School Community and Teacher For Mid

WHAT IS SOCIETY?

An organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.

A shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior -- an abstract "mental blueprint" or "mental code."

A shared perception of reality, Commonly known as:

• Common sense
• “They say”
• “Everybody knows”

Why bother with societies and cultures?

• Humans are weak
• Societies are mutual support pacts

Let’s build a society: An individual, Two people, More than two… Or twenty… Or twenty million

Purpose of a society:

• 1st: Reduce friction between people in the society
• 2nd: Separate one society from others

Society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It asserts that our lives are guided by social structures, which are relatively stable patterns of social behavior.

Social structure

Refers to the pattern of social relationships in a society. Such structure regulates the interactions among members of the society, providing guidelines within the cultural norms for achieving the goals defined by cultural values. Generally, social structure maintains societal stability. 

Two major components of social structure

• Status: A socially defined position in a group or in a society, which has attached to it one or more roles
• Role: The behavior expected of someone occupying a particular status

Types of Societies

Human beings have created and lived in several types of societies throughout history.

• Preindustrial: Food production is the main economic activity; can be subdivided according to the level of technology and the method of producing food.
• Industrial: Emphasis shifts from the production of food to the production of manufactured goods, made possible by changes in production methods. Increases food production and population, Numbers and kinds of jobs increase, Location of work changes to cities, away from the home, Social processes such as education take the place of family. Japan is a postindustrial society.
• Postindustrial: Much of the economy is involved in providing information and services. Standard of living improves, Education and science are important, Technological advances seen as key, United States is a postindustrial society.

Social Interaction

A social interaction is an exchange between two or more individuals and is a building block of society. Social interaction can be studied between groups of two (dyads), three (triads) or larger social groups. By interacting with one another, people design rules, institutions and systems within which they seek to live.

• Social Interaction: A social exchange between two or more individuals.
• Social group: A collection of humans or animals that share certain characteristics, interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity.
• Dyad: A pair of things standing in particular relation; dyadic relation.

 TYPES OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

What are some common types of social interaction, and what are examples of each?

• Exchange: Interacting in an effort to receive a reward or a return for one’s actions
• Competition: Two or more people or groups are in opposition to achieve a goal that only one can attain
• Conflict: Deliberate attempt to control a person by force, to oppose someone, or to harm another person
• Cooperation: Two or more people or groups working together to achieve a goal that will benefit more than one of them
• Accommodation: A state of balance between cooperation and conflict

Which types of interactions stabilize social structure and which can disrupt it?

•  Accommodation, Exchange, and Cooperation—stabilize social structure 
• Competition and Conflict—can disrupt (Up set) social structure

                                                             

COMMUNITY

Community: The origin of the word "community" comes from the Latin munus, which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other. So community literally means to give among each other."

·         A Community is a place where people come together to share common interests and resources.

·         Community is a social group with some degree of we-feeling and living in a given area

Community is "the smallest territorial group that can embrace all aspects of social life" (Kinsley Davis)

"a community is a group or collection of group that inhibits a locality" (Ogburn and Nimkof)

A community is not “My Community”, It is “Our Community”. Communities are as varied and individual as its members. Often people belong to two or more communities. Each community has a particular role that fulfils a particular need.

·         Family, education, business, work, sport, religion, culture all involve communities that we take for granted as a normal part of our lives.

·         They seem to be a part of the background. It’s only when things are not going the way that we want, that we take any notice of them.

 Communities have various roles / goals:  The role of the community provides the members with a sense of belonging and purpose. Valued community roles provide a common cause or focus for the community.

Institutions: Define the way we interact with each other within the community.

Boundaries: All communities need a way to determine what the community does and how it does it. Boundaries can be physical, virtual or psychological. They define the identity of the community. Without boundaries, the roles of the community become meaningless.

Members: Communities are about caring and sharing. All members share a common cause and have a sense of identity. A sense of belonging is created where the members are connected to, and interact with each other.

Communication: The community needs to be able to communicate with its members in order to achieve its goals. The members communicate with each other to share thoughts, feelings, experiences, skills and knowledge. Clear thinking and expression of thoughts is essential to effective communication.

Skills and resources: The skills and resources of the community provide for the needs of its members. A community needs a set of skills and resources in order to achieve it's goals. They provide an available source of wealth that can be drawn upon when needed. If the community does not have the skills and resources to look after the needs of its members, those skills and resources need to come from somewhere else.

Needs: Balance the needs of the community with the needs of its members. Community Leadership. Understanding the changing internal and external environments and how they relate to the community, Involving all members, Effective communication between all members, Understanding what members need

Teams groups: Teams and groups are an important part of any community in providing for the needs of its members.

Communities that have valued roles in society …

• The spiritual community
• The family community
• The living community
• The recreational community
• The learning community
• The employment community
• The health community
• The internet community
• The blind community
• The disability community

Communities that have de-valued roles in society …

• The AIDS community
• The drugs / rave communities
• The criminal community
• The gay / lesbian communities
• The Muslim community
• The bikie community
• The street community
• The unemployment / homeless communities
• The aged community
• The single parent community