Accommodation

Accommodation, Methods and Characterstics

by with No Comment Social Terms (A-E)

Accommodation

Adaptation or adjustment is the way of life that people can properly survive. Accommodation refers to the process of social adjustment, which is similar but not identical to the biological adjustment process. Accommodation is the attainment of integration amongst people that allows for pleasant living by acquiring behavior patterns, beliefs, and attitudes in a social environment and assisting in social adoption.

Accommodation

Accommodation system in San Fransisco      Source: Aaron Kato

Sociologists use the term “accommodation” to describe the adjustment of hostile individuals or groups to achieve a sense of harmony with their surroundings.

For instance-

Humans managed to survive in the cave by adapting to the harsh environment. The adaptation of the cave environment with the group and survival was referred to as accommodation in the hunting and gathering society. On the other hand, in modern culture, people have begun to use virtual reality to preserve social distance in order to live a healthy life and save time.

Characteristics

Accepting exploitation by individuals

Adaptation is the consequence of social conflict because the weaker group always gives the stronger group room in society.  This means that accommodation is the result of exploited people’s hard work and accepts exploitation.

Era of Peace

It is the starting of a new era. Individuals or groups recognize the necessity of accommodation as a result of their survival in caves. Because fighting cannot continue indefinitely, they make way for accommodation.

Unaware Process

It is primarily an unconscious process because a newborn adjusts to his surroundings without even realizing it.

Essential and Universal

It is essential because society can work smoothly and resolve all types of conflicts, which is why it is always present to some degree in all societies. Basically it is a universal activity.

Endless Process

This social process is not confined to a given stage or fixed social situation, and people have to live in different situations throughout life. The process of accommodation does not break at all and it is a Continuous Process.

Love and Hatred

According to Ogburn and Nimkoff, accommodation is the outcome of a mix of two elements: love and hatred. People who are in love are more likely to cooperate with one another, but those who are in hate are more likely to create disagreements, become engaged with them, and then accommodate one another.

Cooperation

Cooperation, Types and Characteristics of Cooperation,

by with No Comment Exploring SociologySocial Terms (A-E)

Cooperation

Cooperation is a fundamental social interaction in which two or more individuals or social groups collaborate to ensure effective communication and achieve a common goal.

The phrase “cooperation” is defined in two Latin words: “co” (around each other) and “operation” (to perform). That means cooperation entails collaborating or working with each other to achieve a common goal or goals.

 

Cooperation

Workers cooperating with each other in Bangladesh        Source:mohammad samir

Common end and organized effort are two elements of this social process. When multiple individuals share the same goals and recognize that they cannot achieve the objectives alone, they collaborate to achieve those goals.

For example-

In a Focus group Discussion of parents’ supervisor monitoring the whole discussion. If there suddenly any chaos happens with a topic discussion supervisor may be told everyone to keep silent. That silence is necessary to make the discussion fruitful from both ends. When they become silent that means all of them are cooperating to achieve the same goal.

It is also a fact that the same goal will not always be necessary; sometimes people want to collaborate with others to achieve a goal that is not required for facilitators to help the individual.

Characteristics

  • Social interaction between two or more individuals or groups 
  • Individuals or groups aware of their work
  • Individuals and groups formed personal relationships and meetings
  • A continual effort by a group of people.
  • It can help achieve common goals more effectively, and it is vital for personal and social progress.

Types of Cooperation

Several sociologists classified cooperation into different categories. Ogburn and Nimikoff divided the term into three main types:

General Cooperation

When some individuals cooperate for common purposes, that interaction is known as general cooperation. We experience this in our everyday work, and it’s human nature to want to help others.

For instance-

On the weekend when a family arranged a gathering for friends and relatives, everyone works together to make this a colorful experience.

Friendly Cooperation

When we want to achieve the pleasure and fulfillment of our group, we cooperate in a helpful manner and this is called friendly cooperation.

For example- dancing or singing at a party

Helping Cooperation

This type is known as work for supporting victims who face accidents or disasters.

 

Maclver and Page have divided the process into two main types-

Direct Cooperation

All those related behaviors in which people accomplish things together are considered direct cooperation.

For instance- Camp together, perform together, carry a load, etc.

Cooperation 2

A family is fishing together

The important feature of this type of collaboration is that people perform identical tasks that they could perform independently. This form of collaboration is entirely voluntary.

Indirect Cooperation

This type encompasses activities in which individuals perform distinct tasks together toward a common goal.

For example- There are numerous parts to work within a motor vehicle. All of the employees work on different parts of the vehicle and then put it together to make it complete.

Social Process

Social Process Types & Examples

by with No Comment Social Terms (P-T)

Social Process 

Social processes refer to the steps of establishing social relationships that occur repeatedly throughout an individual’s life. During a lifetime a person interacts with other people in society permanently or temporarily, as human beings are social creatures. There are several forms of social interaction such as cooperation, conflict, competition, and accommodation, etc. By social processes, we understand the ways in which individuals and groups establish and establish social relationships.

Social processes can be either negative or positive. Social processes have therefore been categorized into two broad categories, namely ‘conjunctive and disjunctive,’ ‘associative and dissociative.’ These positive categories can discuss into three major social processes as- cooperation, accommodation, and assimilation.

Social Process

Social Process starts from childhood                     Source:Church of the King

The social process is basically all about how people interact socially with each other in reality, which is shaped by perceptions, communications, and evaluations.

We can exemplify this as-

Marriage is regarded as a social status rather than a relationship in Bangladesh. Parents of society here especially want their girl to marry a government or successful job holder as this increases the social status of their family. Although many or most Bengali couples undoubtedly do love each other, saying “I love you” does not come easily to them, especially in front of family members.

This is all about Bengali society’s perceptions and assessments of social change. Because the scenario in Bengali society a few decades ago was quite different. Parents were looking for a reputable family for marriage or kinship at the time.

That is to say, it is a dynamic process that is constantly evolving. All kinds of social institutions that engage with society always going through some changes with social interaction, situation, time period, and that path we can call social process.

Cooperation

Cooperation is a fundamental social interaction in which two or more individuals or social groups collaborate to ensure effective communication and achieve a common goal. (More…)

Accommodation

Adaptation or adjustment is the way of life that people can properly survive. Accommodation refers to the process of social adjustment, which is similar but not identical to the biological adjustment process. (More…)

Primary group

Primary Group and Secondary Group

by with One Comment Exploring SociologySocial Terms (F-J)

Primary Group and secondary group

Primary Group

A primary group is a small group that is recognized by intimacy, sentiment of loyalty, intensive cooperation, and emotional involvement. Cooly uses the terms “members of a family living in the same house” and “playgroup in a school” as examples to define primary groups.

Typically, it is smaller but emotionally more significant. Because the individual has the chance to become familiar with humanity and social relationship through the primary group. Human nature does not exist independently of each individual; however, it is generated in individual character by primary or fundamental societal groups. Primary groups are undoubtedly an important resource for emotional security.

Primary group

A group of children plays with their playmates in Jakarta.

Human beings develop their positive and honest qualities from their families, neighbors as well as playmates. This, in turn, leads to hatred, intolerance, and other negative emotions as a result of a lack of a group and a cordial relationship. People are gradually learning more about each other’s relationships as communication improves; hatred is reduced through the social organization, and so on. People’s emotions and awareness grow as they learn about the role of primary groups.

However, many researchers believe that with the proliferation of social media, communication with the primary group or the exchange of emotions has become more virtual, even in South Asian traditional society. But in 2019-2020, when the world became stable due to lockdown in countries due to coronavirus epidemic, people can understand the role of primary groups like family, neighbors, etc.

Secondary group

Secondary groups are more formal and impersonal in nature, with little social intimacy or mutual understanding. These groups are also larger in size. Industrial workers or office coworkers are examples of secondary groups.

Organizationally, friendly relationships do not exist among the members of the secondary group, and the level of acquaintance between the group’s members is very low. Demographically, all members of any secondary group do not share a similar emotional bond; rather, they feel isolated from the primary group. In modern society, the identity of individuals in the secondary group is fading, and a sense of isolation is emerging among them which also affect mental health.

For example- U.S. military suicide rates have peaked since war in Afghanistan at about one death a day.

People are gradually drifting away from family, friends, and neighbors for professional or educational purposes. Living in a new environment fosters a different type of social relationship but it’s nothing like a primary group relationship.

Secondary Groups

A group of students in University class

Despite the fact that these two groups are identified differently, one cannot be empirically distinguished from the other. With the examples below, we can understand this interrelation in detail-

A Bangladeshi student can come to study and fall in love with a girl in Europe. He can marry and begin a new family here. Despite his feelings of isolation from the primary group, over time he also established a new primary group in a new society from a secondary group.

Difference between Primary and Secondary Group

Primary Group Secondary Group
Examples Family, Playmate University, City, Protestor
Size Small Large
Relationship Personal Formal
Attachment Socio Emotional (Gemeinschaft) Instrumental (Gesellschaft)
Duration Long Term Short term
Decision Traditional Rational
Group

Group, Types of Group and Differences

by with One Comment Social Terms (F-J)

Group

Group is a fundamental sociological term that has existed since the beginning of society. A human child is born from a group known as a family. Humans have been living in groups since the beginnings of hunting and gathering society because they realized that it was impossible to survive without living together. People have also lived in groups to protect their existence, gather food, and defend themselves against wild animal attacks.

Just because a band of people is gathered together does not make them a group. Initially, a group can only be called if there is a certain relationship and fellow feeling between multiple people.

In sociology, we can define it more specifically-

A group is reciprocity of more than one person, who interact basis on a goal with similar norms, ethics, values, and perceptions.

It play an important role in modern society’s socialization process. According to Richard T Schaefer–

“Groups play a vital part in a society’s social structure. Much of our social interaction takes place within groups and is influenced by their norms and sanctions. Being a teenager or a retired person takes on special meanings when we interact within groups designed for people with that particular status. The expectations associated with many social roles, including those accompanying the statuses of brother, sister, and student, become more clearly defined in the context of a group.”  (Schaefer, 2013)

Sociologist Gisbert in his book Fundamentals of Sociology discussed as-

“A social group is a collection of individuals interacting on or each other under a recognizable structure.” (Gisbert, 1956)

Group

Social Group

Is there any difference between group and social group?

When we talk about any group of people, it will be-

  • a number of people with common objectives,
  • to interact with one another
  • to accomplish their objective and
  • are aware of each other

A social group also needs these fundamental elements. It is therefore hard to distinguish group from social group. But with social group, it may be put some emphasis as a sociological term.

Types of Group

Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley proposed that groups can be broadly classified into two types and coined the terms Primary and Secondary Group (1909).

Primary Group

A primary group is a small group that is recognized by intimatcy, sentiment of loyalty, intensive cooperation and emotional involvement. Cooly uses the terms “members of a family living in the same house” and “play group in a school” as examples (more..).

Secondary Group

Secondary groups are more formal and impersonal in nature, with little social intimacy or mutual understanding. These groups are also larger in size. Industrial workers or office coworkers are examples  (more..).

 

What is community? Elements, and Characterstics

by with No Comment Social Terms (A-E)

Community

The term “community” refers to a group of people who live in a common circle and interact with one another in various aspects of life. Human beings have this as a common social trait of being together. Individuals in the community share common social beliefs, norms, traditions, and a desire to be together. It is impossible to build communities without these.

Characteristics of Communities

The meaning of community can be better understood if we analyze its characteristics or elements. These characteristics decide whether a group is a community or not. However, community has the following characteristics or elements:

A group of people

When a group of people live together and share a common life and blinded by a strong sense of community consciousness at that moment a community is formed. Hence a group of people is the first pre-requisites of it.

A definite locality

It is a territorial group.

Community Sentiment

Its sentiment refers to a strong sense of awe feeling among the members or a feeling of belonging together.

Similarity

Among the members similarities in language, culture, customs, and traditions and in many other things is observed. Similarities in these respects are responsible for the development of community sentiment.

Let’s look at some more specific examples to better understand communities characteristics-

The Khasia community lives throughout the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. More than five hundred years ago, they came to this country from Assam (India). Although no alphabet in their language has been found, oral language is rich in folklore. The Khasias believe that the beginning of human civilization is in the hands of women. And they have maintained the matriarchy in their own society since the beginning. Women can marry men from any tribe they want, but the husband must live in the wife’s house for the rest of his life. Men’s rights are protected in Khasia society, despite women’s hegemony.

We now refer to khasia as a community because it is a group of people who share common interests and similarities in different aspects like- they share the same beliefs, languages, emotions, and feelings, and they live in a specific geographical area.

Elements of Community

In a seminal 1986 study, McMillan and Chavis identify four elements of “sense of community”

Membership

Feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal relatedness

Influence

mattering, making a difference to a group and of the group mattering to its members

Reinforcement

integration and fulfillment of needs, Shared Emotional Connections

Many communities around the world have not only a legal system and a permanent structure for the members’ livelihood but also various associations and organizations to protect the members’ various interests, emotions, and feelings. On the basis of its members, communities may be small or large. Many small communities throughout the world are considered isolated from the larger community.

For instance-

We can talk about the Indian communities in Canada. Just as they have a separate entity from the larger population of those countries; they are also isolated from communities of their own country.

Today we also know about different types of virtual communities that have been developed based on thousands of social or web media platforms. The structure of communities in modern society is changing for a variety of reasons. As in a virtual community, connectivity, news sharing, and protecting people’s interests are easier than ever, but in reality, sentiment and solidarity toward the communities and its members are dwindling.

Society Image By Theodore Goutas

What is society? What are the characteristics of society?

by with 2 Comments Social Terms (P-T)

Society

The term “society” refers to a group of people who are in reciprocal relationships. We can define it as-

A large number of people who live in the same area,  who have similarities or likeliness in need, activities, ideals, norms, values, etc., differences in appearance, personality, talents, attitudes, etc., and members cooperate and share common interests.

In his book Sociology, Richard T. Schaefer (2013) defined society as a group of people who live in the same area but are different and independent from the people in other areas and share the same culture.

We can compare society with one of the primitive creations of human beings. Because from the beginning of group life in primitive period, human society had begun a new chapter of social life.

To be a society, there must be a group of people and there must be an organized or unorganized, direct or indirect relationship between them. Conflict and revolution also part of societies. From Marx and other dialectic theorists, we learn more about the social order formation which rises from conflict. Societies are viewed by social evolution theorists through the lens of biological evolution theory. They believe that societies have evolved in the same way that humans and other animals have.

There are millions of social systems in the world but all of them have gone through social change. That is why we see a kind of social system in Asia but not in Europe or Africa.

Characteristics of Society

  • Composed of People
  • Continuous reciprocal interactions and interrelationship among members
  • Likeliness or similarity like need, activities, ideals values, etc.
  • Differences like looks, personality, talents, attitudes, etc.
  • Members have cooperation and shared common interests
  • Responsibilities held by means of division of labors

For instance-

In south-east Asia, Bangladesh’s social system evolved in response to the agrarian economy of the country. Society here consists of a single or joint patriarchal family. The head of the society of the village is elected (land ownership, political representation, economic power, education, and other factors all have an impact on this process) from the head of the families and he decides on social customs, rituals, values, principle, resolution of conflict and so on.

Society Image By Theodore Goutas

                                                             A happy family captured in Rural Society of Bangladesh. Source: Theodore Goudas

When we look at Europe, we see education, administration, industrialization, and a modern system of conscious urban society not like the traditional social system in South Asia. Again, the traditional aspects of society can still be seen, despite the economic abundance of the Arab social system.