19AR03007

HUMANITIES
Semester III

Faculty : Ar.Sriparvathy Unni

ar.sriparvathy@gmail.com
+91 8281926256
 Module Contents
MODULE 1
Sociology and Its Relation to Architecture
• Definition of Sociology; nature, scope and utility of
Sociology; branches of sociology.

• Different social processes - cooperation, conflict,

competition, accommodation, assimilation, progress and
evolution.

• Forms of social organization: society, community, family,

culture.

• Different family structures and architectural responses to

different family types and housing typologies (traditional
and contemporary).

• Relationship of social, economic and political systems to

the built environment, relevance in Architecture.
PRIMARY CONCEPTS OF SOCIOLOGY
Forms of social organization

SOCIETY

COMMUNITY

FAMILY

CULTURE
Society
• The term society is derived from the Latin word
“sociability” which mean companionship or
friendship. The term society is the most
fundamental one in sociology.

• Definitions
• Morris Ginsberg: A society is a collection of
individuals united by certain relations or mode of
behavior which mark them off from others who do
not enter into these relations or who differ from
them in behavior.
• MacIver & Page: Society is a web of social
relationship.
• Prof. Giddings: Society is the union itself, the
organization and the sum of formal relations in
which associating individuals are bound together.
 A society is a group of people involved in persistent social interaction, or a
large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory. It could also be
sharing the same political authority and/or dominant cultural expectations.
• INDIVIDUAL – SINGLE PERSON
• FAMILY – Smallest unit of society
• NEIGHBORHOOD
• COMMUNITY

A half-section of the 12th-century South Tang Dynasty : the painting portrays servants,
musicians, monks, children, guests, and hosts all in a single social environment.
Characteristics of Society
• 1. Society consists of people: Society is composed of people. Without people no society can exists
no relationship no social life at all.

• 2. Mutual interaction and mutual awareness: Society is a group of people have continuous
interaction with each other. It refers to the reciprocal contract between two or more persons. It is
processes where by men are interdependent on each other. An individual is a member of society
so long as he engages his relationship with other members of society.

• 3. Social interaction is made possible because of mutual awareness. Society is understood as a

network of social relationship; but not all relation is social relations. Social relationship exists only
when the members are aware of each other.

• 4. Society depends on likeness: The principle of likeness is essential or society exists among those
who resemble each other. Likeness refers to the similarities with regard to their needs, works aims,
ideal, values and outlook towards life and so on.
Just as the "birds of the same feather flock together," men belonging to the same species called
"Homo Sapiens" have many things in common.
• 5. Society rests on difference: Society also implies difference. A
society based entirely on likeness and uniformities is bound to
be loose in socialites. If all the men are alike, their social
relationship would be very much limited. So we find differences
in the society e.g. biological differences between the people,
differ from one another in their looks, person personality, .ability,
talent, attitude, intelligence and faith and so on. People pursue
different activities because of these differences. Thus in society
we find technocrats, bureaucrat, labors, businessmen,
engineers, doctors, advocates and other working in different
capacities in different field of society. However difference
alone cannot create society. It is subordinate to likeness.

• 6. Co-Operation and division of labor: Primarily likeness and

secondarily difference create the division of labor. Division of
labor involves specific share of a common task e.g. at house
work is divided and shared by father, mother and children.
Division of labor leads to specialization. Division of labor and
specialization are the hallmark of modern complex society.
Division of labor is possible because of cooperation, society is
based on co-operation. It is the very basis of social life. Man
satisfies many of their needs and desires fulfill interests through
joint efforts. Co-operation among people may be direct or
indirect. Thus co-operation and division of labor have made
social solidarity or social cohesion in the society.
• 7. Society implies inter dependence also: Social
relationships are characterized by inter
dependence family; the most basic group is based
on the interdependence of man and woman. One
depends upon the others for the satisfaction of
one's need. As society advances or modernize the
area of interdependence are more.

• 8. Society is dynamic: Society is dynamic its

continuous changing changeability is an inherent
quality of human society. From Vedic period to
modern period has passes through so many
changes which we can be visible e.g. changes in
the customs of wishing elders.

• 9. Social Control: society has its own ways arid

means of controlling the behavior of its member,
cooperation no doubt existence society. But side
by side competitions, conflicts, tensions are also
turned in the society themselves, they may
damage the very fabric of society. These behavior
or the activities of people are to be regulated.
Society has formal and informal means of control.
Community
Definition
• Community is a geographical area having common centers of interests and activities.
• Community is a circle in which there is a way of common life of living among the people (e.g.
village tribe, fishermen community).

Bogardus:
 Community is a social group with some degree of "we feeling"
and living in a given area".

Kingsley Davis:
 Community is the smallest territorial group that can embrace
all aspects of social life.

Ogburn & Nimcoff:

 A community is a group or collection of group that inhabit a
locality.
Elements of Community
• The main basis of community are Locality & Community
Sentiment

• 1. Locality:
• A community is a territorial group. It always occupies some
geographic area.
• Locality is the physical basis of community. Living together
facilitates people to develop social contacts given protection,
safety and security.

• 2. Community Sentiments:
• Locality alone cannot make a group or community.
• A community is essentially an area of common living with a
feeling of belonging.
• There must be the common living with its awareness of sharing a
way of life as well as the common earth.
• Community sentiments mean a feeling of belonging together.
The members must be aware of their staying together and
sharing common interest. The members develop sense of "we
feelings".
Other Aspects of Community
• 1. Group of people: Community is a group of people. Whenever the
individuals live together in such a way that they share the basic
conditions of a common life. We call them forming a community.

• 2. Permanency: A community is not transitory like crowd. It

essentially includes a permanent life in a definite place.

• 3. In communities the people at wider ends associate not for the

fulfillment of a particular end. The ends of a community are wider.
These are natural and not artificial.

• 4. Likeness: In a community there is a likeness in language customs.

• 5. A particular name: Every community has some particular name

from which community gets recognition and identity in the society.
Eg. Bengalis, Marwaris community.

• 6. Legal Status: A community does not have any legal status. It

cannot sue nor can it be sued in the eyes of law. It has no rights
and duties.
• 7. Size of the community: Community involves the idea of
size. A community may be big or small. A small community
may be included in a wider community. A city and village
may be included under community called district.

• 8. Regulation of relations: Every community develops in

cause of time, a system of traditions, custom morals,
practices, a bundle of rules and regulations to regulate the
relation of its members. The sense of what they have in
common memories and tradition, customs and institutions
and define the general need of man to live together.

• 9. Spontaneous: Community normally not formed by human

being but community normally becomes established in a
natural way. They are not deliberately created. Individuals
become its members by birth itself hence communities are
spontaneous in their origin and for the development of
course. They cannot come into being suddenly and
automatically.

• 10. Community is concrete: It includes people living in a

particular locality and having feelings of oneness. We can
see this group and locate its existence.
 Comparison between Society & Community
 The fundamental difference between community and society is the difference between
the part and whole. To arrive at a distinction between two things we have to place them
apart from each other but to take away community from the whole, from the society is to
destroy the completeness of society.
 A community cannot be self sufficient because of its limited scope, nature and it is more
or less impossible in our modern complex society. It is possible for a society to become
self-sufficient. In fact every society tries to throw bonds of dependency to the extent
possible.
 Community Society

1. Population is one of the most essential 1. Population is important but here the population is
characteristics of a community irrespective of the conditioned by a feeling of oneness. Thus conscious
consideration whether people have or do not relations are more important than the mere population
have conscious relations. for a society.
2. A community by nature is discrete as 2. By nature and character, society is abstract.
compared with society.
3. For community area or locality is very essential 3. Society is area less and shapeless and for a society
and that perhaps is the reason that the area is no consideration.
community had a definite shape.
4. A community has comparatively narrow scope 4. A society has heterogeneity and because of its wide
of community sentiments and as such it cannot scope and field can embrace people having different
have wide heterogeneity. conflicts.
5. The scope of community is narrow than that of 5. The society has much wider scope as compared with
society because community came much later the community.
than the society. Though the primitive people
might not have understood the importance of
community but they realized that of the society
and lived in it.
6. In a community every effort is made to avoid 6. In a society likeness and conflict can exist side by side
differences or conflicts and to bring likeness as and in fact the scope of society is so vast that there is
nearly as possible because cooperation and every possibility of adjustment.
conflicts cannot exist in a community.
 Family
• In human society, family is a group of people related either by consanguinity
(recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of families
is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideally, families would offer
predictability, structure, and safety as members mature and participate in the
community. Additionally, as the basic unit for meeting the basic needs of its members,
it provides a sense of boundaries for performing tasks in a safe environment, ideally
builds a person into a functional adult, transmits culture, and ensures continuity of
humankind with precedents of knowledge.

• It is a social group consisting of a father, mother and

one or more children. It is the most immediate group a
child is exposed to. In fact, it is the most enduring
group, which has tremendous influence on the life of
an individual, from birth until death. It also accounts
for the most enduring social relationship found in
society.
 Definitions
• Robert Bierstedt: The family, almost without
question, is the most important of any groups
that human experience offers … the family … is
with us always, or more precisely, we are with it.

• M. F. Nimkoff: Family is a more or less durable

association of husband and wife, with or
without child, or of a man or woman alone, with
children.

• Burgess and Locke: Family is a group of persons

united by ties of marriage, blood or adoption
constituting a single household interacting and
inter-communicating with each other in their
respective social roles of husband and wife,
father and mother, son and daughter, brother
and sister, creating a common culture
 Characteristics of Family
• 1. Family is a Universal group. It is found in some form or
the other, in all types of societies whether primitive or
modern.
• 2. A family is based on marriage, which results in a mating
relationship.
• 3. Every family provides an individual with a name, and
hence, it is a source of nomenclature.
• 4. Family is the group through which descent or ancestry
can be traced.
• 5. Family is the most important group in any individual’s
life.
• 6. Family is the most basic and important group in primary
socialization of an individual.
• 7. A family is generally limited in size, even large, joint and
extended families.
• 8. The family is the most important group in
society; it is the nucleus of all institutions,
organizations and groups.
• 9. Family is based on emotions and
sentiments. Mating, procreation, maternal
and fraternal devotion, love and affection
are the basis of family ties.
• 10. The family is a unit of emotional and
economic cooperation.
• 11. Each member of family shares duties
and responsibilities.
• 12. Every family is made up of husband
and wife, and/or one or more children,
both natural and adopted.
• 13. Each family is made up of different
social roles, like those of husband, wife,
mother, father, children, brothers or sisters.
 Functions of Family
As a social group and as an important social institution, family performs various functions
that are as follows:
1. Family is a unit through which procreation takes place.
Marriage establishes a family, which is further reinforced
with the birth of children.
2. The process of reproduction is institutionalized,
regulated and controlled in a family. The family
legitimizes the act of reproduction.
3. Family helps in propagation of human species and
perpetuation of human race.
4. Family provides an individual with an identity.
5. It is through the family that every family name is carried
on from one generation to another.
6. Family is responsible for the production and upbringing
of children.
7. Family is an important agent of socialization. The
primary socialization of any individual takes place within
the family.
8. Family is also an important agent of cultural transmission. Culture is transmitted from
one generation to another through family. All the aspects of culture are learnt within
the family structure.
9. Family is a great source of strength, emotional and psychological, for its members. All
the members are aware that they can depend upon their family in the times of
need.
10. Family provides an individual with a home, and establishes enduring social
relationships.
11. The family is the basis of division of labour, where all members have their duties and
obligations towards each other.
12. A family fulfills the economic needs of its members. This function has undergone
transformation, with families moving from being production and consumption units in
earlier times, to becoming more of consuming units rather than a producing one.
Now-a-days, members of a family no longer produce things themselves; rather, they
go out and work for some monetary remuneration or wages.
13. Family is traditionally responsible for the education of the children.
14. Family also has a recreational function. Earlier, most recreation was family-based.
Family gatherings during festivals, functions, family reunions, marriages, brought entire
families together. Now-a-days, taking family members out on holidays or for movies,
plays, dinners, or parties, etc., perform the same function.
 Culture
• Culture includes values, beliefs, norms, knowledge,
language, and symbols. Sets of traditions, rules, symbols
that shape and are enacted as feelings, thoughts, and
behaviors of groups of people.

• A society's belief and values can be essential for

technology to grow and develop. Some societies tend to
be more conservative and would like for things to continue
to be the same, which will likely deter that society from
social changes. However, as a society gained more
knowledge, there will be people who will want to push for
change because of that gained knowledge. New
information and discoveries will result in new inventions.

• Referring primarily to learned behavior as distinct from that

which is given by nature, or biology, culture has been used
to designate everything that is humanly produced (habits,
beliefs, arts, and artifacts) and passed from one
generation to another.
 In this formulation, culture is distinguished from nature, and distinguishes one society from
another.
• LANGUAGE: a system of verbal symbols through
which humans communicate ideas, feelings,
experiences. Through language these can be
accumulated and transmitted across
generations. Language is not only a tool, it also
structures and shapes our experiences of the
world and what we see around us.
• VALUES: preferences - ideas people share
about what is good, bad, desirable,
undesirable. These are usually very general,
abstract, cut across variations in situations.
• NORMS: concepts and behaviors that
constitute the normal. Behavioral rules or
standards for social interaction. These often
derive from values but also contradict values;
sometimes derives from statistical norms but
often not. Serve as both guides and criticisms
for individual behavior. Norms establish
expectations that shape interaction.