Rural Society and Polity

Introductory Concepts on Society and Culture

Society is a system of usages and procedures , of authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behaviour and of liberties Mutual awareness Society involves both likeness and difference Man is a social animal

Wherever the members of any group , small or large, live together in such a way that they share , not this or that particular interest , but the basic conditions of a common life, we call that group a community. Locality a territorial area Community Sentiments- Sense of belonging Great and Small Communities

Community

Associations

Association is a group organised for the pursuit of an interest or group of interests in common. Associations and communities are different because of interest aspect of associations Sometime associations become communities such as monasteries, convents and prisons State is also a form of association Schools, colleges, University, Political Parties, Sects, Churches, army, police etc. are all associations Corresponding to its peculiar method the association has a corporate character. Through legal recognition of these conditions, duties and privileges it is given the shape of a corporation in legal language.

Institutions

Institutions are established forms of procedure characteristic of group activity Institutions are recurrent, repetitive and purposive Every association with respect to its interest has its characteristic institutions We belong to community and association but not to institutions Marriage, representative government, legislative procedures, examination are examples of institutions Community also establish institutions- dating, group marriages, levirate, child marriage etc. Community Institutions develop gradually and attain a social form

Individual and Society

Individual- a product of growth of society Society is not just a sum of individuals and is a phenomenon of different order Societies have evolved from mechanical solidarity (primitive) to organic solidarity (modern) Mechanical solidarity (MS) is solidarity of resemblance Organic solidarity (OS) is solidarity of difference based on structural differentiation and division of labour Transition marking this change is reflected by change from repressive to restitutive law

Individual and Society (contd.)

Society is present in some form in all individuals Even religion has been interpreted as transfigured form of society Society is recreated in every social form through distinctive ways and methods Major reasons of suicides are interpreted as either

Too much integration with society Too little integration with society and Normlessness in society