Module 4:

How a Society is
Organized
Society
-is an entity that allows
individuality yet provides space
for other individuals and groups
to pursue mutual goals and
aspirations.
GROUPS WITHIN SOCIETY
 Individuals and groups are the smaller
units that compose society.
 Societies can be as big as the members of
a particular religious organizations, such as
the Filipino Catholic Church or Muslim
community.
 Plato believes that “Man is a social animal.”
Social Group
-is a collection of individuals who
have relations with one another
that make them interdependent to
some significance.
Interdependence
-is a necessary condition that exists within
social groups because it is what enables its
members to pursue shared goals and
promote common values and principles.
-is also what differentiates a social group
from an aggregate, or a more collection of
people within a particular place and time.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY GROUPS
 Members of society belong to social groups
that vary not only in size but also in the level
and depth of interaction and interdependence
among its members.
 A primary group is a small, intimate, and less
specialized group whose members engage in
face-to-face and emotion-based interactions
over an extended period of time.
 Examples of primary group are the family,
close friends, work related, peers,
classmates, and church groups.
 Primary groups are the first groups where
an individual experiences his/her initial
encounter with social affinity and
belonging.
 In the Philippines, the primary group
affiliation of Filipinos is based on kinship
ties.
 Secondary groups, in contrast, are larger,
less intimate, and more specialized groups
where members engage in an impersonal
and objective-oriented relationship for a
limited time.
 The consensus among social scientists is
that much of people’s time will be spent
with secondary groups given the continued
urbanization and expansion of societies.
 Emile Durkheim argued that the shift from
traditional to modern society will impact
how individuals relate to one another.
 Through primary groups are significant in
the formative years of relevant as before.
IN-GROUP AND OUT-GROUPS
Self Categorization Theory
-another relevant approach in
understanding the characteristics of
social groups.
In-group
-is a group to which one belongs and
with which one feels a sense of
identity.

Out-group
-is a group to which one does not
belong and to which he or she may feel
a sense of competitiveness or hostility.
SEVERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
IN-GROUP
 Members of such groups devise ways to
distinguish themselves from non members.
 Members within a certain in-group display
positive attitudes and behaviour toward
their fellow members.
 Similarities and shared experience foster
unity and cooperation among group
members.
Fraternity
-is an exclusive all male student
organization.

Sorority
-is an exclusive all female
organization.
REFERENCE GROUPS
 is a group to which an individual
compares himself or herself. Such
strongly influence an individual’s
behaviour and social attitudes whether
he or she is a member of these groups.
 By now, high school students like you
should already have an idea of your
chosen reference group.
NETWORK
 Refers to the structure of relationship
between social actors or groups.
 Social media is significant development in
21st century and its rapid evolution continue
to change the way people manage the
complicated nature of their social
relationships and group affinities.
 Sociologist and anthropologists differentiate
between the networks formed in traditional
and modern societies.
 In traditional societies, networks are
exclusive, limited and mostly defined by
kinship.
 Modern society redefined the safe and
secure arrangement provided by traditional
networks by allowing the individual to
become part of a more expanded and
cosmopolitan network with overlapping
circles of social interaction.
 A social network provides an important
context in understanding how various
groups are interrelated with one another.
 A social network provides a bigger pool
from which people draw their possible
sources of identity, self-esteem, and self-
actualization.
E N D.