The Concept of Social Order:
The term "orders" refers to 'conditions of normal or due functioning'. We say that there is order in nature. It means that nature maintains conditions for its normal functioning. The day and night, the sun and the moon, the seasons, the birth and death, plants and animals and their maintenance, the earth and its weather conditions and various other aspects of nature follow a regular order. The nature maintains its equilibrium or order even though it is likely to be upset now and then. Similarly, in the social world also we find an order. As Ogburn and Nimkoff have said, "Indeed order is the rule in the social world as truly as it is in the physical world". Hence sociologists call society the "social order".
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Definition and Nature of Social Order:
Though the term "social order" is popularly used in sociological literature during the recent times, but it is not properly defined. It is given various interpretations. For our purpose of study we may consider here one or two definitions.
- According to Ogburn and Nifkoff, "Order in society consists of the groupings of persons and the arrangements of their behaviour".
- P.B Horton and C.L Hunt have said that social order refers to- "a system of people, relationships and customs operating smoothly accomplish the work of a society".
It is clear from the above definitions that social order essentially refers to the orderliness in the behaviour and activities of people. The following examples stresses the need for orderliness in behaviour- we find orderly arrangements in the midst of bustling confusions of a great city. Thousands of people takes their places and perform their tasks with no apparent direction. Thousands of vehicles move their way avoiding accidents in most of the cases. Thousands of kinds of articles arrive at the expected places in the expected amounts at the expected times. Thousands of people labour their way so that meals will be ready when needed, drains will carry off wastes, moving vehicles will give place for pedestrians to pass, hospitals will give medical treatment to patients, banks will help financial transactions, police stations will offer protection to the needy and various conveniences will meet other needs. A hundred people may serve one within an hour, perhaps, without a word to any of them. This is what is meant by social order.
People can not get the things done unless they know what they may expect from one another. No society, even the simplest, can function successfully unless the behaviour of most people can reliably be predicted most of the time. Unless we can depend upon police officer to protect us, workers to go on schedule and motorists to stay on the left side of the road most of the time, there can be no social order. The orderliness of a society depends upon a network of roles according to which each person accepts certain duties toward others and claims certain rights from others. An orderly society can operate only as long as most people reliably fulfil most of their duties toward others and are able successfully to claim most of the rights from others.
What makes the people to observe and maintain the network of reciprocal rights and duties? The mechanism of "social control" is the answer. Social Control includes all the means and processes whereby a group or society secures its members, conformity to its expectations. It is through social control that the activities of different individuals are brought together into stable and enduring patterns. It helps their activities to be fitted together so that the behaviour of one person produces appropriate responses in another.
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