lec i society: an introduction

SOCIETY

DR. IMRAN AHMAD SAJID

Ibn-e-Khaldun

• Man is Gregarious by Nature• Mankind can not survive without living

together1. By nature, man can not live without food– Man can not fulfill his food necessities all by

himself

Protection• Man can not protect himself without the help of others. – By nature, man is physically weaker than majority of other

animals• All other animals have been given an organ for

protection or defense– Man has been given mind and hands– Man invented weapons for his protection– Individually, man can not protect himself even from a single

animal—especially predators

Concluding, • without cooperation with each other, man

cannot survive. – Man can not fulfill his food necessities. – Man can not fulfill his needs for protection.

What is a Society? • Does it refer to your village? • your District? • Peshawar? • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? • Do you think Police, Courts, Hospitals, Mosques, Parks, Roads,

Dams, Airports, Bus Stands, Schools, Markets, and other such places constitute society?

• Do you think Pakhtun are a society or Chitral is a Society? • Does it refer to an NGO? e.g SPARC? (Society for the Protection

of the Rights of the Child) • People on Facebook? Facebook Society?

You are not completely wrong

Taureg of Northern Africa

Definition • A.W. Green

– Society is the largest group in which people have relationships • MacIver and Page

– Society is the web of social relationships which is ever changing • John J. Macionis

– Society refers to people who interact in a defined territory and share a culture

• The Urban Dictionary– A group of people that set a standard and everyone that is

affected by that standard is part of it.

• Linton – Any group of people who have lived and worked together long

enough to get themselves organized and to think of themselves as a social unit with well defined limits.

• Theodorson & Theodorson (Modern Dictionary of Sociology)– Society is a group of people with a common, at least somewhat

distinct culture who occupy a particular territorial area, have a feeling of unity and regard themselves as a distinguishable entity.

• Wikipedia – Society [is a] group of people sharing the same geographical or

virtual territory and therefore subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

• What makes the way of life of people such as Tuareg of the Sahara so different from your life as a University student in Peshawar?

• How and why do all societies change over time?

• What forces divide a society? • What forces hold a society together?

The Answer: Technology

• Gerhard Lenski provided an insight into how technology changed societies

Elements of Society

1. Aggregate of People 2. Interaction 3. Having a common culture*4. Geographical / virtual boundaries

*Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together form a people’s way of life (Macionis, 2012.p.54).

Aspects of Society 1. Communities2. Culture– Shared culture can create sub communities of

people within a society due to their shared attitudes, values, goals and practices.– Cultural heritage

3. Economy : - a system of producing and distributing goods and services

4. Education System5. Government6. Identity – Interaction with others within our society helps

shape our identity, (along with our gender, class & cultural origins), and a shared society can promote a sense of shared identity.

7. Infrastructure

8. Institutions9. Land10. Law

– Law enforcement (e.g. Police etc)

11. Military 12. Natural resources13. People14. Politics and Political System 15. Social structure: the way in which the major social

institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation. – Social order– Social stratification

Types of Society1. Static Society 2. Folk Society3. Gemeinschaft4. Close Society5. Primitive Society6. Urban Society7. Rural Society8. Industrial Society9. Secular Society10. Sacred Society11. Nomadic vs Sedentary Society 12. Traditional vs Modern Society(Iqbal Ch.pp40-45)

Remember: these are ideal types of societies or ideal concepts of societies. One society may show characteristics of more than one type.

1. Static Society

• a society that experience very little or no change from one generation to another generation or at least two generations.

• In a static society, each generation’s life is a replica of its predecessor’s.

• Although there is evolutionary change but not deliberate-rational-innovative change.

• Static society is unaware of change but is caught in it.

Rural and Tribal societies may b referred to as static societies.

2. Folk Society

• a folk society is small, isolated, non-literate, and homogeneous with a strong sense of group solidarity. It is completely cohesive. – Behaviour: Spontaneous, traditional, uncritical, and personal– No formal legal system– Intellectual pursuit for knowledge almost non- existent– Informal social control– No police– Frequent and intense interaction – Unit of action is family

Concept developed by U.S. anthropologist Robert Redfield,

Static + Folk

• Manchar Lake Jamshoro - 350 to 520 SqKm• Largest freshwater lake in Pakistan and one

of Asia's largest.• fisherfolk, near village Kot Lashari Bobak

depended on the freshwater fish they caught in the lake

3. Gemeinschaft

• German Sociologist Ferdinand Tonnis • Refers to rural society– Moderate division of labour– Close association and kinship– Strong family system– Close cooperation and intimate interaction – Collective sense of loyalty– Racial and ethnic homogeneity

4. Close Society

• A form of society in which social class is based primarily on family status rather than personal abilities and achievements. – It’s a variation of caste based society – Person is known by family, class and caste

5. Primitive Society

• A non-literate society. • Simple technology, homogeneity, isolation– lack of a written language, – small population– slow rate of socio-cultural change. – History and beliefs are passed on through an oral

tradition

Aboriginals of Australia

6. Urban Society

• Large heterogeneous population, • Complex division of labour• Impersonal social relations• Formal system for social control– Existence of police, courts, and prisons

• High availability of government services• Regular reward for work in cash

Peshawar

7. Rural Society

• It is usually agricultural society. It is a society where people live immediately on agriculture.

• Dwight Sanderson: Form of society maintained between people and their institutions in a local area in which they lived on dispersed farmstead and in a village which usually forms the center of their activities.

8. Industrial Society

• a society that uses advanced sources of energy to derive large scale machinery for producing goods

• A considerable portion of its economy is tied to jobs that involve mechanized labor.

• Rapid means of transport and a wide network of communications has been developed.

• disappearance of the joint family system• A system of nuclear families has emerged.

9. Secular Society

• A society where there is no state religion.• Non-religious society. • Former USSR• Highly unstable. • Heterogenous

10. Sacred Society

• A Sacred Society is a society where people share a common religion, dream or a common ideals or even a common heritage.

• Primarily homogeneous, integrated and stable. • Human relationship and value systems are

regarded as absolute, natural, rigid, and fixed. • Examples – Makka, Madina, Vatican State– Tibet `

11. Nomadic vs Sedentary Society • Nomadic: a nomadic society has no permanent place of

settlement. People roam from place to place with their luggage on the backs of camels, horses and donkeys in search of food and water.

• Sedentary: a society that has a permanent settlement in rural or/and urban areas.

12. Traditional vs Modern Society

• TRADITIONAL• Society with simple culture and few social

institutions, • simple and slow means of communication, • very little urban life• Minimum social change• Homogeneous population

• MODERN • Society based on education, technology,

industry and urban life. • Complex culture, • Faster social change • Heterogeneous population