Medical sociology

3. Introduction to Sociology
Objective
 Define sociology
 Discuss the development of sociology
 Sociological perspectives

4. What is Sociology?
 Sociology is
 a social science that studies human society and behavior.
 Social Sciences study various aspects of human social behavior
 a scientific study of human behavior in groups and of
the social forces that influence that behavior.
 A systematic and objective study of society and social
behavior.
 mainly interested in social interactions – how people relate
to one another and how they influence each others
decisions.
 focuses on the group, rather than the individual.
 Sociologists examine social phenomena or observable
facts or events involving human interaction to make
predictions about future trends and behaviors.

5.  Sociology insists that people actively and collectively
shape their own lives, organizing their social
interactions and relationships into a meaningful
world
 explores the influence of social relationships
 people’s attitudes
 behaviours
 How societies are established and changed.
 human life, social groups, whole societies and the human
world.
 study of man’s interaction within the society
 Deals with organization and control of man’s behaviours
and attitudes within the society.
 It seeks to thoroughly and objectively describe and explain
how and why people interact in groups.

6.  It is Concerned about social facts in
 the economy,
 education,
 legal,
 security,
 politics,
 medical,
 religion,
 family,
 technology,
 sports and so on.

7. Society
Humans cannot be understood apart
from social context (i.e. society)
Society makes us who we are by
structuring out interactions and laying
out an orderly world before us
Society is a social construction, an
idea created by humans (not biological
world but only in the social world)
through social interaction and given a
reality through our understanding of it
and our collective actions.

8.  Society is a group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and
patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups.
 People interact in groups as
 families,
 schools,
 hospitals,
 residents of particular communities,
 church
 nation.
 Society- A comprehensive social grouping that includes all
the social institutions required to meet basic human needs.
 Social Institution- A process or association that is highly
organized, systematized and stable.
 Politics
 Education
 Religion
 Economics
 Family

9.  People knowingly and unknowingly act and
behave in line with the expectations of the
groups e.g.
 type of clothes one wears,
 how and what they eat,
 the beliefs they hold
 the customs they follow are influenced by
the groups they belong to.

10. Scope of sociology
 Extensive and wide ranging since society is
complex
 Analyses passing encounters between
individuals on the street
 Investigates internal relations and global
forms of terrorism.
 Its scope is extremely broad because the
society comprises of several sub systems
with inherent fragmentations of component
parts in each of them for sociological
considerations.

11. Areas of study
 examining social dynamics like the
 environment,
 cities and urban life,
 life course,
 families and intimate relationships,
 crime and deviance,
 religion,
 sexuality and gender education,
 organizations and networks,
 work and economic life,
 media , health, illness and disability ,
globalization and the changing world etc

12. Functions of Sociology
 performs several roles within society to
enhance society’s continuity and stability.
 Helps analyse and clarify different types of
relationships within the society which
produce such social institutions and
associations through which the behaviour of
individuals are organized and controlled.
 Helps identify why certain undesirable
behaviours manifest in human beings and
how such behaviour could be checked and
reformed.

13. Provides understanding of how
authority and power are derived within
the society and why certain values,
customs, beliefs and practices are up-
held.
All people are fundamentally the
same when it comes to taste of power
or occupation of privileged positions.
Every individual has the propensity
to cling into power and authority due
to the benefits accruable from it.

14. attempts to establish the links between
the different sub-systems in the society
like the relationship between
 the political system and the
economic system or
the educational system and the
political system or
the legal system and religious system
and so forth.

15. Provides information about the
changes within society and effects of
such changes on human existence.
People come to know that society is
dynamic and transitory in nature.
This helps individuals to become
aware that since society is not static it
calls for dynamism in thoughts and
actions in order to be fully integrated
from time to time.

16.  Informs people about the background of human
beings and various forms of orientation within the
society.
 The diversity of the cultural background and
upbringing and the environment within which
an individual is born and bred has significant
influence in the
 values, beliefs, traits and ideas which the
person internalizes, conceptualizes,
demonstrates, manifests and exhibits.
 Sociology enables individual to accept other
people’s background in order to tolerate and
accommodate them in spite the differences in
cultural background and orientation.

17.  helps identify human basic social needs
individuals aspire to achieve meaningful existence
and purposeful survival.
 It further explains how those needs are met and
satisfied.
 Sociology teaches people not only to aspire to
meet and satisfy those necessities of life that will
assist in living decent and meaningful life.
 It goes on to explain the danger in daring,
aggressive and unwholesome approach to satisfy
one’s needs.

18. Levels of study
• Merton’s Micro and Macro Approaches to the Study of
Society
• Macro-sociology: large-scale phenomena
• Micro-sociology: individual characteristics & social
interactions

19. Level of Analysis:
Macro-Sociology & Micro-Sociology
 Microsociology - the study of everyday
behavior in situations of face-to-face
interaction.
 Macrosociology - the analysis of large-scale
social systems.
 The two are closely connected.
19

20. Emergence of sociology

21. Objectives of the unit
At the end of the unit you should
be able to
Describe the historical foundations
of sociology
Discuss structural functionalism
and conflict theories of sociology

22. Emergence of sociology
 Throughout history scholars have always been interested in
the social life and interactions of people.
 Despite this Sociology did not develop as a field of study until
between 17 00 and 1800 AD primarily in England, France, and
Germany.
 Several factors led to its development:
1. The rapid political and social changes that took place in
Europe as a result of the Industrial Revolution.
2. The rapid growth of cities and their problems as a result of
Industrial and French Revolution.
 The shift from rural life to urban life
 Living around a bunch of anonymous people
 Life people knew each other and controlled their behavior
3. The questioning of traditional beliefs. People across Europe
began to question traditional roles and expectations.
4. Changing in the nature of work
 Move from farm to factory meant learning new skills and
orientation to time clock than the sun

23. Founders of Sociology
There are several fathers or founders of
sociology and each one of them
contributed to the study of sociology.
The notable ones are:
 Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857)
 Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
 Emile Dulkheim (1856 – 1917)
 Karl Marx (1818 – 83)
 Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

24. Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857)
 His thinking reflected the turbulent events of his age when
 the French revolution changed society and
 industrialization changed the traditional way of life.
 He inverted the term sociology
 He defined sociology as the scientific study of social
dynamics (changing, progressing and developmental
dimensions) and social static (social order, elements are
persistent and relatively permanent).
 He hoped to use the principles of science to study society
 use controls
 predict events to uncover the laws governing human society.
 He hoped that sociology would become a ‘positive
science’ demanding direct observation of the physical
entities.

25. Comte’s law of three stages
 According to him in understanding the world humans
had passed through
 theological (guided by religion),
 metaphysical (society being seen in natural)
 positive (society being guided by the discoveries and
achievements of scientific techniques) stages.
 He regarded sociology as the last science in the like of
physics, chemistry and biology.
 Concerned with the inequalities of the day due to
industrialization which threatened cohesion
 he drew up a reconstruction plan of the French society
based on his sociological view point.
 These were not achieved but contributed to development
of sociology through
 systemizing
 unifying the science of society

26. Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
 The 19th‐century Englishman Herbert Spencer (1820–
1903)
 compared society to a living organism with
interdependent parts.
 Change in one part of society causes change in the other
parts, so that every part contributes to the stability and
survival of society as a whole.
 If one part of society malfunctions, the other parts must
adjust to the crisis and contribute even more to preserve
society.
 Family, education, government, industry, and religion
comprise just a few of the parts of the “organism” of
society.
 Spencer suggested that society will correct its own
defects through the natural process of “survival of the
fittest.”

27.  The societal “organism” naturally leans toward
homeostasis, or balance and stability.
 Social problems work themselves out when the
government leaves society alone.
 The “fittest”—the rich, powerful, and successful—
enjoy their status because nature has “selected” them
to do so. In contrast, nature has doomed the “unfit”—
the poor, weak, and unsuccessful—to failure.
 They must fend for themselves without social
assistance if society is to remain healthy and even
progress to higher levels.
 Governmental interference in the “natural” order of
society weakens society by wasting the efforts of its
leadership in trying to defy the laws of nature.

28. Emile Dulkheim (1858 – 1917)
 Another French sociologist has serious impact on modern
sociology
 he drew on aspects of Compte but felt Comte’s work was
 too speculative and vague
 Compte failed to establish sociology on scientific basis
 Dulkheim viewed sociology as a new science that made
clear traditional philosophical questions empirically
 Thus social life had to be studied like any other natural
science.
 He addressed the importance of sociology as an empirical
science
 he defined sociology as the study of social facts such the
state of the economy or the influence of religion.
 By social facts, he meant the patterns of behavior that
characterize a social group in a given society.
 A sociologist was to study social facts that shaped our
actions as individuals such as the state of the economy or
the influence of religion.

29.  According to him social facts were ways of thinking or
feeling that are external to him and these social facts
exercised cohesive power over individuals
 People conform with social facts freely believing they
are acting out of choice
 Social facts constrain human actions in a variety of
ways through
 punishment,
 social rejection and
 simple misunderstanding
 He acknowledged social facts were difficult to study
because they were invisible and intangible.
 They were not directly observable but indirectly
through their effects

30.  Objectivity was necessary in the study of social facts
and therefore to study things the way they are
 The rise of the individual and formation of the new
social order
 He was interested in the social and moral solidarity
as he saw the transformation of society
 According to him solidarity is maintained when
individuals successfully
 integrated into social groups
 were regulated by shared norms and values

31.  For him the onset of industrialization brought about
the emergence of a new solidarity type:
 the mechanical solidarity
 Organic solidarity
 He related these to the division of labour and growth
of distinctions between occupations
 According to him the traditional culture with low
division of labour had mechanical solidarity bound
by shared beliefs.
 Consensus and similarity of beliefs characterized
mechanical solidarity.

32.  On the other hand organic solidarity came as a result
of industrialization and urbanization that caused
the increase of division of labour and breakdown of
traditional norms and value.
 In organic solidarity people are held together by the
economic interdependence
 The sources and character of moral authority in
society

33.  Dulkheim saw industrialization as having disruptive
effects on the
 traditional lifestyles,
 morals,
 religious belief without providing new values
 This leads to anomie: a spirit of aimlessness, dread,
and despair
 In his classic study of suicide analysis, he concluded
that suicide, an outcome of extreme personal
unhappiness, increased with industrialization due to
changing social factors. He hoped sociology would
explain the unfolding patterns.

34. Karl Marx (1818 – 83)
 His ideas are different from the other two
 explained changes that took place in society.
 Marx came into conflict with Germany authorities
 fled Germany for France and then United Kingdom on
political grounds.
 His ideas had a strong influence on sociology,
philosophy, history, psychology, Economics and
political science.

35.  viewed science not as a vehicle to understand society but a
tool to transform it.
 Saw the growth of factories and industrial production
resulting into inequalities.
 Most of his writing concentrated on the economic issues
and how they connected to the social institutions.
 Believed that the engine of human history is class conflict
and economics as a force for social change
 Society was a battle of the have’s (bourgeoisie) against the
have not’s (proletariat)
 Struggle could only end through revolution when the
workers defeated the capitalists
 The result would be a classless society where people will
work according to their abilities and receive according to
their needs

36.  The rise of capitalism contrasted sharply with earlier
economic systems under communism.
 Capitalism brought in the
 rise of wage labour (a pool of workers) who owned
nothing of their own and
 the capitalist (owners of capital and industries).
 Capitalists (Bourgeoisie) formed the ruling class while
the workers (proletariat) formed the working class.
 Capitalism is a class system in which class relations are
classified by conflicts although they depended on the
each other.
 The dependence was very unbalanced where the
workers were exploited

37. Social Change: Materialist Conception of
History
Marx conception of social change was that
 change is prompted by economic influences
 conflict between classes motivated historical
developments
 society’s history was characterized by a history of class
struggle e.g.
 hunters and gatherers passed through the ancient slave
owing systems
 feudal systems of land lord and serfs
 capitalism was going to give way to communism
 workers revolution would overthrow capitalist system
and all the class inequalities would disappear

38. economic system would be under
communal ownership
production in future would be more
advanced and efficient than under
capitalism
Marx view of the world is known as
dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is based on the
clash of contradiction and a creation of
new more advanced structures out of
the clashes

39.  According to Marx society advances through a series of
stages in which slavery was displaced by feudalism
and feudalism by capitalism and capitalism by
socialism and socialism ultimately by communism
 Feudalism: Is a social system that existed during the
age in Europe in which people were given land and
means of production by the noblemen and in turn
these had to work and fight for noblemen
 Capitalism: A society characterized by privately
owned means of production, production for profit and
bourgeoisie/proletariat class struggle

40.  Socialism: A set of political and economical theories
based on the belief that everyone has an equal right to
share of the country’s wealth and government should
own and control the means of production
 Communism: A political movement that believed in
an economic system in which the state controls the
means of producing everything on behalf of people.
 It aims to create society in which everyone is treated
equally.

41. Max Weber (1864 – 1920)
 Max is the proponent of the social action theory or
the theory of social action.
 According to Weber, all human action is directed by
meaning.
 Therefore to understand or explain the meaning or
emotions that are behind a person, it must be
appreciated.
 Weber indentified various types of actions which are
distinguished by meanings on which they are based.
These are:-

42.  Affective actions:
 Affective actions are actions storming from an
individual’s emotional state
 e.g. kissing, hanging, verbal language, text messages
from the cell phones
 Traditional actions:
 These are based on established customs.
 Any individual acts in certain ways because things have
always been that way e.g. practices such as circumcision,
kneeling down to adults, widow – widower cleansing.
These are done even when no one understands why.

43.  Rational action:
 This involves a clear awareness of goals in the sense
that it unveils most of all its obstacles in any field of
study.
 This action is mostly dominant in modern industrial
societies because it’s cost effective.
 Weber saw the rational action being expressed in a
variety of areas
 e.g. hospitals, religion, business, science, education
and government administration

44.  Weber referred this increasing dominance of action to
the process of rationalization.
 Rationalization is starting point in the society or
organizations.
 Weber observed that the dominant groups prevent the
less dominant groups from acquiring prestigious
education by placing obstacles in the education
system.
 He believed that schools educated the young in to
status cultures based on their wealthy, power and
prestige or within group in the society.

45. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
 There are basically two major schools of thought in
sociology. They are structural functionalism and the
conflict perspectives

46. Structural Functionalism
 Structural functionalists view society as a complex
system of interrelated parts working together to
maintain stability.
 According to them therefore society is seen as a system
of interrelated and cooperating parts.
 Functionalists compare society to a living organism
with many parts each with specific functions e.g.
 the heart pumping blood,
 the lungs taking in oxygen etc for the body’s normal
functioning.

47.  Similarly the various social institutions
perform various functions for the
normal functioning and survival of the
society.
The perspective is also called
functionalism, or the functionalist
paradigm.
According to this perspective;

48.  The parts of a social system are interdependent;
 The system has a “normal” healthy state of
equilibrium, like a healthy organism; and
 When disturbed, the system parts reorganize and
readjust to bring the system back to a state of
equilibrium.
 Any changes in society occur in structured,
evolutionary ways.

49. The theory asserts that society
influences our human actions but
that society is also something that
exists beyond individuals.
Society must be studied and
understood using the social facts.
These social facts include laws,
morals, values, religious beliefs,
customs, fashions, rituals, and the
myriad cultural and social rules
governing social life.

50. The system of social facts makes up the
structure of society.
These social facts are related to each
other and each of the parts of a social
system fulfils its function for societies
to remain stable or change.
Some of the functionalists are Auguste
Comte (1798 – 1857), Emile Dulkheim
(1856 – 1917) and Herbert Spencer (1820
1903).

51. Society as a System
Functionalists view society as a
system with several parts making a
whole. They attempt to
Relate one part to another
Relate parts of society to the whole.
According to them institutions such
as family, religion, economy, state
and education are crucial parts that
form the society. For example

52. Family’s chief function is reproduction,
socialization and maintenance of
children.
Education’s chief function is to inform
society adequately on importance of
skills for self sufficiency and to teach
community on various issues including
family planning and need to ensure
that families are economical in the
management of their resources.

53. NOTE:
 In a system parts are interdependent and any
malfunctioning of one part has implications on other
parts and the system as whole.
 For example the adolescents view of human rights have
had a crucial challenge on the norms and values of
society leading to the higher risks on contraction of HIV
and AIDS which imparts negatively on the society as a
whole.
 Functionalists hold that societies move towards
equilibrium (self sustaining order) the system achieves
stability by counterbalancing the various forces and also
that every society is dynamic (changes).
 Social changes occur but without major dislocations or
upheavals.

54.  Structural functionalists also recognize that as one
part of the system changes, other parts of the system
have to readjust to accommodate the change that has
taken place elsewhere.
 A change in one part of the system may have manifest,
latent, and dysfunctional consequences.
 There are several terms used in the functionalists’
terminology to describe the various activities taking
place in the society.
 These are functional prerequisites, function, manifest
function, latent function, dysfunction and social
consequences.

55. Functional Prerequisites
Functionalists contend for society to
function there are needs required by
societies in order to survive.
These needs are known as functional
prerequisites.
Examples of these Functional
prerequisites are communication,
social control, provision for sexual
reproduction.

56. Function
 Are consequences or practices of an institution
beneficial or essential to the social system?
 Functionalists pay particular attention to the
function performed by each system’s parts
including its values, norms and groups.
 Functions permit adjustments or adaptation of
the system.
 Robert Merton (b. 1910), who divides human
functions into two types: manifest functions
and latent functions

57. Manifest functions:
These are intended and obvious functions
of the social institution or practice.
The participants in the system usually
recognize these as manifest.
Latent Functions:
They refer to unintended or hidden
functions of a social institution or
practice.
Participants do not often recognize these
as latent functions.

58. Dysfunction
A dysfunction is consequence of an
institution or practices that is distractive
to the social system.
The institution and practices could have
been once beneficial but social change
has altered their effects.
Robert K Merton (1968) points out that
while institutions and other parts of
society can contribute to society’s social
system, the also do the opposite
consequences that lessen the adaptation

59. Social consequences
The functionalist believes that members
of the society should know what is
desirable, worthwhile and moral and
what is not.
There should be consensus on the
beliefs and values e.g. All Zambians are
agreed on one Zambia and one nation.
A high degree of consensus leads to
cohesion, social integration and
stability.

60.  According to its critics, the functionalist focus on
social order cannot adequately explain social change.
 They also argue that this focus on order discounts the
conflicts and tensions that exist within society and
downplays the impact of factors such as race, class,
and gender that impact our lives and social positions.
 Some critics feel that the perspective also ignores the
importance of small-scale, micro-level interactions.

61. Structural-functionalism is also
criticized as being tautological,
meaning that it makes circular
arguments.
This criticism says functionalists argue
that, because something exists, it
serves a function for the system, and
thus it exists.
Such a view fails to satisfactorily
explain how social structures arise in
the first place.

62. CONFLICT THEORY
The other major sociological theory is
the social-conflict paradigm,
also referred to as the conflict
perspective.
Like functionalists, conflict theorists
pay their attention on the structural
arrangement that characterise social
life.
The Social conflict theory focuses on
competition between groups.

63. conflict theorists view society as
comprised of social relations
characterized by inequality and
change.
According to conflict theorists, groups
are constantly competing for unequally
distributed resources, such as wealth
and power, with each group seeking to
benefit their own interests.
In this scenario, one or a few groups
control these resources at the expense

64. The conflict theories look at systematic
patterns of benefit and deprivation
patterned social struggle and patterned
competition within the society in order
to find out who systematically suffers or
who systematically befits from the social
inequality.
The constant conflict between groups
also results in social disorder and
instability

65. The following points are important
about the conflict theories.
Theorists
focus on power struggle, social
stratification and political
movement
state that un – equal power relations
in the society inevitably leads to
conflict making it predictable part
of social interaction

66. state that conflicts become a source of
both social order and social change
assume that when people interact they
almost try to manoeuvre against each
other in order to gain personal and class
advantage (conflict analysis)
assume members of each social class are
interested in achieving personal
satisfaction
Postulate that people interact with one
another in a particular group or social
class to compete with people in the other

67.  Hold competition makes people realize their status
and their social class. This leads them to know how to
behave and what to do.
 Focus on material management or arrangement that
influence the interaction of inequality of groups
 look at the availability of the resources and how these
are distributed to groups and how any unevenness
affect them

68.  assume that the most advantaged groups dominate the
less advantaged ones
 Look at the type of tools people use to win conflict
depending on the society they belong to.
 Study the access those advantaged have to mass media,
education, the police and other powerful aids or
resources
 Underscore the two possible outcomes of conflict
being “dominate or a balance of force” – meaning that
either one group is defeated or both sides are at
balance. In either case a kind of social stability
develops

69.  The works of Karl Marx (1818–83) are often credited
with providing the sociological roots of the conflict
perspective.
 Lived during the stormy period in which western
Europe was transitioning from feudalism to capitalism.
 The Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and Marx
observed inequality throughout the growing capitalist
society.
 The economics of capitalism resulted in social classes
that were constantly in competition for society’s
limited resources.

70.  Marx saw rich factory owners who obtained their
wealth from the labour of factory workers who were
paid little, often toiled long hours in dangerous
conditions, and frequently lived in crowded and
unhealthy spaces.
 Society, as Marx saw it, was an ongoing struggle
between the classes: the “haves” (factory owners) and
the “have nots” (the workers).
 The result was social conflict and change as those
without resources challenged those holding the
resources for a piece of the pie.

71. Later conflict theorists have extended
and adapted this idea of continuous
tension between groups.
They have moved well beyond Marx’s
emphasis on class and economics,
focusing on other areas such as
inequality between races or sexes.
This wider look at social inequalities
has provided the basis for feminist
theory.

72. The feminist theories recognize gender
as a system of inequality, assume that it
is a mutable rather than constant or
necessary feature of human societies,
and [support] a commitment to a
gender equitable system” (Chafetz
2001, 613).
In other words, feminist theories argue
that social systems oppress women and
that this oppression can and should be
eliminated.

73.  Feminists, however, differ greatly in their views on why
inequality occurs and how to overcome it (Andersen
1993).
 Drawing from Marx’s emphasis on economics, Marxist
feminism argues that capitalist economic structures
favour men—for example, with higher paying jobs.
 Solutions rely on eliminating capitalism as the source
of the problem.
 Liberal feminism argues that inequality lays in a lack
of opportunity and education for women as well as
traditional views of gender that limit women’s roles.

74.  Liberal feminists feel that if women are allowed to
compete equally with men in all areas of society, they
will do so successfully (Lorber 1998).
 Radical feminism argues that, regardless of economic
system and other inequalities women face in their lives
(e.g., racism), male domination is the most
fundamental and violence is one key method of
controlling women.
 Solutions lie in eliminating all forms of sexual violence
and enhancing women’s culture and lives.

75. The second wave of feminism was
established amid the social
movements of the 1960s, when
conflict theory overall was gaining
popularity.
Many changes were occurring in
women’s lives during that decade
e.g. increasing women’s labour-force
participation, the development of
the birth-control pill.

76.  An additional dimension has also been added to
feminist perspectives. In the past many feminists were
educated, white, and middle class.
 However, today feminist writings have expanded to
encompass women of diverse backgrounds (e.g.,
Collins 2000) as well as the concerns of globalization
and the circumstances of women in less developed
countries.
 A global feminism has developed that recognizes the
need to include the diversity of women’s voices by
other characteristics such as race, ethnicity, class, age,
sexual orientation, and able-bodied.

77.  Critics have charged that the conflict perspective has
become too politicized by its association with Marx
and by its widespread use by advocates in numerous
causes and movements.
 The women’s movement and feminist theory provides
one example of its co-optation for political use.
 Critics also argue that the conflict perspective
downplays the unity that exists in society and takes a
negative view of society by overemphasizing conflicts,
tensions, and coercion.

78.  At this writing, conflict theory is widely used in
American sociology.
 It began to unseat functionalism as the dominant
sociological paradigm with challenges C. Wright Mills
(profiled in chapter 1)
 others made to Parsons’ theory in the late 1950s, and
grew in popularity during the social turmoil of the
1960s.
 The social-conflict perspective is sometimes combined
with elements of micro-level theories to offer a more
robust view of social life.

79.  Educational systems play an important role is
sustaining the hierarchy of inequality.
 In contrast to functional theory, conflicts occur even
when teachers, students, parents, and administrators
follow the rules and society is stable.
 Each group may obey the rules even though they do
not always agree because they may not see alternatives
or follow the rules for fear of consequences.

80.  The symbolic interactionist perspective,
 also known as symbolic interactionism, directs sociologists to
consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these
symbols mean, and how people interact with each other.
 George H. Mead (1863–1931) introduced this perspective
 According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people
attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their
subjective interpretation of these symbols.
 Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the
predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation
especially evident.
 The words have a certain meaning for the “sender,” and, during
effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning
for the “receiver.” In other terms, words are not static “things”;
they require intention and interpretation.
 Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals
who constantly interpret the world around them.


81.  Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it
refers to something beyond itself. Written music serves
as an example.
 The black dots and lines become more than mere marks
on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way
as to make musical sense.
 Thus, symbolic interactionists give serious thought to
how people act, and then seek to determine what
meanings individuals assign to their own actions and
symbols, as well as to those of others.
 Applying symbolic interactionism to the institution of
marriage.
 Symbols may include wedding bands, vows of life‐long
commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a
Church ceremony, and flowers and music..
 Much faulty communication can result from differences
in the perception of the same events and symbols.

82. Criticisms of symbolic interaction
 Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the
macro level of social interpretation—the “big picture.”
 In other words, symbolic interactionists may miss the
larger issues of society by focusing too closely on the
“trees” (for example, the size of the diamond in the
wedding ring) rather than the “forest” (for example,
the quality of the marriage).
 The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the
influence of social forces and institutions on
individual interactions.

84. Introduction:
 Culture is one of the important concepts in sociology.
 No human society can exist and develop without its
culture.
 The main difference between the animal and human
societies is of culture only.
 Animal societies have no culture because they do not
have systems of learning and transmitting social
experiences.
 Sociologists are keenly interested in the study of
culture because the study of human society is
incomplete without it.

85.  Edward Tylor: Culture is that complex whole which
includes
 knowledge,
 beliefs,
 art,
 law,
 custom,
 any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of the society.

86. Definition of culture
 Different sociologists have differently defined the term
culture:
 Taylor: “Culture is the complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and habits
and any capabilities acquired by man as a member of
society”.
 Linton: “Culture is social heredity, which is
transmitted from one generation to another with the
accumulation of individual experiences”.
 John Beattee: Culture is the way of life which is
transmitted from generation to generation”.

87. TYPES OF CULTURE
 Material Culture
 Non-material Culture
 Real Culture
 Ideal Culture

88. 1. Material Culture
 From material culture we understand material and
physical objects.
 For instance, house, road, vehicles, pen, table, radio set,
book etc. these are the products of human efforts to
control his environment and make his life conformable
and safe.
 2. Non-material culture
 • In non-material culture we include non material
objects.
 For example religion, art, ideas, customs, values system,
attitudes, knowledge etc. it does not have physical shape.
 It is very important in determining human behavior and
has strong hold on an individual. Both parts are inter-
related with each other.

89. 3. Real Culture:
 Real culture is that which can be observed in our social
life.
 The culture on which we act upon in our daily life is real
culture. It is that parts of culture, which the people
adopt in their social life, for example.
 If a person/ says that he/she is Muslim, will be, when
followed all the principles of Islam is the real and when
doesn’t follow, is not a real one.
4. Ideal Culture
 The culture which is presented as a pattern to the people
is called ideal culture.
 It is the goal of society and never achieved fully because
some parts remain out of practice.
 This culture is explained in books, speeches etc.

90.  CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE:
 From the definitions it becomes clear that sociologically
culture has specific meaning and characteristics.
 It is the product of human behavior and gaining knowledge
through group.
 It is a system of learned behavior and set procedure.
 Some of the salient characteristics of culture are as under:
 • Culture is learned.
 • Culture is shared.
 • Culture is transmitted.
 • Culture is changing.
Culture is learned
 It is acquired through education, training and experience.
Culture is socially transmitted through language-
 It is transmitted from one generation to another through
the medium of language, verbal or non-verbal through the
gestures or signs, orally or in writing.

91. Culture is learned:
 • Most of the behavior is learned in society.
 This learning might be conscious or unconscious but
no body can deny the process of learning.
 Culture is something learnt and acquired e.g. wearing
clothes or dancing. It is not something natural to the
person.
Culture is shared:
 All the traits, attitudes, ideas, knowledge and material
objects like radio, television and automobiles etc is
actually shared by members of society.

92. Culture is transmitted
 All the culture traits and objects are transmitted among
the members of society continually.
 Most of the cultural traits and material objects are
transmitted to the members of the society from their
forefathers.
 We learn new fashion, how to move in society and how
to behave in a particular social situation.
Culture is changing
 Culture never remains static but changing.
 It is changing in every society, but with different speed
and causes.
 It constantly under goes change and adapts itself to the
environments.

93. COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
 These are the guidelines people are supposed to follow
in their relation with one another.
 -they indicate what people should or should not do in
specific situation.
 -they indicate the standard of propriety, morality,
legality, and ethics of a society that are covered by
sanctions when violation are made.

94. Social norms
 a. Folkways – these are everyday habits; customs,
traditions and conventions people obey without giving
much thought to the matter
 b. Mores- these are the norms people consider vital to
their wellbeing and most cherished values; they are
special customs with moral and ethical significance,
which are strongly held and emphasized.
 c. Laws- these are formalized norms enacted by people
vested with legitimate authority

95. IDEAS, BELIEFS, VALUES
 Ideas are non-materials aspects of culture and embody
mans conception of his physical, social and cultural
world
 Beliefs refer to a persons conviction about a certain
idea.
 Values are abstract concepts of what is important and
worthwhile, they are general ideas that individuals
share about what is good or bad.

96. MATERIAL CULTURE
 -It refers to the concrete and tangible objects produced
and used by man to satisfy his varied needs and wants.
SYMBOLS
 It refers to an object, gesture, sound, colour or design
that represents something “other that itself”.

97. DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS/PERSPECTIVE ON
CULTURE
Culture relativism
 The concept of cultural relativism states that cultures
differ, so that a cultural trait, act, or idea has no
meaning but its meaning only within its cultural
setting.
Culture Shock
 It refers to the feelings of disbelief, disorganization
and frustration one experiences when he encounters
cultural patterns or practices which are different from
his.

98. Ethnocentrism
 It refers to the tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs,
values, and norms of ones own group as the only right
way of living and to judge others by those standards.
Xenocentrism
 It refers to the idea that what is foreign is best and that
ones lifestyle, products or ideas are inferior to those
others.

99. Noble savage mentality
 It refers to the evaluation of ones culture and that of
others based on the romantic notion that the culture
and way of life of the primitives or other simple
cultures is better, more acceptable and more orderly.
Subculture
 This refers to smaller group which develop norms,
values, beliefs, and special languages which make the
distinct from the broader society.

100. Counterculture or contra culture
 It refers subgroups whose standards come in conflict
with the oppose the conventional standards of the
dominant culture.
Culture lag
 It refers to the gap between the material and non-
material culture

101.  UNIT TWO: CULTURE AND ITS COMPONENTS
 Defining culture
 Culture refers to the system of shared beliefs, values,
customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of
society use to interact with their world and with one
another.
 Culture is a combination of thoughts, feelings, attitudes,
beliefs, values, and behavior patterns that are shared by
racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups of people. Culture
refers not only to those that we are born into (racial or
ethnic groups), but also those that we choose to belong to,
such as religious or social groups. Culture also refers the
beliefs and behaviors that a social group shares. It is
expressed from sporting events to holidays, from education
to transportation, from fashion to etiquette.


102.  Culture consists of thoughts (expectations about
personal space, for example) and tangible things (bus
stops, trains, and seating capacity).
 Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of
a group of people. Metro passes and bus tokens are
part of material culture, as are automobiles, stores, and
the physical structures where people worship. They
also include things such as vehicles,
clothes, books, buildings, cooking
utensils and computers. They are
physical objects people create and form
a group's material culture.

103.  Components of culture

 All cultures consist of five basic components and these are;
 - Physical objects [artifacts’]
 - Symbols
 - Language
 - Values and norms
 Components of culture
 Physical objects
 Physical objects are those things that people create and form a
group's material culture. These include things such as vehicles,
clothes, books, buildings, cooking utensils and computers.
Physical objects are also referred to as artifacts.
 Symbols

104.  A symbol is anything that stands for something else. Symbol
have shared meanings attached to them
 Specific symbols vary from culture to culture but all cultures
communicate symbolically through various methods.
 Examples of symbols are;
 - A word - class ring
 - Gesture - hand shake
 - Image
 - Sound
 - Physical object
 - Events
 - Church service


105.  3. Language
 Definition of language
 Language is the organisation of written or spoken symbols
into standardized system.
 Words when organized according to accepted rules of
grammar can be used to express any idea.
 This facilitates communicating with one another.
 Examples of language;
 -English -Bemba -Ngoni
Chinese
 -Ndebele -Luvale -Kaonde
French
 -Shona -Tonga -Lunda

106.  4. Values
 Values are shared beliefs about what is good or what bad i.e. is right or wrong
 Values, culturally defined ideas about what is important, are central to Culture. Values
delineate how a culture should be. In the United States, sociologists Have identified cultural
values including success, hard work, freedom, equality, democracy, individualism, and
progress. Of course, not everyone in a culture shares identical values. They also do not share
them equally. Some people or groups hold more Tightly to certain values while rejecting others.
Culture and Society 45 There may also be a mismatch between ideal culture, the values and
Norms claimed by a society, and real culture, the values and norms that are actually practiced.
For example, in the United States, equality is a core value. Encompassed Within this value is
the ideal that all workers regardless of gender and Race should have equal opportunity in the
workplace. In reality, however, even desirable or undesirable
 The type of values held by a group help to determine the character of its people and their
culture.
 5. Norms
 Norms are the shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations
 Norms are expectations for a certain behaviour and not the actual behaviour.
 Types of norms
 Norms are many and they range from unimportant ones to important ones and some are
applied selectively

107.  Unimportant norms
 - Folkways – folkways are norms that do not have great moral significance attached to them
e.g. Shaking hands when introduced to someone, using a spoon when eating porridge, cover your
mouth when yawning,
 Important norms
 -Mores – Mores are norms which have great moral importance attached to them and
violation of the mores endanger the well-being and stability of society.
 Examples of norms;
 -laws
 Laws are written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced by the government
 Laws range from simple folkways [such as no packing] to very strict mores e.g. Law against murder,
assault, rape, stealing and burning property or house.

 Definition of cultural relativism
 Cultural relativism is the belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards.
 DIVISION OF CULTURE
 Culture is continually changing. It is dynamic rather than static and cultures are complex, and
because of such, complexity is divided into levels as follows;
 Culture traits
 Culture complexes
 Culture patterns

108.  Culture traits
 The smallest unit of culture is the culture trait.
 Definition of Culture traits
 A culture trait is an individual tool, act or belief that is related to a particular situation or need
e.g. the use of spoons, folks and knives when eating is a culture trait.
 In Zambia Namwangas and Mambwes mix beans and mulembwe [okra] and they eat without
using any eating utensils.
 Culture complexes
 Individual culture traits combine to form culture complexes
 Definition of a culture complex
 A culture complex is a cluster of interrelated traits.
 E.g. the game of football is a culture complex because it involves a variety of traits.
 Among the material traits are the football, the measuring chain, cleated shoes, helmets, pads
first aid kits and warm up benches.
 Specific acts include kicking, passing, catching, running with the ball blocking and tackling
 There are also specific beliefs e.g. penalties should be given to violation of rules, a team must
win etc.
 Culture complexes join to form larger units called culture patterns.


109.  Definition of culture patterns
 Culture patterns is the combination of a number of culture complexes into an interrelated
whole.
 For example in Zambia education, religion and family life combine to form a culture pattern.
 Cultures of the world are very different e.g. Languages that are used are different, the life styles
etc.
 In spite of human beings having similar basic needs, there is variation in culture because
human beings have the ability to meet these needs in a vast number of ways.
 The only limitation is the biological make up and the physical environment.
 VARIATIONS OF CULTURE WITHIN SOCITIES
 Cultural variations exist not only among societies but also within societies
 Factors which cause cultural variations in a society
 Culture traits
 Culture complexes
 Culture patterns
 Some groups in the society have values, norms and behaviours that are not shared by the entire
population



110.  OUTCOMES OF CULTURAL VARIATIONS
 Subculture – This is a group with its own unique values, norms and behaviours that exist within a larger culture.
 Counterculture- This is the group that rejects the values, norms and practices of the larger society and replaces them with a new set of
cultural patterns
 CULTURAL UNIVERSALS
 Some needs for human beings are so basic that all societies must develop culture traits, culture complexes and culture patterns to ensure
their fulfilment.
 Definition of culture universals
 Culture universals are common features that are found in all human cultures.
 Examples of cultural universals of different cultures are;
 -Cooking medicine funeral ceremonies
 -Feasting dancing Forms of greeting language
 -Tool making family Sports gift giving
 -Religion music Myths
 -
 Definition of Ethnocentrism
 ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one’s own culture and group as superior to all other cultures and groups
 Definition of cultural Relativism
 Cultural relativism is the belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards. CULTURAL RELATIVISM
 Different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no scientific standards for considering one group as intrinsically superior or
inferior to another. Studying differences in culture among groups and societies presupposes a position of cultural relativism. It does not
imply normalcy for oneself, nor for one's society. It, however, calls for judgment when dealing with groups or societies different from one's
own. Information about the nature of cultural differences between societies, their roots, and their consequences should precede judgment
and action. Negotiation is more likely to succeed when the parties concerned understand the reasons for the differences in viewpoints
 THE ROLE OF RELATIVISM IN THE STUDY OF CULTURE
 The role of cultural relativism in the study of culture is to help people who study culture understand cultural practices from the point of view of the
members of society.
 Cultural relativism helps sociologists and anthropologists make sense of many practices that seem to be strange or illogical to them e.g. prohibition
of killing cows in India in Hindu religion is rooted in practical environmental concerns.
 DEFINITION OF BELIEFS
 Beliefs are ideas that are accepted. They may be expressed as decisions, opinions or needs.


111.  Definition of values
 Values are standards for decision making that endure for a significant time in one’s life.
They are abstract ideas that have four basic parts namely; thinking, choosing, feeling and
behaving.
 Definition of practices
 Practices are habitual actions or performances e.g. The religious practices of male
Muslims is to wear long white dresses and small hats

 MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE
 Cultural differences manifest themselves in different ways and differing levels of depth.
Symbols represent the most superficial and values the deepest manifestations of culture,
with heroes and rituals in between.

 Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which is
only recognized by those who share a particular culture. New symbols easily develop, old
ones disappear. Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others. This is
why symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.


112.  Heroes are persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess
characteristics that are highly prized in a culture. They also serve as models for
behavior.

 Rituals are collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired
objectives, but are considered as socially essential. They are therefore carried
out most of the times for their own sake (ways of greetings, paying respect to
others, religious and social ceremonies, etc.).
 The core of a culture is formed by values. They are broad tendencies for
preferences of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-
unnatural). Many values remain unconscious to those who hold them.
Therefore they often cannot be discussed, nor they can be directly observed by
others. Values can only be inferred from the way people act under different
circumstances.
 Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual aspects of the practices of
a culture. The true cultural meaning of the practices is intangible; this is
revealed only when the practices are interpreted by the insiders.


113.  LAYERS OF CULTURE
 People even within the same culture carry several layers of
mental programming within themselves. Different layers of
culture exist at the following levels:
 The national level: Associated with the nation as a whole.
 The regional level: Associated with ethnic, linguistic, or religious
differences that exist within a nation.
 The gender level: Associated with gender differences (female vs.
male)
 The generation level: Associated with the differences between
grandparents and parents, parents and children.
 The social class level: Associated with educational opportunities
and differences in occupation.
 The corporate level: Associated with the particular culture of an
organization. Applicable to those who are employed.

114.  UNIT THREE: THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION
AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
 (a) Defining socialization
 (b) Agents of socialization
 (c) Development of self, mind and emotions: the self
and socialization
 (d) Gender and socialization
 (e) Socialization across the life course.
 (f) Resocialization

116. Objectives of the unit
After reading through the unit you
should be able to:
State the meaning of socialisation.
Describe the various forms of
socialisation
Outline the agents of socialisation

117. Meaning of socialization
Socialization is
 a lifelong process of social interaction that prepares
individuals to function in social life.
 a complex learning process where people develop self-
identity and acquire the knowledge, skills (physical,
mental, and social skills) and motivation required for
participation in the society.
 predominately an unconscious process by which a
newborn child learns the values, beliefs, rules and
regulations of society or internalizes the culture in which
it is born
 includes learning of three important processes:
 (1) cognitive;
 (2) affective, and
 (3) evaluative.

118. Socialisation
 equips an individual in such a way that he can perform
his duties in his society.
 Ensures the helpless infant gradually becomes a self
aware and knowledgeable human of the given culture
and environment.
 has no fixed time when it begins or end of this
process,
 Has 4 stages: oral stage, anal stage, oedipal stage, and
adolescence stage.

119. Forms of socialization
 There different forms of socialization.
Primary socialization
 first socialization an individual under goes in childhood
through which he becomes a member of society.
 occurs during the early stages of childhood.
 individual learns of their own name and siblings names.
 also known as the socialization with parents/guardians,
 rimary source for a child to learn experiences.
 caregivers satisfy both the child’s physical needs and
emotional needs.
 Makes children become functional members and obey
social norms in society from their parents.
 people learn the attitudes, norms, values, language and
actions approved to individuals as members of a particular
culture.

120.  Secondary socialization
 Refers to the learning what is appropriate behaviour as a member
of a smaller group within the larger society.
 usually associated with teenagers and adults.
 involves smaller changes than those in primary socialization.
 The changes include entering a new profession, college or
relocating to a new place or environment.
 The school and education are secondary modes of socialization.
 Characterised by Rewards and punishments e.g. Merits & prizes
Reverse socialization
 Reverse socialization is a diversion from the desired behaviour or
enculturation especially of the younger generation; it involves
both adults and children.
 Developmental socialization
 Developmental socialization is a process of learning behaviour in
a social institution or developing one’s social skills.

121. Anticipatory socialization
 process in which a person rehearses for future position
and occupation and social relationship.
 individuals start learning new norms and values in
anticipation of new role as a transition
 implies adopting norms and values of a future role, one
can evaluate whether that role will be right for him when
the time comes to assume it.
 Example:
 A police officer preparing for night adjusts sleeping habits
like going to bed an hour later each evening and sleeping
during the day.
 couples living together before getting married to see
whether they feel comfortable in that future role to test the
role of spouse before committing to it legally.

122.  Resocialisation
 process of learning a new and different set of attitudes,
values, and behaviours from those in one’s background
and previous experience.
 process of discarding formed behaviour patterns and
accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life.
 Life long process
 can be an infuse experience with individual experiencing
shape break with their past and needing to learn and be
exposed to radically different norms and values.
 Example: young man or woman leaving home for prison
or military training.
There are two types of Resocialisation.
 Voluntary Resocialisation
 Resocialisation is voluntary when we assume a new
status (i.e. student, and employee, or a retiree).

123.  Involuntary Resocialisation
 Total institution is a place where people are isolated
from the rest of society for a set period of time and
come under the control of the officials who run the
institution. (I.e. military boot camps, prisons,
concentration camps, and some mental hospitals).
 People are stripped of their former selves.
Desocialisation
 This refers to the unlearning of previous normative
experiences and roles. For example when one who is
single gets married.

124. Gender socialization
 tendency for boys and girls to be socialized differently.
 Society expects different attitudes and behaviours from boys and
girls.
 Boys should conform to the male gender role, and girls female
gender or role.
 A gender role is a set of behaviours, attitudes, and personality
characteristics expected and encouraged of a person based on his
or her sex.
 Difficult to if differences between males and females result from
innate, biological differences or from differences in the ways that
boys and girls are socialized.
 No agreement on whether differences between men and women
are due to nature, nurture, or some combination of both.
 Example: significant differences between female and male
brains exist. In males language centre is usually in the dominant
(usually left) hemisphere, but females use both hemispheres to
process language. No wonder females seem to have stronger
communication skills and relish interpersonal communication
more than males and why, on average, girls learn to speak and
read earlier than boys.

125.  Reference Group
 group which an individual or another group is
compared to.
 Is used in order to evaluate and determine the nature
of a given individual or other group’s characteristics.
 A group an individual relates or aspires to relate
himself/herself psychologically.
 Its frame of reference and source of ordering his or her
experiences, perceptions, cognition and ideas of the
self.
 Helps in deforming a person’s self identity attitudes
and social ties.
 basis for making compromises or constructs and in
evaluating one’s appearance and performance.

126. Agents of Socialization
 Agents of socialization are the persons, groups, or
institutions that teach us what we need to know in order to
participate in society. These agents of socialization
influence one’s concepts, emotions, attitudes and
behaviour. The family, the school, the mass media, the
workplace, government, religion, church and peers are
some of the agents of socialization.
 The Family
 A person is socialized in the family. The family can be
defined as an enduring association of parent and offspring
whose primary functions are the socialization of the child
and the satisfaction of the members. It is the most
important agent of socialization in all societies.


127.  The family is a social agency for the education and
protection of the race. In the family the child acquires
important qualities as sincerity, sympathy, self-submission
and realising responsibility etc. The child’s character
developed in the family to help it become an important and
responsible member of society. In every family, the child
gets an opportunity for free expression of thoughts and
developing his entire personality. Psychologists have
incontestably proved that the proper development of the
child is impossible, without a good environment in the
family. The tendencies and habits which he acquires in the
family, he finds impossible, to shed later on. According to
Freud, the viewpoint of a child towards the senior in the
family determines his attitude and viewpoint towards the
elders in society. The child's first school is his home and
family. According to R.G. Collingwood, the child's
education should be in the hands of the parents in family.
The parents should participate in all the child's activities. A
child learns much by imitating his superiors.

128.  It is the family which imparts practical education to
the child concerning the customs in society, conduct,
other important elements of culture, preservation of
health, love, sympathy, cooperation etc. Families are
also the primary source of emotional support.
 It is evident from the above account that family is the
primary and fundamental agent of socialization. In the
family a child learns the language, norms and values of
the society. Improving the family automatically
improves society.


129.  According to Functionalist perspective the family
passes social class to the children and helps in the
stabilization of society. In fact families socialize their
children differently based on race, ethnicity, and class.
 On other hand Conflict theorists believe that this
perpetuation of social class from generation to
generation inhibits the challenging of conditions
needed for society to grow.


130.  The School
 Outside one’s family one probably spends the most time in school, with mates,
teachers and the environment. These can have a lasting impact on the child social
life. It is in this environment that children learn to interact with their peers, to
compete, to cooperate, to respect authority and to learn many other valuable skills.

 One informal function of school is the development of social feeling in all the
children of school. In fact school is a miniature of society. It provides a social
environment to child by organizing students' unions, social service camps, social
functions and parent-teacher associations etc. so that all the socially desirable
values namely sympathy, cooperation, tolerance, social awakening and above all
discipline develop in them in a natural way.

 In school a child develops morally and socially so that it is able to acquire firm and
noble character by allowing him/her to participate in such moral, ethical and social
activities which may inculcate in him/her the socially desirable values and lead to
the formation of a strong good character.

 Beside the interpersonal skills, schools are also places of learning cultural content in
which one is made aware of their society’s history, traditions and norms.




131.  Studies have shown that day-care and preschool programs
have a positive effect on the socialization of children.
 Functionalist perspective says schools are responsible for
 socialization, or teaching students to be productive
members of society;
 transmission of culture;
 social control and personal development; and
 The selection, training, and placement of individuals on
different rungs in a society.
 Conflict theorists say that students have different school
experiences based on class, race, and neighbourhood.
Much of what happens in school amounts to teaching a
hidden curriculum in which children learn to be neat, on
time, quiet, await their turn, and remain attentive to their
work. Those who are destined for leadership or elite
positions acquire different skills and knowledge.

132.  Mass Media
 The mass media which includes the television, the radio,
printed materials and now the internet shape and
transmit societies’ values, norms and beliefs and can be
one of the main avenues through which cultural
diffusion and change emerge. Mass media are large scale
organizations communicate with large numbers of
people. The media socializes as follows
 They inform us of events
 They introduce us to a wide variety of people
 They provide an array of viewpoints on current issues
 Make us away of new products that will supposedly help
us to be accepted by others.
 They entertain by allowing us to live vicariously (through
other people’s experiences).


133.  Peer Groups
 Peer Group is a group of people who are linked by common
interests, equal social position, and (usually) similar age. Peer
groups are agents of socialization because they contribute to
our sense of belonging. Peer pressure is when individuals
must earn their acceptance by their peers by conforming to a
given groups norms, attitudes, speech patterns, and dress
codes.
 Workplace
 Workplace Socialization is one of the most important types of
adult socialization.
 Career choice
 Anticipatory socialization (learning different aspects of the
occupation before entering it)
 Conditioning and commitment (learning the up’s and downs
of the occupation and
 remaining committed to it)
 continuous commitment (remaining committed to the work)

134. SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION

135.  UNIT FOUR: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION PROCESS
 (a)Defining social stratification
 (b) Patterns of social stratification
 (c) Social mobility
 (d) The functionalist theory of stratification
 (e) The conflict theory of stratification
 (f) A synthesis of perspectives

136. Unit objectives
 After going through this unit, you should be able to:
 Define social stratification.
 Explain the concept of social class and social mobility
 Outline the causes of social mobility
 Discuss the impact of education on social mobility

137. Introduction
 Social inequality is a universal phenomenon in all
societies.
 Social inequality: condition in which members of society
have different amounts of wealth, prestige, or power
 It can exist
 in form of a hierarchy of groups or individuals called
social hierarchy
 without the creation of a hierarchy known as social
differentiation. An example of social differentiation is the
unequal treatment of men and women in almost all
societies.
 social inequality in the form of a hierarchy involving
ranking of groups is known as social stratification.
 Social stratification can be defined as an arrangement of
any social group or society into a hierarchy of positions
that are unequal with regard to power, property, social
evaluation and psychic gratification.
 In a stratified society people are considered as being

138.  Social stratification is essentially a group
phenomenon.
 It is a concept of class and involves the classification of
persons into groups based on shared socio-economic
conditions.
 socioeconomic status: a composite ranking based
on various dimensions of social inequality -
education, occupation, income
 It consists of a relational set of inequalities with
economic, social, political and ideological dimensions.

139. FOUR MAJOR STRATIFICATION SYSTEMS
 slavery, caste, estate, and class
Slavery: social stratification in which some individuals are
literally owned by others as property
Estate: social stratification involving inequalities between
groups of individuals established by law
Caste Systems
 A caste system is social stratification based on
ascription or birth and can not be changed. No
intermarriages
 Caste systems are typical of agrarian societies because
the lifelong routines of agriculture depend on a rigid
sense of duty and discipline
 Caste systems shape people’s lives in four crucial ways:
 Caste largely determines occupation.
 Caste systems generally mandate endogamy.
 Caste systems limit out-group social contacts.
 Powerful cultural beliefs underlie caste systems.

140. CLASSES
 In a class system, social stratification is based on both
birth and individual achievement.
 As Industrial societies move towards
meritocracy, social stratification is based on
personal merit.
 In class systems, status consistency, the
degree of consistency of a person’s social
standing across various dimensions of social
inequality, is lower than in caste systems

141. Terms Associated with Social Stratification
 Class: refers to a person's economic position in a society.
 Status: is a person's prestige, social honour, or
popularity in a society.
 Prestige: means the honour associated with an
occupation or other position in the social system
 Power: A person's ability to get their way despite the
resistance of others is called power e.g. individuals in
state jobs like policemen may hold little property or
status but they still hold immense power.
 Social class: refers to a group of individuals occupying a
similar position in the economic system of production.
 Within economic system, an occupation is very
important because it provides financial rewards, stability
and benefits like healthcare.

142. • Income consists of wages or salaries from work and
earnings from investments. U.S. society has more
income inequality than most other industrial societies.
• Wealth consists of the total amount of money and
other assets, minus outstanding debts. It is distributed
even less equally than income.

143. Layers of Social stratification
 broadly broken into three main layers: upper class,
middle class, and lower class.
The upper classes
 These are elite families with great wealth who
dominate the economic systems.
 Elite status is ascribed and many of this group's
members are friends who have been socialized into an
upper-class world.
 Ranking below the elite is the lower upper class, a
group of people who recently have achieved success
and wealth
 lack of established family name makes them not be fully
acceptance into the upper-upper class.

144. The middle classes
 Second layer consists of middle class divided
into
 upper middle
 Middle middle class
 Lower middle
 The upper third forms the upper middle class
 consists mostly of professionals and others with well-
paying, respected occupations.
 class represents scientific and technical knowledge –
engineers, accountants, lawyers, architects, university
faculty, managers and directors of public and private
organizations.
 class has both high incomes and high social prestige and
well-educated individuals.

145.  The upper-middle class collectively exerts power
because its members participate in political affairs and
support various causes, However, they
 do not have as much direct access to powerful
individuals,
 do not have the time
 No enough wealth for extensive political activity.
 The other part of the middle class consists of the
lower middle, a group that is less educated and have
relatively few assets.
 They include Clerical-administrative staff providing
support for professionals such as in
 data collection, record-keeping, Paralegals, bank tellers, sales
and Blue-collar workers in skilled trades

146. Lower class
The upper-lower class
 also called the working class
 consists of service personnel
 semiskilled operatives, and other blue-collar
workers who do not earn enough to
accumulate substantial savings.
 These people are vulnerable to disruptions in
their income.
 These include craft workers, labourers in
factories, restaurant workers, nursing home
staff, repair shops, garages and delivery
services

147. The lower – lower class
 The lower-lower class may be divided into
two subgroups:
 The working poor are lower-lower-class
people who have jobs but who simply
cannot earn an adequate income.
 These work full-time at wages below
poverty line, social services and
underclass.
 The chronically poor are mostly
unemployed or work only occasionally.

148. Social Impact of Social Stratification
 Social stratification has been shown to cause many
social problems.
 A comprehensive study of major world economies
revealed that homicide, infant mortality, obesity,
teenage pregnancies, emotional depression and prison
population all correlate with higher social inequality.

149.  A Social class has a strong influence on the child.
 The awareness, that one belongs to the lower, middle or
upper class, is communicated to the child by parent and
caregivers.
 Consequently, children coming from the lower classes start
with the feeling of inferiority, of being poor and of
deprivation of the good things of life.
 In reaction to this inferiority, many of them turn to
criminal activities, because children from the upper classes
find pleasure in displaying their superiority which has
already created in them pride, vanity and a number of
other shameful emotions and sentiments.
 However, the child from the middle class is less susceptible
to extremes of emotions for superiority on the one hand
and of inferiority on the other.
 This explains the reason why most middle class children
perform better in academic work than children from either
of the two other classes.

150.  The teachers should explain to children that
discrimination on the basis of any one of these is artificial,
and that it is not a sound criterion for distinguishing
between one human being and another.
 This will help to make the children more humane and liberal
in their approach.
 The foundation of the class is the class consciousness.
 A member of one class is perfectly conscious of his own
status in respect to and as differentiated from the status of
some other group.
 Parents’ preferences, consumer behaviour, actions, values
around children reveal distinctions and divisions based on
social class.
 Therefore the child's developing mind and personality always
bears the stamp of the social class in which he originated.
 Many schools cater for children of one particular social class
because members of other classes cannot bear the expenses of
educating children in such schools.

151.  Class consciousness also tends to hinder the growth of
democratic values, and for this reason the school
should provide an atmosphere which encourages the
feeling of equality and underplay differences between
children of different social classes.

152. What Is Poverty?
Poverty may be defined in two ways:
 a. Relative poverty: people are poor only in
comparison to others, therefore there will
always be some group at the bottom of the
hierarchy.
 • Relative poverty refers to the deprivation of some
people in relation to those who have more
 b. Absolute poverty: the inability of people to
maintain a certain standard of living.
 • Absolute poverty: a deprivation of resources that
is life threatening

153. Explaining Poverty
 1. The poor are primarily responsible for their own poverty
(culture of poverty)
 a. Culture of poverty. Some sociologists believe that the
culture of poverty "blames the poor" for their plight when,
in fact, the causes of poverty lie in society.
 2. Society is responsible for poverty?
 a. Most evidence suggests that society rather than the individual
is responsible for poverty
 b. The working poor
 3. The truly disadvantaged. This group consists of people
who live predominantly in the inner city and who are
trapped in a cycle of joblessness, deviance, crime, welfare
dependency, and unstable family life.
 a. William Wilson argues that poor economic conditions are the
main problems facing the truly disadvantaged.
 b. Other sociologists note that only some people drift into a life
of dependency or deviance because they cannot find work.

154. Social Mobility
 Social mobility is the movement of an individual in a
social structure.
 It is a transformation in the social status of an
individual or a group.
 Every individual may rise up or lower his status in the
social set up according to his desire and efforts.
 This change in social status is called social mobility.
 It’s a movement from one social status to another like a
promotion from the poor or middle to higher class.

155. Definition of Social Mobility
 Social mobility is any change in social position, such as
occupational changes where persons move up or down
the occupational scale, or election to office whereby a
follower becomes a leader, or a leap from a low
economic class to a high one, or vice versa.
 Social mobility is either horizontal or vertical.

156. Horizontal Social Mobility.
 Horizontal mobility is the process of making changes
on the same status level.
 While some groups of persons have similar status
some are placed in lower or higher status in a society.
 Horizontal social mobility is the transformation of an
individual in the groups or sections of same status.
 In horizontal social mobility, the position of an
individual may change, but his salary, grade, prestige
and other privileges remain the same.
 Thus, his social status remains the same. For example,
transfer of a district magistrate to a post in Secretariat
in the same grade does not affect his social status.

157. Types of horizontal social mobility.
 Inter group Mobility: Mobility in Race, Sex and Age
groups. Nobody can change his or her race, sex or age
according to his or her own will. But when sections of
population grow and develop as social groups, horizontal
mobility is liable to occur among them.
 Occupational Mobility: Occupational mobility is change
from one occupation to another of the similar nature,
conditions and circumstances.
 Inter religious Mobility. Religious mobility is change
from one religious faith to another or conversion from
one religion to another.
 Political Mobility. Leaving one political party and joining
another is political mobility, which occurs because of self
interests, allurements, political instability and lack of
moral character.
 Family and Kinship Mobility. Marriage or remarriage,
adoption of a child or divorce encourages this type of
mobility, which happens more in society where
polygamy is practiced.

158.  Territorial Mobility. Leaving a particular territory by a
group of people and entry into another territory is
called territorial mobility.
 Territorial mobility is more frequent in towns,
government services, industrial services in men and
young persons.
 In times of harvest failures, epidemics, wars and
critical circumstances of security and safety, territorial
mobility occurs very rapidly.
 International Mobility. Encouraged by better
prospects, more affluence and better living conditions,
many persons migrate from underdeveloped countries
to developed and progressive countries.
 This is international mobility which also increases
when people of over populated countries migrate to
other countries.

159. Vertical Social Mobility
 Vertical mobility is the process of changing from one
status to another, either to a higher or lower level.
 All social groups are not equal in social status. Some are
higher and some are lower in social prestige.
 Vertical mobility is the achievement of higher status and
prestige by an individual or a group of lower status and
in the same manner degradation of an individual or
group from higher status or prestige to lower status.
 There are several forms of vertical mobility.

160.  Ascending Mobility. Movement from lower to higher
position. Entry of persons from lower strata and
prestige to higher status and prestige groups e.g.
teacher to head of Department, Headteacher to
Provincial education officer
 Descending Mobility. Downward movement of a
person from higher position prestige and status to
lower ones.
 Occurring in government and private services it is
generally the outcome of some sort of inefficiency or
acts of criminal tendencies and moral turpitude.
 Degradation of a minister to the status of a voter is an
example of descending mobility.

161. Causes of Social Mobility
 Supply of Vacant Statuses.
 Social mobility seeks to fill the blanks in the social statuses in a
society. In modern times, more and more white collared persons
and skilled workers are needed in governmental, managerial and
official work whereas there is a progressive decline in the positions
of unskilled labourers.
 Demographic compulsion also helps in the increase of positions of
higher strata of society because of their lower birth rate and greater
demand of business, government and private services. More and
more persons from lower strata get upwards to fill the increasing
need and requirements of society which promotes social mobility.
 Interchange of Ranks.
 The interchangeability of ranks is another cause of social mobility.
 The more a society offers opportunities for the lower ranks to
compete with those of the higher ranks, the more likelihood is there
for social mobility promoted by competitions open to all sections of
society.
 Vocational mobility will definitely be promoted if all people of a
society are able to develop vocational and professional efficiency.
 The following are the important factors of interchangeability of
ranks:

162. Motivational Factors: Through interchangeability of ranks,
motivation and ambition to push upward social mobility plays
a very important role.
 every individual by nature desires to push himself upward.
Evaluation of a person by others influences his self evaluation.
He tries to go higher and higher in his own estimation. If this
ambition is realized by spending more money the individual will
gladly spend money according to his capacity. Thus ambitions
for higher and higher status and prestige promote more and
more social mobility.
 Structural Factors: Structural factors play an important part
in influencing social mobility. Positions of higher social status
and prestige cannot either be changed or obtained by mere
wish of an individual. Persons belonging to middle class
group employed in government services strive to provide
costly and higher education to their children to promote and
make them eligible for higher status jobs. However, they
cannot give higher positions to their wards according to their
wish. Failing in their efforts, they may unwillingly push their
wards to lower ranks whereas wards of lower ranks are able to
achieve those positions of status, power and prestige.
Ascending and descending social mobility becomes a

163.  Education and social mobility
 Education is a social process. An educated person gets
recognition, position and prestige in society.
 Education
 abolishes social rigidity of structure,
 removes discrimination based on birth and
 destroys rigid stratification.
 strives to achieve higher ideals,
 obtains higher positions of prestige;
 Promotes formation of good habits and inculcation of
permanent values. I
 In short education seeks to develop ability and capacity in
the individual to gain higher statuses and positions of
prestige.
 This promotes effective social mobility. Following are the
causes of the mobility of teachers and students:

164.  UNIT FIVE: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
 (a) Defining sociological research
 (b) Conducting research
 (c) Basic concepts in research
 (d) Methods of research
 (e) Steps in the scientific method
 (f) Research ethics

165.  UNIT SIX: DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL
 (a) Defining deviance and social control
 (b) Crime and deviance
 (c) Functionalist theory on deviance and crime
 (d) Interactionist theory on deviance and crime
 (e) Conflict theory on deviance and crime
 (f) Control theories
 (g) Theories of deviance
 (h) Deviance and resistance
 (i) Explanations for deviant behaviour

166. Definition of deviance
 Thus, deviance cannot be uniformly defined throughout the
world.
 That is why Adler (2000) argued that differences in opinion exist
regarding the definition of deviance.
 Generally, deviance can be defined as any behaviour, belief, or
condition that violates significant social norms in the society or
group within which it occurs (Kendall, 2003).
 Macionis (1997) explained that deviance is the recognized
violation of cultural norms which are a guideline for virtually all
human activities.
 Thus, deviance refers to those behaviors which are not
considered normal, at least, by the good majority of a society,
community, or
 social group, irrespective of the direction to where those
behaviours deviate fromthe norm (normal).

167. Definition of social control
 social control refers to the regulation of human behaviour.
 Hence, the sources of social control are often located
within the individuals.
 However, macro sociological conception of social control
derived from thinkers, such as Durkheim, refer to the
ability of societies and communities to realize common
values (Sampson, 1986).
 Criminological investigations of macro level social control
usually concern legal controls, including official actions
and sanctions such as arrest and imprisonment (ibid).
 social control according to Schaefer (2003), refers to the
techniques and strategies for preventing deviant and
criminal human behavior in any society.

168. Crime
 crime is the infraction from written rules and
regulations, especially criminal law of a given society or
social group.
 In most cases, crime involves victims. Criminal acts such
as murder, arson, robbery, burglary, and larceny are
totally unacceptable and condemnable simply because
they involve victims.
 Crime refers to the violation of the public order which is
so severe that they must be handled punitively and
coercively by social institutions, like the police, the
courts, and prisons (Adler, et. al., 2002).

169. Functionalist theory on deviance
and crime
 According to functionalist school, deviance is both functional
and dysfunctional to the social system within which it occurs.
Let us begin with deviance as a dysfunction to the society at
large.
 resistant and intensive deviance can impair and even seriously
belittle organized social life. For example If in the midst of the
battle a squad of soldiers fails to obey and run away, the entire
army with no doubt becomes overwhelmed and defeated.
 deviance undermines our willingness to discharge our
responsibilities and obligations. It reduces our effort to play our
roles and to contribute to the larger social enterprises.
 It can lower morale, self-confidence and loyalty suffer ((Vander,
1990).
 Deviance also reduces our trust to other members of our social
lives

170.  UNIT SIX: HEALTH, ILLNESS AND DISABILITY
 (a) Defining health, illness and disability
 (b) Sociology of the body
 (c) The sociology of health and illness
 ( d) The sociological perspectives on medicine
 ( e) Sociology of disability

171.  UNIT SEVEN: SEXUALITY
 Defining sexuality
 Biology and sexual orientation
 Sexuality and sexual behaviour
 Sexuality, religion and morality
 Forms of sexuality
 Social constructions of gender and sexuality
 Prostitution and sex work
 Sexual controversies