What Are Social Factors In Psychology?
Definition – Social factors include general factors at the level of human society concerned with social structure and social processes that impinge on the individual. Psychological factors include individual-level processes and meanings that influence mental states.
Contents
- 1 What is meant by social factor?
- 2 What are social psychological factors examples?
- 3 What are personal factors and social factors?
- 4 What is social factors in personality development?
- 5 What causes social factors?
- 6 Is family a social factor?
- 7 What is a social factor Durkheim?
- 8 How do social factors affect you?
- 9 Is mental health a social factor?
- 10 Is social influence a psychological factor?
- 11 What are the 5 factors of social influence?
- 12 What social factors affect your family life?
- 13 What is a social factor in pestle?
Social conditions that affect human behavior. Examples of such factors are socioeconomic and educational level, environmental circumstances (e.g., crowding), and the customs and mores of an individual’s social group.
Factors (e.g., attitudes) that affect thought or behavior in social contexts or that affect self-concept vis-à-vis other individuals or groups.
About – Social and economic factors affect how well and how long we live. Social and economic factors include factors such as income, education, employment, community safety and social support. The choices that are available in a community are impacted by social and economic factors.
- These choices include our abilities to afford medical care and housing and to manage stress.
- Social and economic opportunities help communities live longer and healthier lives.
- For example, a living wage shapes opportunities for housing, education, child care, food and medical care.
- We do not always think about social and economic factors when we think about health.
However, strategies to improve these factors can have a greater impact on health than strategies that target individual behaviors. Communities that have been cut off from investments or who have experienced discrimination have fewer social and economic opportunities.
Education Employment Income Family & Social Support Community Safety
1. Introduction – The role of health behaviors in the development of the major non-communicable diseases, i.e., cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and type II diabetes, is well described. Health behaviors in terms of “the big four” (tobacco use, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, and dietary habits) are substantial contributors to the global burden of disease and account for more than 50% of preventable premature deaths globally,
Health behaviors were found to cluster within the same individual, and the majority of adults report two or more risk behaviors, For example, smokers—compared to non- and ex-smokers—are more likely to report physical inactivity, poor diet, and risky alcohol consumption, Clustering in terms of risky alcohol consumption and smoking, as well as clustering of all four risk behaviors, was also noted,
In addition, clustering of risk behaviors is more prevalent in low socioeconomic groups (income and education), Engaging in multiple risk behaviors was shown to constitute a risk of disease development that is greater than the summated risk for each of the behaviors, for both general populations and clinical populations,
Individuals with four risk behaviors compared with those who report one risk behavior have a two-fold risk of stroke and three times the risk of coronary vascular disease and cancer mortality, In addition, individuals engaging in four risk behaviors have an all-cause mortality risk corresponding to being 12 years older than people with no risk behaviors,
The last decade saw an increase in interventions that target several behaviors concurrently, A scoping review of the characteristics of these interventions showed that components such as health education, advice, and skills training were common, However, a meta-review reported limited effectiveness of methods for multiple risk behavior interventions in terms of reducing heart disease risk.
Interventions included face-to-face sessions and written materials for health behavior change, Similarly, a recent meta-analysis showed limited support for the examined methods for multiple risk behavior interventions. Indeed, interventions largely involving education and skills training resulted in small improvements in diet, physical activity, and smoking cessation in non-clinical populations,
The authors suggest that, even though factors such as information and skills training are important for behavior change, other behavior-influencing factors should also be considered, e.g., social support, Psychosocial factors such as psychological resources and social support could, therefore, be important factors in order to understand health behaviors,
Psychosocial factors are characteristics or facets that influence an individual psychologically and/or socially. Such factors can describe individuals in relation to their social environment and how these affect physical and mental health. Psychosocial factors include protective psychosocial resources and psychological risk factors.
Psychosocial resources in the social environment include social network and social support. Central among psychological resources are coping ability or mastery, sense of coherence, and self-esteem. Psychological risk factors include vital exhaustion, depressiveness, hopelessness, and hostility.
Coping can be defined as a positive response outcome expectancy, This expectancy is based on the interaction between an exposure and the response to the same exposure. When the result is negative, the individual stores this experience as negative outcome expectancy and feels “hopeless”. If the individual learns that there is no relationship between his or her responses and the outcome, the individual develops “helplessness”,
If an individual perceives a situation as manageable, it promotes feelings of coping and mastery. Many of these expectancies represent learning that occurs early in life and contributes to future learning episodes, and they may influence understanding, motivation, and adherence to lifestyle decisions,
The concept of “sense of coherence” covers the ability to define life events as less stressful (comprehensibility), to mobilize resources to deal with encountered stressors (manageability), and experience motivation, desire, and commitment to cope (meaningfulness), The perception of self-esteem, depicting feelings of self-worth, is also a prevalent psychological resource in the literature.
Furthermore, Bandura introduced the concept of self-efficacy referring to one’s belief in the ability to perform a specific behavior, e.g., physical activity. Bandura differentiates between self-efficacy and outcome expectations. While the latter refers to the anticipation of results of one’s own action, the former refers to one’s ability of performing a certain action.
- High perceived self-efficacy enables a person to cope with confidence and high motivation,
- The coping scale developed by Pearlin aims to capture feelings of mastery, that is, feelings of control over one’s life, i.e., internal control.
- Furthermore, theory and empirical data posit that, when external demands are perceived to be larger than available protective resources, it can lead to experiences as negative outcome expectancy, to hopelessness and helplessness, and to the increase of what we define as psychological risk factors.
These include negative feelings and emotions (e.g., vital exhaustion and depressiveness) and cognitions (e.g., hopelessness and hostility). The effects of psychosocial factors on the risk of disease were proposed to follow two main pathways, the direct psychoneuroendocrine pathway and the indirect pathway through health behaviors,
- Furthermore, the relationship between psychosocial factors and health behaviors was reported in large population-based studies in terms of psychological resources (e.g., sense of coherence, mastery and resilience, self-esteem ) and psychological risk factors (e.g., depressiveness, cynicism ).
- However, the majority of previous studies investigated one or two health risk behaviors and only included individual or few psychosocial factors,
Considering the increased risk of disease from multiple risk behaviors and the reality that most adults report two or more risk behaviors, it is essential to investigate the determinants of multiple risk behaviors rather than simply studying individual risk behaviors.
- The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between a broad range of psychosocial factors and multiple risk behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and fruit/vegetable intake) in a middle-aged general population in Sweden.
- Psychosocial factors included social resources (social integration and emotional support), psychological resources (perceived control, self-esteem, sense of coherence, and trust), and psychological risk factors (cynicism, vital exhaustion, hopelessness, and depressiveness).
The hypothesis was that psychological and social resources would be negatively associated with health risk behaviors with the opposite association for psychological risk factors.
Social Factors – Socially factors are things that affect someone’s lifestyle. These could include wealth, religion, buying habits, education level, family size and structure and population density. What may be acceptable in one country, could be a possible no-no somewhere else.
- For example, if you are selling a food-related product in China and your flyer or website has a picture of food on it, you would need to make sure the image has chopsticks as cutlery, instead of a knife and fork.
- If the same image was used in India, cutlery would not be added.
- In another example, being a resident of one country does not mean that you speak its language.
The expat community in many areas is growing at an exponential rate because of better work opportunities and even unsavory political situations in their home country. If the expat community in a country are your target audience you should know which language(s) they speak and what their cultural, social and political factors are.
Abstract – In recent years, achievement-related cognition and emotion have received a lot of attention from all sections of researchers. A number of researchers have tried to empirically study the determinants and consequences of achievement-related cognition.
The explanations given range between individualistic explanations and sociocultural explanations. It is believed that both personal and social factors interact together in bringing about variations in achievement-related cognition and emotion. It is widely accepted that there are variations in human behavior, which are generally believed to be the result of generation-old cultural changes.
Cultural factors are believed to exert influence on human behavior and psyche. When one talks about culture, it is mostly treated as a homogeneous entity. Variations within cultures and intra-cultural differences due to various social factors are largely ignored.
- Researchers world over have started believing in the fact that exposure not only to varying cultural conditions but also to different social factors affects individuals’ psychological functioning.
- Present research is directed towards exploring variations in achievement-related cognition and emotion due to personal and social factors.
Eighty students from a university in Delhi participated in the research. The personal factor of self-construal and social factors like gender, social setting, perceived social class, and family were taken into account. Findings of the study corroborated the hypothesis that both personal and social factors have an impact on achievement-related cognition and emotion.
Learning Objectives –
- Provide specific examples of how the interaction of social experience, biological maturation, and the child’s representations of experience and the self provide the basis for growth in social and personality development.
- Describe the significant contributions of parent–child and peer relationships to the development of social skills and personality in childhood.
- Explain how achievements in social understanding occur in childhood. Moreover, do scientists believe that infants and young children are egocentric?
- Describe the association of temperament with personality development.
- Explain what is “social and emotional competence” and provide some examples of how it develops in childhood.
“How have I become the kind of person I am today?” Every adult ponders this question from time to time. The answers that readily come to mind include the influences of parents, peers, temperament, a moral compass, a strong sense of self, and sometimes critical life experiences such as parental divorce. Humans are inherently social creatures. Mostly, we work, play, and live together in groups. Understanding social and personality development requires looking at children from three perspectives that interact to shape development. The first is the social context in which each child lives, especially the relationships that provide security, guidance, and knowledge.
The second is biological maturation that supports developing social and emotional competencies and underlies temperamental individuality. The third is children’s developing representations of themselves and the social world. Social and personality development is best understood as the continuous interaction between these social, biological, and representational aspects of psychological development.
This interaction can be observed in the development of the earliest relationships between infants and their parents in the first year. Virtually all infants living in normal circumstances develop strong emotional attachments to those who care for them. One of the first and most important relationships is between mothers and infants. The quality of this relationship has an effect on later psychological and social development. Although nearly all infants develop emotional attachments to their caregivers-parents, relatives, nannies- their sense of security in those attachments varies.
Infants become securely attached when their parents respond sensitively to them, reinforcing the infants’ confidence that their parents will provide support when needed. Infants become insecurely attached when care is inconsistent or neglectful; these infants tend to respond avoidantly, resistantly, or in a disorganized manner ( Belsky & Pasco Fearon, 2008 ).
Such insecure attachments are not necessarily the result of deliberately bad parenting but are often a byproduct of circumstances. For example, an overworked single mother may find herself overstressed and fatigued at the end of the day, making fully-involved childcare very difficult.
- In other cases, some parents are simply poorly emotionally equipped to take on the responsibility of caring for a child.
- The different behaviors of securely- and insecurely-attached infants can be observed especially when the infant needs the caregiver’s support.
- To assess the nature of attachment, researchers use a standard laboratory procedure called the “Strange Situation,” which involves brief separations from the caregiver (e.g., mother) ( Solomon & George, 2008 ).
In the Strange Situation, the caregiver is instructed to leave the child to play alone in a room for a short time, then return and greet the child while researchers observe the child’s response. Depending on the child’s level of attachment, he or she may reject the parent, cling to the parent, or simply welcome the parent—or, in some instances, react with an agitated combination of responses.
- Infants can be securely or insecurely attached with mothers, fathers, and other regular caregivers, and they can differ in their security with different people.
- The security of attachment is an important cornerstone of social and personality development, because infants and young children who are securely attached have been found to develop stronger friendships with peers, more advanced emotional understanding and early conscience development, and more positive self-concepts, compared with insecurely attached children ( Thompson, 2008 ).
This is consistent with attachment theory’s premise that experiences of care, resulting in secure or insecure attachments, shape young children’s developing concepts of the self, as well as what people are like, and how to interact with them. As children mature, parent-child relationships naturally change.
- Preschool and grade-school children are more capable, have their own preferences, and sometimes refuse or seek to compromise with parental expectations.
- This can lead to greater parent-child conflict, and how conflict is managed by parents further shapes the quality of parent-child relationships.
- In general, children develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents have high (but reasonable) expectations for children’s behavior, communicate well with them, are warm and responsive, and use reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred responses to children’s misbehavior.
This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative ( Baumrind, 2013 ). Authoritative parents are supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not overbearing and allow them to make constructive mistakes. By contrast, some less-constructive parent-child relationships result from authoritarian, uninvolved, or permissive parenting styles (see Table 1). Table 1: Comparison of Four Parenting Styles Parental roles in relation to their children change in other ways, too. Parents increasingly become mediators (or gatekeepers) of their children’s involvement with peers and activities outside the family. Their communication and practice of values contributes to children’s academic achievement, moral development, and activity preferences.
As children reach adolescence, the parent-child relationship increasingly becomes one of “coregulation,” in which both the parent(s) and the child recognizes the child’s growing competence and autonomy, and together they rebalance authority relations. We often see evidence of this as parents start accommodating their teenage kids’ sense of independence by allowing them to get cars, jobs, attend parties, and stay out later.
Family relationships are significantly affected by conditions outside the home. For instance, the Family Stress Model describes how financial difficulties are associated with parents’ depressed moods, which in turn lead to marital problems and poor parenting that contributes to poorer child adjustment ( Conger, Conger, & Martin, 2010 ).
Within the home, parental marital difficulty or divorce affects more than half the children growing up today in the United States. Divorce is typically associated with economic stresses for children and parents, the renegotiation of parent-child relationships (with one parent typically as primary custodian and the other assuming a visiting relationship), and many other significant adjustments for children.
Divorce is often regarded by children as a sad turning point in their lives, although for most it is not associated with long-term problems of adjustment ( Emery, 1999 ).
Social health issues caused by external stressors like family, school, peer pressure. Factors that relate to the consumer’s interaction with other people and influence his or her consumption choices. Social factors are those causes where the individual is affected by social support, social networking, etc.
The family is a factor in the reproduction of social inequality, because different types of families have different resource capabilities. The research results allow us to focus on the problem of identifying the types of families that are most in need of social protection.
Sociology 250 October 26, 1999 Social Facts and Suicide These notes have been translated into Swedish by Eric Karlsson A. Social Facts Durkheim defined social facts as things external to, and coercive of, the actor. These are created from collective forces and do not emanate from the individual (Hadden, p.104).
While they may not seem to be observable, social facts are things, and “are to be studied empirically, not philosophically” (Ritzer, p.78). They cannot be deduced from pure reason or thought, but require a study of history and society in order to observe their effects and understand the nature of these social facts.
In The Rules of Sociological Method, Durkheim begins by noting features such as the following (quote 3): Social Facts, When I fulfil my obligations as brother, husband, or citizen, when I execute my contracts, I perform duties which are defined, externally to myself and my acts, in law and in custom.
- Even if they conform to my own sentiments and I feel their reality subjectively, such reality is still objective, for I did not create them; I merely inherited them through my education.
- Rules, p.1).
- As examples of social facts, Durkheim cites religious beliefs, currency used to undertake transactions, and factors such as “the practices followed in my profession” ( Rules, p.2).
These types of conduct or thought are not only external to the individual but are, moreover, endowed with coercive power, by virtue of which they impose themselves upon him, independent of his individual will. ( Rules, p.2). While obligations, values, attitudes, and beliefs may appear to be individual, Durkheim argues that these social facts exist at the level of society as a whole, arising from social relationships and human association.
- They exist as a result of social interactions and historical developments over long periods of time, and come from “varying collective representations and diverse forms of social organization” (Hadden, p.104).
- As individuals who are born and raised in a society, these social facts are learned (through socialization) and generally accepted, but the individual has nothing to do with establishing these.
While society is composed of individuals, society is not just the sum of individuals, and these facts exist at the level of society, not at the individual level. As such, these social facts do exist, they are the social reality of society, a reality that constitutes the proper study of sociology ( Cuff et al.
, p.33). The study of social facts is the “distinct object or subject matter of sociology” (Hadden, p.105). Durkheim distinguishes social facts from psychological, biological, or economic facts by noting that these are social and rooted in group sentiments and values. At the same time, he distinguishes the study of social facts from philosophy by noting that the real effects of social facts are “manifested in external indicators of sentiments such as religious doctrines, laws, moral codes” (Hadden, p.105) and these effects can be observed and studied by the sociologist.
The study of social facts is thus a large part of the study of sociology. In order to do this, the sociologist must “rid themselves of preconceptions” (Hadden, p.107) and undertake objective study which can “focus on objective, external indicators such as religious doctrines or laws” (Hadden, p.107).
Each social fact is real, something that is constraining on the individual and external to the actor. The social fact is not just in the mind of the individual that is, these facts are more than psychological facts. That these exist in society as a whole, over time, and sometimes across societies, provides some proof of this.
At the same time they are in the minds of individuals so they are also mental states. Ritzer notes that social facts can be considered to be mental phenomena that are external to and coercive of psychological facts, such as human instincts. The individual mental state could be considered to intervene between social fact and action (Ritzer, p.105).
- Durkheim may not have provided a sufficient analysis of the assumptions underlying, or the characteristics of, these mental states.
- For Durkheim the study of sociology should be the study of social facts, attempting to find the causes of social facts and the functions of these social facts.
- Social facts regulate human social action and act as constraints over individual behaviour and action.
They may be enforced with law, with clearly defined penalties associated with violation of the sentiments and values of the group. Sanctions may be associated with social facts, for example as in religion, where resistance may result in disapproval from others or from spiritual leaders.
Individuals may be unaware of social facts and generally accept them. In this case, individuals may accept the values and codes of society and accept them as their own. Two types of social facts are material and non-material social facts. Material social facts are features of society such as social structures and institutions.
These could be the system of law, the economy, church and many aspects of religion, the state, and educational institutions and structures. They could also include features such as channels of communication, urban structures, and population distribution.
While these are important for understanding the structures and form of interaction in any society, it is nonmaterial social facts that constitute the main subject of study of sociology. Nonmaterial social facts are social facts which do not have a material reality. They consist of features such as norms, values, and systems of morality.
Some contemporary examples are the norm of the one to three child family, the positive values associated with family structures, and the negative associations connected to aggression and anger. In Durkheim’s terminology, some of these nonmaterial social facts are morality, collective consciousness, and social currents.
An example of the latter is Durkheim’s analysis of suicide. Social facts can also be divided into normal and pathological social facts (Hadden, pp.108-9). Normal social facts are the most widely distributed and useful social facts, assisting in the maintenance of society and social life. Pathological social facts are those that we might associate with social problems and ills of various types.
Suicide is one example of this, where social facts ought to be different. For Durkheim, the much greater frequency of the normal is proof of the superiority of the normal. Durkheim later modified the notion of a single collective consciousness, and adopted the view that there were collective representations as part of specific states of substrata of the collective.
That is, there may be different norms and values for different groups within society. These collective representations are also social facts because they are in the consciousness of some collective and are not reducible to individual consciousnesses (Ritzer, p.87). The social structures, institutions, norms and values that have become part of the study of sociology can be derived from Durkheim’s approach, and today there is little difficulty distinguishing sociology from psychology.B.
Suicide After Durkheim wrote The Rules of Sociological Method, he tackled the subject of suicide as an example of how a sociologist can study a subject that seems extremely personal, with no social aspect to it even being anti-social. It could be argued that suicide is such a personal act that it involves only personal psychology and purely individual thought processes.
- Durkheim’s aim was not to explain or predict an individual tendency to suicide, but to explain one type of nonmaterial social facts, social currents.
- Social currents are characteristics of society, but may not have the permanence and stability that some parts of collective consciousness or collective representation have.
They may be associated with movements such as “enthusiasm, indignation, and pity.” (Ritzer, p.87). Hadden notes that Durkheim wished to show that sociological factors were “capable of explaining much about such anti-social phenomena” (Hadden, p.109). In the case of suicide, these social currents are expressed as suicide rates, rates that differ among societies, and among different groups in society.
These rates show regularities over time, with changes in the rates often occurring at similar times in different societies. Thus these rates can be said to be social facts (or at least the statistical representation of social facts) in the sense that they are not just personal, but are societal characteristics.
This can be seen in the following quote (quote 12): Suicide Rates as Social Facts, At each moment of its history, therefore, each society has a definite aptitude for suicide. The relative intensity of this aptitude is measured by taking the proportion between the total number of voluntary deaths and the population of every age and sex.
We will call this numerical datum the rate of mortality through suicide, characteristic of the society under consideration. The suicide-rate is therefore a factual order, unified and definite, as is shown by both its permanence and its variability. For this permanence would be inexplicable if it were not the result of a group of distinct characteristics, solidary with one another, and simultaneously effective in spite of different attendant circumstances; and this variability proves the concrete and individual quality of these same characteristics, since they vary with the individual character of society itself.
In short, these statistical data express the suicidal tendency with which each society is collectively afflicted. Each society is predisposed to contribute a definite quota of voluntary deaths. This predisposition may therefore be the subject of a special study belonging to sociology.
( Suicide, pp.48, 51). Durkheim takes up the analysis of suicide in a very quantitative and statistical manner. While he did not have available to him very precise or complete data or sophisticated statistical techniques, his method is exemplary in showing how to test hypotheses, reject incorrect explanations for suicide, sort through a great variety of possible explanations, and attempt to control for extraneous factors.
Some of the factors that others had used to explain suicide were heredity, climate, race, individual psychopathic states (mental illness), and imitation. As an example of Durkheim’s method, consider how he analyzes cosmic factors, such as weather or season.
- Durkheim ( Suicide, p.107) notes that in all countries suicide is greater in the summer months, that no country is an exception to this, and that the proportion of suicides in the six warmer months to the six colder months is very similar in each country.
- Durkheim notes that this has led some commentators to say the “heat increases the excitability of the nervous system” ( Suicide, p.108).
But suicide may result from depression as much as from over-excitement, and heat cannot possibly act the same way on both causes. Further, a closer analysis by Durkheim considers temperature variations and shows that while suicides increase in number as temperature increases, suicides reach a peak before the temperature does.
- In addition, if temperature is a cause of suicide, warm countries might be expected to have more suicides than cold countries, but the opposite tends to be the case.
- A related explanation that Durkheim considers is that great changes in temperature are associated with suicide, but again he finds that there is no correlation between suicide rates and the fact of temperature change.
Rather, the causes must be in some factor that has continuity over time. He then notes that the rates are more closely connected to the length of day, with suicides increasing as the days grow longer, and decreasing in number as the length of day declines.
- But it is not the sun itself which is the cause, because at noontime there are fewer suicides than at other times of the day.
- What Durkheim finds is that the factors associated with higher numbers of suicides must be those that relate to “the time when social life is at its height” ( Suicide, p.119).
The time of day, the day of week, the season of the year, and so on, are not in themselves the reason for the changes in the number of suicides. Rather, the times when social life and interaction among people are greater, are also those associated with increased suicide.
- Durkheim concludes this section by saying (quote 13): Social Explanation,
- If voluntary deaths increase from January to July, it is not because heat disturbs the organism, but because social life is more intense.
- To be sure, this greater intensity derives from the greater ease of development of social life in the Summer than in the Winter, owing to the sun’s position,, the state of the atmosphere, etc.
But the physical environment does not stimulate it directly; above all, it has no effect on the progression of suicide. The latter depends on social conditions. ( Suicide, pp.121-122). While this is not a proof or determination of what causes suicide yet, Durkheim notes that the causes must relate to collective life and must be such that these time factors can be incorporated into an explanation.
But the explanation must be social in nature, and cannot be simply related to natural factors, these natural factors must work socially, and affect some social aspects which are related to suicide. Note that Durkheim ‘s method here is very empirical, and he searches through various sorts of data and evidence to find factors associated with suicide.
But the explanation is not simply a relation between these data and suicides. Rather he is searching for social causes or conditions that are expressed through these. That is, he uses data to discover patterns, but the patterns themselves are not the cause of the phenomenon.
- Rather the cause is social, and the observed, empirical patterns constitute a means of finding underlying causes.
- Another factor that Durkheim considers is religion.
- While he does find that religion is associated with suicide, in the sense that Protestant countries and regions have higher suicide rates than do Catholic ones, religious doctrines are not an important factor in explaining these differences.
That is, suicide is condemned more or less equally in each religion, and doctrinal statements concerning suicide are all negative. If there is a difference between the two religions with respect to suicide rates, it must be in some aspect of social organization that differs between the two churches.
But if this is the factor related to suicide, then it is the social organization that is the cause of the difference, not religion in itself. Giddens notes (p.83) that Durkheim finds further proof of this in other factors related to social organization, that is, family structure. Where there is more integration in family structure, the suicides are lesser in number.
Durkheim argues that the most important aspects of social organization and collective life for explaining differences in suicide rates are the degree of integration into and regulation by society. For Durkheim, integration is the “degree to which collective sentiments are shared” and regulation refers to “the degree of external constraint on people.” (Ritzer, p.90).
- Catholicism is a more highly integrated religion than Protestantism, and it is in this that the difference in suicide rates is expressed.
- That is, it is not the religious doctrines themselves but the different social organization of the two religions.
- As Giddens notes (p.83), degree of integration of family structure is related in the same way to suicides.
Those in larger families are less likely to commit suicide, whereas those in smaller families, or single, are more likely. Over time, various social factors also make their influence felt. Durkheim notes that there was a decline in the number of suicides in all the European countries in 1848, a year of revolution and political change throughout Europe.
- Times of political crisis, war, and economic change are also associated with changes in the rate of suicide.
- Each of these great social movements could be considered to be examples of social currents that have widespread impact within and across societies.
- Ritzer (p.89) notes that Durkheim was making two arguments.
First, he argued that different collectivities have different collective consciousness or collective representation. These produce different social currents, and these lead to different suicide rates. By studying different groups and societies, some of these currents can be analyzed, and the effect of these on suicide can be determined.
- Second, changes in the collective consciousness lead to changes in social currents.
- These are then associated with changes in suicide rates (quote 14): Sociological Explanation,
- The conclusion from all these facts is that the social suicide-rate can be explained only sociologically.
- At any given moment the moral constitution of society established the contingent of voluntary deaths.
There is, therefore, for each people a collective force of a definite amount of energy, impelling men to self-destruction. The victim’s acts which at first seem to express only his personal temperament are really the supplement and prolongation of a social condition which they express externally.
Each social group really has a collective inclination for the act, quite its own, and the source of all individual inclination, rather than the result. It is made up of the currents of egoism, altruism or anomy running through the society under consideration with the tendencies to languorous melancholy, active renunciation or exasperated weariness derivative from these currents.
These tendencies of the whole social body, by affecting individuals, cause them to commit suicide. The private experiences usually thought to be the proximate causes of suicide have only the influence borrowed from the victim’s moral predisposition, itself and echo of the moral state of society.
- Suicide, pp.299-300).
- Four Types of Suicide The manner in which social integration and regulation work can be better seen by examining the four fold classification of suicides that Durkheim developed.
- Durkheim ends his discussion of the organic-psychic and physical environmental factors by concluding that they cannot explain “each social group,
specific tendency to suicide.” ( Suicide, p.145). By eliminating other explanations, Durkheim claims that these tendencies must depend on social causes and must be collective phenomena. The key to each type is a social factor, with the degrees of integration and regulation into society being either too high or too low.
- The following discussion is drawn from Ritzer, pp.90 ff.).1.
- Egoistic Suicide,
- This is the type of suicide that occurs where the degree of social integration is low, and there is a sense of meaningless among individuals.
- In traditional societies, with mechanical solidarity, this is not likely to be the cause of suicide.
There the strong collective consciousness gives people a broad sense of meaning to their lives. Within modern society, the weaker collective consciousness means that people may not see the same meaning in their lives, and unrestrained pursuit of individual interests may lead to strong dissatisfaction.
- One of the results of this can be suicide.
- Individuals who are strongly integrated into a family structure, a religious group, or some other type of integrative group are less likely to encounter these problems, and that explains the lower suicide rates among them.
- The factors leading to egoistic suicide can be social currents such as depression and disillusionment.
For Durkheim, these are social forces or social facts, even though it is the depressed or melancholy individual who takes his or her life voluntarily. “Actors are never free of the force of the collectivity: ‘However individualized a man may be, there is always something collective remaining the very depression and melancholy resulting from this same exaggerated individualism.'” Also, on p.214 of Suicide, Durkheim says “Thence are formed currents of depression and disillusionment emanating from no particular individual but expressing society’s state of disillusionment.” Durkheim notes that “the bond attaching man to life relaxes because that attaching him to society is itself slack.
- The individual yields to the slightest shock of circumstance because the state of society has made him a ready prey to suicide.” ( Suicide, pp.214-215).2.
- Altruistic Suicide,
- This is the type of suicide that occurs when integration is too great, the collective consciousness too strong, and the “individual is forced into committing suicide.” (Ritzer, p.91).
Integration may not be the direct cause of suicide here, but the social currents that go along with this very high degree of integration can lead to this. The followers of Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple or the members of the Solar Temple are an example of this, as are ritual suicides in Japan.
Ritzer notes that some may “feel it is their duty” to commit suicide. (p.91). Examples in primitive society cited by Durkheim are suicides of those who are old and sick, suicides of women following the death of their husband, and suicides of followers after the death of a chief. According to Durkheim this type of suicide may actually “springs from hope, for it depends on the belief in beautiful perspectives beyond this life.” 3.
Anomic Suicide, Anomie or anomy come from the Greek meaning lawlessness. Nomos means usage, custom, or law and nemein means to distribute. Anomy thus is social instability resulting from breakdown of standards and values. (Webster’s Dictionary). This is a type of suicide related to too low a degree of regulation, or external constraint on people.
- As with the anomic division of labour, this can occur when the normal form of the division of labour is disrupted, and “the collectivity is temporarily incapable of exercising its authority over individuals.” (Ritzer, p.92).
- This can occur either during periods associated with economic depression (stock market crash of the 1930s) or over-rapid economic expansion.
New situations with few norms, the regulative effect of structures is weakened, and the individual may feel rootless. In this situation, an individual may be subject to anomic social currents. People that are freed from constraints become “slaves to their passions, and as a result, according to Durkheim’s view, commit a wide range of destructive acts, including killing themselves in greater numbers than they ordinarily would.” (Ritzer, p., 92).
- In addition to economic anomie, Durkheim also spends time examining domestic anomie.
- For example, suicides of family members may occur after the death of a husband or wife.4.
- Fatalistic Suicide,
- When regulation is too strong, Durkheim considers the possibility that “persons with futures pitilessly blocked and passions violently choked by oppressive discipline” may see no way out.
The individual sees no possible manner in which their lives can be improved, and when in a state of melancholy, may be subject to social currents of fatalistic suicide. Summary, Durkheim’s analysis of suicide shows the manner in which the social as opposed to the psychological and biological can be emphasized, and how it results in some useful ways of analyzing the actions of individuals.
- Suicide rates as expressions of social currents are social facts that affect societies and individuals within those societies.
- The study of psychology is still useful in attempting to determine individual motives and the manner in which the specific circumstances can lead to an individual deciding to voluntarily end their life.
But an analysis of these circumstances should be set within the context of the social currents to which that individual is subject. The method of analysis of Durkheim should prove useful even today. In terms of suicide, the social causes are now well recognized, and any analysis of suicide would have to include these.
- Some combination of egoistic, anomic, and fatalistic types of suicide may help explain and understand this phenomenon.
- More generally, the method of Suicide is exemplary in providing researchers with a means of understanding the social factors that are associated with particular phenomena.
- Durkheim examines patterns on the data in an attempt to determine how social factors can play a role in explaining these phenomena.
This might be applied to sociobiological arguments today. The trends themselves are not the cause, but indicative of a cause, a social explanation has to be found.C. Conclusions about Durkheim 1. Contributions a. Social Facts and Social Aspects, These are real things that do affect people.
He had a strong structural view of society, and the manner in which each of us is influenced by these social facts and how we must fit into these. Durkheim attempted to see a role for the social as distinguished from the economic, psychological and biological. This can be seen in his view of the social influences on suicide rates, where he takes a wide variety of factors and considers their influence on the tendency or aptitude for suicide.
The effect of each of these factors is not a simple connection between the factor and the tendency to suicide, but must be mediated by social factors. In particular, the social factors that he identified were the degree of integration and the degree of regulation.
- For modern theories of sociobiology, and the influence of genetics, Durkheim’s approach could prove a useful counter.b.
- Division of Labour and forms of solidarity.
- Durkheim again shows how the division of labour is set within a social context, so that economic relationships are governed by social conventions that may not always be apparent.
Durkheim’s view that the division of labour does not result in a disintegration of society, but changes the form of social solidarity provides a useful way of examining modern society. The last few pages of Giddens’ discussion of Durkheim examines individuality and individual freedom within an overall structure (Giddens, pp.115-118).
Durkheim notes that individualism is a product of long historical developments within western society, with the French Revolution giving a “decisive impetus to the growth of moral individualism.” (Giddens, p.116). Part of this view is the sanctity of the individual, the worth of the human individual, individual rights and the encouragement of individual action and initiative.
But Durkheim notes that these themselves are social facts in the sense that these ideas are social products, created by society. Durkheim further argues that they are not the product of egoism, that is, self-interest as the basic motivation for human action.
While the development of individualism will promote self-interest and egoism, this is not the source of individualism, and an unchecked development of egoism would destroy society. This is not what happens though, except perhaps under exceptional circumstances. What Durkheim argues is that freedom is not to be identified with liberation from all restraints, this results in anomie (Giddens, p.117).
Rather, freedom exists in being “master of oneself” by “putting oneself under the wing of society.” That is, freedom is achieved within a set of moral rules, and discipline within this set of rules is an essential aspect of freedom. The notion of rights and responsibilities may be a means of tying these together.c.
- Sociological Approaches,
- Many of common approaches to sociology derive from Durkheim.
- The method of attempting to determine social facts and their influence, along with concepts such as norms, values, socialization, institutions, etc.
- Could be considered to come at least partly from Durkheim.2.
- Problems At the same time as Durkheim made a number of important contributions to sociology, there are a number of problems with his analysis.
Some of these are as follows.a. Action, As noted above, Durkheim has a particular view of human freedom and this may be regarded as too limited. Or even if this approach is adopted, it is not clear what is the basis for individual human motivation and action.
Durkheim’s view is a very strong structural view. Society and social facts more or less determine our behaviour, and we have little option but to accept those. He favours such an approach, and considers deviations from this as abnormal. This could allow his approach to be used to identify any behaviour that is not part of the common morality as abnormal and perhaps deviant, something that has to be corrected or eliminated.
For example, immigrants, youth culture, etc. While there are many aspects of a common morality in our society, there are also many opportunities for individuals acting in a variety of ways in similar situations. Durkheim might recognize this as possible, but he seems to have little to say concerning the nature of human motivation.
- He is too concerned with the larger structural issues.
- Durkheim and Marx are similar in this sense, they both have a very strong structural view, with limited possibility for human action, or little theory of human action.
- Weber’s model of action or some of the more recent approaches such as symbolic interaction would prove more useful here.b.
Consensus, Solidarity and Common Consciousness, While Durkheim makes a useful contribution in presenting ideas concerning the source of societal solidarity, this often appears to be his only concern. One difficulty with Durkheim and the structural functional approach is that the latter almost completely ignore conflict and power differences.
Durkheim may have constructed his approach in part to negate the Marxian or conflict approach to the study of society. Durkheim treats the anomic and forced forms of the division of labour as unusual, and devotes little time to their analysis. References Cuff, E.C., W.W. Sharrock and D.W. Francis, Perspectives in Sociology, third edition, London, Routledge, 1992.
HM66 P36 1984 Durkheim, Emile, The Division of Labor in Society, New York, The Free Press, 1933. Referred to in notes as Division, HD 51 D98 Durkheim, Emile, The Rules of Sociological Method, New York, The Free Press, 1938. Referred to in notes as Rules,
- HM 24 D962 Durkheim, Emile, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, New York, The Free Press, 1951.
- Referred to in notes as Suicide,
- HV 6545 D812 Giddens, Anthony, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1971. HM19 G53.
Hadden, Richard W.1997. Sociological Theory: An Introduction to the Classical Tradition, Peterborough, Canada, Broadview Press. Ritzer, George, Sociological Theory, third edition, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1992. HM24 R4938. Edited on October 26, 1999 and April 10, 2020.
Social Factors that Impact Your Health – Income, Education, & More Good health allows us to achieve our goals, such as education, employment, or learning how to dance. Everyone should have a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible no matter who they are, where they live, or what they have.
What are 4 socio factors?
Socio-economic factors include occupation, education, income, wealth and where someone lives.
Students’ academic performance is influenced by social factors. These factors include romantic relationships, student cults, membership in clubs and organizations, and sports. Sampling via mid-point square approach was used to compare social variables with the students’ CGPA.
Social factors that can influence mental health include race, class, gender, religion, family and peer networks. Our age and stage, and the social roles we have at any time in our life all contribute to this.
Social influence theory is a theory in psychology that talks about how people are more likely to do whatever they see as being the norm. It states that people have a tendency to change their behavior according to those around them, and those nearby have stronger effects than those further away.
What are examples of factors in psychology?
A few examples of psychological factors are the nature of significant childhood and adult relationships, the experience of ease or stress in social environments (e.g., school, work), and the experience of trauma.
Social groupings and participation in sport – Participation in sport is influenced by social factors, such as people’s age, gender, disability, ethnicity, friendship group and family.
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Social factors take into account a number of different factors including a person’s background in relation to their parents, how they have been brought up, their culture, the school they go to and the area in which they live as well as the people that they choose to spend time with.
Social factors include ideas regarding gender roles conveyed by family, authority figures, mass media, and other influential people in a child’s life.
Abstract – Social influence involves intentional and unintentional efforts to change another person’s beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. Unlike persuasion, which is typically intentional and requires some degree of awareness on the part of the target, social influence may be inadvertent or accidental.
Social influence often operates via peripheral processing. Hence, the target may be unaware of the influence attempt. Unlike compliance gaining, which is usually goal directed, social influence is often nongoal directed and the outcomes may be inconsistent with, or unrelated to, a communicator’s goals.
Social influence encompasses such strategies as indebtedness or reciprocity, commitment, social proof, liking and attractiveness, authority, and scarcity. Read full chapter URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080970868320748
Culture of the Family – To consider the sociology of a family, sociologists utilize family culture as the biggest research tool at their disposal. They do this by examining the existing structures and practices of each family to make sense of the pieces of the larger unit.
The sociology of a family is founded on many cultural factors that shape its structures and processes, and sociologists must look at these to understand many complexities of the field. Factors like gender, age, race, and ethnicity are just some of the factors that influence the relationships, structures, and practices within each family.
Shifting demographics also tend to affect family culture and sociologists seek to understand why and how.
There is no doubt that society is continually changing. The tastes and fashions are a great example of this change. One of the most significant differences is the growing popularity of social media. Social networking sites like Facebook have become very popular among younger people.
- The young consumers have grown used to mobile phones and computers.
- The younger generation prefers to use digital technology to shop online.
- Older people will perhaps stick to their traditional methods.
- The effect of changing society is often discussed.
- You must also understand that these changing factors have a toll on businesses too.
Changes in social factors can impact a firm in many different ways. People that struggle financially from these changes can get some help to get back on their feet. Companies often focus on these changes in depth. To do so, they employ environmental analysis such as PEST analysis,
STEP is a variation of PEST. Extended versions include PESTLE, STEEP, and STEEPLED analysis. The “S” in all these analyses indicates social or socio-cultural factors. Other factors you should assess are political, economic, technological, environmental, ethical, and legal, Businesses choose an environmental analysis depending on the nature of operations.
However, all of them study the social factors, In the social step for these analyses, you have to look carefully at the social changes. You will also have to look into the cultural changes which take place in your business environment. Market research is a critical part of this step.
- It is vital to see the trends and patterns of society.
- To understand the impacts better, you might need to study the factors in detail.
- Most companies analyze population growth and age structure.
- They also show interest in consumer attitudes and lifestyle changes.
- Your analysis can show if there are faults in your marketing strategy,
It can also help find new ideas. Below is a list of social factors which impact customer needs and the size of markets:
Lifestyles Buying habits Education level Emphasis on safety Religion and beliefs Health consciousness Sex distribution Average disposable income level Social classes Family size and structure Minorities Attitudes toward saving and investing Attitudes toward green or ecological products Attitudes toward renewable energy Population growth rate Immigration and emigration rates Age distribution and life expectancy rates Attitudes toward imported products and services Attitudes toward work, career, leisure, and retirement Attitudes toward customer service and product quality
The social aspect focuses on the forces within society. Family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and the media are social factors. These factors can affect our attitudes, opinions, and interests. So, it can impact the sales of products and revenues earned.
- The social factors shape who we are as people.
- It affects how we behave and what we buy.
- A good example is how people’s attitude towards diet and health is changing in the UK.
- Because of this, UK businesses are seeing some changes.
- More people are joining fitness clubs.
- There is also a massive growth in demand for organic food.
Products often take advantage of social factors. The Wii Fit, for instance, attempt to deal with society’s concern about children’s lack of exercise. Population changes are also directly affecting organizations. The supply and demand of goods and services in an economy can change with the structure of the population.
- A decline in birth rates means demand will decrease.
- It also indicates greater competition as the total consumers fall.
- World food shortage predictions can lead to call for more investment in food production.
- An increase in the world’s population can have the same effect.
- African countries like Uganda are facing food shortages.
They are reconsidering the rejection of genetically modified foods now. Organizations should be able to offer products and services which aim to benefit people’s lifestyle. The offerings should complement customers’ behavior, Not reacting to changes in society can be a costly mistake,
Social Factors – Also known as socio-cultural factors, are the areas that involve the shared belief and attitudes of the population. These factors include – population growth, age distribution, health consciousness, career attitudes and so on. These factors are of particular interest as they have a direct effect on how marketers understand customers and what drives them. 
| Access to Education | Access to Healthcare |
| Access to Recreation | Bereavement |
| Bullying | Community Engagement |
| Cultural Capital | Culture |
| Customs & Traditions | Debt |
| Discrimination | Employment |
| Ethnicity | Family |
| Green Space | Hard Infrastructure |
| Heritage | Housing |
| Hunger | Immigration Status |
| Income & Wealth | Language Abilities |
| Leisure Time | Lifestyle |
| Living Conditions | Mentors, Coaches & Other Positive Influences |
| Norms | Nutrition |
| Occupation | Parenting Style |
| Pastimes | Peer Pressure |
| Play | Politics |
| Quality of Education | Relational Capital |
| Religion | Rights & Freedoms |
| Role Models | Roles |
| Safety & Security | Social Expectations |
| Social Isolation | Social Life |
| Social Mobility | Social Stability |
| Socioeconomic Class | Soft Infrastructure |
| Stress | Subculture |
| Super Culture | Traditions |
| Transportation | Unemployment |
| Values | Walkability |
| Working Conditions |
Cultural capital are experiences that help an individual to thrive in a culture. For example, language acquisition or familiarity with norms, Heritage is culture that is passed down from the past. For example, a city that is filled with extremely valuable art and architecture that benefits the quality of life of current and future generations.
Soft infrastructure are services such as hospitals or IT services that underpin the development of a nation or city. Hard infrastructure are physical types of infrastructure such as a bridge. Play is an important activity in childhood that is a right, Many children do not have space or time to play. For example, a child who is tasked with caring for an ill family member due to a lack of resources and community support.
Relational capital is the value of social relationships. For example, an individual who obtain jobs or school acceptance by leveraging the relationships of a family member. Social factors include economic factors as an economy is an element of a society,
SOCIAL: Social factors look at trends such as lifestyle factors, cultural norms and expectations such as career attitudes and work-life balance.
1 collective, common, communal, community, general, group, organized, public, societal.2 companionable, friendly, gregarious, neighbourly, sociable.
