE]
Generally speaking, the urban communities are identified as large, dense and heterogeneous .

Social Mobility
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Social Mobility[/SIZE][/B]


Individuals are recognized in society through the statuses they occupy and the roles they enact.
The society as well as individuals is dynamic. Men are normally engaged in endless endeavor to enhance their statuses in society, move from lower position to higher position, secure superior job from an inferior one. For various reasons people of the higher status and position may be forced to come down to a lower status and position. Thus people in society continue to move up and down the status scale. This movement is called social mobility.

The study of social mobility is an important aspect of social stratification.Infact it is an inseparable aspect of social stratification system because the nature, form, range and degree of social mobility depends on the very nature of stratification system. Stratification system refers to the process of placing individuals in different layers or strata.

According to Wallace and Wallace social mobility is the movement of a person or persons from one social status to another.W.P Scott has defined sociology as the movement of an individual or group from one social class or social stratum to another.

[B][SIZE="3"]Types of Social Mobility[/SIZE][/B]


[B]Territorial Mobility:[/B]

It is the change of residence from one place to another. In rural area of Pakistan this mobility found because the people of a community dislike leaving their ancestral place of living. In urban areas the people sell one house and purchase on other, one and get another on rent; leave one city and migrate to another.
In Karachi 70 to 80 thousand people enter the city annually from other parts of the country. In 1959 the migrants constituted 82% of the total population. Within the last 30 years, the population growth rate in Karachi has been 7% annually (Figures taken from the 10th annual conference 1977 of Pakistan Sociological Association Journal on Urbanization in Pakistan). According to an estimate 4% of the population is shifting from rural to urban areas of Pakistan.
Some people migrate to cities due to modern facilities of education, health, recreation and transportation. Some for Jobs and some migrate for other reasons.



[B]Horizontal And Vertical Social Mobility[/B]

A distinction is made between horizontal and vertical social mobility. The former refers to change of occupational position or role of an individual or a group without involving any change in its position in the social hierarchy, the latter refers essentially to changes in the position of an individual or a group along the social hierarchy. When a rural laborer comes to the city and becomes an industrial worker or a manager takes a position in another company there are no significant changes in their position in the hierarchy. Those are the examples of horizontal mobility. Horizontal mobility is a change in position without the change in statue. It indicates a change in position within the range of the same status.

It is a movement from one status to its equalivalent.But if an industrial worker becomes a businessman or lawyer he has radically changed his position in the stratification system. This is an example of vertical mobility. Vertical mobility refers to a movement of an individual or people or groups from one status to another. It involves change within the lifetime of an individual to a higher or lower status than the person had to begin with.

[B]Forms Of Vertical Social Mobility[/B]

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 their 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.

[B]Inter-Generational Social Mobility [/B]

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.

[B]Intra-Generational Mobility[/B]

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 which occurs within a person's adult career. For example a person working as a supervisor in a factory becoming its assistant manager after getting promotion.

[B]Structural mobility[/B]

Structural mobility is a kind of vertical mobility. Structural mobility refers to mobility which 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.

[B][SIZE="3"]Causes of Social Mobility:[/SIZE][/B]

[B](1) Dissatisfaction from previous condition: [/B]The people stick to the same condition does not fulfil the purpose of new social ways of living. They leave it and attend to the new condition of life.

[B](2) Adoption of new conditions: [/B]The people leaving the vious conditions adopt the new ones which are functional according to the new ways of living. This adoption of new way of living is called.

[B](3) Industrial and Technological Development: [/B]The development of technology and industry brings about a have in the socio economic structure of society. The modes of living of the people are changed which bringabout change in attitudes, ideas, habits, customs and sentiment of the people. It means total socio-cultural life is changed. He we get social mobility.

[B](4) Education:[/B] The progress of education is imperative in n industrially advanced society. The development of technology industry and education are simultaneous processes being correlated. Advancement in education makes a society mobile.

[B](5) Urbanization:[/B] The development of urban population and modern attitude is called urbanization It is also attached with the development of education, technology and industry. These factors are interrelated together. The population of Faisalabad showed the highest increment (927%) in 1961-72 census. This factor of urbanization is being guessed due to high rate of expansion in technology industry and education in this city.

[B](6) Means of communication and Transportation: [/B]The means of communication and transportation play great role in bringing about social change. The people get traditional attitudes changed and accept modern ways of living by these sources of information.


[B]Systems of Social Mobility[/B]


[B][SIZE="3"]Open And Closed Systems Of Mobility[/SIZE][/B]

[B]A closed system of mobility is that where norms do not encourage mobility.[/B]

hierarchy. It justifies the inequality in the distribution of means of production status symbols and power positions and discourages any attempt to change them. Any attempt to bring about changes in such a system or to promote mobility is permanently suppressed.

In such a system individuals are assigned their place in the social structure on the basis of ascriptive criteria like age, birth, sex.Considerations of functional suitability or ideological notions of equality of opportunity are irrelevant in deciding the positions of individuals to different statuses. However no system in reality is perfectly close. Even in the most rigid systems of stratification limited degree of mobility exists. Traditional caste system in India is an example of closed system.

[B]In the open system the norms prescribed encourage mobility.[/B] There are independent principles of ranking like status, class and power. In and open system individuals are assigned to different positions in the social structure on the basis of their merit or achievement.

Open systems mobility is generally characterized with occupational diversity, a flexible hierarchy, differentiated social structure and rapidity of change. In such systems the hold of ascription based corporate groups like caste, kinship or extended family etc declines. The dominant values in such a system emphasize on equality and freedom of the individual and on change and innovation.

Social Institutions
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Social Institutions[/SIZE][/B]



[SIZE="3"][B]What is Social Institution?[/B][/SIZE]


A well-established and structured pattern of behavior of Group of people that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture.

Institutions are structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human collectivity.

A set of organized beliefs, rules, and practices that establishes how a society will attempt to meet basic needs.

A socially approved system of values, norms, and roles that exists to

accomplish specific societal goals.



[B]Elements of Social Institutions[/B]

 A Group of People
 United by common interests
 Having material resources
 Having norms
 Fulfill some social need
 Preserve Values:Sentiments,Ethos,Customs,beliefs,rituals and traditions of culture.Deviation from them is condemned.

 Network of Norms:It means the people in an institution perform their roles according to the customs.

and general patterns of social life when established become customs.



[B]Characteristics of Social Institutions
[/B]
Social institutions are patterns of behavior Grouped about the central needs of human beings in society.

In all societies, the institution of Family plays a central role.

Social institutions are therefore social patterns directing the ordered behavior of human beings in the performance of their basic activities.

The continuity of institutional practices is further assured by the development of rituals.

The central aspects of institutions are the functions they perform and the pattern, established to carry out the functions.

The claim of institutions upon the members are also known as loyalties.

The institutions of a society are connected in a close end interdependent pattern.

Institutions are connected through status and role of the members.

Institutions are the most important AGencies in the formation of personality.

Social institutions are the great conservers and transmitters of cultural heritage.

Cultural heritage is thus transmitted through social interaction.



[B]General functions of Social Institutions[/B]

1. Institution Satisfy the Basic Needs of Society.

2. Institution Define Dominant Social Values.

3. Reproduction

4. Socialization

5. Institutions Establish Permanent Patterns of Social Behavior

6. Transmission of Culture.

7. Personality Development

8. Social Control through courts,assemblies,law ministry,law making and law enforcing agencies.

9. positive social sanctions i.e awards uniforms promotion praises

10. Negative Social sanctions through punishment discourage their violation of norms.

11. Preservation of Social Order.

12. Social institutions as agencies of social control by social sanctions.

13. Institutions Support Other Institutions.

14. Institutions Provide Roles for Individuals .



[B][SIZE="3"]Types of Social Institutions[/SIZE][/B]

[B]There are five Basic Types of Social Institutions[/B]

1.Family

2.Government

3.Economy

4.Education

5.Religion.




[B][SIZE="3"]Family[/SIZE][/B]

A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.

Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.


[B]Functions of Family[/B]

• The control and regulation of sexual behavior.

• To provide for new members of society (children).

• To provide for the economic and emotional maintenance of individuals.

• Protection.

• To provide for primary socialization of children.

• To provide a sense of identity or belonging among its members.


• Education formal and informal so that it members may become useful members of society.It teaches elementary skills at home

• religious and Cultural values are transmitted to its members saying salam ,speaking truth offering prayers observing fasts reading kalma etc

• To transmit culture between generations


[B][SIZE="3"]Economic Institutions[/SIZE][/B]


 Economic Institutions are the set of norms related to production,distribution and consumption of goods and services.


 Economic Institutions are very important for almost all Groups.


 Economic growth and development has changed the pattern of interaction of people all over the world.




[B]Functions of Economic Institutions[/B]

Provide methods for the production of goods and services.

Provide methods for the distribution of goods and services.


Social Stratification:by distribution of economic resources.


Power and Authority:Economic resources provide power and authority to its holders.


Socialization:skills, techniques, different roles are assigned.


Need Satisfaction:like agriculture provides wheat,sugarcane,cotton,oilseeds and other raw material.


Income generation and employment:

Division of labour:


Economic Norms:rules regulations for controlling economic activity.


Enable society’s members to consume goods and services which are produced.



To Control and regulate goods and services.


Division of labour




[B][SIZE="3"]Political Institutions (Government)[/SIZE][/B]


 Set of norms pertaining to the distribution of power and authority concerning the management and control of society to bring order in life.

 A sociologist is interested in Politics because it deals with political behavior, public opinions, public relations, pressure groups etc…


 Structure of Government

1. Executive

2. Legislative

3. Judiciary


[B]Functions of Government[/B]

 The Institutionalization of norms (Laws).

 The enforcement of laws.

 Social Order maintenance

 Power and Authority.

The Adjudicating of conflict (Court).

 Provide for the welfare of members of society.

 Protection of Society from external threat.



[B][SIZE="3"]Educational Institutions[/SIZE][/B]


 Refer to the set of norms centered round the teaching and learning aiming at the adjustment of individuals to the environment.

 Education is synonyms with Socialization.

 Formal Education

 Informal Education


[B]Educational Institution Functions[/B]

 Transmitting culture.

 Preparation for future occupational roles.

 Character Building.

 Patrotism

 Rational thinking.

 Personal Thinking.

 Evaluating and selecting competent individuals

 Transmitting functional skills for functioning in society.

 To minimize the cultural lag in society

 It increase social mobility in society


[SIZE="3"][B]Religious Institutions[/B][/SIZE]


 Religious Institution is the system of believes and practices influencing human events where man is helpless to explain them.

 Supernaturalism and sacredness are the two main elements of Religious institutions.



[B]Functions of Religion[/B]


1. Providing solutions for unexplained natural, phenomena. Gives understanding of right and wrong, good and evil.

2. Religion creates social solidarity.
3. Religion relates man to man.
4. Preserve values.sanctity of women,respect for elders.
5. Socialization:norms,aatitude,rituals,sentiments through Quran and Hadith.
6. Relationship between God and man.
7. Social control.

8. Religion tends to support the normative structure of the society.

9. Furnishing a psychological diversion from unwanted life situations.

10. Sustaining the existing class structure.

11. Religion serves as an instrument of socialization.

12. Religion may both promote and retard social change.

Social Groups
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Social Groups[/SIZE][/B]


[B]A social group consists of two or more people who interact with one another and who recognize themselves as a distinct social unit.[/B]

The definition is simple enough, but it has significant implications.

Frequent interaction leads people to share values and beliefs. This similarity and the interaction cause them to identify with one another. Identification and attachment, in turn, stimulate more frequent and intense interaction. Each group maintains solidarity with all to other groups and other types of social systems.

[B]Groups are among the most stable and enduring of social units.[/B] They are important both to their members and to the society at large. Through encouraging regular and predictable behavior, groups form the foundation upon which society rests. Thus, a family, a village, a political party a trade union is all social groups. These, it should be noted are different from social classes, status groups or crowds, which not only lack structure but whose members are less aware or even unaware of the existence of the group. These have been called quasi-groups or groupings.

Nevertheless, the distinction between social groups and quasi-groups is fluid and variable since quasi-groups very often give rise to social groups, as for example, social classes give rise to political parties.

[B][SIZE="3"]Three groups:[/SIZE][/B]

Primary Groups
Secondary Groups
Reference Groups


[SIZE="3"][B]Primary Groups[/B][/SIZE]

If all groups are important to their members and to society, some groups are more important than others. Early in the twentieth century, Charles H. Cooley gave the name, primary groups, to those groups that he said are characterized by intimate face-to-face association and those are fundamental in the development and continued adjustment of their members. He identified three basic primary groups, the family, the child's play group, and the neighborhoods or community among adults. These groups, he said, are almost universal in all societies; they give to people their earliest and most complete experiences of social unity; they are instrumental in the development of the social life; and they promote the integration of their members in the larger society.

Since Cooley wrote, over 65 years ago, life in the United States has become much more urban, complex, and impersonal, and the family play group and neighborhood have become less dominant features of the social order. Secondary groups, characterized by anonymous, impersonal, and instrumental relationships, have become much more numerous. People move frequently, often from one section of the country to another and they change from established relationships and promoting widespread loneliness. Young people, particularly, turn to drugs, seek communal living groups and adopt deviant lifestyles in attempts to find meaningful primary-group relationships. The social context has changed so much so that primary group relationship today is not as simple as they were in Cooley's time.
__________________



[SIZE="3"][B]Secondary groups[/B][/SIZE]

An understanding of the modern industrial society requires an understanding of the secondary groups. The social groups other than those of primary groups may be termed as secondary groups. They are a residual category. They are often called special interest groups.Maclver and Page refers to them as great associations.


They are of the opinion that secondary groups have become almost inevitable today. Their appearance is mainly due to the growing cultural complexity. Primary groups are found predominantly in societies where life is relatively simple. With the expansion in population and territory of a society however interests become diversified and other types of relationships which can be called secondary or impersonal become necessary. Interests become differentiated. The services of experts are required. The new range of the interests demands a complex organization. Especially selected persons act on behalf of all and hence arises a hierarchy of officials called bureaucracy. These features characterize the rise of the modern state, the great corporation, the factory, the labor union, a university or a nationwide political party and so on. These are secondary groups.Ogburn and Nimkoff defines secondary groups as groups which provide experience lacking in intimacy. Frank D. Watson writes that the secondary group is larger and more formal ,is specialized and direct in its contacts and relies more for unity and continuance upon the stability of its social organization than does the primary group.


[SIZE="3"][B]Characteristics of secondary group: [/B][/SIZE]

[B]Dominance of secondary relations: [/B]
Secondary groups are characterized by indirect, impersonal, contractual and non-inclusive relations. Relations are indirect because secondary groups are bigger in size and members may not stay together. Relations are contractual in the sense they are oriented towards certain interests

[B]Largeness of the size:[/B] Secondary groups are relatively larger in size. City, nation, political parties, trade unions and corporations, international associations are bigger in size. They may have thousands and lakhs of members. There may not be any limit to the membership in the case of some secondary groups. Membership: Membership in the case of secondary groups is mainly voluntary. Individuals are at liberty to join or to go away from the groups. However there are some secondary groups like the state whose membership is almost involuntary.

[B]No physical basis:[/B] Secondary groups are not characterized by physical proximity. Many secondary groups are not limited to any definite area. There are some secondary groups like the Rotary Club and Lions Club which are international in character. The members of such groups are scattered over a vast area.

[B]Specific ends or interest: [/B]Secondary groups are formed for the realization of some specific interests or ends. They are called special interest groups. Members are interested in the groups because they have specific ends to aim at. Indirect communication: Contacts and communications in the case of secondary groups are mostly indirect. Mass media of communication such as radio, telephone, television, newspaper, movies, magazines and post and telegraph are resorted to by the members to have communication.

[B]Communication may not be quick and effective even.[/B] Impersonal nature of social relationships in secondary groups is both the cause and the effect of indirect communication.

[B]Nature of group control:[/B] Informal means of social control are less effective in regulating the relations of members. Moral control is only secondary. Formal means of social control such as law, legislation, police, court etc are made of to control the behavior of members. The behavior of the people is largely influenced and controlled by public opinion, propaganda, rule of law and political ideologies.

[B]Group structure: [/B]The secondary group has a formal structure. A formal authority is set up with designated powers and a clear-cut division of labor in which the function of each is specified in relation to the function of all. Secondary groups are mostly organized groups. Different statuses and roles that the members assume are specified. Distinctions based on caste, colour, religion, class, language etc are less rigid and there is greater tolerance towards other people or groups.

[B]Limited influence on personality: [/B]Secondary groups are specialized in character. People involvement in them is also of limited significance.Members's attachment to them is also very much limited. Further people spend most of their time in primary groups than in secondary groups. Hence secondary groups have very limited influence on the personality of the members.


[B][SIZE="3"]Reference Groups[/SIZE][/B]

According to Merton reference groups are those groups which are the referring points of the individuals, towards which he is oriented and which influences his opinion, tendency and behaviour.The individual is surrounded by countless reference groups. Both the memberships and inner groups and non memberships and outer groups may be reference groups.
__________________

[SIZE="5"][B]Caste[/B][/SIZE]

It is a permanent group in which status of an individual is fixed through heredity alone that tend to be fixed and immobile.
The members of caste usually create Biradri in Indo pak societies.
Characteristics of caste:

[B]Caste is a permanent group having its status ascribed at birth. It cannot be changed.[/B]

Caste is a system of stratification.
Caste is hierarchical divisions.
Caste is a closed social group.
[B]Sub culture:[/B] every caste has its own norms which can be different from others.
[B]Social control: [/B]every caste has its own informal methods of social control.

[SIZE="3"][B]Merits of caste system:[/B][/SIZE]

Biradri system….with intermarriages belonging to one caste.
Social solidarity high.
Norms are forceful and offer social control if violated members are thrown out of biradri.
Castes are endogamous... means they marry within caste.
Demerits of caste system:
Ethnocentrism among the members of one caste
Norms of castes are rigid in nature
New elements of changes are rejected resistance to change.
Marriage out of caste is rejected considered violation.

[B][SIZE="3"]Difference between caste and class system in Pakistan :
[/SIZE][/B]

Class is flexible
Class can change
Class does not form biradri
Class can be exogamous
There is less ethnocentrism in class
Feeling of association is less strong in classes
There is less solidarity in classes
Class favors social change
Classes do not have norms

Caste is rigid
Caste cannot change
Castes form biradri system
Castes are endogamous
Caste are ethnocentric
Feelings of association are more stronger in castes
There is more solidarity in castes
Castes reject social change
Castes have their own norms

[B][SIZE="3"]Biradri:[/SIZE][/B]
It is the group of people belonging to same caste, intermarryying together.
Two or more families related to each other are called biradri.
People of biradri do not necessarily live at the same place.
There may be different languages, styles, and customs in biradri.
Old biradries having same caste are still strong in Pakistan. They have more rigid norms.
Social violations in biradries are strictly condemned.
Endogamy is a strict condition in some of the biradries.

Status
 

[B][SIZE="5"]Status[/SIZE][/B]


The term has two sociological uses:

status simply as a position in a social system, such as child or parent.
Or used as a synonym for honor or prestige,

[B]A status is simply a rank or position that one holds in a group. [/B]

One occupies the status of son or daughter, playmate, pupil, radical, militant and so on.
Eventually one occupies the statuses of husband, mother bread-winner, cricket fan, and so on,
one has as many statuses as there are groups of which one is a member.

[B]For analytical purposes, statuses are divided into two basic types:[/B]

• Ascribed and
• Achieved.


[B][SIZE="3"]Ascribed Statuses[/SIZE][/B]

Ascribed statuses are those which are fixed for an individual at birth.
Ascribed statuses that exist in all societies include those based upon sex, age, race ethnic group and family background.
Similarly, power, prestige, privileges, and obligations always are differentially distributed in societies by the age of the participants.

[B][SIZE="3"]Achieved Statuses[/SIZE][/B]

Achieved statuses are those which the individual acquires during his or her lifetime as a result of the exercise of knowledge, ability, skill and/or perseverance.
Occupation provides an example of status that may be either ascribed or achieved, and which serves to differentiate caste-like societies from modern ones.