Terms concepts and their use in sociology

Sociology terms and concepts 

 Social group 

A social grp  is a grp of people who interact with each other and share the sense of belongingness it is known as social group.

So can any gathering of people can be called as social grp?

Actually no, gathering of people will not be called as a social grp.It wll be called as an aggregate grp or quasi grps.

Example--- Passengers waiting at the bus stand to board the bus. They may have the small interactions they may say hi or hello but they do not have the sense of belongingness.

Now you may be wandering but what is the social group?

Here are some of the characteristics of the social group-:

1. Consistent and long term interactions.

2. They have the sense of belongingness. 

3. Shared interest. 

4. Acceptance of the common norms and values.

No what are norms and values 

So norms are nothing but rules so in norms rules can be strict and non-strict or flexible and inflexible

Example--- non-strict/flexible 

Wearing sandal in the classroom in the rainy season in that sense you will not get any punishment. 

Strict/inflexible--

  wearing a seat belt while driving the car is compulsory to all the drivers and in case it can  lead to heavy penalty.

5. They have a definable structure.

For example the person you are interacting can be a son, a father.brother etc.

So it means that their roles are different  in diff situations.

Types of social groups 

1. Primary social group 

2. Secondary social group 

Primary Group

• Sense of Belonging: We-feeling hota hai
• Size: Small in size
• Relationship: Personal, Face-to-face
• Orientation: Person-Oriented
• Duration: Long-lasting & Permanent
• Examples: Family, Village, Friends Group

Secondary Group

• Sense of Belonging: No we-feeling
• Size: Relatively Large in size
• Relationship: Formal & Impersonal
• Orientation: Goal-Oriented
• Duration: Temporary
• Examples: School, Govt Office, Hospital, Students' Association

Community and association 

Community-: Community is a group of people who shares the sense of belongingness and interact with each other.

Example-: ST community.

Association-: An Association is a group of people gathered for a specific purpose or they are goal oriented.

COMMUNITY

1. Natural, Born not Made
2. Compulsory & Territory based
3. Wider Aims - Whole Life
4. Informal Rules, Customs

ASSOCIATION

1. Artificial, Made for Purpose
2. Voluntary, No Territory
3. Specific Goal Oriented
4. Formal Rules & Constitution

Ingroup and outgroup 

In-Group vs Out-Group | Difference Explained

A sense of belonging marks an in-group. This feeling separates ‘us’ or ‘we’ from ‘them’ or ‘they’. For example, children belonging to a particular school may form an ‘in-group’ as against those who do not belong to the school.

Basis	In-Group (We-Group)	Out-Group (They-Group)
Feeling	We-feeling, Sense of Belonging, Love	They-feeling, No Belonging, Distance
Behaviour	Cooperation, Loyalty, Help	Hostile, Contempt, Competition
Example	Your own school / family / friends	Other schools / Migrants
Nature	Boundary changes with time	Who is 'out' also changes with context

M.N. Srinivas Example - Rampura (1948)

Srinivas observed in Rampura census:

• Nenne Monne Bandavartu: 'Came yesterday or the day before' - Recent migrants. Treated as Out-Group with contempt.

• Arsheyinda Bandavaru / Khadeem Kulagalu: 'Came long ago / Old lineages' - Old migrants. Now accepted as In-Group.

Conclusion: The definition of who belongs and who does not, changes with time and social contexts.

Peer groups 

Peers groups are nothing but the friends that are at the similar age to you or in the professional grp.

Social stratification 

Social means society and stratification means division or layers.

So the division or layering of society is known as social stratification.Now what are the layers in which our society has been divided 

1.Caste

2.Class

3.Status and Role

Caste

• Caste is an ascribed role. It means caste cannnot be changed it is from birth that if a person is kshatriya he cannot change his caste to Brahman. 

• in the traditional caste system in India the cast has been defined in terms of purity or pollution relative to others 

It has been divided into four parts classify the basis of occupation 

Brahman 

They will teach the children, guide in the rituals to king, 

 Kshatriyas 

The work of the kshatriya is to fight for the kingdom and also save it from enemies. 

Vaishyas

This was the people who were primarily occupied in the occupation like farming and all. 

Shudras 

This people come under the lowest caste or we can say shudras is termed  as the lowest caste among all the castes. The people of this caste usually practice the works like painting etc 

This people were open exploited to perform or participate in rituals, entering into temples, drawing the water from well, go to any place where the high cast people are living, 

Class and status

• class is changeable.

Class=position 

Status=subjective prestige

In order to change the status the person have to change its class.

For example 

A person, A is an government officer. That position his class is changed and the status are that position made him earn prestige.

So class is directly proportional to status.But not always in all cases.

You can take the example of a burglar whom might have crores of money but he did not have any status in the society because he is a thief.

Status is the prestige of that position actually occupied by the person with the high class or low class.

Role

The role is played status is occupied. 

Any individual can play multiple roles it is life he may be a father brother son grandfather etc.

Reference group 

Reference groups are the group of people who compare their culture with the other social groups.

For example

A person A wants to become an ias officer then he will compare himself with the group of ias officers not with the people around him.He will act like an ias officer, speak like them, have an intense sacrificial feeling for the nation.

SOCIETY 

A society does not accurately mean the group of people instead it means the process or pattern of interactions that they do between them.It is known as society.

SOCIAL GROUP VS SOCIETY 

 

Basis	Social Group	Society
Meaning	A collection of two or more individuals who interact and have a sense of unity (We-feeling).	A complex system of interacting groups, institutions, and social relationships sharing a common culture and territory.
Size	Small and temporary in nature. E.g., Family, friends, classmates.	Large and relatively permanent. E.g., Indian Society, Tribal Society.
Relationship	Direct, conscious and personal interaction is essential.	Relationship may be direct or indirect, and abstract.
Self-Sufficiency	Not self-sufficient, it is a part of society.	Is self-sufficient and self-perpetuating.

Social control 

A social control is having the following features 

• regulates an individual behaviour. 

• make him learn the values.

In short social control is nothing but the process by which the behaviour of an individual is being controlled or shaped by the society things may include values culture language etc.