In particular Emile Durkheim's view of society as sui generis or 'a thing in itself, of its own particular kind' interests me. Durkheim saw society as a reality of its own, as an organism that must have all parts to properly run. To Durkheim individuals shaped society as well as society shaping the individual. For more information on Durkheim and his ideas visit: http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/s16f02.htm
“Man's characteristic privilege is that the bond he accepts is not physical but moral; that is, social. He is governed not by a material environment brutally imposed on him, but by a conscience superior to his own, the superiority of which he feels. Because the greater, better part of his existence transcends the body, he escapes the body's yoke, but is subject to that of society.” - Emile Durkheim
Found on 4/08/2011 at http://thinkexist.com
This is an interesting video clip I found that shows how Durkheim illustrates that all parts of society work together to make up the society and each part is functional to the other. Organic Solidarity People play many roles and unity is based on a differentiation in those roles or the division of labor.
What is society?
The dictionary defines society as an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. In other words society consists of both culture and social interactions. Social interaction is described in Sociology The Essentials 6th Edition as behavior between two or more people that is given meaning. I see it as the way that people relate to one another.
I just thought this was a funny little cartoon that does a perfect job of depicting the general form of what social interaction means these days.
What makes up a Society?
Social Institutions- established and organized systems which are necessary and exist to meet specific needs in a society.
Jonathan Turner (Turner 1997: 6): defines social institutions as “a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organising relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.”
This includes institutions such as:
-governments, family, languages, businesses, universities, hospitals, and legal systems.
Anthony Giddens says (Giddens 1984: 24-31): “Institutions by definition are the more enduring features of social life.” Giddens list for institutions includes:
-modes of discourse, political institutions, economic institutions and legal institutions.
Rom Harre, philosopher of social science defines it as “An institution was defined as an interlocking double-structure of persons-as-role-holders or office-bearers and the like, and of social practices involving both expressive and practical aims and outcomes.” (Harre 1979: 98)
His examples include:
-schools, shops, post offices, police forces, asylums and the British monarchy.
These quotes were found in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and show my (and Durkheim's) point that society is much more complex than we may originally see. There are many different variations of what makes up a social institution and what those social institutions are but one thing we know for sure is that social institutions play an important role in each given society. This webpage gives some good insight from both the a sociological standpoint as well as a philosophical standpoint and provides some interesting information on social institutions.
Citations:
Andersen, Margaret, and Howard Taylor. Sociology The Essentials. 6th. 1. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
MillerMiller, Seumas, "Social Institutions", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N.Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2011/entries/social-institutions/>.
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