SOCIOLOGY – LECTURE 8

IRUM KHAN
OBJECTIVES

 Describe the differences between pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial societies

 Understand and explain forms of social interaction
 Understand and explain the major theories of social interaction
 Understand the cyberspace interaction
SOCIETY

 A system of social interaction that includes both culture and social organization
 Society includes social institutions and social structure
 Social Organizations:
 The order established in social groups.

 Social Structure:
 The patterns of social relationships and social institutions that makeup society
FORMS OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

 Groups
 A group is a collection of individuals who interact and
communicate with each other, share goals and norms and
have a subjective awareness of themselves as a distinct
social unit.
 Status
 Hierarchical position in a structure

 Role
 Expected behavior associated with a particular status
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

 An established and organized system of social behavior

with recognized purpose
 Major institutions includes family, education, religion,
work, economy, political institution or state, health care,
mass media, organized sports and military.
 Traditional societies comprise of few social institutions
(family kinship, religion)
 Modern societies are complex and have many
institutions
TYPES OF SOCIETIES

Hunter-
Gatherer
Societies

Pastoral
Societies
Pre-Industrial
Horticultural
Societies
Types of Industrial
Societies Societies
Agricultural
Societies
Post-Industrial
Societies

Further Ref: Table 5.1 Page 102 – Sociology: The Essentials by Margaret L. Anderson & Howard F. Taylor
HUNTER-GATHERER SOCIETIES

 Indicate basic structure of society

 About 10-12 years old social structure
 Based on social institutions of kinship, family and tribes
 Nomadic / semi0nmadic way of life with 50-60 members
 Individual depends on nature for their basic survival
 Hunt wild animals and look for uncultivated plants or fruits
to satisfy hunger
 Limited social resources
 Division of labor is based on age and gender
PASTORAL SOCIETIES

 Survival depends on domestication of animals and

cultivation of plants
 Obtained ability to breed animals and use them for
food, transportation and clothing
 Nomads
 Specialized occupations
 Divided labor: peasants, breeders, traders
HORTICULTURE SOCIETIES

 Obtained ability to cultivate and grow plants without

moving from one place to another
 Established on geographical locations that allowed
cultivation
 Social class emerged leading to religion, warfare,
privilege pursuit
 Structure was complex with institutions of family,
kinship, governments, religion etc.
 Governed by leaders with hereditary authority
(kings) & religion (priests)
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

 Ability to develop metal tools, wheels and better

irrigation system
 New techniques of cultivation
 Seasonal cultivation and use of fertilizer for bigger
surplus crops
 Non-farmers moved to urban areas finding work in
trades
 People engaging in innovative, creative activities as
leisure activities
 Era referred as ‘Dawn of Civilization’
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

 Major revolution in production was industrialization

 Energy generation techniques were used
 James Watt and Mathew Bolton invented steam engine (1972)
to replace horses
 Economy was based on production of non-agriculture goods
 Mass production expanded cities an transformed its
institutions
 Education and its related fields expanded as institutions
 Focus on cars, clothes, computers and efficient production of
goods.
POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES

 Information/digital society
 Focus on production of information and services
 Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are James Watt & Mathew Bolton of
digital society
 Higher division of labor
 Social class based of education
 Information technology has changed social structure of
society
THEORIES OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

 Social Construction of reality

 We impose meaning and reality in our interaction with others

 Ethnomethodology
 Deliberate interruption of interaction with others

 Impression Management
 A person gives off a particular impression to ‘con’ the other and achieve certain goals

 Social exchange and Game Theory

 One engages in game like reward and punishment interactions to achieve one’s goal
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION THEORY

 Society holds together with something that is shared – a shared social reality
 The idea that our perception of what is real is determined by the subjective meaning that we attribute
to an experience, a principle central to Symbolic Interaction Theory (Burger and Luckmann 1967;
Blumer 1969)
 Things do not have their intrinsic meaning (objective reality); We subjectively impose meaning on
things
 People see different realities in same situations based on their human interactions and experiences
 Language is essential system to help us establish reality
 Applying causation and meaning to inanimate things: Marble rolled down the table because ‘It wanted
to!”
ETHNOMETHODOLOGY
GARFINKLE (1967)

 ‘Ethno’ for People ;‘Methodology’ for mode of study

 To study the norms, one must break them to reveal the subsequent
behavior and actual roots of development of the norm
 Human interaction takes place within a consensus ; Consensus is
revealed by people’s background expectancies
 We are not wholly conscious of what norms we use even when
they are shared. Ethnomethodology is designed to ‘uncover’ these
norms
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT & DRAMATURGY
ERVING GOFFMAN (1959)

 Process by which people control how others perceive them

 The impression that one wishes to ‘give off’;
 A type of ‘con’ game ; we willfully attempt to manipulate others impression of us
 Social interaction is just a big con game
 Dramaturgy : The way of analyzing interaction that assumes the participants are actors on a stage in the drama of
everyday social life
 People present different faces, on different stages (different situations/roles) with different others
 Embarrassment is a spontaneous reaction to a sudden challenge to our identity
SOCIAL EXCHANGE AND GAME THEORY

 Our interaction are determined by the rewards and punishments that we receive from others.
 An interaction that elicits approval from another is most likely to be repeated or continued than an
interaction that elicits punishment
 Rewards may consist of tangible or intangible gains
 Punishments may be physical, verbal or non-verbal
 Grown out of ‘Game Theory’: Human interaction has characteristics of game namely strategies,
winners, losers, rewards, punishment. Profits and costs
CYBERSPACE INTERACTION

 Interactions through computers and technological gadgets

 Social norms develop in cyberspace as they do in face-to-face
(f2f) interactions
 Individual can manipulate the impression he/she gives off and
create a new ‘virtual’ self
 Somewhat works like ‘Impression Management’ / ‘Dramaturgy’
REF. NOTES
REF. NOTES
THANKYOU AND GOOD LUCK
IRUM.KHAN@CUST.EDU.PK