The Social Animal
Society, Interaction & The Architecture of Collectivity
Master Purpose
WHAT IS SOCIETY?
WHY DO HUMAN BEINGS LIVE TOGETHER?
HOW DOES AN INDIVIDUAL BECOME A SOCIAL BEING?
HOW CAN SOCIAL LIFE BE STUDIED SCIENTIFICALLY?
The Knowledge Bridge
Curriculum Progression Architecture
LAYER 08: COMPETITIVE EXAMS (UPSC)
LAYER 07: CURRENT APPLICATIONS
LAYER 06: INDIAN SOCIETY
LAYER 05: ADVANCED UNIVERSITY
LAYER 04: BA / UG CORE
LAYER 03: CLASS 11–12 SOCIOLOGY
LAYER 02: CLASS 9–10 SOCIAL-SCIENCE
LAYER 01: CLASS 6–8 FOUNDATION
The Sociological Matrix
Ontology of Social Life & Scientific Study
SUB-REALM 01
Human & Social Life
- Human beings as social beings
- Individual vs Collective life
- Dependence & Interdependence
- Social existence & Environment
SUB-REALM 02
What is Society?
- Meaning and Definitions
- Society as a network of relationships
- Society vs Community/Association
- Structure, Culture, and Institutions
SUB-REALM 03
Individual ↔ Society
- Individualism vs Collectivism
- Nature vs Nurture
- Freedom vs Social constraints
- Personal choices and social forces
SUB-REALM 04
What is Sociology?
- Meaning, Nature, and Scope
- Purpose as a social science
- Sociology vs Common sense
- Objective vs subjective understanding
SUB-REALM 05
Sociological Imagination
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- C. Wright Mills' framework
- Personal troubles vs Public issues
- Connecting biography to history
- Seeing the strange in the familiar (De-familiarization)
SUB-REALM 06
Emergence of Sociology
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- Enlightenment & Scientific Revolution
- Industrial & French Revolutions
- Capitalism, Modernity & Secularization
- Need to study social disorder
SUB-REALM 07
Sociology & Sciences
- History, Economics, Political Science
- Psychology, Anthropology, Demography
- Similarities, Differences, Interdisciplinarity
SUB-REALM 08
Social Interaction
- Social contact & Communication
- Symbolic & Face-to-face interaction
- Cooperation, Competition, Conflict
- Accommodation & Assimilation
SUB-REALM 09
Social Relationships
- Primary vs Secondary relationships
- Formal vs Informal
- Reciprocity, Trust, Dependence
- Social Networks
SUB-REALM 10
The Social Group
- Characteristics & Meaning
- In-group vs Out-group
- Reference & Peer groups
- Small vs Large formal groups
SUB-REALM 11
Community
- Locality & Common life
- Community feeling & Belonging
- Rural, Urban, and Virtual communities
SUB-REALM 12
Society as a System
- Social structure & Organization
- Institutions, Roles, Statuses
- Norms, Values, Social integration
SUB-REALM 13
Basic Social Processes
→←
↑↓
- Associative (Cooperation, Assimilation)
- Dissociative (Competition, Conflict)
- Differentiation & Integration
SUB-REALM 14
Types of Society
- Hunting/Gathering to Agrarian
- Traditional vs Feudal
- Industrial/Capitalist/Socialist
- Post-industrial, Digital, Global
SUB-REALM 15
Micro & Macro
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- Micro: Everyday life, interaction, identity.
- Macro: Institutions, class, global systems.
- The Micro ↔ Macro link.
SUB-REALM 16 (CORE)
Social Action
WHY?
- Weber's Interpretive sociology (Verstehen)
- Instrumentally rational vs Value-rational
- Affectual & Traditional action
- Meaning & Motivation
SUB-REALM 17 (CORE)
Social Fact & Life
FACT
- Durkheim's Social Facts (Externality/Constraint)
- Collective consciousness & representations
- Mechanical vs Organic solidarity
- Anomie
SUB-REALM 18 (CORE)
Structure & Agency
- Constraint vs Choice (Social reproduction)
- Bourdieu: Habitus, Practice, Field
- Giddens: Structuration theory
SUB-REALM 19 (CORE)
Theory Gateway
- Functionalism, Conflict, Marxism
- Symbolic interactionism, Phenomenology
- Feminist, Rational choice, Structuralism
- Postmodern & Critical theory approaches
SUB-REALM 20 (CORE)
Doing Sociology
- Hypothesis, Variables, Operationalization
- Qualitative vs Quantitative / Mixed methods
- Observation, Survey, Interview, Ethnography
- Validity, Reliability, Reflexivity, Ethics
The Thinker Vault
Architects of the Sociological Imagination
AUGUSTE COMTE
- Positivism
- Social statics
- Social dynamics
HARRIET MARTINEAU
- Early sociological observation
- Society, morals and political economy
HERBERT SPENCER
- Evolutionary sociology
- Society as organism
KARL MARX
- Class & Capital
- Conflict & Alienation
- Historical materialism
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
- Social facts & Solidarity
- Division of labour
- Anomie & Suicide
MAX WEBER
- Social action & Verstehen
- Rationalization
- Authority & Bureaucracy
GEORG SIMMEL
- Forms of interaction
- Dyad & Triad
- Social distance
G.H. MEAD
- Self
- I / Me
- Generalized other
C.H. COOLEY
- Looking-glass self
ERVING GOFFMAN
- Dramaturgy
- Presentation of self
PIERRE BOURDIEU
- Habitus
- Capital
- Field & Practice
ANTHONY GIDDENS
- Structuration
- Agency ↔ Structure