Sociology

Sociology is composed of two words : Socius (latin word) meaning

companion or associate ; and logos,(Greek word) meaning word.Auguste
Comte in France coined the word 'sociology' in his Positive Philosophy
published in 1838. .He believed that a science of sociology should be based
on systematic observation and classification not on authority and
speculation. This was a relatively new idea at that time. Herbert Spencer in
England published his Principles of Sociology in 1876. He applied the theory
of organic evolution to human society and developed a grand theory of social
evolution.

No formal definition of sociology is very satisfactory, short defintions don’t

really define; long definitions are clumsy. Yet a defintion of some sort is
neede and Sociology is often defined as the scientific or systematic study of
society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and
culture.It may be also defined as the study of human social behavior,
especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and
development of human society.Sociology concentrates its study upon the
group life of human beings and the product of their group living.

Characteristics

The various characteristics of Sociology are as following.

1. Sociology is first of all a social Science and not a natural science

because it deals with the social universe not with the physical
universe.

2. In .the second place, sociology is a categorical, not a normative,

discipline because it confines itself to statements about what is, not
what should be or ought to be.

3. Sociology is a pure science, not an applied science because the

immediate goal of sociology is the acquisition of knowledge about
human society, not the utilization of that knowledge.

4. A fourth characteristic of sociology is that it is a relatively abstract

Science and not a concrete one. It means that sociology is not
interested in the concrete manifestations of human events but rather
in the form that they take and the patterns they assume. For example,
in distinguishing sociology from history, that sociology was concerned,
 not with particular wars and revolutions but with war and revolution in
general as social phenomena,

5. Sociology is generalizing and not a particularizing or individualizing

science. It seeks general laws or principles about human interaction
and association, about the nature, form, content, and structure. of
human groups and societies, and not as in the case of history, or
particular events. For example, sociology is not interested in the wars
between Pakistan and India, but in the sociological principle that
external aggression is one way to intensity the internal solidarity of a
group.

6. It is both a rational and an empirical Science.

7. It is a general and not a special science, In other words, sociology

studies those phenomena that are common to all human interaction.

Major Theoretical Perspectives

A crucial element in sociology is theory. A theory is a statement that

organizes a set of concepts in a meaningful way by explaining the
relationship between them. A working set of assumptions is called a
"perspective”, an “approach”, or sometimes a "paradigm”. If the theory is
valid, it will correctly predict that identical relationships will occur in the
future if the conditions are identical. In order to study anything, one must
begin by making some assumptions about the nature of what is studied.

The Evolutionary Perspective

It is the earliest theoretical perspective in sociology. It is based on the

work of August Comte and Herbert Spence and offers a satisfying
explanation of how human societies originate and grow. Sociologists
using the evolutionary perspective look for patterns of change and
development appearing in different societies, to see whether any
general sequences can be found. They might wonder, for example,
whether industrialization will have the same effects upon the family in
developing countries that it seems to have had in Western nations.

The lnteractionist Perspective

 Symbolic interactionists such as G.H. Mead and C.H. Cooley
concentrate upon the interaction between individuals and groups. They
note that people interact mainly through symbol, which include signs,
gestures, and most importantly, through written and spoken words. A
word has no inherent meaning. It is simply a noise, but it becomes a
Word when people reach agreement that this noise carries a special
meaning. Thus, "yes, "no," go," "come," and thousands of other
sounds became symbols as a meaning is attached to each.

Modern interactionists such as Erving Goftman and Herbert Blumer

emphasize that people do not respond to other people directly;
instead, they respond to whatever they imagine other people to be.
The symbolic interactionist perspective concentrates upon what
meanings people find in other people's actions, how these meanings
are derived, and how others respond to them.

The Functionalist Perspective

According to functionalist perspective, the society is working in an

organized way and all the groups living in the society observe values
and norms existing in the society. Society is seen as a stable system
and there is a tendency to establish and maintain a balanced and
harmoniously operating system. In this perspective each group or
institution fulfills certain functions and persists because it is functional.
For example, school educates children and provides training in sports.
Family as an institution provides food and financial support to its
members. Marriage organizes sexual behavior and assures legitimate
children.

The Conflict Perspective

Although it seems from the work of many scholars, the conflict perspective is
most directly based upon the work of Karl Marx, who saw class conflict and
class exploitation as the prime moving forces in history. Largely ignored by
sociologists for many years, the conflict perspective has recently been
revived by C. Wright Mills, Collins and many others. Where functionalist see
the normal state of society as one of stable equilibrium, conflict theorists see
society in a continuous state of conflict between groups and classes.
Although Marx concentrated upon conflict between classes for ownership of
productive wealth, modern conflict theorists take a less narrow view ,They
see the struggle for power and income as a continuous process but one in
which many categories of people appear as opponents --classes, races,
nationalities, and even the sexes.
What is culture?

Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to
cultivate") is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952,
Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of
"culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. [2]
However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:

 Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high
culture
 An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that
depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
 The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an
institution, organization or group.

Culture consists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics

common to the members of a particular group or society. Through culture,
people and groups define themselves, conform to society's shared values,
and contribute to society. Thus, culture includes many societal aspects:
language, customs, values, norms, mores, rules, tools, technologies,
products, organizations, and institutions. Popularly speaking, being cultured
means being well-educated, knowledgeable of the arts, stylish, and well-
mannered. High culture—generally pursued by the upper class—refers to
classical music, theater, fine arts, and other sophisticated pursuits. Culture
and society are intricately related. A culture consists of the “objects” of a
society, whereas a society consists of the people who share a common
culture. Sociologists define society as the people who interact in such a way
as to share a common culture.

Significance of Culture

Only culture accounts for the success of human beings. We create culture but
culture in turn creates us. we are no longer the helpless victims of the
natural environment. we make our own social environment, inventing and
sharing the rules and patterns of behavior that shape our lives. We use our
knowledge to modify the natural environment as well. without a culture
transmitted from the past, each new generation would have to solve the
most elementary problems of human existence over again. it would be
obliged to devise a family system, to invent a language, to discover fire, to
create the wheel and so on. Unlike other animals, we can self-consciously
adapt to our environments and can adapt the environment to meet our
needs. we have the biological capacity to speak, but which language we use
and how we use it depends on our cultural environment. we have the
biological capacity to laugh, to cry, to blush, to become angry, but the
circumstances under which we might do any of these things are learnt in
society. Cultural values of a community give it an identity of its own. A
community gains a character and a personality of its own, because of the
culture of its people. Culture is a bond that ties the people of a region or
community together. It is that one common bond, which brings the people of
a community together. The customs and traditions that the people of a
community follow, the festivals they celebrate, the kind of clothing they
wear, the food they eat, and most importantly, the cultural values they
adhere to, bind them together. The importance of culture lies in the fact that
it is a link between people and their value systems.

The Cultural Base

Culture Base is the accumulation of knowledge and, technique available to the inventor
in a society. As the culture base grows, an increasing number of inventions and
discoveries become possible. The: invention of the geared wheel provided a component
which has been used in countless inventions. The discovery of electromagnetic and the
invention of the vacuum tube, the transistor, and the microchip provided necessary
components for hundreds of more recent inventions. Unless the Cultural base provides
enough earlier inventions and discoveries, fresh inventions cannot be completed. The
recent "knowledge explosion" is often cited as the source of modern innovation. This is
another way of saying that the cultural base is rapidly growing and is accessible to a
growing number of our people. When all the supporting knowledge has been developed,
the appearance of an invention or discovery becomes almost a certainty. In fact, it is
quite common for an invention or discovery to be made independently by several
persons at about the same time. When the cultural base provides all the supporting
items of knowledge, it is very probable that one or more imaginative persons will put
these items together for a new invention or discovery.

Principle of Cultural Base (Exponential Priciple)

As the cultural base grows, its possible uses tend to grow in a geometric
ratio. To illustrate: if we have only two chemicals in a laboratory, only one
combination (A-B) is possible (A-B-C, A-B, A-C, and B-C,), with four
chemicals, ten combinations: with five chemicals, twenty-five/ and so on. As
the size of the culture base grows by addition, the possible combinations of
these elements grow by multiplication. This helps to explain today's high rate
of discoveries and invention. A vast accumulation of scientific technical
knowledge is shard by all the civilized societies, and from this base new
inventions and discoveries flow in a rising tide.

Personality Development

What is Personality Development

An individual's personality is an aggregate conglomeration of decisions he made

throughout his life (Bradshaw). There are inherent natural, genetic, and
environmental factors that contribute to the development of personality.These
classes assist in identifying one's conscious traits and contrasting them. Basically,
personality is the totality of an individual’s psychological and biological
components that shape his characteristic patterns of actions, thoughts, feelings,
attitudes, and behavior, and distinguishes him from other persons.

Theories on personality are categorized into three orientations: Psychoanalytic,

Behavioristic, and Humanistic Personality Theories.
Sigmund Freud, a forerunner of the psychoanalytic theories, underscored the
importance of the unconscious in determining a person's behaviors and actions. Freud
claimed that the fundamental goal of all human behavior is to attain pleasure and avoid
or counter displeasure and pain. He elaborated on this by introducing the three
structures of personality: the id, ego and superego. Behaviorist theories emphasized the
importance of observing the relations between personal attributes, behavior, and the
social environment. B.F. Skinner's behaviorist theory on personality is primarily founded
on operant conditioning. He claimed that a person's life is a process of “operating” in the
environment. The last approach is humanistic which consists of people who believed
that humans aspire to achieve a higher level of abilities and actualization. Abraham
Maslow is a significant figure in this group of personality theorists. He developed the five
hierarchy of human needs: Physiological needs (food, shelter, clothing), Safety needs
(need to be secured), Belongingness needs (need to be affiliated with other people to
overcome loneliness and alienation), Esteem needs (respect and acceptance from
others), and Self-Actualization (the achievement of full potential).

Before we look that how sociology is important in personality development, we may

try to understand that what is the sociology?

- Sociology is the scientific or systematic study of society, including patterns of

social relationships, social interaction, and culture.
Study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization,
institutions, and development of human society.

Keeping in view the above given detail definitions/explanations, it is quite clear that
sociology is the study and analyses of human behavior. Then it suggests the changes in
the behavior for the betterment after rectification/elimination of awful routines of the life.
It will cause for the change in the whole way of life. And when the appalling practices of
the human behavior/life have been changed through guidance, through training
proposed by the sociology, a new man (totally changed) born from the ruins of
destroyed personality. Sociology plans for the happy life, happy society through
changing in behavior and atmosphere. This will result in positive change in whole the
society. When a man changes himself, definitely changes occurs in his mode and
positive appearance reflects in his personality.

Sociology also studies institutions, organizations for the analyses and development.
This will results in positive collective change. Study of the human society and institutes
will help to bring change in other paining societies and individuals.

Cultural Values

A culture's values are its ideas about what is good, right, fair, and
just.Values are the culturally defined standards held by human individuals or
groups about what is desirable, proper, beautiful, good or bad that serve as
broad guidelines for social life (Elwell). Values provide a ranking system for
behaviors. Real culture refers to the values and norms that a society
actually follows, while ideal culture refers to the values and norms that a
society professes to believe.

Cultural Norms

Norms are the rules and expectations of conduct which either prescribe a
given type of behavior or forbid it (Elwell). They are guidelines for action,
standards of behavior, social rules.For instance, wearing clothes in public,
obeying traffic signals are norms.
In case of a street accident, you would expect the medic to attend to the
patient, and the police to direct the traffic - these are norms of behavior.
Real norms are those which are actually practiced while ideal norms are
those which ought to be practiced. Society uses norms as a way of keeping
order.

Cultural Mores
The mores are much stronger norms. People attach a moral significance to
them and treat violations of them very seriously. A man who walks down a
street wearing nothing on the upper half of his body is violating a folkway; a
man who walks down the street weaning nothing on the lower half of his
body is violating one of our most important mores.Theft,drug
abuse,murder,rape,desecration of the Pakistani flag, or contemptuous use of
religious symbols all excite a strong social reaction. People believe that their
mores are crucial for the maintain ace of decent and orderly society, and the
offender may be strongly criticized.

Folkways

The folkways are the ordinary usages and conventions of everyday life.
Folkways are the patterns of conventional behavior in a society, norms that
apply to everyday matters. They are the conventions and habits learned from
childhood. Conformity to them is expected but is not absolutely insisted upon
People are not deeply outraged by violations of folkways and on the whole
are tolerant of a certain amount of nonconformity to them.

Socialization

Socialization is the process of social interaction through which people acquire

personality and learn the way of life of their society. The term socialization
is used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, politicians and
educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting norms, customs and
ideologies. Nobody is born a great a great mathematician,professor,or a
skillful carpenter. People may be born with with the potential to become any
of these professionals but what they actually become is primarily the product
of their unique socialization experiences.

Typyes

Primary socialization
 Primary socialization occurs when a child learns the attitudes, values,
and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular
culture.

Secondary socialization

Secondary socialization refers to the process of learning what is

appropriate behavior as a member of a smaller group within the larger
society.

Developmental socialization

Developmental socialization is the process of learning behavior in a

social institution or developing your social skills.

Anticipatory socialization

Anticipatory socialization refers to the processes of socialization in

which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and
social relationships.

Agents of Socialization

Agents of socialization are the people and groups that influence our self-
concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior.

1. The Family. Family is responsible for the youth and ..., among other
things, determining one's attitudes toward religion and establishing
career goals.
2. Education. Education is the agency responsible for socializing groups
of young people in particular skills and values in society.
3. Religion. Religions play a major role in socialization, in that context
often synonymous with 'indoctrination'.
4. Peer groups. Peers refer to people who are roughly the same age
and/or who share other social characteristics (e.g., students in a
college class).
5. The Mass Media.
6. Other Agents: Work Place, Public institutions.

Social Institution
A social institution may be defined as an organizational system which
functions to satisfy basic social needs by providing an ordered framework
linking the individual to the larger culture.

In every society there are certain basic social needs. It is a must for the
society to meet these needs for the survival and satisfaction of its members.
In each society, therefore, people create social institutions to meet these
needs. What is an institution? The sociological concept of the term is
different from its common usage. An institution is not a building; it is not a
group of people; it is not an organization; An institution is a system of norms
to achieve some goal or activity that people feel is important, or more
formally, an organized cluster of folkways and mores centered around a
major human activity. Institutions are structured processes through which
people carry on their activities. Institutions do not have members; they have
followers. This is a subtle but important distinction. Let illustrate: a religions
is not a group of people; a religion is a system of ideas, beliefs, practices,
and relationships. A mosque is an association of people who accept the
beliefs and follow the practice of Islam. The clear cut distinction between an
institution and an association is that the institution is always the organized
systems of ideas and behaviour; the association is the organized group of
people engaging in the behavior.

Function of Family as an Institution

The family is the most basic of all social institytions.Fam,ily consists of a group of people
who are in some way related to one another.we may say that family is a relative;ly
permanent group of people related by ancestry,marriage,or adoption,who live together
and form an economic unit and whose adult members assume responsibility for the
young.

We lead our lives in two kinds of families.One is the family of orientation,into which we
are born and the other is the family of procreation,which we later create ourselves.In
every society marriage is the foundation of the family.Marriage is the socially approved
sexual union of some permanace between two or more people.The offspring from such
a union is considered legitimate because Their paren—both mother and father-- are
known and they both take the responsibility of the care and protection of the
infant.Childern born into a family that has not been formed through marriage may be
considered illegitimate,because although their mother is known,there may be nobody to
assume the social role of father.

The institution of family exists in every society.It exists whether the society is traditional
or modern. But why?the answer is simple. There are two main reasons, one is the
biological nature of human beings,and the other is the social function of the human
beings.

The family performs several basic social functions which are imperative for the
maintenance of the entire social order.
Regulation of Sexual behavior:The marriage and family system provides a means of
regulating sexual behavior by specifying who may mate with whom under what
circumstances they may do so.

Replacement of members :A society can not survive unless it has a system for replacing
its members from generation to generation,the family provides a stable,institutionalized
means trough which this replacement can take place.

Socialization :Newborn infants do not become fully human until they are socialized,and
the primary context for this socialization is the family.

Care and pprotection : the family is able to care,protection,security and love that are vital
to its members.

Social placement : Legitimate birth into a family gives the individual a stable place in
society.Our family background is the most significant single derterminant of our status in
society.

Education as a Social Institution

In pre-industrial society, most of people acquired all the knowledge and
skills they needed in the world through an informal socialization process.
People acquired this socialization through ordinary, everyday contacts with
patents and other kin. As industry was established and developed, the need
of mass schooling was felt.

It requires lengthy attendance at specialized formal organization such as

elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities. In all industrial
societies, education is a central social institution. In its broadest sense,
"education" is almost synonymous with "socialization," since both processes
involve the transmission of culture from one person or group to another.

The Functionalist Perspective of Education

Functionalist perspective explains the importance of education in maintaining

social order. Several important functions of education are as under:

a) Cultural Transmission:

Culture must he transmitted to the young generation for the survival

of society. For this function a formal institution is a must. So, schools
(formal educational institution) are used to provide the young with the
knowledge, skills and values that the society considers especially important.
Thus we learn about our history, geography, and language
b) Social Integration:

Modern industrial societies contain many different ethnic, racial,

religious, or other subcultures. Education serves to integrate the young
members of these sub-cultures into a common culture to create a
homogenous society with shared values

c) Personal Development:

The schools provide opportunities for the students to acquire

knowledge, skills and perspectives that are not available elsewhere. In both
the formal curriculum and in informal interaction with peers and teachers,
students learn a great deal about themselves and about the world that
surrounds them.

e) Screening and Selection

By screening the academic performance of students, the schools

effectively select particular types of students for particular type of
occupations

f) Innovations

Educational institutions add to the cultural heritage by developing

new, knowledge and skills. . College and universities remain primarily
responsible for basic research, which is concerned with established new
knowledge.

Religion and Society

Strong beliefs of the mind regarding some sacred attachments which can not be
changed easily and mostly they are based on the set of instructions for the betterment of
society, delivered on messengers from Allah or Divine which ever the name is adopted
by society. Man is almost ready to do every thing when religion concerns.

Religion exists in every society, but in different forms and shapes. There are thousands
of religions in the modern world. Islam, Christianity and many other religions contain a
number of central beliefs. They believe that there exists one Supreme Being or God,
who created the universe and all life. They believe in the concept of hereafter, and that
one's moral behaviour in this life determines one's fate in the next world i.e. the concept
of reward and punishment. But many religions do not believe in the existence of God
and origin of the universe and life. They deal these problems by non-religious myth.
Keeping in view this feature, religion may be defined as a system of communally held
beliefs and practices that are oriented toward some sacred, supernatural realm.

The Sociological Approach to Religion

To the sociologists, religion, like any other aspect of culture, is a social product, created
by human beings and not by supernatural forces. The sociologist refers all religions as
social products and sees religious faith as arising from socialization or re-socialization
into a particular set of beliefs. One may be a devout Christian or Jew, but if one had
been raised as a Pakistani, one's religious beliefs might he different. Sociologists focus
on the complex inter-relationship between society and religion. According to them,
religions reflect the cultural concerns of the societies in which they emerge. For
instance, warlike societies tend to have gods of war; agricultural societies, gods of
fertility. Stronger patriarchal societies tend to have masculine gods, Westerners and
Europeans, being white, tend to think of both God and Jesus as white. But in many
African churches, statues and portraits of Jesus show him with dark, Negroid
features.Religion is closely integrated into the culture in which it is found, and as
important task of the sociology of religion has been to identify the roles it plays in
society. Emile Durkheim and other functionalists have argued that much of the social
disorder in modern societies stems from the fact that the people no longer believe
deeply in religion, and they have found no satisfactory substitutes. Most religions around
the world, whether Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity have always considered God as the
supreme authority. All the religious scriptures have considered God to have authority
and wisdom, which is infinitely superior than any human being. The source or reason
behind this authority usually involves tremendous power and compassion along with
primacy in the physical and spiritual realms. That which is divine is usually thought of as
the creator and therefore superior to ordinary creatures.

Divinity, as presented in the religious scriptures, makes claim to the final authority for all
truth and reality, and provides rules and directions for the use of creation. The question
of authority in such a system is "what does God want from me and how do I know this?"
The source for answers to these types of questions in a divine authority consideration is
variable in the human experience. Absolutism is often the result of receipt of what has
been considered a divinely authored experience. The common experience of man is a
religious history. Methods of understanding the connection to divinity are multiple, all
seem to require some measure of faith in divinity and contemplation of perhaps multiple
methods of communication.

For example, in the modern era; the act of observing the communion or the Lord's
supper comes from a combination of direct divine command, approved apostolic
example recorded in scripture, and necessary inference. Jesus directly states to his
disciples that they are to partake of this examination (found in the Gospels and
rehearsed in the First Epistle to the Corinthians); there is an example of an apostle and
others participating in this act of worship and obedience in the Book of Acts, where the
day of the observance is mentioned; as with all Bible references, the reader must infer
or understand how the direction from God to be applicable to today.
Theories of Social-Change

Social change (that is not quite an equivalent of Social development) is a

general term which refers to:

 change in the nature, the social institutions, the social behaviour or

the social relations of a society, community of people, or other social
structures.
 any event or action that affects a group of individuals that have shared
values or characteristics.

The term is used in the study of history, economies, and politics, and
includes topics such as the success or failure of different political systems,
globalization, democratization, development and economic growth. There are
many social change theories and some of the best known are briefly
highlighted below.

EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES

Evolutionary theories are based on the assumption that societies gradually

change from simple beginnings into ever more complex forms. This
assumption rests on both cross-cultural and historical evidence We know
from the cross-cultural evidence that there have been and still are many
small-scale and simple societies, such as those of hunters and gatherers,
horticulturalists, and pastoralists. We know from the historical evidence that
many small and simple societies have grown steadily larger, and some of
them have been transformed into the huge industrial societies of the modern
world. The early theorists believed that human societies evolve in a Unilinear
way-that is They believed that social change meant progress toward
something better. They saw change as positive and beneficial, because the
evolutionary process implied that societies would necessarily reach new and
higher levels of civilization. This evolutionary view of social change drew
much of its impetus from Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of the
Species,". The modern anthropologists see the process of social change as a
tendency, not a universal law.

CYCLICAL THEORIES

The cyclical theorists also see a series of stages through which

societies must pass. But, instead of ending in a "final" stage of
 perfection, they see a return to the starting point for another round.
According to Oswald Spongier (1880-1936), a German. philosopher,
each great civilization passing through successive stages of birth,
growth, and decline, with the completed cycle covering about a
thousand years.

FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES

Functionalist theories of social change start with the advantage that they
deal with social statics before dealing with social dynamics. In the opinion of
some critics, however, their very emphasis an social order and stability has
prevented them from giving an adequate theory of social change. The
functionalist perspective was introduced into modern sociology be Emile
Durkheim, who examined several aspects of society by asking what function
they played in maintaining the social order as a whole.

CONFLICT THEORIES

Karl Marx is the prominent exponent of conflict theory. He believed

that the character of social and cultural forms is influenced by the
economic base of society -- specifically, by the mode of production
that is used and by the relationships that exist between those who
own and those who do not own the means of production. History is the
story of conflict between the exploiting and the exploited class. This
conflict repeats itself again and again until capitalism is overthrown by
the workers and a socialist state is created. Socialism is the forerunner
to the ultimate social form, communism. The essential point is that
Marx and other conflict theorists 'after him see society as
fundamentally dynamic, not static. They regard .conflict as a normal,
not an abnormal process, and they believe that the existing conditions
on any society contain the seeds of future social changes.

Different Psychological Approaches to the Development of Individual Behavior

Social psychology attempts to understand the individual behavior by

discovering principles of behavior. Behavior of individual depends on what
characteristics it possesses.One’s behavior pleases and other’s infuriates.
Behavior varies from human to human and human to other living species is
because the differences of gene characteristics. Self instinct as character is
natural gift to new child, to act; for example child to reach mother for milk, cry for
milk and etc; are necessary to survive. But urinating behavior on mother or father
is still there this shall be modified by reaction to the circumstances what required
by social attitude. As I feel, among characteristics there are two main the genes
possess, they are negative and positive. The behavior depends on how much of
percentage of negative or positive characters we have. Dominating positive
character defeats the negative to overcome to behave in positive way. This
happens only when the positive parts is stronger than negative. For behavior of a
person both character and environment contribute their positions. Environment
initiates our character to react to behave and stronger one dominates. In many
cases we have noticed people felt uneasy in many circumstances (environment)
but had no other options, especially in married life, and adjusted them to live
with. In this married life dominated person’s behavior created unfavorable
environment caused uneasiness to other partner but social or economic
circumstances influenced to live with that forced to submit. The influence of the
environment is so strong that it forced the character to submit and behavior was
submissive. Submissive characters are generally weak, these characters are not
tough enough to put own strong image may be due to economic or social
conditions as above example or other reasons. Environment is the surrounding
atmosphere created by strong instincts that forces others to surrender or submit.
On the other hand, other partner if had strong character could have led to clash
and dominated or separated self. When both characters were strong with same
wave length, means both positive and both negative; the environment would
have suitable to both.

Therefore, the action that communicates and exhibits the character of

individual is behavior. Its submission or dominance depends on the
environment. Positive environment always will have its impact on the behavior so
higher the number of good characters stronger the positive environment.
Character and environment are linked to each other and contributes their sense
to behave.

Collective Behaviour

Collective behavior of individuals in the society is social behavior. This behavior

of the society is the identity of the society. Behavior becomes the code of the
social structure and accordingly the environment is created that leads all its
members to adjust to fit. When society’s behavior becomes strong that
dominates and attracts others irrespective of its negative or positive attitude.
(Positive attraction is the temptation that pulls towards it by drawing attention to
submit. On the other hand negative attraction is a process of push that too draws
attention but to depart.) That is why some societies we hate and some societies
we like both draw our attention. In a group some may have different behavior that
vary from majority of members, causing uncomfortable in such case either has to
leave or if wants to stay has to follow others that shows a form of submission to
adjustment but character remains the same that leads to opposition in the
society. That means negative/ positive are part of individuals and the society.
What dominates wins shapes own character to behave. Thus majority of
individuals and their behavior makes the society of own taste that reflects
similarity in the behavior.

Theories of Social Psychology

Social psychology attempts to understand the individual behavior by discovering

principles of behavior. To understand a behavior implies that information about
the circumstances surrounding its occurrence or that information about white
occurs has been discovered and that this knowledge can be used to predict or
control the behavior in question. Theories are the set of propositions  setting the
relationship between phenomena or variables. For example, we may develop a
theory that a group norm prescribing obedience to the leader of the group  is
related to the group members’ conformity to the leaders’ commonds.This theory
asserts that, if group norm of obedience to the leader has emergerd,members of
the group will obey their leader to the greater degree than members of group not
having such a norm.If the relationship between the variables is casual,controle of
the behavior may be possibl.If a norm of obedience and conformity are casually
related, then obedience by members of a group with such a norm will be high.
Accepting a casual relationship, group organizers, public officials, leaders create
a norm of obedience and sanctions to support conformity and to punish
disobedience, thus ensuring a high rate of compliance to the requests.

Theory of Self
 
Self of person is the conscious experience of a distinct, personal identity
that is separate from all other people and things. How does this self
emerge in childhood and how is it continually modified throughout the
life cycle of an individual? This question is of greater interest to
sociologists and psychologists. In sociology this issue is of interest in the
context of socialization.
Thee major theories of self emergence and development are proposed by
Sigmund Freud, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead. Each
of the theories emphasizes that concepts of self are learned through
social interaction with others

Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud is the founder of psychoanalytic theory.Psychoanalytic theory is a
general term for approaches to psychoanalysis which attempt to provide a conceptual
framework more-or-less independent of clinical practice rather than based on empirical
analysis of clinical cases.

This theory assumes that every person has a given amount of vital psychic or mental
energy called libido energy. It claims, the mind is divided into two parts, the conscious
and the unconscious. The mind is like an iceberg, with the conscious part represented
by the portion of the iceberg above the water. That part of the mind of which the
individual is aware includes all the information that can be recalled from memory, but
even so is much smaller than the unconscious. The unconscious-part of the mind
consists of emotions, desires, instincts, and knowledge of which the person is not
aware. Yet it has an influence on individuals' behaviour.

Freud proposed that personality of a person can divided into three

interacting parts. The id is the reservoir of drives present in the individual at
birth and throughout life. It is entirely unconscious and demands continual,
instantaneous satisfaction.  But as the child is growing, the child learns
about the demands of society form other people, particularly from parents
and internalizes them into his personality in the form of super ego. The
superego is thus an internal version of the moral authority of the society,
and it works through feelings of shame and pride to influence the decisions
of the person. Ego is another part of the personality that continually
mediates between id and superego to decide on actions to be taken.
 
The ego or conscious self (id is unconscious self) has two tasks. The first is to
counterbalance the demands of id with the demands of superego.  Demand
for instantaneous self gratification needs to be balanced with demands for
socially acceptable behavior by superego. The second task is to mediate
between the personality as a whole and the social environment. If the
conscious self achieves a harmonious balance within the personality, and
between the entire personality and society, the individual is well adjusted, if
not; an impaired personality is the outcome. Accordingly Freud, most of the
personality development takes place in early child hood.

 
Cooley’s Theory
 
The central concept in Cooley’s theory is the looking-glass self. Society acts
as a looking glass for every individual. People observe reactions of other to
their actions in this looking glass. If the image they see is favorable, the self
concept is enhanced and behavior is likely to be repeated. If the image they
see to an action is unfavorable, self concept is diminished and the related
behavior is likely to change.
 
Like Freud, Cooley also advocates that the self-concept formed in childhood
is more stable and lasting than those formed later in life.
 
Mead’s Theory
 
Mead proposed that people anticipate what others expect by role taking –
pretending to take or actually taking the roles of other people, so that one
can see oneself from their perspective. There is a thinking or cognitive
process involved in self development. He distinguished between ‘I” (the
unsocialized self) and “me) (the socialized self that is conscious of social
norms, expectations, and the individual’s social responsibility). According to
Mead the “I” is never completely under the control of “me”. The socialized
self is usually dominant, but we all have the capacity to break social rules
and violate the expectations of others.
  Symbolic Interpretation
 
The symbolic interaction perspective emerged from the sociological analysis
of Mead, and it was Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) who took Mead’s ideas and
developed them into a more systematic sociological approach.  Blumer
coined the term symbolic interactionism in 1937, keeping this sociological
perspective alive through the early 1950s at Chicago, and then in California
where he was a professor at the University of Californa in Berkeley.  While
Cohen (p. 87) argues that Blumer selectively interpreted Mead’s analysis,
from Mead he emphasized the importance of social interaction, significant
symbols, meaning, communication, taking on the view of the other, and the
self as process.  These became the basis for later symbolic interaction
approaches.

Conformity
Conformity is changing one's behavior because of perceived pressure.
Solomon Asch conducted a famous study on conformity in which seven
subjects were asked to judge line lengths. Six of the subjects were
confederates of the experimenter and gave wrong responses, and on many
occasions, the real subject conformed and also gave wrong responses.
 
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory proponents believe that much of our learning occurs
through watching, often in social situations, what happens to other people.
Observational learning: Observational learning, sometimes called modeling
or in some instances vicarious learning, is a type of social learning. In Albert
Bandura's famous experiment, one group of nursery school children observed
an adult punch a Bobo clown doll, and one group did not. Later, those
children who had observed the punching behavior were more likely to punch
the Bobo doll (model the adult's punching behavior) when they were
frustrated than were those who had not observed it. Observational learning
occurs also through exposure to events and people in the media. One may
decide, for example, to copy the clothes or behaviors of television
personalities. This tendency is one reason that many object to excessive
violence in television programs both for children and for adults.
 
(iv ) Cognitive development approach
Cognitive learning involves learning a relationship between two stimuli and
thus is also called S-S learning. Types of cognitive learning include latent
learning and the formation of insights.
Latent learning. Latent learning (sometimes called incidental learning) is
learning without reinforcement and is not immediately demonstrated when it
occurs. For example, if a student wants a coffee break, wonders where to go,
and suddenly remembers a new coffee shop near campus, the student is
demonstrating latent learning. E. C. Tolman, a well-known investigator of
cognitive learning, suggested that organisms form cognitive maps of their
environments, maps that can be used when needed.
Insight. An insight is a new way to organize stimuli or a new approach to
solving a problem. A student struggling with a mathematical problem who
suddenly sees how to solve it without having been taught additional methods
has had an insight. Wolfgang Köhler, a famous Gestalt psychologist,
demonstrated that chimpanzees can solve problems using insight. Chimps
placed in a cage, with bananas beyond their reach, learned that they could
pile up boxes or attach one stick to another to reach and obtain the food.
The chimps had not been reinforced for these specific behaviors but learned
how to get the food through insight. Once insight has occurred, no further
instruction or training is required.

Role

A role or a social role is a set of connected behaviors, rights and

obligations as conceptualized by actors in a social situation. It is mostly
defined as an expected behavior in a given individual social status and social
position.

Attitude

There is no single, universally accepted definition of attitude. Attitude is a

hypothetical construct that represents an individual's like or dislike for an item. Attitudes
are positive, negative or neutral views of an "attitude object": i.e. a person, behaviour or
event. Attitudes are composed from various forms of judgments. Attitudes develop on
the ABC model (affect, behavioral change and cognition).
Monetary Policy

The regulation of the money supply and interest rates by a central bank, such as the Federal
Reserve Board in the U.S., in order to control inflation and stabilize currency. Monetary policy is
one the two ways the government can impact the economy. By impacting the effective cost of
money, the Federal Reserve can affect the amount of money that is spent by consumers and
businesses.

Unlike other private institutions, commercial banks create money through extending loans and
making investments. To do so, banks need reserves which are provided primarily by the central
bank, the banker's bank. The essence of monetary policy is to control the release of reserves in a
manner which stimulates bank lending and investing in support of consumer and business
spending in order to foster economic growth without impact on the level of employment, the
volume of output and the rate of inflation and serves as a major policy tool for influencing
economic activity.

MONETARY SYSTEM

Money: Anything which is generally accepted as a medium of exchange, and also performs the
function of a standard of value and a store of value is called money.

Following are the characteristics of a good money;

1. General Acceptability: The basic characteristic of a good money is its general

acceptability as a medium of exchange. These days people accept metallic coins, paper
notes and cheque as a medium of exchange without any hesitation. The reason is that
metallic coins are issued by the Federal Government and paper notes are accepted
because they are backed by the central hank of a country.
2. A good money is the one which can easily be transferred from one place to another for
payments. Paper notes and cheques of commercial banks are considered as good
money because they can easily be transferred to far-off places to make payments.
3. Durability: A good money is the one which is made of a durable thing so that it could be
stored for sometime for use in future
4. Recognizability: A good money can easily be recognized. Its various units are different
from each other in design, weight, size and value.
5. Homogeneity: A good money is one whose all units of the same value are homogeneous
in form, weight and size, particularly when money is in the form of gold and silver coins.

There have been various monetary systems or standards in the past, practiced by the
different communities and remained in practice from time to time. Some of these
systems include; (a) Bimetallism (h) Monometallism, and (c) Paper Standard.
 The system of bimetallism means moniterance of the coins of gold and silver in practice
in the country. This has now become things of the past and is not more in practice
Monometallism is the system which determines functioning of the gold standard or
silver standard in the economy, whereas paper standard is the known paper currency or
currency note system.
In modern times, the metallic money is supplemented or totally replaced by paper
money. Paper money has been very useful.It is convenient to carry and easy to store.

Inflation
In mainstream economics, inflation means a rise in the general level of prices
of goods and services over time. Economists agree that high rates of inflation are
caused by high rates of growth of the money supply. In classical political
economy, inflation meant increasing the money supply, while deflation meant
decreasing it. Economists from some schools of economic thought still retain this
usage. Today, increases and decreases in the money supply mainly result from
actions by central banks, Mainstream economists maintain that inflation is a
measure of changes in the general level of prices.
The major causes of inflation may be grouped by the following way;

 Increase in Demand which may be due to;

 Increase in money supply;
 Increase in disposable income;
 Increase in community’s aggregate spending on consumption
and investment goods:
 Excessive speculation and tendency to hoarding and
profiteering on the part of producers and traders;
 Increase in foreign demand and hence exports;
 Increase in salaries, wages or dearness allowance;
 Increase in population.

Generally the most important cause of inflation is excessive public expenditure financed by
deficit financing during war or on the implementation of plans for economic development. The
newly created money increases government demand for goods and services and also the
purchasing power of the people through increase in disposable income.

1. No corresponding increase in the output of goods and services which may be

due to;

 Deficiency of capital equipment;

  Scarcity of other complementary factors of production, e.g. skilled labor or
technicians, essential raw materials or lack of dynamic entrepreneurs;
 Increase in exports for earning the required foreign exchange;
 Decrease in imports owing to war or restrictions on imports necessitated by
an adverse balance of payments and efforts to rectify it;
 Speculative hoarding by the producers, traders and middlemen in
anticipation of a further rise in prices;
 Drought famine or any other natural calamity adversely affecting
agricultural production;
 Prolonged industrial unrest resulting in reduction of industrial production.

The demand pull inflation is caused primarily by factors operation on the demand side resulting
in excess of aggregate demand over the available supply of goods and services. The cost push
inflation, on the other hand, is caused by increase in salaries, wages the rising cost of machinery
and capital equipment and of essential raw materials. Actually, all the above factors operate
simultaneously to exert inflationary pressure and, if continued sufficiently long, to create hyper
inflation

HOW IT IS CONTROLLED:

It is, in terms of our model, the duty of the central bank to control the money supply (and thus
the rate of interest) in a manner which has an effect on aggregate demand which the
government deems to be appropriate. The general and overriding function of the central bank is
thus discretionary monetary control. Its particular functions form which its capacity to perform
its man function derive, are the following:

1.It is the sole source of legal tender money (notes) which are central bank
liabilities.
1. it acts as bankers bank in that commercial banks keep accounts with the central
bank just as individuals and enterprises keep accounts with commercial banks.
2. It is the government’s banker and keeps the main government accounts and
provides the government with economic and financial advice.
3. It holds the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the country.
4. It acts, if the need arises, as lender of last resort.
5. It manages the government debt (usually known as the National Debt)

Banking System

1. System of Note-Issue:

A sound system of note-issue, however, must have both elasticity and safety. Hence, all
countries have evolved systems each of which represents a compromise between these two
principles. Under this system, a given quantity of notes can be issued by the central hank
without keeping any metallic reserves. This portion could be covered only by Government
securities, which is called the fiduciary limit.
2. The Central Bank and its Functions

The central bank is an institution, often but not always owned by the state, which has the
overriding duty of conducting the monetary policy of the government. It is, in terms of our
model, the duty of the central bank to control the money supply (and thus the rate of interest)
in a manner which has an effect on aggregate demand which the government deems to be
appropriate. The general and overriding function of the central bank is thus discretionary
monetary control. Its particular functions, from which its capacity to performs its main function
derive, are the following:

1. It is the sole source of legal lender money (notes) which are central bank liabilities.

2. It acts as bankers’ bank in that commercial banks keep accounts with the central bank just as
individuals and enterprises keep account with commercial banks.

3. It is the government's banker and keeps the main government accounts and provides the
government with economic and financial advice.

4. It holds the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the country.

5. It acts, if the need arises, as lender of last resort.

6. It manages the government debt (usually known as the National Debt).

A banking system is an integrated network of commercial banks legally empowered to hold

demand and time deposits and to do a general business in all lending areas, such as commercial
and industrial lending, real estate lending, consumer installment lending, lending in foreign
countries, financing of exports and imports, and other activities. A banking system, as opposed
to a system of financing of exports and imports, and other activities. A banking system, as
opposed of a system of financial institutions, consists of commercial banks chartered by the
state in which they are located, or by the Comptroller of Currency as national banks, and
possessing powers discussed above. Not all institutions hearing the name "bank" are, in tact,
banks as the term is used here. In the eastern part of the United States there are many mutual
savings banks, which are much more akin to savings and loan associations than to commercial
banks.

Functions of Banks
Broadly speaking, there are three principal functions that banks (other than central banks)
perform: (a) receiving deposits; (b) advancing loans; and (c) discounting bills.

a) Receiving Deposits: This function is important, because banks mainly depend on the funds
deposited with them by the public. Deposits are of three kinds: (i) current or demand deposits,
(ii) fixed or time deposits, and (iii) savings deposits.

b) Advancing Loans: In this respect, the banker has to shoulder a heavy responsibility. The hank
makes profit by advancing loans.

c) Discounting Bills: Discounting of bills is, practically speaking, lending for short periods. A
trader, for instance, who does not wish to lock up large funds in trade credits, may draw a bill of
exchange on his debtor, and, after it has been accepted by, or on behalf of. the debtor, he may
get it discounted by his banker.

Creation of Credit

Creation of credit is one of the most important functions of a modern bank.

How Banks create Credit

Banks create credit in two ways:

(i). By advancing loans

(ii). by purchasing securities.

International Banks (IBs)

The International Banks play an important role of transfer the foreign exchange, technology, and
know how and also work as training institutions for the local Banks. The huge and gigantic
projects, their finances, technical and economic formalities are performed by the International
Banks, these Banks also arrange foreign exchange, and help to determine the foreign exchange
rates. The IBs have supporting role in the international trade. (Exports and Imports), the
guarantee and line of credit (LC) for loan governments to procure equipments and machinery
are facilitated by these Banks.

WHAT IS MEANT BY BALANCE OF PAYMENT?

Balance of payment is a systematic record of all economic transaction of visible and invisible
goods. The export receipts and import a payment on visible goods is the balance of the trade
account and is a part of the balance of payments. However, there is more to it i.e. The export
receipts and import payment of all the services rendered is also a part of the balance of
payments. Thus, to and up this we may say that the balance of payments shows all the record of
all the payments and receipts of a country in terms of foreign exchange.
According to the original concept, the balance of international payments of a country (the home
country) equaled the net receipts of payments, or changes in the holdings of such
internationally accepted media of exchange by its residents resulting from their transactions
with residents of foreign countries. These transaction include current as well as capital
transaction. Current transactions consist of international trade in tangible goods as well as
services (such as pensions nad government grants). Capital transactions consist of purchase or
sales by domestic residents of assist held abroad and by foreign residents of assets held in the
home country, such assets include direct investments i.e. equity interest in foreign enterprises
and other property located in foreign countries providing a significant influence over their
management and loans between the investors and such foreign affiliates: other securities. Loans
by government; loans by bank and others to unaffiliated foreign residents including trade
credits; and bank deposits. Capital transactions under this concept do not include. However,
changes in the holdings by domestic residents of internationally accepted media of exchange,
since these changes are the counterpart, and the measure of the balance on the other
transactions.

The from the account of the balance of trade and the account of the various invisible mentioned
above, we will obtain the statement showing the balance of payments of a country. Supposing
that total receipts are equal to total payments, the balance of payment is said to be neither
favorable nor unfavorable for the particularly country. The balance of payments will be
favorable for the country when its total receipts is greater than is total payments, otherwise the
balance of payments is said to be unfavorable.

When the balance of payments is favorable for a country that particular country would most
probably use its excess receipts on making investment in other countries, buy gold from the
international market or even given loans to countries in great need.

The balance of payments position in Pakistan during the first half of the current year 1995-96
came under pressure due to decline in exports coupled with higher imports. The corrective
measure were taken in October 1995 which include devaluation of Pak-Rupee by 7 percent
against US dollar and imposition of a regulatory duty of 10 percent imports. As a result trade
balance started to improve and by July-March 1995-96, exports witnessed an increase of 9.3
percent (fob). During July-March 1995 96, the private unrequited transfers (net) rose by $24
million and totalled at $1792 million over the level of $ 1768 million recorded in the same period
last year. Thus, the current account balance was in deficit by $ 3308 million. The position of
foreign exchange reserves remained comfortable in this period.

Balance of Trade

The balance of international trade of a country is the difference between its exports and
imports. A narrow definition of exports and imports includes only tangible goods. A broader
definition would cover products of factors of production in all forms, such as services related to
international transportation and travel, insurance, the planning and supervision of construction
projects, management assistance, the work performed by migratory workers, and incomes from
royalties and from international investments.

Balance of Trade can be seen from the record of receipts for visible exports and payments on
visible imports. The balance of trade record may slow the constant exports and imports which
are merchandised in nature e.g. wheat, rice, cotton, jute, machinery etc. by comparing in export
receipt and import payments we will be in a situation to consider whether the balance of trade
for a country is favourable or unfavourable. Supposing that the receipt are equal to the
payments, this means that trade is neither favourable nor unfavourable for the country. Trade
is considered to be favourable for a counry when its export receipts are greater than import
payments and will be considered unfavourable when the situation is reversed.

The balance of trade does not show the true receipts and payments of a country since it does
not include the payments and receipts of invisible goods i.e. services, and it may very well be
true that a country enjoying a favourable balance of trade may be facing a huge deficit on the
account of invisible transactions and as a result of this the balance of trade may eventually
become unfavourable.

The real economic situation prevailing in a country in terms of foreign trade can only be known
clearly through the balance of payments and not through the balance of trade because the
former includes the latter as well as the balance of invisible goods i.e. services.

Stock Exchange
A stock exchange is an organized market place in which securities such as bonds and common
and preferred stocks are bought and sold. The origins of today’s stock exchanges unusually were
informal gatherings of merchants and others who traded securities. The Stock Exchange for
Stock Market is the market place of join stock companies, where stock certificates of big
business enterprises, debentures, government bonds and bills of exchange are bought and sold.
Those who have surplus each with them and are interested to earn interest or profit without
doing business by themselves purchase shares or bounds etc, at the stock exchange. In case the
fall in need of money they sell these financial assets at the stock exchange.

ROLE AND PERFORMANCE OF STOCK EXCHANGE:

Money invested in stock exchange plays the double role for investment. On one hand, it earns
interest or profit for the investors and on the other hand, it is used by companies or government
in business enterprises. Thus, money supply increases to the extent by which investment is
made by the people in the stock exchange. In this way, stock Exchange is a source of money
supply in a country.

A company may issue different types of shares, namely preferred shares, participating preferred
shares, common or ordinary shares. The preferred shares enjoy priority with respect to
dividends, and if the company is liquidated to division of asset. Dividends on preferred shares
are generally paid at fixed rate. The preferred shares are sometimes divided into class. A or
prior class B or rights. The participating preferred shares enjoy the added benefits of earning
extra dividends based on dividends paid to common share holders.

The common stock, held by the majority of shareholders, represent a residual interest in the
company. Dividends paid on common stock fluctuate with the earnings of a company.
However, low dividends do not necessarily suggest low profitability. When a company is
expanding it may decide to forge dividends in order to plough back profits and finance growth
from retained earnings. Shareholders in such case would be wiling to forge lower dividends now
in anticipation of even higher profits and dividends in the future.

Following documents or financial assets are traded in the stock exchange;

1. Shares

In order to run a joint stock company, the amount of investment is collected by selling shares of
the company. The shareholders elect the board of directors which makes investment in a project
to earn profit. The profit is then distributed among share holders as divided. A "Share"
therefore, is a part of total investment of a joint stock company and a certificate issued to that
effect is called share certificate.

2. Stock Certificate

It is a financial document like share certificate. It is also issued by a joint stock company. The
main difference between a stock certificate and a share certificate is that in the case of former
any number of shares out of shares given on a stock certificate can be sold while in case of latter
all shares given on a share certificate will have to be sold at a time.

3. Debenture

In order to expand their business joint stock companies sell debentures to get loans from the
people at a certain rate of interest. Debenture is therefore a loan document. The

debenture holder does not share the profit/loss of the company like a shareholder.
4. Bond

It is also a loan document on which joint stock companies or government gets loan from the
people at a certain rate of interest. Who-so-ever holds bond is its owner e.g. prize bonds in
Pakistan: but debenture can only be held by a person in whose name it is issued.