SOC211: Lecture 1
Social Order
- How is society possible?
- Continued existence of a set of social relationships over time (predictability)
- Hierarchical (stratified; inequality):
Economic (access to material goods)
Political (power over others)
Status
- Dimensions of social order
Maintenance of social order= social control
1) Justification: Belief in the legitimacy of social order
a) Traditional beliefs
b) Discourses (ideologies): religion, scientific, political..
c) Usefulness (utility)
2) Force
- Extracting pro-order conduct
- Fear of punishment
3) Reward
- For pro-order behaviour
Justification
A) Socialization
- Inculcation with beliefs..
- Formation of pro-social psychological mechanisms
- Guilt/Shame, respect, loyalty
- Extreme point: Indoctrination (propaganda, brain wash)
B) Education
- May include indoctrination
C) Appeal to Rationality
- Arguments in favour of usefulness of order
Indoctrination can be referred or compared to Nazi Germany and Communist
Russia
Example: Beliefs and Legitimacy of social order
- Rich are smarter
- Rich work harder
- Poor are lazy
- Social order is God-ordained
- It is the natural way of things
- It is our traditionForce
- a-formal: criminal justice system
- b-formal: peer, family..
- Depends on severity of deviance:
Deviance ----------------------- > Crime
- Family, friends, schools, community, justice system…
Reward
- Reward for conformity: social and psychological
- Money, rank, safety, social respect, self-respect…
Failure to control
- Crime and Deviance
- Threat to existing order
- Conflict
- Chaos
Forms of Deviance
1) Behavioural (from socially- expected behaviour)
- Indicated by laws, norms…
- Right/Wrong conduct
- Forms of laws:
Religious
Tradition (unwritten)
Positive (written)
Laws: all aspect of life
- Work, courtship, marriage, worship, driving, alcohol consumption, disputes…
- In complex societies: specialized laws
Criminal law
- Serious misconducts
- Consequence
More
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