Term Paper on "Society as a Social Organization"

Term Paper 5 pages (1667 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Society as a Social Organization

One often looks to culture as a means of describing society and social organization. Most anthropologists would agree that culture is related to the aspects of the human condition that are "derived as what we learn as members of society" (Just and Monaghan, 2000:35). Further, aspects of the human condition learned as members of society can easily be translated into the concept of 'social organization.'

Society forms the basis for social organization from an anthropological perspective. Many anthropologists use the term 'culture' to refer to society and the resultant social organization or behaviors demonstrated by individuals living within a particular culture. In order to understand social organization anthropologists generally approach society or culture from a "holistic" perspective, in order to understand the complex behaviors and practices that determine social behavior and social organization.

One can broadly define social organization as the tendency of man to involve himself in complex relationships, "due to his innate tendency to interact with others in a social manner" (Carrithers, 1992:34). Further social organization may be defined from a class system, as according to many anthropologists man has a unique tendency to form relationships and social organizations based on class distinctions (Haviland, 2002: 310).

This falls along the line that 'like' goes with 'like' or that people have a natural tendency to create relationships with those individuals that are most like them rather than those that are most different from them. Thus people tend to organize their thoughts and behaviors along similar lines in similar cultures or societies.

Since the beginning of time many social anthropologists have acknowledged that much of what forms society and culture are simply basic, shared common resources and behaviors. Culture is generally recognized as anything that is public and shared as part of society as a whole (Carrithers, 1992:35). Societal 'norms' may be considered the building blocks of social organization and these norms are often translated into culture. The definitions for culture vary from anthropologist to anthropologist, and some tend to believe that certain tendencies such as social stratification are more common in certain societies than others.

Before one can understand culture and social organization one must then examine the nature and behavior of man in society. To fully understand society one must be certain to examine the social nature of humans by exploring the relationships people share among each other. Relationships and interaction are a natural part of the developmental process. Human beings by nature according to anthropologists are social creatures, and the complex relationships they create as members of society are directly related to the concept of social organization.

Many have argued that social organization should be considered with regard to the relationships that man creates. This is based on the notion that social organization stems from culture and interaction. Man by nature is a social animal, and can't function or create social organization without depending on other human beings. One can't simply study the 'idea' of culture in order to understand social organization; rather one must examine the complexity of human relationships in order to understand societal norms and organization.

This idea is supported by numerous anthropologists including Carrithers (1992) Just & Monaghan (2000) and Franz (1930). Social organization is built off of the premise that man must involve himself in complex relationships in order to thrive and survive, and establish a foundation for behaving and interacting.

William Haviland (2002) suggests that society and social organization are influenced by patterns of association where by individuals interact and react among one another in an informal way when they interact among the same or similar social class or status; this is due in part to man's tendency to identify and relate within individuals that are like in nature suggesting that society is stratified as a whole (p. 312).

Social organization also stems from the manner in which man grows and becomes a participating member of society. Man is unique in that he requires a period of "infantile and juvenile dependence' a period in which man "absorbs and transmits methods for living, knowing and doing things"; the manner in which these 'things' are conducted are unique to each society, and form the basis for inherited and learned language and communication and complex social organization (Just & Monaghan, 2000:35).

In no other animal population is their a dependency phase as long as what man requires to be able to function and interact on his own, further supporting the notion that man requires relationships and interaction to exist and organize socially.

Social organization is created from societies, from the unique cultural aspects of society that help individuals learn methods for living, communicating, interacting and relating to others. Further social organization may be defined as the complex whole of a society that includes the "knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits" that individuals acquire as members of a particular society (Just & Monaghan, 2000:36). No one aspect is more important than the other, because all of these factors influence the behavior and attitudes of individuals living in society.

Society helps create an integrated system under which social organization or the rules under which people operate and function are established. Franz boas in 1930 suggests that social organization stems from societal culture which "embrace the reactions individuals have to events" and also suggest that culture and societal norms are the product of human activities as determined by the habits acceptable among given societies (Just & Monaghan, 2000:38).

This plays into Haviland's (2002) idea that culture and societal norms may be influenced through social stratification and classes which determine what habits and activities are acceptable from culture to culture and from group to group.

Arnold van Gennep suggested that society is a large house with many rooms with each room representing a particular social status and class; further he suggests that via rites of passage individuals may move from one room to another, shedding their old status and acquiring new ones as they move on (Just & Monaghan, 2000). In the course of their transitions, ceremonies and traditions are held that bestow upon individuals their new rank and status (Just & Monaghan, 2000:120). Societies according to Gennep all provide a ritual means for assisting people through the varying transitions and stages of life (Just & Monaghan, 2000:121).

Gennep's idea of transition and change is supported by Robertson (1996) who suggests that the whole course of a human's life consists of constant alteration and modification of form and behavior (Robertson, 1996:591). This sentiment is echoed by Thompson (1942) who suggests that the life course is attended by constant modification and alteration (Thompson, 1942:199).

Carrithers explores the nature of culture and concerns himself with the gap that exists between social anthropology and biology, focusing on the study of humankind in groups. He asserts that culture is the basis for which anthropology can be examined holistically and understand the "mutualist ontology" of anthropology, with society defined as the capacity for complex interactions (McNeil, 2002:1).. He substitutes the world culture for the word sociality, and defines sociality as the examination of "individuals in relationships, and the interactive character of social life" which impacts social organization (Carrithers, 1992:34; McNeil, 2002).

Further his research supports the notion that individuals in a whole have an innate desire to connect, communicate and relate to one another, and that these aspects of sociality are the basic foundation for social organization (Carrithers, 1992).

Carrithers also notes that "the significance of sociality stems partly from its ability to mend a failed aspiration carried within the idea of culture" (Carrithers, 1992:35; McNeil, 2002) and claims that culture is recognized among anthropologists traditionally as resulting from society, however such recognition doesn't adequately grasp the social nature of humans of species and fails to recognize the notion that humans related… READ MORE

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