I. Population
is the first basic component of society.  It refersto the members of a society considered collectively.  In analyzing humansocieties.  There are 3 aspects of population:  (a) the geneticconstants, (b) the genetic variables and (c) the demographic variables.

1. Genetic Constants
• The genetic constants of a population are those characteristics that reflect our species common genetic heritage.
• Specifying these traits is difficult because scientists cannot examine genotype without cultural influences and the complexity of genetics itself.  It is clear, however, that people and their societies are profoundly influenced by the genetic heritage of our species as well as by their cultures
2. Genetic Variables
• Each of us also has thousands of genes that are absent or occur in somewhat different form.
• Because these genes are not distributed equally among societies and their populations, there are variable aspects to the genetic heritage ofsocieties.
• A race is simply a part of the human population in which some combination of these highly visible traits occurs with a frequency that is appreciably different from that of other parts of the human population (e.g. sickle-cell anemia).
3. Demographic Variables
• The demographic properties of a population include such things as its size, density, migration, composition, and birth and death rates.
• These characteristics vary among societies but, unlike most genetic variations, have direct, demonstrable and far reaching consequences for human societies.

II. Culture
The second basic component of every sociocultural system is culture, a society’s symbol systems and the information they convey.  The symbol systemsand store of information that comprise a society’s culture are likea foundation laid down by previous generations.  Because each generationhas thisbase on which to build, it can avoid repeating many of the experiencesofearlier generations.

• Symbol Systems
1. spoken language
• The most basic symbol systems in any society are its spoken languages.
• No matter how many other symbol systems a society creates, these are the ones its members use in their basic thought processes and the ones that bear the burden of transmitting information.
• At the heart of every spoken language is an enormous set of social conventions that constitute its vocabulary and grammar.
• In short, language reflects the needs, concerns ,and experiences of those who use it.
2. body language
• Supplementing its spoken language, every society uses conventional gestures and facial expressions whose messages are evident to members ofthe group.
• Not to be confused with instinctive reactions, body language is symbolic, for the form and meaning of the gestures and expressions are determined by those who use them.
3. written language
• A relatively recent development in human history, written language has expanded our ability to communicate information.
• Culture: Information--Cultural, Ideological, & Technological
1. Cultural
• Cultural information is knowledge acquired through experience and conveyed through symbols.
• A society’s information is a product of its experiences:its experiences in the remote and recent past and its experiences with itsenvironment and itself.
• Because every society has a unique past, every culture is unique. Out of diverse experiences, diverse information emerges.
• All cultures include information on 7 basic subjects
• the biophysical environment to which the society must adapt;
• the group’s social environment;
• the society itself, its origins, people and history;
• the ultimate causes of things and events;
• problem solving;
• decision making; and
• to satisfy culturally activated and intensified needs, such as the desire for artistic expression and ritual.
2. Ideology
• Ideology is information used to interpret experience and help order societal life; to make sense out of human experience.
• There are 3 basic elements that comprise every ideology :
• a system of beliefs about the kind of world we inhabit;
• a system of general moral values that emanate from, or justified by, those beliefs; and
• a system of norms that apply those general values to specific situations and spell out how the members of the group are to act in various circumstances.
• There are two kinds of norms to every society:
• laws, regulations and rules - the official or legal codes ofconduct enforced by authority (e.g. government, church); and
• customs - the informal and unofficial norms which define acceptable and unacceptable behavior
3. Technology
• Technology is information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires.

III. Material Products

• Material products consists of the things human society produces orobtains through trade. 
• These products of technology range from perishable food to architecture.  Energy is easily the most vital product of societal activity

IV. Social Organization

• Social organization refers to the network of relationships among asociety’s members.
• It is a product of the interaction of culture and people itself consisting of 5 elements:  (1) individuals, (2) social positions, roles & statuses, (3) groups, (4) classes, and (5) stratification
1. Individuals
• society must cope with a constant turnover in its membership and older members die and newer one are born.
• Socialization is a complex process that begins as soon as the infant is capable of discerning that its actions generate reactions,and that some of those interactions are pleasant while other are not.
2. Social Positions, Roles, & Statuses
• Individuals who occupy positions in a social structure are expected to fulfill a number of social roles.
• Roles in societies, like roles in theaters, have distinctive behavioral expectations and requirements attached to them.
• The behavior requirements and expectations that are attached to real life roles are the norms
• It is important to recognize that roles differ greatly with respect to the prestige or social honor accorded them
3. Groups
• Sociologists limit the term "groups" to an aggregation whose members (1) cooperate to satisfy common or complimentary needs, (2) have shared norms, and (3) have a sense of common identity
4. Classes
• Class or stratum is defined on the basis of some important attribute that is the same for all members of the class and that influences their access to power, privilege and prestige
• Inequality is a fact of life in every human society. Some individuals always control more of the society’s resources than other do and enjoy more than their share of benefits.
5. Stratification
• Viewed as a whole, all of the statuses and class systems of a society constitute its system of stratification
• Stratification systems vary in a number of important ways, such as wealth, power, prestige, race, ethnicity. Stratification is one of the major sources of conflict within societies.

V. Social Institutions & Institutional Systems

• Institutions are combinations of the other four components.  They bring together population, culture, the material products of culture, and social organization.
• Institutions are durable and persisting elements of sociocultural systems.  They are durable answers to important and persistent problems.

One reason for their durability is that their value to society is impressed on individuals at an early age.  We grow up thinking of them as natural and inevitable. 
Another reason for their durability is that the different elements of institutional systems are intricately intertwined and it is often impossible to change one element without being compelled to change countless others, making the cost of change too great.
Sociologist are interested in institutional systems.  Institutional systems are systems of interrelated institutions.  5 such systems are of major importance:  (1) kinship, (2) economy, (3) polity, (4) religion, and (5) education.

---