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SOCIOLOGY What is Sociology? - It is unlike any other subject since it studies human societies - In order to learn sociology, we need to unlearn what we already know. It is not a common sense. - It teaches us to see the world from many vantage points not just our own and to develop a critical gaze about yourself. - It help us to map the links and connection between personal troubles and social issues. Think about the major questions that we ask about our social world. Are men and women really that different? Why do we have problems such as racism? What motivates people to have social status and respect? These questions are hugely important to life as a human being, and they are studied by the field of sociology. A general definition of sociology is the scientific study of human society and social interactions. As sociologists their main goal is to understand social situations and look for repeating patterns in society. Sociology is a subject that relates to the study of society. The norms, culture and values that build up society and how different people affect society. Sociology is not common sense and is a scientific discipline.

Sociology and Science Since the time of founding fathers of sociology, it is debated that can there be a “natural science of society?”     

Sociology is a social science and not a natural science. Sociology is a categorical, not a normative science. Sociology is a pure science, not an applied science. Sociology is a generalizing, not a particularizing or individualizing science. Sociology is both a rational and an empirical science.

Sociological Concepts The different traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, gender, deviance, bureaucracy, capitalism, poverty, family and power. It is filled with all sorts of sociological concepts covering a wide range of topics.  

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Norm: A norm is a specific expectation about how people should behave in society. Not eating with your mouth open is an example of a social norm. Value: Values are more abstract than norms. They relate to acceptable standards of behavior. Values are what a society aspires to be. Being tolerant of other religions is an example of a value in our society. Culture: Culture describes the shared norms, values, and beliefs of a specific group of people. Culture is, therefore, a force that binds people together and unites them. Gender: Gender refers to the cultural aspects of being male or female. It also relates to how society expects a male or female to behave. Ethnicity: Ethnicity refers to the shared norms, values, and beliefs of a specific race of people.

Social Structure One-way sociology achieves a more complete understanding of social reality is through its focus on the importance of the social forces affecting our behavior, attitudes, and life chances. This focus involves an emphasis on social structure, the social patterns through which a society is organized. It can be both horizontal or vertical. Horizontal social structure refers to the social relationships and the social and physical characteristics of communities to which individuals belong. Some people belong to many networks of social relationships, like the PTA and the Boy or Girl Scouts, while other people have fewer such networks. Some people grew up on streets while other people grew up in areas where the homes were much farther apart. These are examples of horizontal social structure that forms such an important part of our social environment and backgrounds. Vertical social structure more commonly called social inequality, refers to ways in which a society or group ranks people in a hierarchy, with some more “equal” than others. Wealth, power, race and ethnicity, and gender help determine one’s social ranking, or position, in the vertical social structure. Some people are at the

top of society, while many more are in the middle or at the bottom. People’s positions in society’s hierarchy in turn often have profound consequences for their attitudes, behaviors, and life chances, both for themselves and for their children.

Sociology is a science of society which focuses on certain basis units to understand how human beings live and carry out their activities. Basic concepts used by sociologists to understand social life.  Society  Community  Association  Institution

Society What is Society? Society is a term used in everyday life with a particular meaning.But in sociology, the term is used isn a different sense.It is not just a congregation of collectivity of several indiviual. It refers to the sum total of the relationships existing between them.It is a group of people with common territory,interaction and culture. The players in football or other games came together is not a society, but just an aggregate of people. Within the society there are patterns and groupings on the basis of likeness and differences.

Attributes of Society  Likeness and Differentiation  Inter-dependence  Co-operation and conflict Likeness and Differentiation – There should be an aggregate of individuals who share the sense of likeness. No society can come into existence unless its members feel that they are like one another. For Example, Members of the family and kingroup, persons belonging to the same village or small town and members of the same caste. We can not say that society is not marked by differentiation. The members of a society differ from one another in terms of caste, class, occupation and education.

For Example, Family members differ from one another in terms of gender, age, personality, outlook and personal preferences. However, these differences complement each other in a such a way that family stability is maintained. Likeness and difference are logical opposites but for understanding likeness, comprehension of its relation to the other is necessary. Society exists among those who have some degree of likeness in mind and in body. F.H. Giddings called this quality of society as “consciousness of kind” (a sense of likeness). Though likeness and difference both are necessary for the society to exist, but difference is always subordinated to likeness in society. Likeness has a predominant share in the constitution of society. Inter-dependence - It is another attribute of society. The member of a society depends on one another for its smooth functioning. Members of different caste groups depend on each other in everyday life. Interdependent societies are more connected and integrated, but they are also more fragile, more brittle, and more vulnerable to cascading failures. So while highly integrated societies can accomplish feats that no group of unspecialized laborers could dream of, they do not do so well when subjected to shocks such as earthquakes, epidemics, financial crises, and political conflict. For Example, washerman, carpenter, cobbler, ironsmith, bus conductor are seen to be doing their own tasks yet depending upon each other. Co-operation and Conflict- Both co-operation and conflict are two another important characteristics of society. Because famous sociologist once remarked that "Society is Cooperation crossed by conflict". Co-operation is essential for the formation of society. Without co-operation there can be no society. People can't maintain a happy life without co-operation. Family being the first society rests on co-operation. Like co-operation conflict is also necessary for society. Conflict act as a cementing factor for strengthening social relations. In a healthy and welldeveloped society both co-operation and conflict co-exist. Because with the help of these two universal process society is formed. Conflict makes cooperation meaningful. Conflict may be direct and indirect. However, both are necessary for society.

Community What is Community? Community is a concrete entity.’ Whenever the members of any group, small or large, live together in such a way that they share the basic conditions of a common life, we call that group a community ’. They share the same physical environment and the basic conditions of common living. A neighbourhood or a village are good examples of a community. The term community is one of the most elusive and vague in sociology and is by now largely without specific meaning. At the minimum it refers to a collection of people in a geographical area.

Characteristic of Community  Community refers to an aggregate of individuals.  It is associated with a locality.  The members of the community have strong community sentiments or a sense of belongingness or we feeling.  Community as a group of people is created spontaneously over a long period of time.  It has more permanence or endurance than those groups which are created with a purpose.  Community serves wider ends.  A community is usually associated with a specific name.

Bases of Community The Community as Locality: Community always occupies a territorial area. Most communities are settled and derive from the conditions of their locality a strong bond of solidarity. They cannot establish relations and generate the we-feeling among themselves. Living together facilities people to develop social contacts,

give protection, safety and security. Locality continues to be a basic factor of community life. Community Sentiment: Social coherence is necessary to give them a community character. Locality, though a necessary condition, is not enough to create a community. People living in a community lead a common life, speak the same language, conform to the same mores, feel almost the same sentiment and therefore, they develop a feeling of unity among themselves. The three elements of community sentiment are: • We-feeling • Role-feeling • Dependency-feeling

Community Life in India  Agriculture base of economy  Peace and simplicity  Tradition and custom bound conduct  Povert and illiteracy  Traditional panchayati structures  Caste based division of labour and inter-dependence. Under the impact of british rule, population explosion,education etc., ‘We Feeling’ has been diluted to large extent.

Types of Community   

Location-based Communities Identity-based Communities Organizationally-based Communities

In the community, members have faith, customs, natural solidarity and a common will. A community may be big or small. A big community, such as a nation, a number of small communities and groups with closer. Small communities like village or neighborhood are the examples. Both the types of communities are essential to the full development of life.

Association What is Association? Association is a group of people, who come together and get organised for fulfillment of specific goals or purpose. It is a sociall group. Without people there can be no association. An unorganized group like crowd cannot be an association. For Example, Cricket club in your neighbourhood, music club and trade unions. According to Maclver, “An organization deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of some interest or set of interest, which the members of it share, is termed as association. Ginsberg writes, “An association is a group of social beings related to one another by the fact that they possess or have instituted in common an organization with a view to securing specific end or specific ends:”

Characteristics of Associations       

It consistes of group of indiviuals. The people are organized. There are cartain rules and regulations for the conduct of activities. These people carry out activities to attain certain specific goals. It is a concrete form of Organization. It is established. It exists for its aim and objects. The existence of association after his achievement of the aim becomes, immaterial and irrelevant. It becomes nominal and lifeless body of formalities only. “The aim is the soul of the association.” For example, a political party has to work together as a united group. An association is known essentially as an organized group. Organization gives stability and proper shape to an association. Organization refers to the way in which the statuses and roles are distributed among the members.

Institutions What is Institutions? Institutions refer to established codes of conduct for carrying out group activities. They refer to a set of rules and procedures, which provide guidelines for human activities. Institutions are blueprints for human action. We have two sets of meaning, 1.By Institutions, people generally mean an organization, for example people all hospitals and schools as institutions. 2. However, in sociology the meaning of institution is different. Here, this term is used to understand the ways of doing things. Other essential functions include maintenance of law and order in society. Institutions are the established ways of doing things. Institution is an abstract thing which refers to those rules and regulations, norms and values which come into being through social interaction and subsequently regulate the behavior pattern of the members of the society. They are then made more definite and specific with respect to the rules, prescribed acts and the apparatus to be used.” In his discussion Sumner implies that an institution has a degree of permanence. It should be added that it also in integrated with the other institutions of the society. Chapin has given a definition of an institution in terms of the cultural concept. “A social institution is a functional configuration of culture patterns (including actions, ideas, attitudes and cultural equipment) which possesses a certain permanence, and which is intended to satisfy felt social needs.

Characteristics of Institutions 1.Cluster of Social Usage 2. Relative degree of Permanence 3.Well-defined Objectives 4.Cultural Objects of Utilitarian Value 5. Symbols are a Characteristic Feature of Institution 6. Institution has Definite Traditions 7. Institutions are Transmitters of the Social Heritage 8. Institutions are Resistant to Social Change

Functions of Institutions 1. Institutions Simplify Action for the Individual 2. Institutions Provide a Means of Social Control 3. Institutions Provide a Role and Status for Individuals 4. Institutions Provide Order to the Society 5. Institutions act as Stimulant 6. Institutions act as Harmonizing Agencies in the Total Cultural Configuration 7. Institutions Display Tension between Stability and Change

Religion Expressive institutions

Education or socialization

Institutions

Political

Social Institutions

Economy

Difference Society

Community

Association

Institution

It includes every relation between people.

Associated with a definite territory.

People organize with particular purpose in mind.

Institutions are forms of procedures and way of doing things.

Indians spread across the world feel that they are part of Indian society.

Indian inhibiting southhall in london could be called an Indian community of Southhall.

State, Flood relief association, political party are examples of association

College, family, marriage etc. are the example of institution.

Society have a stable and long past.

Community have a Association lacks continuity and long stability and past. temporary in nature.

institutions are stable and permanent in nature.

Society is an abstract mental construct.

Community is a concrete entity.

Institutions are abstract

Associations are concrete in nature.

Sociological Imagination What is Sociological Imagination? It is the ability to look beyond the individual as the cause for success/failure and see how one’s society influences the outcome. Sociological imagination is not a theory but an outlook of society which tries to steer us into thinking away from one's usual day-to-day life and look at one's life afresh. Specifically, the sociological imagination involves an individual developing a deep understanding of how their biography is a result of historical process and occurs within a larger social context. Sociological imagination is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another.

Real life application Sociological imagination can be applied in everyday life. For example: Tea drinking can be seen as a means of maintaining good health in the way that one might take daily supplements or vitamins. Tea drinking can be considered a tradition or a ritual, as many people choose to make tea in the same way every day at a certain time. Tea drinking can be considered an addiction because it contains caffeine. Tea drinking can be seen as a social activity because "meeting for tea" focuses less on the beverage and more on talking with others. Unemployment, education, deviance, and marriage are not singular situations.

Sociological Perspective The sociological perspective is a perspective on human behavior and its connection to society as a whole. It invites us to look for the connections between the behavior of individual people and the structures of the society in which they live. Sociologists analyze social phenomena at different levels and from different perspectives. From concrete interpretations to sweeping generalizations of society and social behavior, sociologists study everything from specific events.

Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionism perspective, the functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective. These perspectives offer sociologists theoretical paradigms for explaining how society influences people.

Functionalism :

Functionalism views society as a system of interrelated parts. It is a macro (large scale) orientation because it studies how social structures affect how a society works. Each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society's functioning as a whole. The government, or state, provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. For example, during a financial recession with its high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are trimmed or cut. Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their budgets. And a new social order, stability, and productivity occur. Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, or cohesion, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. Emile Durkheim suggested that social consensus takes one of two forms:

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Mechanical solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when people in a society maintain similar values and beliefs and engage in similar types of work. Mechanical solidarity most commonly occurs in traditional, simple societies such as those in which everyone herds cattle or farms. Amish society exemplifies mechanical solidarity.

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In contrast, organic solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises when the people in a society are interdependent, but hold to varying values and beliefs and engage in varying types of work. Organic solidarity most commonly occurs in industrialized, complex societies such those in large.

TYPES OF SUICIDE Egoistic when people lack solidarity Altruistic result when the level of solidarity is exceptionally high, suicide bomber Fatalistic result from too much social control Anomic occur as a result of rapid change, usually economic Criticism of Functionalism: • Critics of functionalism sometimes claim that this paradigm does not take into account the influence of wealth and power on the formation of society. • Functionalists are accused of supporting the status quo, even when it may be harmful to do so. • Functionalists may argue that society works for the greatest number of people. • Change will arise when problems become “big enough”. • However, critics would argue that this belief results in many minorities being ignored. • Functionalist perspective often fails to recognize how inequalities in social class, race, and gender perpetuate imbalance in our society.

Conflict Theory:

Conflict theory is a theoretical framework that views society in a struggle for scarce resources. Studies issues such as race, gender, social class, criminal justice, and international relations. For example, may interpret an “elite” board of regents raising tuition to pay for esoteric new

programs that raise the prestige of a local college as self‐serving rather than as beneficial for students. Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which the potential for inequality exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on. Conflict theorists note that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete against one another. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever‐ changing nature of society. The essence of conflict theory suggests that a pyramid structure of power a wealth exists in society. The elite at the top of the pyramid determine the rules for those below. The paradigm applies to social class, race, gender, marriage, religion, population, environment, and a host of other social phenomena. Marx suggested that in a capitalist system, the bourgeoisie or members of the capitalist class, own most of the wealth because they control the businesses and the workers in a capitalist system the proletariat, the poor working class of society. They do all the work and the owners reap all the benefits. It was because of false consciousness or lack of understanding of their position in society. He proposed that the works must develop class consciousness. He believed that once workers recognized, they would unite to end the tyranny and oppression.

Criticism of Conflict:  Critics of conflict theory often accuse it of being too radical.  This paradigm often becomes synonymous with the idea that powerful people oppress the weak.  A simple reading of conflict theory can also seem to make the notion of conflict seem like a bad thing.

Symbolic Interactionism:

Symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other. Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber's assertion that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world. According to the symbolic interactionism perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act

according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers to something beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. They suggest that the symbols we use are arbitrary, meaning that they vary from culture to culture. Context and setting affects our understanding of a social event. Social order results when the members of society share common definitions of what is appropriate. Studies of relationships, race, deviance, and even social movements can all use a symbolic interactionism approach. Herbert Blumer established three basic premises that define the symbolic interactionism perspective: 1. Human beings behave toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things. 2. The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of the social interaction that one has with others and society. 3. These meanings are handled in and modified through an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things him or her encounters. Criticism of Symbolic Interactionism Critics suggest that his perspective ignores the coercive effects of social structure, focusing too much on the power of the individual to co-create his or her world. How are the three paradigms interrelated?  No single paradigm fits every situation.  To get a complete picture, many sociologists use all three paradigms.  In this way, the three paradigms are interrelated and work together to help us figure out why society is the way it is.

Status Most people associate status with the prestige of a person’s lifestyle, education, or vocation. According to sociologists, Status describes the position a person occupies in a particular setting. We all occupy several statuses and play the roles that may be associated with them. In every society people build their everyday lives using the idea of status. In everyday use, the word status generally means “prestige”. It is a part of our social identity and helps define our relationship to others.

Status Set The term status set refers to all the statuses a person hold at a given time. A teenage girl may be a daughter to her parents, a sister to her brother, a student at her school. It change over the life course,. A child grows up to become a parent, a student. Over a lifetime, people gain and lose dozens of statuses.

Ascribed and Achieved Status An ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily later in life. It matter about which we have little or no choice. For example, Daughter, a Cuban, a teenager or a widower. An achieved status is a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort. For example, Honors student, Olympic athlete, nurse, software, writer and thief.

In the real world, of course, most statuses involve a combination of ascription and achievement. That is, people’s ascribed statuses influence the statuses they achieve. People who achieve the status of lawyer, for example, are likely to share the ascribed benefit of being born into relatively well-off families. By the same token, many less desirable statuses, such as criminal, drug addict, or unemployed worker, are more easily achieved by people born into poverty.

Master Status A master status is a status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person’s entire life. For most people, a job is a master status because it reveals a great deal about a person’s social background, education, and income. It can be negative as well as positive. For example, serious illness. Sometimes people, even longtime friends, avoid cancer patients or people with AIDS because of their illnesses. As another example, the fact that all societies limit the opportunities of women makes gender a master status. Sometimes a physical disability serves as a master status to the point where we dehumanize people by seeing them only in terms of their disability.

Roles A Role is the set of norms, values, behaviors, and personality characteristics attached to a status. An individual may occupy the statuses of student, employee, and club president and play one or more roles with each one. .A person holds a status and performs a role. Both statuses and roles vary by culture. In every society, actual role performance varies with an individual’s unique personality, and some societies permit more individual expression of a role than others.

Role Set Everyday life is a mix of many roles. The term role set to identify a number of roles attached to a single status. A global perspective shows that the roles people use to define their lives differ from society to society. In low-income countries, people spend fewer years as students,and family roles are often very important to social identity. In high-income nations, people spend more years as students, and family roles are typically less important to social identity.

Role Conflict and Role Strain Role Conflict results from the competing demands of two or more roles that vie for our time and energy. The more statuses we have, and the more roles we take on, the more likely we are to experience role conflict. For Example, A working father is expected at work on time but is late because one of his children is sick. His roles as father and employee are then in conflict. A role for his father status dictates that he care for his sick child, while a role for his employee status demands that he arrive at work on time. Role strain refers to tension among the roles connected to a single status. For Example, A college professor may enjoy being friendly with students. At the same time, however, the professor must maintain the personal distance needed to evaluate students fairly. One strategy for minimizing role conflict is separating parts of our lives so that we perform roles for one status at one time and place and carry out roles connected

to another status in a completely different setting. A familiar example of this idea is deciding to “leave the job at work” before heading home to the family.

Role Exit When an individual stops engaging in a role previously central to their identity and the process of establishing a new identity. For Example: When an individual retires from a long career and must transition from the role of worker with deadlines and responsibilities to a leisurely life or when an individual becomes a parent and has to change their lifestyle. Role exit is commonly associated with any of two different factors: social characteristics or role-set factors. Social characteristics refer to conditions such as a person's marital status, sex and age. Role-set factors refer to elements linked with a person's performance within the role. For instance, individuals unable to participate in two or more exclusive roles may need to exit one. Role exits may also occur because of a critical event or injury to the individual. Organizational changes, doubts and altered expectations with the role may cause people to exit the role.

Culture Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life. Culture includes what we think, how we act, and what we own. Culture is both our link to the past and our guide to the future. To understand all that culture is, we consider both thoughts and things. Nonmaterial culture is the ideas created by members of a society, ideas that range from art to Zen. For Example, Food, clothing, cars, weapons and buildings. Material culture, by contrast, is the physical things created by members of a society, everything from armchairs to zippers. It consists of the intangible aspects of a culture, such as values and beliefs. A Value is a culturally approved concept about what is right or wrong, desirable or undesirable. Values are a culture’s principles about how things should be and differ greatly from society to society. For Example, In the United States today, many women value thinness as a standard of beauty. In Ghana, however, most people would consider American fashion models sickly and undesirable. In that culture and others, robustness is valued over skinniness as a marker of beauty.

Hierarchy of Cultures In societies where there are different kinds of people, one group is usually larger or more powerful than the others. Generally, societies consist of a dominant culture, subcultures, and countercultures. Dominant Culture: The Dominant Culture in a society is the group whose members are in the majority or who wield more power than other groups. Subculture: A Subculture is a group that lives differently from, but not opposed to, the dominant culture. A subculture is a culture within a culture.

The Interaction of Cultures When many different cultures live together in one society, misunderstandings, biases, and judgments are inevitable—but fair evaluations, relationships, and learning experiences are also possible. Cultures cannot remain entirely separate, no matter how different they are, and the resulting effects are varied and widespread. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge another culture by the standards of one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism usually entails the notion that one’s own culture is superior to everyone else’s. Example: Americans tend to value technological advancement, industrialization, and the accumulation of wealth. An American, applying his or her own standards to a culture that does not value those things, may view that culture as “primitive” or “uncivilized.” Such labels are not just statements but judgments: they imply that it is better to be urbanized and industrialized than it is to carry on another kind of lifestyle.When missionaries go to other countries to convert the local people to their brand of religion, they are practicing ethnocentrism. Missionaries usually want to convert people to their own forms of worship, and they sometimes encourage people to give up their religious beliefs. Cultural Relativism is the examination of a cultural trait within the context of that culture. Cultural relativists try to understand unfamiliar values and norms without judging them and without applying the standards of their own culture. Example: In India, the concepts of dating, love, and marriage differ from those in the United States. Though love is important, parents choose their children’s spouses according to similarities in educational levels, religions, castes, and family backgrounds. The practices of other cultures can be and often are jarring, and even the most adept cultural relativist is not immune to culture shock. Culture Shock is the surprise, disorientation, and fear people can experience when they encounter a new culture. Example, Encountering an unfamiliar subculture in one’s own country, spending time with very rich or very poor people, or spending time with a group of people who hold radical or unfamiliar political views can produce culture shock just as much as encountering a brand-new culture in a foreign country.

Groups A social group is two or more people who identify with and interact with one another. Human beings come together in couples, families, and circles of friends, churches, clubs, businesses, neighborhoods, and large organizations. A group is made up of people with shared experiences, loyalties and interests. .People all over the country with a status in common, such as women, homeowners, soldiers, millionaires, college graduates, and Roman Catholics are not a group but a category.

Types of Groups Primary groups: Primary groups play the most critical role in our lives. The primary group is usually fairly small and is made up of individuals who generally engage face-to-face in long-term emotional ways. This group serves emotional needs: expressive functions rather than pragmatic ones. The primary group is usually made up of significant others, those individuals who have the most impact on our socialization. The best example of a primary group is the family. Secondary groups are often larger and impersonal. They may also be task-focused and time-limited. These groups serve an instrumental function rather than an expressive one, meaning that their role is more goal- or task-oriented than emotional. A classroom or office can be an example of a secondary group. Neither primary nor secondary groups are bound by strict definitions or set limits. In fact, people can move from one group to another. A graduate seminar, for example, can start as a secondary group focused on the class at hand, but as the students work together throughout their program, they may find common interests and strong ties that transform them into a primary group.

In-Groups and Out-Groups In-group is the group that an individual feels she belongs to, and she believes it to be an integral part of who she is. An out-group is a group someone doesn’t belong to; often we may feel disdain or competition in relationship to an out-group.

Sports teams, unions, and sororities are examples of in-groups and out-groups; people may belong to, or be an outsider to, any of these. Primary groups consist of both in-groups and out-groups, as do secondary groups.

Reference Groups A reference group is a group that people compare themselves to—it provides a standard of measurement. Most people have more than one reference group, so a middle school boy might look not just at his classmates but also at his older brother’s friends and see a different set of norms. And he might observe the antics of his favorite athletes for yet another set of behaviors. For Example, Cultural center, workplace, family gathering, and even parents. At all ages, we use reference groups to help guide our behavior and show us social norms. Reference groups can also become your in-groups or out-groups. For instance, different groups on campus might solicit you to join.

Social Stratification In all societies people differ from each other on the basis of their age, sex and personal characteristics. Human society is not homogeneous but heterogeneous. Apart from the natural differences, human beings are also differentiated according to socially approved criteria. So socially differentiated men are treated as socially unequal from the point of view of enjoyment of social rewards like status, power, income etc. That may be called social inequality. The term social inequality simply refers to the existence of socially created inequalities. Social stratification is a particular form of social inequality. All societies arrange their members in terms of superiority, inferiority and equality. Stratification is a process of interaction or differentiation whereby some people come to rank higher than others. All societies are stratifies which mean segmented. All relation in society based on power.

Types of Stratification  Caste  Class  Gender (i)

(ii)

(iii)

Caste is a hereditary endogamous social group in which a person’s rank and its accompanying rights and obligations are ascribed on the basis of his birth into a particular group. For example-Brahmins, Kshatrias, Vaishyas and Shudras Caste. Class-Stratification on the basis of class is dominant in modern society. In this, a person’s position depends to a very great extent upon achievement and his ability to use to advantage the inborn characteristics and wealth that he may possess. Gender-Stratification refers to the social ranking, where men typically inhabit higher statuses than women. Often the terms gender

inequality and gender stratification are used interchangeably. There are a variety of approaches to the study of gender stratification. Most of the research in this area focuses on differences between men’s and women’s life circumstances, broadly defined.

Social Mobility Social mobility refers to the movement within the social structure, from one social position to another. It means a change in social status. All societies provide some opportunity for social mobility. But the societies differ from each other to extent in which individuals can move from one class or status level to another. It differs from society to society from time to time.

Types of Social Mobility  

Vertical Mobility Horizontal Mobility

Vertical Mobility: It refers to the movement of people from one stratum to another or from one status to another. It brings changes in class, occupation and power. It involves movement from lower to higher or higher to lower. There are two types of vertical mobility. One is upward and other is downward mobility.

When an individual moves from lower status to higher status, it is called upward mobility. For example, if the son of a peon joins a bank as an officer, it is said to be upward social mobility but if he loses the job due to any other reason or inefficiency, he is downwardly mobile from his previous job. So downward

mobility takes place when a person moves down from one position to another and change his status. Horizontal Mobility: It refers to the movement of people from one social group to another situated on the same level. It means that the ranks of these two groups are not different. It indicates change in position without the change in status. For example, if a teacher leaves one school and joins another school or a bank officer leaves one branch to work in another or change of residence are the horizontal mobility.

1. Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences. 2. Social stratification carries over from generation to generation. 3. Social stratification is universal but variable. 4. Social stratification involves not just inequality but beliefs as well.