UNDERSTANDING CULTURE SOCIETY AND POLITICS

The Concept of Society

Meaning and Nature of Society
According to sociologist, a society is a group of people with common
territory, interaction, and culture. Arcinas (2016) in his book,
Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics, defined society as group of
people who share a common territory and culture. It is a group of
people living together in a definite territory, having a sense. of
belongingness, mutually interdependent of each other, and follow a
certain way of life. Society is derived from the Latin term “societas”,
from socius, which means companion or associate. Thus, it refers to all
people, collectively regarded as constituting a community of related,
interdependent individuals living in a definite place, following a certain
mode of life (Ariola, 2012). Definition of society has two types - the
functional definition and the structural definition. From the functional
point of view, society is defined as a complex of groups in reciprocal
relationships, interacting upon one another, enabling human organisms
to carry on their life-activities and helping each person to fulfill his
wishes and accomplish his interests in association with his fellows.
From the structural point of view, society is the total social heritage of
folkways, mores and institutions, of habits, sentiments and ideals. The
important aspect of society is the system of relationships, the pattern
of the norms of interaction by which the members of the society
maintain themselves. The following are reasons people live together as
a society (Ariola, 2012):
a. For survival – No man is an island. No man can live alone. From birth
to death, man always depends upon his parents and from others. The
care, support, and protection given by them are important factors for
survival.
b. Feeling of gregariousness – This is the desire of people to be with
other people, especially of their own culture. People flock together. for
emotional warmth and belongingness. the need for approval, sympathy
and understanding to which the individual belongs is a psychosocial
need. Among Filipinos, the feeling of gregariousness is found in all
levels of society, especially among the lower socio- economic classes.
The more the person is needy, the more he craves sympathy and
understanding from someone else.
c. Specialization – Teachers, businessmen, students, physicians, nurses,
lawyers, pharmacists, and other professionals organize themselves into
societies or associations to promote and protect their own professions.
Characteristics of Society
Society comprises of a group of people who share a common culture,
live in a particular area and feel themselves to constitute a unified and
distinct entity. Society or human society is a group of people related to
each other through persistent relations such as kinship, marriage, social
status, roles and social networks. By extension, society denotes the
people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a
whole.
Society has the following characteristics:
1. It is a social system. A social system consists of individuals interacting
with rach other. A system consists of sub-parts whereby a change in
one part affects the other parts. Thus, a change in one group of
individuals will affect the stability of the other parts of the system.
2. It is relatively large. The people must be socially integrated to be
considered relatively large than if the people are individually scattered.
Thus, the people in a family, clan, tribe, neighborhood, community are
socially integrated to be relatively large in scope.
3. It socializes its members and from those from without. Since most of
society’s members are born to it, they are taught the basic norms and
expectations. Those who come from other societies, before being
accepted as functioning members, are socialized and taught the basic
norms and expectations of the society.
4. It endures, produces, and sustains its members for generations. For
society to survive, it must have the ability to produce, endure and
sustain its new members for at least several generations. For instance,
if a society cannot assist its members during their extreme conditions of
hunger and poverty, that society will not survive long.
5. It holds its members through a common culture. The individuals in a
society are held together because that society has symbols, norms,
values, patterns of interaction, vision and mission that are commonly
shared by the members of such society.
6. It has clearly-defined geographical territory. The members in a
society must live in a certain specific habitat or place and have a
common belongingness and sense of purpose.
Major Functions of Society
A society is important because they have the following functions:
1. It provides a system of socialization. Knowledge and skills, dominant
patterns of behavior, moral and social values, and aspects of
personality are transmitted to each members, especially to the young.
the family, the peer group, the school, the church and other
government and non-government organizations play a role in the
individual’s development.
2. It provides the basic needs of its members. Food, clothing, shelter,
medicine, education, transportations and communication facilities,
among others must be provided by society to satisfy the basic needds
of its members.
3. It regulates and controls people’s behavior. Conformity to the
prevailing norms of conduct ensures social control. The police, armed
forces, law enforcement agencies and even the church and other
government and non-government organizations exist as means of social
control. Peace and order are created through a system of norms and
formal organizations.
4. It provides the means of social participation. Through social
participation, the individuals in a society learn to interact with each
other, present and discuss their concerns and solve their own problems
or renew their commitment and values. the people are give the
opportunities to contribute to their knowledge and skills for the
betterment of their family, neighborhood and community. religious
organizations, civic organizations, people’s organizations (PO) and non-
government organizations (NGOs) do their part in community
development.
5. It provides mutual support to the members. Mutual support is
provided to the members of society in the form of relief in any form
and solution to problems met by them. This form of assistance may
come from the family, neighbors, clans, government and non-
government agencies, civic and religious organizations.
Types of Societies
Societies exist in particular places and times, and they change over
time. Societies are organized in particular patterns, patterns that are
shaped by a range of factors, including the way people procure food,
the availability of resources, contact with other societies, and cultural
beliefs. For example, people can change from herding to farming only if
they have the knowledge, skills, and desire to do so and only in
environments that will support agriculture. As societies develop,
changes take place in the social structures and relationships between
people that characterize each type of society. For example, in
industrialized societies, relationships between people typically must
become more formal because people must interact with strangers and
not just relatives. It is important to note that not all societies go
through all stages. Some are jolted into the future by political events or
changes in the global system, and some resist pressures to become
modernized and continue to live in simpler social systems. Sociologists
and anthropologists (experts who study early and tribal cultures)
identified different types and classification of societies. Below are the
different types of societies as mentioned by Ariola (2012) in his book
Sociology and Anthropology with Family Planning:
Dissolution of a Society
There are several ways by which a society is dissolved: (1) when the people kill
each other through civil revolution; (2) when an outside force exterminates the
members of the society; (3) when the members become apathetic among
themselves or have no more sense of belongingness; (4) when a small society is
absorbed by a stronger and larger society by means of conquest or territorial
absorption; (5) when an existing society is submerged in water killing all the
people and other living things in it; or (60 when the people living in such a society
voluntarily attach themselves to another existing society.