UCSP: THE SOCIAL AS DRIVER OF INTERACTION

1. FERLAN JAY E. ORCA

2. • Mapping social forces.
• Rehearsing the structures and components
of culture.
• Exposing the asymmetrical power
distributions among the members of social
communities and organizations.

3. Underlines the role of cultural structures in
organizing human interactions = ANTHROPOLOGY
Highlights external influences that facilitate or
constrain human actions = SOCIOLOGY
Zeroes in on power relations and how these produce
layered modalities of opportunities among social actors
= POLITICAL SCIENCE

5. • Born in Europe – Industrial
Revolution
- introduction of machinery
August Comte – Father
of the discipline for
having coined the term
sociology.

6. CONTAMINATION
OF
THE
SACRED

8. Émile Durkheim (1858—1917)
• A French sociologist who rose to prominence
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Along with Karl Marx and Max Weber, he is
credited as being one of the principal founders
of modern sociology.

9. SOCIAL FACT
- Social phenomenon
- Characteristic feature of
the power ideas to create
social realities for members
of society.
- A precursor to the concept
of social forces.

11. • Chief among his claims is that society is
a sui generis reality, or a reality unique
to itself and irreducible to its
composing parts.
It is created when individual consciences
interact and fuse together to create a
synthetic reality that is completely new
and greater than the sum of its parts.

12. Émile Durkheim (1858—1917)
Defined religion not in terms
of gods or supernatural
phenomena, but in terms of
the sacred.

13. • On the Division of Social Labor
• The Rules of Sociological Method
• Suicide
• The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life
SOCIOLOGY

14. He claimed that in all societies,
there’s a difference between the
sacred and the profane, or the
mundane, everyday of life.

16. But this isn’t a set-up between
good and evil
Sacred doesn’t mean good and
Profane doesn’t mean ba

17. Recognizing something as sacred is
about seeing a certain place, object,
or experience
As special and creating markers
that separate it from your day to
day life

18. It’s natural to think about religion from
the perspective of Symbolic-
Interactionism.
Thinks about society in terms of
the symbol that humans
construct.

19. All religions rely on the
use of symbols to create
the Sacred.

20. Example:
Rituals – practice that highlight
faith.

21. Objects can also take on Sacred
meaning.
Ex.
Considered Totems

22. Religion of Australian aborigines

23. Sacred indicators of faith.
- because there’re visible symbols of
religious belief.
Example:

24. In this way, Totems confer
in-group membership to
those who wear or use
these symbols.

25. BUT, the role of religion in
society goes beyond
influencing our symbol
practices.

26. In addition to defining the
Sacred and the profane, Emile
Durkheim also looked at
religion through the lens of
structural functionalism.

27. He identified three major functions
of religion that contribute to the
operation of society.

28. Religion helps establish social
cohesion, by uniting people
around shared symbols,
norms, and values.

29. Durkheim argued that religious
thought promotes norms like
morality, fairness, charity, and
justice.

30. Durkheim said, societies
use religion as a form of
social control.

31. People behave well, not only out
of fear of their friends and
families disapproving, but also
out of a desire to remain in their
god’s good graces.

32. Example:

33. In a functionalist perspective,
religion provides people with
the sense of purpose in life

34. Religion gives people a reason to
see their lives meaningful, by
framing them within the greater
purpose of their god’s grand plan.

35. Of great significance to Durkheim’s theory is
his insistence on the reality of these
religious phenomena.
As he argues, the social forces that animate
a society’s religious life are real, and are
really felt by the participants.

36. While it is a mistake for an individual to
believe that this power emanates
directly from the sacred object, or is
somehow intrinsic to the sacred object.

37. Behind the symbol
manifesting the force is a
living and concrete reality.

38. Consequently, all religions are
true, at least symbolically, for
they express a power
that does exist, the power of
society.

39. Religion, religious belief, and the
religious experience cannot,
therefore, be dismissed as mere
fantasies or illusions.

41. ANTHROPOLOGY!
- A science seeking to “uncover
principles of behavior that apply
to all human communities”