Community and society

In 1887, Ferdinand Tonnies, a German

sociologist, introduced in the West one of the
more enduring and effective ways of
understanding social change. He proposed that
we understand social change by distinguishing
between communities and societies. For him

1) Gemeinschaft (community): social life

characterized by intimate, private and
exclusive living together, members bound by
common language and traditions, recognized
common goods and evils, common friends and
enemies, sense of we-ness or our-ness,
humane
 2) Gesellschaft (association): characterized
large city, city life is a mechanical aggregate
characterized by disunity, rampant
individualism and selfishness, meaning of
existence shifts from group to individual.
 There are three types of Gemeinschaft
relationships: Kinship, Friendship, and
Neighborhood or Locality
 1.1) Kinship Gemeinschaft is based on Family;
the strongest relationship being between
mother and child, then husband and wife, and
then siblings.
 1.2) Kinship develops and differentiates into
the Gemeinschaft of Locality, which is based
on a common habitat
 1.3) There is also Friendship, or Gemeinschaft
of the mind, which requires a common mental
community (religion).
Stacey argued:
“Community goes far beyond mere local community, is
a fusion of feeling and thought, of tradition and
commitment, of membership and volition. Community
is founded on people conceived in their wholeness,
rather than in one or other of the roles, taken
separately, that they may hold in the social order.”

One of the most prominent scholars on the debates on

community is Ferdinand Tönnies a German Sociologist.
Tönnies developed two strands of school of thought: (1)
‘Community’ that is reference to social groups on the
foundation of the feeling of togetherness and thus the
creation of a mutual bond. (2) ‘Association’ that refers
to social groups being in strumental for residents living
in their community.
Gemeinschaft (traditional small community)
People cooperate with
each other very closely.

This behavior being

determined by kinship ties.

This behavior reinforced by

the social controls of their
neighbors and of the church.
 Village Community
The village communities are little republics, having
nearly everything they want within themselves, and
almost independent of any foreign relations.They
seemed to last where nothing else lasted. Dynasty
after dynasty tumbled down; revolution succeeded
revolution. Hindu, Pathan, Moghul, Marathe, Sikh,
English all the masters change in turn,but the village
community remained the same- Charles Metcalfe
Louis Dumont refers to three meaning of the term
“village community”:
1.As a political society.

2.As a body of the co-owners of the soil.

3.As the emblem of traditional economy and polity, “a

watchword of Indian patriotism.
 Village Community: Characteristics
1. Social Homogeneity
2. Dominance of Primary Relations
3. Informal Social Control
4. Occupations
5. Importance of Family
6. Faith in Religion
7. Conservatism and Dogmatism

There is greater social disintegration in the urban towns

than in the villages. Sorokin and Zimmerman have
written, “The rural community is similar to calm
water in a pale and the urban community to
boiling water in kettle”.
 Gesellschaft (modern urban society)

Individuals act for their own

self-interest.
Cooperating only as much as
required by
 Laws
 Contracts

 Public opinion that constrains

their actions
In the society of his time, he
perceived that small, close,
traditional family-oriented
communities were being gradually superseded by
large and impersonal cities.
 Functions…

 The functions the community performs include the

maintenance of a way of life or culture.

 Another important function is the satisfaction of

common needs, interests, and ambitions.

 Members of a community must be aware of its

“we-ness”.

 For environment/suprasystem – a community must

also meet the needs of its environment in order to
survive.
 Social Network

 Structural Aspects (Boundaries) – the

boundaries that separate communities
from larger and smaller social units (the
so-called vertical hierarchy) are often
difficult to establish precisely.

 Communities are subordinate to larger,

regional networks and to industrial and
communication centers in their economic
and social affairs.
A network may be seen as an interlocking set of roles with
relatively specific functions, compared to groups that are
broader in their functions.
 Socialization is essential to the life of a
community. If new members are not
socialized into the community to supply new
energy (negentropy), it becomes entropic.

 Social networks have communication as their

major function.

 Social networks resemble groups and

communities in some respects while
resembling organizations in other aspects.
 Aspects of Community Systems
 Evolutionary Aspects – the first cities were
burial places to which wandering tribes returned
at certain times to perform ceremonies that
ensured the stability of the universe.

 The character of a particular community is

determined by its relationship to other
communities and the society within which it
exists, by the characteristics of its components.

 Divisions of social class or status, ethnic or

racial heritage, religion, or ideology, continue to
frustrate efforts to strengthen a sense of “the
common” shared by all inhabitants.
 The Sociological Perspective

Observations are certainly impacted by the

personal perspectives through which people
come to view the world
Sociological Perspective…
A perspective is a particular point of view or a
particular way of looking at an issue.
Seeing the strange in the familiar:
“Things aren’t always what they seem”- Peter Berger:

 Sociology asks students to:

 Give up familiar assumptions

 Know that society influences people by

guiding thoughts and behaviors

 Any doubts???
 To what real extent did your own “free

will” enter into your decision to attend

college?
 What about external social forces?
 Social Location - Corners in Life
Jobs- Income- Education-Gender-Age-Race/Ethnicity

Theoretical Perspectives:
Basic Sociology
 Analyzing an aspect of society and
publishing their findings in books and
sociology journals
Applied Sociology
 Using sociology to solve problems
Public Sociology
 A middle ground between research &
 The Sociological Perspective….

Seeing individuality in social context

 Emile Durkheim’s research on suicide

showed that some categories are more

likely to commit suicide than others.
Society affects even our most personal
choices.
 More likely to commit suicide: males,

Protestants, wealthy, and unmarried.

 Less likely to commit suicide: females,

Jews, Catholics, the poor, and married.

 Benefits of the Sociological Perspective

1. Helps us assess the truth of “common

sense”
2. Helps us assess both opportunities and
constraints in our lives
3. Empowers us to be active participants
in our society
4. Helps us to recognize diversity and live
in a diverse world
Karl Marx:
Sociologist’s task is to analyze and explain

conflict.
Conflict is shaped by the means of
production.
Industrialization resulted in two classes:
owners and laborers.

Emile Durkheim:
Provided insights into the social forces that

contributed to the rise of a “global village”.

As Division of Labor becomes more
specialized, and as sources of material
Class and Class Conflict
Division of Labor: Social Solidarity
 Summary and Review

Perspective Level of Point of View Explaining the

Analysis Homelessness

Functionalist Macro Various parts of Examine how changes in

society are parts of society have
interdependent increased homelessness.
and related.
Conflict Macro Struggle for scarce Examine the struggle
resources by between social classes.
groups in society.
Symbolic Micro How people use Analyze the culture and
Interactionist symbols to create communication of
society. homeless people.
 Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills’ sociological

imagination
 Society is often responsible for many of
our problems
 We need to learn to separate things that
have to do with
 Personal troubles, or biography
 Social issues, or history

Examples:
 Women’s opportunities at the turn of the
century and these days
 Lifestyles of those we label disabled in
Sociological Imagination-C. Wright Mills

 C. Wright Mills coined the term

“sociological imagination” to refer
to “...the vivid awareness of the
relationship between private
experience and the wider society.”

 Makes the distinction between

“the personal troubles of
milieu” and “the public issues
of social structure”.
 Ability to observe how interactions and actions are
influential upon other individuals and situations.

Ability to "think yourself away from the familiar

routines of everyday life" and look at them from an
entirely new perspective.
 Milieu or Milieux
Cultural surroundings or cultural context

Personal
Trouble
Or
Public
Issue?
 Sociological Imagination-Crisis of Identity

What is the sociological imagination? Explain.

According to Mills, why do we want to have a

sociological imagination?

Do you ever feel indifferent (apathy)? About what

things? Why or why not? Explain.

Do you currently feel an uneasiness (anxiety) about

issues in your own community? If so, what are they?
Explain why?
 Example of Social Imagination: "Tea Drinking"
In one case, it can be seen as a sign of good
health.
It could be considered a tradition or ritual as

many people chose to drink tea ritualistically

each day at certain times.
It could be considered a type drug being that it

contains caffeine and the drinker of the tea could

have a caffeine addiction.
It can also be seen as a social activity; "meeting

for tea"
 focuses less on the drinking of the beverage

and more on the action of meeting with

another person.
 Other Behaviors that involve Social Imagination

Exercising
Drinking Coffee
Cooking
Bike Riding
Running
Writing
Reading
Public Speaking
Going to College
Dropping out of School
According to Mills, what is the PROMISE of sociology?

The task of sociology is:

To turn indifference (apathy) and uneasiness

(anxiety) into well-being

But, how does sociology do that?

Explore the things that make you feel

uncomfortable.

Be thoughtful and honest…make the most of the

opportunity to reflect on your life and the world
around you.
 Mills captures the essential lesson of sociology
•To truly understand people’s behavior, we must look
beyond those individuals to the larger social contexts
in which they live.

•Individuals make choices, but their choices are

constrained by social, historical, cultural, political and
economic factors.

• Most important, people frequently do not even

realize the extent to which their lives are affected by
things that are external to them and outside their
control.

•The main point is, if we are to understand people’s

THINK IN TERMS OF FAMILY,
THE ECONOMY, RELIGION,
THE
LEGAL SYSTEM, AND
SCHOOL
 SOCIAL PARADIGMS
Theory: a statement of how and why facts are related.
Paradigm: a set of fundamental assumptions that
guides thinking.
Down People hold differing
WITH
opinions
PEOPLE
about their social world.
UP WITH
PEOPLE

We all come from different

Social experiences and they
bias our assumptions.
 Scientific Method
Systematic, organized series of steps that ensures
maximum objectivity and consistency in
researching a problem.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research:

Quantitative research focuses on data that can

be measured numerically.
 Example: comparing rates of suicide

Qualitative research focuses on interpretive

description rather than statistics to analyze
underlying meanings and patterns of social
relationships.
 Conventional Research Model

1. Select and define the research problem.

2. Review previous research.

3. Formulate the hypothesis.

4. Develop the research design.

5. Collect and analyze the data.

6. Draw conclusions and report the findings.

 Scientific Method

Defining the Problem

Operational definition: Explanation of an
abstract concept that is specific enough
to allow researchers to assess the concept.

Reviewing the Literature

Identify previous research: This avoids unwanted
replication and provides insight for current research
approach
 Formulating the Hypothesis

Hypothesis: Speculative statement about the

relationship between two or more factors
known as variables.

Variable: Measurable trait or characteristic

subject to change under different conditions.

• Independent variable: Variable hypothesized

to cause or influence another

• Dependent variable: Action depends

on the influence of the independent variable
 Collecting and Analyzing Data

Selecting the Sample

Sample: Selection from a larger population
that is statistically typical of that population.

Random sample: When every member of a

population has the same chance of being
selected.

Snowball samples – participants recruited

through word of mouth or by posting notices
on the Internet.