LESSON 1

THE
HUMAN
SOCIETY
ORIGIN AND USAGE
 The English word “society” emerged in
the 15th century and is derived from 2
sources.
 French word “societe”
 Latin word “socius”
Later, these two words gave way to
the birth of another Latin word “societas”
which is the counterpart of the English
word “society”.
DEFINITIONS OF SOCIETY

 Implicitly, a society is composed of

members sharing some mutual concerns
or interest, a common characteristic or
objective.
 More abstractly, a society can be
referred to as a network of relationships
between social entities, which can be an
independent community.
DEFINITIONS OF SOCIETY

 A self-reproducing grouping of
individuals occupying a particular
territory which may have its own
distinctive culture and institutions.
 The people is one of the basic
components of society.
 In contrast, Sociologist
Ferdinand Tonnies
sought to draw a line
between society and
community and points
out that society’s
important feature is
its social structure
affected by the roles
and social ranking of
each member.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF
SOCIETY
1. SOCIAL NETWORKS

 Features different structures

such as proximity, frequency
of contact and type of
relationship (i.e. relative,
friend, colleague, etc.)
 CRITERIA FOR
2.
MEMBERSHIP

 Standards set by the society

that a member must satisfy in
order to become accepted as
part of the society.
3. CHARACTERISTIC
PATTERN OF
ORGANIZATION

 Referred to as the
organization of the society
according to a specific
pattern.
THE EARLY
HUMAN
SOCIETIES
A.
TRADITIONAL
AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETIES
• Hunter-Gatherer Societies
 the time when humans survived
primarily by hunting animals and
gather wild vegetation.

HEADMAN- the oldest member of the

political leader.

SHAMAN- acting as the spiritual leader.

• Horticulturalist or
Simple Farming Societies
 People slowly began to develop hand
tools like pointed stones.
 Transition from being nomadic to being
“cultural”.
 People performing crop raising or
fishing.
 “Community” was first realized in this
era.
• Intensive Agricultural
Societies or Civilizations
Societies become more
“institutionalized”.
People working together at a
compartmentalized level to
support the big size of the
society.
B. POST-INDUSTRIALIZED
SOCIETIES
 In this society, people have transformed
their focus from farming to development
and applications of inventions that will
make their lives easier.
 Scientist emerged with the focus of
being more technological rather than
empirical.