Report

SOCIETAL
STRUCTURES
SOCIETAL STRUCTURES
" A vibrant civil society can challenge those in

power by documenting corruption or uncovering
activities like the murder of political enemies. In
democracies, this function is mostly performed by
the media, NGOs, or opposition parties."
- Evgeny Morozov
SOCIAL STATUS AND ROLES
• Social Status – is all about the dynamic of individual identity relative to its
social environment. This interaction between the self and the community
equates to the individual's stature in said setting.
• Role – is a set of defined and expected behavior or norms that is ascribed
to a certain social status. We all have our roles in our communities. We are
perceived by others around us as more than just another pile of flesh and
bone but as an individual that has his or her own unique social persona.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Functionalism
• According to French sociologist Emile Durkheim, there is a glaring difference
how we look at individuals and collectives.
• There is also conceptual difference between looking into individuals and
studying groups of people or communities.
• Durkheim establishes that what is true to an individual may not be used
as a generalization in describing the society he or she is in. In the same
light, one cannot generalized that the characteristics of the society as a
whole will also be true to its member.
• Collective consciousness that exists within these groups of people.
• These recognized patterns of behavior are an indication of social
integration among members of the group. The communal behavior that
exists within these groups compounds and works together as a
harmonized entity that embodies the perspective of functionalism.
Conflict Theory
• The perspective was created by Karl Marx, the famous author of Das
Kapital and one of the fathers of communism.
• Marx's analysis of our society is how he sees that almost everything
starts with economics.
• The "working class" is the workers that toil to earn their wages.
• Marx uses the term for industrial workers which, during his time, were
the only means for an individual to earn within the capitalist structure.
• Marx's points out several arguments that emphasize his
view of the class struggle through various aspects of
alienation against the workers. There is alienation when
the workers are taken out from their ownership and the
means of production. In other words, the workers are
taken away from the value of their work, the purpose of
their toil, and their selves and the society around them.
Examples:
1. Alienation from production – A worker simply does not directly
gain from the good or service produced
2. Alienation from process – A worker does not control his or her time
nor his or her way of doing things
3. Alienation from others – A worker is judged based on the
performance of others, which creates unwarranted competition from
his or her peers
4. Alienation from the self – A worker is seen as just another worker
in the factory line
Symbolic Interactionism
• Symbolic interactionism takes itself away from the other theories and
perspectives as it does not look into primary social institutions as the
main variable of study but rather looks into individuals, their histories,
and their perspectives.
• According to twentieth century American philosopher George
Herbert mead, individuals see things differently and their view depends
on their own meaning derived from their experiences, interaction from
people, and the learnings they gain from the amalgamated experiences
through a course of time.
• Concentrates on the individual and the interactions that create the
meanings that are shared, reinforced, and debunked constantly by
people.
• Interaction and communication are the basic premises of symbolic
interactionism, giving us a better understanding of the role of
critical people in the grand design of our society.
• Power is defined by one's roles and status in society which, in
itself, are also determined by the interaction that are created by
people.
• Mead's theory of symbolic interactionism can be summed
up in three main points:
1. Meaning can be different from each person depending on his or
her history, knowledge, and ongoing experience.
2. The meaning, in itself, can change and will inevitably change.
3. Action or reaction may be different depending on how the person
sees the meaning.
SOCIAL STRUCTURES
• Society is composed of various intermingling structures that

continually make interactions, thus creating meanings that
center on people.
• The structures created make up a set of values that stem from
the collective consciousness of individuals.
• This goes to show that society in itself is a social construction or
an idea that we have conjured up as a community and believed
to be true, thus creating a pattern which we agree upon and
reinforce daily.
• Social structure therefore pertains to the interrelation of
behaviors, roles, and statuses which constitute a stable network
of social interactions and relations.
POLITICAL STRUCTURES
• Politics has already been established as one of the main cogs that have
influence over institutions.
• Politics is about power, governance, administration, and decision-making.
• All communities and societies together.
• Defined not just by the government, but also by groups, other institutions,
pressure groups, social movements, and people as parts of
the political landscape.
• Looking into it on state-level analysis, our communities are ascribed
by the laws that are enacted by the legislative body.
• Our current political system is just part of the political structure that
we are talking about.
• Our government directly affects us and our communities through
sweeping policies that, in turn, reshape our patterns of behavior.
• Our leaders are the representatives of the people, the government
gathers the sentiments of its constituents, elevates them to a policy,
and standardizes them throughout the system.
• The power the government comes from our direct participation in
politics through the power of the vote.
• When we talk about the source of legitimacy to rule, we are actually
referring to the voters who elected our government leaders.
• We, as a society, have the power to go against such policies if we were
to uphold or create certain social movements.
• Political power can easily be abused.
• A weak society results in a strong government and results further in an
archaic system of an oppressive regime that trounces on the rights of
its very own constituents.
• The macro level, we can see the relationship between the state and us, its
citizens.
• To fully see the depth of power of the state, we have to study our own
community and the system that runs it.
• In the Philippines, our local government units are clustered by
the barangay system.
• LGUs are headed by community leaders who are elected for a three-year
term.
• The local political system of the Philippines traces its roots to the
balangays, which is a translation of "sailboat" in the Malay language.
• Each balangay was headed by their tribal chief or the datu.
• Their association was by virtue of kinship or blood relations
• During the Spanish occupation, the barangay structure was
streamlined by consolidating smaller groups and units to bigger
clusters of towns called the reduccion.
• The former datu later on bacame the cabeza de barangay as part of
the ruling upper class or the principalia.

Report

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Report

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Report

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SOCIETAL

" A vibrant civil society can challenge those in

• Society is composed of various intermingling structures that

You might also like