The Concept of
Society as an
Objective Reality
The term society is used to describe a
level of organization of groups that is
relatively self-contained. Group of people
participating in continuous social
connection, or a broad social group
occupying the same social or spatial
territory, normally exposed to the same
political power and cultural standards
that are dominant.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
In the early 19th century, when sociology
as a science was still in its infacy, many
social scientist subscribe to
Methodological Individualism.
This view states that collective concepts
such as groups, associations, and societies
do not exist, but only individual members.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Was considered the founding father of
French sociology.
Durkheim viewed
society as a sui generis
reality that cannot be
reduced to just
individuals. He argued
that society's norms and
rules constrain
individuals' actions
through social control and
sanctions.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
Durkheim's argument for the existence of
society is demonstrated further in his
classic work Suicide (1897)
He avoided to use psycological and
individualistic explanation for the for the
study of suicide
Sociological realism
-He argued that one cannot invent new
languageout of nowhere.
-one can deny the existence of
banking system, but one cannot go to
the bank and deposit scratch papers
without experiencinf formal
sunctions,
Social Reproduction or how Societies
Persist
The problem of explaining how society manage
to exist over a long period of time is called
reproduction by the French philosopher and
sociologist, Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser (1918-1990)
Was a french philosopher and
sociologist
Louis Althusser on Ideological State
Apparatus (ISA) and Repressive State
Apparatus (RSA)
Ideological State Apparatus (ISA)- institutions thst
are created and used by society to mold its
members to sharethe same values and beliefs.
Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) - institutions
that use physical force to make the members
conform to the laws and norms of society like
courts, police, and prisons.
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)-
one of the most influential
american sociologists, who is
associated with the theory of
structural functionalism
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
according to parsons, all societies will have
to take care of its own reproduction if they
are to persist across time and space. He
listed four general functional prerequisites
that all societes must attend to in order to
survive. These are encapsulated in his
famous A-G-I-L scheme.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
•Adaptation is the capacity of society to
take resources from society and
distribute them accordingly.
•Goal Attainment is the capability to set
goals and mobilize the resources and energy
necessary to achieve the goals set forth by
society. This is set by the political subsystem.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
•Integration, or the harmonization of the
entire society to achieve consensus. By
integration, Parsons meant the
coordination, adjustment, and regulation
of the rest of the subsystem so that
society will continue to function smoothly
of the rest of the subsystem so that
society will continue to function smoothly.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
•Latency, or talent pattern
maintenance, requires that
society is able to constantly
produce and socialize actors
who will follow the norms and
roles given to them by society
Summary
Society is an objective reality, which means that it is
relatively independent of how people conceive it. However,
unlike physical objects, such as chairs and tables, society
independent also on people's social interactions. Society
has to reproduced across time and space if it is persist. Two
general theories explain the process of social reproduction,
namely, the structural functionalist approach of talcott
parsons and the conflict theory represented by French
sociologist Louis Althusser.
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.
THANK YOU!
