Question

What are the five functional prerequisites that a society must satisfy if it is to survive? Describe the differences between organic and mechanical solidarity.

I need a long-term summary

Answer 1

• Society has certain basic needs or necessary conditions, which must be satisfied if it is to survive. These basic needs or necessary conditions of existence of society are known as functional pre-requisites of society.
• Sociologists differ in their views regarding the identification of the functional pre-requisites. Some sociologists view social stratification as a fundamental pre-requisite, while some others view reproduction and socialisation as the functional pre-requisites of society.
• The first is "replacing members", which means that there people in society need to have offspring continuously. People would have illness and old age. The members in the society are not fixed, but are changed through successors and replacement. The society needs certain population to make it operate.
• The second is socialization, which means that new members of the society needs to integrate into the society, otherwise they would do improper things that violate the rule the society and bring troubles to interrupt the normal order. This process can be done through education, religions or other gathering institutions.
• The third is production and distribution, which means that this society needs to produce goods and service to make it functional, to make people enjoy the life. Goods and service could be spread through economical institution like commercial company.
• The fourth is preserving order, which means that this society needs power to maintain the social order and protect the people when there are external attack or internal chaos. Police usually do the job of limiting internal disorder and the army serves as defend outside attack.
• The fifth is purpose, which means that people in the society would have a common goal to pursue. People in the society cannot just consider about themselves but also for the well-being of the whole society. Sometimes to fulfill the purpose of the whole society, individuals needs to act in restraint or even sacrifice the welfare of themselves.
• Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity refer to the concepts of solidarity as developed by Émile Durkheim. Mechanical solidarity normally operates in "traditional" and small scale societies and it is usually based on kinship ties of familial networks.
• Organic solidarity comes from the interdependence that arises from specialization of work and the complementarities between people which is a development which occurs in "modern" and "industrial" societies.
• In mechanical solidarity, bonds of unity are formed through similarities among individuals. People connected to each other when they are learning in the same educational institutions, working for the same purpose or sharing the same belief of religion and same life style. Kinship ties are significant in mechanical solidarity.
• In organic solidarity, social cohesion happens because individuals depend on each other. People work together for complementarities they need from each other or specialization in certain kind of job.