THE society is people association that come together in order to preserve the survival of the collectivity. It is not possible to say that a society is completely homogeneous and that all societies are homogeneous among themselves, but there is a general rule in them that puts them in similar degrees of functioning. There is also a sociological difference between community and society, the latter being more complex and behaving differently from the former.
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society concept
The word society comes from the Latin term corporations, which means association with others.Human beings come together, from the beginning, in groups to facilitate survival. We can say, in general, that there is a kind of network of relationships between people that shapes society as a whole. However, there are specifications that make society a conceptcomplex and of greater depth. In this sense, we cannot reduce it to a simple group of people in a given place.
We can say that a point that restricts the concept of society is the common goal. A society is a kind of
social pact that puts human beings into a kind of contract so that some benefits are acquired. For the pact to work, it is extremely necessary that duties are fulfilled by the citizens who live in the society in question.
a society communion with one culture in common and of common habits and customs. This unity within society is important so that there is greater solidarity between people and these effectively fulfill their roles, giving society the role of organizer and protector of life human.
Societies are made up of groups of people with greater organization, generally these groups enclose communities within themselves; and there is in them a social organization made by institutions, such as the government, the family, the school and, when the social order is broken, the police.
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O term society can also be applied to smaller associations. who seek common goals, generally linked to a worldview or the professional. We can take as an example the Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine (SBMFC) or the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC).
To the sociology, society is a way of organizing people based on culture and systems institutional organizations of community organization, which may differ according to the degree of organization.
society and community
For sociology, the concepts of society and community are distinct. The word community comes from the Latin community, which means sharing.
Community
Are smaller and older than society. We can call a community a small or large group of people who share, that is, share space, ideas and even culture.
In general, the term is used to refer to older or even less institutionalized forms grouping of people who share something.
societies
They are more complex than communities. Societies depend on associations that are better established from an institutional point of view, with a orderingbigger in the questions of social organization, division of work and role performance.
In a society, there is the sharing (commune) of ideas, culture, beliefs, but there is also an expected order for it to be established. Societies depend, for example, on a legal system (which can vary from the most primitive to the more sophisticated) that ensures that all members act in accordance with what is beneficial for each grouping Social.
Read more: Social organization - phenomenon that allows distinct elements living in community
Types of Society for Sociology
For the French sociologist Emile Durkheim, we can list two types of society divided by the degree of cohesion and solidarity contained within each one: society of mechanical solidarity and society of organic solidarity.
Mechanical solidarity societies
were more societies primitive, pre-capitalists, where the division of labor was done only by gender, and there was not a large mass of workers performing the most diverse functions.
Cohesion in the group as a whole was greater in these societies, which maintained a equality of functions among members, with some exceptions. Examples of them can be seen in old rural societies.
Organic Solidarity Societies
where there is a kind of complex organism that takes care of social cohesion. In this type of society, post-capitalist, there is a social division of labor, as each member of the society plays a more complex role, with all members being interdependent.
There are, for example, the doctor, the farmer, the policeman, the teacher, the merchant, the priest, the artisan, and each one plays a role. All fulfill social roles in their work and some depend on the work of others. In the society of organic solidarity (which is more complex and extensive), there is no union in a single and mechanical cohesion, there being division of groups according to their categories.
Also access: Moral values and their importance to society
human society and culture
One of the Distinctive factors of human beings in relation to other animals, in addition to reasoning and language, is the creation of culture. The human being is able to create culture and it has been doing this since the beginning of its development, with a view to maintaining a unity of cohesion in societies.
By the way, another distinguishing factor of it is the formation of societies. The irrational animals are grouped in communities, this is a fact, however, these groups are less complex, because what governs animal life is, only, instinct.
In addition to instinct, human beings developed reasoning and, with it, acquired the ability to create culture and complex survival mechanisms. Still, in groups for strength and the ability to join efforts to survive, human beings had to create mechanisms of social cohesion and organization, so that there was no possibility of destruction of the group.
In this sense, societies emerged so that the culture and social norms established by pacts prevented the chaos that can arise from the natural coexistence between different individuals, who often have desires many different.
by Francisco Porfirio
Sociology Professor
