SOCIETY AND SOCIAL

INTERACTION

SOC 101
BY
DR. IWELUMOR O. S
OUTLINE
 Human Society
 Characteristics of Society
 Types of Societies
OBJECTIVES
 By the end of this class, you should be able to:

i. Analyze the concept of society

ii. Explain the characteristics of society
iii. Describe the difference between preindustrial, industrial, and
postindustrial societies
DEFINING SOCIETY
 The term society is derived from the Latin word ‘socius’ which means
association, togetherness, or simply group life. It also means sociability,
which indicates that humans always need a social structure, interactions
and culture.
 Sociologists have defined society using 2 viewpoints:

a. In abstract terms, as a network of relationships between people or

between groups.
b. In concrete terms, as a collection of people or an organization of persons.
 Durkheim argued that society is an independent reality from individuals,
and exists in its own right, exerting an influence over individuals within a
‘bounded territory.’
 The concept of society refers to a relatively large grouping or collectivity of
people who share more or less common and distinct culture, occupying a
certain geographical locality, with the feeling of identity or belongingness,
having all the necessary social arrangements or insinuations to sustain
itself
 In sociological terms, a society is a group of people with common territory,
interaction, and culture. In order words, it refers to a group of people who
live in a definable community and share the same culture.
 In abstract terms, for Maclver and Page, society is an abstract entity -
“We may see the people but cannot see society or social structure but
only its external aspects … society is distinct from physical reality”.
 Talcott Parsons regarded society as the most general term referring to the
whole complex of relations of man to his fellows.
 Giddens and Sutton, (2007) argued that society is a concept used to
describe the structured relations and institutions among a large
community of people which cannot be reduced to a simple collection or
aggregation of individuals.
 Social relationships are invisible and abstract. We can just realize them
but cannot see or touch them. Therefore, society is abstract.
 When society is viewed from the point of view of persons who constitute
it, it takes the shape of ‘a society’ instead of ‘society”. Concrete versus
abstract.
 If society is viewed as a web of social relation­ships, it is distinct from the
physical entity which we can see and perceive through the senses.
 Reuter wrote: “Just as life is not a thing but a process of living, so, society
is not a thing but a process of associating”.
 Lenski (1924-2015)) defined societies in terms of their technological
sophistication. Throughout history, technological developments have
sometimes brought about dramatic change that has propelled human
society into its next age.
 As a society advances, so does its use of technology.
 Societies with rudimentary technology depend on the fluctuations of
their environments, while industrialized societies have more control over
the impact of their surroundings and thus develop different cultural
features.
 This distinction is so important that sociologists generally classify
societies along a spectrum of their level of industrialization—from
preindustrial to industrial to postindustrial.
 “Society exists only as a time sequence. It is becoming, not a being; a
process and not a product” (Maclver and Page, 1956). In other words, as
soon as the process ceases, the product disappears.
You can see that technology is the key to understanding the
sweeping changes that produced our society. Let’s review
these broad changes. As we do, picture yourself as a
member of each society. Consider how your life—even your
thoughts and values—would be different as a member of
these societies.
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF SOCIETIES
 PREINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

 In early human societies, social norms and beliefs were largely shaped by
the need for survival, cooperation, and communal living. Societies were
small, rural, and dependent largely on local resources.
 In preindustrial societies, economic production was limited to the amount
of labor a human being could provide, and there were few specialized
occupations. The very first occupation was that of hunter-gatherer.
Hunting and Gathering Societies
 Earliest form of human society; until about 12,000 years ago, all societies
were hunting and gathering societies.
 The members of hunting and gathering societies primarily survive by
hunting animals, fishing, and gathering edible plants. The vast majority of
these societies existed in the past, with only a few (perhaps a million
people total) living today on the verge of extinction. Examples aret he
Bambuti, a group of pygmy hunter-gatherers residing in the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
1.They have the smallest size(based on kinship or tribes). The primary
institution is the family, which decides how food is to be shared, how
members are to be socialized, and provides for the protection of its
members.
2.They tend to be small, with fewer than fifty members.
3.They tend to be very nomadic, moving to new areas when the current food
supply in a given area has been exhausted.
4.Members display a high level of interdependence.
5.Very simple division of labor division based on sex: men hunt, and women
gather. Males probably traveled long distances to hunt and capture larger
animals. Females hunted smaller animals, gathered plants, made clothing,
protected and raised children, and helped the males protect the community
from rival groups.
6.Longest lasting society(99% of all societal time)
 The first social revolution—the domestication of plants and animals—led
to the birth of the horticultural and pastoral societies.
 PASTORAL SOCIETIES

 Members of pastoral societies reared animals for food and transportation.

 Pastoral societies still exist today, primarily in the desert lands of North Africa
where horticulture and manufacturing are not possible. Pastoral societies,
such as the Maasai villagers, rely on the domestication of animals as a
resource for survival.
 Unlike earlier hunter-gatherers who depended entirely on existing resources
to stay alive, pastoral groups were able to breed livestock for food, clothing,
and transportation.
 Domesticating animals allows for a more manageable food supply than
hunting and gathering.
 Therefore, pastoral societies were able to produce surplus goods and store
food for future use. With storage comes the desire to develop settlements
that permit the society to remain in a single place for longer periods. And
with stability comes the trade of surplus goods between neighboring pastoral
communities.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
 Around the same time that pastoral societies were on the rise,
horticultural societies developed.
 Unlike pastoral societies that rely on domesticating animals,
horticultural societies rely on cultivating fruits, vegetables, and
plants.
 In horticultural society, hand tools are used to tend crops. The first
horticultural societies sprang up in different parts of the planet in the
most fertile areas of the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The tools
they used were simple: sticks or hoe-like instruments used to punch
holes in the ground so that crops could be planted. With the advent of
horticultural machinery, people no longer had to depend on the
gathering of edible plants—they could now grow their own food. They no
longer had to leave an area when the food supply was exhausted, as
they could stay in one place until the soil was depleted. Villages (less
than a hundred inhabitants to several hundred)
 Like hunting and gathering societies, horticultural societies had to be mobile.
 They largely depended on the environment for survival, but since they didn’t
have to abandon their location to follow resources, they were able to start
permanent settlements. This created more stability and more material goods
and became the basis for the first revolution in human survival.
 Horticultural societies occasionally produced a surplus, which permitted
storage as well as the emergence of other professions not related to the
survival of the society.
 As techniques for raising crops and domesticating and breeding animals
improved, societies began to produce more food than they needed. Societies
also became larger and more permanently rooted to one location.
 For the first time in human history, not everyone was engaged in the
gathering or production of food. As a result, job specialization emerged.
While some people farmed or raised animals, others produced crafts,
became involved in trade, or provided such goods as farming tools or
clothing.
 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

 While pastoral and horticultural societies used small, temporary tools such as digging
sticks or hoes, agricultural societies relied on permanent tools for survival.
 An explosion of new technology known as the Agricultural Revolution made farming
possible and profitable. Farmers learned to rotate the types of crops grown on their fields
and to reuse waste products such as fertilizer, which led to better harvests and bigger
surpluses of food
 Foods cultivated largely include grains like wheat, rice, corn, and barley) over a large area.

 The invention of the plow during the horticultural and pastoral societies is considered the
second social revolution, and it led to the establishment of agricultural societies.
 The development of agricultural societies followed this general sequence:

 New tools for digging and harvesting were made of metal, and this made them more
effective and longer lasting. Members of an agricultural or agrarian society tend crops with
an animal harnessed to a plow. The use of animals to pull a plow eventually led to the
creation of cities.
 Human settlements grew into towns and cities, and particularly bountiful regions became
centers of trade and commerce.
• Animals are used to pull plows.
• Larger areas of land can then be cultivated.
• As the soil is aerated during plowing, it yields more crops for longer periods
of time.
• Productivity increases, and as long as there is plenty of food, people do not
have to move.
• Towns form, and then cities.
• As crop yields are high, it is no longer necessary for every member of the
society to engage in some form of farming, so some people begin developing
other skills. Job specialization increases.
• Fewer people are directly involved with the production of food, and the
economy becomes more complex.
 Around this same time, the wheel was invented, along with writing, numbers,
and what we would today call the arts.
 However, the invention of the steam engine—the third social revolution—
was what took humans from agricultural to industrial society.
FEUDAL SOCIETIES
 From the 9th to 15th centuries, feudalism was a form of society founded on
strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and protection.
 Unlike today's farmers, vassals under feudalism were bound to cultivating their
lord's land. The nobility, known as lords, placed vassals in charge of pieces of
land in exchange for military protection. In return for the resources that the land
provided, vassals fight for their lords.
 The lords exploited the peasants into providing food, crops, crafts, homage, and
other services to the owner of the land. The caste system of feudalism was often
multigenerational; the families of peasants may have cultivated their lord's land
for generations.
 Between the 14th and 16th centuries, a new economic system emerged that
began to replace feudalism. Capitalism is marked by open competition in a free
market, in which the means of production are privately owned. Europe's
exploration of the Americas served as one impetus for the development of
capitalism. The introduction of foreign metals, silks, and spices stimulated great
commercial activity in Europe and other places in the world.
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

 Industrial societies use advanced sources of energy, rather than humans and
animals, to run large machinery.
 Sociologists refer to the period during the 18th century when the production of goods
in mechanized factories began as the Industrial Revolution.
 Industrialization began in the mid-1700s, when the steam engine was first used in
Great Britain as a means of running other machines. By the twentieth century,
industrialized societies had changed dramatically:
 As productivity increased, means of transportation (train and the steamship) improved
to better facilitate the transfer of products from place to place. Great wealth was
attained by the few who owned factories, and the “masses” found jobs working in the
factories.
 Rural areas lost population because more and more people were engaged in factory
work and had to move to the cities.
 Fewer people were needed in agriculture, and societies became urbanized, which
means that the majority of the population lived within commuting distance of a major
city.
 Suburbs grew up around cities to provide city-dwellers with alternative
places to live- home cottages.
 The twentieth century also saw the invention of the automobile and the
harnessing of electricity, leading to faster and easier transportation, better
food storage, mass communication, and much more. Occupational
specialization became even more pronounced, and a person’s vocation
became more of an identifier than his or her family ties, as was common in
nonindustrial societies.
 People's life expectancy increased as their health improved.
 Political institutions changed into modern models of governance.
 Cultural diversity increased, as did social mobility. Large cities emerged as
places to find jobs in factories.
 Social power moved into the hands of business elites and governmental
officials, leading to struggles between industrialists and workers.
 Labor unions and welfare organizations formed in response to these disputes and
concerns over workers' welfare, including children who toiled in factories.
 The Industrial Revolution also saw to the development of bureaucratic forms of
organization, complete with written rules, job descriptions, impersonal positions,
and hierarchical methods of management.
Characteristics:
a. Most developed form of human society
b. Nation-states
c. Mega populations (metropolis)
d. Advanced technology in many fields
e. Less than 10% of population is involved in food production
f. Very detailed division of labor (gender roles remain)
g. Enormous capacity to destroy other societies
h. Less than one second old on the societal time clock
POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
 Information societies are sometimes known as postindustrial or
digital societies.
 It emerged from the decline of industrial production and the rise of
the service economy.
 Thus, unlike industrial societies that are rooted in the production
of material goods, information societies are based on the production
of information and services.
 Digital technology is the steam engine of information societies.
 Since the economy of information societies is driven by knowledge
and not material goods, power lies with those in charge of creating,
storing, and distributing information - Computer moguls such as
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, John D. Rockefellers and Cornelius
Vanderbilts.
 The rise of the service economy includes low-skill jobs but mostly high-skill

service jobs; low-skill jobs are found in domestic and personal service while
high-skill jobs are found in businesses providing services, e.g.,
management, health care, computer services, etc.

 Members of a postindustrial society are likely to be employed as sellers of

services—software programmers or business consultants, for example—

instead of producers of goods.

 Social classes are divided by access to education, since without technical

and communication skills, people in an information society lack the means

for success.
Other characteristic include:
 Decline of unions
 decline of class conflict with the decline of the industrial labor force.
 Rise of private sector, contract jobs etc.
 Global class structure that enables the exportation of jobs to low-wage
countries abroad.
 Increasingly employers in Post-Industrial societies seek the use of foreign
workers.
 BIOTECH SOCIETIES
 The changes swirling around us are so extensive that we may be stepping
into a new type of society. If so, the economy of this new biotech society
will center on applying and altering genetic structures—both plant and animal
—to produce food, medicine, and materials.
 If there is a new society—and this is not certain—when did it begin? There are
no firm edges to new societies, for each new one overlaps the one it is
replacing. The opening to a biotech society could have been 1953, when
Francis Crick and James Watson identified the double-helix structure of DNA.
Or perhaps historians will trace the date to the decoding of the human
genome in 2001.
 Whether the changes that are engulfing our lives are part of a new type of
society
or just a continuation of the one before it is not the main point. Keep your eye
on the significance of these changes: As society is transformed, it sweeps us
along with it. The transformation we are experiencing is so fundamental that
it will change even the ways we think about the self and life.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
SOCIETY
i. Society is abstract: Society is external to us and has an impact on our behavior,
thinking, and acting. It consists of customs, traditions, folkways, mores, and culture
which are also abstract.
ii. Likeness: It is this likeness or similarity that creates understanding between individuals.
This understanding lies at the root of all social relationships.
iii. Difference: Individuals differ from one another in their attitude ability, talent;
personality, and so on. People pursue different activities because of these differences.
If everyone was alike, social relationships would be extremely limited.
iv. Inter-dependence: Without people depending on one another for their needs, a society
would collapse.
v. Cooperation and Conflict: Both cooperation and conflict exist in society. If individuals do
not cooperate, they cannot live a happy life. According to Gisbert, ‘cooperation is the
most elementary process of social life without which society is impossible’. Along with
cooperation, there is conflict in society. Conflicts cause societies to evolve or change.
vi. Culture: All societies have their own unique culture. Members of a society share a
common culture.