Sociology: Understanding the Individual and Society Relationship
Sociology: Individual and Society
The human being is a social being and needs to live in society to develop their intelligence. The study of society has been an important topic in philosophy, although, as has happened in other domains of knowledge, in recent centuries it has become independent, constituted as a special science (sociology), primarily from the works of A. Comte, M. Weber, and É. Durkheim. We must use sociological knowledge to analyze the concepts, methods, and criteria of philosophical truth.
The Individual
The term “individual” need not refer only to a human, but any complete being that belongs to a species, whether animal or vegetable. We use this term to refer to human beings, and to highlight its own unique component. There is no single answer:
- For biological determinists, the unique and specific to each individual is their genetic component. All acts are dependent on the biological component.
- For social or educational determinists, the unique and specific to each is derived from the culture, the social context.
- From an integrative posture, we must acknowledge that there are two essential components: the biological and cultural development, and that both dimensions are personal, individual reality of each human being. We are born with certain unique, individual qualities, but confirm that first biological birth with others to make us people we need in society.
Society
Society is, in a broad sense, all individuals who interact with each other, sharing a variety of purposes, behaviors, or cultural features. The word “society” is often used instead to refer to the ways of organizing human beings themselves, based on their nature or cultural dimension, not merely in nature. Hence, social and related cultural and sometimes use these terms in the same direction.
Culture
By culture, we understand both the possibilities of the human being excused due to their intelligent and rational nature, as all activities that occurred as a result. In both cases, company culture means. The natural characteristics and unique to humans, such as language, morality, the possibility of knowledge or search for meaning, are a consequence of life in society. There is a natural biological basis and that allows, but if they had not developed society would not be what they are. Since the early philosophers realized this relationship (Aristotle).
Social Systems
A system is a complex reality, and each of its parts or components interacting with others. Social systems give their members properties or capabilities of various types. Place them in classes and different status, or impose roles that determine their behavior.
Classes
A class is a collection of individuals grouped according to a rule or concept. The classes integrate them according to criteria of power, economics, origin, etc. In ancient societies, the class stratification was rigorous and it was very difficult to switch from one to another. In modern democratic societies, social mobilization is greater.
Emergent Properties
There are emergent properties arising from certain systems. Something similar happens in societies: there are emerging creations that spring from the interaction. They are a collective result. The group influences the individual but the individual is part of the group: the interaction is complex. One company, a society, are systems of relations in which all influence and are influenced. So if we want to live righteous and intelligent systems, we participate in its construction.
We call “intelligence sharing” or “social intelligence” that emerges as a phenomenon emerging from the interaction between people.
Individual-Society Relations
For Durkheim, society is prior to the individual, as there prior to birth and determine what this is. Individuals are formed from the society, the norms and values that are transmitted in education. Therefore, the society determines who we are, and if we were born in another culture or context, in another group or time, we would like different. Besides condition backgrounds and cultures very different from the individuals within them. Individuals may also be imposed on society, influence it and do change their scales of values. Contributed to changing the direction of history. They are the creators of society. The relationship and involvement between the individual and society occurs at 2 levels:
- In a strictly individual level is what I am partly own and unique, but cultivated in a field that is socialism and communism. Without the other through which and with which I am developing as a person, and without the social contributions that story when I am born, could not be what I am.
- As to the social and political organization. There are 2 social theories that consider the company is above the individual, but there is also the polar opposite: individualism, which considers the value of the individual over society. We will see that a synthesis which transcends both ends is the most appropriate solution.
Society as a Complex System
Social Interaction Systems: Status and Roles
Every society is a form of organization, a network. A set of conduct should be defined as relations among members. Some sociologists use the term “systems of social interaction” to refer to these multiple relationships. Animals also live in groups, but it depends on the order established by nature. In contrast, humans create their own forms of social organization based on rules assigned to each member about functions: status and roles:
- The social status is a position each individual occupies in the social structure, as it evaluates the society. Each status corresponds to a status, which is associated with prestige assessment, consideration, remuneration, living standards, social power, and so on.
A person may occupy different statuses at the same time depending on the context or the group:
- Ascribed status when he has a biological basis, determined by age, sex or some other type of conditioning. That is, when control is not dependent on individual and is independent of their will.
- Acquired status, which depends on positive actions and sometimes the effort.
- The roles are a set of rules or principles of conduct of an individual, for each status, class or social position, by virtue of the place or position occupied.
These are two interrelated concepts. The status is concerned, the roles they perform. Modern societies are characterized by roles or social roles, as well as the status associated overlap. So the same person plays different roles in different contexts. Fixed roles and modes of behavior, therefore, have an important ethics.