MODULE I:

Introduction to Sociology:

Sociology , a social science that studies human societies, their interactions, and the processes
that preserve and change them. It does this by examining the dynamics of constituent parts of
societies such as institutions, communities, populations, and gender, racial, or age groups.
Sociology also studies social status or stratification, social movements, and social change, as
well as societal disorder in the form of crime, deviance, and revolution.
It involves the study of society, social institutions, and social relationships specifically the
systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized
groups of human beings.

Humans depend on social institutions and organizations to form their decisions and actions.

Among the most basic organizational structures are economic, religious, educational, and political
institutions, as well as more specialized institutions such as the family, the community, the
military, peer groups, clubs, and volunteer associations.

Socialogy also utilize some aspects of other fields like Psychology. Sociology devotes most of its
attention to the collective aspects of human behaviour, because sociologists place greater
emphasis on the ways external groups influence the behaviour of individuals.

Importance of Sociology

• The study of sociology helps the individual to understand human society and how
social system work. Sociology is also important for individuals because it throws
light on the problems of the individuals.
• Architectural sociology is defined as the application of social theory and methods to
the architectural design process.

Architectural Sociology engages itself in the following questions:

1. What is the relationship between the individual and his or her designed environment or
social setting?
2. What is the relationship between an organization and the building wherein it resides?
3. How architectural forms influence and react to sociocultural phenomena.
4. The purpose of sociology in Architecture is to educating design professionals to see the
relationship between social setting and the individual and organization.

A large proportion of our human experience and social interaction occurs in the buildings in which
we live and work. Therefore, architectural sociologists use sociological perspective to enhance
building design.

Social Responsibility of Architects:

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The social responsibility of architects lies in the fact that architecture can create better places,
that architecture can affect society, and that it can have a role in making a place civilized by
making a community more livable. As a social catalyst, architects can ensure a healthy society
by taking into consideration the socio-economic & socio-cultural aspects of the soceity that they
design for. This can be done by introducing appropriate measures conducive to healthy society
like sustainable buildings, open spaces, parks & playgrounds, etc.

Architectural education facilitates the development of critical thinking abilities, which can be
applied to solving problems and addressing situations beyond design. Our social responsibility is
not limited to needs related to the built environment or environmental issues. Our critical thinking
abilities can also be valuable in designing an organization or setting strategic goals and
implementation plans.

Humans Uses of Designed Space

Architectural sociology is defined as the application of social theory and methods to the
architectural design process.

It provides quantitative and qualitative research tools to anticipate how designs impact people on
a variety of levels.

Architectural sociology addresses the purpose of architecture as it relates to our society.

Even if architectural sociology is an emerging subfield, it draws on the existing fields of

environmental psychology, ecological sociology, organizational ecology, organizational sociology,
and community sociology. In practice, architectural sociology builds upon social design theory
and uses research methods such as survey research, Internet research, interviewing, field
observation, secondary data sources, and unobtrusive measures.

In particular, the areas where research methods assist the architect include human use of space,
environmental and user preferences, and post-occupancy evaluation. Sociology informs
architecture in all phases of the design process, including the predesign and programming,
design, construction, and post-construction phases.

The 7 areas of sociology:

• Social Organization – Family, Community, .

• Sociological Social Psychology.
• Social Change .
• Human Ecology.
• Population and Demographics
• Applied Sociology
• Sociological Methods & Research.
SOCIETY & COMMUNITY

In sociological terms, the major difference between a community and a society has to do with their
respective sizes.

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A society is a much larger group than a community. A society can be defined as a group of people
that share a defined territory and who have a shared culture. They do not, of course, have to
share every single aspect of their culture, but they have to have the same general
culture. Therefore, we could say that Indians form a society because we are all Indian citizens
irrespective of our religion, region, caste , creed or political orientation.

A society could be huge, and span hundreds or thousands of miles. The population of the India
could be considered a society -- the Indian society. May share many general traits for eg:
Arranged marriage, joint family, religion, caste system, etc. The key factor with a community is
that the people within it must have some level of interaction with each other.

By contrast, a community is rather a small entity in sociological terms. A community can only
consist of people who typically interact with one another. Many communities form a society. Two
people cannot be part of a community if they do not tend to interact with one another on a relatively
intimate basis. Therefore, a community is something whose size is limited by the ability of people
to interact with one another on a

Diffrence between society & Community:

1. A community refers to a group of individuals residing in a specific geographic location
whereas a society refers to a system of social relationships.
2. A community is concrete in nature and can be identified physically contrary to a society
which is a mental construct and abstract in nature.
3. Society being a system of social relationships lacks geographic limitations and so can
extend globally as opposed to a community which has geographical specifications hence
is confined locally.
4. In a community, it is necessary for individuals to share common interests and goals, it is
not necessary for individuals in a society to share the same elements.

Impact of Architecture on society

Buildings, essentially social and cultural products, are influenced by the ideas, values,
beliefs, activities, relationships and forms of the social organizations that they
sustain. Society produces buildings, and the buildings, although not producingsociety,
help to maintain many of its social forms.

Architectural structures help all citizens appreciate the richness of their heritage
developed over centuries; they reflect political and cultural forces in tangible form. History
and heritage have an important role in building a nation's cultural identity.

Analyzing architecture, states that people make places in which to do things they do in
their lives - places to eat, to sleep, to shop, to worship, to argue, to learn, to store and so
on. The way in which they organize their places is related to their beliefs and their
aspirations, their world view.

As worldviews vary, so does architecture, at the personal level, at the social level and cultural
level, and between different subcultures within a society. An architect should understand how a
society or community relates to the built environment so as to be able to design meaningful

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buildings which are in harmony with social and cultural norms of the particular society for whch it
is designed

Social Organization
By definition a social animal has some organized interaction between individuals. In the human
condition there are complex social interactions within and between several organizational
categories: individual, in-group, family, polity and ethnic culture.

Individual
The individual is the highest level of biological organization, and the smallest visible unit in
social organization.

Family
Family is the smallest unit of social organization. Because of the close biological relationships in
the family and the crucial role that the family plays in human reproduction family organization is
much more tightly controlled by evolved biological instincts than other social organizations.

Joint Family-Where many members of the family inter-related to each other live as a single unit
under a common roof – or within a compound. The most common form of joint family is many
brothers living together with their respective spouses and children in the same hose along with
their parents. The father of all these brothers is considered the partrirch of the family and the
mother - the matriarch. In India it is commonly seen in agrarian families and business families
where all of them pursue the same vocation and pool in their labor as well towards productivity
and share the income thus accrued.

Nucleus family – is a small family comprising of hhusband, wife and their children. This type of
families are seen in cities and towns where people migrate in search of jobs suited to their
qualifications. The nucleus family may still retain strong ties to the siblings and may meet often at
common points or in the ancestral homes a few times a year.

Ethnicity:

In sociology, ethnicity is a concept referring to a shared culture and a way of life. This can be reflected in
language, religion, material culture such as clothing and cuisine, and cultural products such as music and
art. Ethnicity is often a major source of social cohesion as well as social conflict.

The world is home to thousands of different ethnic groups, from the Han Chinese—the largest ethnic group
in the world—to the smallest indigenous groups, some of which include only a few dozen people. Almost
all of these groups possess a shared history, language, religion, and culture, which provide group members
with a common identity.

While some countries are largely composed of a single ethnic group (Egypt, Finland, Germany, China),
others are composed of many different groups (United States, Australia, Philippines, Panama). The
population of Germany, for example, is 91.5 percent German). Countries that were founded as colonies,
on the other hand, are more likely to be home to multiple ethnicities.eg: Great Britain

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RELATION BETWEEN CULTURE & BUILT FORM

Architecture is a manifestation and expression of culture. As such it must acknowledge and

respond to the cultural needs and values of the society with which it interacts. Consequently, a
selected set of cultural aspects will be defined which have been found most likely to
influence architectural form.

Culture is a complicated thing – it is deep rooted, most of the time unseen and relates back
to our histories and beliefs. It is about how we do things, why and the values we share in
common with other people. Culture is a powerful thing that influences much more than we
often realise.

Design is INFLUENCED BY CULTURE. Culture influences what every culture sees as good
design, bad design or just plain boring design.
Think about the simple act of eating dinner….
Where do you eat dinner? How do you sit? Do you speak while you eat? Who do you eat
with? What do you eat? How do you eat? Do you drink with dinner? Only after? Do you like
hot and spicy or sweet?
How people sit down to eat in Japan is very different to what people in India or in Eurpoe or
in Arab countries would do. As a result any design around the themes of dinner would be very
different for both cultures.
Culture to a certain extent complicates design. If you want to design in a specific culture you
should firt experience the life style of that particular culture in depth. When you design, you
have to look out for the local culture and how it will react.

There are lots are areas for consideration within design. Colours is a commonly used example
– what is good in one culture, might mean something very different in another.
In terms of global-savvy design, one area that often gets overlooked is imagery, graphics,
icons, illustrations and pictures.

Achitecture & Human behaviouor

An architect can control human behavior with his design by understanding the way a building’s
design can influence a person’s behavior, thus, modifying the individual’s mood and
perception,whether the environment is natural or man-made.
Understanding the way in which environment effect people could enable the design and
construction of work, recreation and living space that has the ability to influence people’s behavior.

To that end, there are a lot of elements of architecture which impact psychology of people
inhabiting the place from basic performance of employers in an office to attracting customers and
boosting sales at a retail outlet. Architect is the one who creates a beautiful space which the people
love to inhbabit and which creates a conducive environment for the activity envisaged within the
built-environment – be it a home, hospital airport or any place where human activity

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