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SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744and the typewriter, there is no such mutual recognition. The psychical condition, a characteristicfeature of social relationship, is lacking here, (ii) the second feature is a sense of belongingtogether or a consciousness of kind, as Giddings puts it. A society consists of people who shareattitudes, beliefs and ideals in common. There might, of course, be feuds and mutual hostilityamong members of a society. But these are, in the nature of things, transitory and occasional. Inthe words of MacIver: “Co-operation crossed by conflict marks society wherever it isrevealed ”Modern SocietyFrom the structural point of view, society is the total social heritage of folkways, mores, andinstitutions; of habits, sentiments and ideals. The structure of a human society is similar to thestructure of a building, which has three components: (i) the building material such as bricks, mortar,beams and pillars, (ii) all these are arranged in a definite order and are placed in relationship to oneanother, and (iii) all these put together make a building one unit. The same three sets of featurescan be used to describe the structure of a society. A society consists of (i) males and females,adults and children, various occupational and religious groups and so on, (ii) the interrelationshipbetween various parts (such as relationship between husband and wife, between parents and childrenand between various groups), and (iii) all the parts of the society are put together to work as a unit.Thus, the term social structure refers to the way the various parts are organized and follow stablepatterns of collective rules, roles and activities. Although, the structure itself remains invisible, itsilently shapes our actions. The basic elements of social structure which guides our actions arestatuses, social roles, norms and values.Society as a Process and Society as a Structure:The concepts of status and role are integral to the understanding of society as a processas well as structure. While status refers to a position occupied by an individual in a group or insociety, role is the expected behaviour of an individual who holds a certain status.Status is usually defined as the rank or position of a person in a group, or of a group inrelation to other group. In fact, some sociologists prefer to use the term5www.iasgurukul.com7, Basement, Apsara Arcade, near Karol Bagh Metro Station Gate # 7, Karol Bagh, New Delhi

SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744‘position’ instead of status. Role is the behaviour expected of one who holds a particular status.Each person may hold a number of statuses and be expected to fill roles appropriate to them. In asense, status and role are two aspects of the same phenomenon. A status is a set of privileges andduties; a role is the acting out of this set of duties and privileges.Status, thus, is the ‘socially defined location or place’ which an individual occupies in asystem of interaction or society. Thus, in any interaction, none of the participant is without status. Itshould also be clear that every individual occupies multiple statuses. Even a young infant is a son,a grandson, a brother, a nephew, and so on. There is, however, one key status in terms of whichthe individual is ultimately and evaluated. In modern societies, one’s occupation indicates one’s keystatus. Individuals in society play different roles and societies evaluate these roles differently. Someroles are regarded more valuable and the persons who perform these roles are given higher status.It is important to note that interaction among the members in a social situation takes placeon the basis of identity of each participant. This identity of an individual is established either on thebasis of his birth or on the basis of his achievements, which refers to his position or status in agroup or in a society. Status may be ascribed or achieved. Ascribed status is assigned to anindividual either on the basis of his birth and biological characteristics such as sex, age and race orthe status of his/ her parents. In India caste plays a significant role in determining the status of anindividual, which is an example of ascribed status. Achieved status is a position which anindividual attains through personal efforts. For instance, one can become a doctor, engineer orlawyer by one's own efforts. Persons occupying the status may be replaced but the positionswill continue to exist in the social structure.Each distinctive status, whether ascribed or achieved, has certain role expectation. Role isthe expected behaviour of an individual who holds a certain status. While status is the positionalaspect of behaviour, role is the behavioural aspect of a given status or position. Role maybe defined as a pattern of behaviour, structured around specific rights and duties andassociated with a particular status position within a group or social situation. A person’s role inany situation is defined by the set of expectations for his behaviour held by others and by personhimself. However, actual performance may vary from individual to individual. Ralph Linton, in hisfamous work ‘The Study of Man’, has referred to role as dynamic aspect of the status andargued that a role is the totality of all the cultural patterns associated with a particular status.The concept of role was initially developed by Ralph Linton. According to Linton,individuals occupy positions in different aspects of social life. Some examples of this are being afather or mother in a family. A person can also be a teacher in a school. He or she can alsosimultaneously be an office holder in an association. These positions are called statuses by Linton.In Linton’s words, ‘statuses are the polar positions. in patterns of reciprocal behaviour’. A polarposition comprises ‘a collection of rights and duties’. Thus he conceived of status as a group ofrights and duties. When a person is enacting these rights and duties, he is said to be performing arole. For example, when a teacher gives a lecture, he is performing his duty or performing his roleof a teacher. Linton pointed out that a role is the dynamic side of status. It puts into action thevarious rights and duties.Please note that if we consider just a point of time, both status and role wouldappear to be static concepts. Status is fixed and unchanging. So also is role. Viewed in this context,the society is a structure. However, if we consider a period of time, both status and role would6www.iasgurukul.com7, Basement, Apsara Arcade, near Karol Bagh Metro Station Gate # 7, Karol Bagh, New Delhi

SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744appear to be dynamic concepts. Status changes in relation to other statuses from time to time. Thereis a corresponding change in role also. Viewed in the context of period of time, it would thus appearthat society is a process and that social relationships are in a state of flux. If there is any equilibriumin society, it is a moving equilibrium. The society is thus viewed both as a process as well asstructure. One who studies society must take into account both these views.As MacIver has also said: “Society exists only as a time-sequence. It is a becoming, not aproduct”. This is the essence of society. Thus, society is to be interpreted in a wider sense. It is botha structural and functional organisation. It consists in the mutual interactions and mutualinterrelations of the individuals but it is also a structure formed by these relations.CommunityAccording to MacIver and Page, “wherever the members of any group, small or large,live together in such a way that they share the basic conditions of a common life, than such agroup may be called a community.” The mark of a community is that one’s life may be livedwholly within it. The basic criterion of community then is that all of one’s social relationships maybe found within it. Communities need not always be self-sufficient. Some communities are allinclusive and independent of others. But modern communities, even very large ones, are much lessself-contained. Economic and, increasingly so, political interdependence is a major characteristic ofour great modern communities. Communities may exist within greater communities: the townwithin a region, the region within a nation, and the nation within the world community which,perhaps, is in the process of development.MacIver defines community as “an area of social living marked by some degree ofsocial coherence.” The bases of community are locality and community sentiment. Mostcommunities are settled and derive from the conditions of their locality a strong bond ofsolidarity. To some extent this local bond has been weakened in the modern world by the extendingfacilities of communications: this is especially apparent in the penetration into rural areas ofdominant urban patterns. But the extension of communication is itself the condition of a largercommunity. Community sentiment is another key feature of a community. Locality, though anecessary condition, is not enough to create a community. A community, to repeat, is an area ofcommon living. There must be the common living with its awareness of sharing a way of life aswell as the common earth. Some scholars argue that a community always occupies a territorial area.The area need not be fixed for ever. The people may change their area of habitation from time totime just as nomadic community does.Some other important definitions of community given by some prominent scholars are as follows:“Community is a social group with some degree of ‘we-feeling’ and living in given area” Bogardus“Community is the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life.”-Kingsley Davis“Community is any circle of people who live together and belong together in such a way that theydo not share this or that particular interest only, but a whole set of interests.”-Manheim7www.iasgurukul.com7, Basement, Apsara Arcade, near Karol Bagh Metro Station Gate # 7, Karol Bagh, New Delhi

SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744Difference between Society and CommunityWhile society may be defined as a web of social relationships, community, on the otherhand, consists of a group of individuals living in a particular area with some degree of ‘we-feeling’.A definite geographic area is not an essential aspect of society but community always denotes adefinite locality or geographic area. While society is abstract, community is concrete. Communitysentiment or a sense of ‘we-feeling’ may be present or may not be present in society butcommunity sentiment is an essential element of community. There can be no community in itsabsence. Society is wider; while there can be more than one community in a society. Theobjectives and interests of society are more extensive and varied as compared to that of acommunity. Society involves both likeness and difference. Common interests as well as diverseinterests are present in society. But likeness is more important than difference in community. Thereis common agreement of interests and objectives on the part of members.AssociationAn association is a group of people organized for a particular purpose or a limited numberof purposes. According to some scholars, to constitute an association there must be, firstly, a groupof people. Secondly, these people must be organized ones i.e. there must be certain rules fortheir conduct in the group. Thirdly, they must have a common purpose of specific nature topursue. Thus family, church, trade union, music club all are the instances of association.Associations may be formed on several bases, for example, on the basis of duration i.e. temporaryor permanent like Flood Relief Association which is temporary and State which is permanent. Onthe basis of power i.e. sovereign like state, semi-sovereign like university, etc. On the basis offunction i.e. biological like family, vocational like Trade Union, recreational like music club, etc.“An association may be defined as an organisation deliberately formed for the collectivepursuit of some interest or set of interests which its members share.”- MacIverDifference between Association and CommunityAn association, according to MacIver and Page, may be defined as a group organized forthe pursuit of an interest or group of interests in common, whereas the mark of a community isthat one’s life may be lived wholly within it or in other words, its members share the very basicconditions of a common life. Membership of an association is voluntary i.e. individuals are atliberty to join them, while on the other hand, by birth itself individuals become members of acommunity. An association does not necessarily imply the spatial aspects while a community ismarked by a locality. An association may be stable and long-lasting or it may not be so but acommunity is relatively more stable and permanent. Further, associations may have their legal statusbut a community has no legal status. Associations may have their own rules and regulations toregulate the relations of their members. They may have written or unwritten rules. A communityregulates the behaviour of its members by means of customs, traditions and social norms, etc.Association is partial and it may be regarded as a part of the community. While communityon the other hand is integral as it may have within its boundary, several associations.Thus an association is not a community, but an organization within a community and acommunity is more than any specific organizations that rise within it. However, association8www.iasgurukul.com7, Basement, Apsara Arcade, near Karol Bagh Metro Station Gate # 7, Karol Bagh, New Delhi

SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744may become communities at least temporarily over a period of time; for example, the military unitsmay create their own communities when isolated for a period of time. The qualification, expresslyorganized, enables us to distinguish between association and other social groups. There aremany forms and types of social groups, class and crowd, primary and secondary groups, face-toface groups and great associations. But a social class, for example, is not an association.Organizations established on class lines such as certain political parties are associations, but aclass itself is not a group expressly organized to pursue certain ends or to fulfill certain functions.Nor is the group we term a crowd an association, though certain crowds in some situations mayacquire the characteristics of temporary associations.InstitutionsInstitutions are the forms of procedure which are recognized and accepted by society andgovern the relations between individuals and groups. In other words, a social institution refers to aninterrelated system of social roles and norms organized about the satisfaction of an important socialneed or function. The social roles and norms comprising the social institution define proper andexpected behaviour oriented to the fulfilment of the particular social, economic, political or physicalneed. Marriage, education, property, religion, etc. are some of the main institutions in any givensociety. The concept of institution is one of the most important in the entire field of sociology. Infact, Durkheim has gone to the extent of defining sociology as the science of social institutions.Some important definitions of institution are as follows:“Institutions may be defined as the established forms or conditions of procedurecharacteristic of group activity.”-MacIver and Page“Institutions represent the social structure and the machinery through which humansociety organizes, directs and executes the multifarious activities required to satisfy human needs”.-H. E. Barnes“A social institution is a structure of society that is organized to meet the need of peoplechiefly through well established procedures.”-BogardusEssentially institutions are social in nature. Institutions come into being due to thecollective activities of the people. Another important feature is their universality. They exist in allthe societies and existed at all the stages of social development. The basic institutions likefamily, religion, property and some kind of political institutions are observed even in the tribal orprimitive societies. Further it is important to note that institutions are nothing but standardizednorms and procedures. They prescribe certain ways of doing things. They prescribe rules andregulations that are to be followed, for example, marriage as an institution governs the relationsbetween the husband and wife. Institutions are formed to satisfy some of the most basic and vitalneeds of man, such as, need for self- preservation, the need for self-perpetuation, the need for selfexpression, etc.Institutions also act as the controlling mechanisms in a society. Institutions like religion,morality, state, government, law, legislation, etc., control the behaviour of men. These mechanismspreserve the social order and give stability to it. Further institutions are relatively permanent.9www.iasgurukul.com7, Basement, Apsara Arcade, near Karol Bagh Metro Station Gate # 7, Karol Bagh, New Delhi

SOCIOLOGY BY PRANAY AGGARWAL IAS GURUKULCall 99996 93744Institutions normally do not undergo sudden or rapid changes. Changes take place slowly andgradually in them. Institutions are abstract in nature. They are not external, visible or tangiblethings. Institutions may have their own symbols, material or non-material, for example, the state hasflag, emblem, etc. as its symbols while religion may have its own symbols like crucifix, crescent,star, swastika, etc. Institutions, though diverse, are interrelated. The social, economic, political,religious, educational and other types of institutions are essentially interlinked with each other.Related to the concept of institution are the concepts of custom, folkways and mores. Thissection deals with the concept of custom and its interrelationship with the concept of institution. Theconcepts of folkways and mores are discussed subsequently.Underlying and sustaining the more formal order of institutions and associations thereexists an intricate complex of usages or modes of behaviour. Thus there are acceptedprocedures of eating, conversing, meeting folks, wooing, training the young, caring for the aged,etc. These socially accredited ways of acting are the customs of society. We conform to thecustoms of our own society, in a sense, “unconsciously,” for they are a strongly

Herbert Spencer developed his systematic study of society and adopted the word “sociology in his works. With the contributions of Spencer and others it (sociology) became the . broadest sense, sociology is the study of human interactions an