Unit -3

Culture and Society

a) Culture and types of Culture
b) Society and Social structure
c) Status, Roles
d) Aspects of Culture: Values, Norms
e) Diversity
CULTURE
 Culture is derived from Latin Word : cultura,which means "cultivation" first began to
take its current usage by Europeans in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century (having had
earlier antecedents elsewhere), it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as
in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer first to the
betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to
the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-nineteenth century, some
scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.

 In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology,

encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics.
Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the
evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act
imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different
parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.

 A distinction is current between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called
material culture and everything else, the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that
are the main referent of the term "culture".

SOME DEFINITIONS
 Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations,
concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of
people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.

 Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.

 Culture is communication, communication is culture.

 Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's
learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior
through social learning.

 A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and

symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed
along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

 Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills,

knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and
deliberately perpetuated in a society through its institutions.
  Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and
transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups,
including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one
hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences
upon further action.

 Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are
generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from
generation to generation.

 Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from another.

Various Concepts
 Culture has been defined in number of ways. There is no consensus among sociologists
and anthropologists regarding the definition of culture. One of the most comprehensive
definitions of the term culture was provided by the British anthropologist Edward Tylor.
He defined culture as ” that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society”.

 Accoring to Herskovits: “Culture is the man made part of environment”

 “Culture is the complex whole that consists of everything we think and do and have as
members of society”, says Bierstedt.

 “Culture is the total content of the physio-social, bio-social and psycho-social universe
man has produced and the socially created mechanisms through which these social
product operate”, According to Anderson and Parker.

 Mlinowlski defines culture” as the handiwork of man and the medium through which he
achieves his ends.

Nature/Characteristics of Culture:
 From various definition, we can deduce the following characteristics:

1. Learned Behavior:
  Not all behavior is learned, but most of it is learned; combing one’s hair, standing in line,
telling jokes, criticizing the President and going to the movie, all constitute behaviours
which had to be learned.

 Sometimes the terms conscious learning and unconscious learning are used to
distinguish the learning. For example, the ways in which a small child learns to handle a
tyrannical father or a rejecting mother often affect the ways in which that child, ten or
fifteen years later, handles his relationships with other people.

 Some behavior is obvious. People can be seen going to football games, eating with forks,
or driving automobiles. Such behavior is called “overt” behavior. Other behavior is less
visible. Such activities as planning tomorrow are work (or) feeling hatred for an enemy,
are behaviors too. This sort of behaviour, which is not openly visible to other people, is
called Covert behavior. Both may be, of course, learned.

2. Culture is Abstract:
 Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture is the shared
ways of doing and thinking. There are degrees of visibility of cultural behaviour, ranging
from the regularized activities of persons to their internal reasons for so doing. In other
words, we cannot see culture as such we can only see human behaviour. This behaviour
occurs in regular, patterned fashion and it is called culture.

3. Culture is a Pattern of Learned Behaviour:

 The definition of culture indicated that the learned behaviour of people is patterned.
Each person’s behaviour often depends upon some particular behaviour of someone
else. The point is that, as a general rule, behaviours are somewhat integrated or
organized with related behaviours of other persons.

4. Culture is the Products of Behaviour:

 Culture learnings are the products of behaviour. As the person behaves, there occur
changes in him. He acquires the ability to swim, to feel hatred toward someone, or to
sympathize with someone. They have grown out of his previous behaviours.

 In both ways, then, human behaviour is the result of behaviour. The experience of other
people are impressed on one as he grows up, and also many of his traits and abilities
have grown out of his own past behaviours.

5. Culture includes Attitudes, Values Knowledge:

  There is widespread error in the thinking of many people who tend to regard the ideas,
attitudes, and notions which they have as “their own”. It is easy to overestimate the
uniqueness of one’s own attitudes and ideas. When there is agreement with other
people it is largely unnoticed, but when there is a disagreement or difference one is
usually conscious of it. Your differences however, may also be cultural. For example,
suppose you are a Catholic and the other person a Protestant.

6. Culture also includes Material Objects:

 Man’s behaviour results in creating objects. Men were behaving when they made these
things. To make these objects required numerous and various skills which human beings
gradually built up through the ages. Man has invented something else and so on.
Occasionally one encounters the view that man does not really “make” steel or a
battleship. All these things first existed in a “state nature”.

 Man merely modified their form, changed them from a state in which they were to the
state in which he now uses them. The chair was first a tree which man surely did not
make. But the chair is more than trees and the jet airplane is more than iron ore and so
forth.

7. Culture is shared by the Members of Society:

 The patterns of learned behaviour and the results of behaviour are possessed not by
one or a few person, but usually by a large proportion. Thus, many millions of persons
share such behaviour patterns as Christianity, the use of automobiles, or the English
language.

 Persons may share some part of a culture unequally. For example, as Americans do the
Christian religion. To some persons Christianity is the all important, predominating idea
in life. To others it is less preoccupying/important, and to still others it is of marginal
significance only.

 Sometimes the people share different aspects of culture. For example, among the
Christians, there are – Catholic and Protestant, liberal or conservation, as clergymen or
as laymen. The point to our discussion is not that culture or any part of it is shred
identically, but that it is shared by the members of society to a sufficient extent.

8. Culture is Super-organic:
 Culture is sometimes called super organic. It implies that “culture” is somehow superior
to “nature”. The word super-organic is useful when it implies that what may be quite a
different phenomenon from a cultural point of view.
  For example, a tree means different things to the botanist who studies it, the old
woman who uses it for shade in the late summer afternoon, the farmer who picks its
fruit, the motorist who collides with it and the young lovers who carve their initials in its
trunk. The same physical objects and physical characteristics, in other words, may
constitute a variety of quite different cultural objects and cultural characteristics.

9. Culture is Pervasive:
 Culture is pervasive it touches every aspect of life. The pervasiveness of culture is
manifest in two ways. First, culture provides an unquestioned context within which
individual action and response take place. Not only emotional action but relational
actions are governed by cultural norms. Second, culture pervades social activities and
institutions.

 According to Ruth Benedict, “A culture, like an individual is a more or less consistent

pattern of thought and action. With each culture there come into being characteristic
purposes not necessarily shared by other types of society. In obedience to these
purposes, each person further consolidates its experience and in proportion to the
urgency of these drives the heterogeneous items of behaviour; take more and more
congruous shape”.

10. Culture is a way of Life:

 Culture means simply the “way of life” of a people or their “design for living.” Kluckhohn
and Kelly define it in his sense, ” A culture is a historically derived system of explicit and
implicit designs for living, which tends to be shared by all or specially designed members
of a group.”

 Explicit culture refers to similarities in word and action which can be directly observed.
For example, the adolescent cultural behaviour can be generalized from regularities in
dress, mannerism and conversation. Implicit culture exists in abstract forms which are
not quite obvious.

11. Culture is a human Product:

 Culture is not a force, operating by itself and independent of the human actors. There is
an unconscious tendency to defy culture, to endow it with life and treat it as a thing.
Culture is a creation of society in interaction and depends for its existence upon the
continuance of society.

 In a strict sense, therefore, culture does not ‘do’ anything on its own. It does not cause
the individual to act in a particular way, nor does it ‘make’ the normal individual into a
 maladjusted one. Culture, in short, is a human product; it is not independently endowed
with life.

12. Culture is Idealistic:

 Culture embodies the ideas and norms of a group. It is sum-total of the ideal patterns
and norms of behaviour of a group. Culture consists of the intellectual, artistic and social
ideals and institutions which the members of the society profess and to which they
strive to confirm.

13. Culture is transmitted among members of Society:

 The cultural ways are learned by persons from persons. Many of them are “handed
down” by one’s elders, by parents, teachers, and others [of a somewhat older
generation]. Other cultural behaviours are “handed up” to elders. Some of the
transmission of culture is among contemporaries.

 For example, the styles of dress, political views, and the use of recent labour saving
devices. One does not acquire a behaviour pattern spontaneously. He learns it. That
means that someone teaches him and he learns. Much of the learning process both for
the teacher and the learner is quite unconscious, unintentional, or accidental.

14. Culture is continually changing:

 There is one fundamental and inescapable attribute (special quality) of culture, the fact
of unending change. Some societies at sometimes change slowly, and hence in
comparison to other societies seem not to be changing at all. But they are changing,
even though not obviously so.

15. Culture is Variable:

 Culture varies from society to society, group to group. Hence, we say culture of India or
England. Further culture varies from group to group within the same society. There are
subcultures within a culture. Cluster of patterns which are both related to general
culture of the society and yet distinguishable from it are called subcultures.

16. Culture is an integrated system:

 Culture possesses an order and system. Its various parts are integrated with each other
and any new element which is introduced is also integrated.

17. Language is the Chief Vehicle of Culture:

  Man lives not only in the present but also in the past and future. He is able to do this
because he possesses language which transmits to him what was learned in the past and
enables him to transmit the accumulated wisdom to the next generation. A specialised
language pattern serves as a common bond to the members of a particular group or
subculture. Although culture is transmitted in a variety of ways, language is one of the
most important vehicles for perpetuating cultural patterns.

 To conclude culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by the members
of a society. It is culture that, in the wide focus of the world, distinguishes individual
from individual, group from group and society.

Aspects of culture
 Following are the aspects of culture
1. Food
2. Clothing
3. Recreation
4. Government
5. Education
6. Language
7. Religion
8. Transportation
9. Economy
10.Environment
11. Arts
12. Celebrations

Functions of Culture:
Among all groups of people we find widely shared beliefs, norms, values and
preferences. Since culture seems to be universal human phenomenon, it occurs naturally to
wonder whether culture corresponds to any universal human needs. This curiosity raises the
question of the functions of culture. Social scientists have discussed various functions of
culture. Culture has certain functions for both individual and society. Following are some of the
important functions of culture:
1. Culture Defines Situations:
 Each culture has many subtle cues which define each situation. It reveals whether one
should prepare to fight, run, laugh or make love. For example, suppose someone
approaches you with right hand outstretched at waist level. What does this mean? That
 he wishes to shake hands in friendly greeting is perfectly obvious – obvious, that is to
anyone familiar with our culture.

 But in another place or time the outstretched hand might mean hostility or warning.
One does not know what to do in a situation until he has defined the situation. Each
society has its insults and fighting words. The cues (hints) which define situations appear
in infinite variety. A person who moves from one society into another will spend many
years misreading the cues. For example, laughing at the wrong places.

2. Culture defines Attitudes, Values and Goals:

 Each person learns in his culture what is good, true, and beautiful. Attitudes, values and
goals are defined by the culture. While the individual normally learns them as
unconsciously as he learns the language. Attitudes are tendencies to feel and act in
certain ways. Values are measures of goodness or desirability, for example, we value
private property, (representative) Government and many other things and experience.

 Goals are those attainments which our values define as worthy, (e.g.) winning the race,
gaining the affections of a particular girl, or becoming president of the firm. By
approving certain goals and ridiculing others, the culture channels individual ambitions.
In these ways culture determines the goals of life.

3. Culture defines Myths, Legends, and the Supernatural:

 Myths and legends are important part of every culture. They may inspire, reinforce
effort and sacrifice and bring comfort in bereavement. Whether they are true is
sociologically unimportant. Ghosts are real to people who believe in them and who act
upon this belief. We cannot understand the behavior of any group without knowing
something of the myths, legends, and supernatural beliefs they hold. Myths and legends
are powerful forces in a group’s behavior.

 Culture also provides the individual with a ready-made view of the universe. The nature
of divine power and the important moral issues are defined by the culture. The
individual does not have to select, but is trained in a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim
or some other religious tradition. This tradition gives answers for the major (things
imponderable) of life, and fortuities the individual to meet life’s crises.

4. Culture provides Behavior Patterns:

 The individual need not go through painful trial and error learning to know what foods
can be eaten (without poisoning himself), or how to live among people without fear. He
finds a ready-made set of patterns awaiting him which he needs only to learn and
 follow. The culture maps out the path to matrimony. The individual does not have to
wonder how one secures a mate; he knows the procedure defined by his culture.

 If men use culture to advance their purposes, it seems clear also that a culture imposes
limits on human and activities. The need for order calls forth another function of culture
that of so directing behavior that disorderly behavior is restricted and orderly behavior
is promoted. A society without rules or norms to define right and wrong behavior would
be very much like a heavily travelled street without traffic signs or any understood rules
for meeting and passing vehicles. Chaos would be the result in either case.

 Social order cannot rest on the assumption that men will spontaneously behave in ways
conducive to social harmony.

Culture and Society:

 The relationship between society, culture and personality is stressed by Ralph Linton: “A
society is organized group of individuals. A culture is an organized group of learned
responses. The individual is living organism capable of independent thought, feeling and
action, but with his independence limited and all his resources profoundly modified by
contact with the society and culture in which he develops.

 A society cannot exist apart from culture. A Society is always made of persons and their
groupings. People carry and transmit culture, but they are not culture. No culture can
exists except as it is embodied in a society of man; no society can operate without,
cultural directives. Like matter and energy, like mind and body, they are interdependent
and interacting yet express different aspects of the human situation.

 One must always keep in mind the interdependence and the reciprocal relationship
between culture and society. Each is distinguishable concept in which the patterning
and organisation of the whole is more important than any of the component parts.

Cultural change
 Cultural invention has come to mean any innovation that is new and found to be useful
to a group of people and expressed in their behavior but which does not exist as a
physical object. Humanity is in a global "accelerating culture change period", driven by
the expansion of international commerce, the mass media, and above all, the human
population explosion, among other factors.

 Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting
change. These forces are related to both social structures and natural events, and are
 involved in the perpetuation of cultural ideas and practices within current structures,
which themselves are subject to change.

 Social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a
society by altering social dynamics and promoting new cultural models , and spurring or
enablinggenerative action. These social shifts may accompany ideological shifts and
other types of cultural change. For example, the U.S. feminist movement involved new
practices that produced a shift in gender relations, altering both gender and economic
structures. Environmental conditions may also enter as factors. For example, after
tropical forests returned at the end of the last ice age , plants suitable for domestication
were available, leading to the invention of agriculture, which in turn brought about
many cultural innovations and shifts in social dynamics.

 Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce
—or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices. War or competition over
resources may impact technological development or social dynamics. Additionally,
cultural ideas may transfer from one society to another, through diffusion or
acculturation. In diffusion, the form of something (though not necessarily its meaning)
moves from one culture to another. For example, hamburgers, mundane in the United
States, seemed exotic when introduced into China. "Stimulus diffusion" (the sharing of
ideas) refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention or propagation in
another. "Direct Borrowing" on the other hand tends to refer to technological or
tangible diffusion from one culture to another. Diffusion of innovations theory presents
a research-based model of why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas,
practices, and products.

 Acculturation has different meanings, but in this context refers to replacement of the
traits of one culture with those of another, such has happened to certain Native
American tribes and to many indigenous peoples across the globe during the process
of colonization. Related processes on an individual level include assimilation (adoption
of a different culture by an individual) and transculturation.

Main Factors and Causes of Cultural Change!

 Cultural change is a concept that denotes some internal and external factors leading to
change in the cultural pattern of societies.
  It can be material as well as non-material in nature. Cultural change may come from
many sources but most of them comes through contact with other culture, inventions
and internal adjustment of culture.

Factors of Cultural Change:

 There are three main factors of cultural change:

(i) Contact:
 The contact between two societies will obviously change the culture of both the
societies through the process of “cultural diffusion” and “acculturation”.

(ii) Technology Evolution:

 Any technological evolution in the country will bring a change their culture also. For
example, changes in production technology, changes in the means of communication,
changes in the means of transportation, etc.

(iii) The geographical and ecological factor:

 The geographical and ecological factor is a natural or a physical factor. The climate or
rainfall, attitude of the place, closeness to the sea decides the culture and lifestyle of the
people. Any change in the physical features will automatically lead to a change in their
culture, habits and way of living.

Causes of Cultural Changes:

 David Dressier and Donald Carns have made the following observations with regard to
the causes of cultural changes:

1. Sometimes members of a society are often confronted by customs that differ from
those which they have learnt to accept. In such a situation they adopt some of the new
customs, reject others, and follow modified versions of still others. This might be called
cultural eclecticism.
2. New customs and practices are likely to be more readily adopted under two
conditions
(i) If they represent what is viewed as socially desirable and useful and
(ii) If they do not clash with re-existed and still valued customs and practices.
3. Changes in culture are always super imposed on existing culture especially during
cultural contact.
 4. All the cultural changes are not equally important. Some changes are introduced to
culture because they are considered necessary for human survival. Some other changes
are accepted in order to satisfy socially acquired needs not essential for survival.
5. It is a fact of common observation that crisis tends to produce or accelerate cultural
changes. If the changes are accepted once due to the crisis, they tend to persist. For
example, women were included in military during the Second World War, and even now
they continue to be there.
6. Cultural change is cumulative in its total effect. Much is added and little is lost. It’s
growth is like the growth of a tree that ever expands but only loses it leaves, Sometimes
its limbs from time to time, as long as it survives.
7. Cultural change leads to chain reaction, whenever a change is incorporated into the
culture and becomes defined as a ‘social necessity’, new needs emerge, generating the
desire for still further changes to complement or supplement the original change.
Cultural continuity
 Continuity refers to the state or quality of being continuous. Cultural continuity is the
persistence of cultural elements through time.It is the transmission of the meanings and
values characteristic of a culture, down through time and generations. Individuals make
sense of their lives in relation to supra-individual contexts and situations in which
shared experiences and characteristics—a language, a history, a tradition, a country—
are recognizable, familiar, and accessible.

Society
 The term "society" came from the Latin word societas , which means Friendly relation
a bond or interaction among parties that are friendly, or at least civil.

 A society is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a

large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the
same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are
characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who
share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the
sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the social sciences ,
a larger society often evinces stratification and/or dominance patterns in subgroups.
  Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that
would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social
(common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap.

 A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and
values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as
a subculture , a term used extensively within criminology .

Some definitions of Society

 According to MacIver: Society is a “web of social relationships” which may be hundreds
or thousands of types.

 According to Giddings : “ Society is the union itself, the organization, the sum of formal
relations in which associating individuals are bound together.”

 According to Cooley: Society is a complex of forms or processes each of which is living

and growing by interaction with each others, the whole being is so unified that what
take place in one part affects all the rest.”

Nature/Characteristics of Society
(1) Likeness:
 Likeness is the most important characteristic of society. Without a sense of likeness,
there could be no mutual recognition of' belonging together' and therefore no society.
This sense of likeness was found in early society on kinship and in modern societies the
conditions of social likeness have broadened out into the principles of nationality.

 Society consists of like bodied and likeminded individuals. Friendship intimacy and
association of any kind would be impossible without likeness. It also helps in the
understanding of one by the other.

(2) Differences :
 Along with likeness, differences are another important characteristic of society. Because
society involves differences and it depends on it as much as on likeness. That is why
Maclver opines that "primary likeness and secondary differences create the greatest of
all institutions-the division of labour". Because differences is complementary to social
relationship. If people will be alike in all respect society could not be formed and there
would be little reciprocity and relationship became limited. Family as the first society
based on biological differences and differences in interest and capacity. Though
 differences is necessary for society but differences by itself does not create society.
Hence differences is sub-ordinate to likeness.

(3) Inter-dependence :
 Interdependence is another important characteristic of society. This fact of
interdependence is visible in every aspect of present day society. Famous Greek
Philosopher, Aristotle remarked that 'Man is a social animal'. As a social animal he is
dependent on others. The survival and well being of each member is very much
depended on this interdependence. No individual is self sufficient.

 He has to depend on others for food, shelter and security and for the fulfillment of
many of his needs and necessities. With the advancement of society this degree of
interdependence increases manifold. Family being the first society is based on the
biological interdependence of the sexes. Not only individuals are interdependent but
also the groups, communities and societies.

(4) Co-operation and Conflict:

 Both co-operation and conflict are two another important characteristics of society.
Because famous sociologist Maclver once remarked that "Society is Cooperation crossed
by conflict". Co-operation is essentially essential for the formation of society. Without
co-operation there can be no society. People can't maintain a happy life without co-
operation. Family being the first society rests on co-operation. Co-operation avoids
mutual destructiveness and results in economy in expenditure.

 Like co-operation conflict is also necessary for society. Conflict act as a cementing factor
for strengthening social relations. In a healthy and well developed society both co-
operation and conflict co-exist. Because with the help of these two universal process
society is formed. Conflict makes co-operation meaningful. Conflict may be direct and
indirect. However both are necessary for society.

(5) Society is a network or web of social relationship:

 Social relationships are the foundation of society. That is why famous sociologist
Maclver remarked that society is a network of social relationship. Hence it is difficult to
classify social relationships. But this social relationship is based on mutual awareness or
recognition to which Cooley call we-feeling, Giddings call consciousness of kind and
Thomas as common propensity. Without these social relationships no society could be
formed.
  As social relationships are abstract in nature so also the society is abstract in nature.
Different kinds of social processes like co-operation, conflict constantly takes place in
society. And the relationships established around these create society. Hence a network
of social relationships which created among individuals constitutes society.

(6) Permanent Nature:

 Permanency is another important characteristic of society. It is not a temporary
organisation of individuals. Society continues to exist even after the death of individual
members. Society is a co-herent organisation.

(7) Society is Abstract:

 Society is an abstract concept. We can't see this relationship but we can feel it. Hence it
is an abstract concept. Besides society consists of customs, traditions, folkways, mores
and culture which are also abstract. Hence society is abstract in nature.

(8) Society is Dynamic :

 The very nature of society is dynamic and changeable. No society is static. Every society
changes and changes continuously. Old customs, traditions, folkways, mores, values and
institutions got changed and new customs and values takes place. Society changes from
its traditional nature to modern nature. Hence it is one of the most important
characteristic of society.

(10) Comprehensive Culture:

 Culture is another important characteristic of society. Each and every society has it's
own culture which distinguishes it from others. Culture is the way of life of the members
of a society and includes their values, beliefs, art, morals etc. Hence culture is
comprehensive because it fulfills the necessities of social life and is culturally self-
sufficient. Besides each and every society transmits its cultural pattern to the succeeding
generations.

(11) Something more than mere collection of individuals:

 No doubt society consists of individuals. But mere collection of individuals is not society.
It is something more than that and something beyond the individual. Durkheim is right
when he remarked that society is more than the sum of its parts i.e. individuals.

(12) Accommodation and Assimilation:

 This two associative social process is also important for the smooth functioning and
continuity of society. Hence it is also another characteristic of society.
 Types of societies


1. Pre-industrial societies
 In a pre-industrial society, food production, which is carried out through the use of
human and animal labor, is the main economic activity. These societies can be
subdivided according to their level of technology and their method of producing food.
These subdivisions are

A. hunting and gathering,

B. pastoral,

C. horticultural,

D. agricultural, and

E. feudal.
 a. Hunting and gathering societies
 The main form of food production in such societies is the daily collection of wild plants
and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers move around constantly in search
of food. As a result, they do not build permanent villages or create a wide variety
of artifacts, and usually only form small groups such as bands and tribes. However,
some hunting and gathering societies in areas with abundant resources lived in larger
groups and formed complex hierarchical social structures such as chiefdoms. The need
for mobility also limits the size of these societies. They generally consist of fewer than
60 people and rarely exceed 100. Statuses within the tribe are relatively equal, and
decisions are reached through general agreement. The ties that bind the tribe are
more complex than those of the bands. Leadership is personal—charismatic—and
used for special purposes only in tribal society. There are no political offices containing
real power, and a chief is merely a person of influence, a sort of adviser; therefore,
tribal consolidations for collective action are not governmental. The family forms the
main social unit, with most societal members being related by birth or marriage. This
type of organization requires the family to carry out most social functions,
including production and education

b. Pastoral societies
 Pastoralism is a slightly more efficient form of subsistence. Rather than searching for
food on a daily basis, members of a pastoral society rely on domesticated herd
animals to meet their food needs. Pastoralists live a nomadic life, moving their herds
from one pasture to another. Because their food supply is far more reliable, pastoral
societies can support larger populations. Since there are food surpluses, fewer people
are needed to produce food. As a result, the division of labor (the specialization by
individuals or groups in the performance of specific economic activities) becomes
more complex. For example, some people become craftworkers,
producing tools, weapons, and jewelry. The production of goods encourages trade.
This trade helps to create inequality, as some families acquire more goods than others
do. These families often gain power through their increased wealth. The passing on of
property from one generation to another helps to centralize wealth and power. Over
time emerge hereditary chieftainships, the typical form of government in pastoral
societies.

c. Horticultural societies
 Fruits and vegetables grown in garden plots that have been cleared from the jungle or
forest provide the main source of food in a horticultural society. These societies have
a level of technology and complexity similar to pastoral societies. Some horticultural
 groups use the slash-and-burn method to raise crops. The wild vegetation is cut and
burned, and ashes are used as fertilizers. Horticulturists use human labor and simple
tools to cultivate the land for one or more seasons. When the land becomes barren,
horticulturists clear a new plot and leave the old plot to revert to its natural state.
They may return to the original land several years later and begin the process again.
By rotating their garden plots, horticulturists can stay in one area for a fairly long
period of time. This allows them to build semipermanent or permanent villages. The
size of a village's population depends on the amount of land available for farming;
thus villages can range from as few as 30 people to as many as 2000.

 As with pastoral societies, surplus food leads to a more complex division of labor.
Specialized roles in horticultural societies include craftspeople, shamans (religious
leaders), and traders. This role specialization allows people to create a wide variety of
artifacts. As in pastoral societies, surplus food can lead to inequalities in wealth and
powers within horticultural political systems are developed because of the settled
nature of horticultural life.

d. Agrarian societies
 Agrarian societies use agricultural technological advances to cultivate crops over a
large area. Sociologists use the phrase Agricultural Revolution to refer to the
technological changes that occurred as long as 8,500 years ago that led to cultivating
crops and raising farm animals. Increases in food supplies then led to larger
populations than in earlier communities. This meant a greater surplus, which resulted
in towns that became centers of trade supporting various rulers, educators,
craftspeople, merchants, and religious leaders who did not have to worry about
locating nourishment.

 Greater degrees of social stratification appeared in agrarian societies. For example,

women previously had higher social status because they shared labor more equally
with men. In hunting and gathering societies, women even gathered more food than
men. However, as food stores improved and women took on lesser roles in providing
food for the family, they increasingly became subordinate to men. As villages and
towns expanded into neighboring areas, conflicts with other communities inevitably
occurred. Farmers provided warriors with food in exchange for protection against
invasion by enemies. A system of rulers with high social status also appeared. This
nobility organized warriors to protect the society from invasion. In this way, the
nobility managed to extract goods from “lesser” members of society.
 e. Feudal societies
 Feudalism was a form of society based on ownership of land. Unlike today's farmers,
vassals under feudalism were bound to cultivating their lord's land. In exchange for
military protection, the lords exploited the peasants into providing food, crops, crafts,
homage, and other services to the landowner. The caste system of feudalism was
often multigenerational; the families of peasants may have cultivated their lord's land
for generations.

2. Industrial societies
 Between the 15th 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 European
societies.

 Industrial societies rely heavily on machines powered by fuels for the production of
goods. This produced further dramatic increases in efficiency. The increased efficiency
of production of the industrial revolution produced an even greater surplus than
before. Now the surplus was not just agricultural goods, but also manufactured goods.
This larger surplus caused all of the changes discussed earlier in the domestication
revolution to become even more pronounced.

 Once again, the population boomed. Increased productivity made more goods
available to everyone. However, inequality became even greater than before. The
breakup of agricultural-based feudal societies caused many people to leave the land
and seek employment in cities. This created a great surplus of labor and gave
capitalists plenty of laborers who could be hired for extremely low wages.

3. Post-industrial societies
 Postindustrial societies are societies dominated by information, services, and high
technology more than the production of goods. Advanced industrial societies are now
seeing a shift toward an increase in service sectors over manufacturing and
production. The U.S. is the first country to have over half of its work force employed in
service industries. Service industries include government, research, education, health,
sales, law, banking, and so on. It is still too early to identify and understand all the
ramifications this new kind of society will have for social life. In fact, even the phrase
"postindustrial" belies the fact that we don't yet quite know what will follow
industrial societies or the forms they will take.
 Contemporary usage
The term "society" is currently used to cover both a number of political and scientific
connotations as well as a variety of associations.
 Western society

The development of the Western world has brought with it the emerging concepts
of Western culture, politics, and ideas, often referred to simply as "Western society.
Geographically, it covers at the very least the countries of Western Europe, North America,
Australia, and New Zealand. It sometimes also includes Eastern Europe, South America, and
Israel.
The cultures and lifestyles of all of these stem from Western Europe. They all enjoy
relatively strong economies and stable governments, allow freedom of religion, have chosen
democracy as a form of governance, favor capitalism and international trade, are heavily
influenced by Judeo-Christian values, and have some form of political and military alliance or
cooperation.[6]
 Information society

Although the concept of information society has been under discussion since the
1930s, in the modern world it is almost always applied to the manner in which information
technologies have impacted society and culture. It therefore covers the effects of computers
and telecommunications on the home, the workplace, schools, government, and various
communities and organizations, as well as the emergence of new social forms in cyberspace.
[7]

 Knowledge society

As access to electronic information resources increased at the beginning of the 21st

century, special attention was extended from the information society to the knowledge
society. An analysis by the Irish government stated, "The capacity to manipulate, store and
transmit large quantities of information cheaply has increased at a staggering rate over
recent years. The digitization of information and the associated pervasiveness of the Internet
are facilitating a new intensity in the application of knowledge to economic activity, to the
extent that it has become the predominant factor in the creation of wealth. As much as 70 to
80 percent of economic growth is now said to be due to new and better knowledge.
Social Structure

According to Radcliff-Brown social structure is a part of the social structure of all social relations
of person to person. In the study of social structure the concrete reality with which we are
concerned is the set of actually existing relations at a given moment of time which link together
certain human beings.

A more general definition of social structure is that social structure refers to the enduring
orderly and patterned relationships between the elements of a society. According to Raymond
Firth it makes no distinction between the ephemeral and the most enduring elements in social
activity and it makes it almost impossible to distinguish the idea of the structure of society from
that of the totality of the society itself.

According to S.F Nadal structure refers to a definable articulation and ordered arrangement of
parts. It is related to the outer aspect or the framework of society and is totally unconcerned
with the functional aspect of society. So he has emphasized that the social structure refers to
the network of social relationship which is created among the human beings when they interact
with each other according to their statuses in accordance with the patterns of society. He has
emphasized that the social structure refers to the network of social relationship which is
created among the human beings when they interact with each other according to their
statuses in accordance with the patterns of society.

According to Ginsberg the study of social structure is concerned with the principal form of
social organization that is types of groups, associations and institutions and the complex of
these which constitute societies.

According to Karl Mannheim social structure refers to the web of interacting social forces from
which have arisen the various modes of observing and thinking. Social structure is an abstract
and intangible phenomenon Individuals are the units of association and institutions are the
units of social structure. These institutions and associations are inter-related in a particular
arrangement and thus create the pattern of social structure. It refers to the external aspect of
society which is relatively stable as compared to the functional or internal aspect of society.
Social structure is a living structure which is created, maintained for a time and changes.

Types of Social Structure

Talcott Parsons has described 4 principal types of social structure. His classifications is based on
four social values –

1. universalistic social values,

2. particularistic social values,

3. achieved social values and

 4. Ascribed social values.

Universalistic social values are those which are found almost in every society and are
applicable to everybody.

Particularistic social values are the features of particular societies and these differ from
society to society.

When the statuses are achieved on the basis of efforts it means that such societies
attach importance to achieved social values.

When the statuses are hereditary even the society gives importance to ascribed social
statuses.

Elements of Social Structure

Normative system presents the society with the ideals and values. The people attach emotional
importance to these norms. The institutions and associations are inter-related according to
these norms. The individuals perform their roles in accordance with the accepted norms of
society.

Position system refers to the statuses and roles of the individuals. The desires, aspirations and
expectations of the individuals are varied, multiple and unlimited. So these can be fulfilled only
if the members of the society are assigned different roles according to their capacities and
capabilities. Actually the proper functioning of social structure depends upon proper
assignments of roles and statues.

For the proper enforcement of norms, every society has a sanction system. The integration and
coordination of the different parts of social structure depend upon conformity of social norms.
The stability of a social structure depends upon the effectiveness of its sanction system.

The anticipated response system calls upon the individuals to participate in the social system.
His preparation sets the social structure in motion. The successful working of social structure
depends upon the realisation of his duties by the individuals and his efforts to fulfil these
duties.

It is object of the goal to be arrived at by the social structure. The whole social structure
revolves around it. The action is the root cause which weaves the web of social relationships
and sets the social structure in motion.

Social structure is an abstract entity. Its parts are dynamic and constantly changing. They are
spatially widespread and therefore difficult to see as wholes. Social structure denotes patterns
which change more slowly than the particular personnel who constitute them.
Social Structure and Social Organization

According to Raymond Firth social structure is concerned with the ordered relation of parts to
the whole with the arrangement in which the elements of social life are linked together. The
abstract social relationship which are displayed in the social reality as a patterned manner and
in a regular fashion are concerned about institutional arrangements and relation between social
groups. Thus the term social structure means a more permanent and continuous pattern of
social reality.

Firth has proposed the concept of social organization in this context which as opposed to social
structure is concerned about temporary and changing nature of social reality.Social
organization as he explains refers to the systematic ordering of social relations by acts of choice
and decision. It allows individual choices and decisions in response to a situational condition.
Individuals choose between alternative modes of behaviour and take decisions as they evaluate
them according to their perceptions to the fulfillment of a goal which are set by the group they
belong.

Radcliff Brown has distinguished between social structure and social organization. According to
him social structure refers to the arrangement of persons. Social organization refers to the
arrangement of activities of two or more persons. Examples of social organization are social
groups, industrial group, political group etc.All the participants of an organization carry out
activities assigned to them. This arrangement of activities of persons is the characteristic of the
organization. Thus an organization is the arrangement of relationship that operates within the
activities of an institution.

Social Structure and Role

In a social structure roles are more important than role occupants. Role occupants in turn
divide themselves into sub-groups. According to Johnson it will be manifestly untrue to say that
all the stability, regularity and recurrence that can be observed in social interaction are due to
normative patterning, roles and sub-groups of various types are the parts of social structure to
the extent that stability, regularity and recurrence in social interaction are due to the social
norms that define roles and obligation of sub-groups.

Sub-groups and roles are closely linked with each other because all those who are required to
perform certain roles have some duties and obligations towards the group to which they
belong. The responsibilities of role occupant are of different types and can be broadly divided
into obligatory and permissive. Each social structure has also quasi-structural aspect. In
complex society there can be standardized or institutionalized norms. Every rigid social
structure is bound to result in social disharmony. In a human society its structure must go on
changing.
 Status and Role

Meaning of Role:
The position or the situation that a person occupies in society is called status. As a result of that
status and position he is expected to discharge certain functions. These functions are known as
roles. In life, we have a great variety of roles – father, mother, businessman, shop assistant,
consumer, bus-driver, teacher, voter, and politician and so on. These roles are an integral part
of group behaviour.
“According to Linton. The term role is used to designate the sum total of the cultural pattern
associated with a particular status. It thus includes attitude, values and behaviour ascribed by
the society to any and all person occupying this status…. In so far as it represents overt
behaviour and a role has the dynamic aspect of the status: what is the individual has to do in
order to validate the occupation of the status.”

A role is, as Ogburn and Nimkoff say, “a set of socially expected and approved behavior
patterns, consisting of both duties and privileges associated with a particular position in a
group.” Role is “the behavioural enacting of the patterned expectations attributed to that
position,” In role performance, the emphasis is on quality. One’s role as a father implies a more
specific and particular manner of performance.

Roles are allocated according to the positions (called status) people occupy in the social system.
Each status has its own set of role requirements. Social groups operates harmoniously and
effectively to the extent that performance conform to the role requirements. Role is
sociologically important because it demonstrates how individual activity is socially determined
and thus follows a regular patterns.

A role exists in a particular setting in relation to other roles. Thus, the role bf father implies the
role of child, the role of worker implies the role of employer, and the role of doctor implies the
role of patient.

A person will play many such roles. Everyone has multiple roles in life. ‘Multiple’ roles refer to
cluster of roles which an individual is expected to play in variety of situations (i.e. in the
multiplicity of groups to which he belongs). Thus, a person will be a husband, a teacher, a father
and a cousin. His roles continue to change as he grows up.

Characteristics of the Role:

Characteristics of the role may be studied in the following heads:
1. Action Aspect of Status:
The role is in fact the action aspect of status. In involves various types of actions that a person
has to perform in accordance with the expectations of the society. These actions are dependent
not on the individual’s will but on the social sanction. That is why it is said that every social role
has a cultural basis.

2. Changing Concept of Role:

Social roles as already stated, are in accordance with the social values, ideals, patterns etc.
These ideals, values and objects change and so the concept of the role also changes. The role
which is justified at a particular time may not be justified at some other time.

3. Limited Field of Operation:

Every role has a limited area of operation and the role has to be confined within that. For
example an officer has a role to play in the office but when he reaches his family, that role
ceases.

4. Roles are not Performed 100% for the Fulfillment of the Expectations:
It is not possible for anyone to perform his role fully in accordance with the expectations of the
society. There is bound to be some distinctions. For example one may not be able to perform
his role to the full satisfaction of the children.

5. Difference in the Importance of Role:

From the socio-cultural point of view all the roles are not equally important. Some of the roles
are more important while the others are less. The, roles that are most important are called key
roles while the roles that are of general importance, are called general roles.

Status, implies the position or the rank one holds in a social group, and, Role refers to the
specific functions that one is expected to perform in that social group. Every status holder is a
role performer. Status and Role, is inter-connected. In a social group, every member has a
status role position.
All status roles do not command similar position authority; or the social recognition authority.
Status-role of a father, as the head of a family, in patriarchal society, like that of ours differs,
from his status-role in a matriarchal society. Women are everywhere the same, but their status-
role in our society, in several ways differs from women in the Arab or in a western society in a
similar situation.
Status:

Meaning of Status:
Recognitions of the position of an individual in the social system and the authority he holds in
consequence is the basis of status system. Status is position that one holds in a given system. It
means the location of the individual within the group – his place in the social network of
reciprocal obligations and privileges, duties and rights.

Thus, every position (father, mother, teacher, and employer) defines a different status. It is by
status differentiation that social positions are defined and distinguished from one another by
assigning to each a set of rights and responsibilities.

According to Lundberg, it is the, “comparative amount of prestige, deference or respect

accorded to persons who has been assigned different roles in group or community.” According
to Davis, “status is a position in the general institutional system, recognized and supported by
the entire society spontaneously evolved rather than deliberately created, rooted in the
folkways and mores.” According to H.T. Mazumdar, “status means the location of the individual
within the group — his place in the social network of reciprocal obligation and privileges, rights
and duties.”

It is position in a social group or grouping, in relation to other positions held by other

individuals in the same group or grouping. Status determines the extent of authority which may
be wielded by the holders of the status or the degree of submission required on the part of
those who are at a status lower than him. The authority one wields is socially defined and
limited, as is degree of submission required.

The essence of status is defined: superior-inferior relationship; in other words dominance and
subordination – but always within the rule. Status involves sort of special social privileges. An
increase in the individual’s social status entitles him to more respect than before word ‘status’.
However, is to be used with care. If one holds a family status, it does not mean, that he will be
so recognized in his profession. A doctor of status may be a bad husband and worse father.

Sometimes status is likely to be confused with the official position one may be holding. Official
designations carry ‘prestige’. This varies from position to position, from office to office.
Essential Elements and Characteristics of Status:
As the definitions have pointed out the term status has physical as well as a psychological
situation. This situation forms certain element and characteristics. These element and
characteristics of status may be enumerated as below.

1. The status is determined by the cultural situation of the particular society,

2. The status is determined only in relevance of the other members of the society,

3. Every individual has to play certain role in accordance with the status,

4. Status is only a part of the society as a whole,

5. As a result of status the society is divided into various groups,

6. Every status carries with it some prestige,

7. According to status people may be divided into various categories. These categories or
statuses are not imposed from above. Some of these statuses are earned or achieved while
others are ascribed.

Ascribed status and achieved status:

A status may be divided into two types: ascribed status and achieved or earned status.

Ascribed Status:
The status which is given to an individual on the basis of the situation in the society or by other
members of the society is called ascribed status. Such a status may be given by birth or by
placement in a social group. For example, a person may enjoy a particular status because of the
sex or age of birth in a rich family. An infant gets a family status which includes family name and
prestige, share in social standing and the right of heritage.

Basis of the ascribed status:

These two kinds of statuses are based on factors that are not common. For example the
ascribed status is based on age, sex, kinship race, family etc. In almost every society particularly
the patriarchal system of the society, it is the elder men who are respected but in matriarchal
system of society elder women are respected. Since the ascribed status is determined by birth
Brahmin are given higher status as compared to Sudras and people said to be belonging to
honorable class are given better status than the people of the ordinary class.

Achieved Status:
The status or the position that a person has earned out of his own personal efforts is called
achieved status. This status is given by the ability, capacity and the efforts of the individuals.
Some persons achieve a particular status because if the facilities available to them but some
have to achieve that status as against the odds and difficulties.

Basis of Achieved status:

The achieved status is based on the personal ability, education, earned wealth etc. A person
who is able to display his ability in the field of social service, sports, education etc. is given
higher and better status.

Distinction between the Ascribed status and Achieved status:

The distinction and relationship between the two may be discussed as under.

Ascribed Status:
1. Ascribed status is the gift from the society of the individual members and to make know the
effort to get it.

2. For an achieved status certain conditions are namely ability, efficiency, economic status etc.
are necessary.

3. Generally ascribed status is based on age, race, caste, kinship, etc.

4. Ascribed status is more stable and more rigid. Its basis does not change easily.

5. Ascribed status occupies a place of respect in a traditional society.

6. In regard to the ascribed status the role of the authority and actions that flow from them are
unpredictable.

7. In ascribed status there is a co-relationship between the status and role.

8. The ascribed status has a, vital relationship with the internal aspects of the personality. It
provides satisfaction to sentiments, emotions and feelings etc.

9. Ascribed status can be helpful to a person for achieving certain thing or acquiring the
achieved status.
10. Ascribed status has greater relationships with the customs, traditions and other existing
factors of the society. In other words ascribed status is more traditional.

11. Ascribed status is helpful in removing the difficulties and disabilities of the achieved status.

Achieved status:
1. There are no precondition for getting the ascribed status for example; the elder in the family
is bound to be respected. There are no qualification required.

2. The achieved status is based on characteristics like capacities and abilities etc.

3. Achieved status has an unstable basis and so it is itself changeable.

4. In open and modern societies it is achieved status which is given importance because in this
respect, it is the personal qualities and achievements that matter.

5. In regard to achieved status the role or the action is more or less predictable because it is
based reason.

6. In relevance to the achieved status it cannot be said that there shall be co- relationship
between the achieved status and the role.

7. Achieved status is the gift of one’s personal accomplishments and personal characteristics.

8. Achieved status is helpful in acquiring the ascribed status.

9. Achieved status is the result of the personal accomplishments and is acquired as result of
competition. It has no relationship with the customs and traditions.
The term has two sociological uses:

1. R. Linton (1936) defined status simply as a position in a social system, such as child or parent.
Status refers to what a person is, whereas the closely linked notion of role refers to the
behaviour expected of people in a status.

2. Status is also used as a synonym for honor or prestige, when social status denotes the
relative position of a person on a publicly recognized scale or hierarchy of social worth. (See
'Social Stratification').

It is the first meaning of the term status, status as position, which we are going to refer to in the
following paragraphs. Status as honour or prestige is a part of the study of social stratification.

A status is simply a rank or position that one holds in a group. One occupies the status of son or
daughter, playmate, pupil, radical, militant and so on. Eventually one occupies the statuses of
husband, mother bread-winner, cricket fan, and so on, one has as many statuses as there are
groups of which one is a member. For analytical purposes, statuses are divided into two basic
types:

 Ascribed and
 Achieved.


Status-Role Inter-Relation:
 Status-role coordination is the woof and Warf arrangement of a social group. The status-
role of an individual depends on the position, he holds in the group and in consequence
of which he is expected to exercise his authority to fulfill his obligations. The status role
is the basis-of social order.
 A social group cannot function if this arrangement is not in due and related order. This
coordination harmonises the social relations. It is an arrangement of convenience,
sanctified by tradition or underwritten by the law of the land. It is historical in character
as in all age’s men and women inherited or acquired status-role position, it is universal
as the system exists in all societies.
 DIVERSITY
 Based on the standard diversity definition, the types of diversity in a social context are
theoretically infinite: they encompass every characteristic that appears with variations
among a group of people (such as hair or eye color). But usually, when it comes to
workplaces, there are seven types of diversity we pay attention to.
 We define diversity broadly, as differences in social categories like race, ethnicity,
religion, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, nationality and citizenship, veteran
and parental status, body size, ability, age and experience

Different types of diversity in the workplace:

 Cultural diversity
 Racial diversity
 Religious diversity
 Age diversity
 Sex / Gender diversity
 Sexual orientation
 Disability

Breakdown of these forms of diversity:

 Cultural diversity
 This type of diversity is related to each person’s ethnicity and it’s usually
the set of norms we get from the society we were raised in or our
family’s values. Having different cultures in the workplace is more
common in multinational companies.
 Race diversity
 Race has to do with a person’s grouping based on physical traits (despite
the dominant scientific view that race is a social construct and not
biologically defined). Examples of races are Caucasian, African, Latino
and Asian.

Religious diversity
This type of diversity refers to the presence of multiple religions and spiritual
beliefs (including lack thereof) in the workplace.

Age diversity
Age diversity means working with people of different ages and, most
importantly, generations. For example, millennials, GenZers and GenXers can
coexist in the same workplace.

Sex / Gender / Sexual orientation

Sex and gender can be used in the traditional sense of male and female
employees. For example, you may sometimes hear the term “gender balance”
used by companies trying to achieve a 50-50 balance between employees who
identify as male and employees who identify as female. But, as gender is
increasingly redefined, the term “gender diversity” may be more appropriate,
since there are multiple variations in gender and sexual orientation.
 Disability
There are various types of disabilities or chronic conditions included here,
ranging from mental to physical. Companies often make reasonable
accommodations to help people with disabilities integrate into the workplace,
such as installing ramps for wheelchairs or providing mental health support.
Some companies also adjust their hiring process to make sure it's inclusive.

Protected by law
The characteristics corresponding to these forms of diversity are protected by
law in many countries: these “protected characteristics” are attributes that
companies shouldn’t take into account when making employment decisions
(especially adverse decisions, like terminating employees or rejecting job
candidates). For example, you mustn’t decide to reject an applicant for a job
simply because they’re Asian, female or a person with disabilities.

Conversely, it’s good practice to strive to have all these diversity categories in
your workforce by eliminating biases and using affirmative action plans.

Additional types of diversity

Apart from protected characteristics, there are other important types of
diversity, too, like:

 Socioeconomic background / Class diversity

 Education
 Life experiences
 Personality