Cultural Lag

The role played by material inventions, that is, by technology, in social change probably received most
emphasis in the work of William F. Ogburn. It was Ogburn, also, who was chiefly responsible for the idea
that the rate of invention within society is a function of the size of the existing culture base. He saw the
rate of material invention as increasing with the passage of time.Ogburn believed that material and
non-material cultures change in different ways. Change in material culture is believed to have a marked
directional or progressive character. This is because there are agreed-upon standards of efficiency that
are used to evaluate material inventions. To use air-planes, as an example, we keep working to develop
planes that will fly, higher and faster, and carry more payloads on a lower unit cost. Because airplanes
can be measured against these standards, inventions in this area appear rapidly and predictably. In the
area of non-material culture, on the other hand there often are no such generally accepted standards.
Whether one prefers a Hussain, a Picasso, or a Gainsborough, for example, is a matter of taste, and
styles of painting fluctuate unevenly. Similarly, in institutions such as government and the economic
system there are competing forms of styles, Governments may be dictatorships, oligarchies, republics
or democracies.
Economic system includes communist, socialist, feudal, and capitalist ones. As far as can be told, there
is no regular progression from one form of government or economic system to another. The obvious
directional character of change in material culture is lacking in many areas of non-material culture. In
addition to the difference in the directional character of change, Ogburn and others believe that material
culture tends to change faster than non-material culture. Certainly one of the imperative aspects of
modern American life is the tremendous development of technology. Within this century, life has been
transformed by invention of the radio, TV, automobiles, airplanes, rockets, transistors, and computers
and so on. While this has been happening in material culture, change in government, economic system,
family life, education, and religion seems to have been much slower. This difference in rates of cultural
change led Ogburn to formulate the concept of culture lag. Material inventions, he believed bring
changes that require adjustments in various areas of non-material culture.Invention of the automobile,
for instance, freed young people from direct parental observation, made it possible for them to work at
distances from their homes, and, among other things, facilitated crime by making escape easier. Half a
century earlier, families still were structured as they were in the era of the family farm when young
people were under continuous observation and worked right on the homestead.

Culture lag is defined as the time between the appearance of a new material invention and the making
of appropriate adjustments in corresponding area of non-material culture. This time is often long. It was
over fifty years, for example, after the typewriter was invented before it was used systematically in
offices. Even today, we may have a family system better adapted to a farm economy than to an urban
industrial one, and nuclear weapons exist in a diplomatic atmosphere attuned to the nineteenth century.
As the discussion implies, the concept of culture lag is associated with the definition of social problems.
Scholars envision some balance or adjustment existing between material and non-material cultures.
That balance is upset by the appearance of raw material objects. The resulting imbalance is defined as a
social problem until non-material culture changes in adjustment to the new technology.
Cultural Relativism
This is a method whereby different societies or cultures are analyzed objectively without using the
values of one culture to judge the worth of another. We cannot possibly understand the actions of other
groups if we analyze them in terms of our motives and values. We must interpret their behavior in the
light of their motives, habits and values if we are to understand them. Cultural relativism means that
the function and meaning of a trait are relative to its cultural setting. A trait is neither good nor bad in
itself. It is good or bad only with reference to the culture in which it is to function. Fur clothing is good
in the Arctic but not in the tropics. In some hunting societies which occasionally face long periods of
hunger to be fat is good; it has real survival value and fat people are admired. In our society to be fat is
not only unnecessary but is known to be unhealthful and fat people are not admired.

The concept of cultural relativism does not mean that all customs are equally valuable, nor does it imply
that no customs are harmful. Some patterns of behavior may be injurious everywhere, but even such
patterns serve some purpose in the culture and the society will suffer unless a substitute is provided.
The central point in cultural relativism is that in a particular cultural setting certain traits are right
because they work well in that setting while other traits are wrong because they would clash painfully
with parts of that culture.
Socialization
Socialization is predominately an unconscious process by which a newborn child learns the values,
beliefs, rules and regulations of society or internalizes the culture in which it is born. Socialization, in
fact, includes learning of three important processes: (1) cognitive; (2) affective, and (3) evaluative. In
other words, socialization includes the knowledge of how things are caused and the establishment of
emotional links with the rest of the members of the society. Socialization, therefore, equips an individual
in such a way that he can perform his duties in his society. Who are the agents of socialization? The
agents of socialization vary from society to society. However, in most of the cases, it is the family which
is a major socializing agent, that is, the nearest kinsmen are the first and the most important agents of

socialization. The other groups which are socializing units in a society vary according to the complexity.
Thus, in modern complex society, the important socializing agents are educational institutions, while in
primitive societies, clans and lineages play a more important role. Socialization is a slow process.

There is no fixed time regarding the beginning and the end of this process. However, some sociologists
formulated different stages of socialization. These are (1) oral stage, (2) anal stage (3) oedipal stage,
and (4) adolescence. In all these stages, especially in the first three, the main socializing agent is the
family. The first stage is that of a new-born child when he is not involved in the family as a whole but
only with his mother. He does not recognize anyone except his mother. The time at which the second
stage begins is generally after first year and ends when the infant is around three. At this stage, the
child separates the role of his mother and his own. Also during this time force is used on the child, that
is, he is made to learn a few basic things. The third stage extends from about fourth year to 12th to
13th year, that is, till puberty. During this time, the child becomes a member of the family as a whole
and identifies himself with the social role ascribed to him. The fourth stage begins at puberty when a
child wants freedom from parental control. He has to choose a job and a partner for himself. He also
learns about incest taboo.
Questions on Socialization
How does socialization shape a person's self-image?
To some extent, we accept the definitions of ourselves that we are taught by our families and other
members of our society.
What does Cooley mean by looking glass self?
Cooley decided that a person comes to think of himself or herself as an 'I' through a combination of
biological and social processes. The looking glass self is the image of self that a person sees reflected by
others.
How does Mead explain people taking the role of the other?
Mead believes people take the role of the other by progressing through three stages. In stage I the
infant is all "I". The "me" begins to develop through play in stage II and fully develops as the child
learns to respond to the generalized other in stage III, taking into account the broader social
community. Significant others or persons with whom an individual has intimate and long term contact
facilitate this process. This self-awareness makes it possible for people to position themselves within
larger social units.
What is Goffman's contribution to the idea of the social self?
Goffman points out that the socialization process continues into adulthood. He discusses for instance,
impression management, or how in daily activity we alter ourselves to fit the audience we are
addressing, a process made up of thousands of small every day social responses.
What is sociobiology and why is it controversial?
Sociobiology introduced by Edward Wilson is the systematic study of the biological basis of social
behavior in every kind of organism. Wilson believes that human social behavior rests on a genetic
foundation. His ideas have created controversy because they could conceivably be used to promote
racist and sexist policies.
What are three modes of socialization?
Socialization occurs through explicit instruction, conditioning and innovation and role modeling. In
practice, these modes are usually blended.
What are three characteristics of the socialization process?
The socialization process tends to be general rather than specific, calls forth automatic behaviors and
responses and persists through time.

What are the basic agents of socialization or domination?

The family, peer groups, television, day care and schools are today's basic agents of socialization.
Conflict theorists point out that these agents can be thought of as agents of domination because they
may use their position to perpetuate an unequal power situation and to dominate the one being
socialized.
What are the basic thesis of Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg and Gilligan?
Erikson presented an eight stage theory of personality development in which each stage may be
positively resolved or unresolved. He stressed that the close interaction between the social environment
and personality.Piaget suggests that everyone passes through four major intellectual stages: Sensorymotor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations. He believes that social contact is
necessary for advancing through the stages. Kohlberg: Moral decisions based on fear of punishment,
idea of rewards taken into account, immediate punishments and rewards not necessary, strict
adherence to rules, recognition that conventional rules may come into conflict with a higher sense of
right and wrong and universal principles of justice, human rights and human dignity guide decisions.
Gilligan: When women reach the upper stages of moral development their decisions are guided by the
principle of protecting relationships and people rather than by the principle of individual rights that
guides mens' decisions.

How does socialization continue in adulthood?

Socialization in adulthood is more concerned with learning overt norms and behaviors than is the
socialization of childhood which is concerned primarily with regulating antisocial behavior.Levinson's
work suggests that successfully completing the transitions between our life stages is of crucial
importance in leading a fulfilling life.Resocialization may occur in adulthood when an individual commits
himself or herself to a new goal or enters a total institution.
In what ways is socialization important to society as a whole?
Society as a whole may encourage or discourage the development of individual characteristics. A genius
can grow in a social group more easily if the intellectual atmosphere of the group nurtures genius.Nisbet
urges that we protect our social setting to provide experiences that foster the growth of genius in our
society.

WHAT IS SOCIALIZATION?

Social health means the same as social order, and is guaranteed when nearly everyone accepts
the general moral values of their society. Hence structural functionalists believe the aim of key
institutions, such as education, is to socialize children and teenagers.

Socialization is the process by which the new generation learns the knowledge, attitudes and
values that they will need as productive citizens.

Although this aim is stated in the formal curriculum,it is mainly achieved through the hidden
curriculum,a subtler, but nonetheless powerful, indoctrination of the norms and values of the wider
society.

Students learn these values because their behavior at school is regulated until they gradually
internalize and accept them.

AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:

The Family
The family is the most important agent of socialization because it is the center of the childs life, as
infants are totally dependent on others.
Not all socialization is intentional, it depends on the surroundings.
The most profound affect is gender socialization; however the family also shoulders the task of teaching
children cultural values and attitudes about themselves and others.
Children learn continuously from the environment that adults create.
Children also become aware of class at a very early age and assign different values to each class
accordingly.


Religion
Agents of socialization differ in effects across religious traditions.
Some believe religion is like an ethnic or cultural category, making it less likely for the individuals to
break from religious affiliations and be more socialized in this setting.
Parental religious participation is the most influential part of religious socializationmore so than
religious peers or religious beliefs.

Peer group
A peer group is a social group whose members have interests, social positions and age in common.
This is where children can escape supervision and learn to form relationships on their own.
The influence of the peer group typically peaks during adolescence however peer groups generally only
affect short term interests unlike the family which has long term influence.

Economic systems
Socialization within an economic system is the process of learning the consequences of economic
decisions.
Socialization impacts decisions regarding acceptable alternatives for consumption, social values of
consumption alternatives, the establishment of dominant values, and the nature of involvement in
consumption.

Legal systems
Children are pressured from both parents and peers to conform and obey certain laws or norms of the
group/community.
Parents attitudes toward legal systems influence childrens views as to what is legally acceptable.
For example, children whose parents are continually in jail are more accepting of incarceration.

Language
People learn to socialize differently depending on the specific language and culture in which they live.
A specific example of this is code switching. This is where immigrant children learn to behave in
accordance with the languages used in their lives: separate languages at home and in peer groups
(mainly in educational settings).
Depending on the language and situation at any given time, people will socialize differently.

Mass media
The mass media are the means for delivering impersonal communications directed to a vast audience.
The term media comes from Latin meaning, middle, suggesting that the medias function is to connect
people.
Since mass media has enormous effects on our attitudes and behavior, notably in regards to aggression,
it is an important contributor to the socialization process.
According to Denis McQuail the media can teach norms and values by way of symbolic reward and
punishment for different kinds of behavior as represented in the media. An alternative view is that it is a
learning process whereby we all learn how to behave in certain situations and the expectations which go
with a given role or status in society. (McQuail 2005: 494)
Theories
Charles Horton Cooley: Watching his children at play, Cooley derived some observations about the
development of the self. According to Cooley, children learn to get attention by interpreting the
reactions of others towards them. They learn easily that, disturbing adult' company in the house would
focus attention on themselves, rather than on visitors. From such insights children learn to judge
themselves in terms of how they imagine others react to them. Here others are like mirror for the
development of self.
Cooley terms this way of learning as the looking glass self. The concept is based on how we think others
judge us the way we look and act. Here others are like mirrors that reflect their reactions to us. The
looking glass self is the product of a three stage process constantly going on:
1.

We imagine how we appear to others;

2.

We imagine the reaction of others to our imagined appearance;

3.

We evaluate ourselves according to how we imagine others have judged us.

The consequence of this process is positive or negative feelings about ourselves. Though not a
conscious process, these three stages occur in quick succession.
The process of looking self takes piace in the mind and being the product of our imagination it might not
give the true reflection of what others really think of us. Despite the possibility of this, self and others is
well established.
George Herbert Mead has presented a social psychological theory of relation among the mind, the self
and the society in his theory of socialization. Mead, pointed out that our self concept is not equally

influenced by all persons, some are important

important are called 'significant others' For an
parents , Teachers, and playmates. Teenagers
others may be from their parents, and friends

to us than others. These whose judgements are

infant, significant others are, it's Mother, Father, Grand
rely heavily on their peers, while for the adults significant
to ministers and employers.

Human beings have thinking capacity and language, so they can carry on mental conversation. It
means, mentally indicate something to ourselves and respond internally to it. It is through this facility
we can anticipate others' behavior. Through internal conversation we can imagine the thoughts,
emotions, and behavior of others in a given situations This ability enables human beings to engage in
role taking which is the process of mentally guessing the viewpoint of another individual and then
responding to oneself from that imaginary view point.
According to Mead, the ability for role taking is the result of the two stage process viz play and game
stages. A child in it's third or fourth year of age, beings to assume the status of individuals and acts out
the behaviour associated with them. A young child can be seen playing the role of mother, father, police
officer, cow boy etc. This imitation or play involves, acting and thinking, as a child imagines another
person would. This is play stage according to Mead, the stage in which children take on the role of
individuals one at a time.
The second stage is the game stage which enables children to engage in much more refined role taking.
In a game a child begins to consider the roles of several others at the same time . All the players need
to know several roles, rules so as to ensure that the behavior of the participants fits together. All the'
participants are expected to know what is expected of all others in the game. It is during the game
stage that the children learn to adjust their behavior to the group. It is in this stage a child's self
concept, attitudes, beliefs, and values and beliefs of one's community and society are formed.
The self, according to Mead, is composed of two parts viz. 'me' and 'T'. The 'me' is part of the self,
formed during socialization and it accounts for predictability and conformity. Yet most of the social
behavior is spontaneous and unpredictable.
The T constantly encounters me as we conduct ourselves in social situations. The first reaction of self
comes from the T but before we act the initial impulse is directed in socially acceptable channels by the
'me' Thus T normally takes on 'me' into account before acting. But 'me' does not always control the
innovative dimension, of the self.
Sigmund Frued: Through diagnosis of disturbed female patients, Frued concluded that much human
behaviour is due to unconscious motivation. We are often unaware of the real reason for our actions.
The influence of early childhood experiences are fundamental for personality development. It is
experiences within the family in the first few years of life, Freud contends, which largely shape our
future psychological and social functioning.
Frued emphasizes the instinctual and biological side of human development, rather than the social side
of human development stressed by Mead and Cooley. According to Frued, society prohibits us from
expressing certain instincts and desires, especially impulses related to sex and aggression, social order
would be impossible without the regulation of these drives. Hence society imposes it's will on the
individual, suppressing and channeling the drives for socially acceptable outlets but often doing so in
ways that lead to later neuroses and personality disturbances. Freud lays heavy emphasis on the social
control of the sex drive. This drive present even in infants leads to constant conflict between individual
and society.
Personality, Frued segments, into three basic interacting parts. 'Id' is made up of biologically inherited
urges, impulses and desires. It is selfish irrational, impulsive, antisocial and unconscious. The 'Id' is
operative on the pleasure mechanism, on the principle of having whatever feels good. Infants are said
to be controlled totally by 'Id'. They want every desire fulfilled without delay, but parents interfere and
infants learn to wait until it is time to eat, to control bowel movements and to hold their temper.
To cope up eith the denial of pleasure children begin to develop 'ego' which is the conscious, rational
part of the self that rationally attempts to medias between the demands of the social environment and
the deep unconscious urges of the 'Id'. But ego itself is not sufficient to control the 'Id'.
At about four or five years of age, the'super ego'or the conscience begins to develop. The child learns
about the demands of the society through parents, internalizes these demands into personality in the
form of the 'superego' which in a sense an internal version of the moral authority of the society. We
punish ourselves through guilt feelings and shame at the same time we feel good about ourselves when
we live up to the standards of the 'super ego'. Through this internal monitoring mechanism we learns to
mould our behavior in socially acceptable ways and repress socially undesirable thought and actions.
Freud did not see 'Id', 'Ego' and the 'Superego' as separate regions of the brain but he saw them as
separate interacting, conflicting processed within mind. Freud's theory is valuable in the sense that it
stressed the personality as the product of the interaction between the human organism and the social
forces that surround it and he underlined the importance of early childhood socialization on later
conscious motives and behaviour.
Status and Role

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.
Ascribed Statuses

Ascribed statuses are those which are fixed for an individual at birth. Ascribed statuses that exist in all
societies include those based upon sex, age, race ethnic group and family background.
Similarly, power, prestige, privileges, and obligations always are differentially distributed in societies by
the age of the participants. This has often been said about the youth culture in the U.S. because of the
high value Americans attach to being young. Pre-modern China, by contrast, attached the highest value
to old age and required extreme subordination of children. The perquisites and obligations accompany
age change over the individual's lifetime, but the individual proceeds inexorably through these changes
with no freedom of choice.

As the discussion implies, the number and rigidity of ascribed statuses vary from one society to another.
Those societies in which many statuses are rigidly prescribed and relatively unchangeable are called
caste societies, or at least, caste like. Among major nations, India is a caste society. In addition to the
ascribed statuses already discussed, occupation and the choice of marriage partners in traditional India
are strongly circumscribed by accident of birth. Such ascribed statuses stand in contrast to achieved
statuses.
Achieved Statuses
Achieved statuses are those which the individual acquires during his or her lifetime as a result of the
exercise of knowledge, ability, skill and/or perseverance. Occupation provides an example of status that
may be either ascribed or achieved, and which serves to differentiate caste-like societies from modern
ones. Societies vary in both the number of statuses that are ascribed and achieved and in the rigidity
with which such definitions are held. Both ascribed and achieved statuses exist in all societies. However,
an understanding of a specific society requires that the interplay among these be fully understood. For
Weber class is a creation of the market situation. Class operates in society independently of any
valuations. As Weber did not believe in the economic phenomena determining human ideals, he
distinguishes status situation from class situation.
According to Linton, status is associated with distinctive beliefs about the expectations of those having
status, as for example, the status of children. Other common bases for status are age, sex, birth,
genealogy and other biological constitutional characteristics. However, status, according to Linton, is
only a phenomenon, not the intrinsic characteristic of man but of social organization. What matters is
not what you really are, but what people believe you to be. At times, some confuse the two terms,
status and role. Status defines who a person is, as for example, he is a child or a Negro, or a doctor;
whereas, role defines what such a person is expected to do, as for example, he is too young to work, he
should care about parents etc.

A common method of identifying the statuses in a social system is to discover the list of statusdesignators, as for example, kinship status typically begins with a list of kin terms and their usage. One
other characteristic feature of status, as understood today, is that any person can have more than one
status. Generally, no status in any social situation encompasses one person. Also, it has to be kept in
mind those statuses and persons are not only distinct concepts but also at distinct levels of analysis.
Besides, in sociology it is status, rather than person, which is more useful as a tool of analysis.
Why we should treat these two terms as separate can be argued on various grounds. First, two persons
having quite different characters may possess similar observable conduct if they have the same status,
as for example, very acquisitive and very altruistic doctors may behave in much the same way.
Secondly, two persons having the same character, very often, have different observable conduct
because of having two different statuses. Thirdly, even two persons having similar characters but having
two different statuses show very often different observable conduct, as for example, a docile son and a
kind father.
Thus, in society, which in reality is a social system where interaction occurs between actors, status but
not person in important. If we treat person as the unit of such a system we must discover a basic
personality structure which is an impossible task. On the other hand, it is easy to comprehend status
although it is an abstract concept. Status is the most elementary component of the social system which
is equally abstract.
Interaction between two actors occurs not as persons but as two having statuses. A social position is
always defined in relation to a counter position, as for example, a doctor to a patient, to a nurse, and to
the hospital administrator. In other words, the basic unit of analysis for social system is not status itself
but the relation of two statuses. The first writer to do considerable work in this field was Merton in
1957. According to him, there are three aspects of status. To illustrate, Mr. Pandey is a doctor must
have social relations with nurses, patients, other doctors, hospital administrators, and so on, that is, a
role set. If Mr. Pandey is also a husband, a father, a member of Hare-Krishna cult and a municipal
councilor, it is a status set. And the process, by which Mr. Pandey became a doctor, required that he first
be a medical student, then an intern and then a resident, that is, a status sequence.
Since what is known as status is related to other statuses, the interaction of statuses is a very crucial
one. Stable interaction systems depend on the emergence of normative expectations. Once it emerges,
such expectations are not created anew every time. Two new actors encounter each other. The idea
underlying this statement is that every actor is sensitive to the attitudes others will have towards him.
Every actor, therefore, tends to feel tense and upset if he is unable to define the social situation in such
a way that the behaviour of the other is predictable.
A more dynamic feature of this series of social interactions is the idea that each action implies a status
and each status action. Therein each actor reveals how he defines a situation by the way he behaves,
and thus provides other actors with cues to their own statuses in the situation.
Although the interaction of statuses is normally satisfactory, at times, confusion might arise because of
status ambiguity. If, however, an actor has more than one status, the attitudes of any two statuses may
be either compatible or incompatible with their demands on the person. If two statuses that are
activated in the same situation are incompatible it would be difficult for each status occupant to know
how to interact with the other, because it will be difficult for him to know which status is the basis of
their interaction. Such ambiguities are a source of strain and discomfort and people either get out of
such situations or wish that they be changed.
The term social role is borrowed by social scientists originally from the Greek Drama. The word person
comes from the Latin word persona, which originally meant a mask. Greek actors wore masks when
they performed in their drama. This leads us directly to the definition of the concept of social role. A
social role is a set of social norms that govern a person's behaviour in a group and determine his
relationships with other group members. Put somewhat differently a role is the expected pattern of
behavior associated with a given social status. Status and role are reciprocal aspects of the same
phenomenon. Status, or position, is the static aspect that fixes the individual's position in a group; role
is the dynamic behavioral aspect that defines how the person who occupies the status should behave in
different situations.
Individuals in a society behave according to certain standard patterns of behaviour or roles. These
standard patterns of behaviour are determined by the social position or the status which the individual

occupies in society because it is these social positions which lay down norms by indicating which
individual should observe which norms. In other words, status refers to a collection of norms; and each
society classifies its members into a more or less elaborate system of statuses. Each of the statuses
involves a role, set of behaviour or action-patterns that people belonging to a given status are expected
to perform. One plays as many roles as he has statuses. A given man may both concurrently and
sequentially enact the roles of husband, father bread-winner, and football fan and so on. Social roles
may be linked to blue-prints for behaviour that are handed to the individual, hypothetically, when he
becomes a member of a group. As such these constitute the group's expectations concerning how one
would behave. Thus, whereas the status of a person tells us what he is, his role will tell us what he does
as a member of a status group.
Despite this fundamental difference between the two, statuses and roles are very closely interlinked.
There are no roles without statuses and no statuses without roles. Indeed, there are some exceptions.
Though all statuses imply some role or roles, it is not always possible to infer people's statuses from
what they do, as for example, two persons, who bear the title of knighthood and thus holding same
social positions, might be performing completely different roles. Also, many statuses are wholly or
partly defined with reference to roles which their occupants are expected to perform. Example
policemen, poets, etc.
The importance of role was recognized from 1936 when Linton presented the first systematic statement
identifying role as a segment of culture. He also held the view that role was related to social status.
Much work has been done after Linton in the form of experimental study. Many studies have shown that
lack of clarity and consensus in role conceptions is a contributory factor in reducing organizational
effectiveness and morale.
Since the concept is being extensively used, some differences appear in its usage. Some writers treat
role and actual behavior of an individual to be one and the same. Most of the writers treat role as
expected behavior and role behavior as an enactment. Another interpretation is that role is a specific
behavior or conditioned response. Finally, some treat role as a part to be learnt and played.
Despite these differences, all sociologists agree to the following characteristics of role. It is believed that
when roles are stabilized, the role structure persists regardless of changes in the actors. In some
families when the parents become disorganized and become childish, a child suddenly blossoms into
responsibility and helps to supply the family leadership. As the roles get stabilized, an individual adopts
a given role; and if he fails to fulfill the role expectation, he will be regarded as a violator of the terms
of interaction.
The above functioning of the role is determined, to some extent, by the organizational setting which
supplies both direction and constraint to the working of the as for said processes. If the role structure is
incorporated in an organizational setting, the latter's goals tend to become the crucial criteria for role
differentiation, legitimacy of expectation, and judgments of adequacy.
Secondly, depending on the level of integration with the organizational setting, roles get linked with
statuses in the organization.
Thirdly, depending on the extent to which the roles are incorporated with an organizational setting, each
tends to develop a pattern of adaptation to incorporate other roles. A teacher in a public school must
incorporate within his role pattern, his role adaptations to pupils, parents, other teachers and the
principal. Merton describes several mechanisms that are employed to minimize conflict in the role-set.
Fourthly, when roles are incorporated with the organisational setting they persist as tradition and
formalization. Finally, the place of role is determined by society itself; for, society is based on
accommodation among many organizations. Society introduces multiple organisational references for
roles, and multiplies roles for the actor. A view from society's perspective shows that roles in different
contexts tend to become merged. One example is our tendency to speak of male and female roles of
heroic and unheroic roles while seeking meaning and order in simple human interactions. Viewed from
the perspective of society, differentiation of roles gets linked with social values. If the societies and the
individuals' assigned roles are consistent with each other the roles tend to get merged with social
values. A glaring example is our tendency to use age, sex and occupation as qualifying criteria for the
allocation of other roles.

In the end we have to say that it is actor who faces the strain; for, the dynamic hinges on his
management of the several roles in his repertoire. This may come about through failure of role cues,
gross lack of consensus and so forth. This situation results in an individual adopting his own repertoire
of role relationship as a framework for his own behaviour, and as a perspective for the interpretation of
the behaviour of others. When the individual forms a self-conception by selective identification of certain
roles as his own to be held in his repertoire, the individual is said to develop a sense of personal
prestige, which is likely to be reflected in his bearing, his self-assurance and other aspects of his
interpersonal relations.
In general, the concept of role is crucial in all sociological analyses which attempt to link the functioning
of the social orders with the characteristics and behaviour of the individuals who belong to that order. A
study of roles provides a comprehensive pattern of social behaviour and attitudes. It constitutes a
strategy for coping with a recurrent type of situation. It is socially identified as an entity. It can be
played recognizably by different individuals, and it supplies a major basis for identifying and placing
persons in a society.
Social Control and Socialization
Social control and socialization are closely related to each other. Social control is a part of socialization.
During the process of socialization the process of social control also is in op-eration. Through
socialization social control becomes effective. In order to maintain the so-cial order there are definite
procedures in society. These customs and procedures become a part of man's life and man gets
adjusted to the society. As a matter of fact, societies depend heavily upon effective socialization to
internalize social norms and values as the individual's guides and motives to action. Through
socialization societies aim to control the behavior of its members subconsciously. The various agencies
of socialization like family, state, school, club etc are also the agencies of social control. They exercise
regulatory influence over the behavior of the individual.
Deviance is Relative
Deviance is relative means that there is no absolute way of defining a deviant act. Deviance can be
defined in relation to a particular standard and no standards are fixed or absolute. As such deviance
varies from time to time and place to place. In a particular society an act that is considered deviant
today may be detained as normal in future. Social deviance should not be confused with statistical
rarity. People whose behavior or characteristics are found only in a minority of the population are
statistically unusual but that does not necessarily make them socially deviant.
Most people who escape discovery of their deviant behavior are not stigmatized as deviants and
generally do not even regard themselves as deviant at all.
No act is inherently deviant. It becomes deviant only when it is socially defined as such and definitions
vary greatly from time to time, place to place and group to group. Deviance can be defined in relation
to a particular standard and no standards are fixed or absolute.
Deviance is both a threat and protection to social stability. On the one hand society can operate
efficiently only if there is order and predictability in social life. Deviant behavior threatens social order.

Deviant behavior is one way of adapting a culture to social change. No society can remain static forever.
The deviant behavior of few persons may be the beginning of a new norm. As more and more people
join in it ceases to be deviant a new norm is established.
The fact that a particular norm is often violated does not create a norm of evasion. It is only when there
is a pattern of violation that is recognized and sanctioned by one's group that we have a norm of
evasion. Sometimes a pattern of deviation is neither sufficiently accepted to be a norm of evasion nor
sufficiently condemned to be routinely suppressed. In such situations the tolerance of such deviation
may operate as a form of social control.

Deviance
Deviance is defined as any violation of norms, whether the infraction is as minor as driving over the
speed limit, as serious as murder. According to sociologist Howard S. Becker It is not the act itself but
the reactions to the act that make some thing deviant.
According to Horton and Hunt deviance is given to any failure to conform to customary norms.
Louise Weston defines deviance as behavior that is contrary to the standards of conduct or social
expectations of a given group or society.
M.B Clinard suggests that the term deviance should be reserved for those situations in which the
behavior is in a disapproved direction and of sufficient degree to exceed the tolerance limit of society.
Different groups have different norms, what is deviant to some is not deviant to others. This principle
holds both within a society and across cultures. Thus another group within the same society may
consider acts acceptable in one culture or in one group within a society deviant in another culture.
This principle also applies to a specific form of deviance known as crime the violation of rules that have
been written into law. In the extreme, an act that is applauded by one group may be so despised by
another group that it is punishable by death. Making a huge profit on business deals is one example
where Americans like Donald Trump and Warren Buffet are admired. In China, however, until recently
this same act was considered a crime called profiteering. Those found guilty were hanged in a public
square as a lesson to all.

Sociologists use the term deviance to refer to any act to which people respond negatively. When
sociologists use this term, it does not mean that they agree that an act is bad, just that people judge it
negatively. To sociologists all of us are deviants of one sort or another, for we all violate norms from
time to time.
Sociologist Erving Goffman (1963) used the term stigma to refer to characteristics that discredit people.
These include violations of norms of ability (blindness, deafness, mental handicaps) and norms of
appearance (a facial birthmark, a huge nose) etc.
Secret deviants are people who have broken the rules but whose violation goes unnoticed or, if it is
noticed, prompts those who notice to look the other way rather than reporting the violation.
Witch-hunt is a campaign to identify, investigate, and correct behavior that has been defined as
undermining a group or country. Usually this behavior is not the real cause of a problem but is used to
distract people's attention from the real cause or to make the problem seem manageable.
The falsely accused are people who have not broken the rules but are treated as if they have. The ranks
of the falsely accused include victims of eyewitness errors and police cover-ups; they also include
innocent suspects who make false confessions under the pressure of interrogation.
Sociologist Kai Erikson (1966) identified a particular situation in which people are likely to be falsely
accused of a crime: when the well-being of a country or a group is threatened. The threat can take the
form of an economic crisis a moral crisis a health crisis or a national security crisis. At times like these,
people need to identify a clear source of the threat. Thus, whenever a catastrophe occurs, it is common
to blame someone for it.
Its three main functions are :
1. Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms. A group's ideas about how people should
think and act mark its moral boundaries. Deviant acts challenge those boundaries. Punishing deviants
affirms the group's norms and clarifies what it means to be a member of the group.
2. Deviance promotes social unity. To affirm the group's moral boundaries by punishing deviants fosters
a "we" feeling among the group's members.

3.Deviance promotes social change. Groups do not always agree on what to do with people who push
beyond their accepted ways of doing things. Some group members may even approve of the rulebreaking behavior. Boundary violations that gain enough support become new acceptable behaviors.
Deviance, then, may force a group to rethink and redefine its moral boundaries, helping groups and
whole societies to adapt to changing circumstances.
Conflict theorists take the position that the group in power imposes its definitions of deviance on other
groups. From this perspective, the law is an instrument of oppression used by the powerful to maintain
their position of privilege. The ruling class uses the criminal justice system to punish the crimes of the
poor while diverting its own criminal activities away from this punitive system.
Social Control
According to Mannheim, social control is the sum of those methods by which a society tries to influence
human behavior to maintain a given order.
Any society must have harmony and order. Where there is no harmony or order the society actually
does not exist because society is a harmonious organization of human relationships. Unless the
individuals live up to the prescribed norms of conduct and unless their self-seeking impulses are
subjugated to the welfare of the whole it would be quite difficult to maintain effectively the social
organization.
Society in order to exist and progress has to exercise a certain control over its members since any
marked deviation from the established ways is considered a threat to its welfare. Such control has been
termed by sociologists as social control.
Social control has been defined by Maclver as the way in which entire social order coheres and
maintains itself- how it operates as a whole as a changing equilibrium. To Ogburn and Nimkoff the
patterns of pressure that a society exerts to maintain order and established rules is social control.
According to Gillin and Gillin social control is that system of measures, suggestions, persuasions,
restraint and coercion by whatever means including physical force by which a society brings into
conformity to the approved pattern of behavior or subgroup or by which a group molds into conformity
its members.
What do sociologists mean by social control and when do social controls influence behavior?
Social control is the means by which members of a society attempt to induce each other to comply with
the society's norms. Social controls influence behavior constantly because they are internalized and
come into play every time a person has a deviant impulse.
How do the various theories explain deviance?
Social -control theory argues that deviance is largely a matter of failed social controls. Merton believes
that the strain between the norms that define socially appropriate goals and the norms that specify
socially appropriate means for attaining these goals creates an atmosphere in which deviance will
appear. Travis Hirschi says that persons with a weakened bond to their social group are likely to become
deviant.
Differential association and cultural transmission theories propose that deviance is a natural outgrowth
of a person's contacts during socialization and can be a part of a subculture that can be transmitted
indefinitely. Conflict theory traces the origin of criminal behavior to class conflict between the powerful
and the weak and sees criminals as reasonable individuals forced by circumstance to break laws in
order to regain some of what has been taken from them or denied to them by an exploitative system.
Functionalist theory proposes that deviance enhances feelings of unity within a society and helps define
and redefine the norms. Labeling theory concentrates on the reactions of others to deviance and studies
which offenders are likely to be punished rather than which are likely to commit deviant acts.Deterrance
theory suggests that deviance increases as the perceived risk of being punished decreases and that
people are more likely to be deviant if they think of themselves as deviant.

How might anomie create a climate for deviance?

Durkheim believed that an absence of clear norms for a society or an individual might create a social
setting in which deviance will occur.

What is the difference between deviance and deviants?

Deviance is behavior that violates the norms of the social group in which the behavior occurs where as a
deviant is one who is characterized as a violator of a norm. Engaging in deviant behavior does not
automatically lead to a deviant reputation or self-image.
How the mentally ill are treated?
The mentally ill not only are treated as deviants but are feared. The fact that society treats them in this
way increases their chances of being deviant in the future. The labeling of the mentally ill decreases
their chances of future employment and of normal social relationships.
How does society define crime?
Crime is behavior that violates criminal law. It can be defined through laws, through official police
reports of crime, or through victimization surveys of persons who have been involved in crime but
perhaps not involved with the police department.
Who are the criminals and how are they treated by society?
A criminal is someone who has become publicly associated with commission of crime.
What distinguishes white collar crime and how might it be deterred?
White-collar crime is crime committed by a person of responsibility and high social status in the course
of his or her occupation. It differs from conventional crime in that the victims may be unaware of the
crime and the offender may not view himself as a criminal.Deterrence of white-collar crime by
regulatory agencies and internalized controls in organizations appears to be most promising.
Deviance
In everyday language to deviate means to stray from an accepted path. Many sociological definitions of
deviance simply elaborate upon this idea. Thus deviance consists of those areas which do not follow the
norms and expectations of a particular social group. Deviance may be positively sanctioned (rewarded),
negatively sanctioned (punished), or simply accepted without reward or punishment. In terms of the
above definition of deviance, the soldier on the battlefield who risks his life above and beyond the
normal call of duty may be termed deviant, as the physicist who breaks the rules of his discipline and
develops a new theory. Their deviance may be positively sanctioned; the soldier might be rewarded with
a medal, the physicist with a Noble prize. In one sense, though, neither is deviant since both conform to
the values of society, the soldier to the value of courage; the physicist to the value of academic
progress.
By comparison, a murderer deviates not only from society's norms and expectations but also from its
values, in particular the value placed on human life. His deviance generally results in widespread
disapproval and punishment. A third form of deviance consists of acts which depart from the norms and
expectations of a particular society but are generally tolerated and accepted. The little old lady with a
house full of cats or the old gentleman with an obsession for collecting clocks would fall into this
category. Usually their eccentricities are neither rewarded nor punished by others. They are simply
defined as a 'bit odd' but harmless, and therefore tolerated. Deviance is relative. This means that there
is no absolute way of defining a deviant act. Deviance can only be defined in relation to a particular
standard, but no standards are fixed or absolute. As such deviance varies from time to time and place
to place. In a particular society an act which is considered deviant today may be defined as normal in
the future. An act defined as deviant in one society may be seen as perfectly normal in another. Put
another way, deviance is culturally determined and cultures change over time and vary from society to
society. The following examples will serve to illustrate the above points. Sometimes ago in Western
society it had been considered deviant for women to smoke, use make-up and consume alcoholic drinks
in public. Today this is no longer the case. In the same way, definitions of crime change over time.
Homosexuality was formerly a criminal offence in Britain. Since 1969, however, homosexual acts
conducted between consenting adults in private are no longer illegal. A comparison of modern Western
culture with the traditional culture of the Teton Sioux Indians of the USA illustrates how deviance varies
from society to society. As part of their religions rituals during the annual Sun Dance Ceremony Sioux
Warriors mutilated their bodies, leather thongs were inserted through strips of flesh on the chest and
attached to a central pole, and warriors had to break free by tearing their flesh and in return they were
granted favors by the supernatural powers. Similar actions by members of Western society may well be
viewed as masochism or madness. In the same way behaviour accepted as normal in Western society
may be defined as deviant within primitive society. In the West the private ownership of property is an
established norm; members of society strive to accumulate wealth and substantial property holding
brings power and prestige. Such behaviour would have incurred strong disapproval amongst the Sioux
and those who acted in terms of the above norms would be regarded as deviant. Generosity was a
major value of Sioux culture and the distributed rather than accumulation of wealth was the route to

power and prestige. Chiefs were expected to distribute gifts of horses, beadwork and weapons to their
followers. The norms of Sioux culture prevented the accumulation of Wealth. The Sioux had no
conception of the individual ownership of land; the produce of the hunt was automatically shared by all
members of the group. Emile Durkheim developed his view on deviance in his discussion of crime in The
Rules of Sociological Method. He argues that crime is an inevitable and normal aspect of social life; it is
an integral part of all healthy societies. It is inevitable because not every member of society can be
equally committed to the 'collective sentiments, the shared values and beliefs of society. Since
individuals are exposed to different influences and circumstances, it is impossible for all to be alike.
Therefore, not everybody shares the same restraints about breaking the law.
Crime is not only inevitable, it can also be functional. Durkheim argues that it only becomes
dysfunctional when its rate is unusually high. He argues that all social change begins with some form of
deviance. In order for change to occur, Yesterday's deviance must become today's normality. Since a
certain amount of change is healthy for society, so it can progress rather than stagnate. So for change
to occur, the collective sentiments must not be too strong, or too hostile. Infact, they must have only
moderate energy' because if they were to strong they would crush all originality both of the criminal and
of the genius. Thus the collective sentiments must not be sufficiently powerful to block the expression of
people like Jesus, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa. Durkheim regarded some
crime as and anticipation of the morality of the future. Thus heretics who were denounced by both the
state and the established church may represent the collective sentiments of the future. In the same way
terrorists of freedom fighters may represent a future established order .If crime is inevitable, what is
the function of punishment. Durkheim argues that its function is not to remove crime in society. Rather
it is to maintain the collective sentiments at their necessary level of strength. In Durkheim's words,
punishment 'serves to heal the wounds done to the collective sentiments'. Without punishment the
collective sentiments would lose their force to control behaviour and the crime rate would reach the
point where it becomes dysfunctional. Thus in Durkheim's view, a healthy society requires both crime
and punishment, both are inevitable, both are functional.
Following Durkheim, Merton argues that deviance results not from pathological personalities but from
the culture and structure of society itself. He begins from the standard functionalist position of value
consensus, that is, all members of society share the same values. However, since members of society
are placed in different positions in the social structure, for example, they differ in terms of class
position; they do not have the same opportunity of realizing the shared value. This situation can
generate deviance. In Merton's words: 'The social and cultural structure generates pressure for socially
deviant behaviour upon people variously located in that structure.
Using USA as an example, Merton outlines his theory as follows. Members of American Society share
the major values of American culture. In particular they share the goal of success for which they all
strive and which is largely measured in terms of wealth and material possessions. The 'American Dream'
states that all members of society have an equal opportunity of achieving success, of owning a Cadillac,
a Beverley Hills mansion and a substantial bank balance. In all societies there are institutionalized
means of reaching culturally defined goals. In America the accepted ways of achieving success are
through educational qualifications, talent, hard work, drive, determination and ambition. In a balanced
society an equal emphasis is placed upon both cultural goals and institutionalized means, and members
are satisfied with both. But in America great importance is attached to success and relatively less
importance is given to the accepted ways of achieving success. As such, American society is unstable,
unbalanced. There is a tendency to reject the 'rules of the game' and to strive for success by all
available means. The situation becomes like a game of cards in which winning becomes so important
that the rules are abandoned by some of the players. When rules cease to operate a situation of
normlessness or 'anomie' results. In this situation of anything norms no longer direct behavior and
deviance is encouraged. However, individuals will respond to a situation of anomie in different ways. In
particular, their reaction will be shaped by their position in the social structure. Merton outlines five
possible ways in which members of American society can respond to success goals. The first and most
common response is conformity. Members of society conform both to success goals and the normative
means of reaching them. A second response is 'innovation'. This response rejects normative means of
achieving success and turns to deviant means, crime in particular. Merton argues that members of the
lower social strata are most likely to select this route to success.

Merton uses the term 'ritualism' to describe the third possible response. Those who select this
alternative are deviant because they have largely abandoned the commonly held success goals. The
pressure to adopt this alternative is greatest on members of the lower middle class. Their occupations
provide less opportunity for success than those of other members of the middle class. However,
compared o members of the working class, they have been strongly socialized to conform to social
norms. This prevents them from turning to crime. Unable to innovate and with jobs that offer little
opportunity for advancement, their only solution is to scale down or abandon their success goals.
Merton terms the fourth and least common response, 'retreatism'. It applies to psychotics, artists,
pariahs, drug addicts. They have strongly internalized both the cultural goals and the institutionalized
means but is unable to achieve success. They resolve the conflict of their situation by abandoning both
the goals and the means of reaching them. They are unable to cope with challenges and drop out of
society defeated and resigned to their failure. They are deviant in two ways: they have rejected both
the cultural goals and the institutionalized means. Merton does not relate retreatism to social class
position. Rebellion forms the fifth and final response. It is a rejection of both the success goals and the
institutionalized means and their replacement by different goals and means. Those who adopt this
alternative want to create a new society. Thus urban guerillas in Western European capitalist societies
adopt deviant means- terrorism- to reach deviant goals such as a communist society. Merton argues
that it is typically members of a rising class rather than the most depressed strata who organize the
resentful and rebellious into a revolutionary group.
To summarize, Merton claims that his analysis shows how the culture and structure of society generates
deviance.
Questions on Crime
What is the difference between deviance and crime?
Deviance is behavior that violates norms and rules of society, and crime is a type of deviant behavior
that violates the formal criminal law. Criminology is the study of crime from a scientific perspective.
How do sociologists conceptualize and explain deviance and crime?
Deviance is behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms and that should be
understood in the social context in which it occurs. Psychological explanations of deviance place the
cause of deviance primarily within the individual. Sociologists emphasize the total social context in
which deviance occurs. Sociologists see deviance more as the result of group and institutional, not
individual, behavior.
What does sociological theory contribute to the study of deviance and crime?
Functionalist theory sees both deviance and crime as functional for the society because it affirms what
is acceptable by defining what is not. Structural strain theory, a type of functionalist theory, predicts
that societal inequalities actually force and compel the individual into deviant and criminal behavior.
Conflict theory explains deviance and crime as a consequence of unequal power relationships and
inequality in society. Symbolic interaction theory explains deviance and crime as the result of meanings
people
give
to
various
behaviors.
Differential association theory, a type of symbolic interaction theory, interprets deviance as behavior
learned through social interaction with other deviants. Labeling theory, also a type of symbolic
interaction theory, argues that societal reactions to behavior produce deviance, with some groups
having more power than others to assign deviant labels to people.

What are the major forms of deviance?

Mental illness, stigma, and substance abuse are major forms of deviance studied by sociologists,
although deviance comprises many different forms of behavior. Sociological explanations of mental
illness focus on the social context in which mental illness develops and is treated. Social stigmas are
attributes that are socially devalued. Substance abuse includes alcohol and drug abuse but is not limited
to these two forms.

What are the connections between inequality, deviance, and crime?

Sociological studies of crime analyze the various types of crimes, such as elite crime, organized crime,
corporate crime, and personal and property crimes. Many types of crimes are underreported, such as
rape and certain elite and corporate crimes. Sociologists study the conditions, including race, class, and
gender inequality, that pro- duce crime and shape how different groups are treated by the criminal
justice system, such as showing group differences in sentencing.
How is crime related to race, class, and gender?
In general, crime rates for a variety of crimes are higher among minorities than among Whites, among
poorer persons than among middle or upper class persons, and among men than among women.
Women, especially minority women, are more likely to be victimized by serious crimes such as rape or
violence from a spouse or boy- friend.
How is globalization affecting the development of deviance and crime?
International terrorism is a crime, and crime is thus global. Other global crimes of significance are
bioterrorism and cyber terrorism. Osama bin Ladens al Qaeda organization, assumed to be the
organization that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed over 3000 individuals, was centered in
Afghanistan and was central to the international drug trade. Thus, crimes are clearly not just the acts of
a crazed individual or small group of individuals, but the result of structural and cultural conditions.

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KEY POINTS[ EDIT ]

Social strain typology, developed by Robert K. Merton, is based upon two criteria: (1) a
person's motivations or adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person's belief in how to attain her goals.
According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon these
criteria: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion.
Structural functionalism argues that deviant behavior plays an active, constructive role
in society by ultimately helping cohere different populations within a society.
Conflict theory suggests that deviant behaviors result from social, political, or
material inequalities in a social group.
Labeling theory argues that people become deviant as a result of people forcing
that identity upon them and then adopting the identity.
TERMS[ EDIT ]
typology
The systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics.

conformity
the ideology of adhering to one standard or social uniformity

Retrospective labeling
Occurs when a deviant recognizes her acts as deviant prior to the primary deviance, while prospective
labeling is when the deviant recognizes future acts as deviant.

EXAMPLES[ EDIT ]
Merton's typology is fascinating because it suggests that people can turn to deviance in
the pursuit of widely accepted social values and goals. For instance, individuals in the U.S. who sell
illegal drugs have rejected the culturally acceptable means of making money, but they still share the
widely accepted cultural value of making money. Thus, deviance can be the result of accepting
one norm, but breaking another in order to pursue the first.
An example of conflict theory on the ground would be the Occupy Wall Street that began
in the fall of 2011. Angered at the extreme inequalities in wealth distribution in the United States,
protesters began to organize more communal ways of living in Zucotti Park, by Wall Street in New York
City, in order to protest the lavish means of life of those at the top of the socioeconomic ladder.

Questions on Social Stratification

Popular questions on Social Stratification answered for you in short. For detailed notes please follow the
link.

Social Stratification
What is social stratification?
Stratification is a hierarchy of positions with regard to economic production which influences the social
rewards to those in the positions.

What is class?
Class is large set of people regarded by themselves or others as sharing similar status with regard to
wealth, power and prestige.

What are the major forms of stratification?

Primitive communalism characterized by a high degree of sharing and minimal social inequality. Slavery
involving great social inequality and the ownership of some persons by others. Caste in which an
individual is permanently assigned to a status based on his or her parents' status. Estate in which
peasants are required by law to work land owned by the noble class in exchange for food and protection
from outside attacks.

How do stratification systems differ?

Openness is the opportunity for individuals to change their status. Caste stratification systems are
closed whereas class stratification systems are more open. The degree of equality is the degree to
which the social structure approaches an equal distribution of resources. Hunting and gathering
societies are typically very equal with inequality developing in later stages of agriculture and
industrialization.

What are Weber's three dimensions of stratification?

Class or a set of people with similar amounts of income and wealth. Party or a set of people with similar
amounts of power. Status group or a set of people with similar social prestige or positive regard from
members of a society.

What are the five basic viewpoints on why stratification exists?

Natural inevitability which suggests that inequality exists because of natural differences in people's
abilities and is a just system. Structural -functionalist which states that stratification is useful to society
because it enhances stability and induces members of the society to work hard. Conflict which suggests
that stratification occurs through conflict between different classes, with the upper classes using
superior power to take a larger share of the social resources. Evolutionary which states that people will
share enough resources to ensure the survival of the group until a surplus exists at which time power
determines how the surplus is distributed. Symbolic Interactionist which calls attention to the
importance of symbolic displays of wealth and power that influence one's definition of self and the
importance of ideas in defining social situations.

In what regard is some stratification inevitable?

Inequality may emanate from natural differences in people's abilities.
What are the functionalist and conflict theories as to the reasons for stratification?
Structural-functionalists believe that societies tend to be stable and are held together through
consensus.Stratifiction provides an important function to society by aiding this process because it
lessens conflict and provides structure. Conflict theorists believe that society tends toward conflict and
change and that stratification system coerce the lower classes in order to benefit the upper classes.

What are the basic premises of the evolutionary perspective?

In primitive societies the survival of the group is paramount and people will share their resources to
ensure that the group survives. As society develops increasingly sophisticated technology, surplus exists
and power will determine the distribution of the surplus.
How are the supporting beliefs symbolically important to a stratification system?
Symbolic Interactionists point out that symbols help to define the meaning of all social actions, and a
person's self is developed socially through social interaction. Legitimating ideas, expressed symbolically
in the form of language provide reasons for inequality for strata for the ways people are placed in the
strata and for changes in the stratification system. These supporting ideas also strongly affect how
people evaluate themselves within the system, influencing them to accept their position in the structure
as good and right.

What is social mobility?

Social mobility is the movement of a person from one status to another, either between generations or
within a person's adult career.

What is structural mobility?

Structural mobility is mobility brought about by changes in the stratification hierarchy for instance as
society becomes more technologically advanced.
Global stratification refers to the hierarchical arrangement of individuals and groups in societies
around the world. Slavery. Slavery is a system in which people are bought and sold as property, forced
to work, or held in captivity against their will.
Here in the Philippines, social stratification is very noticeable. Wherever you are and wherever you go,
social stratification is present. Sometimes, you cannot notice it but when you look at a certain thing or
situation deeply, you can see that. The influence of government officials is more noticeable in the public
today. Sometimes, in a simple traffic violation, they usually involved the name of their known politician
to escape the punishment that they should face. In terms of wealth, they usually use money to do them
a favor and to prioritize them. In education, most of the time people dont look on the knowledge that
the person has, they usually look at the school or university where the person came from. And in
physical appearance, people having luminous skin, tall, and attractive are given more chances and
advancement. These are some basis that what was said in the law that all citizens are equal was not
true because in a fundamental sense, people are not equal. And these are the reasons why we people
deserves and looking for more improvement in life. We Filipinos are very conscious in the social class
where we belong. We dont want to be inferior to other thats why we are looking on the other way to
popular or known, to gain reputation and to be prioritized by others. We are always looking for
advancement that we can get only when we are on the higher class in the society. Even though most of
the Filipino population today is in middle class and only few are in the highest class, we can feel the
influence of those few who are in the highest class in our everyday living. This is how great the social
stratification is and in which even in the house of God or in the churches their influence are very
noticeable. But even though this social stratification is present in our everyday living, dont forget that,
in the eye of God we are all equal and we are given equal prioritized by Him. But dont be stocked on
what you are today. Exert an effort to have an improvement in life.
What is the difference between sex and gender?
The term gender refers to culturally transmitted differences between men and women, whereas the sex
refers to the biological differences between males and females.
What do cross-cultural comparisons of gender roles show us?
Culture largely determines what is considered masculine or feminine. These definitions can change with
social change in the culture.
What are the functionalist and conflict theories of the origin of gender roles?
Functionalist suggests that men perform instrumental roles and women perform expressive roles
because that division is functional to the society. Conflict theory sees the almost universal inequality
between the sexes in societies as an outgrowth of patriarchy the form of social organization in which
men dominate or rule over women. Patriarchy assumes that men are superior to women based on
sexism or the belief that one sex is inferior and thus deserves inferior treatment.

What are the major socialization agents that teach us our gender roles?
The major gender -role socialization agents are the family, schools, the media and the language and the
observed interactions in the institutions of the culture.
What are the basic modes in which the family socializes gender behavior?
The family socializes gender roles through reinforcement of appropriate behaviors differential
opportunities for boys and girls, role modeling of adult gender behavior and explicit verbal instruction.
What is the relationship between women's work and power in society?
One reason men hesitate to perform traditional female tasks is that the tasks are often seen as less
valuable to society than are traditional male tasks. As a society we are only beginning to appreciate the
economic and social value of homemakers, women or men.
What political gains have women made?
More women are entering government from the local to the national level.
What changes might occur in the second stage of gender relations?
In the second stage of gender relations, women and men must join together, contributing their own
special qualities to building a better society both in the family and in the business world. Women must
seek out friendships with other women and learn to value their own contributions to the world.

What is Jessie Bernard's basic concept concerning the female world?

Bernard believes that the female world is based on love, cooperation and duty whereas the male world
is based on competition and striving. She seeks to sensitize women to the unique contributions the
female world view might make to society in order to help it to grow more cooperative and peaceful.
What is patriarchy?
It is a form of social organization in which men dominate or rule over women.
What is sexism?
It is a belief that one sex is inferior and thus deserves inferior treatment.
What is ethnicity and how is it transmitted?
Ethnicity is a sense of people hood or nationhood that is culturally transmitted.
What is race and how has it been used by societies?
A race is a population that shares visible physical characteristics from inbreeding and that thinks of itself
or is thought of by outsiders as distinct. It has been used by societies to justify poor treatment of
minority groups.
What is a minority group?
A

minority

group

is

one

that

has

less

power

and

influence

What is prejudice?
Prejudice is a judgment based on group membership or social status.

than

the

dominant

group.

What is discrimination?
Discrimination involves treating someone differently because of his or her group membership or social
status.
What is the relationship between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice and discrimination can exist separately but are most often mutually reinforcing.
What are the basic patterns of race and ethnic group relations?
The basic patterns of race and ethnic relations are amalgamation (blending two or more groups into a
society that reflects the cultural and biological traits of the group), assimilation, pluralism, structured
inequality, population relocation and extermination.
How do conflict theorists define inter group conflict and what are the five major factors that
might contribute to it?
When conflict exists between two groups the group that gains the most power, wealth and prestige
becomes the majority regardless of its size. The five major factors that contribute to such conflict are
visible differences between groups, competition for resources, racist ideology, potential for exploitation
and the minority -group response to the majority definition of the situation.

What are some of the possible sources of prejudice and discrimination?

Prejudice may be formed through both individual and group influences including socialization,
rationalizing through stereotypes, the scapegoating process, reinforcement of a self-fulfilling prophecy
ramification of an authoritarian personality and degree of contact with minority groups.
Prejudice may be formed through both individual and group influences including socialization,
rationalizing through stereotypes, the scapegoating process, reinforcement of a self-fulfilling prophecy
ramification of an authoritarian personality and degree of contact with minority groups.
Questions on Collective Behavior and Social Movements
What are the differences between collective behavior and social movements?
Collective behavior describes the actions, thoughts and feelings of a relatively temporary and
unstructured group of people. In contrast a social movement is a large ongoing group of people
engaged in organized behavior designed to bring about or resist change in society.
What are the four types of crowd behavior?
The casual crowd gathers around a specific event and its members have little interaction with one
another. A conventional crowd gathers for a socially sanctioned purpose. An expressive crowd gathers
specifically for the purpose of letting out emotions. An acting crowd focuses on a specific action or goal.
What do contagion and convergence theories say about crowd behavior?
LeBon's contagion theory is that a collective mind forms in a crowd which takes over the individual
minds of crowd members and causes them to act alike. Convergence theory builds on this by suggesting
that crowd members do not really lose their individuality in a group but act from their unconscious
selves.
How do norms emerge in crowd interaction?
Turner and Killian say that as people interact in a crowd they form new norms for that specific crowd
and as the norms emerge; the crowd pressures its members to conform to them.
When are crowds likely to use violence?
Crowds are more likely to use violence - rioting when they feel they are being oppressed and wish to
overthrow their oppressors.

How does Neil Smelser explain collective behavior?

Smelser says six determinants are necessary and sufficient for a collective episode to occur. They are
structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of a generalized belief, precipitating
factors, mobilization of participants for action and the operation of social control.
Under what circumstances does a diffuse crowd form?
Diffuse crowd or mass behavior involves action by people with common concerns who may or may not
have met each other.
Why do we believe in rumors and how do they affect our actions?
Rumors are information that travels from person to person usually by word of mouth. As they spread
rumors become leveled or simplified and sharpened or focused on certain details. Rumors may be a
casual factor in riots. It has been suggested that they are often a substitute for news.
How do hysteria and panic affect us?
Hysteria generalized anxiety about some unknown situation and panic an attempt to flee from an
imagined or real threat often create behavior changes in individuals from illness caused by an imagined
bug to flight out of town in response to an imagined invasion from Mars.
What is the difference between fashions and fads?
Fashions and fads are changing styles currently accepted by a part of the population but which are not
considered a permanent part of the culture. Fashions change more gradually than fads.
What are the major influences on public opinion?
A public is an unorganized diffuse crowd with opinions on an issue of current interest. Public opinion is
influenced in two major ways: by friends or reference groups and by members of that group whose
judgment is considered important opinion leaders.
How does the mass media influence other social phenomena?
The national media strongly influence the formation of public opinion. They may also be a catalyst in
social explosions such as riots. The fact that programming is now immediate leads to less sorting of
what is important and what is not and may actually distort reality for the viewer.
What is the relationship between television and suicide?
David Philips and Lundie Carstensen determined that in the specific case of teenage suicide, media
violence causes audience violence. They found that television news or feature stories about suicides
triggered additional teenage suicides because of imitation.

What are four types of social movements?

Resistance movements are formed to resist a change that is already occurring in so ciety.Reform
movements endeavor to change elements of the system as it currently stands.Revolutionery
movements deny that the system will ever work and seek to replace it. Expressive movements
concentrate on change among their members and their immediate social contacts.
How do social movements become professionalized?
It has been suggested that many social movements today have leaders whose primary function is to
organize and obtain funds and support for a movement thus making it a highly centralized organization
run by professionals.
What are the stages in the life of a social movement?
In the preliminary stage, society shows a restless concern over an issue on which people are divided. In
the popular stage the movements begins to rally around a charismatic leader who speaks for
reform,revolution,resistence or expression of self in such a way that people relate to the leader and
begin to feel hopeful that their questions have answers. In the third stage, it destroys itself as a
movement and becomes an institution with all the organized and accepted norms of society.

Social Change
The term social change is used to indicate the changes that take place in human interactions and
interrelations. Society is a web of social relationships and hence social change means change in the
system of social relationships. These are understood in terms of social processes and social interactions
and social organization.

Auguste Comte the father of Sociology has posed two problems- the question of social statics and the
question of social dynamics, what is and how it changes. The sociologists not only outline the structure
of the society but also seek to know its causes also.

Social Problems
Indian society maintains continuity with her remote past. The social institutions such as varnashram,
caste, joint family system and village communities emerged in the early phase of India society which
are also responsible for several of the social problems in the modern period.
In contemporary India, there are several social problems. Though, they are called as social problems,
yet, in some problems socio-cultural overtones are more prominent, whereas in some others, the
economic and legal overtones are conspicuous. Thus, the contemporary social problems may be
classified in the following categories:
1. Socio-cultural problems: communalism, untouchability, population explosion, child-abuse and
problems of the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, women, and alcoholism and drug
addiction
2. Economic problems: poverty, unemployment
3. Legal problems: crime, delinquency, violence, and terrorism.
They are closely interrelated with each other. Poverty is an economic as well as a social problem.
Communalism is closely linked with economic factors. The crime and delinquency are having legal
overtones but they are closely related to the social and economic factors.
Several attempts have been made to understand Indian social problems in terms of structural
transformation. In the Indian context, three patterns of transformation are visible. Sanskritization is a
process through which lower castes achieved upward social mobility either by adventure or by
emulating the customs and rituals of the upper castes. It is a cultural process but changes in social
status and occupations as a consequence of the upward mobility brought about by sanskritization
makes it also a structural process.

The contact with the West, particularly with England, set in motion another process of transformation in
India known as Westernization. It is characterized by Western patterns of administration, legal system
and education through the medium of the English language. Under the impact of the Western way of
life, a sizeable section of educated and urbanized Indian adopted Western style of dress, food, drink,
speech and manners. They received an impetus in the post-independence period. The independent India
adopted a modern constitution, founded a secular democratic state and followed the policy of planned
socio-economic development, democratic decentralization and the policy of protective discrimination for
the weaker sections.
In the Third World Countries, there is a growing urge for modernization in the post-independence
period. These countries borrowed parliamentary democracy, adult franchise, and modern constitution
without the supporting structural base of economy, industrialization, modern technology, literacy and
normative base of rationality, civic culture and secular values. As a result, in several of the ex-colonial

societies democracy could not function successfully. The ethnic, communal, tribal, caste and regional
aspirations have become so strong that they are eroding even the basic structures of democracy,
modern state and civic society.
In the Indian context, structural inconsistencies are also visible. They are symptoms as well as the
cause of social disorganization and social problems. By structural inconsistencies is meant the existence
of two opposite sub- structures within the same structure that are not consistent with each other. In
India, on the one hand, there are highly sophisticated modern metropolitan upper and upper middle
classes influenced by consumerism. On the other hand, there are large numbers of the Indian people
who live in inaccessible tribal and rural areas and who might have not seen even a train
This situation is the clear indicator of the gap between the rich and the poor, the rural and the urban
creating a gulf between the different groups and strata. These structural inconsistencies are the
indicators of poverty, inequality, inaccessibility and deprivation existing in Indian society.

Factors responsible for social problems

The multi-religious nature of society and conflict among the different religions has given rise to the
problem of communalism in India. The phenomenon of communalism, as a vitiated form of interreligious group relationship, particularly between Hindus and Muslims is a grave problem in India. The
policy of a 'soft state' and not taking hard decisions against communal organizations has also
aggravated problems of communalism in India. The considerations of electoral gains by using religions
have also contributed in the growth of communalism in the post-independent period of India.
The caste system is an important social structure in India .The caste system has been divided Indian
population into numerous groups that enter into relationships of various types and degrees among
them. It has been the root cause of various social problems in India. The casteism as a problem refers
to both the discrimination of one caste against another and the particularistic tendency of favoring one's
caste group in violation of the principle of universalism. The practice of mobilization on the basis of
caste and favor or disfavor shown in education and employment on caste considerations are the major
features of casteism. The scheduled castes signify those groups of people who were out of the caste
system. They comprise the bulk of untouchable castes. They have been discriminated against by the
superior castes through the ages and they have never had any kind of social acceptance from the
majority of people who belong to the upper castes. Over the ages they had no share in the social,
political and judiciary powers and their position was like that of a slave.
India has recognized the socio-political reality of language by reorganizing the states on the basis of
language that has encouraged the assertion of linguistic identities. The situation arising out of this
peculiar linguistic configuration has created the problems of linguistic minorities in several states, border
dispute between states, and the question of the medium of instruction in educational institutions.
India is a country with large population of Tribals. Tribals in India are not a homogeneous group. They
differ in terms of their ways of life, exposure to the outside world and adoption of the programmes of
welfare and development. The Tribals have been isolated from the mainstream of the Indian society for
several years that accounted for their backwardness. The process of land alienation among the Tribals
has been going on for a long time. The land has been taken over by the Government for mining and
industries. The tribals are uprooted and displaced from their land. They have also not benefited from
industrialization. As the tribals have remained mostly unskilled their claims for government jobs are
overlooked. A large number of tribals are living below poverty line. The education level is low as most of

them are engaged in agricultural activities with their children. Many tribes are nomads who move from
place to place. There are others who migrate in search of employment. The medium of instruction is
another hindrance for promotion of education among the tribes. The tribal population in India is still at
fringe and development has hardly touched them. They remain discontented to a large extent.
Minority problem can be seen in two broad forms i.e in a democratic set up a minority community may
compete as well as collaborate with the majority. The basic issues of minority are for political, social and
economic equality. In India among different minority groups the economic status may vary. The
minorities whose position is economically weak may easily promote disaffection particularly in a
situation with the increased communication facilities and frequent interaction among the different
groups. Many minority institutions allege governmental discrimination against them. Many such
institutions insist on religious or traditional education and those oppose the modern scientific education.
This keeps the minority youth deprived of modern education and lagging behind others.
The population in India has been growing phenomenally during this century. Development and welfare
programmes for the masses have not been able to catch up with the increasing population.
Consequently, the benefits of the developmental programmes have been far below the expectation.
With the increase in population, the problems of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy have been
accentuated in India. The sheer size of the population is also a factor that affects the increasing ethnic
problem of various kinds. The larger the size of the caste or the tribe, the greater is the tendency to
assert their parochial or ethnic identities at the cost of national integration.
The increasing population of India is making increasing demands on the resources of the land, capital
and forest. The hunger for land in both rural and urban areas is increasing. With the growing burden on
the national finance, the welfare programmes and social services like education, health, employment,
rural development, welfare of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward castes, youth and
women etc. are adversely affected.
A cultural element that has been relevant to social problems in India is fatalism. The Hindu doctrines of
"karma" and rebirth contain strong elements of fatalistic attitude to lifean attitude of acceptance of and
resignation to the vicissitudes and failures in life. It has proved to be a one of the mechanisms for
checking the resistance of the masses against of injustice and exploitation.
Another cultural trait widespread in Indian society is particularism as against universalism. This
reflected in the excessive consideration for one's own people, kin group, caste or religion. Corruption
involving favoritism or discrimination that is prevalent in our society is the result of such disregard for
the norms of universalism.
The Indian society, by and large, has been patriarchal where woman is subjected inferior to man. The
role of woman in the Indian society has been conceived as that of wife and mother. The problem is
further accentuated by the cultural need to have male offspring for perpetuating the family performing
the rituals after one's death. It has contributed to the cultural preference for a male child and imposition
of inferior status to the female. This had led to the subjugation of women and discrimination against
them in various spheres of social life.

Economically, India remains predominantly an agricultural society. There is an excessive dependence of

labor force on agriculture. This overdependence of the labor force on the underdeveloped agriculture is

the major cause of many of the social problems in India. It directly leads to poverty that is one of the
basic causes of many other social problems in India. The malnutrition, ill health, beggary, prostitution,
etc. are rooted in the large-scale poverty in India.
Indian society is characterized by the unequal distribution of wealth. There is affluence amidst pervasive
poverty in both the rural and urban area of India. On account of this disparity, benefits of development
and welfare services also accrue unequally to the different sections of the society. The benefits that the
poor gain are comparatively low.
Child labour, a manifestation of poverty in the country has become a social problem in India. A large
number of families belonging to the poor section of the society are forced to depend upon their
children's contribution to the family income. They are not in a position to spare their children for fulltime or even part-time schooling. Thus children who are expected to be in schools are found working as
laborers. Apart from the economic constraints of the families of the working children, the owners of
some of the small-scale enterprises also prefer to employ child labor. For them, child labor is cheap. It
reduces the cost of production and maximizes their profit. Thus, child labor gets encouragement from
both - the parents of the children and the owners of the enterprise. Therefore, despite the appalling
conditions under which children work and the low wages they earn, child labour thrives in India.
Widespread poverty has its own repercussions on education in India. The problem of mass-illiteracy in
the country is largely by the result of the situation of poverty under which the masses live. The poor are
so preoccupied with the concern for their survival that they do not have the inclination or time for
education. It is ridiculous to convince a poor man about the value of education when he is struggling to
make both ends meet. Most of the people belonging to the poor section are not inclined for schooling of
their children. Many of those who enroll their children in schools withdraw them before they acquire any
meaningful standard of literacy. The result is that India is faced with the problem of mass-illiteracy.
The process of industrialization and urbanization has been slow in India. Industrialization has been
concentrated in certain pockets in the country. The result is the inordinate growth of population in a few
urban centers. This over- growth of population in a few urban centers has created various problems of
urban poverty, unemployment, congestion, pollution, slum, etc.
Rural poverty and unemployment have had their own contribution to the urban problem in so far as
people migrated from the rural areas to the urban centers in numbers larger than the urban areas can
absorb. As a large section of the rural migrants are illiterate and unskilled, they are unable to adjust
themselves into the urban economic situation and thereby suffer from unemployment and poverty.

Post Modernism
Postmodern society is diverse and pluralistic. Postmodern society's images are perceived through films,
videos, TV programmes and websites and circulated around the world. We come into contact with many
ideas and values, having little connection with the history of the areas in which we live, or with our own
personal histories. One important theorist of postmodernity is the French author Jean Baudrillard, who
was strongly influenced by Marxism in his early days, believes that the electronic media have destroyed
our relationship to the past and created a chaotic, empty world. He argues that the spread of electronic
communication and the mass media has reversed the Marxist theorem that economic forces shape
society. Instead, signs and images influence social life.

Evolutionary Theories
Evolutionary theories are based on the assumption that societies gradually change from simple
beginnings into even more complex forms. Early sociologists beginning with Auguste Comte believed
that human societies evolve in a unilinear way- that is in one line of development. According to them
social change meant progress toward something better. They saw change as positive and beneficial. To
them the evolutionary process implied that societies would necessarily reach new and higher levels of
civilization.L.H Morgan believed that there were three basic stages in the process: savagery, barbarism
and civilization.Auguste Comte's ideas relating to the three stages in the development of human
thought and also of society namely-the theological, the metaphysical and the positive in a way
represent the three basic stages of social change. This evolutionary view of social change was highly
influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of Organic Evolution.
Those who were fascinated by this theory applied it to the human society and argued that societies
must have evolved from the simple and primitive to that of too complex and advanced such as the
western society. Herbert Spencer a British sociologist carried this analogy to its extremity. He argued
that society itself is an organism. He even applied Darwin's principle of the survival of the fittest to
human societies. He said that society has been gradually progressing towards a better state. He argued
that it has evolved from military society to the industrial society. He claimed that western races, classes
or societies had survived and evolved because they were better adapted to face the conditions of life.
This view known as social Darwinism got widespread popularity in the late 19th century. It survived
even during the first phase of the 20th century. Emile Durkheim identified the cause of societal
evolution as a society's increasing moral density.Durkheim viewed societies as changing in the direction
of greater differentiation, interdependence and formal control under the pressure of increasing moral
density. He advocated that societies have evolved from a relatively undifferentiated social structure with
minimum of division of labor and with a kind of solidarity called mechanical solidarity to a more
differentiated social structure with maximum division of labor giving rise to a kind of solidarity called
organic

solidarity.

Cyclical

theories:

Cyclical theories of social change focus on the rise and fall of civilizations attempting to discover and
account for these patterns of growth and decay.Spengler, Toynbee and Sorokin can be regarded as the
champions of this theory.Spengler pointed out that the fate of civilizations was a matter of destiny. Each
civilization is like a biological organism and has a similar life-cycle, birth, maturity, old-age and death.
After making a study of eight major civilizations including the west he said that the modern western
society is in the last stage i.e. old age. He concluded that the western societies were entering a period
of decay as evidenced by wars, conflicts and social breakdown that heralded their doom.
Toynbee:
Arnold Toynbee's famous book 'A study of History' (1946) focus on the key concepts of challenge and
response. Every society faces challenges at first, challenges posed by the environment and later
challenges from internal and external enemies. The nature of responses determines the society's fate.
The achievements of a civilization consist of its successful responses to the challenges; if cannot mount
an effective response it dies. He does not believe that all civilizations will inevitably decay. He has
pointed out that history is a series of cycles of decay and growth. But each new civilization is able to
learn from the mistakes and to borrow from cultures of others. It is therefore possible for each new
cycle

to

offer

higher

level

of

achievement.

Sorokin:
Pitirin Sorokin in his book Social and Culture Dynamics - 1938 has offered another explanation of social
change. Instead of viewing civilization into the terms of development and decline he proposed that they
alternate of fluctuate between two cultural extremes: the sensate and the ideational. The sensate
culture stresses those things which can be perceived directly by the senses. It is practical, hedonistic,
sensual and materialistic. Ideational culture emphasizes those things which can be perceived only by
the mind. It is abstract, religious concerned with faith and ultimate truth. It is the opposite of the
sensate culture. Both represent pure types of culture. Hence no society ever fully conforms to either
type. As the culture of a society develops towards one pure type, it is countered by the opposing
cultural force. Cultural development is then reversed moving towards the opposite type of culture. Too
much emphasis on one type of culture leads to a reaction towards the other. Societies contain both
these impulses in varying degrees and the tension between them creates long-term instability. Between
these types lies a third type 'idealistic' culture. This is a desirable blend of other two but no society ever
seems

to

Functionalist

have

achieved
or

it

as

Dynamic

stable

condition.
theories:

In the middle decades of the 20th century a number of American sociologists shifted their attention
from social dynamics to social static or from social change to social stability.Talcott Parsons stressed the
importance of cultural patterns in controlling the stability of a society. According to him society has the
ability to absorb disruptive forces while maintaining overall stability. Change is not as something that
disturbs the social equilibrium but as something that alters the state of equilibrium so that a
qualitatively new equilibrium results. He has stated that changes may arise from two sources. They may
come from outside the society through contact with other societies. They may also come from inside the
society through adjustment that must be made to resolve strains within the system. Parsons speaks of
two processes that are at work in social change. In simple societies institutions are undifferentiated that
is a single institution serves many functions. The family performs reproductive, educational, socializing,
economic, recreational and other functions. A process of differentiation takes place when the society
becomes more and more complex. Different institutions such as school, factory may take over some of
the functions of a family. The new institutions must be linked together in a proper way by the process of
integration. New norms must be established in order to govern the relationship between the school and
the home. Further bridging institutions such as law courts must resolve conflicts between other
components
Conflict

in

the

system.
theories:

Whereas the equilibrium theories emphasize the stabilizing processes at work in social systems the socalled conflict theories highlight the forces producing instability, struggle and social disorganization.
According to Ralf Dahrendorf the conflict theories assume that - every society is subjected at every
moment to change, hence social change is ubiquitous. Every society experiences at every moment
social conflict, hence social conflict is ubiquitous. Every element in society contributes to change. Every
society rests on constraint of some of its members by others. The most famous and influential of the
conflict theories is the one put forward by Karl Marx who along with Engel wrote in Communist
Manifesto 'all history is the history of class conflict.' Individuals and groups with opposing interests are
bound to be at conflict. Since the two major social classes the rich and poor or capitalists and the
proletariat have mutually hostile interests they are at conflict. History is the story of conflict between
the exploiter and the exploited. This conflict repeats itself off and on until capitalism is overthrown by
the workers and a socialist state is created. What is to be stressed here is that Marx and other conflict
theorists deem society as basically dynamic and not static. They consider conflict as a normal process.
They also believe that the existing conditions in any society contain the seeds of future social changes.

Like Karl Marx George Simmel too stressed the importance of conflict in social change. According to him
conflict is a permanent feature of society and not just a temporary event. It is a process that binds
people together in interaction. Further conflict encourages people of similar interests to unite together
to achieve their objectives. Continuous conflict in this way keeps society dynamic and ever changing.