Making Sense of Society: Understanding the Social World

This document explores the concept of understanding the social world and its impact on individuals. It covers topics such as qualitative and quantitative research, social alienation, mechanical and organic solidarity, health and well-being, social movements, and debates on society-identity and diverse social groups. The document provides insights into the theories and concepts related to these topics.

Making sense of Society -
Understanding the Social world
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Qualitative and Quantitative research.........................................................................................3
Alienation....................................................................................................................................4
Mechanical and organic solidarity..............................................................................................4
Health and well being..................................................................................................................4
Social Movement........................................................................................................................4
Demonstrate understanding of principal debates relating to society-identity and diverse social
groups..........................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
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INTRODUCTION
To develop an understanding of social world becomes important in order to create
knowledge of market and surroundings. According to this view, social backgrounds have strong
impact on an individual's attitudes, behaviour and life styles. Every individual has a right to
believe and act, in accordance of their surroundings, cultural values and social institutions in
which they are living (Acosta, Rizvi and Santos, 2020). Social backgrounds and society in
which an individual belong are affecting the behaviour of that individual to a great degree. There
are certain major decisions that an individual takes and these decisions are influenced by
number of factors, such as, gender, race, physical attributes, age, social class, religious beliefs,
social support network. Another important factor in this context is that social behaviour of every
individual differs to a great extent and also it is not predictable.
MAIN BODY
Qualitative and Quantitative research
Qualitative research: It is the research which involves collecting and analysing non-numerical
data to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. This research is based on the disciplines of
social sciences like psychology, sociology and anthropology. This method is not only about
“what” people think but also “why” they think so.
There are some most common qualitative methods:
 Focus group: it includes a number of respondents(6-10) from within your target market.
 Interviews: questions are asked personally on one by one basis.
 Surveys: questionnaire are distributed with open ended questions.
 Secondary Research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, image, audio or video
recordings etc.
Qualitative research method works towards solving complex issues by breaking down
into meaningful inferences, that is easily readable and understood by everyone.
Quantitative research: It is the opposite of qualitative research, which involves collecting and
analysing numerical data for statistical analysis or percentage analysis. This research is widely
used in psychology, economics, demography, sociology, marketing, community health, and
political science (Bridges and Bridges, 2019).
There are some most common quantitative research methods:
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 Descriptive Research: summary of the data and include measures of averages and
variability (Brown, Colville and Pye, 2015).
 Correlational Research: investigation of the relationship between study variables.
 Experimental Research: examine whether there is a cause and effect relationship
between variables.
The objective of the quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models,
theories, and hypotheses pertaining to the phenomena. On the other hand, this research inquires
deeply into specific experiences with the intension of describing and exploring meanings through
texts, narratives.
Alienation
Karl Marx devised the theory of social alienation according to which, a state of
relationship is developed which is characterised by low degree of common values and with high
and frequent degree of isolation between different individuals or group of individuals. This
situation of social relationship is build at a work place. The main aim of developing this
relationship in a work place is to maximise production and reduce the idle time. It is basically a
process of creating distance between workers and also developing a feeling of powerlessness. It
is a process of creating a work place which is filled with number of strangers and this place is
often termed as process of Dehumanization. This sociological concept is developed and
supported by various classical and contemporary theorists. This concept can be modified as per
the requirement and can also be applied to various uses, including both, personal psychological
state and also on social relationship (Brunsson and Olsen, 2018).
Mechanical and organic solidarity
It is a famous theory formulated by a famous French social scientist Emile Durkheim.
According to this theory, there are two types of social solidarity and they are mechanical and
organic. Mechanical solidarity refers to that system in which no part of society can work
independently, if harmony of whole system of society is to be maintained. According to this
form, system is working like a mechanical machinery. If any one part of mechanical instrument
is faulted, than whole machinery do not work. In the same way, every part of mechanical
solidarity setup needs to be working proper and in proper coordination.
Another form of society is organic solidarity and it like a build of living body, in which
interdependence is necessary, but loss of one part may not result in loss of life. To illustrate, loss
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of a limb is surely very bad for an individual but definitely is not a threat for life (Casas and
Frønes, 2020).
Both the above set-ups are used by the theorist to explain the function of division of
labour in society and they are purely conceptual. They are not targeted to any specific part of the
society.
Health and well being
According to global regulation authority of matters related to health, i.e., World Health
Organisation (WHO), health is explained as “a state of whole fitness in terms of physical, mental
and social well being and it is not only a situation of being disease free”. This is consistent with
the biopsychosocial model of health, which considers physiological, psychological and social
factors in health and illness, and interactions between these factors. It differs from the traditional
medical model, which defines health as the absence of illness or disease and emphasises the role
of clinical diagnosis and intervention. The WHO definition links health explicitly with
wellbeing, and conceptualises health as a human right requiring physical and social resources to
achieve and maintain. ‘Wellbeing’ refers to a positive rather than neutral state, framing health as
a positive aspiration. This definition was adapted by the 1986 Ottawa charter, which describes
health as ‘a resource for everyday life, not the object of living’. From this perspective health is a
means to living well, which highlights the link between health and participation in society.
Social Movement
Social movements are conducted in a societal set up that helps in giving pace to society
and also helps in making living better for general public. This movement come up in news in
early twentieth century which had basic motive to oppose the idea of growing popularity of far
right groups. The main challenge posed to UK government due to this movement is the British
Union of Fascists which is led by Oswald Mosely. This movement attracted attention in
beginning from communist party and famous newspapers also, such as, The Daily mail. Their
support was opposed by individuals holding large say in social set up. To illustrate, Aldous
Huxley was the main person opposing the idea of movement. This movement was aimed at
improving the living of far right groups in society (Chambliss and Schutt, 2018). Furthermore,
the theory applied to this movement is mechanical solidarity setup. This involves that every
individual is equally important in society. Any one segment facing drawbacks will affect the
whole society (Furnham, 2015).
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Demonstrate understanding of principal debates relating to society-identity and diverse social
groups
Culture is define as the sociological concept where the behaviour of humans are been described
in context of the various social groups. The people in the society are born and have different
culture according to the place they belong. Whereas sub culture refers to the small group which
share the common ideas and in context of UK population the number of subcultural groups are
more in number.
Functions of culture-
Mainly there are seven functions of culture which are describe below-
 Communication- Culture helps individuals to establish human communication as per
there suitability and their comfort level.
 Perception- It is define as the concept which helps in shaping and understanding the way
in which individual look at social and natural worlds.
 Identity- Culture helps in influencing the behaviour of individual that is in the way they
think and analysis the behaviour of others.
 Value system- Culture team is made up of the values, beliefs and behaviours of the
people in the society and these values are been received from socialisation process.
 Motivation- It is defined as the way in which individual judge the thinks according their
mindset in order to identify the factors which motive them and the facts which are not
motivating factors and its on the standards of their behaviour.
 Stratification- There are different type of people according to different culture they
follow and on that bases they differentiate between social groups and rank them.
 Production and consumption- Its totally dependent on the nature, taste and preferences of
people that is what they like and what they don't like. Moreover the production and
consumption activities are influenced by the culture of individuals. Most of the time the
decisions are on the bases of culture they follow (Giorgi, Lockwood and Glynn, 2015).
Social identity
The social identity is define as the part of the identify which is formulated and seen while
interacting with other people. Basically the place where individuals place themselves in the
society on the bases of political belongings and the relations with other people of the society. On
the bases of society the social identity is been evaluated on the bases of gender, ethnicity, notion
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of differences and many more. These characteristics are been identified when an individual
interact with other peoples that is their view points highlight there personality. Self
understanding is defined as the process where individual enhance their identity according to the
various situations which they face in their lives.
Functions of society identity-
Basically society identity is been classified in five sectors which are explained below-
 Structure- It helps individuals to identify the structured context for social actions in order
to provide the framework of rules and regulations. These actions helps in identifying the
behaviour of individuals and to understand the relation which they have established.
 Goals- It is important part of the identity where individual set goals for their behaviour
and works in direction to achieve them.
 Personal Control- The identity helps individual in active self-regulation on there actions
and activities in order to decide what they want to achieve and what they don't want.
These actions and measures helps in formulating the plans according to the needs and
desires of individuals.
 Harmony- It is necessary for individuals to establish the consistency and harmony among
the values, beliefs and commitments in order to obtain the effective outcomes.
 Future- It is the part of general goal where people consider there future desires along with
its present actions with the motive to make their future according to their predetermined
plans (Hawley, 2017).
Diverse society
In a diverse society there are various type of situations and people have different way to
handle them according to their mindset. Sometime people belonging to different culture find it
difficult to understand the nature of people belonging to different culture. Conflict can take place
at any level whether be a local, national or global scale. Migrants is important as it make
significant contribution in the economy by fulfilling their responsibilities such as they pay all the
taxes, spend money and also their to fill the gap among different people. Hence, diverse society
is defined as the element where each individual play important role in the formulation and
enhancement of societal groups. It is important as it helps in building the future fluid. Diverse
society basically a society which contains various range of things which need due attention. The
people belonging to different culture or ethnics live together with there different viewpoint and
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way of living. Moreover it opens the new space or horizons where people can meet their needs
and interact with other people freely. Furthermore it is a successful community where people of
different race, ethics, beliefs, language and gender experience common interest and gain benefit
CONCLUSION
From the report, it can be concluded that every society operates on the basis of various
beliefs and ideas. There are different forms of a society and through these forms, a psychologist
can easily predict the behaviour of individuals residing in this society. To make living better in
the society, there may be different forms of movements supporting some specific idea or
concept. This movement may be pessimistic or optimistic as well. There can be opposition from
big brand values in the society for the movement. To study properly about the movement,
various theories and models can be applied and also various methods of research can be applied.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Acosta, R., Rizvi, S. and Santos, A. eds., 2020. Making sense of the global: anthropological
perspectives on interconnections and processes. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Bridges, W. and Bridges, S., 2019. Transitions: Making sense of life's changes. Hachette UK.
Brown, A.D., Colville, I. and Pye, A., 2015. Making sense of sensemaking in organization
studies. Organization studies. 36(2). pp.265-277.
Brunsson, N. and Olsen, J.P., 2018. The Reforming organization: making sense of administrative
change. Routledge.
Casas, F. and Frønes, I., 2020. From snapshots to complex continuity: Making sense of the
multifaceted concept of child well-being. Childhood. 27(2). pp.188-202.
Chambliss, D.F. and Schutt, R.K., 2018. Making sense of the social world: Methods of
investigation. Sage Publications.
Furnham, A., 2015. Young People's Understanding of Society (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Giorgi, S., Lockwood, C. and Glynn, M.A., 2015. The many faces of culture: Making sense of 30
years of research on culture in organization studies. Academy of Management Annals. 9(1).
pp.1-54.
Hawley, G., 2017. Making sense of the alt-right. Columbia University Press.
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