BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES - Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie

3.1 Human Society and its Structure
Behavior and Society
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Chapter 3
One of the greatest diseases
is to be nobody to anybody.
Mother Teresa
The term society came from the Latin word societas, which in turn
was derived from the noun socius ("comrade, friend, ally"). Thus this term
is used to describe an interaction among parties that are friendly. Human
society is consequently a group of people related to each other through
persistent relations, that must be friendly or at least civil so that to be
efficient. There is a common vision among scientist that tendency of
humans for association (forming and living in groups) is conditioned
primarily by the heed to cope. A society allows its members to realize
needs or wishes they cannot fulfill alone. In this circumstance they need to
work for the global success of the society as a prerequisite for achieving
their own individual success. As such, society is a collaborative means to
accomplish individual ends.
Societies can differ from each other on the level of historical,
economical or technological development, on the types of government and
political structure on the specific of cultural traditions, but all human
societies have more or less alike structures. Formally social structure
consists of individuals, groups, and other social entities, and of the
networks of social ties between them. Functionally social structure
consists of statuses, roles, and social institutions. Formally and
functionally social structure is patterned social arrangements which form
the society as a whole, and which determine, regulate the interactions
among members of the society. To understand better the significance the
meanings of each defying element will be describe.
An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a
collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a