chapter 4 Social structure

The compositions of the social structures are made of different rations between groups, roles, status, interaction, economy, and organization. These individual components coexist to allow society to work smoothly even though there can be a clash between roles, status, and organization. In different companies the matter of work can have difficulties based on their inner rules that can differ from the outside world; they have to teach it to every new comer. There is a theory called the six degrees of separation that refer to how many people are between one individual and any other individual. The power and weakness of society is its complexity.

                Status is a defined position that can be, ascribed, given or achieved. The master status is a way to be identified based on work or marital status. The roles are attached to each status have a role expectation and the role performance that is the real work done. Different status with different roles sets can create conflict because both role sets can’t be managed at the same time, like to be a good friend and still be a good mentor of a parent. Different status and roles working together for the benefit of multiple individuals is called a social institution. They have different magnified relations with the interactions with individuals like competition, conflicts, cooperation , accommodations in which nether side wins, and exchange of favors, work or goods this is made possible by reciprocity that states that if some dose something for one that one now owes the other individual a favor. The theory of exchange is that individuals are motivated to obtain something from the individuals they interact with.

                The types of societies are made by their economical system. Preindustrial can consist on hunting and gathering food, pastoral and horticultural societies concentrate on the goal of having animals or growing plants without the help of animals in any of the two cases the first sign of work division starts, and agricultural societies that consist on using of animals to grow food products and barter to exchange the food products. Industrial societies consist of manufactured goods and urbanization of areas that consist on a cluster of people in a city. Post industrial the economy is based on information. Durkheim said that when people work together as a whole to finish a task is mechanical solidarity in preindustrial societies. Organic solidarity is instead the impersonal relation created by the increase of job specialization. Gemeinshaft is a German word for mechanic solidarity and gesellschft is for organic solidarity. Groups compose societies in a way they have to be classified by size, time needed to gather, and organization, how close do they get with the individuals as in a primal or secondary group. The type that can be reference, in and out gropes, e-communities, social networks. The function of the group require a leader, instrumentally and expressive, so logical and expressive.

                Formal organization is now represented by bureaucracy, according to Weber’s model there has to be a division of labor, ranking authorities, employment based on formal qualifications, rules and regulations, and specific lines of promotion and advancement. A non-profit profit organization falls to the category of a voluntary work. Weber’s model falls apart by the iron law of oligarchy in which people promote others for their own interests. In Japan to show how the working groups function the older workers show the new comers how to act and dress according to the company standards. In a bank they even have a code that says that if they are not formal they are disrespecting the customer. By using this method many workers can follow a certain standard.

                The way society works depends on the individuals. As they use their status for the benefit others and not succumbing to the iron law of oligarchy gropes will work smoothly in their designated economy. Even with the different types of groups they can all work together and exchange knowledge for the benefit of both sides. With more organic solidarity in a work space the team is doomed to fall but when everyone work together for the common goal a society can fully improve and transcend. 

chapter 3 cultural conformity and adaptation

Cultural diversity is the result of the different technology, language and values. There are rules and ways by which these cultures are studied. The different cultures are mostly used to find the similarities whether it is in their norms or life style. The different norms with in a culture can sometimes create sub cultures.

                A culture is composed of the material, which are the objects that allow people to interact and the non material that are the concepts or values that the individuals share. The components of culture in the other hand are the different interactions. Technology is the tools used that require skill, which require the information to be passed down. Language is the medium with which the information is passed  down.  Values are the important ideas and concepts that are used and passed down to generations. The norms are a combination of different ideas and taboos that the individuals should not break in a society. The Folkways are the inner circle concepts that are considered acceptable but if broken there is no harsh punishment. Mores are the accepted behaviors that are not to be broken unless the individual wishes to be looked down by others. Laws are the severely punished taboos broken by any individual in a formalized mores way.

                To examine a culture there are three areas of important consideration. The cultural traits  that consists of their beliefs, acts and their  tools. The culture complex that is the combination of beliefs, acts, and objects.  The last important part is the cultural patters that consists of the combination of cultural complexes.  When the culture is studied to their core ideas it is possible to compare the cultures and find the cultural universal that are tools acts and beliefs shared in all cultures. This can be important because in societies far apart have similar beliefs an tradition but they don’t have that type of connection with neighbor societies. The Arapesh are focalized in unity, but the mundugumor are very separate when it comes to the same sex.  The parents of the arapesh are very united to their children, but the mundugurmor are very distant from their same sex children. That is way it is important to understand that even if the two societies are in the same area it does not mean they will be very similar in all aspects.

                When comparing cultures it is often found that many individuals will share ethnocentrism that consists in the belief that the culture one belongs is superior to the rest of the cultures, in at least one occasion everyone has felt this. Some times to change this feeling when studying a different culture one has to use cultural relativism that consists that other cultures should not judge other cultures with their standards but instead the studied culture standards. Counter cultures are formed when a subculture, a small group that has a slight variation in the opinion from the main culture, rebels against an idea from the main stream.

                The diversity in a culture is formed by the different subculture that allows change and advances in life stills. Even though a culture or subcultures have different standards of life does not mean they are superior or inferior to the main and to your culture. Just as Whorf’s hypothesis of language molding the minds of their people and making them pensive the world differently, the diversity of cultures allow us to see a different ways to see the world. 

chapter 2 cultural diversity

As the social sciences evolved and separated certain branches started specifying in certain areas of the human interaction. Sociology is the branch that emphasizes on the way societies large or small interact and divides each other to work and accomplish a goal. In the beginning few sociologists had ground breaking theories of how society works. The exception were five pioneers who’s minds created or related information to find answers of the mysteries of society. In the modern days most of these ideas have been adapted or erased and replaced by the three perspectives that represent sociology.

                Sociology is far fair and close to all social sciences since they all share the interests in the human behavior. Psychology has a branch for sociology only they consentrate how dose these societies affect the individual when sociology cares more of how people or other factors affect the society. Economics check the desire to obtain the needs and wants in a group but sociology sees how the wants and needs  are changing  in a grope over time as they shift what is important. Many other of the social sciences over lap since there is always the main focuses that is the human interaction that happens in a  groupe that create other areas of interest for the investigators of society.

As sociology started to plant its roots into the independent science, some philosophers started to create potential truths of society its self. Auguste Conte was the creator of the term statics, the simple takes or areas that keep society together, and dynamics that is the change in society. An example of this is how the power of desire keeps teams together and the dynamic would be how this desire changes from item to item. Herbert Spencer instead used Darwin discovery to create Social Darwinism. This idea was that society only increases its complexity over time. For example the simple dinner MacDonald’s started small and began to grow into a fast food giant with strong rules instead of everything being handled by the boss morals. Karl Marx by studied the French revolution he concluded that in society there are the rich and the working class, this always will lead to conflict which are god since an agreement is made to ensure progress. Emile Durkheim concentrated in function was to understand a society first the function of each area has to be understood. Max Weber was the one who used the ideal type, the search of part in different in society to find its core, to understand Verstehen a tem made for the study of what caused certain actions by pleasing ones self in their place.

There are three perspectives Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist. Functionalists believe in efficiency that is way they check for dysfunctional elements that disrupt hoe society works. The way it is by checking their functions, manifest and the latent, the manifest is the intended function like communicating in far distances with a phone, and a latent would be facilitating the propagations of information. The conflict theory is inspired by Karl Marx theory, which is way they see any struggle more like a face that society has to overcome to grow. Interactionist looks to find what the most important ideas for each society are. Specifically what concepts they give symbols. Symbols are like letters images that represent something different.

After the long journey and constant rivalry with other social sciences sociology has finally a place. This can only mean more advances and concepts of how and why societies work. Even if it is by social evolution or  conflict it grows society varies creating endless possibilities when mixed. That is why for sociology to stop and dry the fountain of opportunities it has it will have to end human society as it is known.  

chapter 1 the sociological point of view

Every society varies depending on the inner cultures. But they all share some type of social control and they all the same reasons for social change. Every category in these common areas has multiple examples of how they control or change the society that they are part of. The change can be resisted by multiple reasons create change.

                The core of the social control is based on the different types of sanctions that have are systems to guide individuals to have the desired behavior. Some of these ways to guide are based in punishments, that scare people from doing the deeds that are not desired in the social group, and others are based on rewards that encourage others to do the actions that benefit the society. Positive sanctions are those that encourage beneficial behavior by giving rewards to those who commit the good behavior. Like giving candy to the kids that do their home work or a promotion to loyal and working employees.  Negative sanctions are the opposite for actions that can harm others in any way. An example could be no T.V. for those kinds that do not do their home work or potting in jail those who stole or killed. Some sanctions are Informal like the ones parents use because they have no real system in which punishments and rewards can be given as well as there are formal sanctions  these sanctions are more like laws that have a certain procedure were always the same type of punishment and reward for every crime and good deed. The sanctions are a way of social control that consists on giving self control to a society the best way to ensure this is by internalizing the norms in the values of the culture.

                Social change can occur for multiple inner as well as outer disturbances that can cause a social group to desire a change. Some of the inner reasons are values and beliefs as the ideology of a culture start to grow more people will join changing the social beliefs. This  change can likely happen as a social movement. Race divisions were less accepted after the civil war and final ended the formal racial division thanks to the ideological change in the societies that created a social movement to create equal rights. Technology can create change by adding new ways to control the environment. The printing press added new religions by allowing more people to know about others that were in discontent with the current religious status and system. As a population grows or shrinks the culture changes to adapt to the new dominant cultures that have more members. Another way of change is diffusion just as in science diffusion is when a cultural are is lacking in something and enters in contact with a culture that has what they are missing they start obtaining it. The adaptation is referred as Reformulation. The physical environment can alter decision and the areas important for a culture as well as wars and conflicts.

                Resistance to cultural change can happen because a culture believes they are the best and do not to adapt this is called ethnocentrism. Other times is causes by the cultural lag in which only parts of a culture are accepted before other traditions. As well there can be a vested interest in which the individuals have a gain to the ways they live in their current state.

Care less of what sanctions or reasons to resist change all cultures should understand that change can’t be stopped. Many times change is a benefit. The American values that many have talked of are a result of years of change and it is still changing depending in the multiple variables. To live in a society id to live in an ever changing environment that has both the ones that want to change as well as those who do not.