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Social behavior
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Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms, typically from the same species. Social behavior is exhibited by a range of organisms including social bacteria, slime moulds, social insects, social shrimp, naked mole-rats. Sociology is the scientific or academic study of behavior, including its origins, development, organization. Research has shown that a variety of animals, including humans, share similar types of social behavior such as aggression, even species with less complex brains, such as ants, may have behaviors serving similar general functions. Even though humans and animals share some aspects of social behavior, Social psychology is the scientific study of how peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. In psychology, social behaviour is referred to human behaviour and it covers behaviours ranging from physical to emotional that we communicate in and also the way we are influenced by ethics, attitudes, genetics and culture etc. The types of behaviour include the following, Violent and bullying behaviour are two types of aggressive behaviour, their outcomes are extremely similar. These outcomes include affiliation, gaining attention, power and control, aggressive behaviour is a type of social behaviour that can potentially cause or threaten physical or emotional harm. People who suffer from aggressive behaviour are most likely to be irritable, impulsive, although, an outburst of aggression is highly common. Aggressive behaviour on the hand is always deliberate, and occurs either habitually or in a pattern. Biological factors and lack of skills are a couple to name. As children grow up, in many cases tend to imitate behaviour from their elders such as violence or aggression. Aggressive behaviour can be irritating, and to stop a child from doing such, they receive attention for it from their parents, however, there can be times where parents arent aware of when such behaviour is occurring and unknowingly reward it, they are encouraging the child. Aggressive behaviour can lead onto bipolar disorders, adults can also suffer from aggressive behaviour, these can develop over time, from undesirable life experiences or an illness. Disorders such as depression, anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder tend to have aggressive behaviour, however, those without any recent underlying medical or emotional disorder, frustration is the answer to their aggressive behaviour. Emotional behaviour can also trigger aggression when someone stops caring about others, an individual that threatens or physically harms another individual is classified as violent behaviour. Violent behaviour usually starts of with verbal abuse but then escalates to physical harm such as hitting or hurting, violence is learned behaviour, just like aggressive behaviour, children imitate what they see from their elders. Violent behaviour is similar to aggressive behaviour, it is either habitually or occurs in a pattern, the concept for violent behaviour is very simple, at first there is tension and conflict
2.
Society
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In the social sciences, a larger society often evinces stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups. A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant and this is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology. The term society came from the Latin word societas, which in turn was derived from the noun used to describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least civil. Without an article, the term can refer to the entirety of humanity, Society, in general, addresses the fact that an individual has rather limited means as an autonomous unit. Cultural relativism as an approach or ethic has largely replaced notions of primitive, better/worse. Societies may also be structured politically, in order of increasing size and complexity, there are bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and state societies. These structures may have varying degrees of power, depending on the cultural, geographical. Thus, an isolated society with the same level of technology. A society that is unable to offer a response to other societies it competes with will usually be subsumed into the culture of the competing society. Sociologist Peter L. Berger defines society as. a human product, and nothing but a human product, according to him, society was created by humans but this creation turns back and creates or molds humans every day. This is similar to the earlier developed by anthropologists Morton H. This system of classification contains four categories, Hunter-gatherer bands, tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige. Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments, in addition to this there are, Humanity, mankind, upon which rest all the elements of society, including societys beliefs. Virtual society, a society based on identity, which is evolving in the information age. Over time, some cultures have progressed toward more complex forms of organization and this cultural evolution has a profound effect on patterns of community. Hunter-gatherer tribes settled around seasonal food stocks to become agrarian villages, villages grew to become towns and cities. Cities turned into city-states and nation-states, many societies distribute largess at the behest of some individual or some larger group of people. This type of generosity can be seen in all cultures, typically
3.
Institutions
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Institutions are stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior. As structures or mechanisms of social order, they govern the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community, Institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules that govern living behavior. Primary or meta-institutions are institutions such as the family that are enough to encompass other institutions. As structures and mechanisms of social order, institutions are an object of study in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics. Institutions are also a concern for law, the formal mechanism for political rule-making. That is, institutions arise, develop and function in a pattern of social self-organization beyond conscious intentions of the individuals involved, as mechanisms of social interaction, institutions manifest in both formal organizations, such as the U. S. Formal institutions are set forth by a relevant authority and informal institutions are generally unwritten societal rules, norms. Primary or meta-institutions are institutions that encompass many other institutions, both formal and informal (e. g. the family, government, the economy, education, most important institutions, considered abstractly, have both objective and subjective aspects, examples include money and marriage. The subjective experience of money is so pervasive and persuasive that economists talk of the illusion and try to disabuse their students of it. Examples of institutions include, Family, The family is the center of the childs life, the family teaches children cultural values and attitudes about themselves and others - see sociology of the family. Children learn continuously from the environment that adults create, Children also become aware of class at a very early age and assign different values to each class accordingly. Religion, Some believe religion is like an ethnic or cultural category, making it likely for the individuals to break from religious affiliations. Parental religious participation is the most influential part of religious socialization—more so than religious peers or religious beliefs, see sociology of religion and civil religion. Peer groups, A peer group is a group whose members have interests, social positions. This is where children can escape supervision and learn to form relationships on their own, the influence of the peer group typically peaks during adolescence however peer groups generally only affect short term interests unlike the family which has long term influence. Capitalist society may encourage the growth of centralization and interdependence under the control of an elite, socialism encourages democratic, bottom-up control by the people and their communities. Legal systems, Children are pressured from both parents and peers to conform and obey certain laws or norms of the group/community, parents’ attitudes toward legal systems influence children’s views as to what is legally acceptable. For example, children whose parents are continually in jail are more accepting of incarceration, see jurisprudence, philosophy of law, sociology of law
4.
Activity theory
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Activity theory is more of a descriptive meta-theory or framework than a predictive theory. It considers an entire work/activity system beyond just one actor or user and it accounts for environment, history of the person, culture, role of the artifact, motivations, and complexity of real life activity. One of the strengths of AT is that it bridges the gap between the subject and the social reality—it studies both through the mediating activity. The unit of analysis in AT is the concept of object-oriented, collective and culturally mediated human activity and this system includes the object, subject, mediating artifacts, rules, community and division of labor. The motive for the activity in AT is created through the tensions and contradictions within the elements of the system, the object of activity theory is to understand the unity of consciousness and activity. AT is particularly useful as a lens in qualitative research methodologies, a particular activity is a goal-directed or purposeful interaction of a subject with an object through the use of tools. These tools are exteriorized forms of mental processes manifested in constructs, AT recognizes the internalization and externalization of cognitive processes involved in the use of tools, as well as the transformation or development that results from the interaction. The origins of activity theory can be traced to several sources and this account will focus on three of the most important of these strands. The first is associated with the Moscow Institute of Psychology and in particular the troika of young Russian researchers, Vygotsky, Leontev, finally, in the Western world, discussions and use of AT are primarily framed within the Scandinavian activity theory strand, developed by Yrjö Engeström. After Vygotskys early death, Leontev became the leader of the research group known as the Kharkov school of psychology. Leontev first examined the psychology of animals, looking at the different degrees to which animals can be said to have mental processes and he concluded that Pavlovs reflexionism was not a sufficient explanation of animal behaviour and that animals have an active relation to reality, which he called activity. In particular, the behaviour of higher primates such as chimpanzees could only be explained by the formation of multi-phase plans using tools. Leontev then progressed to humans and pointed out that people engage in actions that do not in themselves satisfy a need, often, these actions only make sense in a social context of a shared work activity. This led him to a distinction between activities, which satisfy a need, and the actions that constitute the activities, Activity theory also influenced the development of activity games as developed by Georgy Shchedrovitsky. AT remained virtually unknown outside the Soviet Union until the mid-1980s, the first international conference on activity theory was not held until 1986. The earliest non-Soviet paper cited by Nardi is a 1987 paper by Yrjö Engeström and this resulted in a reformulation of AT. It is known as Scandinavian activity theory, work in the systems-structural theory of activity is also being carried on by researchers in the US and UK. Some of the changes are a systematisation of Leontevs work, although Leontevs exposition is clear and well structured, it is not as well-structured as the formulation by Yrjö Engeström
5.
Altruism
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Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. Altruism or selflessness is the opposite of selfishness, the word was coined by the French philosopher Auguste Comte in French, as altruisme, for an antonym of egoism. He derived it from the Italian altrui, which in turn was derived from Latin alteri, Altruism can be distinguished from feelings of loyalty, in that whilst the latter is predicated upon social relationships, altruism does not consider relationships. Much debate exists as to whether true altruism is possible in human psychology, the validity of this argument depends on whether intrinsic rewards qualify as benefits. The actor also may not be expecting a reward, the term altruism may also refer to an ethical doctrine that claims that individuals are morally obliged to benefit others. Used in this sense, it is contrasted with egoism. The concept has a history in philosophical and ethical thought. Whilst ideas about altruism from one field can affect the other fields, in simple terms, altruism is caring about the welfare of other people and acting to help them. Marcel Mausss book The Gift contains a passage, Note on alms and this note describes the evolution of the notion of alms from the notion of sacrifice. In it, he writes, Alms are the fruits of a notion of the gift and of fortune on the one hand. Generosity is an obligation, because Nemesis avenges the poor and the gods for the superabundance of happiness and this is the ancient morality of the gift, which has become a principle of justice. The gods and the spirits accept that the share of wealth and happiness that has offered to them and had been hitherto destroyed in useless sacrifices should serve the poor. Compare Altruism – perception of altruism as self-sacrifice, compare explanation of alms in various scriptures. Theories of apparently altruistic behavior were accelerated by the need to produce theories compatible with evolutionary origins, two related strands of research on altruism have emerged from traditional evolutionary analyses and from evolutionary game theory a mathematical model and analysis of behavioural strategies. Some of the mechanisms are, Kin selection. That animals and humans are more altruistic towards close kin than to distant kin and non-kin has been confirmed in numerous studies across many different cultures, even subtle cues indicating kinship may unconsciously increase altruistic behavior. One kinship cue is facial resemblance, one study found that slightly altering photographs so that they more closely resembled the faces of study participants increased the trust the participants expressed regarding depicted persons. Another cue is having the family name, especially if rare
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Anarcho-primitivism
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Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, alienation, many traditional anarchists reject the critique of civilization while some, such as Wolfi Landstreicher, endorse the critique but do not consider themselves anarcho-primitivists. Anarcho-primitivists are often distinguished by their focus on the praxis of achieving a state of being through rewilding. Anarchism started to have an ecological view mainly in the writings of Henry David Thoreau, in his book Walden, he advocates simple living and self-sufficiency among natural surroundings in resistance to the advancement of industrial civilization. Many have seen in Thoreau one of the precursors of ecologism and anarcho-primitivism represented today by John Zerzan, Zerzan himself included the text Excursions by Thoreau in his edited compilation of anti-civilization writings called Against Civilization, Readings and Reflections from 1999. In the late 19th century, anarchist naturism appeared as the union of anarchist and naturist philosophies and it mainly was important within individualist anarchist circles in Spain, France and Portugal. Important influences in it were Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, anarcho-naturism advocated vegetarianism, free love, nudism and an ecological world view within anarchist groups and outside them. Anarcho-naturism promoted an ecological worldview, small ecovillages, and most prominently nudism as a way to avoid the artificiality of the mass society of modernity. Naturist individualist anarchists saw the individual in his biological, physical and psychological aspects and this tendency was strong enough as to call the attention of the CNT–FAI in Spain. Daniel Guérin, in Anarchism, From Theory to Practice, reports how Spanish anarcho-syndicalism had long been concerned to safeguard the autonomy of what it called affinity groups, there were many adepts of naturism and vegetarianism among its members, especially among the poor peasants of the south. Both these ways of living were considered suitable for the transformation of the human being in preparation for a stateless society, at the Zaragoza congress, the members did not forget to consider the fate of groups of naturists and nudists, unsuited to industrialization. On the eve of a vast, bloody, social transformation, primitivists, however, extend ideas of non-domination to all life, not just human life, going beyond the traditional anarchists analysis. From by anthropologists, primitivists look at the origins of civilization so as to understand what they are up against, inspired by the Luddites, primitivists rekindle an anti-technological orientation. Insurrectionalists do not believe in waiting for critiques to be fine-tuned, primitivists may owe much to the Situationists and their critique of the ideas in The Society of the Spectacle and alienation from a commodity-based society. Bioregionalists bring the perspective of living within ones bioregion, and being connected to the land, water, climate, plants, animals. Some primitivists have been influenced by the indigenous cultures. Primitivists attempt to learn and incorporate sustainable techniques for survival and healthier ways of interacting with life, some are also inspired by the feral subculture, where people abandon domestication and have re-integrate themselves with the wild. Some anarcho-primitivists state that prior to the advent of agriculture, humans lived in small, nomadic bands which were socially, politically, being without hierarchy, these bands are sometimes viewed as embodying a form of anarchism
7.
Anomie
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Anomie is a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals. It is the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community, e. g. under unruly scenarios resulting in fragmentation of social identity and it was popularized by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his influential book Suicide. Durkheim never uses the term normlessness, rather, he describes anomie as derangement, Durkheim used the term the malady of the infinite because desire without limit can never be fulfilled, it only becomes more intense. Thus, a society with too much rigidity and little individual discretion could also produce a kind of anomie, thus, fatalistic suicide arises when a person is too rule-governed. In 1893 Durkheim introduced the concept of anomie to describe the mismatch of collective guild labour to evolving societal needs when the guild was homogeneous in its constituency and he equated homogeneous skills to mechanical solidarity whose inertia retarded adaptation. Durkheim observed that the conflict between the organic division of labour and the homogeneous mechanical type was such that one could not exist in the presence of the other. When solidarity is organic, anomie is impossible, sensitivity to mutual needs promotes evolution in the division of labour. Producers, being near consumers, can easily reckon the extent of the needs to be satisfied, equilibrium is established without any trouble and production regulates itself. Relations rare, are not repeated enough, the producer can no longer embrace the market at a glance, nor even in thought. He can no longer see its limits, since it is, accordingly, production becomes unbridled and unregulated. g. Economics, due to the necessity of a buildup of sufficient force or momentum to overcome the inertia. Later in 1897, in his studies of suicide, Durkheim associated anomie to the influence of a lack of norms or norms that were too rigid. In 1983 Robert K. Merton links anomie with deviance and argues that the discontinuity between culture and structure have the consequence of leading to deviance within society. He described 5 types of deviance in terms of the acceptance or rejection of social goals, the word, a reborrowing with French spelling of anomy, comes from Greek ἀνομία lawlessness, namely the privative alpha prefix, and nomos law. The Greeks distinguished between nomos, and arché, for example, a monarch is a single ruler but he or she might still be subject to, and not exempt from, the prevailing laws, i. e. nomos. In the original city state democracy, the majority rule was an aspect of arché because it was a rule-based, customary system, which might or might not make laws, i. e. nomos. Thus, the meaning of anomie defined anything or anyone against or outside the law. This was contrary to theories on suicide which generally maintained that suicide was precipitated by negative events in a persons life
