Societies and Nations

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Chapter 4

• Societies and Nations

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Chapter Outline

• The Social Order
• Populations and Societies
• Society and the Individual
• Societies and Nation-States

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Society and Social Structure

• A society is a population of people organized in
  a cooperative manner to carry out the major
  functions of life.
• Social structure refers to the patterns of
  behavior that people create through their
  interactions and relationships.

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Elements of Social Structure
Element Example
Group A discussion group a Bible study class a local union.
Status Orderly, registered nurse, resident, chief resident.
Role The doctor diagnoses and treats illnesses nurse cares for patients.
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Elements of Social Structure
Element Example
Role Expectations A major league center fielder is expected to have a batting average over .300, drive in more than 75 runs, and cover the field with minimum errors.
Institution The military is the primary institution devoted to providing national defense.
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Groups

• A collection of people who interact on the basis
  of shared expectations regarding one anothers
  behavior.
• Groups vary in how the statuses of their members
  are well or poorly defined.
• Groups vary in the ways they are connected with
  other groups to form a larger structure known as
  an organization.

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Social Institutions

• Every social institution has a set of norms that
  controls the behavior of its members.
• A structure of statuses and roles devoted to
  meeting the basic needs of people in a society.
• New institutions are created through the process
  of differentiation.

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Adaptability Of Social Structures

• Social structure is never fixed or perfectly
  formed but is always changing and adapting to new
  conditions.
• Often the process of change involves conflict and
  uncertainty, and often there is little consensus
  about how one should perform in a given status.

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Roles and Role Expectations

• A role is the way a society defines how an
  individual is to behave in a particular status.
• Role expectations are societys expectations
  about how a role should be performed, together
  with the individuals perceptions of what is
  required in performing that role.

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Groups in Organization

• Groups vary in how they are connected with other
  groups into a larger structure known as an
  organization.
• An army platoon includes the statuses of private,
  corporal, sergeant, and lieutenant, each with
  specific roles to play in training and combat.

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How Institutions Change

• The history of human societies is marked by the
  emergence of new institutions.
• Differentiation refers to the processes whereby
  activities performed by one social institution
  are divided among different institutions.
• New institutions are more likely to emerge when
  populations grow, the need for coordination of
  their activities increases, and new demands are
  placed on older institutions that they cannot
  fulfill.

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Populations and Societies

• At the end of the Neolithic period, about
  8000B.C.E., there were an estimated 5 million to
  10 million humans.
• By the time of Jesus there were an estimated 200
  million people on the earth, and by 1650 there
  were an estimated 500 million.
• By 1945 the population had reached about 2.3
  billion, and it is now more than 6 billion.

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World Population Growth from 8000 B.C.E. to 2000
C.E.
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The First Million Years Hunting and Gathering

• In hunting and gathering societies, population
  size was limited by availability of food.
• Families and bands linked by kinship developed.
• Deviant behavior was punished by banishment
  (leading to death).
• Survival of individuals was less important than
  survival of the group.

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The Ice Man

• The Ice Man, discovered in 1991 in the Italian
  Alps, is shown with the items he was carrying
  when he died.
• These remains, among the oldest samples of human
  flesh and organs ever discovered, are providing
  knowledge about life in hunting-and-gathering
  societies 5,000 years ago.

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Transition to Agriculture

• Food surpluses relieved people from the chore of
  constantly seeking food.
• The need for land to support agriculture meant
  larger territories had to be sought and defended.
• The need to store food and house the no agrarian
  classes led to the growth of villages and small
  cities.

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Agricultural Origins
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Industrial Revolution

• Growth of societies around cities controlling
  limited territories set the stage for the shift
  from agriculture to trade and industry.
• Capitalism organized production and led to the
  development of markets.

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Changes in Social Structure in Industrial
Societies

• Fewer people work on farms, more live in towns or
  cities.
• New institutions emerge as a result of scientific
  and technological advances.
• Innovations in transportation and communication
  create a global village but also result in
  increased competition and conflict.

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Types of Societies
Society Historical Period
Hunting and Gathering Only type until 12,000 years ago.
Horticultural and Pastoral From 12,000 years ago, with rapidly decreasing numbers after 4000 BC.
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Types of Societies
Society Historical Period
Agrarian From about 7,000 years ago large but decreasing numbers today.
Industrial From about 1750 to present.
Post industrial From about 1960 to present.
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Types of Societies
Society Energy/Technology
Hunting/Gathering Fire crude weapons
Horticultural/Pastoral Fire hand tools for planting
Agrarian Fire animal power for plowing irrigation systems
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Types of Societies
Society Energy/Technology
Industrial Steam, electricity, gasoline power
Post industrial Electricity, gasoline power, nuclear energy information technologies
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Types of Societies
Society Populations Sustained
Hunting/Gathering Bands of 25-40 people
Horticultural/Pastoral Settlements of a few hundred.
Agrarian Millions of people
Industrial Millions of people
Post industrial Millions of people
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Types of Societies
Society Examples
Hunting/Gathering Eskimo Pygmies of Central Africa Aborigines of Australia
Horticultural/ Pastoral Societies of the Fertile Crescent (now Iraq) Laplanders Maasai
Agrarian Egypt under the pharaohs Medieval Europe ancient China and India
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Types of Societies
Society Examples
Industrial China Brazil Eastern European nations Argentina Philippines South Korea
Post industrial United States most nations of Western Europe Japan
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Society and the Individual

• Gemeinschaft
• Close, personal relationships typical of small
  groups and communities.
• Gesellschaft
• Well-organized but impersonal relationships found
  in social structures such as factories and office
  bureaucracies.

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Role Conflict and Role Strain

• Much of the stress in modern societies is caused
  by balancing the conflicting demands of various
  roles.
• Role conflict occurs when a person must violate
  one role to perform well in another.
• Role strain occurs when people must reconcile
  conflicting demands within a single role.

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Types of Status

• Ascribed status
• Determined at birth. Role conflict is less
  likely to occur.
• Achieved status
• Acquired through the individuals own efforts.
• Master status
• Dominates all of a persons other statuses.

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The State and Nation-States

• The state is a societys set of political
  structuresthose that control who gets what,
  when, and how.
• The state has the power to influence the behavior
  of citizens.

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The State and Nation-States

• The state thus may be defined as a societys set
  of political institutionsthat is, the groups and
  organizations that deal with questions of who
  gets what, when, and how
• The nation-state is the largest territory within
  which those institutions can operate without
  having to face challenges to their sovereignty

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. Being a service representative is your
  ________ in the social structure of the
  corporation, but showing up for work on time,
  obeying the reasonable orders of supervisors, and
  being productive constitute your ________.
• status / role
• role / status
• role expectation / role
• role / reasons for role conflict

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Answer a

• Being a service representative is your status in
  the social structure of the corporation, but
  showing up for work on time, obeying the
  reasonable orders of supervisors, and being
  productive constitute your role.

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• 2. Chronologically order these societies in
  terms of evolutionary development.
• hunting and gathering, industrial, agricultural,
  pastoral or horticultural, postindustrial
• industrial, postindustrial, agricultural,
  pastoral, hunting and gathering, manufacturing
• hunting and gathering, pastoral or horticultural,
  agricultural, industrial, postindustrial
• agricultural, hunting and gathering, pastoral or
  horticultural, industrial, postindustrial

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Answer c

• Chronologically order these societies in terms of
  evolutionary development hunting and gathering,
  pastoral or horticultural, agricultural,
  industrial, postindustrial.

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• 3. A _____ is the way a society defines how an
  individual is to behave in a particular status.
• Role expectation
• Role
• Role conflict
• All of the above

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Answer b

• A role is the way a society defines how an
  individual is to behave in a particular status.