Wednesday, December 13, 2006

National

-Shiv Raj Dahal & Khagendra Prasai

MEANING OF SOCIETY

In our day-to-day communication, the term 'society' is broadly used to designate a particular group. Thus we speak of Hindu society, Buddhist society, Dalit society, Newar society, Chepang society etc. But in sociology and anthropology, the term society is used to mean social relationship of the members of the group rather than the group itself. Let us look into the concept with some definitions of society given by some sociologists and anthropologists.

According to MacIver and Page, " Society is a system of usage and procedures, of authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of control of human behavior and of liberties. This ever-changing complex system we call society. It is the web of social relationships."

In the words of Professor Wright, " Society is not a group of people, it is the system of relationship that exists between the individuals of the group."

For Giddings, "society is the union itself, the organization, the sum of formal relations in which associating members are bound together."

Therefore, human society is the totality of human relationships and the important aspect of society is system of social relationships. What is social relationship? What is its psychical condition? Let us approach the answer with some illustrations. There is relationship between a table and a book, the earth and the sun, pen and ink etc. Each of these is affected by the existence of the other but social relationship does not exist because the psychical condition is lacking. By psychical condition, we mean, a condition in which the members are aware of the appearance of one another. Therefore, society exists only where members behave towards each other in a way determined by their identification of each other. Any relationship so determined is broadly called 'social'.

Man is a social animal and is dependent on society for protection, comfort, nurture, education, equipment, opportunities and multitudes of definite service which society provides. He is dependent on society also for the content of his thoughts, his dreams, his ambition and for the fulfillment of many other necessities.

ELEMENTS OF GOOD SOCIETY

We desire a good society. But our view of what constitutes 'good' depends on our ideals, values and valuations. The same society, to some people may be good and to others it may not be so. However, there are some features that are universally recognized as constituting a good society. Some of them are:

Peace

A good society is characterized not only by the substantial absence of physical violence but also of any forms of hostile conflict among the individuals or groups. Peace and order are maintained in such a society, primarily, through proper education of its members `and also by the use of force if need be. In a peaceful society, all disputes between or among the individuals or groups are settled through peaceful means such as dialogue, interaction, arbitration, legal proceedings in a court of justice etc. A peaceful society establishes harmony among diverse groups by cultivating mutual respect for each other.

Equality Freedom and Responsibility

Equality is a state of absence of all forms of discrimination and distinction of any kind on grounds of race, sex, caste, tribe, language, religion, ideology, social origin and any other status or any of these. Everyone has equal rights to the enjoyment of the fruits of development.

Freedom is the people's right of to live in dignity and equality with all others to participate in the design and conduct of all affairs that affect their lives. In a free society, everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community and freely enjoy the arts and share the fruits of scientific advancement. People have multitudes of freedoms such as freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly, of unions and associations, of profession and occupation of their choice.

A good society which ensures freedom to its members also requires them to be dutiful and responsible towards their community. Discharge of 'social duty' in a very responsible manner by all its members is an equally important aspect of a good society as is the guarantee of freedom. Individuals' responsibility includes, among others, due recognition and respect for others, regard of morality, public order and general welfare.

Prosperity

A good society is economically prosperous enough to maintain a standard of living adequate for the well being of all its members, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. High production of goods and services and equitable distribution of wealth among its members characterize a good society.

Development & Environmental Concern

A good society carries out its 'development' through maximum utilization of natural resources, but, at the same time showing a serious and genuine concern for the maintenance of quality environment. The activities for the maintenance of quality environment includes nullification or minimization of pollution and maintenance of balanced cycles of exploitation of natural resources such as plants, animals and material resources, and their renewal on a sustainable basis.

Democratic Participation

In a good society, all citizens actively participate directly or indirectly, on equal footing, in all their social, political and developmental activities. In such a society, basis of government is the will of people. Such society ensures the enjoyment of the fruits of such participation to all its members on an equitable basis. In a democratic society, people freely participate in discussions and debates and thereby make decision on multitudes of social issues.

Human Rights

Undoubtedly, 'human rights' is a subject and issue which is most widely talked about, written on and raised. The notion of human rights spread all over the world after the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights in 1948 by UNO. There is very little disagreement and dispute on ideals and principles of human rights. Some of the principles, among others, enshrined in the declaration are equality of all men and women regardless of their race, religion, caste, tribe, social origin, ideology or any other status, freedoms to all, right to life, liberty, security and standard of living adequate for their health and well being and right to democratic participation in the formation of their government. A good society is characterized by the fuller realization of human rights or one that is constantly making genuine efforts to protect and ensure human rights for all its members and is progressively successful in its efforts.

Social Integration

According to political sciences, provincial solidarity, central authority, organization, which could unify, and development of character are the most important aspects for unification. Sociologists say that not only geographical unity but also required are political, economic, social and moral unification. For funding special objectives of society and management for social changes processes arranging co-ordination between families, caste, religions, cultures, languages, co-procedure of society is said to be social unification. It is necessary to create coordination and understanding between such active parties for durability of social management.

Such a system of coordination and understanding is taken now a day as social properties. Such social property is built up on cooperation in society, traditional help each other, trust, social responsibility and on notion of well being each other. Necessity of unification is more important in countries having multiple castes, languages, religions and regional majorities. In a multiple society strong, durable, and capable social, political and economic relations between communities are very much necessary.

Social unification provides strength to fulfill internal necessities and to face outside challenges, and it helps to eradicate negative tendencies like interdependence, discrimination, and disappointment present in society. Should internal diversity turn into hostility powerful required for social development, could be exhausted and unable to face internal and eternal challenges of society. It is necessary to save social unification from division. The following three processes have most important roles in support of social unification:

Socialization, System of social mobilization and Decision making

TYPES OF SOCIETY

Human societies can be classified on the bases their evolutionary or developmental stage, mode of production, level of technological advancement, subsistence strategy etc. Here, an attempt is made to classify society on the basis of subsistence strategy and level of technological advancement.

Primitive Society

The earliest and the simplest form of human society is said to be the primitive society. This type of society is characterized by the presence of an elementary or basic level of technology and social organization. Different forms of primitive societies are:

Hunting and Gathering Society:

A society that subsists by exploring non-domestic or wild resources which includes the hunting of large and small game animals and the collection of various plant foods. The job of hunting is generally done by men and gathering by women and children but for the most part hunting and gathering are jointly cooperative activities.

The hunter-gatherer typically lives as part of a small camp or band made up of kin and are nomadic. When the games move away or become exhausted and vegetable foods are used up, there is no alternative but to follow the games and search for fresh vegetable supplies. This mobility limits the extent of material culture. Material culture simply includes body-painting, wall painting, beads, metal and bone ornaments as well as hunting weapons such as nets, spears, bows and arrows etc.

Religion is not much developed in such a society. Some practice animism and others worship nature. In the absence of formal government, religious belief helps to create sense of law and order and also a strong feeling of unity

The hunting and gathering society evolved in different parts of the world at different periods in time. Hunters-Gatherers are still existent in some parts of the world. Some of the contemporary hunters-gatherers are Eskimos of America, !Kung Bushman of Kalahari desert, and the Raute of Nepal.

Fishing Society:

A society that subsists by activities such as fishing in the wild resources that sometimes is supplemented by killing of other water animals is called fishing society. Fishing falls within the domain of men and women are confined to domestic and other works. The fishermen use simple tools such as net, hook etc. for fishing

The fishermen lead a sedentary life and are limited in size. They have relatively dependable productions. Some of contemporary fishermen are the Fishermen of Northwest Coast, Majhis of Southern Nepal.

Pastoral Society

A society whose primary economic activities includes tending herds and flocks of domesticated animals by moving on a regular basis or wondering with them in search of pasture. Such a strategy is also known as pastorialism Some contemporary pastoralists are Basseri of Souhtern Iran, Karimjong of Northeast Uganda. The domesticated stocks include reindeer, sheep, goats, bovines (cattle, zebu, yak), equines (horse, ass), camels etc. From these animals, the pastoralists get milk, blood, flesh, fur etc. for consumption as well as for marketing.

The pastoralists are mainly nomadic and have a well-developed institution of property which is held in herds, pastures and route between pastures. But in some areas they are semi-nomadic and in others, they are sedentary.

Horticultural Society

A society which subsists by cultivating land with the help of simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes is said to be a horticultural society. The horticulturists normally cultivate seeds and root crops such as yams, taro, manioc, sweet potatoes. Horticulture is generally designated as being less technologically developed than agriculture.

Horticulturist evolved in the different parts of the world at different time in human history. Some still exist in different parts of the world like the farmers of the outer island of Java who practice 'swidden' cultivation In this system, the farmers clear a plot of land in the forest, allow the vegetation to dry, burn it and plant the crops. After one or two harvests, fertility is exhausted and the plot is abandoned and a new field is cleared in the forest. The abandoned plot is gradually reoccupied by forest vegetation and after ten or fifteen years it may again be cleared and farmed.

The horticulturists have very low density of population because cultivation is done with primitive tool and technology and they have a very little knowledge about farming

Agricultural Society

A society which practices cultivation of crops and domestication of animals for food and raw materials with the help of ploughs, spade and animal-driven machinery is known as Agricultural society. The increase in production and surplus of crops has made the sedentary life possible for agriculturists. Their production is also marketed.

This type of society is characterized by the development of art, architecture, sculpture, woodcraft etc to a great extent. There also exist, along side agriculture, varied economic occupations such as those of artisans, weavers, cobblers, blacksmiths. Such a society is characterized by simple division of labor. Therefore an agricultural society is more complex and developed than horticultural society.

Family is not only reproductive and child-rearing agency but also an economic unit. The family collectively carries out all farm work like tilling the land, growing the crops, harvesting it etc.

Industrial Society

A form of society whose primary economic activity is mass production of goods with the help of power-driven machinery in a factory system is said to be an industrial society. Industrial society is the legacy of the industrial revolution which first took place in England during 1860s and then spread to other countries in Western Europe, to the United States and then to other parts of the world over a period of time. The industrial revolution occurred mainly due to the invention and development of more efficient and powerful machines and the hand-production system centered in home was replaced with the machine-production system centered in factories. The industrial revolution increased the proportion of population engaged in non-agricultural occupation and made possible the growth of numerous large cities. This also gave rise to a class of factory workers who worked for wages and did not own the means of the production and goods they produced. In this way the industrial revolution brought about a tremendous social changes. Nowadays almost all nations are making efforts towards industrialization. In some parts it is rapid, and in other it is slow.

Some of the fundamental features of industrial society are as follows:

First, household is not the unit of production, almost all production is carried out in a factory system. Second, an intensified or sharp division of labor is conspicuous. Third, there is a constant evolution of nuclear family in the wake of breakdown of joint or extended family. Fourth, unlike in traditional agricultural society, an individual's occupation is not determined by his belonging to a particular group but by his capability. Therefore social mobility is high in an industrial society.

Information Society

Information society is a society which is centered on knowledge and the production of new knowledge and extensive mass sharing of such knowledge with the help of efficient and comfortable media of communication such as radio, telephone, fax, computer, e-mail, and internet. Information society is, sometimes called post-industrial society. In such a society, knowledge is seen a having a dominant role in production and consumption.

According to Daniel Bell (1974), knowledge is becoming the key source of innovation and policy formulation for society. Therefore knowledge-based professionals are seen as becoming increasingly dominant.

With tremendous introduction of information technology the world is in the process of becoming a 'global village'. However, the fact that a majority of the world population is deprived of such facilities should not be ignored. Communication among the people throughout the world is becoming efficiently two-way and rapid which was never thought of before.

PROCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE

Meaning of Social Change

Before dealing with the process of social change, it will be useful to define social change.

H. E. Jones defines social change as " variations in, or modifications of, any aspect ofsocial processes, social patterns, social interaction, or social organization."

T. B. Bottomore defines social change as " change in social structure, or in particular social institution or in the relationship between institutions."

According to William P. Scott, "social change refers to change in established patterns ofsocial relationship- for example, in family, religion or in economic life."

According to MacIver and Page, "the change in social relationship can alone be regarded as social change". Therefore, social change is change in any aspect of society that brings change in social relationships.

Process of social change

Society is an ever-changing entity, is rapid in some places and slow in oters. The principal processes of social change, according to social scientists, are as follows:

Social Change as Evolutionary Process

The Darwin 's theory of organic evolution exerted a powerful influence not only on biological theories and paradigms but also on social theories of the time and then aftermath. A great number of the social scientists made an extensive application of Darwin ' evolutionary theory to interpret the process of social change. Some made modifications and advanced the evolutionary theory to more convincingly interpret the process of social change. According to this process, a society develops from simple to complex, from more homogeneous to more heterogeneous characterized by the increasing differentiation of the parts and the integration of the system. Among the exponents of evolutionary theory are Herbert Spencer, L. H. Morgan and J. Steward.

Some evolutionists hold that every society goes through a limited number of fixed stages. This type of social change is called unilinear evolution. On the other hand some sociologists and anthropologists hold that human society as a whole has followed discernible path of evolution with varying stages and patterns in different cultures. This perspective is called universal evolutionism. Sociologists and anthropologists have extensively used these theories to interpret the evolution of society from hunting-gathering to horticultural, from horticultural to agricultural and from agricultural to industrial.

Social Change as Cyclical Process

Some Social scientists and philosophers hold that there is no straight line evolution but there are discernible stages or cycles which a society may go through more than once or even repeatedly. This process of social change is known as a cyclical process. Cyclical theorists equate society with an individual organism and therefore maintain that society like an organism has birth, adolescence, youth, maturity, decline and decay. Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee are leading exponents of this theory.

Social Change as Dialectical Process

The great social scientist and philosopher Karl Marx put forward a different approach to interpret the process and cause of social change which is known as dialectical materialism.

According to this theory, social change proceeds in system of three stages- thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This theory is also known as theory of conflict or class struggle. Every social stage is unstable because the productive forces are constantly developing into new forms. Each stage of society has two opposing forces- thesis and antithesis, for examples, master and slave in a slave society, landlord and serf in a feudal society, workers and owners in a capitalist society. In course of time, as result of constant conflict between these two forces, 'synthesis', a new stage, comes into being. For example, landlord and serf are thesis and antithesis in a feudal society. Out of the conflict between these two, a new stage known as capitalism evolves, which is synthesis.

Diffusion as a Process of Social Change:

Diffusion is the spread of cultural traits such as religious belief, technology, political doctrines and ideas, languages, forms etc or social practices from one society or group to another. Diffusion occurs through economic or political domination, economic interdependence, colonialism, imperialism, migration of the people, cultural contact etc. Diffusion, sometimes, is a two way and sometime one way process. In this process, developed societies are most likely to influence the process, however, some culture traits from less developed societies also diffuse into developed societies. When some traits of culture from one society happen to get diffused into another, sometimes there is modification in the existing culture traits and sometimes there is development of new traits. Diffusion has occurred on a wide scale in human history and is continuing on wider scale at present thus a society can be said to exist as a part of single world society.

PROCESS OF SOCIAL INTEGRATION

The uniting or fitting together of parts or units of a social system, individuals and diverse group of societies to constitute a 'whole' is said to be social integration. Social integration is indispensable to maintain peace and accelerate the development in a society. In a society with multi linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious groups like Nepal the issue of social integration is even more serious and important. Now, let us discuss some processes of social integration.

Cultural Integration or Integration among Cultural Standards

The norms and values are most important constituent parts of all cultures. These norms and values may or may not be consistent with each other. If they are not consistent with each other, social system can not operate smoothly. Therefore, it is important to bring mutual adjustment of diverse or conflicting culture traits to form a harmonious system. This process is called cultural integration. For example, through diffusion, new traits may be absorbed into a culture. The new traits may be in conflict with certain traditional traits. Therefore, the resolution of this conflict through modification and coordination of new and old traits or through adoption of more useful ones which are consistent with other cultural traits is cultural integration.

Normative Integration

As said above, every society has certain norms and values that guide and shape individuals' and groups' behavior. Consistency between cultural standards and conduct of persons or groups is known as normative integration. In this process, socialization plays an important role through which individuals or groups become integrated into a social whole by learning the beliefs, skills, standards of judgement and their role that are necessary for their effective participation in social life. Another important means of bringing about normative integration is social control whereby society brings its members into conformity with the accepted standards of conduct by imposing systemic and relatively consistent restraints as well as by motivating people to adhere to these standards. However, some social scientists point out that sometimes deviance from existing norms is creative and innovative and too firm a conformation may lead to lack of adaptability under changing circumstances.

Functional Integration

Society is made up of different parts or units, all of which have certain specialized function(s) to carry out which help to maintain the social whole. Different specialized parts must be mutually interdependent, complementing each other, fitting together to form an integrated whole. This is known as functional integration. Therefore, functional integration is integration among roles, groups, institution and system of division of labor.

Communicative Integration

One of the most important integrating factors in a mass society is 'consensus' among the members on fundamental social issues. In modern democratic societies, mass communication is very helpful in generating and maintaining consensus. Mass communication is significantly important in bringing close the center and periphery, leaders and the masses etc. Through mass communication ideas and opinions are generated and shared among people, which help in integrating the society.

Participatory Integration

In a modern democratic society, one of the most important processes that helps bring about social integration is direct or indirect participation of all citizens on the basis of equality in all social activities such as politics, development etc. To reach a high degree of integration, such participation must be ensured in the process of decision-making and carrying out of social activities as well as in sharing the fruits thereof.

Note: This chapter is already published in Nepali book entitled "Contemporary Nepali Society".