Lesson 1: Exploring Groups Within Society

Society is made up of social groups. A social group

consists of two or more people who identify with and
interact with one another. People who make up a group
share experiences, loyalties, and interests. Examples of
social groups are couples, families, circles of friends and
barkada, churches, clubs, businesses, neighborhoods, and
large organizations (Macionis 2012: 146).

According to Macionis (2012), there are two types of social

groups. The primary group is a small social group whose
members share personal and lasting relationships. These
personal and tightly integrated groups are among the first
groups an individual experiences in life. The most important
primary group in any society is the family. Friends who
shape an individual’s attitudes, behavior, and social identity
also form one’s primary group.

The secondary group is a large and impersonal social

group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity.
Unlike the primary group which is defined according to
who they are in terms of family ties or personal qualities,
membership in secondary groups is based on what people
can do for each other.

Over time, a group may transform from secondary to

primary, as with classmates or neighbors who develop
closer relationships. Moreover, while it is possible to
identify some groups as either primary or secondary, most
social groups actually contain elements of both. For
example, a student organization may be larger and more
anonymous, but its members may identify strongly with
one another and provide mutual support.

Through socialization, individuals develop the need to

conform. To assess one’s own attitudes and behaviors,
individuals use a reference group, a social group that
serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and
decisions (Macionis, 2012). Reference groups can be
primary or secondary, as well as groups that we do not
belong to, as in the case of a person following fashion
styles described in a fashion magazine.

Besides reference groups, there is also the opposition of in-groups and out-
 groups. An
in-group is a social group toward which a member feels respect and
loyalty, while an

out-group is a social group toward which a person feels a

sense of competition or opposition (Macionis, 2012).

As groups grow beyond three people, they become more

stable and capable of withstanding the loss of one or more
members. At the same time, increases in group size reduce
the intense personal interaction possible only in the
smallest groups. Larger groups are based less on personal
attachment and more on formal rules and regulations
(Macionis, 2012).

A network is group containing people who come into

occasional contact but who lack a sense of boundaries and
belonging (Macionis, 2012). Some scholars claim that
networks are nonhierarchical, value-free, and structure-less
organizations, and that they are composed of people
working on similar tasks without necessarily knowing each
other. This is illustrated by social networking sites such as
Facebook.

Lesson 2: Examining Cultural, Social, and Political Institutions

Firm up
Living in a society implies that we are governed by a set of
rules. Some rules may be imposed while others are
negotiated. Regardless of how these were arranged, their
importance in understanding what is culturally, socially and
politically acceptable cannot be denied. A social institution
“consists of all the structural components of a society
through which the main concerns and activities are
organized, and social needs … are met” (Marshall 1998:
317–318). In addition to this, there is also a tradition of
the study of institutions as constraining. Douglass North
defines institutions as “humanly devised constraints that
structure, political, economic and social interactions”
(North 1991: 97). These constraints come in the form of
informal control such as taboos, culture and tradition.
Constraints are also manifested through the establishment of
formal rules such as law and constitution.

Generally, institutions evolve over time as a result of the

changing relationship among groups in society. There are
institutions, however, that persist despite changes in the
economic, social, and political landscape. In Philippine
society, some important institutions are family, religion,
and civil society. Other institutions such as market and
economy, education, and health are also notable.

Key concepts
Family is a social institution found in all societies that
unites people in cooperative groups to care for one another,
including any children (Macionis 2012: 418). The nuclear
family is a family composed of one or two parents and their
children. It is also known as a conjugal family.

As an extended family is a family composed of parents

and children as well as other kin. It is also known as a
consanguine family (Ibid). Shimizu (1991: 106) observed
that while the nuclear family is the basic form of household
in the Philippines, the nuclear family is “not a closed,
isolated unit consisting of only the married couple and their
unmarried children It has frequent and intimate interactions
with the families living nearby. It is not unusual to find
elderly parents or elderly unmarried siblings of the
household’s head still living together in the same
household.”

A reconstituted family is a family whose composition and

form of emotional care differ from those of the nuclear or
extended family. One example is the female- headed
transnational family, a household with “core members
living in at least two nation-states and in which the mother
works in another country while some or all of her
dependents reside in the Philippines” (Parreñas 2001: 361).
From Parreñas’s definition of a female-headed
transnational family, we can define the transnational
family as one with core members living in at least two
nation-states.

Kinship.Family ties are also called kinship, a “social bond

based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption”
(Macionis 2012: 418). A more traditional understanding of
kinship follows the idea that persons who extend duties and
privileges to one another on the basis of consanguinity or
blood relations are considered members of the same kin
group. Kinship relations around the world, however, are
organized differently and in ways that do not simply follow
blood or biological relations. There are several types of
kinship relations within groups. For instance, some
societies organize themselves through a matrilineal descent,
where people are regarded as members of the mother’s
group by birth and throughout their lifetime. Societies
organized along a patrilineal descent automatically consider
people as members of the father’s group by birth and
throughout their lifetimes. Societies with bilateral descent,
such as many of the societies in the Philippines, trace
automatic membership to both sides of descent. Many
societies share the idea that members of a kin group help
each other take care of a person’s welfare, protection,
marriage, offspring, career, and identity (Service 1962;
Ember, Ember, and Perigrine 2011).

Ritual kinship refers to ritual parent-child relations such as

the godparent-godchild relationship established through the
baptism ceremony of Roman Catholics. In the Philippines,
this is called the compadre system (Shimizu 1991: 118).

Bands. In many areas of the world, small groups of people

connected mainly by kinship ties organize themselves into
a community.This form of organization is called a band.A
band is usually led by a headman who members of the the
community considered as either their best hunter or wisest
member. A band, which is by itself a politically
autonomous organization and a type of society, typically
comprises about
100 persons and occupies a large local territory that serves
as their hunting or foraging ground. Members of the band
either live within one community or scatter themselves
across their territory. Nearly all societies established before
the development of farming some 10,000 years ago
organized themselves into bands. More recent nomadic and
foraging societies also establish themselves into groups that
may resemble the anthropological description of band
(Service 1962; Ember, Ember, and Perigrine 2011).

Tribes. Some kindred groups from multiple localities

integrate themselves into a larger unit of relations. That
integrated formation of multi-local kin groups can be
referred as a tribal society or a tribe. As a tribe,
communities of kin form an informal structure especially in
cases of outside threats but breaks up and return to a state
of self-reliance once that threat subsides. A tribe is rather
 fragile as a political system but militarily and
organizationally efficient in dealing with threats whether
from an external enemy or natural calamities. In the
Philippines, some wrongly consider a linguistic group as a
tribal formation.Members of the same linguistic groups do
link together for various reasons but do not necessarily
integrate themselves into larger political units in times of
external threat and then dissolve that integration when a
threat has passed (Service 1962; Ember, Ember, and
Perigrine 2011).

Chiefdoms. Some societies organize some form of formal

structures that integrate several communities into a political
unit under the leadership of a council with or without a
chief. These societies are referred as chiefdoms. A
chiefdom, however, is usually headed by a chief, a person
of higher rank as well as authority compared to other
members of a council. The council that makes up a
chiefdom normally comprises the chiefs of a community or
multiple communities (district). Many chiefdoms have an
established system of social stratification with some
members, particularly the chief and the district chiefs,
being bestowed with a higher rank and accorded a status of
prestige. The primary role of the chief is to resolve
conflicts, distribute goods, plan the use of resources and
public labor, supervise religious ceremonies, and command
military affairs in accordance with the interest of the
chiefdom(Service 1962; Ember, Ember, and Perigrine
2011).

Weberian Types of Authority (Weber 1961: 173–179)

Max Weber’s work on social action showed one of the
clearest links between individuals and institutions. As
defined by Weber, social action is one thatindividuals
attach subjective meanings to. In other words, social action
is action that is meaningful.

Weber identified four types of social action.

 Traditional action isdetermined by the actor’s
habitual and customary ways of behaving.
 Affectual action isdetermined by the emotional state of the actor.
 Value rationality isdetermined by a conscious
belief in the value of some ethical, aesthetic,
religious or other forms of behavior.
  Means-ends rationality is determined by goal orientation.

These four types of social action form the bases of the

structures of authority, or the legitimate forms of
domination. There are three types of authority according to
Weber.
 Traditional authority is associated with
hereditary authority (example: monarchy).
 Charismatic Authority is associated with
charismatic leaders whose authority comes
from followers’ belief in the leaders’
special personal qualities (example: cult
leaders, benevolent dictators).
 Rational-legal authority is associated with
leadership that is goal-oriented for the benefit of
society (example:duly-elected government
officials; bureaucrats).The ultimate form of goal-
oriented action is the bureaucracy.

A bureaucracy is a large, rational organization,

designed to perform tasks efficiently (Macionis
2012: 153).

Weber identified the following as features of a bureaucracy:

 Specialization: There exists a specialized division of labor.
 Hierarchy of position:Jobs are structured from
greater to lesser amounts of authority.
 Rules and regulations: Formal rules and
regulations guide a bureaucracy’s operations.
 Technical competence: Bureaucratic workers are technically
trained.
 Impersonality: Rules and regulations, not personal
whim, govern the treatment of both clients and
workers so that they are treated in the same way.
 Formal, written communications: There is a reliance on records
and files.

Economy is the “social institution that organizes a society’s

production, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services” (Macionis 2012: 370). The economy has three
sectors (Ibid: 372). The primary sector relies on raw
materials from the natural environment. It is the most
important sector in low-income nations. Examples are
agriculture, fishing, and mining.
 The secondary sector is the manufacturing sector which
transforms raw materials into manufactured goods. This
sector has a significant shareof the economy in low-,
middle-, and high-income nations. Examples are
automobile and clothing manufacturing. The tertiary
sector produces services rather than goods. It is the
dominant sector in low-, middle-, and high-income
countries. Examples are call center services, sales, and
teaching.

Nonstate actors are organizations, groups, or networks that

participate in international relations and global
governance.They are deemed to have sufficient power and
influence to advocate for and cause changes in international
norms and development practices.They include civil
society, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
international NGOs (INGOs), economic and social groups,
including trade union organizations and transnational
corporations, and the private sector. In practice, nonstate
actors include, among others, community-based
organizations, human rights association, universities and
research institutes, and chambers of commerce.

Civil society is “the population of groups formed for

collective purpose primarily outside of the State and
marketplace” (van Rooy 1998: 30).

Education is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values

and beliefs. There are many competing ideas about
education as an institution. For some, it is viewed as a
socializing process while others view education as a status
competition. Finally, education can also be seen as a system
of legitimation, where it restructures entire populations,
creating elites and redefining the rights and duties of its
members (Meyer 1977). Mass education, or public
education, is an example of how education can restructure
entire populations and redefine the rights and obligations of
citizens.
Religion. Giddens and Duneier (2013) cite Durkheim’s
definition of religion as involving a set of symbols that
invoke feelings of reverence or awe, which are linked to
rituals practiced by a community of believers.