Society and Social Groups: Assignment

Assignment 2
Question 1
The first key concept I chose is society, which is described as people who interact in a defined space and shared culture. This definition of society states clearly which variables are used to define and judge something as a society which make up part of the social world.
The second key concept that I chose is sociocultural evolution, which is the process of change that results from a society’s gaining new information. This term showed me the importance of social change and creates separate social periods which the world went through.
The third key concept is New Industrializing Countries (NIC), which are lower-income countries that are quickly becoming high-income ones. This showed me how fickly our social world is and that it is relatively easy to change your ways, if you are able to get the means and have the will power.
The fourth key concept I chose is bureaucracy, which is the model for modern business, government agencies, trade unions and universities. I have heard this term my whole life, but never realized, until now, the importance and influence of bureaucracy in the world. The last key concept that I chose is rationalization of society, which is the historical change from tradition to rationality as the dominant mode of human thought. This concept helped me understand the humongous changes the social world has gone through. Also that the transition went slowly but surely, that every step we made helped us grow.

Question 2
Marx expressively stated historical differences in productive systems for the emergence of the modern world, but also pointed out the persistence of social conflict in the human history. Weber tells us that modern societies are guided by rationality instead of tradition which guided the pre-industrial societies. Durkenheim says that in the modern industrial societies, mechanical solidarity, based on moral consensus, is overtaken by organic solidarity, which is based on productive specialization. I like bits and pieces of all three theories to be honest. The way we started thinking for ourselves from Weber's theory, the thought that society influences us more than we thing from Durkenheim's theory and how Marx's theory was one of the first to state the differences between the social classes. I prefer Marx the most, because his theory says that the economy dominates all other social institutions when it comes to giving direction to society, which I am realizing more and more. Organizations and seemingly governments are making decisions based more on how to earn or save money, than instead on what is the best option or solution. Question 3
An important part of our society are the social groups in which we find ourselves. Social groups consists out of people with shared interests, experiences and loyalties. A basic distinction is made between primary social groups, small social groups whose members share personal and enduring relationships, and secondary social groups, large and impersonal social groups whose members pursue a specific interest or activity. Even though we do not like to believe it, most of us conform to fit in a group. The power of peer pressure shapes our behaviour from a young age throughout our adulthood. Most of the time, we use these groups as our reference groups, a social group that we use as a reference in making evaluations or decisions. Formal organizations are secondary groups that want to perform hard tasks in the most efficient way. They can be grouped in utilitarian, normative or coercive organizations. Bureaucracy is a organization model created to perform complex tasks efficiently. There are six key elements to an ideal bureaucratic organization: hierarchy of offices, rules and regulations, technical competence, impersonality and formal, written communications. However, there are some problems with bureaucracy; alienation, inefficiency and ritualism, inertia and abuse of power. Humanizing bureaucracy is to recognize people as the greatest organization source there is. We are part of the network age. Social networks are used to link people all over the world. These developments are chancing group relations. Question 6
"McDonaldization of society" should be resisted in terms of a social world. The four principles of McDonaldization (efficiency, calculability, uniformity and predictability, control through automation) are great for organization as McDonalds, from which we expect quick results. However, as stated in the book, a lot of things are becoming automated to make actions happen quicker, with a smaller error margin. This decreases the intervention of humans, decreases human creativity . We are interacting less and less because of the increasing use of machines instead of humans. Also, we as humans could lose a part of our individuality because of "McDonaldization". It is mostly used in and for mass production of food, but also lectures, or tests. Instead of meeting with a person, people quickly look at his or her qualifications. All humans are different, so we should be treated as such, not be lumped together one a big pile. Finally, we should not start calling it Starbuckization. They may have the same ideals as McDonalds, but Starbucks is not on the same level as McDonalds based on fame and being everywhere.

Reference list
Macionis, J. and Plummer, K. (2005). Sociology. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall.