Concept of Society

Socrates said, man is a social animal and being social

for man is both natural as well as necessary. There are

other animals, who also have an organised life, but the

social life of man is different from, them. Behaviour

among animals is instinctive and dies with the animal

but among men, behaviour is learned and, passed on

from one generation to another. This aspect is distinctive

of man and distinguishes him from other animals. This

characteristic binds all men together to behave in a

similar manner. They form an aggregate of people who

lead a similar way of life and there is also a similarity

in their behaviour and other activities. It is from this

aspect that Herskovits has defined society: “Society is

an organised, interacting aggregate of individuals who

follow a given way of life.” In simple words it can be

said that society is composed of people. Man studies

himself as a member of this aggregate of people that

we call society.

Comte characterizes society in terms of “social statics”

and “social dynamics”. referring to social stability as

well as social change. ‘Social statics” deals with

relatively stable and orderly aspects of social life,

e.g.,family life, marriage and kinship and social

institutions. Similarly ‘social dynamics’ focuses on the

changing aspects of social life, e.g., social changes, social

processes etc. In the context of social dynamics and

the changes that took place in society, Comte

emphasized that evolution of society passed’through

three stages, i.e. savagery, barbarism and civilization;

evolution of marriage and-family has passed through

proniiscuity, group marriage, polygamy and finally

monogamy. Likewise the evolution of religion .has

passed through the stages of animism, polytheism and

monotheism.

The question may arise why is it necessary for a man

to live in society or why is society necessary for man?

The answer to these queries can briefly be given as

under:

1) Man has his needs and he chooses to meet or fulfill

these needs by himself; He can meet them while

being a member of society or while living in society.

The meeting of those needs is conditioned by the.

patterns of requirements and behaviour that we can

call culture. There. is a wide variety of variation in

meeting human needs from one society to another.

This variation makes one society different and unique

from other societies.

2) From the very beginning, i.e., from birth itself, man

needs the support of others. Initially he is dependent

upon others who provide who provide him help in

social and physical upbringing. His overall growth

and development is provided within and by the

organised social life. This is where the society has

its basic relevance. Though the society extends and

plays this role throughout the life of man, in the

initial phase of his life he needs it the most.

3) The society provides the understanding knowledge

and exposure to a man about his milieu and

environment. It is in society that man learn to

behave, to act, to respond and to play his requisite

tole for his environment and for the society of which

he is a member.

All these factors do not work independent of each other.

They have a cumulative effect. However, each factor

has its own significance. Further, there are some basic

elements of social organisation and ideology. These

elements contribute towards continuity and change and

proper functioning of the society.