CSS Sociology

Junaid Alam, 44th CTP.

Syllabus
Individual – sociality of man
Culture – meaning, types, socialization, relativism, multiculturalism
Society – meaning, relationship with individual, types
Social Interaction – castes and classes, mobility
Social Control – mechanisms, anomie, alienation
Social and cultural change and Social Policy – processes, inhibitions,
social planning, industrialization, modernization
Public Opinion – Formation, opinion leaders
Community – rural vs. urban, urbanism
Social Institutions – nature, functions, family, religion, institutionalization,
education, economy, politics
Social Problems in Pakistan – population, migration, deviance, crime,
unemployment, illiteracy, prostitution, poverty, drugs, child and bonded
labor, women oppression etc.
Sociological Theory – Structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism,
conflict theory
Methods of Sociological Research

Resources
 Sociology (Horton & Hunt)
 Pakistan Society (Akbar S. Ahmed)
 Journal and Newspaper Articles
 Any CSS Sociology Key-book
 Internet (very helpful for topic by topic preparation)
 Defining Sociology

Derived from Latin word Socious, meaning “companionship”, and Greek

word logos, meaning “study” – study of human companionship.

“Sociology is the study of social action.” (Max Weber)

“Sociology is the study of collective behavior.” (Park & Burgess)
“Sociology is the scientific study of society.” (Comte)
“Sociology is the study of social facts through social institutions.”
(Durkheim)
“Sociology is the scientific study of the social aspects of human life.” (Young)
The science of society, social institutions, and social relationships,
specifically: the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction,
and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings
The scientific analysis of a social institution as a functioning whole and as it
relates to the rest of society

Sociality of man

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally

and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human.
Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot
lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore
does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.” – Aristotle, Politics
There are three possible conjectures about man’s sociability:
(1) Man is social by nature.
(2) He is social by compulsion.
(3) He is social by his own choice.
Man’s dependence on Society
Biological development
Psychological development
Development of Faculties
 Language
 Reasoning
Moral development
Society does not exist independently without individual.
Everybody performs certain functions in a group.
level of individual development is an indicator of the level of development of
society
A person’s practical activities are individual expressions of the historically
formed social practice of humanity.
But the individual does not dissolve into society.
Society exists outside the individual as a kind of social environment
Society is a system of relations that is independent of an individual’s will
and consciousness.
But society also exists in the individual himself and could not exist apart
from the real activity of its members.
An individual has a certain dependence on social system as well as an
autonomy that is a precondition for the life and development of the system.

Culture – Definitions
“…the sum of human beings’ life ways, their behavior, beliefs, feelings,
thought; it connotes everything that is acquired by them as social beings.”
“…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society.” (Edward Taylor)
Culture consists of all learned, normative behavior patterns – that is all
shared ways or patterns of thinking and feeling as well as doing.
“Culture is the sum total of integrated learned behavior patterns which are
characteristics of the members of a society and which are therefore not the
result of biological inheritance.” (E.A. Hoebel)
“Culture is the total content of the physio-social, bio-social and psycho-
social universe man has produced and the socially created mechanisms
through which these social products operate” (Anderson and Parker)
“Culture can be defined as the total heritage of man which can be
transmitted to men by communication and tradition.”
Characteristics of Culture
Culture is Abstract
You cannot see culture because you cannot see the rules; you can only see
the products of culture.
Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society.
Culture is the shared ways of doing and thinking.
We cannot see culture as such we can only see human behavior.
Culture is Variable
Cultural variation can be studied across cultures.
There may be differences between social behaviors in different cultural
settings.
Culture varies with geography, demography, weather patterns, food
resources.
Subcultural variations: one segment of society may exhibit mores and values
that differ from those of the larger society, e.g. counter culture, popular
culture.
Culture is Learned
Culture is not innate – it is learned behavior that is passed on by imitation
and instruction.
Culture learnings are the products of behavior – each person’s behavior
depends upon some particular behavior of someone else.
On the basis of cultural learning, people create, remember, and deal with
ideas.
They understand and apply specific systems of symbolic meaning – religion,
language.
Culture is a Social/Shared Phenomenon
To be considered a cultural characteristic, a particular belief, value, or
practice must be shared by a significant portion of the society.
The rules of a culture are shared by the group, not invented by the
individual.
Culture has been referred to as “the cultivation of individuals through the
agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of
history”.
Culture is Transmitted
Through linguistic patterns – use of language and ideas development.
Through behavior – social interaction.
Through education – values, learning skills.
Through folklore – culture specific stories and legends.
Culture is Dynamic and Adaptive
Culture is fluid rather than static, which means that culture changes all the
time, every day, in subtle and tangible ways.
Because most cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange
ideas and symbols.
Even in the same society, at different times, different cultures may prevail.
 Types of Culture
Material Culture
The physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their
culture.
Value of materials could lie in their monetary or sentimental benefit.
It includes usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the
behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects create or take part in.
Homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples,
mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods
and products, stores etc.

Non-Material Culture
The nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including
beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and
institutions.
For instance, the concept of religion consists of a set of ideas and beliefs
about God, worship, morals, and ethics.
Processes of a culture that shape its members' thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors – symbols, language, values, and norms.

Elements of Culture
Symbols
Every culture is filled with symbols, or things that stand for something else
and that often evoke various reactions and emotions.
Symbols could be verbal or non-verbal.
The same gesture can mean one thing in one society and something quite
different in another society.
The most important set of symbols is language.
Norms
Mental representations of appropriate behavior
Authoritative standard – informal understandings that govern the behavior
of members of a society.
A principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving
to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior
No society lacks norms governing conduct. – Robert K. Merton
Norms
Norms are a means of social control.
Without them, there would be a world without consensus, common ground,
or restrictions.
Social norms and the law (Formal norms) are inherently linked and one
dictates the other.
Karl Marx believed that norms are used to promote the creation of roles in
society.
Values
The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or
usefulness of something.
Principles or standards of behavior; one's judgement of what is important in
life.
From an ethical point of view, the degree of importance of some thing or
action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way
is best to live.
Values reflect a person's sense of right and wrong.
Beliefs
The tenets or convictions that people hold to be true.
Religious or cultural beliefs.
Beliefs affect practices.
Values are fundamentally established and exemplified beliefs.
Sanctions
A threatened penalty for disobeying a law or rule.
Official permission or approval for an action.
Sanctions are norms of formal nature – positive (reward) or negative
(punishment).
A tool of social control and behavioral regulation.
Sanctions may be Diffuse – spontaneous expressions by members of the
group acting as individuals.
Sanctions may be Organized – actions that follow traditional and
recognized procedures.
Customs and Traditions
Social customs or standards of behavior vary across nations and cultures.
Language is entrenched in social customs.
A tradition is a belief or behavior passed down within a group or society
with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.
Traditions include verbal accounts of wisdom and morality as well as
practices.
Functions of Culture
Culture shapes personality – no child can develop human qualities in the
absence of cultural environment.
Culture provides solution for complicated situations – provides traditional
interpretation to certain situations.
Culture provides man a set of behavior for difficult situations.
Culture is an instrument of transmission of knowledge – theoretical, moral,
practical.
Culture keeps social relationship intact.
Culture and socialization
We all enter this world as potentially social beings.
Socialization is purpose-oriented social interaction – it includes both
teaching/influencing and learning.
The primary result of socialization is learning to perform a certain social
role.
Assimilation of culture is the end result of socialization.
Socialization may be formal, that is systematically arranged by society, or it
can be informal.

Cultural Relativism
"civilization is not something absolute, but ... is relative, and ... our ideas
and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes". (Franz Boas)
No culture can claim universality – what is considered true in one culture
may not be in another one.
A person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that
person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.
Cultural relativism is a tool not only in cultural understanding, but in
cultural critique.
The self-evidence of moral/cultural principles is a kind of illusion.
Ethnocentrism
The antithesis of cultural relativism.
The act of judging another culture based on preconceptions that are found
in values and standards of one's own culture
The view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and
all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.
People raised in a particular culture will develop a worldview that considers
their own culture to be the norm.
Xenocentrism
The opposite of ethnocentrism.
The preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture
rather than of one's own.
Commonly known as a collective inferiority complex.
Preference of imported items.
Western understanding of the “Orient”.
High Culture
The opposite of popular culture – low culture.
The set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem
by a culture.
In more popular terms, it is the culture of an upper class such as
an aristocracy or an intelligentsia.
Having high culture means to “know the best that has been said and
thought in the world”.
High art, art music, art film etc.

Multiculturalism
A synonym for ethnic pluralism and opposite of cultural assimilation.
For example, a cultural pluralism in which various ethnic groups collaborate
and enter into a dialogue with one another without having to sacrifice their
particular identities.
As a political philosophy it involves advocacy of equal respect to the various
cultures in a society; promotion of cultural diversity.

Cultural Assimilation/Acculturation
The process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble those of
a dominant group.
Cultural assimilation may be either quick or gradual, depending mainly on
the economic conditions of the groups involved.
Acculturation is the process of social, psychological, and cultural
change that stems from blending between cultures.
Acculturation is a direct change of one's culture through dominance – can
be thought of as second-culture learning.
 Society – Definitions
The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction.
People who interact in such a way as to share a common culture.
“…a total complex of human relationships in so far as they grow out of the
action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or symbolic” (Talcott
Parsons)
“…a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function”
(Comte)
Characteristics of Society
Society is Abstract
“Society exists only as a time sequence. It is becoming, not a being; a
process and not a product” (Maclver and Page)
Just like Culture, society is an intangible reality.
It resides in the invisible relations between individuals and different classes.
Objectives of any social organization are largely abstract, e.g. human
happiness.

Likeness and Reciprocity

Likeness means mutuality, and that means Society.
“Comradeship, intimacy, association of any kind or degree would be
impossible without some understanding of each by the other, and that
understanding depends on the likeness which each apprehends in the other.”
Likeness is generative of reciprocity as well as an effect of it.
All social action is based on reciprocal response.
Differences
Sense of likeness in not always sufficient.
It does not exclude diversity or variation.
The social structure of humanity is based on the difference between the
sexes.
The economic structure of society is based upon division of labor.
“Primary likeness and secondary differences create the greatest of all social
institutions- the division of labor” – Difference is subordinate to likeness.
Interdependence
Distribution of resources is not uniform.
 Reciprocity is ensured through physical, emotional interdependence.
Biological interdependence (of both sexes on each other)
Economic interdependence (of various classes on each other)
Social interdependence (of society and individual on each other)
Cooperation and Conflict
“society is cooperation crossed by conflict” (Maclver)
“Cooperation is the most elementary process of social life without which
society is impossible.” (P. Gisbert)
The need for cooperation arises when men realize that they have common
interests.
Conflict is a process of struggle through which all things have come into
existence.
Without conflict, even in small measure, society may become stagnant.

Types of Society
Societies are classified historically, according to their development and use
of technology.
Pre-Industrial society
Industrial society
Post-industrial society

Pre-Industrial Society
Societies were small, rural, and dependent largely on local resources.
Production was limited to the amount of labor a human being could provide.
 Hunter-gatherer society
 Pastoral society
 Horticulturist society
 Agrarian society
 Feudal society
Hunter-gatherer society
The basic structure of human society until about 10,000–12,000 years ago.
Based around kinship or tribes
Strong dependence on environment – hunted wild animals and foraged for
uncultivated plants for food.
Nomadic – the group moved to a new area to find sustenance.

Pastoral society
Came into being around 7500 years ago.
People learned to tame and breed animals and to grow and cultivate plants.
Relied on the domestication of animals – livestock breeding for food,
clothing, and transportation.
Created a surplus of goods.
Commencement of trading with local groups.
Horticulturist society
Started forming around 7500 years ago.
Formed in areas where rainfall and other conditions allowed them to grow
stable crops.
Dependent on environment for survival, but not nomadic like hunter-
gatherers.
Created more stability and more material goods.
Became the basis for the first revolution in human survival.
Agrarian society
Around 3000 B.C.E. – the Agricultural Revolution.
This period is referred to as the “dawn of civilization”.
Farming became possible and profitable.
New tools for digging and harvesting were made of metal – hence longer
lasting.
As resources became more plentiful, social classes became more divisive.
As cities expanded, ownership and preservation of resources became
important.
Feudal society
Agrarian societies gradually grew into feudal societies (around 9th century).
Strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and
protection.
The nobility made vassals in charge of land. In return vassals fought for
their lords.
As dependence on manual labor declined, feudal societies gradually
disappeared.
Industrial Society
Eighteenth century is when the Industrial Revolution happened.
In 1782, James Watt and Matthew Boulton created the steam engine.
Mechanical seeders and threshing machines increased agricultural
productivity.
As a result of increased productivity and technology, urban centers came
into being.
Populations of cities became increasingly diverse.
It was during the Industrial Revolution that sociology was born.

Post-Industrial Society
Also known as Information societies, or digital societies.
Based on the production of information and services rather than goods.
The economy of information societies is driven by knowledge.
Power lies with those in charge of storing and distributing information.
Social classes are divided by access to education – especially technical.
Community
A group of people living in the same place or having a particular
characteristic in common.
A smaller segment of society.
More homogeneity across individuals.
Stronger bonding and sense of belonging.
Characteristics of a Community
A group of people (like society)
Communities are organized around clear aims and objectives.
Community is concrete (unlike society)
Every community has a particular name (unlike society)
A community has no legal status.
Community Sentiment – the feeling of belonging
Relationship between Individual and Society
Man is biologically and psychologically equipped to live in groups, in society.
Man depends on society for acquisition of culture, norms etc. as well as
personal development.
 Mainly two kinds of theories describe the relationship between man and
society.
 The Social Contract theory
 The Organismic theory

Social Contract Theory

The social contract theory throws light on the origin of the society.
All men are born free and equal.
“Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains” – Rousseau
Three major thinkers:
 Thomas Hobbes
 John Locke
 Jean Jacques Rousseau

Hobbes
Men in the state of nature were in perpetual conflict with one another – man
is essentially selfish.
“State of nature" is the state of civil war – a situation of universal insecurity,
where rewarding human cooperation is all but impossible.
The people entered into a kind of social contract to ensure for themselves
security and certainty of life and property.
By mutual agreement they decided to surrender their natural rights into the
hands of a few or one with authority to command.
The agreement was of each with all and of all with each other.

Locke
Man in the state of nature was enjoying an ideal liberty free from all sorts of
rules and regulations.
The state of nature was a state of peace, goodwill and mutual assistance – a
benevolent condition of anarchic individualism.
But there was no recognized system of law and justice to deal with
exceptions.
To achieve certainty and security men made a contract to enter into civil
society.
Social contract is a surrender of rights and powers so that man's remaining
rights would be protected and preserved.
 Rousseau
Man in the state of nature led a life of primitive simplicity and idyllic
happiness.
He knew neither right or wrong and was free from all notions of virtue and
vice.
As societies grew, happiness of the early state was lost and conflicts arose.
This led to the formation of a civil society. Natural freedom gave place to civil
freedom by a social contract.
The individual surrendered himself completely and unconditionally to the
will of the body of which he became a member – general will.
Each person enjoys the protection of the common force but remains free.
Criticism on Social Contract Theory
Historically there is no evidence to show that the society has ever been
deliberately created as a result of voluntary agreement or contract.
It is unimaginable that man could ever think of entering into a contract with
others when he lived under conditions of extreme simplicity and ignorance.
There are always two parties to the contract.
Society has moved from status to contract and not from contract to status.
(Sir Henry Maine)
Organismic Theory
Society is like a biological organism.
Society as a magnified human being, with different organs (Plato, Herbert
Spencer)
All organs are functionally related to each other.
Societies grow – in size, in complexity, from infancy to old age.
Just like organs assist each other, society is a state of harmony and
interdependency.
Government is the nervous system – it regulates the working of the society.
The relation of human beings to society is like that of the hand to the body
or the leaf to the tree.
 Sociological Theory

Theories in sociology provide us with different perspectives with which to

view our social world.
A sociological theory is a set of interrelated concepts used to describe,
explain, and predict how society and its parts are related to each other.
Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the social world in which
we live.
Three sociological perspectives:
 Structural Functionalism (macro)
 Symbolic Interactionism (micro)
 Conflict theory (macro)
Structural Functionalism
Based largely on the works of Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Talcott
Parsons, and Robert Merton
Elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship
to a larger, overarching system or structure.
Society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to
maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium
Society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the
society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as
a whole.
Each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society's
functioning as a whole.
Each of the social institutions contributes important functions for society:
 Family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing, and socializing
children.
 Education offers a way to transmit a society’s skills, knowledge, and culture
to its youth.
 Politics provides a means of governing members of society.
 Economics provides for the production, distribution, and consumption of
goods and services.
 Religion provides moral guidance and an outlet for worship of a higher
power.
Functionalists use the terms functional and dysfunctional to describe the
effects of social elements on society.
Elements of society are functional if they contribute to social stability and
dysfunctional if they disrupt social stability – education, crime, etc.
Two types of functions: manifest and latent (Merton)
Manifest functions are consequences that are intended and commonly
recognized.
Latent functions are consequences that are unintended and often hidden.
Symbolic Interactionism
Micro sociology is concerned with the social psychological dynamics of
individuals interacting in small groups.
Influenced by the work of early sociologists and philosophers, such as
George Simmel, Charles Cooley, George Herbert Mead.
Human behavior is influenced by definitions and meanings that are created
and maintained through symbolic interaction with others.
People attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their
subjective interpretation of these symbols.
Humans respond to their definition of a situation rather than to the
objective situation itself.
Our identity or sense of self is shaped by social interaction.
By observing how others view us, we see a reflection of ourselves – the
“looking glass self.”
Symbolic Interactionism has been criticized for ignoring the bigger picture,
and for ignoring the influence of larger social phenomena on the individual.
Conflict Theory
The Concept of Power
Power over: Domination/subordination
Power to: decision making authority
Power with: of collective organization and association
Power within: Self-confidence, self-awareness and assertiveness
The origins of the conflict perspective can be traced to Karl Marx.
Conflict perspective views society as composed of different groups and
interest competing for power and resources.
Social phenomena are explained by looking at which groups have power and
benefit from a particular social arrangement.
The key conflict in society could be economic, racial, gender-based,
religious, political.
 Conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage social change.

Conflict theory is useful in understanding social phenomena like war,

poverty, revolutions, discrimination, domestic violence etc.
Society is always going through a power struggle.

Social Interaction

Social interaction is a dynamic sequence of social actions between

individuals (or groups).
It modifies their actions and reactions due to actions by their interaction
partner(s).
Social interaction can be studied between groups of two (dyads), three
(triads) or larger social groups.
By interacting with one another, people design rules, institutions and
systems within which they seek to live.

Caste and Class

Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by
 Endogamy
 Hereditary transmission
 Occupation
 Status in a hierarchy
 Customary social interaction
 Exclusion
A division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank or
privilege, profession, occupation, or race
Class is way of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set
of hierarchical social categories.
Commonly defined as “people having the same social, economic, cultural,
political or educational status”
A person is placed in a class by virtue of:
 Acquisition of education
 Wealth
 Occupation
 Other achievements
Social and occupational mobility is possible (unlike Caste).
 Forms of Social Classes
Categorization of classes can be done on the basis of:
Resources (Land, industry, salary etc.)
Amount of wealth (Elite, middle class, poor etc.)
Authority (Rulers, civil servants, common man etc.)

Social Mobility
People or individual occupying a social position, move to another position or
status.
In the social ladder this movement may be
 Upward or downward
 Inter-generational or intra-generational
Mobility arises in social interaction, as each individual reacts to others in a
changing series of social roles.
Mobility provides the individual with the benefits his society have to offer.
Mobility can be positive or negative.
Types of Social Mobility
Horizontal Mobility: a person changes his or her occupation but the overall
social standing remains the same.
“Horizontal mobility refers to territorial, religious, political party, family,
occupational and other horizontal shifting without any noticeable change in
vertical position.” (Sorokin)
Vertical Mobility: any change in the occupational, economic or political
status of an individual or a group which leads to change of their position.
Open societies offer better prospects of vertical mobility.
No society is perfectly closed or perfectly open.
Inter-Generational Mobility: one generation changes its social status in
contrast to preceding generation (Could be upward or downward)
With the improvement in economic position, people start changing their life-
style.
Intra-Generational Mobility: takes place in life span of one generation –
change in the position of one individual in his life span
Occupational Mobility: change from one occupation to another.
 Occupations usually are stratified or hierarchically arranged – occupational
mobility usually results in vertical mobility.

Determinants of Social Mobility

Structural factors
Other Determinants
 Occupational structure
 Fertility patterns Legislation
 Social Aids and Barriers Education
 Duality of economy Skills and training
Individual factors Industrialization
 Differences of ability Modernization
 Motivation for mobility Urbanization
 Deferred gratification patterns Migration
 Personal grooming Politicization

Culture of Poverty
Values of poor people cause them to remain poor – cycle of poverty.
Poor are not only lacking resources but also acquire a poverty-
perpetuating value system.
“The subculture [of the poor] develops mechanisms that tend to perpetuate
it, especially because of what happens to the worldview, aspirations, and
character of the children who grow up in it” (Oscar Lewis)
The people in the culture of poverty have a strong feeling of marginality, of
helplessness, of dependency, of not belonging.
Along with this feeling of powerlessness is a widespread feeling of inferiority,
of personal unworthiness.

Social Control
The ways in which our behavior, thoughts, and appearance are regulated by
the norms, rules, laws, and social structures of society.
There would be no society without social control, because society cannot
function without an agreed upon and enforced social order.
 When we fail to conform to norms, rules, and social expectations, we face
sanctions.
Social control tends to take one of two different forms:
 Informal
 Formal
Informal Social Control
The primary way through which social order is produced is through the
ongoing lifelong process of socialization.
Enforced by family, primary caregivers, peers, other authority figures like
coaches and teachers, and by colleagues.
"the process by which an individual, born with behavioral potentialities of
enormously wide range, is led to develop actual behavior which is confined
to the narrower range of what is acceptable for him by the group standards.”
(Lindzey, Gardner)
Examples: Social values, Sanctions, Media bias
Formal Social Control
Generally, produced and enforced by the state, even forcefully when needed
May be preventive or corrective (just like positive reinforcement or sanctions
in informal social control)
Laws, rules and regulations, censorship
Selective incentives – tax rebates, honoraria
In some cases, religion is a formal tool of social control.

Anomie
A condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals –
the breakdown of bond between the individual and the community.
Commonly understood to indicate a state of normlessness.
Durkheim described anomie as “derangement”, “the malady of the infinite”
and “an insatiable will”.
Anomie means a mismatch between individual and social values – a rigid
society could produce a kind of anomie.
Anomie is common when:
The surrounding society has undergone significant changes in its economic
fortunes
There is a significant discrepancy between the ideological theories and
values commonly professed and what was actually achievable in everyday
life.
An individual suffering from anomie would strive to attain the common goals
of a specific society yet would not be able to reach these goals legitimately
because of the structural limitations in society.
As a result, the individual would exhibit deviant behavior.
Alienation

"a condition in social relationships reflected by a low degree of integration or

common values and a high degree of distance or isolation between
individuals, or between an individual and a group of people in a community
or work environment” (Robert Ankony)
Alienation can mean the unresponsiveness of society as a whole to the
individuality of each member of the society.
Modern consumption-capitalism has shaped a society where you have to sell
your personality in addition to your work.
Five prominent features of alienation: powerlessness, meaninglessness,
normlessness, isolation and self-estrangement (Seeman, 1959)
Powerlessness: the expectancy held by the individual that his own behavior
cannot determine the occurrence of the outcomes, or reinforcements, he
seeks.
Meaninglessness: a low expectancy that satisfactory predictions about the
future outcomes of behavior can be made.
Normlessness: the situation in which the social norms regulating individual
conduct have broken down or are no longer effective as rules for behavior.
Isolation: the feeling of being segregated from one's community.
Self-estrangement: being something less than what one might ideally be if
the circumstances in society were different.
Integration

"a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups

acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitude of other persons and groups
and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in
a common cultural life” (Park and Burgess)
Social integration is the blending and unifying of social groups.
Integration is more precisely the movement of minority groups such as
ethnic minorities into the mainstream of societies.
May be achieved either through Assimilation or Multiculturalism.
Usually requires acceptance of a common language, common values and
common laws.

Social and Cultural Change

Society is not a static phenomenon but a dynamic one.
The term social change indicates the change that takes place in human
interaction and interrelation – variations in social interaction, social process,
and social organization.
All social changes are cultural changes but all cultural changes need not be
social changes.
Cultural change is a broader term – it refers to changes in cultural elements,
both material and non-material.
For example, change of technology may bring cultural change, which
eventually translates into social change.
Processes of Social and Cultural Change
Discovery: the process by which something is learned or reinterpreted
Diffusion: the spread of culture traits from group to group
Innovation: new combination or new use of existing knowledge
Acculturation: cultural groups come into continuous contact
Modernization: the adoption of the modern ways of life and values

Directed Social Change

A planned transformation of society
Adoption of new cultural and social values through education and law
making
Social policy planning
Economic policy planning
Mainstreaming of values and behaviors
Incentivization of certain cultural choices

Rural vs Urban Community

Rural Communities
Sparse population
Occupational homogeneity
Cultural homogeneity
Usually lesser means of communication
Very gradual change
Simplicity of life
Stronger relationships
Rural vs Urban Community
Urban Community
High population density
Variety of professions
Cultural variety
Fast means of communication
Cultural change is faster
Weaker social interactions

Future of Cities in Pakistan

Cities are expanding due to high birth rates and migration from rural areas.
Big cities have inflated so rapidly that they struggle to deliver public services
and create productive jobs – urban poverty (1/8 below poverty line)
Pakistani cities – inhabited by 38 percent of the population – make up
around 55 percent of total GDP.
Pakistan’s urbanization is messy and hidden – 60 percent of urban areas
are ruralopilises

Challenges
Poor housing quality and affordability
Urban housing was approximately 4.4 million units short of demand in
2015
Karachi ranks second lowest in South Asia and sixth lowest in the world on
the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 livability index.

Water and Sanitation

90 percent of water supply schemes are unsafe for drinking (ADB)

Transportation
The cost of private transportation is estimated to have increased by over 100
percent since 2000

Health
Pakistan’s urban poor have health outcomes only marginally better than the
rural poor.
Impact of the pollution caused by rapid urbanization.

Education
The absence of educational facilities in smaller cities is pushing people
towards big cities
Service delivery becomes increasingly strained as the urban population
grows.
Social Institutions
 Social Institutions
Institutions are "stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior". (Huntington)

“Groups of persons banded together for common purposes having rights,

privileges, liabilities, goals, or objectives distinct and independent from
those of individual members.”

The development and function of institutions in society may be regarded as

an instance of emergence.

Institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-

organization beyond conscious intentions of the individuals involved.

Functions of Social Institutions

Reproduction (biological, material, symbolic)
Socialization (norms, traditions, laws, economic dealing)
Sense of purpose
Preservation of social order (collective arrangement of institutions)
Transmission of culture (formal and informal socialization/education)
Personality development (Ideas, habits, attitudes and feelings)

Family
The family teaches children cultural values and provides them with an
identity.
Children also become aware of class at a very early age and assign different
values to each class accordingly.

Religion
Involves patterns of beliefs and behavior that help a society meet its basic
needs.
Answers questions and explains why things happen
Religious rituals correspond to norms in social behavior, and religious
beliefs shape values.
Functions of Social Institutions

Education
An important agent of socialization and social integration
Indirectly, also provides peer group socialization, where children can
socialize without being supervised.

Economy
The customs surrounding exchange and distribution of good and services
shape societies in fundamental ways.
When people rely on others for goods or services, they must have something
to exchange, such as currency.
Politics
The large-scale organization and sustenance of society is the main purpose
of Politics.
Maintains integration of society by determining norms (largely in a formal
manner)
Adapts and change elements of social, economic, religious systems
necessary for achieving collective (political) goals.
Protects the integrity of the political system from outside threats.
From a functionalist point-of-view, Politics is one of the most important
“functional” social elements.

Social Problems in Pakistan

High Population Growth Rate: 2.4% (double of other regional countries

like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka)

Rural – Urban Migration: Pakistan is urbanizing at 2.8% annually (50%

urban population by 2025)

Lack of education – illiteracy: literacy rate of 60% (below 50% for girls)

Lack of technical/vocational education: Lack of industry-institute

linkage; out-dated curricula; changing requirements for overseas/local
employment

Deviance and Street Crime: culture; unemployment; extreme poverty; law

and order

Unemployment: 5.90% unemployment rate; low level of skills.

Poverty: 35% of population living below poverty line.

Smuggling: human smuggling; drugs smuggling; reasons.

Prostitution: over 230,000 sex workers in Pakistan (UNAIDS)

Drug Addiction: 800,000 people addicted to use heroin on a regular basis

(UNODC); total number of drug addicts over 7.6 million (UN report)

Child Labor: More than 12.5 million children in child labor; between 10
and 14 years active in child labor, 61 percent were boys (88 percent from
rural areas)
Social Problems in Pakistan

Bonded Labor: 2,058,200 people are enslaved in Pakistan (Global Slavery

Index, 2014)
Status of Women: Social Customs; gender roles; female education

Domestic Violence: Every second woman suffers domestic violence;

physical, psychological, gender based.

Issues concerning the Elderly: health; economic dependency; loneliness;

withdrawal
Sociological Thinkers

Sociological Thinkers

Ibn-i-Khaldun
Ibn-i-Khaldun’s social thought originates in his epistemology – religious vs.
non-religious sciences.
He may be thought as a Conflict theorist – conceived a theory of social
conflict.
Developed the dichotomy of sedentary life versus nomadic life.
Developed the concept of "generation” as temporal unit in the life of a
people.
Opined that differences of condition among people are the result of the
different ways in which they make their living (a precursor of Marxism)

His sociology is a precursor of social Darwinism, dialectical materialism and

cyclical history.

The Concept of ‘Asabiyyah: the bond of cohesion among humans in a

group forming community.
‘Asabiyyah is cyclical: it is most strong at the start of a civilization, declines
as the civilization advances
Another more compelling ‘Asabiyyah eventually replaces it to help establish
a different civilization.

August Comte

The father of modern sociology, and the founder of the philosophical school
of positivism.
Law of three stages: society undergoes three phases in its quest for the
truth.
(1) the theological stage
(2) the metaphysical stage
(3) the positive stage
Comte's law of three stages was one of the first theories of social
evolutionism.

The Theological stage

Man's place in society and society's restrictions upon man were referenced
to God.
Man believed in what he was taught by his ancestors and in a supernatural
power.
The Metaphysical stage
Universal rights as independent of the authority of human ruler or a divine
authority.
Also known as the stage of investigation – people started reasoning and
questioned authority and religion.
The Positive stage: the age of Science/positivism and
naturalism/materialism

Herbert Spencer

Heralded as the champion of organismic theory of society and social

evolutionism.
The evolutionary progression of society is from simple, undifferentiated
homogeneity to complex, differentiated heterogeneity.
Two types of society
Militant society, structured around relationships of hierarchy and
obedience, was simple and undifferentiated
Industrial society, based on voluntary, contractually assumed social
obligations, was complex and differentiated

Emile Durkheim

Formally founded the academic discipline of sociology.

He may be associated with structural functionalism and social realism.
External social realities exist in the outer world and that these realities are
independent of the individual's perception of them.

The Sociological Method: observation must be as impartial and impersonal

as possible, even though a "perfectly objective observation" may never be
attained.

A social fact must always be studied according to its relation with other
social facts.
Society and social institutions are sets of social facts.

A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the
individual an external constraint – observable through collective
consciousness.

Collective consciousness is the totality of beliefs and sentiments common

to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life
of its own.
The emotional part of the collective consciousness overrides our egoism.
Culture itself is a social fact.
Society evolves from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity.
In the simpler societies, people are connected to others due to personal ties
and traditions (mechanical solidarity).

In modern society they are connected due to increased reliance on others

with regard to them performing their specialized tasks (Organic solidarity).
Progress from mechanical to organic solidarity is based on:
 Population growth and increasing population density
 Increasing "morality density" – complex social interactions
 Increasing specialization in workplace

Anomie: a state when too rapid population growth reduces interaction

between various groups, which leads to a breakdown of understanding
(norms, values, etc.)

Forced Division of Labor: a situation where power holders, driven by their

desire for profit results in people doing the work they are unsuited for.

Crime is bound up with the fundamental conditions of all social life –

deviance was an essential component of a functional society.

Suicide is also a social fact – a society-scale phenomena, a result of anomie.

Religion is the most fundamental social institution of humankind, and one

that gave rise to other social forms – gives the strongest sense of collective
consciousness.

Max Weber

Belongs to the Structural Functionalist tradition – one of its founders.

Weber may be considered as a complement to Marx.
In addition to economic conditions, other important structures such as
religion, ideas, status, and bureaucracy could influence people's actions.

Rational bureaucracy, rather than class struggle was the most significant
factor.
Understanding of individual action can illuminate social action and
historical processes.

Weber labels the modern society as a capitalist-bureaucratic society.

In a bureaucratic society, scientific understanding is more highly valued
than belief, and where processes are oriented toward rational goals.

Weber is concerned with rationalization and demystification of all aspects of

modern social life – “the disenchantment of the world”.
He argued that ideas, especially religious ideas, played an important part in
the formulation of modern rational capitalism.

Karl Marx

One of the founders of the tradition of conflict theory.

Social change was about conflict between opposing interests, driven in the
background by economic forces.
The organization of society depends on means of production – all things
required to produce material goods.
Mismatch between economic base and social superstructure is a major
source of social disruption and conflict.
Proletariat should develop class consciousness and change the
substructure.
Talcott Parsons

Belongs to the structural functionalist school of thought.

Known for his theory of social action.
Social action is a process in the actor-situation system which has
motivational significance to the actor.
Systems of social action
Personality System: concerned with those needs for which man
struggles and performs certain actions.
Cultural System: through social action, symbols and signs acquire
general meaning.
Social System: A social system consists in a plurality of individual
actor's interacting with each other.

Sociological Research Methods

Scientific Method
Formulation of a question
Hypothesis
Prediction
Testing
Analysis
Theorizing
Steps in Social Research

1. Selection of Research Problem 6. Data collection

2. Extensive Literature Survey 7. Data Analysis
3. Making Hypothesis 8. Hypothesis Testing
4. Preparing the Research Design 9. Generalization and Interpretation
5. Sampling 10. Preparation of Report
 Types of Social Research

Qualitative: a method to collect data via open-ended and conversational

discussions
Main qualitative research methods: ethnographic research, focus groups,
one-on-one online interview, content analysis and case study research.

Quantitative: use statistical analysis techniques to evaluate data collected

via surveys, polls or questionnaires.

Primary Research: conducted by the researchers themselves.

Secondary Research: relies on data collected by other researchers or

organizations.

Research Design

A research design is the set of methods and procedures used in collecting

and analyzing measures of the variables specified in the research problem.
May be of one of the following types:
 Descriptive
 Correlative
 Experimental
 Semi-experimental
 Meta-analytic
 Review

Types of Questionnaires

Structured
They have a definite and concrete questions
They have to be prepared well in advance so as to ask as much
questions and receive info from the respondent.
Commonly used in for social and economic problems, to study about
the changes caused due to change in policies, laws etc.
Unstructured
They are usually based around more open questions.
Usually used at the time of an interview.
More flexible for applying in many areas.
Usually used to collect data about people and their personal info such
as family, debates, beliefs etc.
 Surveys

A survey is a method of carrying out research.

Questionnaire is concerned only with content, while “survey” is a broader
term that describes content, method, and analysis.

Steps in carrying out a Survey

Identify necessary questions
One question at a time
Decide question types (open or closed ended)
Analyze responses
Consolidate findings in the form of a report

Observational method

The method of viewing and recording the actions and behaviors of

participants.
Types: Naturalistic, Participant and Controlled
Observational mode is chosen often when:
Research question is attempting to a questions of “how” or “what
type”.
When it is important that the research take place in a natural setting
When it is important to understand the setting that the observation is
taking place in
If a topic has not been previously studied and little is known, it may
be best to begin with observation in a natural setting.
The actual behavior of the participants has the potential to be
different from what those individuals might report if they were asked.

Case Studies

An in-depth, detailed study of an individual or a small group of individuals.

Typically qualitative, resulting in descriptions of behavior or experience.
Several types of case study methods
Illustrative – This type of method is used to describe an event so that
people can become more familiar with the topic.
Exploratory – to gather basic, initial data that could be used to
identify a particular question for a larger study.
Cumulative – information for several events is aggregated to achieve
greater generalization.
Critical Instance – to examine situations of unique interest or to
challenge a universal or generalized belief.