Module 2: Culture and Society

Lesson 2: Becoming a Member of Society

Key Concepts
➢ Society - groups of people within the same location, who have the same cultural identity.
➢ Status - position in society assigned to people.
➢ Role - expected performance or behavior based on one’s status.
➢ Networks - social connections.
➢ Social Control - regulation of certain behavior by society.
➢ Socialization - process of shaping identity through lived experience.
➢ Social Groups - more than two people interacting with one another.
➢ Acculturation - exchange of cultures among groups, through which groups remain
distinct
➢ Assimilation - absorbing a cultural minority into a dominant culture.
➢ Enculturation - gaining elements of a culture through observation.
➢ Conformity - complying with or following rules in society.
➢ Deviance - going against cultural norms.
➢ Strain Theory - deviant people are a product of pressures to fit in society and attempts to
fit in are met by obstacles in the environment.

Sub- Lesson 1. Approaches to the Study of Society (Sociological Frameworks)

What is the meaning of society?

○ Substantive definition of society - Society refers to people who live in a defined territory
and share a way of life or culture (Macionis, 2017).

○ Structural-Functional Approach (Macro-level)

■ Society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and
stability (Macionis, 2017).
■ Explores how social structures work together to help society operate (Macionis,
2017).
■ Theorists: Auguste Comte, Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer

Key concepts:
a. Social structure - relatively stable patterns of social behavior that are meant to
meet social functions.
b. Social function - consequences of any social pattern for the operation of society.
i. Manifest function - intended or obvious consequences (ex. School - students to
get passing grades in order to graduate and obtain a diploma).
ii. Latent function - unintended or unrecognized consequences (ex. School - to
join clubs, organizations and other extracurricular activities, which are not
really required).

○ Social Conflict Approach (Macro-level)

■ Society as an arena of inequality between different classes based on their relationship to

the means of production (Macionis, 2017).
 ■ Society is composed of different social groups that struggle over scarce resources (money,
land, food status, opportunities), thus creating conflict and causing changes (Macionis,
2017).

■ Theorists: Karl Marx, W. E. B. Dubois, Harriet Martineau

Types of conflict analysis:

a. Class Conflict Theory - This may be understood through observing how certain
phenomena or how conditions in the environment are conducive for people from high-
income households compared to how people from low-income households have to struggle
just to attain the bare minimum of their needs, and of public welfare.
b. Gender Conflict Theory – This provides a critical lens for understanding gender relations
within society. In order to understand gender conflict, one should recognize that women
and the LGBTQIA+ are affected differently by systemic problems such as poverty, human
rights violations, lack of access to education, economic empowerment and political
participation, and more (Plan International, 2019).
c. Race Conflict Theory - a sociological perspective that sheds light on the dynamics of racial
and ethnic relations. It posits that law and its enforcement are wielded by dominant
groups in society to safeguard their interests and suppress perceived threats

○ Symbolic Interactionism Approach (Micro-level)

■ Society as the product of the everyday social interactions of individuals (Macionis, 2017).
■ Studies how people, in everyday interactions, construct reality (Macionis, 2017).
■ Theorists: Max Weber, George Mead, Erving Goffman

Sub-lesson 2: Social Structure and Social Functions

What are the components of society?

○ Status - the social position that a person holds. (i.e.: doctor, professor, president, son, mother,
etc). Generally refers to prestige (Macionis, 2017).

■ Status Set: all statuses a person holds at a given time. (i.e. a student of a particular
school, a son/daughter to one's parents, a friend to a fellow friend, etc).

■ Ascribed Status: a social position that a person receives at birth or takes on involuntarily
later in life. (i.e.: a prince, later crowned king; an heir to a massive wealth or fortune).

■ Achieved Status: a social position that a person takes on voluntarily that reflects a
personal ability and effort. (i.e.: a student earning their bachelor’s degree; an employee
being promoted into a higher position).

■ Master Status: a status has special importance for social identity, often shaping a
person’s entire life. (i.e.: Jose Rizal was a doctor, novelist, polyglot, propagandist, etc. but
he is most well known by many as a national hero and a martyr who died for his country).

○Role - the behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status. (i.e.: student studying
to achieve passing or higher grades; a person being a caring son to his parents) (Macionis,
2017).

■ Role Set: a number of roles attached to a single status (a student’s roles include fulfilling
requirements for their subjects, joining extracurricular activities, following the rules and
regulations of the school, among others).
 ■ Role Conflict: conflict among roles corresponding to two or more statuses.

■ Role Strain: tension among the roles connected to a single status.

■ Role Exit: disengage from social roles (ie: ex-lawyer, ex-convict, former president, former
CEO, former employee, etc.).

○ Social Group - two or more people who identify and interact with one another. Groups contain
people with shared experiences, loyalties, and interests. Members of social groups think of
themselves as a special “we” (Macionis, 2017).

■ Not every collection of individuals forms a group. People with a status in common are not
a group but a category.

■ Crowd - a loosely formed collection of people. The right circumstances can quickly turn a
crowd into a group. (i.e.: the People Power Revolutions)

Types of Social Groups:

a. Primary Group: small social group whose members share a personal and lasting
relationship. Has primary importance (personal orientation) (i.e.: family, barkadas).
b. Secondary Group: large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific
goal or activity (goal orientation) (i.e.: classmates, officemates)
c. In-group: a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty.
d. Out-group: a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or
opposition.

○ Networks: a web of weak social ties. It includes people we know of—or who know us—but with
whom we interact rarely, if at all.

■ Though ties are weak, it can be a powerful resource.

■ Social Capital refers to the networks of relationships between people or groups who live
and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively. Social capital is
measured through the value of resources (both tangible and intangible) that an individual or
group has, which is impacted by their networks.
Sub-lesson 3: Socialization

How do we become members of society?

○ Socialization refers to the lifelong social experience by which people develop their
human potential and learn culture. (Macionis 2017).

○ Our concept of self is a product of socialization. According to George Herbert

Mead, one of the main proponents of symbolic interactionism, “The self is something
which has development; it is not there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience
and activity, that is, develops in the given individual as a result of his or her relations to that
process as a whole and to other individuals within that process.” (Retrieved from Lanuza &
Raymundo, p.154).

Processes of Socialization

■ Enculturation - process by which individuals learn their group’s culture through

experience, observation and instruction.
■ Acculturation - process of exchange of values and customs from one group to
another by individuals. The groups remain distinct even though the two groups exchange
cultural features.
■ Assimilation - process of cultural absorption of a minority group into the main
cultural body, eventually leading to the disappearance of the culture of the minority group.
This can be done through individuals or larger groups.

What are the agents of socialization?

○ Family - considered as the first and most influential agent of socialization. Through family,
children learn the type of environment that adults create. Family gives/designates
their children the social position (race, religion, ethnicity, social class, etc) as part
of their self concept.

○ School - provides formal education, both in knowledge and skills. School enlarges
children’s social world, as it includes other people from different backgrounds.
The school is where children first experience bureaucracy (i.e.: strict time
schedule, proper wearing of uniforms, proper haircut and hairdo, etc.).

○ Peer/Friend - is a social group whose members have interests, social positions, and ages in
common. A peer/friend allows children to escape the direct supervision of adults
(i.e.: parents, guardians, teachers, etc). A peer/friend then offers opportunities to
discuss interests that adults may not share or permit. Peers may guide short-
term choices of a person but, in most cases, parents still shape the children’s
long term goals (i.e.: college plans).

■ Anticipatory Socialization - the process of learning that helps a person achieve a

desired position. (i.e.: copying the styles and slang of a group to get accepted into the
group or win the approval of the group).

○ Mass Media - a means to deliver impersonal communication to a vast audience. Mass

media has an enormous effect on individual’s attitudes and behavior. It introduces people to
ideas and images that reflect the larger society and the entire world.

○ Others (officemates/colleagues, clubs, organizations, religious groups, advocacy groups,

etc).
How do we socialize as members of society?

○ Conformity refers to obedience of norms, which makes a person acceptable to a

particular society, group, or setting. It is the acceptance of cultural goals and the
legitimate/approved ways and means of achieving them.

○ Deviance refers to the recognized violation of cultural norms (i.e.: crime - violation of a
society’s formally enacted criminal law).

■ It is socially-constructed, as “what is a deviant choice or action?” is

determined by the members of the society.

○ Social Control - attempts by society to regulate people’s thoughts and behaviors.

Deviance is checked through social control to ensure that norms and conventions are
safeguarded and preserved.

Types of Social Control (accdg. To Karl Mannheim retrieved from Diala-Jimenez, 2017)

a. Direct - regulates and controls the behavior of the individual directly, which
includes the family, neighbourhood, play-groups, and other types of primary social
group.

b. Indirect- regulates and controls the behavior of the individual indirectly by

secondary groups through customs, traditions, rationalized behavior, and public opinion.

Mechanisms of Social Control

a. Labelling theory - states how members of society label others, whether they are
deviant or not (Newman, 2012). After a group of people has labelled an individual as a
deviant, members of a community or society often treat the individual negatively and
with feelings of hate, mistrust, or fear. (Cohen, 1996 in Newman, 2012).

b. Gossip - often practiced in small-scale communities where people know each other
personally. By gossiping or talking behind someone’s back and spreading rumors about
them, society reinforces what norms should be followed and punishes the deviants by
shaming them.

c. Laws - formal codes of conduct that are met with negative sanctions (i.e. punishments)
when violated (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, and Mcbride, 2008). Only those who exercise
authority are recognized by the members of society to practice coercion in the exercise of
sanctions (Ibid.). Laws do not always constitute what is right/moral. In other words,
legality does not equate to morality.

Why do members of society become deviant?

○ Strain Theory
■ Advanced by sociologist Robert Merton.
■ States that deviant behavior occurs when people experience strain or tension
when culture imposes goals that individuals should achieve, but the social
environment makes it hard or challenging for individuals to meet such goals
through a legitimate manner.
■ Richard Cloward & Lloyd Ohlin expanded the study by pointing out that the
criminal type of deviance can result not only from the lack of culturally approved
 means to achieve success but also from the availability of unconventional means
to do so.

■ Members of society react to strains in 5 different ways:

a. Conformity - individuals still accept cultural goals and try to achieve them
through culturally approved methods.

b. Innovation - individuals still accept cultural goals but go about in achieving

it in a culturally disapproved way.

c. Ritualism - individuals still live in society and follow its culturally approved
ways, but they no longer try to achieve goals.

d. Retreat - Individuals no longer desire to achieve cultural goals and have

abandoned the culturally approved ways of achieving those goals.

e. Rebellion - individuals challenge the existing culturally accepted goals by

coming up with new ones and also challenge the prescribed means in
achieving cultural goals.