
Man is a social animal. Psychologists like McDougall say that man is social because of the basic human instinct called gregarious instinct. Gregariousness refers to the tendency of man to live in groups. He lives in social groups, in communities and in societies. Various cases show that ‘man can become man only among men”. Man is biologically and psychologically equipped to live in groups and solitary life is unbearable to him. We very often use words such as groups, community, society, etc., in our day-to-day life. These are not merely words, they are concepts. They carry some precise meaning.
The term society is derived from the Latin word ‘socius’, which means companionship or friendship. Companionship means sociability. As George Simmel pointed out, it is this element of sociability which defines the true essence of society. It indicates that man always lives in the company of other people. Man needs society for his living, working and enjoying life. Society has become an essential condition for human life to arise and to continue. Human life and society always go together.
Some definitions of Society:
1. Morris Ginsberg said, “A society is a collection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of behavior which mark them off from others who do not enter into these relations or who differ from their behavior.”
2. MacIver defined society as “a web of social relationship”.
3. G.D.M. Cole said “Society is the complex of organized associations and institutions with a community”.
Characteristics of Society:
1. Society consists of people: Without people there can be no social relationships, no social life and hence no society.
2. Mutual interaction and mutual awareness: Mutual interaction refers to the reciprocal contact between two or more persons. An individual is a member of the society so long as he engages in relationship with other members of society. Social interaction is possible because of mutual awareness. Social relationships exist only when the members are aware of each other. Society exists only where social beings ‘behave’ towards one another in ways determined by their recognition of one another.
3. Society depends on likeliness: Likeliness refers to the similarities. Just as ‘birds of the same feather flock together’, men belonging to the species called homo-sapiens have many things in common. Society in brief, exists among like beings and likeminded.
4. Society rests on differences too: If men are exactly alike, their social relationships would be very much limited. There would be little give-and-take, little reciprocity. Life becomes boring, monotonous and uninteresting if differences are not there. However, differences alone cannot create society. It is subordinate to likeliness.
5. Co-operation and division of labor: Likeliness and differences create division of labor. It involves the assignment to each unit or group a specific share of common task. Division of labor needs specialization. Society is based on co-operation. It refers to the mutual working together for the attainment of a common goal.
6. Society is dynamic: Change is ever present in society. Changeability is an inherent quality of human society.
7. Social control: Society has its own ways of regulating the behavior of its members. These ways can be formal such as, law, legislation, police, court, etc., and informal such as customs, traditions, manners, etc.
8. Culture: Culture refers to, as Linton says, the social heritage of man. Culture is not society, but an element of society that binds together its component individuals.
Man depends on society for protection and comfort, for nurture and education from old age to death. Society makes our life livable. Society is, therefore, as MacIver puts it, more than our environment. It is within us as well as around us. It liberates and controls our talents and capacities. It stimulates the growth of our personality. Emotional development, intellectual maturity, satisfaction of physical needs and material comfort are unthinkable without society.

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