What is Society?
Society is a group of people who share a culture and a territory. Society and culture are related, but different. Society is the people, and culture is the things and ideas that form their way of life. This video describes society as being like a smartphone, and culture being the applications on the phone.
The Sociological Perspective
In sociology, the study of societies, two ideas are important, seeing the general in the particular, and seeing the strange in the familiar.
1 - seeing the general in the particular. This means seeing how individual things, ideas, events etc. relate to general trends in the culture. For example, Akiko's favourite band might be Bigbang, and maybe her favourite TV show is Winter Sonata. In sociology, we look at how these likes relate to the culture she lives in. So with Akiko, we might notice that there was a "Korean boom" in Japan in the last 10-15 years.
2 - seeing the strange in the familiar. The things and ideas that make up our culture seem normal to us because they are familiar, they are all around us. However, many things that are normal in Japanese culture can seem strange to people from other cultures. It might be normal to you to take off your shoes when you arrive at a friend's house, or that you don't talk on your phone on a train, but there are other cultures in the world where these things are not normal. When we see these things as strange or interesting, we can start to ask why they are the way they are.
Culture
Culture contains both material culture (things, like food, clothes etc.) and non-material culture (ideas, like how we should behave at a friend's house).
Non-material culture is made of three parts: symbols, values and norms.
1 - A symbol can be anything which has a specific meaning that is understood by people who share a culture. For example, a red light means "stop" and a green light means "go" in many, maybe all, modern cultures.
2 - Values are the ideas of what is right and wrong, or good and bad in a culture. For example, individualism is more valued in the west than countries like Japan and China. In Japan, it is more common for students to live with their parents when they are at university or college than in the west, and for people to live with their parents until they get married.
3 - Norms are the rules and expectations that guide behaviour in a society. They are the things we think are normal. For example, shaking hands with someone when you meet them is normal in the Uk and the US. In other countries, like Spain, it is normal to kiss someone on both cheeks when you meet them. This definitely would not be considered normal in Japan.
All of these things (sometimes called social facts) can influence us and control our behaviour.
Social Norms and Socialization
The process of learning these social norms is called socialization. Our socialization starts when we are still babies, when our parents tell us not to throw our food on the floor, not to pull people's hair and to go to sleep. It can also be positive. Every time a parent says "well done" to a child they are teaching the child what they did is socially acceptable. This kind of socialization in the family is called primary socialization.
Secondary socialization happens outside the family. Teachers at school, our peer group, the media, workplaces and religions can all provide secondary socialization. This is most obvious with teachers, bosses at work and religious leaders, who directly tell you what is good and bad behavior. However, much socialization is less direct. Advertising is constantly telling you what clothes are fashionable to wear. Every time a classmate reacts to something you do, their reaction contributes to your socialization.
You can read more about socialization on this blog post.
Social Institutions
Schools and churches, as well as things like the police and hospitals, are all examples of social institutions. An institution is a structure in society which fills a certain need. We need education, so we have schools and libraries. We need people to care for us when we are hurt or sick, so we have hospitals.
The way social institutions differ from one society to another is both affected by that society, and in turn affects that society. For example in the southern USA until 1954 schools could be segregated, which meant there would be one school for black students and one school for white. This segregation affected black students' negatively. Since schools have become more integrated, the gap between black and white students' test scores has become smaller, as well as other improvements for black students.
Some of the information is from this video and this one. You can watch them if you want, but they are quite difficult.
Lesson 2 article
Why Japanese Girls Want To Be Bread Makers Rather Than Breadwinners
Society is a group of people who share a culture and a territory. Society and culture are related, but different. Society is the people, and culture is the things and ideas that form their way of life. This video describes society as being like a smartphone, and culture being the applications on the phone.
The Sociological Perspective
In sociology, the study of societies, two ideas are important, seeing the general in the particular, and seeing the strange in the familiar.
1 - seeing the general in the particular. This means seeing how individual things, ideas, events etc. relate to general trends in the culture. For example, Akiko's favourite band might be Bigbang, and maybe her favourite TV show is Winter Sonata. In sociology, we look at how these likes relate to the culture she lives in. So with Akiko, we might notice that there was a "Korean boom" in Japan in the last 10-15 years.
2 - seeing the strange in the familiar. The things and ideas that make up our culture seem normal to us because they are familiar, they are all around us. However, many things that are normal in Japanese culture can seem strange to people from other cultures. It might be normal to you to take off your shoes when you arrive at a friend's house, or that you don't talk on your phone on a train, but there are other cultures in the world where these things are not normal. When we see these things as strange or interesting, we can start to ask why they are the way they are.
Culture
Culture contains both material culture (things, like food, clothes etc.) and non-material culture (ideas, like how we should behave at a friend's house).
Non-material culture is made of three parts: symbols, values and norms.
1 - A symbol can be anything which has a specific meaning that is understood by people who share a culture. For example, a red light means "stop" and a green light means "go" in many, maybe all, modern cultures.
2 - Values are the ideas of what is right and wrong, or good and bad in a culture. For example, individualism is more valued in the west than countries like Japan and China. In Japan, it is more common for students to live with their parents when they are at university or college than in the west, and for people to live with their parents until they get married.
3 - Norms are the rules and expectations that guide behaviour in a society. They are the things we think are normal. For example, shaking hands with someone when you meet them is normal in the Uk and the US. In other countries, like Spain, it is normal to kiss someone on both cheeks when you meet them. This definitely would not be considered normal in Japan.
All of these things (sometimes called social facts) can influence us and control our behaviour.
Social Norms and Socialization
The process of learning these social norms is called socialization. Our socialization starts when we are still babies, when our parents tell us not to throw our food on the floor, not to pull people's hair and to go to sleep. It can also be positive. Every time a parent says "well done" to a child they are teaching the child what they did is socially acceptable. This kind of socialization in the family is called primary socialization.
Secondary socialization happens outside the family. Teachers at school, our peer group, the media, workplaces and religions can all provide secondary socialization. This is most obvious with teachers, bosses at work and religious leaders, who directly tell you what is good and bad behavior. However, much socialization is less direct. Advertising is constantly telling you what clothes are fashionable to wear. Every time a classmate reacts to something you do, their reaction contributes to your socialization.
You can read more about socialization on this blog post.
Social Institutions
Schools and churches, as well as things like the police and hospitals, are all examples of social institutions. An institution is a structure in society which fills a certain need. We need education, so we have schools and libraries. We need people to care for us when we are hurt or sick, so we have hospitals.
The way social institutions differ from one society to another is both affected by that society, and in turn affects that society. For example in the southern USA until 1954 schools could be segregated, which meant there would be one school for black students and one school for white. This segregation affected black students' negatively. Since schools have become more integrated, the gap between black and white students' test scores has become smaller, as well as other improvements for black students.
Some of the information is from this video and this one. You can watch them if you want, but they are quite difficult.
Lesson 2 article
Why Japanese Girls Want To Be Bread Makers Rather Than Breadwinners
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