Society

 According to sociologists, a Society is a group of

people with common territory, interaction, and
culture. 
 Social Groups consist of two or more people who
interact and identify with one another.
 Society: a group of people who live within some
type of bounded territory and who share a common
way of life
 Culture: is common way of life shared by a society
or a group.
 SOCIOLOGY
 The first social scientist to use the term sociology was a
Frenchman by the name of Auguste Comte who lived from
1798-1857.
 As coined by Comte, the term sociology is a combination of
two words.
 The first part of the term is a Latin, socius- that may variously
mean society, association, togetherness or companionship.
 The other word, logos, is of Greek origin. It literally means to
speak about or word.
 However, the term is generally understood as study or science.
 Thus, the etymological, literal definition of sociology is that it is
the word or speaking about society.
 A simple definition here is that it is the study of society and
culture
 SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY is:
 the study of society
 a social science involving the study of the social
lives of people, groups, and societies
 the study of our behavior as social beings,
covering everything from the analysis of short
contacts between anonymous individuals on the
street to the study of global social processes
 the scientific study of social aggregations, the
entities through which humans move throughout
their lives'
 Sociology
 Sociology, a social science that studies human
societies, their interactions, and the processes that
preserve and change them.
 It does this by examining
the dynamics of constituent parts of societies such
as institutions, communities, populations, and
gender, racial, or age groups.
 Sociology also studies social status or
stratification, social movements, and social change,
as well as societal disorder in the form of crime
and revolution.
How did sociology begin?
 Sociology emerged in the middle of the nineteen
(19) century in Europe
 Three factors led to the development of
sociology
1.Industrial Revolution
2.Travel
3.Success of Natural Sciences
 Applications of Sociology
 Sociology has its broad and wider scope.
 Here, scope generally determines the limitations of the study.
 Without any limitation, it is difficult to study any
discipline(Subject).
 There is controversy (differences in views) among the sociologist
about its area of study.
 A group of sociologist tries to limit its area where the other group
of sociologist deny it or are against it.
 V.F. Calberton has his important remarks regarding the scope of
sociology.
 The scope of sociology is extremely wide ranging, from the analysis
of passing encounter between individuals on the street up to the
investigation of global social processes.
 The discipline covers an extremely broad range of application from
Clinical Sociology to Social Engineering.
 Applications of Sociology
 Science, sociology is so elastically science, it is difficult to
determine just where its boundaries begins and end.
 Sociology becomes social psychology over whether social
psychology become sociology or biological theories become
sociological theory something which is impossible to decide.
 As we know different sociologist have controversies about
the scope of sociology, there are two main schools of
thoughts. They are:
– Specialistic or Formalistic school of Thought
Sociology should be studied only in the form of social relationships.
– Synthetic school of Thought
All the organs of social life are internal related and interdependent.
So, sociology should be studied over all the society and social life.
 Ethics
Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behavior
within a society.
 Ethical behavior conforms to generally accepted norms
—many of which are almost universal.
However, although nearly everyone would agree that
certain behaviors—such as lying and cheating—are
unethical, opinions about what constitutes ethical
behavior can vary dramatically.
 For example, attitudes toward software piracy—a form
of copyright infringement that involves making copies
of software or enabling others to access software to
which they are not entitled.
 Law
 According to Webster’s Dictionary , law is a rule of
conduct or an action recognized by custom or decreed by
a formal enactment, community, or group.
 However one defines law, whether as a rule, an
injunction, an art, or an exercise of power;
 There is always a component of force that must be
obeyed with the purpose of creating something desirable
for the community that the law is intended to serve.
 This goal is achieved through the reign of equal justice fo
all in the community. We tend to obey two types of laws:
the natural and
the conventional.
 Moral, Ethics and Law
• Morals are one’s personal beliefs about right and
wrong.
• While the term ethics describes standards or codes of
behavior expected of an individual by a group (nation,
organization, profession) to which an individual
belongs.
• Law is a system of rules that tells us what we can and
cannot do. Laws are enforced by a set of institutions
(the police, courts, law-making bodies).
• Legal acts are acts that conform to the law.
• Moral acts conform to what an individual believes to be
the right thing to do.
Emergence of Social and Ethical Problems
 Ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked.
 Ethics are the principles of right and wrong individuals,
acting as free moral agents, use to make choices to guide
their behavior.
 Information systems raise new ethical questions for both
individuals and societies because they create opportunities
for intense social change.
 here are five main moral dimensions that tie together
ethical, social, and political issues in an information society.
 Information rights and obligations
 Property rights and obligations
 Accountability and control
 System quality
 Quality of life
 Four key technology trends have heightened the ethical stresses on
existing social arrangements and laws.

1. Computing power has doubled every 18 months allowing growing

numbers of organizations to use information systems in their core
business processes. This growing dependence on critical systems
increases vulnerability to system errors and poor data quality.

2. Advances in data storage techniques have enabled for the multiplying

databases on individuals maintained by private and public organizations -
making the violation of individual privacy both cheap and effective.

3. Advances in data analysis techniques enable companies and

government agencies use profiling to determine detailed information
about individual's habits and tastes and create dossiers of detailed
information. 
4. Advances in networking reduce the costs of moving and accessing
data, permitting privacy invasions on a vast scale.
 Computer Ethics
 Ethics is a set of moral principles that govern the
behavior of a group or individual.
 Therefore, computer ethics is set of moral
principles that regulate the use of computers.
 Some common issues of computer ethics include
intellectual property rights (such as copyrighted
electronic content), privacy concerns, and how
computers affect society.
 Computer ethics are a set of moral standards that
govern the use of computers. 
 It is society’s views about the use of computers,
both hardware and software. 
Privacy concerns,
intellectual property rights and
effects on the society
are some of the common issues of computer ethics.
Privacy Concerns
• Hacking – is unlawful intrusion into a computer or a network. A
hacker can intrude through the security levels of a computer
system or network and can acquire unauthorized access to
other computers.
• Malware – means malicious software which is created to impair
a computer system. Common malware are viruses, spyware,
worms and trojan horses.  A virus can delete files from a hard
drive while a spyware can collect data from a computer.
• Data Protection – also known as information privacy or data
privacy is the process of safeguarding data which intends to
influence a balance between individual privacy rights while still
authorizing data to be used for business purposes.
• Anonymity – is a way of keeping a user’s identity masked
through various applications.
Intellectual Property Rights
• Copyright – is a form of intellectual property that gives
proprietary publication, distribution and usage rights for the
author. This means that whatever idea the author created
cannot be employed or disseminated by anyone else without
the permission of the author.
• Plagiarism – is an act of copying and publishing another person’s
work without proper citation. It’s like stealing someone else’s
work and releasing it as your own work.
• Cracking – is a way of breaking into a system by getting past the
security features of the system. It’s a way of skipping the
registration and authentication steps when installing a software.
• Software License – allows the use of digital material by following
the license agreement. Ownership remains with the original
copyright owner, users are just granted licenses to use the
material based on the agreement.
Effects on Society

• Environmental Impact – Environment has been affected by computers and

the internet since so much time spent using computers increases energy
usage which in turn increases the emission of greenhouse gases.
– There are ways where we can save energy like limiting computer time and turning
off the computer or putting on sleep mode when not in use.  Buying energy
efficient computers with Energy Star label can also help save the environment.

• Social Impact – Computers and the internet help people stay in touch with
family and friends. Social media has been very popular nowadays.
– Computer gaming influenced society both positively and negatively.  Positive effects
are improved hand-eye coordination, stress relief and improved strategic thinking. 
Negative effects are addiction of gamers, isolation from the real world and
exposure to violence.
– Computer technology helps the government in improving services to its citizens. 
Advanced database can hold huge data being collected and analyzed by the
government.
– Computer technology aids businesses by automating processes, reports and
analysis.