Sociology Books For Upsc Ncert Class 11 81

INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY
TEXTBOOK FOR CLASS XI
2021-22
11104 – INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY
ISBN 81-7450-533-4
Textbook for Class XI
First Edition
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Cover
Shweta Rao
2021-22
FOREWORD
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, recommends that

children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside the school.
This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning
which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the
school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on
the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They
also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp
boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures
will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system
of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals
and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own
learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must
recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new
knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults.
Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one
of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored.
Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat
children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of
knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode
of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour
in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of
teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for
teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook
proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather
than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to
address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and
reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for
child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook
attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space
to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small
groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
2021-22
iv
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee
responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the
advisory group in Social Sciences, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the
Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Yogendra Singh for guiding the
work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development
of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this
possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations which
have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material
and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National
Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and
Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the
Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande,
for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed
to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its
products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable
us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 December 2005 Research and Training
2021-22
TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS AT THE HIGHER

SECONDARY LEVEL
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Kolkata,
Kolkata
CHIEF ADVISOR
Yogendra Singh, Emeritus Porfessor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
MEMBERS
Anjan Ghosh, Fellow, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata
Arshad Alam, Lecturer, Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies, Jamia Milia
Islamia, New Delhi
Arvind Chouhan, Professor, Department of Sociology, Barkatullah University,
Bhopal
Debal Singh Roy, Professor, Department of Sociology, Indira Gandhi National
Open University, New Delhi
Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Professor (Retd.), NCERT, New Delhi
Jitendra Prasad, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, Maharshi
Dayanand University, Rohtak
M.N. Karna, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, North Eastern Hill
University, Shillong
Maitrayee Chaudhuri, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Manju Bhatt, Professor, Department of Education in Social Sciences,
NCERT, New Delhi
Pushpesh Kumar, Doctoral Fellow, Institute of Economic Growth, University
of Delhi, Delhi
2021-22
vi
Rajesh Mishra, Professor, Department of Sociology, Lucknow University,
Lucknow
Rajiv Gupta, Professor (Retd.), Department of Sociology, University of
Rajasthan, Jaipur
S. Srinivasa Rao, Assistant Professor, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Satish Deshpande, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi,
Delhi
Soumendra Mohan Patnayak, Professor, Department of Anthropology,
University of Delhi, Delhi
Subhangi Vaidya, Assistant Director, Regional Service Division, Indira Gandhi
National Open University, New Delhi
MEMBER-COORDINATOR
Sarika Chandrawanshi Saju, Assistant Professor, Regional Institute of
Education (RIE), Bhopal.
2021-22
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The National Council of Educational Research and Training acknowledges
Karuna Chanana, Professor (Retd.), Zakir Husain Centre for Educational
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Abha Awasthi, Professor
(Retd.), Department of Sociology, Lucknow University, Lucknow; Madhu Nagla,
Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Mahrishi Dayanand University, Rohtak;
Disha Nawani, Lecturer, Gargi College, New Delhi; Vishvaraksha, Professor,
Department of Sociology, University of Jammu, Jammu; Sudershan Gupta,
Principal, Govertment Higher Secondary School, Paloura, Jammu; Mandeep
Chaudhary, PGT (Retd.) Sociology, Guru Harkishan Public School, New Delhi;
Rita Khanna, PGT Sociology, Delhi Public School, New Delhi; Seema Banerjee,
PGT Sociology, Laxman Public School, New Delhi; Madhu Sharan, Project
Director, Hand-in-Hand, Chennai; Balaka Dey, Programme Associate, United
Nations Development Programme, New Delhi; Niharika Gupta, Freelance Editor,
New Delhi; Jesna Jayachandaran, Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi for providing their feedback and inputs.
Acknowledgements are due to Savita Sinha, former Professor and Head,
Department of Education in Social Sciences for her support.
The Council expresses gratitude to Jan Breman and Parthiv Shah for using
photographs from their book, Working in the mill no more, published by Oxford
University Press, Delhi. Some photographs were taken from the Department of
Tourism, Government of India, New Delhi; National Museum, New Delhi; The
Times of India, The Hindu, Outlook and Frontline. The Council thanks the authors,
copyright holders and publishers of these reference materials. The Council
also acknowledges the Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, New Delhi for allowing to use photographs available in their
photo library. Some photographs were given by John Suresh Kumar, Synodical
Board of Social Service; J. John of Labour File, New Delhi; V. Suresh Chennai
and R.C. Das of Central Institute of Educational Technology, NCERT, New Delhi.
The Council acknowledges their contribution.
Special thanks are due to Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor, NCERT for
going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Mamta,
DTP Operator; Shreshtha, Proof Reader and Dinesh Kumar, Incharge, Computer
Station in shaping this book. We are also grateful to Publication Department,
NCERT for all their support.
2021-22
A NOTE TO THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
This book is an introductory invitation to sociology. It is not meant to be a
comprehensive and exhaustive account of the discipline. Instead it seeks
to give a sense of what sociology does and how it helps us understand both
society and our own lives better. The book hopes to familiarise students
with the sociological perspective, its concepts and tools of research. It seeks
to show how sociology as a discipline engages with the fact that each of us,
as members of society have commonsensical ideas and understandings
about society. How is sociology as a body of knowledge distinguishable from
the body of common sense knowledge that necessarily exists in society? Is
it distinguishable by its method and approach? Is it different because it
continuously asks critical questions, because it accepts nothing as taken
for granted?
We could keep adding many more such questions. For sociology is a
subject that trains us to question and understand why and how society
functions the way it does. And hence there is a need to be clear about the
terms and concepts that sociology uses, for they are necessary tools in our
sociological understanding.
Apart from the critical perspective that sociology entails, it is also marked
by diverse and contending approaches. This plurality is its strength. The
different views within sociology about society can be fruitfully understood
as debates. Debates often help us understand a phenomena better.
In keeping with the questioning and plural spirit of sociology, the book
continuously engages with the reader to think and reflect, to relate what is
happening to society and to us as individuals. The activities built into the
text are therefore an intrinsic part of the book. The text and activities
constitute an integrative whole. One cannot be done without the other. For
the objective here is not just to provide ready made information about society
but to understand society.
Society itself is plural, diverse and unequal. The book seeks to capture
this complexity in each of the chapters. Both examples and activities seek
to bring this in. The activities are therefore, essential part of the text. Yet
like all books, this is just a beginning. And much of the most exciting learning
process will take place in the classroom. Students and teachers will perhaps
think of far better ways, activities and examples and suggest how textbooks
can be bettered.
2021-22
CONTENTS
FOREWORD iii
A NOTE TO THE TEACHER AND STUDENTS viii
1. SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY 1
2. TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY 24
3. UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 40
4. CULTURE AND SOCIALISATION 63
5. DOING SOCIOLOGY: RESEARCH METHODS 82
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2021-22
CHAPTER 1
SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY
market that decides which subject

I
choice may increase or decrease your
chances in the job market. The third
INTRODUCTION
and fourth advice complicate the matter
Let us begin with some suggestions even more. It is not just our personal
that are often made to young students effort or just the job market that makes
like you. One advice often made is, a difference — our gender and family or
“Study hard and you will do well in social background also matter.
life.” The second advice as often made Individual efforts matter a great deal
is, “ If you do this subject or set of but do not necessarily define outcomes.
subjects you will have a better chance As we saw there are other social factors
of getting a good job in the future”. The that play an important role in the final
third could be, “ As a boy this does not outcome. Here we have only mentioned
seem a correct choice of subject” or “As the ‘job market’, the ‘socioeconomic
a girl, do you think your choice of background’ and ‘gender’. Can you
subjects is a practical one?” The fourth, think of other factors? We could well
“Your family needs you to get a job soon ask, “Who decides what is a ‘good job’?”
so why choose a profession that will Do all societies have similar notions of
take a very long time” or “You will join what is a “good job?” Is money the
your family business so why do you criteria? Or is it respect or social
wish to do this subject?” recognition or individual satisfaction
Let us examine the suggestions. Do that decides the worth of a job? Do
you think the first advice contradicts culture and social norms have any role
the other three? For the first advice to play?
suggests that if you work very hard, you The individual student must study
will do very well and get a good job. hard to do well. But how well h/she
The onus rests upon the individual. The does is structured by a whole set of
second advice suggests that apart from societal factors. The job market is
your individual effort, there is a job defined by the needs of the economy.
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2 INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY
The needs of the economy are again Third, this chapter introduces
determined by the economic and sociology as a systematic study of
political policies pursued by the society, distinct from philosophical and
government. The chances of the religious reflections, as well as our
individual student are affected both by everyday common sense observation
these broader political and economic about society. Fourth, this distinct way
measures as well as by the social of studying society can be better
background of her/his family. This understood if we look back historically
gives us a preliminary sense of how at the intellectual ideas and material
sociology studies human society as an contexts within which sociology was
interconnected whole. And how society born and later grew. These ideas and
and the individual interact with each material developments were mainly
other. The problem of choosing subjects western but with global consequences.
in the senior secondary school is a Fifth, we look at this global aspect and
source of personal worry for the the manner in which sociology emerged
individual student. That this is a in India. It is important to remember
broader public issue, affecting students that just as each of us have a
as a collective entity is self evident. One biography, so does a discipline.
of the tasks of sociology is to unravel Understanding the history of a
the connection between a personal discipline helps understand the
problem and a public issue. This is the discipline. Finally the scope of sociology
first theme of this chapter. and its relationship to other disciplines
We have already seen that a ‘good is discussed.
job’ means different things to different
societies. The social esteem that a II
particular kind of job has or does not
have for an individual depends on the THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION:
culture of his/her ‘relevant society’. THE P ERSONAL P ROBLEM AND THE
What do we mean by ‘relevant society’? PUBLIC ISSUE
Does it mean the ‘society’ the individual We began with a set of suggestions that
belongs to? Which society does the
drew our attention to how the individual
individual belong to? Is it the
and society are dialectically linked. This
neighbourhood? Is it the community?
is a point that sociologists over several
Is it the caste or tribe? Is it the
professional circle of the parents? Is it generations have been concerned with.
the nation? Second, this chapter C. Wright Mills rests his vision of the
therefore looks at how the individual in sociological imagination precisely in
modern times belongs to more than one the unravelling of how the personal and
society. And how societies are unequal. public are related.
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SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY 3
Activity 1
Read the text from Mills carefully. Then examine the visual and report below.
Do you notice how the visual is of a poor and homeless couple? The sociological
imagination helps to understand and explain homelessness as a public issue.
Can you identify what could be the causes for homelessness? Different groups
in your class can collect information on possible causes for example, employment
possibilities, rural to urban migration, etc. Discuss these. Do you notice how
the state considers homelessness as a public issue that requires concrete
measures to be taken, for instance, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna–Gramin?
The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and

the relations between the two within society. That is its task and promise…
Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination
works is between ‘the personal troubles of the milieu’ and ‘the public issues
of social structure’... Troubles occur within the character of the individual
and within the range of his immediate relations with others; they have to do
with his self and with those limited areas of social life of which he is directly
and personally aware... Issues have to do with matters that transcend these
local environments of the individual and the range of his inner life.
The facts of contemporary history are also facts about the success and the
failure of individual men and women. When a society is industrialised, a
peasant becomes a worker; a feudal lord is liquidated or becomes a
businessman. When classes rise or fall, a man is employed or unemployed;
when the rate of investment goes up or down, a man takes new heart or goes
broke. When wars happen, an insurance salesman becomes a rocket
launcher; a store clerk, a radar man; a wife lives alone; a child grows up
without a father. Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society
can be understood without understanding both... (Mills 1959).
The Pradhan Mantri Awas

Yojna–Gramin, operationalised
from 2016 is a major scheme
by the Ministry of Rural
Development (MORD) provides
financial and labour support
to houseless families and
those living in dilapidated
kutcha houses to build pucca
houses. Can you think of
other issues that show the
connection between personal
problems and public issues?
A homeless couple
2021-22
This question of what to focus in

III
society is indeed central to sociology.
PLURALITIES AND INEQUALITIES We can take Satyajit Ray’s comments
AMONG SOCIETIES
further and wonder whether his
In the contemporary world we belong, depiction of the village is romantic.
in a sense, to more than one ‘society’. It would be interesting to contrast this
When amidst foreigners reference to with a sociologist’s account of the Dalit
‘our society’ may mean ‘Indian society’, in the village below.
but when amongst fellow Indians we
may use the term ‘our society’ to denote The first time I saw him, he was
a linguistic or ethnic community, a sitting on the dusty road in
religious or caste or tribal society. front of one of the small thatch-
This diversity makes deciding roofed tea shops in the village
which ‘society’ we are talking about with his glass and saucer
difficult. But perhaps this difficulty placed conspicuously beside him—
of mapping society is not confined to a silent signal to the shopkeeper
sociologists alone as the comment below that an Untouchable wanted to buy
will show.
some tea. Muli was a gaunt forty-
While reflecting on what to focus
year-old with betel-blackened teeth
on in his films, the great Indian film
who wore his long hair swept back
maker Satyajit Ray wondered:
(Freeman 1978).
What should you put in your films?
What can you leave out? Would you A quote from Amartya Sen perhaps
leave the city behind and go to the illustrates well how inequality is central
village where cows graze in the to differences among societies.
endless fields and the shepherd Some Indians are rich; most are
plays the flute? You can make a
not. Some are very well educated;
film here that would be pure and
others are illiterate. Some lead
fresh and have the delicate rhythm
easy lives of luxury; others toil hard
of a boatman’s song.
for little reward. Some are politically
Or would you rather go back in
powerful; others cannot influence
time-way back to the Epics,
anything. Some have great
where the gods and demons took
opportunities for advancement in
sides in the great battle where
life: others lack them altogether.
brothers killed brothers…
Some are treated with respect by
Or would you rather stay where
you are, right in the present, in the police; others are treated like
the heart of this monstrous, dirt. These are different kinds of
teeming, bewildering city, and try inequality, and each of them
to orchestrate its dizzying contrasts requires serious attention (Sen
of sight and sound and milieu? 2005:210-11).
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Discuss the visuals

What kind of pluralities and inequalities do they show?
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Activity 2
The recent National Family Health Survey of the Government of India suggests
that access to sanitation facilities is more than 60 per cent. Find out about other
indicators of social inequality, for instance education, health, employment etc.
IV everyday life and also about others’

lives, about our own ‘society’ and also
INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY about others’ ‘society’. These are our
You have already been acquainted with everyday notions, our common sense
the sociological imagination and the in terms of which we live our lives.
central concern of sociology to study However the observations and ideas
society as an interconnected whole. that sociology as a discipline makes
Our discussion on the individual’s about ‘society’ is different from both that
choices and the job market showed of philosophical reflections and
how the economic, political, familial, common sense.
cultural, educational institutions are Observations of philosophical and
interconnected. And how the individual religious thinkers are often about
is both constrained by it and yet can what is moral or immoral in human
change it to an extent. The next few behaviour, about the desirable way of
chapters will elaborate on different living and about a good society.
institutions as well as on culture. It will Sociology too concerns itself with norms
also focus on some key terms and and values. But its focus is not on
concepts in sociology that will enable norms and values as they ought to be,
you to understand society. For as goals that people should pursue. Its
sociology is the study of human social concern is with the way they function
life, groups and societies. Its subject in actual societies. (In Chapter 3, you
matter is our own behaviour as social will see how sociology of religion is
beings. different from a theological study).
Sociology is not the first subject to Empirical study of societies is an
do so. People have always observed and important part of what sociologists do.
reflected upon societies and groups in This however does not mean that
which they live. This is evident in the sociology is not concerned with values.
writings of philosophers, religious It only means that when a sociologist
teachers, and legislators of all studies a society, the sociologist is
civilisations and epochs. This human willing to observe and collect findings,
trait to think about our lives and about even if they are not to her/his personal
society is by no means confined to liking.
philosophers and social thinkers. All of Peter Berger makes an unusual but
us do have ideas about our own effective comparison to make the point.
2021-22
In any political or military conflict evidence that allow others to check on

it is of advantage to capture the or to repeat to develop his/her findings
information used by the intelligence further. There has been considerable
organs of the opposing side. But this debate within sociology about the
is so only because good intelligence differences between natural science and
consists of information free of bias. human science, between quantitative
If a spy does his/her reporting in and qualitative research. We need not
terms of the ideology and ambitions enter this here. But what is relevant
of his/her superiors, his/her here is that sociology in its observation
reports are useless not only to the and analysis has to follow certain rules
enemy, if the latter should capture
that can be checked upon by others.
In the next section, we compare
them, but also to the spy’s own
sociological knowledge to common
side... The sociologist is a spy in very
sense knowledge which will once again
much the same way. His/her job is
emphasise the role of methods,
to report as accurately as he/she
procedures and rules in the manner in
can about a certain terrain (Berger
which sociology conducts its
1963:16-17). observation of society. Chapter 5 of this
Does this mean that the sociologist book will provide you with a sense of
has no social responsibility to ask what sociologists do and how they go
about the goals of his/her study or the about studying society. An elaboration
work to which the sociological findings of the differences between sociology
will be applied. He/she has such a and common sense knowledge will
responsibility, just like any other help towards a clearer idea of the
citizen of society. But this asking is not sociological approach and method.
sociological asking. This is like the
biologist whose biological knowledge
V
can be employed to heal or kill. This SOCIOLOGY AND COMMON
does not mean the biologist is free of SENSE KNOWLEDGE
responsibility as to which use s/he We have seen how sociological
serves. But this is not a biological knowledge is different from theological
question. and philosophical observations.
Sociology has from its beginnings Likewise sociology is different from
understood itself as a science. Unlike common sense observations. The
commonsensical observations or common sense explanations are
philosophical reflections or theological generally based on what may be called
commentaries, sociology is bound by ‘naturalistic’ and/or individualistic
scientific canons of procedure. It means explanation. A naturalistic explanation
that the statements that the sociologist for behaviour rests on the assumption
arrives at must be arrived at through that one can really identify ‘natural’
the observations of certain rules of reasons for behaviour.
2021-22
knowledge have been made, generally

Activity 3 incrementally and only rarely by a
dramatic breakthrough.
An example of poverty has been
given below and we also touched Sociology has a body of concepts,
upon it in our discussion on the methods and data, no matter how
homeless. Think of other issues and loosely coordinated. This cannot be
how they could be explained in a substituted by common sense.
naturalistic and sociological way. Common sense is unreflective since it
does not question its own origins. Or
Sociology thus breaks away from in other words it does not ask itself:
both common sense observations and “Why do I hold this view?” The
ideas as well as from philosophical sociologist must be ready to ask of any
thought. It does not always or even of our beliefs, about ourselves — no
generally lead to spectacular results. matter how cherished — “is this really
But meaningful and unsuspected so?” Both the systematic and question-
connections can be reached only by ing approach of sociology is derived
sifting through masses of connections. from a broader tradition of scientific
Great advances in sociological investigation. This emphasis on
Explanation of Naturalistic Sociological
Poverty People are poor because they are Contemporary poverty is caused
afraid of work, come from by the structure of inequality in
‘problem families’, are unable to class society and is experienced
budget properly, suffer from low by those who suffer from chronic
intelligence and shiftlessness. irregularity of work and low
wages (Jayaram 1987:3).
Unsuspected Connections?
In many societies, including in many parts of India, the line of descent and
inheritance passes from father to son. This is understood as a patrilineal system.
Keeping in mind that women tend not to get property rights, the Government of
India in the aftermath of the Kargil War decided that financial compensation for
the death of Indian soldiers should go to their widows so that they were provided
for.
The government had certainly not anticipated the unintended consequence
of this decision. It led to many forced marriages of the widows with their brother-
in-law (husband’s brother or dewar). In some cases the brother-in-law (then
husband) was a young child and the sister-in-law (then wife) a young woman.
This was to ensure that the compensation remained with the deceased man’s
patrilineal family. Can you think of other such unintended consequences of a
social action or a state measure?
2021-22
scientific procedures can be understood developed. The Indian colonial

only if we go back in time and experience has to be seen in this light.
understand the context or social Indian sociology reflects this tension
situation within which the sociological which “go far back to the history of
perspective emerged as sociology was British colonialism and the
greatly influenced by the great intellectual and ideological response
developments in modern science. Let us to it…” (Singh 2004:19). Perhaps
have a very brief look at what because of this backdrop, Indian
intellectual ideas went into the making sociology has been particularly
of sociology. thoughtful and reflexive of its practice
(Chaudhuri 2003). Yo u w i l l b e
VI engaging with Indian sociological
THE INTELLECTUAL IDEAS THAT WENT thought, its concerns and practice
INTO THE MAKING OF SOCIOLOGY
in greater detail in the book,
Understanding Society.
Influenced by scientific theories of Darwin’s ideas about organic
natural evolution and findings about
evolution were a dominant influence on
pre-modern societies made by early
early sociological thought. Society was
travellers, colonial administrators,
often compared with living organisms
sociologists and social anthropologists
and efforts were made to trace its
sought to categorise societies into
growth through stages comparable to
types and to distinguish stages in
those of organic life. This way of looking
social development. These features
at society as a system of parts, each
reappear in the 19th century in works
part playing a given function influenced
of early sociologists, Auguste Comte,
the study of social institutions like the
Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer.
family or the school and structures
Efforts were therefore made to classify
such as stratification. We mention this
different types of societies on that
here because the intellectual ideas that
basis, for instance:
went into the making of sociology have
• Types of pre-modern societies such a direct bearing on how sociology
as hunters and gatherers, pastoral studies empirical reality.
and agrarian, agrarian and non- The Enlightenment, an European
industrial civilisations. intellectual movement of the late 17th
• Types of modern societies such as and 18th centuries, emphasised reason
the industrialised societies. and individualism. There was also great
Such an evolutionary vision advancement of scientific knowledge
assumed that the west was and a growing conviction that the
necessarily the most advanced and methods of the natural sciences should
civilised. Non- western societies were and could be extended to the study of
often seen as barbaric and less human affairs. For example poverty, so
2021-22
far seen as a ‘natural phenomenon’, understand how far–reaching change

began to be seen as a ‘social problem’ industrialisation brought about was,
caused by human ignorance or we take a quick look at what life in pre-
exploitation. Poverty therefore could be industrial England was like. Before
studied and redressed. One way of industrialisation, agriculture and
studying this was through the social textiles were the chief occupations of the
survey that was based on the belief that British. Most people lived in villages.
human phenomena can be classified Like in our own Indian villages, there
and measured. You will be discussing were peasants and landlords, the
social survey in chapter 5. blacksmith and leather worker, the
Thinkers of the early modern era weaver and the potter, the shepherd
were convinced that progress in and the brewer. Society was small. It
knowledge promised the solution to all was hierarchical, i.e. the status and
social ills. For example, Auguste Comte, class positions of different people were
the French scholar (1789–1857 ), clearly defined. Like all traditional
considered to be the founder of societies it was also characterised by
sociology, believed that sociology would close interaction. With industrialisation
contribute to the welfare of humanity. each of these features changed.
One of the most fundamental
VII aspects of the new order was the
degradation of labour, the wrenching
THE MATERIAL ISSUES THAT WENT
of work from the protective contexts of
MAKING OF SOCIOLOGY
INTO THE
guild, village, and family. Both the
The Industrial Revolution was based radical and conservative thinkers were
upon a new, dynamic form of economic appalled at the decline of the status of
activity — capitalism. This system of the common labourer, not to mention
capitalism became the driving force the skilled craftsman.
behind the growth of industrial Urban centres expanded and grew.
manufacturing. Capitalism involved It was not that there were no cities
new attitudes and institutions. earlier. But their character prior to
Entrepreneurs now engaged in the industrialisation was different. The
sustained, systematic pursuit of profit. industrial cities gave birth to a
The markets acted as the key completely new kind of urban world. It
instrument of productive life. And was marked by the soot and grime of
goods, services and labour became factories, by overcrowded slums of the
commodities whose use was new industrial working class, bad
determined by rational calculation. sanitation and general squalor. It was
The new economy was completely also marked by new kinds of social
different from what it replaced. interactions.
England was the centre of the The Hindi film song on the next
Industrial Revolution. In order to page captures both the material as well
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From working class neighbourhoods to slum localitites
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as the experiential aspects of city life.

From the film C.I.D. 1956 Activity 4
Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan Note how quickly Britain, the seat
Zara hat ke, zara bach ke, yeh of the Industrial Revolution became
hai Bombay meri jaan an urban from a predominantly
Kahin building kahin traame,
rural society. Was this process
kahin motor kahin mill
identical in India?
Milta hai yahan sab kuchh ik milta
nahin dil 1810: 20 per cent of the population
Insaan ka nahin kahin naam-o- lived in towns and cities.
nishaan 1910: 80 per cent of the population
Kahin satta, kahin patta kahin chori lived in towns and cities.
kahin res Significantly the impact of the
Kahin daaka, kahin phaaka kahin same process was different in India,
thokar kahin thes Urban centres did grow. But with
Bekaaro ke hain kai kaam yahan
the entry of British manufactured
Beghar ko aawara yahan kehte has
goods, more people moved into
has
Khud kaate gale sabke kahe isko agriculture.
business
Ik cheez ke hain kai naam yahan
Geeta Bura duniya woh hai kehta The mass of Indian handicraftsmen
aisa bhola tu na ban ruined as a result of the influx
Jo hai karta woh hai bharta hai of manufactured machine-made
yahan ka yeh chalan goods of British industries were
not absorbed in any extensively
PARAPHRASE: Dear heart, life is hard developed indigenous industries.
here, you must watch where you’re The ruined mass of these
going if you want to save yourself, this handicraftsmen, in the main, took
to agriculture for subsistence
is Bombay my dear! You’ll find
(Desai 1975:70).
buildings, you’ll find trams, you’ll find
motors, you’ll find mills, you’ll find The factory and its mechanical
everything here except a human heart, division of labour were often seen as
there’s no trace of humanity here. So a deliberate attempt to destroy the
much of what is done here is peasant, the artisan, as well as family
meaningless, it’s either power, or it’s and local community. The factory was
money, or it’s theft, or it’s cheating. The perceived as an archetype of an
rich mock the homeless as vagabonds, economic regimentation hitherto
but when they cut each other’s throats known only in barracks and prisons.
themselves, it’s called business! The According to Karl Marx the factory was
same action is given various names in oppressive. Yet potentially liberating.
this place. Here workers learnt both collective
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functioning as well as concerted

VIII
efforts for better conditions.
WHY SHOULD WE STUDY THE
Another indicator of the emergence
of modern societies was the new BEGINNING AND GROWTH OF SOCIOLOGY
IN EUROPE?
significance of clock-time as a basis of
social organisation. A crucial aspect of Most of the issues and concerns of
this was the way in which, in the 18th sociology also date back to a time when
and 19th centuries, the tempo of European society was undergoing
agricultural and manufacturing tumultuous changes in the 18th and
labour increasingly came to be set by 19th centuries with the advent of
the clock and calendar in a way very capitalism and industrialisation. Many
different from pre-modern forms of of the issues that were raised then, for
work. Prior to the development of example, urbanisation or factory
industrial capitalism, work-rhythms production, are pertinent to all modern
were set by factors such as the period societies, even though their specific
of daylight, the break between tasks features may vary. Indeed, Indian
and the constraints of deadlines or society with its colonial past and
incredible diversity is distinct. The
other social duties. Factory production
sociology of India reflects this.
implied the synchronisation of
labour — it began punctually, had a If this is so, why focus on Europe of
that time? Why is it relevant to start
steady pace and took place for set
there? The answer is relatively simple.
hours and on particular days of the
For our past, as Indians are closely
week. In addition, the clock injected a
linked to the history of British
new urgency to work. For both
capitalism and colonialism. Capitalism
employer and employee ‘time is now
in the west entailed a world-wide
money: it is not passed but spent.’
expansion. The passages in the box on
next page represent but two strands in
the manner that western capitalism
Activity 5 impacted the world.
Find out how work is organised in a R.K. Laxman’s travelogue of Mauritius
traditional village, a factory and a brings home the presence of this
call centre.
colonial and global past.
Here Africans and Chinese, Biharis

and Dutch, Persians and Tamils,
Activity 6 Arabs, French and English all rub
Find out how industrial capitalism merrily with one another... A Tamil,
changed Indian lives in villages and for instance, bears a deceptively
cities. south Indian face and a name to go
with it to boot; Radha Krishna
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Capitalism and its global but uneven transformation of societies

Between the 17th and 19th centuries an estimated 24 million Africans were
enslaved. 11 million of them survived the journey to the Americas in one of a
number of great movements of population that feature in modern history. They
were plucked from their existing homes and cultures, transported around the
world in appalling conditions, and put to work in the service of capitalism.
Enslavement is a graphic example of how people were caught up in the
development of modernity against their will. The institution of slavery declined
in the 1800s. But for us in India it was in the 1800s that indentured labour was
taken in ships by the British for running their cotton and sugar plantations in
distant lands such as Surinam in South America or in the West Indies or the
Fiji Islands. V.S. Naipaul the great English writer who won the Nobel prize is a
descendant of one of these thousands who were taken to lands they had never
seen and who died without being able to return.
Govindan is indeed from Madras. I India, the great workshop of cotton

speak to him in Tamil. He surprises manufacture for the world, since
me by responding in a frightfully immemorial times, now became
mangled English with a heavy French inundated with English twists and
accent. Mr Govindan has no cotton stuffs. After its own produce
knowledge of Tamil and his tongue had been excluded from England,
has ceased curling to produce Tamil or only admitted on the most cruel
sounds centuries ago (Laxman 2003) ! terms, British manufactures were
poured into it at a small and merely
IX nominal duty, to the ruin of the
native cotton fabrics once so
THE GROWTH OF SOCIOLOGY IN INDIA celebrated (Marx 1853 cited in
Colonialism was an essential part of Desai 1975).
modern capitalism and industrialisation.
The writings of Western sociologists on Sociology in India also had to deal with
capitalism and other aspects of modern western writings and ideas about
society are therefore relevant for Indian society that were not always
understanding social change in India. correct. These ideas were expressed
Yet as we saw with reference to both in the accounts of colonial officials
urbanisation, colonialism implied that as well western scholars. For many of
the impact of industrialisation in India them Indian society was a contrast to
was not necessarily the same as in the western society. We take just one
west. Karl Marx’s comments on the example here, the way the Indian
impact of the East India Company bring village was understood and portrayed
out the contrast. as unchanging.
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In keeping with contemporary- characteristic feature of the two

Victorian-evolutionary ideas, western subjects in many western countries.
writers saw in the Indian village a Perhaps the very diversity of the
remnant or survival from what was modern and traditional, of the village
called “the infancy of society”. They saw and the metropolitan in India accounts
in nineteenth-century India the past of for this.
the European society.
Yet another evidence of the colonial X
heritage of countries like India is the
T HE S COPE OF S OCIOLOGY AND ITS
distinction often made between
RE L A T I O N S H I P TO OTHER SO C I A L
sociology and social anthropology. A
standard western textbook definition of
SCIENCE DISCIPLINES
sociology is “the study of human The scope of sociological study is
groups and societies, giving particular extremely wide. It can focus its analysis
emphasis to the analysis of the of meaningful interactions between
industrialised world” (Giddens 2001: individuals such as that of a shopkeeper
699). A standard western definition of with a customer, between teachers and
social anthropology would be the study students, between two friends or family
of simple societies of non-western and members. It can likewise focus on
therefore “other” cultures. In India the national issues such as unemployment
story is quite different. M.N. Srinivas or caste conflict or the effect of state
maps the trajectory: policies on forest rights of the tribal
population or rural indebtedness. Or
In a country such as India, with its
examine global social processes such as:
size and diversity, regional, linguistic,
religious, sectarian, ethnic (including the impact of new flexible labour
caste), and between rural and urban regulations on the working class; or that
areas, there are a myriad ‘others’... of the electronic media on the young; or
In a culture and society such as the entry of foreign universities on the
India’s, ‘the other’ can be education system of the country. What
encountered literally next door...
defines the discipline of sociology is
(Srinivas 1966:205).
therefore not just what it studies (i.e.
Furthermore social anthropology in family or trade unions or villages) but
India moved gradually from a pre- how it studies a chosen field.
occupation with the study of ‘primitive Sociology is one of a group of
people’ to the study of peasants, ethnic social sciences, which also includes
groups, social classes, aspects and anthropology, economics, political
features of ancient civilisations, and science and history. The divisions
modern industrial societies. No rigid among the various social sciences are
divide exists between sociology and not clearcut, and all share a certain
social anthropology in India, a range of common interests, concepts
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Discuss how you think history, sociology, political science, economics

will study fashion/clothes, market places and city streets
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and methods. It is therefore very

important to understand that the Activity 7
distinctions of the disciplines are to
• Do you think advertisements
some extent arbitrary and should not
actually influence people’s
be seen in a straitjacket fashion. To consumption patterns?
differentiate the social sciences would
be to exaggerate the differences and • Do you think the idea of what
defines ‘good life’ is only
gloss over the similarities. Furthermore
economically defined?
feminist theories have also shown the
greater need of interdisciplinary • Do you think ‘spending’ and
‘saving’ habits are culturally
approach. For instance how would a
formed?
political scientist or economist study
gender roles and their implications for
politics or the economy without a
context of social norms, values, practices
sociology of the family or gender
division of labour. and interests. The corporate sector
managers are aware of this. The large
Sociology and Economics investment in the advertisement industry
is directly linked to the need to reshape
Economics is the study of production lifestyles and consumption patterns.
and distribution of goods and services. Trends within economics such as feminist
The classical economic approach dealt economics seek to broaden the focus,
almost exclusively with the inter - drawing in gender as a central
relations of pure economic variables: organising principle of society. For
the relations of price, demand and
instance they would look at how work in
supply; money flows; output and input
the home is linked to productivity outside.
ratios, and the like. The focus of
The defined scope of economics has
traditional economics has been on a
helped in facilitating its development as
narrow understanding of ‘economic
a highly focused, coherent discipline.
activity’, namely the allocation of scarce
goods and services within a society. Sociologists often envy the economists
Economists who are influenced by a for the precision of their terminology
political economy approach seek to and the exactness of their measures.
understand economic activity in a And the ability to translate the results
broader framework of ownership of and of their theoretical work into practical
relationship to means of production. suggestions having major implications
The objective of the dominant trend in for public policy. Yet economists’
economic analysis was however to predictive abilities often suffer
formulate precise laws of economic precisely because of their neglect of
behaviour. individual behaviour, cultural norms
The sociological approach looks and institutional resistance which
at economic behaviour in a broader sociologists study.
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Pierre Bourdieu wrote in 1998. Sociology and Political Science
A true economic science would look As in the case of economics, there is an

at all the costs of the economy-not increased interaction of methods and
only at the costs that corporations approaches between sociology and
are concerned with, but also at political science. Conventional political
crimes, suicides, and so on. science was focused primarily on two
We need to put forward an elements: political theory and
economics of happiness, which government administration. Neither
would take note of all the profits, branch involves extensive contact with
individual and collective, material political behaviour. The theory part
and symbolic, associated with usually focuses on the ideas about
activity (such as security), and also government from Plato to Marx while
the material and symbolic costs
courses on administration generally
associated with inactivity or
deal with the formal structure of
precarious employment (for example
consumption of medicines: France government rather than its actual
holds the world record for the use operation.
of tranquilisers), (cited in Swedberg Sociology is devoted to the study
2003). of all aspects of society, whereas
conventional political science
Sociology unlike economics usually restricted itself mainly to the study of
does not provide technical solutions. power as embodied in formal
But it encourages a questioning and organisation. Sociology stresses the
critical perspective. This helps interrelationships between sets of
questioning of basic assumptions. And institutions including government,
thereby facilitates a discussion of not whereas political science tends to turn
just the technical means towards a attention towards the processes within
given goal, but also about the social the government.
desirability of a goal itself. Recent However, sociology long shared
trends have seen a resurgence of similar interests of research with
economic sociology perhaps because of
both this wider and critical perspective
Activity 8
of sociology.
Sociology provides clearer or more Find out the kind of studies that
adequate understanding of a social were conducted during the last
situation than existed before. This can general elections. You will probably
be either on the level of factual find both features of political science
knowledge, or through gaining an and sociology in them. Discuss how
improved grasp of why something is disciplines interact and mutually
happening (in other words, by means influence each other.
of theoretical understanding).
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political science. Sociologists like history of less glamorous or exciting

Max Weber worked in what can be events as changes in land relations or
termed as political sociology. The focus gender relations within the family have
of political sociology has been traditionally been less studied by
increasingly on the actual study of historians but formed the core area of
political behaviour. Even in the recent the sociologist’s interest. Today,
Indian elections one has seen the however history is far more sociological
extensive study of political patterns of and social history is the stuff of history.
voting. Studies have also been It looks at social patterns, gender
conducted in membership of political relations, mores, customs and
organisations, process of decision- important institutions other than the
making in organisations, sociological acts of rulers, wars and monarchy.
reasons for support of political parties,
the role of gender in politics, etc. Sociology and Psychology
Psychology is often defined as the
Sociology and History
science of behaviour. It involves itself
Historians almost as a rule study the primarily with the individual. It is
past, sociologists are more interested in interested in her/his intelligence and
the contemporary or recent past. learning, motivations and memory,
Historians earlier were content to nervous system and reaction time,
delineate the actual events, to establish hopes and fears. Social psychology,
how things actually happened, while in which serves as a bridge between
sociology the focus was to seek to psychology and sociology, maintains a
establish causal relationships. primary interest in the individual but
History studies concrete details concerns itself with the way in which
while the sociologist is more likely to the individual behaves in social groups,
abstract from concrete reality, collectively with other individuals.
categorise and generalise. Historians Sociology attempts to understand
today are equally involved in doing behaviour as it is organised in society,
sociological methods and concepts in that is the way in which personality is
their analysis. shaped by different aspects of society.
Conventional history has been For instance, economic and political
about the history of kings and war. The system, their family and kinship
structure, their culture, norms and
values. It is interesting to recall that
Activity 9 Durkheim who sought to establish a
Find out how historians have clear scope and method for sociology
written about the history of art, of in his well-known study of suicide left
cricket, of clothes and fashion, of out individual intentions of those who
architecture and housing styles.
commit or try to commit suicide in
favour of statistics concerning various
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social characteristics of these between those who studied and those

individuals. who were studied as not remarked
upon too often earlier. But times have
Sociology and Social Anthropology changed and we have the erstwhile
‘natives’ be they Indians or Sudanese,
Anthropology in most countries
Nagas or Santhals, who now speak
incorporates archaeology, physical
and write about their own societies.
anthropology, cultural history, many
branches of linguistics and the study The anthropologists of the past
of all aspects of life in “simple documented the details of simple
societies”. Our concern here is with societies apparently in a neutral
social anthropology and cultural scientific fashion. In practice they were
anthropology for it is that which is constantly comparing those societies
close to the study of sociology. with the model of the western modern
Sociology is deemed to be the study of societies as a benchmark.
modern, complex societies while social Other changes have also redefined
anthropology was deemed to be the the nature of sociology and social
study of simple societies. anthropology. Modernity as we saw led
As we saw earlier, each discipline to a process whereby the smallest
has its own history or biography. village was impacted by global
Social anthropology developed in the processes. The most obvious example
west at a time when it meant that is colonialism. The most remote village
western-trained social anthropologists of India under British colonialism saw
studied non-European societies often its land laws and administration
thought of as exotic, barbaric and change, its revenue extraction alter, its
uncivilised. This unequal relationship manufacturing industries collapse.
Tea pickers in Assam
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Today the distinction between a

Activity 10 simple society and a complex one itself
• Find out where in India did needs major rethinking. India itself is a
ancestors of the community of complex mix of tradition and
Santhal workers who have been modernity, of the village and the city,
working in the tea plantations in of caste and tribe, of class and
Assam come from. community. Villages nestle right in the
• When was tea cultivation
heart of the capital city of Delhi. Call
started in Assam?
• Did the British drink tea before
centres serve European and American
colonialism? clients from different towns of the
country.
Indian sociology has been far more
Contemporary global processes have
eclectic in borrowing from both
further accentuated this ‘shrinking of
traditions. Indian sociologists often
the globe’. The assumption of studying
studied Indian societies that were both
a simple society was that it was
part of and not of one’s own culture. It
bounded. We know this is not so today.
could also be dealing with both
The traditional study of simple,
complex differentiated societies of
non-literate societies by social
urban modern India as well as the
anthropology had a pervasive influence
study of tribes in a holistic fashion.
on the content and the subject matter
of the discipline. Social anthropology It had been feared that with the
tended to study society (simple decline of simple societies, social
societies) in all their aspects, as wholes. anthropology would lose its specificity
In so far as they specialised, it was on and merge with sociology. However
the basis of area as for example the there have been fruitful interchanges
Andaman Islands, the Nuers or between the two disciplines and today
Melanesia. Sociologists study complex often methods and techniques are
societies and would therefore often drawn from both. There have been
focus on parts of society like the anthropological studies of the state and
bureaucracy or religion or caste or a globalisation, which are very different
process such as social mobility. from the traditional subject matter
Social anthropology was charac- of social anthropology. On the
terised by long field work tradition, other hand, sociology too has been
living in the community studied and using quantitative and qualitative
using ethnographic research methods. techniques, macro and micro approaches
Sociologists have often relied on survey for studying the complexities of modern
method and quantitative data using societies. As mentioned before we will
statistics and the questionnaire mode. in a sense carry on this discussion in
Chapter 5 will give you a more Chapter 5 . For in India, sociology and
comprehensive account of these two social anthropology have had a very
traditions. close relationship.
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G LOSSARY
Capitalism : A system of economic enterprise based on market exchange.

“Capital” refers to any asset, including money, property and machines, which
can be used to produce commodities for sale or invested in a market with
the hope of achieving a profit. This system rests on the private ownership of
assets and the means of production.
Dialectic : The existence or action of opposing social forces, for instance,
social constraint and individual will.
Empirical Investigation : A factual enquiry carried out in any given area of
sociological study.
Feminist Theories : A sociological perspective which emphasises the
centrality of gender in analysing the social world. There are many strands
of feminist theory, but they all share in common the desire to explain gender
inequalities in society and to work to overcome them.
Social Constraint : A term referring to the fact that the groups and societies
of which we are a part exert a conditioning influence on our behaviour.
Values : Ideas held by human individual or groups about what is desirable,
proper, good or bad. Differing values represent key aspects of variations in
human culture.
EXERCISES
1. Why is the study of the origin and growth of sociology important?

2. Discuss the different aspects of the term ‘society’. How is it different
from your common sense understanding?
3. Discuss how there is greater give and take among disciplines today.
4. Identify any personal problem that you or your friends or relatives are
facing. Attempt a sociological understanding.
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READINGS
BERGER , PETER L. 1963. Invitation to Sociology : A Humanistic Perspective.

Penguin, Harmondsworth.
BIERSTEDT, ROBERT. 1970. Social Order. Tata Mc. Graw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd,
Mumbai.
BOTTOMORE, TOM. 1962. Sociology : A Guide to Problems and Literature. George,
Allen and Unwin, London.
C HAUDHURI, M AITRAYEE . 2003. The Practice of Sociology. Orient Longman,
New Delhi.
DESAI, A.R. 1975. Social Background of Indian Nationalism. Popular Prakashan,
Mumbai.
DUBE, S.C. 1977. Understanding Society : Sociology : The Discipline and its
Significance : Part I. NCERT, New Delhi.
FREEMAN, JAMES M. 1978. ‘Collecting the Life History of an Indian Untouchable’,
from V ATUK, SYLVIA. ed., American Studies in the Anthropology of India.
Manohar Publishers, Delhi.
GIDDENS, ANTHONY. 2001. Sociology. Fourth Edition, Polity Press, Cambridge.
INKELES, ALEX. 1964. What is Sociology? An Introduction to the Discipline and
Profession. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
JAYARAM, N. 1987. Introductory Sociology. Macmillan India Ltd, Delhi.
LAXMAN, R.K. 2003. The Distorted Mirror. Penguin, Delhi.
MILLS, C. WRIGHT. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. Penguin, Harmondsworth.
SINGH , YOGENDRA . 2004. Ideology and Theory in Indian Sociology. Rawat
Publications, New Delhi.
SRINIVAS, M.N. 2002. Village, Caste. Gender and Method : Essays in Indian
Social Anthropology. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
SWEDBERG, RICHARD. 2003. Principles of Economic Sociology. Princeton University
Press, Princeton and Oxford.
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CHAPTER 2
TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY
terms and concepts to understand this.

I
Why does sociology need to have a
special set of terms when we use terms
INTRODUCTION like status and roles or social control
The previous chapter introduced us to anyway in our everyday life?
an idea both about society as well as For a discipline such as, say,
sociology. We saw that a central task of nuclear physics that deals with matters
sociology is to explore the interplay of unknown to most people and for which
society and the individual. We also saw no word exists in common speech, it
that individuals do not float freely in seems obvious that a discipline must
society but are part of collective bodies develop a terminology. However,
like the family, tribe, caste, class, clan, terminology is possibly even more
nation. In this chapter, we move further important for sociology, just because
its subject matter is familiar and just
to understand the kinds of groups
because words do exist to denote it. We
individuals form, the kinds of unequal
are so well acquainted with the social
orders, stratification systems within
institutions that surround us that we
which, individuals and groups are
cannot see them clearly and precisely
placed, the way social control operates,
(Berger 1976:25).
the roles that individuals have and play, For example we may feel that since
and the status they occupy. we live in families we know all about
In other words we start exploring families. This would be conflating or
how society itself functions. Is it equating sociological knowledge
harmonious or conflict ridden? Are with common sense knowledge or
status and roles fixed? How is social naturalistic explanation, which we have
control exercised? What kinds of discussed in Chapter 1.
inequalities exist? The question however We also found in the previous
remains as to why do we need specific chapter how sociology as a discipline
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TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY 25
has a biography or history. We saw how essentially harmonious. They found it

certain material and intellectual useful to compare society to an
developments shaped the sociological organism where different parts have a
perspective as well as its concerns. function to play for the maintenance of
Likewise sociological concepts too have the whole. Others, in particular the
a story to tell. Many of the concepts conflict theorists influenced by Marxism
reflect the concern of social thinkers to saw society as essentially conflict
understand and map the social ridden.
changes that the shift from pre-modern Within sociology some tried to
to modern entailed. For instance understand human behaviour by
sociologists observed that simple, small starting with the individual, i.e. micro
scale and traditional societies were interaction. Others began with macro
more marked by close, often face-to- structures such as class, caste, market,
face interaction. And modern, large state or even community. Concepts
scale societies by formal interaction. such as status and role begin with the
They therefore distinguished primary individual. Concepts such as social
from secondary groups, community control or stratification begin from a
from society or association. Other larger context within which individuals
concepts like stratification reflect the are already placed.
concern that sociologists had in The important point is that these
understanding the structured classifications and types that we
inequalities between groups in society. discuss in sociology help us as the tools
Concepts arise in society. However through which we can understand
just as there are different kinds of reality. They are keys to open locks to
individuals and groups in society so understand society. They are entry
there are different kinds of concepts and points in our understanding, not the
ideas. And sociology itself is marked by final answer. But what if the key
different ways of understanding society becomes rusted or bent or does not fit
and looking at dramatic social changes the lock, or fits in with effort? In such
that the modern period brought about. situations we need to change or modify
We have seen how even in the early the key. In sociology we both use and
stage of sociology’s emergence there also constantly interrogate or question
were contrary and contesting the concepts and categories.
understandings of society. If for Very often there is considerable
Karl Marx class and conflict were key unease about the coexistence of
concepts to understand society, social different kinds of definitions or concepts
solidarity and collective conscience or even just different views about the
were key terms for Emile Durkheim. In same social entity. For example conflict
the Post-World War II period sociology theory versus the functionalist theory.
was greatly influenced by the structural This multiplicity of approaches is
functionalists who found society particularly acute in sociology. And it
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cannot but be otherwise for society

II
itself is diverse.
S OCIAL GROUPS AND SOCIETY
Activity 1 Sociology is the study of human social
Choose any one of the following life. A defining feature of human life is
topics for class discussion : that humans interact, communicate
• democracy is a help or hind- and construct social collectivities. The
rance to development comparative and historical perspective
of sociology brings home two appa-
• gender equality makes for a
rently innocuous facts. The first that in
more harmonious or more
divisive society
every society whether ancient or feudal
or modern, Asian or European or
• punishments or greater dis- African human groups and collectivities
cussion are the best way to
exist. The second that the types of
resolve conflicts.
groups and collectivities are different in
Think of other topics. different societies.
What kind of differences emerged? Any gathering of people does not
Do they reflect different visions of necessarily constitute a social group.
what a good society ought to be like? Aggregates are simply collections of
Do they reflect different notions of people who are in the same place at the
the human being? same time, but share no definite
connection with one another.
In our discussion on the various Passengers waiting at a railway station
terms you will notice how there exists or airport or bus stop or a cinema
divergence of views. And how this very audience are examples of aggregates.
debate and discussion of differences Such aggregates are often termed as
helps us understand society. quasi groups.
What kind of groups are these?
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A quasi group is an aggregate or attention to how social groups emerge,

combination, which lacks structure or change and get modified.
organisation, and whose members A social group can be said to have
may be unaware, or less aware, of the at least the following characteristics :
existence of groupings. Social classes, (i) persistent interaction to provide
status groups, age and gender groups, continuity;
crowds can be seen as examples of (ii) a stable pattern of these inter-
quasi groups. As these examples
actions;
suggest quasi groups may well
(iii) a sense of belonging to identify
become social groups in time and in
with other members, i.e. each
specific circumstances. For example,
individual is conscious of the
individuals belonging to a particular
group itself and its own set of
social class or caste or community may
rules, rituals and symbols;
not be organised as a collective body.
They may be yet to be infused with a (iv) shared interest;
sense of “we” feeling. But class and (v) acceptance of common norms and
caste have over a period of time given values; and
rise to political parties. Likewise (vi) a definable structure.
people of different communities in Social structure here refers to
India have over the long anti-colonial patterns of regular and repetitive
struggle developed an identity as a interaction between individuals or
collectivity and group — a nation with groups. A social group thus refers to a
a shared past and a common future. collection of continuously interacting
The women’s movement brought about persons who share common interest,
the idea of women’s groups and culture, values and norms within a
organisation. All these examples draw given society.
Activity 2
Find out a name that is relevant under each heading.

Caste An anti – caste movement A caste based political party
Class A class based movement A class based political party
Women A women’s movement A women’s organisation
Tribe A tribal movement A tribe/tribes based political party
Villagers An environmental movement An environmental organisation
Discuss whether they were all social groups to start with and if some were not,
then at what point can one apply the term ‘social group’ to them, using the term
as sociologically understood.
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Activity 3
Discuss the age group of teenagers. Is it a quasi group or social group? Were
ideas about ‘teenage’ and ‘teenagers’ as a special phase in life always there? In
traditional societies how was the entry of children into adulthood marked? In
contemporary times do marketing strategies and advertisement have anything
to do with the strengthening or weakening of this group/quasi group? Identify
an advertisement that targets teenagers or pre-teens. Read the section on
stratification and discuss how teenage may mean very different life experiences
for the poor and rich, for the upper and lower class, for the discriminated and
privileged caste.
TYPES OF GROUPS However a complete contrast is

As you read through this section on probably not an accurate description
of reality.
groups you will find that different
sociologists and social anthropologists
Primary and Secondary
have categorised groups into different
Social Groups
types. What you will be struck with
however is that there is a pattern in the The groups to which we belong are not
typology. In most cases they contrast all of equal importance to us. Some
the manner in which people form groups tend to influence many aspects
groups in traditional and small scale of our lives and bring us into personal
societies to that of modern and large association with others. The term
scale societies. As mentioned earlier, primary group is used to refer to a
they were struck by the difference small group of people connected by
between close, intimate, face-to-face intimate and face-to-face association
interaction in traditional societies and and co-operation. The members of
impersonal, detached, distant primary groups have a sense of
interaction in modern societies. belonging. Family, village and groups
Contrast the two types of groups.
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of friends are examples of primary

groups. Activity 4
Secondary groups are relatively
Collect a copy of a memorandum of
large in size, maintain formal and
any association that you know of or
impersonal relationships. The primary
can find out about for example a
groups are person-oriented, whereas
Resident’s Welfare Association, a
the secondary groups are goal oriented.
women’s association (Mahila
Schools, government offices, hospitals,
Samiti), a Sports Club. You will find
students’ associations etc. are examples
of secondary groups. clear information about its goals,
objectives, membership and other
Community and Society rules that govern it. Contrast this
or Association with a large family gathering.
The idea of comparing and contrasting You may find that many a time
the old traditional and agrarian way of that interaction among members of
life with the new modern and urban one a formal group over time becomes
in terms of their different and closes and ‘just like family and
contrasting social relationships and friends.’ This brings home the point
lifestyles, dates back to the writings of that concepts are not fixed and
classical sociologists. frozen entities. They are indeed
The term ‘community’ refers to keys or tools for understanding so-
human relationships that are highly ciety and its changes.
personal, intimate and enduring, those
where a person’s involvement is
considerable if not total, as in the
family, with real friends or a close-knit In-Groups and Out-Groups
group. A sense of belonging marks an in-
‘Society’ or ‘association’ refers to group. This feeling separates ‘us’ or ‘we’
everything opposite of ‘community’, in from ‘them’ or ‘they’. Children
particular the apparently impersonal, belonging to a particular school may
superficial and transitory relationships form an ‘in-group’ as against those who
of modern urban life. Commerce and do not belong to the school. Can you
industry require a more calculating, think of other such groups?
rational and self-interesting approach An out-group on the other hand is
to one’s dealings with others. We make one to which the members of an in-
contracts or agreements rather than group do not belong. The members of
getting to know one another. You may an out-group can face hostile reactions
draw a parallel between the community from the members of the in-group.
with the primary group and the Migrants are often considered as an
association with the secondary group. out-group. However, even here the
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actual definition of who belongs and but we do identify ourselves with

who does not, changes with time and that group. Reference groups are
social contexts. important sources of information
The well known sociologist about culture, lifestyle, aspiration
M.N. Srinivas observed while he was and goal attainments.
carrying out a census in Rampura in In the colonial period many middle
1948 how distinctions were made class Indians aspired to behave like
between recent and later migrants. proper Englishman. In that sense they
He writes: could be seen as a reference group for
I heard villagers use two expressions
the aspiring section. But this process
which I came to realise were significant: was gendered, i.e. it had different
the recent immigrants were almost implications for men and women. Often
contemptuously described as nenne Indian men wanted to dress and dine
monne bandavartu (‘came yesterday or like the British men but wanted the
the day before’) while old immigrants Indian women to remain ‘Indian’ in
were described as arsheyinda their ways. Or aspire to be a bit like the
bandavaru (‘came long ago’) or proper English woman but also not
khadeem kulagalu (‘old lineages’), quite like her. Do you still find this valid
(Srinivas 1996:33).
today?
Activity 5 Peer Groups

This is a kind of primary group,
Find out about the experience of
usually formed between individuals
immigrants in other countries. Or
who are either of similar age or who are
may be even from different parts of
in a common professional group. Peer
our own country.
pressure refers to the social pressure
You will find that relationships exerted by one’s peers on what one
between groups change and modify. ought to do or not.
People once considered members of
an out-group become in-group
members. Can you find out about Activity 6
such processes in history?
Do your friends or others of your
age group influence you? Are you
Reference Group concerned with their approval or
disapproval about the way you
For any group of people there are
dress, behave, the kind of music
always other groups whom they look
you like to listen to or the kind of
up to and aspire to be like. The
groups whose lifestyles are emulated films you prefer? Do you consider
are known as reference groups. We do it to be social pressure? Discuss.
not belong to our reference groups
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S OCIAL STRATIFICATION enter into details about estates here but

very briefly touch upon caste and class
Social stratification refers to the as systems of social stratification. We
existence of structured inequalities shall be dealing in greater detail with
between groups in society, in terms of class, caste, gender as bases of social
their access to material or symbolic stratification in the book, Under-
rewards. Thus stratification can most standing Society .
simply be defined as structural
inequalities between different Caste
groupings of people. Often social
stratification is compared to the In a caste stratification system an
geological layering of rock in the earth’s individual’s position totally depends on
surface. Society can be seen as the status attributes ascribed by birth
consisting of ‘strata’ in a hierarchy, with rather than on any which are achieved
the more favoured at the top and the during the course of one’s life. This is
less privileged near the bottom. not to say that in a class society there
Inequality of power and advantage is no systematic constraint on
is central for sociology, because of the achievement imposed by status
crucial place of stratification in the attributes such as race and gender.
organisation of society. Every aspect of However, status attributes ascribed by
the life of every individual and birth in a caste society define an
household is affected by stratification. individual’s position more completely
Opportunities for health, longevity, than they do in class society.
security, educational success, fulfillment In traditional India different castes
in work and political influence are all formed a hierarchy of social precedence.
unequally distributed in systematic ways. Each position in the caste structure was
Historically four basic systems of defined in terms of its purity or
stratification have existed in human pollution relative to others. The
societies: slavery, caste, estate and underlying belief was that those who
class. Slavery is an extreme form of are most pure, the Brahmin priestly
inequality in which some individuals castes, are superior to all others and
are literally owned by others. It has the Panchamas, sometimes called the
existed sporadically at many times and ‘outcastes’ are inferior to all other
places, but there are two major castes. The traditional system is
examples of a system of slavery; ancient generally conceptualised in terms of the
Greece and Rome and the Southern four fold varna of Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
States of the USA in the 18th and 19th Vaishyas and Shudras. In reality there are
centuries. As a formal institution, innumerable occupation-based caste
slavery has gradually been eradicated. groups, called jatis.
But we do continue to have bonded The caste system in India has
labour, often even of children. Estates undergone considerable changes over
characterised feudal Europe. We do not the years. Endogamy and ritual
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avoidance of contact with members of with us. This is because they feel
so-called lower castes were considered and believe they are superior. It has
critical for maintaining purity by the so- been like that for years. No matter
called upper castes. Changes brought how well we dress they are not
in by urbanisation inevitably prepared to accept certain things
challenged this. Read well known (Franco et. al. 2004:150).
sociologist A.R. Desai’s observations
below. Even today acute caste
Other social consequences of discrimination exists. At the same time
urbanisation in India are commented the working of democracy has affected
upon by sociologist A.R. Desai as: the caste system. Castes as interest
groups have gained strength. We have
Modern industries brought into also seen discriminated castes asserting
b e i n g modern cities honey- their democratic rights in society.
combed with cosmopolitan hotels,
restaurants, theatres, trams, Class
buses, railways. The modest hotels There have been many attempts to
and restaurants catered for the explain class. We mention here, very
workers and middle classes became briefly just the central ideas of Marx,
crowded in cities with persons Weber and that of, functionalism. In
belonging to all castes and even the Marxist theory social classes are
creeds... In trains and buses one defined by what relation they have to
occasionally rubbed shoulders with the means of production. Questions
members of the depressed classes... could be asked as to whether groups
should not, however be supposed are owners of means of production such
that caste had vanished (Desai as land or factories? Or whether they
1975:248). are owners of nothing but their own
labour? Weber used the term life-
While change did take place, chances, which refers to the rewards
discrimination was not so easy to do and advantages afforded by market
away with, as a first person narrative capacity. Inequality, Weber argued
suggests. might be based on economic relations.
In the mill there may be no open But it could also be based on prestige
discrimination of the kind that exists or on political power.
in the villages, but experience of private The functionalist theory of social
interactions tells another story. Parmar stratification begins from the general
observed… presupposition or belief of function-
alism that no society is “classless” or
They will not even drink water from unstratified. The main functional
our hands and they sometimes use necessity explains the universal
abusive language when dealing presence of social stratification in
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requirements faced by a society the lower levels of the system, are not
of placing and motivating individuals just disadvantaged socially but also
in the social structure. Social economically.
inequality or stratification is thus an
unconsciously evolved device by which Status and Role
societies ensure that the most The two concepts ‘status’ and ‘role’ are
important positions are deliberately often seen as twin concepts. A status is
filled by the most qualified persons. Is simply a position in society or in a
this true? group. Every society and every group
In a traditional caste system social has many such positions and every
hierarchy is fixed, rigid and transmitted individual occupies many such
across generations. Modern class positions.
system in contrast is open and Status thus refers to the social
achievement-based. In democratic position with defined rights and duties
societies there is nothing to legally stop assigned to these positions. To
a person from the most deprived class illustrate, mother occupies a status,
and caste from reaching the highest which has many norms of conduct as
position. well as certain responsibilities and
prerogatives.
Activity 7 A role is the dynamic or the
behavioural aspect of status. Status is
Find out more about the life of
occupied, but roles are played. We may
the late President K. R. Narayanan.
say that a status is an institutionalised
Discuss the concept of ascription
role. It is a role that has become
and achieved status, caste and regularised, standardised and forma-
class in this context. lised in the society at large or in any of
the specific associations of society.
Such stories of achievement do It must be apparent that each
exist and are sources of immense individual in a modern complex society
inspiration. Yet for the most part the such as ours occupies many different
structure of the class system persists. kinds of status during the course of
Sociological studies of social mobility, his/her life. You as a school student
even in western societies are far may be a student to your teacher, a
removed from the ideal model of perfect customer to your grocer, a passenger
mobility. Sociology has to be sensitive to the bus driver, a brother or sister to
to both the challenges to the caste your sibling and a patient to the doctor.
system as well as the persistence of Needless to say, we could keep adding
discrimination. Significantly those, at to the list. The smaller and simpler the
2021-22
society, the fewer the kinds of status occupies it or to his/her performance

that an individual can have. or to his/her actions. The kind of
In a modern society an individual value attached to the status or to the
as we saw occupies multiple status office is called prestige. People can
which is sociologically termed as status rank status in terms of their high or
set. Individuals acquire different status low prestige. The prestige of a doctor
at various stages of life. A son becomes may be high in comparison to a
a father, a grandfather, and then great shopkeeper, even if the doctor may
grandfather and so on. This is called a earn less. It is important to keep in
status sequence for it refers to the mind that ideas of what occupation is
status, which is attained in succession considered prestigious varies across
or sequence at various stages of life. societies and across periods.
An ascribed status is a social
position, which a person occupies
because of birth, or assumes
involuntarily. The most common bases Activity 8
for ascribed status are age, caste, race What kinds of jobs are considered
and kinship. Simple and traditional prestigious in your society?
societies are marked by ascribed status. Compare these with your friends.
An achieved status on the other hand
Discuss the similarities and
refers to a social position that a person
differences. Try and understand the
occupies voluntarily by personal
causes for the same.
ability, achievements, virtues and
choices. The most common bases for
achieved status are educational People perform their roles according
qualifications, income, and professional to social expectations, i.e. role taking
expertise. Modern societies are and role playing. A child learns to
characterised by achievements. Its behave in accordance with how her
members are accorded prestige on the behaviour will be seen and judged by
basis of their achievements. How often others.
you would have heard the phrase “you Role conflict is the incompatibility
have to prove yourself”. In traditional among roles corresponding to one or
societies your status was defined and more status. It occurs when contrary
ascribed at birth. However, as expectations arise from two or more
discussed above, even in modern roles. A common example is that of the
achievement-based societies, ascribed
status matters. Activity 9
Status and prestige are
interconnected terms. Every status is Find out how a domestic worker or
accorded certain rights and values. a construction labourer faces role
Values are attached to the social conflict.
position, rather than to the person who
2021-22
middle class working woman who has is mistaken. It suggests that

to juggle her role as mother and wife individuals simply take on roles, rather
at home and that of a professional at than creating or negotiating them. In
work. fact, socialisation is a process in which
It is a common place assumption humans can exercise agency; they are
that men do not face role conflict. not simply passive subjects waiting to
Sociology being both an empirical and be instructed or programmed.
comparative discipline suggests Individuals come to understand and
otherwise. assume social roles through an ongoing
process of social interaction. This
Khasi matriliny generates intense discussion perhaps will make you
role conflict for men. They are torn reflect upon the relationship between
between their responsibilities to the individual and society, which we
their natal house on the one hand
had studied in Chapter 1.
and to their wife and children on
Roles and status are not given and
the other. T hey feel deprived of
sufficient authority to command
fixed. People make efforts to fight
their children’s loyalty and lack the against discrimination roles and status
freedom to pass on after death, even for example those based on caste, race
their self-acquired property to their or gender. At the same time there are
children… sections in society who oppose such
The strain affects Khasi women, in changes. Likewise individual violation
a way more intensely. A woman can of roles are often punished. Society thus
never be fully assured that her functions not just with roles and status
husband does not find his sister’s but also with social control.
house more congenial place than
her own house (Nongbri 2003:190).
Activity 10
Role stereotyping is a process of
Collect newspaper reports where
reinforcing some specific role for some
member of the society. For example dominant sections of society seek to
men and women are often socialised in impose control and punish those
stereotypical roles, as breadwinner and whom they consider to have
homemaker respectively. Social roles transgressed or violated socially
and status are often wrongly seen as prescribed roles.
fixed and unchanging. It is felt that
individuals learn the expectations that
S OCIETY AND SOCIAL CONTROL
surround social positions in their
particular culture and perform these Social control is one of the most
roles largely as they have been defined. generally used concepts in sociology.
Through socialisation, individuals It refers to the various means used by
internalise social roles and learn how a society to bring its recalcitrant or
to carry them out. This view, however, unruly members back into line.
2021-22
You will recall how sociology has groups on the one hand, and on the
different perspectives and debates other, to mitigate tensions and conflicts
about the meaning of concepts. You among individuals and groups to
will also recall how functionalist maintain social order and social
sociologists understood society as cohesion. In this way social control is
essentially harmonious and conflict seen as necessary to stability in society.
theorists saw society as essentially Conflict theorists usually would see
unequal, unjust and exploitative. We social control more as a mechanism to
also saw how some sociologists impose the social control of dominant
focussed more on the individual and social classes on the rest of society.
society, others on collectivities like Stability would be seen as the writ of
classes, races and castes. one section over the other. Likewise, law
For a functionalist perspective social would be seen as the formal writ of the
control refers to: (i) the use of force to powerful and their interests on society.
regulate the behaviour of the individual Social control refers to the social
and groups and also refers to the process, techniques and strategies by
(ii) enforcing of values and patterns for which behaviours of individual or a
maintaining order in society. Social group are regulated. It refers both to
control here is directed to restrain the use of force to regulate the
deviant behaviour of individuals or behaviour of the individual and groups
The ultimate and, no doubt, the oldest means of social control is physical
violence... even in the politely operated societies of modern democracies the
ultimate argument is violence. No state can exist without a police force or its
equivalent in armed might... In any functioning society violence is used
economically and as a last resort, with the mere threat of this ultimate violence
sufficing for the day-to-day exercise of social control... Where human beings live
or work in compact groups, in which they are personally known and to which
they are tied by feelings of personal loyalty (the kind that sociologists call primary
groups), very potent and simultaneously very subtle mechanisms of control are
constantly brought to bear upon the actual or potent deviant... One aspect of
social control that ought to be stressed is the fact that it is frequently based on
fraudulent claims... A little boy can exercise considerable control over his peer
group by having a big brother who, if need be, can be called upon to beat up any
opponents. In the absence of such a brother, however it is possible to invent
one. It will then be a question of the public-relations talents of the little boy as to
whether he will succeed in translating his invention into actual control (Berger
84-90).
Have you ever seen or heard a young child threaten another with “ I will tell
my elder brother.”
Can you think of other examples?
2021-22
and also refers to the enforcing of values

and patterns for maintaining order in Activity 11
society.
Social control may be informal or Can you think of examples drawn
formal. When the codified, systematic, from your life how this ‘unofficial’
and other formal mechanism of control social control operates? Have you in
is used, it is known as formal social class or in your peer group noticed
control. There are agencies and how a child who behaves a bit
mechanism of formal social control, for differently from the rest is treated?
example, law and the state. In a modern Have you witnessed incidents where
society formal mechanisms and children are bullied by their peer
agencies of social control are group to be more like the other
emphasised. children?
In every society there is another type
of social control that is known as
informal social control. It is personal, newspaper report which is given below
unofficial and uncodified. They include and identify the different agencies of
smiles, making faces, body language, social control involved.
frowns, criticism, ridicule, laughter etc. A sanction is a mode of reward or
There can be great variations in their punishment that reinforces socially
use within the same society. In day- expected forms of behaviour. Social
to-day life they are quite effective. control can be positive or negative.
However, in some cases informal Members of societies can be rewarded
methods of social control may not be for good and expected behaviour. On
adequate in enforcing conformity or the other hand, negative sanctions are
obedience. There are various agencies also used to enforce rules and to
of informal social control e.g. family, restrain deviance.
religion, kinship, etc. Have you heard Deviance refers to modes of action,
about honour killing? Read the which do not conform to the norms or
Man kills sister for marrying from outside the caste
... The elder brother of a 19-year-old girl here carried out an apparent ‘honour
killing’ by allegedly beheading her while she was asleep at a hospital ... police
said on Monday.
The girl... was undergoing treatment at ... Hospital for stab wounds after her
brother... attacked her on December 16 for marrying outside the caste, they
said. She and her lover eloped on December 10 and returned to their houses
here on December 16 after getting married, which was opposed by her parents,
they said.
The Panchayat also tried to pressurise the couple but they refused to be swayed.
2021-22
values held by most of the members of be considered deviant at one time, and
a group or society. What is regarded as be applauded at another time even in
‘deviant’ is as widely variable as the the same society. You are already
norms and values that distinguish familiar with how sociology is different
different cultures and subcultures. from common sense. The specific
Likewise ideas of deviance are terms and concepts discussed in this
challenged and change from one period chapter will help you further to move
to another. For example, a woman towards a sociological understanding
choosing to become an astronaut may of society.
GLOSSARY
Conflict Theories : A sociological perspective that focuses on the tensions,

divisions and competing interests present in human societies. Conflict
theorists believe that the scarcity and value of resources in society produces
conflict as groups struggle to gain access to and control those resources.
Many conflict theorists have been strongly influenced by the writings of
Marx.
Functionalism : A theoretical perspective based on the notion that social
events can best be explained in terms of the function they perform — that is
the contribution they make to the continuity of a society. And on a view of
society as a complex system whose various parts work in relationship to
each other in a way that needs to be understood.
Identity : The distinctive characteristic of a person’s character or the
character of a group which relate to who they are and what is meaningful to
them. Some of the main sources of identity include gender, nationality or
ethnicity, social class.
Means of Production : The means whereby the production of material goods
is carried on in a society, including not just technology but the social
relations between producers.
Microsociology and Macrosociology : The study of everyday behaviour in
situations of face-to-face interaction is usually called microsociology. In
microsociology, analysis occurs at the level of individuals or small groups. It
differs from macrosociology, which concerns itself with large-scale social
systems, like the political system or the economic order. Though they appear
to be distinct, they are closely connected.
Natal : It relates to the place or time of one’s birth. R
Norms : Rules of behaviour which reflect or embody a culture’s values, either
prescribing a given type of behaviour, or forbidding it. Norms are always
2021-22
backed by sanctions of one kind or another, varying from informal disapproval

to physical punishment or execution.
Sanctions : A mode of reward or punishment that reinforce socially expected
forms of behaviour.
EXERCISES
1. Why do we need to use special terms and concepts in sociology?

2. As a member of society you must be interacting with and in different
groups. How do you see these groups from a sociological perspective?
3. What have you observed about the stratification system existing in your
society? How are individual lives affected by stratification?
4. What is social control? Do you think the modes of social control in different
spheres of society are different? Discuss.
5. Identify the different roles and status that you play and are located in.
Do you think roles and status change? Discuss when and how they
change.
READINGS
BERGER, L. PETER. 1976. Invitation to Sociology : A Humanistic Perspective.

Penguin, Harmondsworth.
BOTTOMORE, TOM. and ROBERT, NISBET. 1978. A History of Sociological Analysis.
Basic Books, New York.
BOTTOMORE, TOM. 1972. Sociology. Vintage Books, New York.
DESHPANDE, SATISH. 2003. Contemporary India : A Sociological View. Viking, Delhi.
FERNANDO, FRANCO. MACWAN, JYOTSNA. and RAMANATHAN, SUGUNA. 2004. Journeys
to Freedom Dalit Narratives. Samya, Kolkata.
GIDDENS, ANTHONY. 2001. Sociology. Fourth Edition, Polity Press, Cambridge.
JAYARAM, N. 1987. Introductory Sociology. Macmillan India Ltd, Delhi.
NONGBRI, TIPLUT. 2003. ‘Gender and the Khasi Family Structure : The Meghalaya
Succession to Self-Acquired Property Act,1984’, in ed. REGE, SHARMILA.
Sociology of Gender The Challenge of Feminist Sociological Knowledge. Sage
Publications, New Delhi, pp.182-194.
SRINIVAS, M.N. 1996. Village, Caste, Gender and Method. Oxford University
Press, New Delhi.
2021-22
CHAPTER 3
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
I least acknowledged by law or by

custom. And whose regular and
INTRODUCTION continuous operation cannot be
understood without taking those rules
This book began with a discussion into account. Institutions impose
about the interaction of the individual constraints on individuals. They also
and society. We saw that each of us as provide him/her with opportunities.
individuals, occupies a place or An institution can also be viewed as
location in society. Each one of us has
an end in itself. Indeed people have
a status and a role or roles, but these
viewed family, religion, state or even
are not simply what we as individuals
education as an end in itself.
choose. They are not like roles a film
actor may or may not opt to do. There
Activity 1
are social institutions that constrain and
control, punish and reward. They could Think of examples of how people
be ‘macro’ social institutions like the sacrifice for family, for religion or for
state or ‘micro’ ones like the family. the state.
Here in this chapter we are introduced
to social institutions, and also to how We have already seen that there
sociology/social anthropology studies are conflicting and different
them. This chapter puts forth a very understandings of concepts within
brief idea of some of the central areas sociology. We have also been introduced
where important social institutions are to the functionalist and conflict
located namely: (i) family, marriage and perspective, and seen how differently
kinship; (ii) politics; (iii) economics; they saw the same thing, for instance,
(iv) religion; and (v) education. stratification or social control. Not
In the broadest sense, an surprisingly, therefore, there are
institution is something that works different forms of understanding of
according to rules established or at social institutions as well.
2021-22
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 41
A functionalist view understands II

social institutions as a complex set of
social norms, beliefs, values and role FAMILY, MARRIAGE AND KINSHIP
relationship that arise in response to Perhaps no other social entity appears
the needs of society. Social institutions more ‘natural’ than the family. Often we
exist to satisfy social needs. Accordingly are prone to assume that all families are
we find informal and formal social like the ones we live in. No other social
institutions in societies. Institutions institution appears more universal and
such as family and religion are unchanging. Sociology and social
examples of informal social institutions anthropology have over many decades,
while law and (formal) education are conducted field research across
formal social institutions. cultures to show how the institutions
of family, marriage and kinship are
A conflict view holds that all important in all societies and yet their
individuals are not placed equally in character is different in different
society. All social institutions whether societies. They have also shown how the
familial, religious, political, economic, family (the private sphere) is linked to
legal or educational will operate in the economic, political, cultural and
interest of the dominant sections of educational (the public) spheres. This
society be it class, caste, tribe or gender. may remind you of why there is a need
The dominant social section not only to share and borrow from different
dominates political and economic disciplines, which we have discussed in
Chapter 1.
institutions but also ensures that the
According to the functionalists the
ruling class ideas become the ruling
family performs important tasks, which
ideas of a society. This is very different
contribute to society’s basic needs and
from the idea that there are general helps perpetuate social order. The
needs of a society. functionalist perspective argues that
As you go about reading this modern industrial societies function
chapter, see whether you can think best if women look after the family and
of examples to show how social men earn the family livelihood. In India
studies however suggest that families
institutions constrain and also offer
need not become nuclear in an
opportunities to individuals. Notice
industrial pattern of economy (Singh
whether they impact different sections
1993: 83). This is but one example to
of society unequally. For instance, we show how trends based on experiences
could ask, “How does the family of one society cannot necessarily be
constrain as well provide opportunities generalised.
to men and women?” Or “How do The nuclear family is seen as the
political or legal institutions affect the unit best equipped to handle the
privileged and dispossessed?” demands of industrial society by the
2021-22
functionalists. In such a family one families have always existed in India

adult can work outside home while the particularly among deprived castes and
second adult cares for the home and classes.
children. In practical terms, this The sociologist A.M. Shah remarks
specialisation of roles within the that in post-independent India the joint
nuclear family involves the husband family has steadily increased. The
adopting the ‘instrumental’ role as contributing factor is the increasing life
breadwinner, and the wife assuming expectancy in India according to him. It
the ‘affective’, emotional role in domestic has increased from 32.5 – 55.4 years
settings (Giddens 2001). This vision is for men and from 31.7– 55.7 years for
questionable not just because it is women during the period 1941– 50
gender unjust but because empirical to 1981 - 85. Consequently, the
studies across cultures and history proportion of aged people (60 years and
show that it is untrue. Indeed, as you above) in the total population has
will see in the discussion on work and increased. “We have to ask” writes Shah:
economy how in contemporary “in what kind of household do these
industries like the garment export, elderly people live? I submit, most
women form a large part of the labour of them live in joint household”
force. Such a separation also suggests (Shah 1998).
that men are necessarily the heads of
This again is a broad generalisation.
households. This is not necessarily true
But in the spirit of the sociological
as the box which is given below shows.
perspective, it cautions us against
blindly believing a common sense
Variation in Family Forms
impression that the joint family is fast
A central debate in India has been eroding. And alerts us to the need for
about the shift from nuclear family to careful comparative and empirical
joint families. We have already seen how studies.
sociology questions common sense Studies have shown how diverse
impressions. The fact is that nuclear family forms are found in different
Female headed households
When men migrate to urban areas, women have to plough and manage the
agricultural fields. Many a time they become the sole providers of their families.
Such households are known as female headed households. Widowhood too
might create such familial arrangement. Or it may happen when men get
remarried and stop sending remittance to their wives, children and other
dependents. In such a situation, women have to ensure the maintenance of the
family. Among the Kolams, a tribal community in south-eastern Maharashtra
and northern Andhra Pradesh, a female headed household is an accepted norm.
2021-22
societies. With regard to the rule of Families are Linked to other Social
residence, some societies are matrilocal Spheres and Families Change
in their marriage and family customs
Often in our everyday life we look at
while others are patrilocal. In the first
case, the newly married couple stays the family as distinct and separate from
with the woman’s parents, whereas in other spheres such as the economic or
the second case the couple lives with political. However, as you will see for
the man’s parents. A patriarchal family yourself the family, the household, its
structure exists where the men structure and norms are closely linked
exercise authority and dominance, and to the rest of society. An interesting
matriarchy where the women play a example is that of the unintended
major role in decision-making in the consequences of the German uni-
family. While matrilineal societies exist, fication. During the post-unification
the same cannot be claimed about period in the 1990s Germany
matriarchal societies. witnessed a rapid decline in marriage
Notice how families and residences are different
Work and Home
2021-22
because the new German state the female child will leave on marriage
withdrew all the protection and welfare results in families investing more in a
schemes which were provided to the male child. Despite the biological fact
families prior to the unification. With that a female baby has better chances
growing sense of economic insecurity of survival than a male baby the rate of
people responded by refusing to marry. infant mortality among female children
This can also be understood as a is higher in comparison to male
case of unintended consequence children in lower age group in India.
(Chapter 1).
Family and kinship are thus The Institution of Marriage
subject to change and transformation Historically marriage has been found
due to macro economic processes but to exist in a wide variety of forms in
the direction of change need not always
be similar for all countries and regions. Activity 2
Moreover, change does not mean the
A Telegu expression states:
complete erosion of previous norms and
‘Bringing up a daughter is like
structure. Change and continuity
watering a plant in another’s
co-exist.
courtyard’. Find out other such
How gendered is the family? sayings that are contrary. Discuss
how popular sayings reflect the
The belief is that the male child will social arrangement of a society,
support the parents in the old age and
Sex Ratio in India between 1901- 2011
Year Sex Ratio Year Sex Ratio
1901 972 1961 941
1911 964 1971 930
1921 955 1981 934
1931 950 1991 926
1941 945 2001 933
1951 946 2011 940
The incidence of female foeticide has led to a sudden decline in the sex ratio.
The child sex ratio has declined from 934 per thousand males in 1991 to 919 in
2011. The percentage of decline in the child sex ratio is more alarming. The
situation of prosperous states like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Utter
Pradesh is all the more grave. In Punjab the child sex ratio has declined to
846 girls per 1,000 boys. In some of the districts of Haryana it has fallen
below 800.
2021-22
different societies. It has also been right for upper caste Hindu widows
found to perform differing functions. was denied and that the campaign for
Indeed, the manner in which marriage widow remarriage was a major issue
partners are arranged reveals an in the 19th century reform movements.
astonishing variety of modes and What you are probably less aware is
customs. that today in modern India nearly 10
per cent of all women and 55 per cent
Activiy 3 of women over fifty years are widows
(Chen 2000:353).
Find out about the different ways Polygamy denotes marriage to
that different societies go about more than one mate at one time and
finding marriage partners. takes the form of either: Polygyny (one
husband with two or more wives) or
Polyandry (one wife with two or more
Forms of Marriage
husbands). Usually where economic
Marriage has a large variety of forms. conditions are harsh, polyandry may
These forms can be identified on the be one response of society, since in
basis of the number of partners and such situations a single male cannot
rules governing who can marry whom. adequately support a wife and
In terms of the number of partners that children. Also, extreme poverty
can legitimately enter into matrimony, conditions pressurise a group to limit
we have two forms of marriage, its population.
namely, monogamy and polygamy.
Monogamy restricts the individual to The Matter of Arranging Marriages:
one spouse at a time. Under this Rules and Prescriptions
system, at any given time a man can
In some societies, the decisions
have only one wife and a woman can
regarding mate selection are made
have only one husband. Even where
by parents/relatives; in some other
polygamy is permitted, in actual
societies individuals are relatively free
practice, monogamy is more widely
to choose their own mates.
prevalent.
In many societies, individuals are
Rules of Endogamy and Exogamy
permitted to marry again, often on the
death of the first spouse or after In some societies these restrictions
divorce. But they cannot have more are subtle, while in some others,
than one spouse at one and the same individuals who can or cannot be
time. Such monogamous marriages married, are more explicitly and
are termed serial monogamy. specifically defined. Forms of marriage
Remarriages on the death of a wife have based on rules governing eligibility/
been a norm for men for the most part. ineligibility of mates is classified as
But as all of you are aware that the endogamy and exogamy.
2021-22
Endogamy requires an individual Rock-a-bye-baby, combs in your

to marry within a culturally defined pretty hair,
group of which he or she is already a The bridegroom will come soon and
take you away
member, as for example, caste.
The drums beat loudly, the shehnai
Exogamy, the reverse of endogamy, is playing softly
requires the individual to marry outside A stranger’s son has come to fetch me
of his/her own group. Endogamy and Come my playmates, come with our
exogamy are in reference to certain toys
kinship units, such as, clan, caste and Let us play, for I shall never play
racial, ethnic or religious groupings. In again
When I go off to the strangers’ house.
India, village exogamy is practised in
certain parts of north India. Village (Dube 2001: 94)
exogamy ensured that daughters were
married into families from villages far Activity 4
away from home. This arrangement
ensured smooth transition and Collect different wedding songs and
adjustment of the bride into the affinal discuss how they reflect the social
home without interference of her dynamics of marriages and of
kinsmen. The geographical distance gender relations.
plus the unequal relationship in the
patrilineal system ensured that married
Activity 5
daughters did not get to see their
parents too often. Thus parting from Have you ever seen matrimonial
natal home was a sad occasion and is advertisements? Divide your class
the theme of folk songs, which depict into groups and look at different
the pain of departure. newspapers, magazines and the
internet. Discuss your findings. Do
Father, we are like flocks of bird you think endogamy is still the
We shall fly away; Our flight will be prevalent norm? How does it help
long, you to understand choice in
We know not to which, marriage? More importantly, what
Region we will go. kind of changes in society does it
Father, my palanquin cannot
reflect?
Pass through your palace,
(because the door is too small)
Daughter, I shall remove a brick Defining Some Basic Concepts,
(to enlarge the passage for your Particularly those of Family,
palanquin), Kinship and Marriage
You must go to your home. A family is a group of persons
(Chanana 1993:WS26) directly linked by kin connections,
2021-22
the adult members of which assume

III
responsibility for caring for children.
Kinship ties are connections between W ORK AND ECONOMIC LIFE
individuals, established either through
marriage or through the lines of descent What is Work?
that connect blood relatives (mothers,
fathers, siblings, offspring, etc.) As children and young students we
Marriage can be defined as a socially imagine what kind of ‘work’ we will do
acknowledged and approved sexual when we grow up. ‘Work’ here quite
union between two adult individuals. clearly refers to paid employment. This
When two people marry, they become is the most widely understood sense of
kin to one another. The marriage bond ‘work’ in modern times.
also, however, connects together a wider This in fact is an oversimplified view.
range of people. Parents, brothers, Many types of work do not conform to
sisters and other blood relatives become the idea of paid employment. Much of
relatives of the partner through the work done in the informal economy,
marriage. The family of birth is called for example, is not recorded in any
family of orientation and the family in direct way in the official employment
which a person is married is called the statistics. The term ‘informal economy’
family of procreation. The kin who are refers to transactions outside the
related through “blood” are called sphere of regular employment,
consanguineous kin while the kin who sometimes involving the exchange of
are related through marriage are cash for services provided, but also
called affines. As we move on to the often involving the direct exchange of
next section on work and economic goods or services.
institutions, you will notice how the We can define work, whether paid
family and economic life are closely or unpaid, as the carrying out of tasks
interconnected. requiring the expenditure of mental and
There was no occupation, which Tiny’s Granny had not tried at some stage of
her life. From the time she was old enough to hold her own cup she had started
working at odd jobs in people’s houses in return for her two meals a day and
cast-off clothes. Exactly what the words ‘odd jobs’ mean, only those know who
have been kept at them at an age when they ought to have been laughing and
playing with other children. Anything from the uninteresting duty of shaking
the baby’s rattle to massaging the master’s head comes under the category of
‘odd jobs’ (Chugtai 2004:125).
Find out more about the various kinds of ‘work’ done from your own
observation or literature or even films. Discuss.
2021-22
Different Types of Work
physical effort, which has as its objective

the production of goods and services
Activity 6
that cater to human needs.
Find out the proportion of Indians
Modern Forms of Work and Division who are in rural based occupations.
of Labour Make a list of these occupations.
In pre-modern forms of society most
people worked in the field or cared for
the livestock. In the industrially agriculture, and farming itself has
developed society only a tiny pro- become industrialised — it is carried on
portion of the population works in largely by means of machines rather
2021-22
than by human hand. In a country like

India, the larger share of the population Activity 8
continues to be involved in rural
Have you seen a master weaver at
agricultural or other rural based
work? Find out how long one piece
occupations.
of shawl may take to make?
There are other trends in India too,
for instance an expansion of the service
sector. People seeking jobs in factories
One of the most distinctive were trained to perform a specialised
characteristics of the economic system task and receive a wage for this work.
of modern societies is the existence of a Managers supervised the work, for
highly complex division of labour. Work their task was to enhance worker
has been divided into an enormous productivity and discipline.
number of different occupations in One of the main features of modern
which people specialise. In traditional societies is an enormous expansion of
societies, non-agricultural work economic interdependence. We are all
entailed the mastery of a craft. Craft dependent on an immense number of
skills were learned through a lengthy other workers-stretching right across
period of apprenticeship, and the the world- for the products and services
worker normally carried out all aspects that sustain our lives. With few
of the production process from exceptions, the vast majority of people
beginning to end. in modern societies do not produce the
food they eat, the houses they live in or
Activity 7 the material goods they consume.
Find out whether there has been a
shift to the service sector in India Activity 9
in recent times. Which are these
Make a list of the food that you eat,
sectors?
the materials that were used to make
Modern society also witnesses a the houses you live in, the clothes
shift in the location of work. Before you wear. Find out how and who
industrialisation, most work took place made them.
at home and was completed collectively
by all members of the household.
Advances in industrial technology, Transformation of Work
such as machinery operating on Industrial processes were broken down
electricity and coal, contributed to the into simple operations that could be
separation of work and home. Factories precisely timed, organised and
owned by capitalist entrepreneurs monitored. Mass production demands
became the focal point of industrial mass markets. One of the most
development. significant innovations was the
2021-22
Discuss the two forms of production in the two sets of visuals

Cloth production in a factory
2021-22
Threshing of paddy in a village
2021-22
construction of a moving assembly line. vision here is that of the creation of

Modern industrial production needed an international opinion forum
expensive equipment and continuous (Roy Choudhury 2005:2254).
monitoring of employees through
monitoring or surveillance systems. Read the above given report carefully.
Over the last decades there has been Notice how the new organisation of
a shift to what is often called ‘flexible production and a body of customers
production’ and ‘decentralisation of outside the country have altered the
work’. It is argued that in this period economics and the politics of
of globalisation, it is the growing production.
competition between firms and
countries that makes it essential for IV
firms to organise production suiting the
POLITICS
changing market conditions. To
illustrate how this new system operates Political institutions are concerned with
and what the implications may be for the distribution of power in society. Two
the workers, read the quote from a concepts, which are critical to the
understanding of political institutions,
study of the garment industry in
are power and authority. Power is the
Bangalore. ability of individuals or groups to carry
The industry is essentially part of out their will even when opposed by
a long supply chain, and the
others. It implies that those who hold
power do so at the cost of others. There
freedom of manufacturers is to that
is a fixed amount of power in a society
extent extremely limited. There are, and if some wield power others do not.
in fact more than a hundred In other words, an individual or group
operations between the designer does not hold power in isolation, they
and the final consumer. In this hold it in relation to others.
chain, only 15 are in the hands of This notion of power is fairly
the manufacturer. Any serious inclusive and extends from family elders
agitation for a rise in wages would assigning domestic duties to their
lead manufacturers to shift their children to principals enforcing
operations to other localities, discipline in school; from the General
beyond the reach of unionists... Manager of a factory distributing work
among the executives to political leaders
whether it is the payment of the
regulating programmes of their parties.
existing minimum wage, or its
The principal has power to maintain
substantial revision upwards, what discipline in school. The president of a
is important is to enlist the support political party possesses power to expel
of the retailer in order to create the a member from the party. In each case,
necessary pressure upon the an individual or group has power to the
government and local agencies for extent to which others abide by their
a higher wage structure and its will. In this sense, political activities or
effective implementation. Thus the politics is concerned with ‘power’.
2021-22
But how is this ‘power’ applied to capacity to use military force to

achieve its aim? Why do people comply implement its policies. The functionalist
with others’ commands? Answers to perspective sees the state as
these questions could be found with representing the interests of all sections
reference to a related concept of of society. The conflict perspective sees
‘authority’. Power is exercised through the state as representing the dominant
authority. Authority is that form of sections of society.
power, which is accepted as legitimate, Modern states are very different
that is, as right and just. It is from traditional states. These states are
institutionalised because it is based on defined by sovereignty, citizenship
legitimacy. People in general accept the and, most often, ideas of nationalism.
power of those in authority as they Sovereignty refers to the undisputed
consider their control to be fair and political rule of a state over a given
justified. Often ideologies exist that help territorial area.
this process of legitimation. The sovereign state was not, at first,
one in which citizenship carried with it
Stateless Societies rights of political participation. These
were achieved largely through
Empirical studies of stateless societies by
struggles, which limited the power of
social anthropologists over sixty years
monarchs, or actively overthrew them.
ago demonstrated how order is
The French Revolution and our own
maintained without a modern
Indian independence struggle are two
governmental apparatus. There was
instances of such movements.
instead the balanced opposition
Citizenship rights include civil,
between parts; cross-cutting alliances,
political and social rights. Civil rights
based on kinship, marriage and
involve the freedom of individuals to
residence; rites and ceremonies involving
live where they choose; freedom of
the participation of friends and foes.
speech and religion; the right to own
As we all know, the modern state
property; and the right to equal justice
has a fixed structure and formal
before the law. Political rights include
procedures. Yet are not some of the
the right to participate in elections and
informal mechanisms mentioned above
to stand for public office. In most
as features of stateless societies present
countries governments were reluctant
also in state societies?
to admit the principle of universal
The Concept of the State franchise. In the early years not only
women, but a large section of the male
A state exists where there is a political population was excluded as holding a
apparatus of government (institutions certain amount of property was an
like a parliament or congress, plus civil eligibility criterion. Women had to wait
service officials) ruling over a given longer for the vote.
territory. Government authority is The third type of citizenship rights
backed by a legal system and by the are social rights. These concern the
2021-22
Activity 10
Find out when women got voting rights in different countries. Why do you think
that despite the right to vote and the right to stand for public office, women are
so inadequately represented? Will power in its wider sense be a useful concept
to understand this under-representation in the Parliament and other bodies?
Does the existing division of labour within families and households impact
women’s participation in political life? Find out why there is a demand for 33
per cent reservation for women in the Parliament.
prerogative of every individual to enjoy community. Thus, individuals feel a

a certain minimum standard of sense of pride and belonging, in being
economic welfare and security. They ‘British’, ‘Indian’, ‘Indonesian’ or
include such rights as health benefits, ‘French’. Probably people have always
unemployment allowance, setting of felt some kind of identity with social
minimum level of wages. The groups of one form or another — for
broadening of social or welfare rights example, their family, clan or religious
led to the welfare state, which was community. Nationalism, however, only
established in Western societies since made its appearance with the
the Second World War. States of the development of the modern state.
erstwhile socialist countries had Contemporary world is marked both by
far-reaching provision in this sector. In a rapid expansion of the global market
most developing countries, this was as well as intense nationalist feelings
virtually non-existent. All over the and conflicts.
world today these social rights are Sociologists are interested in
being attacked as liabilities on the state the broader study of power, not just
and hindrances to economic growth. with the formal apparatus of
Nationalism can be defined as a set government. They are interested in the
of symbols and beliefs providing the distribution of power between parties,
sense of being part of a single political between classes, between castes, and
Activity 11 Activity 12
Collect information about different Collect information of events that

states doing away with social show the growth of global inter-
rights. Find out what explanation connectedness as well as instances
is given for this. Discuss and of divisions along ethnic, religious,
see whether you can see the national conflicts. Discuss how
relationship between the economic, politics and economics may have a
political and social spheres. part to play in them.
2021-22
between communities based on race, it to domestic life, economic life and

language and religion. Its focus is not political life.
just on what may be called specifically Religion exists in all known
political association, such as state societies, although religious beliefs and
legislatures, town councils and political practices vary from culture to culture.
parties but also associations such as Characteristics that all religions seem
schools, banks and religious to share are:
institutions whose aims are not
• set of symbols, invoking feelings of
primarily political. The scope of
reverence or awe;
sociology has been wide. Its range has
• rituals or ceremonies;
extended from the study of international
• a community of believers.
movements (such as women or
environmental) to village factions. The rituals associated with religion
are very diverse. Ritual acts may include
V praying, chanting, singing, eating
certain kinds of food (or refraining from
RELIGION doing so), fasting on certain days, and
Religion has been a subject of study so on. Since ritual acts are oriented
and reflection for a very long time. In towards religious symbols, they are
Chapter 1, we have seen how usually seen as quite distinct from the
sociological findings about society are habits and procedures of ordinary life.
different from religious reflections. The Lighting a candle or diya to honour the
sociological study of religion is different divine differs completely in its
from a religious or theological study of significance from doing so simply to
religion in many ways. One, it conducts light a room. Religious rituals are often
empirical studies of how religions carried out by an individual in his/her
actually function in society and its personal everyday life. But all religions
relationship to other institutions. Two, also involve ceremonials practised
it uses a comparative method. Three, it collectively by believers. Regular
investigates religious beliefs, practices ceremonials normally occur in special
and institutions in relation to other places — churches, mosques, temples,
aspects of society and culture. shrines.
The empirical method means that Religion is about the sacred realm.
the sociologist does not have a Think of what members of different
judgemental approach to religious religions do before entering a sacred
phenomena. The comparative method realm. For example covering one’s head,
is important because in a sense it or not covering one’s head, taking off
brings all societies on level with each shoes, or wearing particular kind of
other. It helps to study without bias clothes, etc. What is common to them
and prejudice. The sociological all is the feeling of awe, recognition
perspective means that religious life and respect for sacred places or
can be made intelligible only by relating situations.
2021-22
Sociologists of religion, following aspects of society. Why do you think

Emile Durkheim, are interested in this is so?
understanding this sacred realm which A pioneering work by Max Weber
every society distinguishes from (1864 -1920) demonstrates how
the profane. In most cases, the sociology looks at religion in its
sacred includes an element of the relationship to other aspects of social
supernatural. Often the sacred quality and economic behaviour. Weber argues
of a tree or a temple comes with the that Calvinism (a branch of Protestant
belief that it is sacred precisely because Christianity) exerted an important
there is some supernatural force behind influence on the emergence and growth
it. However, it is important to keep in of capitalism as a mode of economic
mind that some religions like early organisation. The Calvinists believed
Buddhism and Confucianism had no that the world was created for the glory
conception of the supernatural, but did of God, meaning that any work in this
allow sufficient reverence for things and world had to be done for His glory,
persons which they considered sacred. making even mundane works acts of
Studying religion sociologically worship. More importantly, however,
lets us ask questions about the the Calvinists also believed in the
relationship of religion with other social concept of predestination, which meant
institutions. Religion has had a very that whether one will go to heaven or
close relationship with power and hell was pre-ordained. Since there was
politics. For instance, periodically in
no way of knowing whether one has
history there have been religious
been assigned heaven or hell, people
movements for social change, like
sought to look for signs of God’s will in
various anti-caste movements
this world, in their own occupations.
or movements against gender
Thus if a person in whatever profession,
discrimination. Religion is not just a
was consistent and successful in his or
matter of the private belief of an
individual but it also has a public her work, it was interpreted as a sign
character. And it is this public character of God’s happiness. The money earned
of religion, which has an important was not to be used for worldly
bearing on other institutions of society. consumption; rather the ethics of
We have seen how sociology looks Calvinism was to live frugally. This
at power in a wide sense. It is, therefore, meant that investment became
of sociological interest to look at the something like a holy creed. At the
relationship between political and heart of capitalism is the concept of
religious spheres. Classical sociologists investment, which is about investing
believed that as societies modernised, capital to make more goods, which
religion would become less influential create more profit, which in turn
over various spheres of life. The concept creates more capital. Thus Weber was
secularisation describes this process. able to argue that religion, in this case
Contemporary events suggest a Calvinism, does have an influence on
persisting role of religion in various economic development.
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Religion cannot be studied as a

VI
separate entity. Social forces always
and invariably influence religious EDUCATION
institutions. Political debates, economic Education is a life–long process,
situations and gender norms will involving both formal and informal
always influence religious behaviour. institutions of learning. Here we are
Conversely, religious norms influence however confining ourselves only to
and sometimes even determine social school education. We are all aware how
understanding. Women constitute half important getting admission into a
of the world’s population. Sociologically school is. We also know, for many of us,
therefore it becomes important to ask school is a step towards higher
what relationship this vast segment of education and finally employment. For
human population has with religion. some of us it may mean acquiring some
Religion is an important part of society necessary social skills. What is common
and is inextricably tied to other parts. in all cases is that there is a felt need
The task of sociologists is to unravel for education.
these various interconnections. In Sociology understands this need as
traditional societies, religion usually a process of transmission/commu-
plays a central part in social life. nication of group heritage that is
Religious symbols and rituals are often common to all societies. There is a
integrated with the material and artistic qualitative distinction between simple
culture of society. Read the extract societies and complex, modern
which is given below in the box to get a societies. In the case of the former there
sense of how sociology studies religion. was no need for formal schooling.
Many extraneous factors have affected the traditional lives of the religious
specialists. The most important of these are the growth of new employment and
educational opportunities in Nasik... after Independence, the way of life of the
priests has been changing fast. Now the sons and daughters are sent to school,
and are trained for jobs other than traditional ones… Like all places of pilgrimage,
Nasik also gave rise to supplementary centres around religious activities. It was
a normal routine for a pilgrim to take home the sacred water of the Godavari in
a copper pot. The coppersmiths provided these wares. The pilgrims also bought
wares, which they took home to be distributed as gifts among their relatives and
friends. For long Nasik was known for its proficient craftsmen in brass, copper
and silver... Since the demand for their wares is intermittent and uncertain,
not all the adult males can be supported by this occupation... Many
craftsmen have entered industry and business-both small and large scale
(Acharya 1974:399-401).
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Children learnt customs and the For Emile Durkheim, no society can
broader way of life by participating in survive without a ‘common base-a
activities with their adults. In complex certain number of ideas, sentiments
societies, we saw there is an increasing and practices which education must
economic division of labour, separation inculcate in all children indiscriminately,
of work from home, need for specialised to whatever social category they belong’
learning and skill attainment, rise of (Durkheim 1956:69). Education
state systems, nations and complex should prepare the child for a special
sets of symbols and ideas. How do you occupation, and enable the child to
get educated informally in such internalise the core values of society.
context? How would parents or other The functionalist sociologist thus
adults informally communicate all that speaks in terms of general social
has to be known to the next generation? needs and social norms. For the
Education in such social context has functionalists, education maintains
to be formal and explicit. and renews the social structure,
Furthermore modern complex transmits and develops culture. The
societies, in contrast to simple societies, educational system is an important
rest on abstract universalistic values. mechanism for the selection and
This is what distinguishes it from a allocation of individuals in their
simple society that depends on future roles in the society. It is also
particularistic values, based on family, regarded as the ground for proving
kin, tribe, caste or religion. Schools in one’s ability and hence selective
modern societies are designed to agency for different status according
promote uniformity, standardised to their abilities. Recall our
aspirations and universalistic values. discussion on the functionalist
There are many ways of doing this. For understanding of roles and
example one can speak of ‘uniform stratification in Chapter 2.
dress for school children’. Can you For the sociologists who perceive
think of other features that promote society as unequally differentiated,
standardisation? education functions as a main
Discuss the visuals (Two types of schools)
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stratifying agent. And at the same The report indicates how gender
time the inequality of educational and caste discrimination impinge
opportunity is also a product of social upon the chances of education. Recall
stratification. In other words, we go to how we began this book in Chapter 1
different kinds of schools depending on about a child’s chances for a good job
our socio-economic background. And
because we go to some kind of schools,
we acquire different kind of privileges
and finally opportunities.
For instance some argue that
schooling ‘intensifies the existing divide
between the elite and the masses.’
Children going to privileged schools
learn to be confident while children
deprived of that may feel the opposite
(Pathak 2002:151). However, there are
many more children who simply cannot
attend school or drop out. For instance
a study reports :
You are seeing some children in the

school now. If you come during the
cultivation season you may see
almost zero attendance from the SC
and ST children. They all take some
household responsibilities while the
parents are out to work. And the girl Discuss the visual
children of these communities
seldom attend school as they do being shaped by a host of social
various kinds of work both domestic factors. Your understanding of the
and income generating. A 10-year- way social institutions function
old girl picks dry cow dung to sell, should help you analyse the process
for example (Pratichi 2002:60). better now.
Activity 13
A study of a kindergarten suggested that children learn that:

• ‘work activities are more important than play activities’.
• ‘work includes any and all teacher-directed activities.’
• ‘work is compulsory and free time activities are called play’ (Apple 1979:102).
What do you think? Discuss.
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GLOSSARY
Citizen : A member of a political community, having both rights and duties

associated with that membership.
Division of Labour : The specialisation of work tasks, by means of which
different occupations are combined within a production system. All societies
have at least some rudimentary form of division of labour. With the
development of industrialism, however, the division of labour becomes vastly
more complex than in any prior type of production system. In the modern
world, the division of labour is international in scope.
Gender : Social expectations about behaviour regarded as appropriate for
the members of each sex. Gender is seen as a basic organising principle of
society.
Empirical Investigation : Factual enquiry carried out in any given area of
sociological study.
Endogamy : When marriage is within a specific caste, class or tribal group.
Exogamy : When marriage occurs outside a certain group of relations.
Ideology : Shared ideas or beliefs, which serve to justify the interests of
dominant groups. Ideologies are found in all societies in which there are
systematic and engrained inequalities between groups. The concept of
ideology connects closely with that of power, since ideological systems serve
to legitimise the differential power which groups hold.
Legitimacy : The belief that a particular political order is just and valid.
Monogamy : When marriage involves one husband and one wife alone.
Polygamy : When marriage involves more than one mate at one time.
Polyandry : When more than one man is married to a woman.
Polygyny : When more than one woman is married to a man.
Service Industries : Industries concerned with the production of services
rather than manufactured goods, such as the travel industry.
State Society : A society which possesses a formal apparatus of government.
Stateless Society : A society which lacks formal institutions of government.
Social Mobility : Movement from one status or occupation to another.
Sovereignty : The undisputed political rule of a state over a given territorial
area.
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EXERCISES
1. Note the marriage rules that are followed in your society. Compare your
observations with these made by other students in the class. Discuss.
2. Find out how membership, residence pattern and the mode of interaction
changes in the family with broader economic, political and cultural
changes, for instance migration.
3. Write an essay on ‘work’. Focus on both the range of occupations, which
exist and how they change.
4. Discuss the kind of rights that exist in your society. How do they affect
your life?
5. How does sociology study religion?
6. Write an essay on school as a social institution. Draw from both your
reading as well as your personal observations.
7. Discuss how these social institutions interact with each other. You can
start the discussion from yourself as a senior school student. And move
on to how you are shaped by different social institutions. Are you entirely
controlled or can you also resist and redefine social institutions?
READINGS
ACHARYA, HEMLATA. 1974. ‘Changing Role of Religious Specialists in Nasik —

The Pilgrim City’, in ed. RAO, M.S.A., An Urban Sociology in India : Reader
and Source Book. Orient Longman, New Delhi, pp. 391-403.
APPLE, MICHAEL W. 1979. Ideology and Curriculum. Routledge and Kegan Paul,
LONDON.
CHUGTAI, ISMAT. 2004. Tiny’s Granny in Contemporary Indian Short Stories;
Series 1. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
DUBE, LEELA. 2001. Anthropological Explorations in Gender : Intersecting Fields.
Sage Publications, New Delhi.
DURKHEIM, EMILE. 1956. Education and Sociology. The Free Press, New York.
PATHAK, AVIJIT. 2002. Social Implications of Schooling : Knowledge, Pedagogy
and Consciousness. Rainbow Publishers, Delhi.
PRATICHI. 2002. The Pratichi Education Report. Pratichi Trust, Delhi.
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R OY C HOUDHURY , S UPRIYA . 2005. ‘Labour Activism and Women in the

Unorganised Sector : Garment Export Industry in Bangalore’, Economic
and Political Weekly. May 28-June 4. pp. 2250-2255.
SHAH, A.M. 1998. Family in India : Critical Essays. Orient Longman, Hyderabad.
S INGH , Y OGENDRA . 1993. Social Change in India : Crisis and Resilience.
Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi.
UBEROI, PATRICIA. 2002. ‘Family, Kinship and Marriage in India’, in Student’s
Britannica, India. Vol.6, Encyclopedia Britannica Private Ltd, New Delhi,
pp.145-155.
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CULTURE AND SOCIALISATION 63
CHAPTER 4
CULTURE AND SOCIALISATION
I Activity 1
How do you greet another person in

INTRODUCTION
your ‘culture’? Do you greet different
‘Culture’, like ‘society’, is a term used
kinds of persons (friends, older
frequently and sometimes vaguely.
relatives, the other gender, people
This chapter is meant to help us define
from other groups) differently?
it more precisely and to appreciate
its different aspects. In everyday Discuss any awkward experience
conversation, culture is confined to the you may have had when you did not
arts, or alludes to the way of life of know how you should greet a
certain classes or even countries. person. Is that because you did not
Sociologists and anthropologists study share a common ‘culture’? But next
the social contexts within which culture time round you will know what to
exists. They take culture apart to try do. Your cultural knowledge thereby
and understand the relations between expands and rearranges itself.
its various aspects.
Just like you need a map to
navigate over unknown space or constantly being added, deleted,
territory, you need culture to conduct expanded, shrunk and rearranged.
or behave yourself in society. Culture This makes cultures dynamic as
is the common understanding, which functioning units.
is learnt and developed through social The capacity of individuals to
interaction with others in society. A develop a common understanding with
common understanding within a group others and to draw the same meanings
demarcates it from others and gives it from signs and symbols is what
an identity. But cultures are never distinguishes humans from other
finished products. They are always animals. Creating meaning is a social
changing and evolving. Elements are virtue as we learn it in the company of
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others in families, groups and social set up like in villages, towns and
communities. We learn the use of tools cities. In different environments, people
and techniques as well as the non- adapt different strategies to cope with
material signs and symbols through the natural and social conditions. This
interaction with family members, leads to the emergence of diverse ways
friends and colleagues in different of life or cultures.
social settings. Much of this knowledge Disparities in coping mechanisms
is systematically described and were evident during the devastating
conveyed either orally or through tsunami of 26 December 2004, which
books. affected some parts of the Tamil Nadu
For example, notice the interaction and Kerala coast as well as the Andaman
below. Notice how words and facial and Nicobar Islands in India. People on
expressions convey meaning in a the mainland and islands are integrated
conversation. into a relatively modern way of life. The
Commuter asks autodriver: “Indiranagar?” The verb that conveys the question —
“Bartheera?” or “Will you come?” — is implied in the arch of the eyebrow. Driver
jerks his head in the direction of the back seat if the answer is “Yes”. If it is “No”
(which is more likely the case as every Bangalorean knows) he might just drive
away or grimace as if he has heard a bad word or shake his head with a smile
that seems to suggest a “Sorry”, all depending on the mood of the moment.
This learning prepares us for fisherfolk and the service personnel in the
carrying out our roles and islands were caught unaware and
responsibilities in society. You have suffered large scale devastation and
already dealt with status and roles. much loss of life. On the other hand, the
What we learn in the family is primary ‘primitive’ tribal communities in the
socialisation, while that which happens islands like the Onges, Jarawas, Great
in school and other institutions are Andamanese or Shompens who had no
secondary socialisation. We shall access to modern science and technology,
discuss this in greater detail later in this foresaw the calamity based on their
chapter. experiential knowledge and saved
themselves by moving on to higher
II ground. This shows that having access
to modern science and technology does
DIVERSE SETTINGS, DIFFERENT CULTURES not make modern cultures superior to
Humans live in a variety of natural the tribal cultures of the islands. Hence,
settings like in the mountains and cultures cannot be ranked but can be
plains, in forests and clear lands, in judged adequate or inadequate in
deserts and river valleys, in islands and terms of their ability to cope with the
main lands. They also inhabit different strains imposed by nature.
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Discuss how natural settings affect culture
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habits acquired by man as a member

Activity 2 of society” (Tylor 1871).
Find out from at least one region
other than your own how natural
environment affects food habits,
patterns of dwelling, clothing and
the ways in which God or gods are
worshipped.
Defining Culture
Often the term ‘culture’ is used to refer
to the acquiring of refined taste in
classical music, dance forms or
painting. This refined taste was thought
to distinguish people from the ‘uncul-
tured’ masses, even concerning Discuss how the visual
captures a way of life
something we would today see as
individual, like the preference for coffee
Two generations later, the founder
over tea!
of the “functional school” of anthro-
By contrast, the sociologist looks at
pology, Bronislaw Malinowski of
culture not as something that
Poland (1884-1942) wrote: “Culture
distinguishes individuals, but as a way
comprises inherited artifacts, goods,
of life in which all members of society
technical process, ideas, habits and
values” (Malinowski 1931:621-46).
Activity 3 Clifford Geertz suggested that we
look at human actions in the same way
Identify equivalents in Indian
as we look at words in a book, and see
languages for the word culture.
them as conveying a message. “… Man
What associations do these carry?
is an animal suspended in webs of
significance he himself has spun. I take
participate. Every social organisation culture to be those webs…”.The search
develops a culture of its own. One early is not for a causal explanation, but for
anthropological definition of culture an interpretative one, that is in search
comes from the British scholar Edward for meaning (Geertz 1973:5). Likewise
Tylor: “Culture or civilisation taken in Leslie White had placed a comparable
its wide ethnographic sense, is that emphasis on culture as a means of
complex whole which includes adding meaning to objective reality,
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, using the example of people regarding
custom and any other capabilities and water from a particular source as holy.
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• Do you notice anything in The multiple definitions of culture

Malinowski’s definition that is in anthropological studies led Alfred
missing in Tylor’s? Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn
(anthropologists from the United
Apart from his mention of art, all the
States) to publish a comprehensive
things listed by Tylor are non-material. survey entitled Culture: A Critical
This is not because Tylor himself never Review of Concepts and Definitions in
looked at material culture. He was in 1952. A sample of the various
fact a museum curator, and most of his definitions is presented below.
anthropological writing was based on • Try comparing these definitions to
the examination of artifacts and tools see which of these or which
from societies across the world, which combination of these you find most
he had never visited. We can now see satisfactory.
his definition of culture as an attempt You may first find yourself noticing
to take into account its intangible and words which recur–‘way’, ‘learn’ and
abstract dimensions, so as to acquire a ‘behaviour’. However, if you then look
comprehensive understanding of the at how each is used, you may be struck
societies he was studying. Malinowski by the shifts in emphasis. The first
happened to be stranded on an island phrase refers to mental ways but the
in the Western Pacific during the First second to the total way of life.
World War, and discovered thereby the Definitions (d), (e) and (f) lay stress on
value of remaining for an extended culture as what is shared and passed
period with the society one was on among a group and down the
studying. This led to the establishment generations. The last two phrases are
of the tradition of “field work” you will the first to refer to culture as a means
read about it in Chapter 5. of directing behaviour.
Culture is…
(a) a way of thinking, feeling, believing.

(b) the total way of life of a people.
(c) an abstraction from behaviour.
(d) learned behaviour.

(e) a storehouse of pooled learning.
(f) the social legacy the individual acquires from his group.
(g) a set of standardised orientations to recurrent problems.
(h) a mechanism for the normative regulation of behaviour.
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Make a list of phrases you have It may have occurred to you that
heard containing the word ‘culture’. our understanding of material culture,
Ask your friends and family what they especially art, is incomplete without
mean by culture. What criteria do they knowledge acquired from the cognitive
use to distinguish among cultures? and normative areas. It is true that our
developing understanding of social
Activity 4 process would draw upon all these
Compare these definitions to see
areas. But we might find that in a
community where few have acquired
which of these (or combination of
the cognitive skill of literacy, it in fact
these) you find most satisfactory.
becomes the norm for private letters to
You could do this by listing familiar
be read out by a third party. But as we
uses of the word ‘culture’ (the
see below, to focus on each of these
culture of eighteenth century
areas separately provides many
Lucknow, the culture of hospitality
important insights.
or the much used term ‘Western
culture’...). Which of the definitions Cognitive Aspects of Culture
best captures the impressions
conveyed by each? The cognitive aspects of one’s own
culture are harder to recognise than its
material aspects (which are tangible or
Dimensions of Culture
visible or audible) and its normative
Three dimensions of culture have been aspects (which are explicitly stated).
distinguished : Cognition refers to understanding, how
(i) Cognitive: This refers to how we we make sense of all the information
learn to process what we hear or coming to us from our environment. In
see, so as to give it meaning literate societies ideas are transcribed
(identifying the ring of a cell-phone in books and documents and
as ours, recognising the cartoon of preserved in libraries, instititutions or
a politician). archives. But in non-literate societies
(ii) Normative: This refers to rules of legend or lore is committed to memory
conduct (not opening other and transmitted orally. There are
people’s letters, performing rituals specialist practitioners of oral tradition
at death). who are trained to remember and
(iii) Material: This includes any activity narrate during ritual or festive occasions.
made possible by means of Let us think about how writing
materials. Materials also include may affect the production and
tools or machines. Examples consumption of art. In his influential
include internet ‘chatting’, using book, Orality and Literacy Walter Ong
rice-flour paste to design kolam on cites a study of 1971 that states that
floors. only 78 of the approximately 3,000
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existing languages possess a different contexts. We most often follow

literature. Ong suggests that material social norms because we are used to
that is not written down has certain doing it, as a result of socialisation. All
specific characteristics. There is a lot social norms are accompanied by
of repetition of words, to make it sanctions that promote conformity. We
simpler to remember. The audience of have already discussed social control
an oral performance is likely to be in Chapter 2 .
more receptive and involved than While norms are implicit rules,
would be readers of a written text from laws are explicit rules. Pierre
an unfamiliar culture. Texts become Bourdieu, the French sociologist has
more elaborate when they are written. reminded us that when we try to
In societies like ours historically understand another culture’s norms,
literacy has been made available only we must remember that there are
to the more privileged. Sociological certain implicit understandings. For
studies are often concerned with example, if a person wants to show
investigating how literacy can be made gratitude for something s/he has been
relevant to the lives of people whose given, s/he should not offer a return-
families have never gone to school. This gift too quickly, or it seems like an
can lead to unexpected responses, like attempt to get rid of a debt, not a
a vegetable-seller who asked why he friendly gesture.
needed to know the alphabet when he A law is a formal sanction defined
could mentally calculate what his by government as a rule or principle
customers owed him? that its citizens must follow. Laws are
The contemporary world allows us explicit. They are applicable to the
to rely far more on written, audio and whole society. And a violation of the
visual records. Yet students of Indian law attracts penalties and punishment.
classical music are still discouraged If in your home children are not
from writing down what they learn allowed to stay outdoors after
rather than carrying it in their memory. sundown, that is a norm. It is specific
We still do not know enough about the to your family and may not be
impact of the electronic media, of applicable to all families. However, if
multiple channels, of instant accessing you are caught stealing a gold necklace
and surfing. Do you think these new from someone else’s home, you have
forms impact our attention span and violated the universally accepted law
cognitive culture? of private property and can be sent to
jail after trial as punishment.
Normative Aspects of Culture Laws, which derive from the
The normative dimension consists of authority of the State are the most
folkways, mores, customs, conven- formal definitions of acceptable
tions and laws. These are values or behaviour. While different schools may
rules that guide social behaviour in establish different norms for students,
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laws would apply to all those accepting norms. This can give rise to a situation
the authority of the State. Unlike laws, of culture lag when the non-material
norms can vary according to status. dimensions are unable to match the
Dominant sections of society apply advances of technology.
dominant norms. Often these norms are
discriminating. For example norms that Culture and Identity
did not allow dalits from drinking water
Identities are not inherited but
from the same vessel or even source. Or
fashioned both by the individual and
women from moving freely in the public
the group through their relationship
sphere.
with others. For the individual the
social roles that s/he plays imparts
Material Aspects of Culture
identity. Every person in modern
The material aspect refers to tools, society plays multiple roles. For
technologies, machines, buildings and instance within the family s/he may be
modes of transportation, as well as a parent or a child but for each of the
instruments of production and specific roles there are particular
communication. In urban areas the responsibilities and powers.
widespread use of mobile phones, It is not sufficient to enact roles.
music systems, cars and buses, ATMs They also have to be recognised and
(automated teller machines), refri- acknowledged. This can often be done
gerators and computers in everyday life through the recognition of the
indicates the dependence on particular language that is used among
technology. Even in rural areas the use role players. Students in schools have
of transistor radios or electric motor their own way of referring to their
pumps for lifting water from below the teachers, other students, class
surface for irrigation demonstrates the performances. By creating this
adoption of technological devices for language which also serves as a code,
increasing production. they create their own world of meanings
In sum there are two principal and significances. Similarly, women are
dimensions of culture: material and also known to create their own
non-material. While the cognitive and language and through it their own
normative aspects are non-material, the private space beyond the control of men
material dimension is crucial to especially when they congregate at the
increase production and enhance pond to bathe in rural areas or across
the quality of life. For integrated washing lines on rooftops in urban
functioning of a culture the material areas.
and non-material dimensions must In a culture there can be many sub-
work together. But when the material cultures, like that of the elite and
or technological dimensions change working class youth. Sub-cultures are
rapidly, the non-material aspects can marked by style, taste and association.
lag behind in terms of values and Particular sub-cultures are identifiable
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by their speech, dress codes, preference cultural values projected as the

for particular kind of music or the standard or norm are considered
manner in which they interact with their superior to that of the beliefs and values
group members. of other cultures. We have seen in
Sub-cultural groups can also Chapter 1 and in Chapter 3 (particularly
function as cohesive units which impart in the discussion on religion) how
an identity to all group members. sociology is an empirical and not a
Within such groups there can be leaders normative discipline.
and followers but group members are Underlying ethnocentric compari-
bound by the purpose of the group and sons is a sense of cultural superiority
work together to achieve their clearly demonstrated in colonial
objectives. For instance young situations. Thomas Babbington
members of a neighbourhood can form Macaulay’s famous Minute on
a club to engage themselves in sports Education (1835) to the East India
and other constructive activities. Such Company in India exemplifies
activities create a positive image of the ethnocentrism when he says, ‘We must
members in the locality and this gives at present do our best to form a class
the members not only a positive self- who may be interpreters between us and
image but also inspires them to perform the millions whom we govern, a class of
better in their activities. The orientation persons Indian in blood and colour but
of their identity as a group undergoes English in tastes, in opinions, morals
a transformation. The group is able to and intellect’ (quoted in Mukherji 1948/
differentiate itself from other groups 1979:87), (emphasis added).
and thereby create its own identity Ethnocentrism is the opposite of
through the acceptance and cosmopolitanism, which values other
recognition of the neighbourhood. cultures for their difference. A
cosmopolitan outlook does not seek to
Activity 5 evaluate the values and beliefs of other
people according to one’s own. It
Are you aware of any sub-cultural
celebrates and accommodates different
group in your locality? How are you cultural propensities within its fold and
able to identify them? promotes cultural exchange and
borrowings to enrich one’s own culture.
Ethnocentrism The English language has emerged as
It is only when cultures come into a leading vehicle of international
contact with one another that the communication through its constant
question of ethnocentrism arises. inclusion of foreign words into its
Ethnocentrism is the application of vocabulary. Again the popularity of
one’s own cultural values in evaluating Hindi film music can be attributed to
the behaviour and beliefs of people from its borrowings from western pop music
other cultures. This means that the as well as from different traditions of
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Indian folk and semi-classical forms Cultural Change

like the bhangra and ghazal.
Cultural change is the way in which
A modern society is appreciative of
societies change their patterns of
cultural difference and does not close culture. The impetus for change can be
its doors to cultural influences from internal or external. In regard to
abroad. But such influences are internal causes, for instance, new
always incorporated in a distinctive methods of farming or agriculture can
way, which can combine with elements boost agricultural production, which
of indigenous culture. The English can transform the nature of food
language despite its foreign inclusions consumption and quality of life of an
does not become a separate language, agrarian community. On the other
nor does Hindi film music lose its hand external intervention in the form
character through borrowings. The of conquest or colonisation can also
absorption of diverse styles, forms, affect deep seated changes in the
sounds and artifacts provides an cultural practices and behaviour of a
identity to a cosmopolitan culture. In society.
a global world where modern means of Cultural change can occur through
communication are shrinking changes in the natural environment,
distances between cultures, a contact with other cultures or
cosmopolitan outlook allows diverse processes of adaptation. Changes in
influences to enrich one’s own culture. the natural environment or ecology can
Notice the words in the box. Have you heard or

used these words in your conversations?
‘Hinglish’ may soon conquer the world
Some of the Hinglish words in vogue include airdash (travel by air),

chaddis (underpants), chai (Indian tea), crore (10 million), dacoit (thief),
desi (local), dicky (boot), gora (white person), jungli (uncouth), lakh
(100,000), lampat (thug), optical (spectacles), prepone (bring forward),
stepney (spare tyre) and would-be (fiancé or fiancée). Hinglish contains
many words and phrases that Britons or Americans may not easily
understand, according to a report... Some are archaic, relics of the
Raj, such as ‘pukka’. Others are newly coined, such as ‘time-pass’,
meaning an activity that helps kill time. India’s success in attracting
business has recently produced a new verb. Those whose jobs are
outsourced to India are said to have been ‘Bangalored’.
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drastically alter the way of life of a III

people. When forest dwelling
communities are deprived of access to SOCIALISATION
the forest and its produce either I believe that a complete life is
because of legal restrictions or due to inclusive of everything around us :
its decimation, it can have disastrous plants, cattle, guests, feasts,
effects on the dwellers and their way of festivals, quarrels, friendship,
companionship, discrimination,
life. Tribal communities in North East
scorn. All these and more were
India as well as in middle India have present in one single place, my
been the worst affected by the loss of home. Although life sometimes
forest resources. appeared complicated then, I now
Along with evolutionary change understand how consummate it
there can also be revolutionary change. was. It is thanks to such a
childhood, perhaps, that if I get just
When a culture is transformed rapidly
a glimpse of someone’s suffering, I
and its values and meaning systems feel I can comprehend the whole of
undergo a radical change then it (Vaidehi 1945).
revolutionary change takes place.
Revolutionary change can be initiated At the time of birth, the human infant
through political intervention, knows nothing about what we call
technological innovation or ecological society or social behaviour. Yet as the
transformation. The French Revolution child grows up, s/he keeps learning not
(1789) transformed French society by just about the physical world, but about
destroying the estate system of ranking, what it means to be a good or bad
abolishing the monarchy, and girl/boy. S/he knows what kind of
inculcating the values of liberty, behaviour will be applauded and, what
equality and fraternity among its kind will be disapproved. Socialisation
citizens. When a different under- can be defined as the process whereby
standing comes to prevail, culture the helpless infant gradually becomes a
self-aware, knowledgeable person,
change occurs. Recent years have seen
skilled in the ways of the culture into
an amazing expansion of the media,
which s/he is born. Indeed without
both electronic and print. Do you think
socialisation an individual would not
the media has brought about an
behave like a human being. Many of you
evolutionary or revolutionary change? will be familiar with the story of the
We are familiar with the various ‘Wolf-children of Midnapore’. Two
dimensions of culture now. To return small girls were reportedly found in a
to the point we started with in Chapter wolf den in Bengal in 1920. They walked
1 about the interplay between the on all four like animals, preferred a diet
individual and society, we now move on of raw meat, howled like wolves and
to the concept of socialisation. lacked any form of speech. Interestingly
2021-22
such incidents have been reported from how the process of socialisation takes
other parts of the world too. place. A child, in the first instance, is a
We have so far been talking about member of a family. But s/he is also a
socialisation and the new-born infant. member of a larger kin-group (biradari,
But the birth of a child also alters the khaandaan, a clan etc.) consisting of
lives of those who are responsible for brothers, sisters and other relatives of
its upbringing. They too undergo new the parents. The family into which
learning experiences. Becoming s/he is born may be a nuclear or
grandparents and parenting involves a extended family. It is also a member of
whole set of activities and experiences. a larger society such as a tribe or sub-
Older people still remain parents when caste, a clan or a biradari, a religious
they become grandparents, of course, and linguistic group. Membership of
thus forging another set of relationships these groups and institutions imposes
connecting different generations with certain behavioural norms and values
each other. Likewise the life of a young on each member. Corresponding to
these memberships there are roles that
child changes with the birth of a sibling.
are performed, e.g. that of a son, a
Socialisation is a life-long process even
daughter, a grandchild or a student.
though the most critical process
These are multiple roles, which are
happens in the early years, the stage of
performed simultaneously. The process
primary socialisation. Secondary
of learning the norms, attitudes, values
socialisation as we saw extends over the or behavioural patterns of these groups
entire life of a person. begins early in life and continues
While socialisation has an throughout one’s life.
important impact on individuals it is The norms and values may differ
not a kind of ‘cultural programming’, within a society in different families
in which the child absorbs passively the belonging to different castes, regions or
influences with which he or she comes social classes or religious groups
into contact. Even the most recent new- according to whether one lives in a
born can assert her/his will. S/he will village or a city or one belongs to a tribe
cry when hungry. And keep crying until and if to a tribe, to which tribe. Indeed
those responsible for the infant’s care the very language that one speaks
respond. You may have seen how depends on the region one comes from.
normal, everyday schedules of the Whether the language is closer to a
family get completely reorganised with spoken dialect or to a standardised
the birth of a child. written form depends on the family and
You have already been introduced the socio-economic and cultural profile
to the concepts of status/role, social of the family.
control, groups and social strati-
fication. You are also acquainted with Agencies of Socialisation
what culture, norms and values are. All The child is socialised by several
these concepts will help us understand agencies and institutions in which
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s/he participates, viz. family, school, peer Families have varying ‘locations’
group, neighbourhood, occupational within the overall institutions of a
group and by social class/caste, society. In most traditional societies, the
region, religion. family into which a person is born
largely determines the individual’s
Family social position for the rest of his/her life.
Since family systems vary widely, the Even when social position is not
infants’ experiences are by no means inherited at birth in this way the region
standard across cultures. While many and social class of the family into
of you may be living in what is termed which an individual is born affect
a nuclear family with your parents and patterns of socialisation quite sharply.
siblings, others may be living with Children pick up ways of behaviour
extended family members. In the first characteristic of their parents or others
case, parents may be key socialising in their neighbourhood or community.
agents but in the others grandparents, Of course, few children simply
an uncle or a cousin may be more take over in an unquestioning way
significant. the outlook of their parents. This
Activity 6
Suggest ways in which the child of a domestic worker would feel herself different
from the child whose family her mother works for. Also, what are the things they
might share or exchange?
To start with the obvious, one would have more money spent on clothes, the
other might wear more bangles…
They might have watched the same serials, heard the same film songs… they
might pick up different kinds of slang from each other…
Now you are left to follow up the difficult areas, like the sense of security within
the family, the neighbourhood and on the street...
Activity 7
The presence or absence of which of the items below do you think would affect
you most as an individual?
(possessions) television set/music system …
(space) a room of your own…
(time) having to balance school with household or other work…
(opportunities) travel, music classes…
(people around you)
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is especially true in the contemporary

world, in which change is so pervasive. Activity 8
Moreover, the very existence of a
Reflect on your own experience.
diversity of socialising agencies leads to
Compare your interaction with
many differences between the outlooks
friends to that of your parents and
of children, adolescents and the
parental generation. Can you identify other elders. What is different? Does
any instance where you felt that what the earlier discussion on roles and
you learnt from the family was at status help you understand the
variance from your peer group or may difference?
be media or even school?
ages at work, and in other contexts, are
Peer Groups
usually of enduring importance in
Another socialising agency is the peer shaping individuals’ attitudes and
group. Peer groups are friendship behaviour.
groups of children of a similar age. In
some cultures, particularly small Schools
traditional societies, peer groups are
Schooling is a formal organisation:
formalised as age-grades. Even without
there is a definite numbers of subjects
formal age-grades, children over four
studied. Yet schools are agencies of
or five usually spend a great deal of
socialisation in more subtle respects
time in the company of friends of the
too. Alongside the formal curriculum
same age. The word ‘peer’ means ‘equal’,
there is what some sociologists
and friendly relations established
have called a hidden curriculum
between young children do tend to be
conditioning children’s learning. There
reasonably egalitarian. A forceful or
are schools in India and in many other
physically strong child may to some
countries where girls, but rarely boys,
extent try to dominate others. Yet there
are expected to sweep their classroom.
is a greater amount of give and take
In some schools efforts are made to
compared to the dependence inherent
counter this by making boys and girls
in the family situation. Because of their
do those tasks that are normally not
power, parents are able (in varying
expected of them. Can you think of
degrees) to enforce codes of conduct
examples that reflect both trends?
upon their children. In peer groups, by
contrast, a child discovers a different
Mass Media
kind of interaction, within which rules
of behaviour can be tested out and Mass media has increasingly become
explored. an essential part of our everyday life.
Peer relationships often remain While today the electronic media like
important throughout a person’s life. the television is expanding, the print
Informal groups of people of similar media continues to be of great
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importance. Even in the early print Activity 9

media in nineteenth century India,
‘conduct-books’ instructing women on You might want to explore how
how to be better house-keepers and people relate to serials set in
more attentive wives were popular in surroundings unlike their own. Or
many languages. The media can make if children are watching television
the access to information more with their grandparents, are
democratic. Electronic communication there disagreements about which
is something that can reach a village programmes are worth watching,
not connected by road and where no and if so, what differences in
literacy centres have been set up. viewpoint emerge? Are these
There has been much research on differences gradually modified?
the influence of television upon children
and adults. A study in Britain showed
was watched in London by children who
that the time spent by children
spoke only English!
watching television is the equivalent of
In recent years, non-print digital
almost a hundred school days a year,
media through internet is receiving
and that adults are not far behind them. considerable attention particularly in
Apart from such quantitative aspects, urban areas.
what emerges from such research is not
always conclusive in its implications. Other Socialising Agencies
The link between on-screen violence
and aggressive behaviour among Besides the socialising agencies
children is still debated. mentioned, there are other groups, or
If one cannot predict how media social contexts, in which individuals
influences people, what is certain is the spend large parts of their lives. Work
extent of the influence, in terms of both is, in all cultures, an important setting
information and exposure to areas of within which socialisation processes
experience distant from one’s own. operate, although it is only in
There is a sizeable audience for Indian industrial societies that large numbers
television serials and films in countries of people “go out to work” — that is,
like Nigeria, Afghanistan and among go each day to places of work quite
émigrés from Tibet. The televised separate from the home. In traditional
Mahabharat was aired after dubbing in communities many people tilled the
Tashkent, but even without dubbing land close to where they lived or had
Look at the report and discuss how mass media influences children
The Shaktimaan serial telecast a few years ago had children trying to
dive down buildings resulting in fatal accidents. “Learning by imitation
is a method followed frequently by people and children are no different,”
says clinical psychologist.
2021-22
workshops in their dwellings (see and come to maturity so influence our

visuals on page 43). behaviour, it might appear that we are
robbed of any individuality or free will.
Socialisation and Individual Such a view is fundamentally
Freedom mistaken. The fact that from birth to
death we are involved in interaction
It is perhaps evident that socialisation with others certainly conditions our
in normal circumstances can personalities, the values we hold, and
never completely reduce people to the behaviour in which we engage. Yet
conformity. Many factors encourage socialisation is also at the origin of
conflict. There may be conflicts our very individuality and freedom.
between socialising agencies, between In the course of socialisation each of
school and home, between home and us develops a sense of self-identity,
peer groups. However, since the and the capacity for independent
cultural settings in which we are born thought and action.
How Gendered is Socialisation?
We boys used the streets for so many different things — as a place to stand
around watching, to run around and play, try out the manoeuvrability of our
bikes. Not so for girls. As we noticed all the time, for girls the street was simply a
means to get straight home from school. And even for this limited use of the
street they always went in clusters, perhaps because behind their purposeful
demeanour they carried the worst fears of being assaulted (Kumar 1986).
Activity 11
We have completed four chapters. Read the text of the next page carefully and
discuss the following themes :
• The relation between individual and society in the girl’s rebellion against
grown-ups.
• How the normative dimensions of culture are different in town and village?
• The question of ascribed status in that the priest’s daughter is permitted
to touch.
• Conflict between socialising agencies for example in the text note: “thankful
none of her school friends could see her like this”. Can you find any other
sentence that illustrates this?
• Gendered = combing hair + escort + not playing football
• Punishment = “tight-lipped silence” + conspicuous absence of pappadams
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An unusual sense of excitement pervaded her visit to the temple this evening.
There had been an argument over lunch, between her and the grown-ups, when
she had announced her decision to ring the bell in front of the sanctuary.
‘If Thangam can ring it, so can I,’ she debated hotly.
They protested in shocked voices. ‘Thangam is the daughter of the temple
priest, she is permitted to touch the bell.’
She responded angrily that Thangam came over to play hide-and-seek every
afternoon and behaved no differently from any of them. ‘Besides,’ she added,
goading them deliberately, ‘we are equal in the eyes of god.’ She was not quite
sure whether they had heard this bit, for they had already turned away in
disgust. But, after lunch, she caught them whispering about ‘that horrid English
school she goes to,’ which meant that they had heard…
She was sure they had not taken her seriously. That was the trouble with
grown-ups: they always presumed that if they told her that she would understand
everything when she was older, she would accept their wisdom and authority
unquestioningly and not dream of going against them. Oh well, she would show
them, this time... Back again at the house, she had to endure the intensely
uncomfortable ritual of hairdressing. Her grandmother soothed her hair with
what felt like a whole jar of oil, separated each shining strand till it hung limp
and straight and lifeless down her back, then tied it up in a tight, skin stretching
knot on the top of her head. She was thankful none of her school friends could
see her like this.…
Why wouldn’t they understand how ridiculous she felt, being escorted…She
had reminded her mother many times that she walked alone to school everyday
when they were back in town… [S]he noticed that the football game had already
begun on the courtyard beside the temple of Krishna. She enjoyed watching the
players, particularly since her obvious delight in the vigour of the game, and in
the raucously voiced comments irritated Kelu Nair profoundly.…
She came hurriedly upon the crowded main sanctuary... Before she could
regret her decision or go back upon it, she elbowed herself quickly through the
circle of women, nearly floundering on the slippery steps. The sight of the big
bell above her touched her with a heady excitement. She could distinguish Kelu
Nair’s frantically whispered threats, but she reached up, rang the bell with one
resounding clang and was down the steps before she realised what was happening.
Dimly she was aware of dark looks and subdued murmurs pursuing her as
she permitted Kelu Nair to drag her away... She was in dire disgrace. Their
tight-lipped silence was infinitely more eloquent than speech, as was the
conspicuous absence of her favourite tiny pappadams at dinner...
(From The Bell, by Gita Krishnakutty)
2021-22
GLOSSARY
Cultural Evolutionism : It is a theory of culture, which argues that just like

natural species, culture also evolves through variation and natural selection.
Estates System : This was a system in feudal Europe of ranking according
to occupation. The three estates were the nobility, clergy and the ‘third
estate’. The last were chiefly professional and middle class people. Each
estate elected its own representatives. Peasants and labourers did not have
the vote.
Great Tradition : It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are
written and widely accepted by the elites of a society who are educated and
learned.
Little Tradition : It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are
oral and operates at the village level.
Self Image : An image of a person as reflected in the eyes of others.
Social Roles : These are rights and responsibilities associated with a person’s
social position or status.
Socialisation : This is the process by which we learn to become members of
society.
Subculture : It marks a group of people within a larger culture who borrow
from and often distort, exaggerate or invert the symbols, values and beliefs
of the larger culture to distinguish themselves.
EXERCISES
1. How does the understanding of culture in social science differ from the
everyday use of the word ‘culture’?
2. How can we demonstrate that the different dimensions of culture
comprise a whole?
3. Compare two cultures with which you are familiar. Is it difficult not to
be ethnocentric?
4. Discuss two different approaches to studying cultural change.
5. Is cosmopolitanism something you associate with modernity? Observe
and give examples of ethnocentrism.
6. What in your mind is the most effective agent of socialisation for your
generation? How do you think it was different before?
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READINGS
ARMILLAS, PEDRO. 1968. ‘The concept of civilisation’, in SILLS, DAVID. ed. The
International Encyclopedia of Social Science. Free Press-Macmillan, New
York.
BERGER, P.L. 1963. Invitation to Sociology : A Humanistic Perspective. Penguin,
Harmondsworth.
GEERTZ, CLIFFORD. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, New York.
GIDDENS, ANTHONY. 2001. Sociology. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Unit 9, Agencies of
Socialisation.
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Unit 8, Nature of
Socialisation.
KOTTAK, CONRAD P. 1994. Anthropology : The Exploration of Human Diversity.
Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
KUMAR, KRISHNA. 1986. ‘Growing up Male’, in Seminar. No. 318, February.
LARKIN, BRIAN. 2002. ‘Indian Films and Nigeria Lovers, Media and the Creation
of Parallel Modernities’, in ed. XAVIER, JONATHAN. and ROSALDO, RENATO. The
Anthropology of Globalisation : A Reader. Blackwell, Malden.
MALINOWSKI, BRONISLAW. 1931. ‘Culture’, in SELIGMAN. ed. Encyclopedia of the
Social Sciences. Macmillan, New York.
MUKHERJI, D.P. 1948/1979. Sociology of Indian Culture. Rawat Publications,
Jaipur.
T YLOR , E DWARD B. 1871/1958. Primitive Culture : Researches onto the
Development of Mythology, Philosophy Religion, Art and Custom. 2 volumes.
Volume 1: Origins of Culture. Volume 2. Religion in Primitive Culture.
Gloucester, Mass, Smith.
VOGT, EVON Z. 1968. ‘Culture Change’, in SILLS, DAVID. ed. The International
Encyclopedia of Social Science. Free Press-Macmillan, New York.
WILLIAMS, RAYMOND. 1976. Keywords : A Vocabulary of Culture and Society.
Fontana/Croom Helm, London.
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CHAPTER 5
DOING SOCIOLOGY : RESEARCH METHODS
As you have seen in the previous

I
chapters, sociology is deeply interested
INTROUDUCTION in the lived experience of people. For
example, when studying social
Have you ever wondered why a subject
phenomena like friendship or religion
like sociology is called a social science?
or bargaining in markets, the
More than any other discipline,
sociology deals with things that are sociologist wants to know not only
already familiar to most people. All of what is observable by the bystander,
us live in society, and we already know but also the opinions and feelings of
a lot about the subject matter of the people involved. Sociologists try to
sociology — social groups, institutions, adopt the point of view of people they
norms, relationships and so on — study, to see the world through their
through our own experience. It seems eyes. What does friendship mean to
fair, then, to ask what makes the people in different cultures? What
sociologist different from other does a religious person think he/she
members of society. Why should s/he is doing when performing a particular
be called a social scientist? ritual? How do shopkeeper and
As with all scientific disciplines, the customer interpret each other’s words
crucial element here is method, or the and gestures while bargaining for a
procedures through which knowledge
better price? The answers to such
is gathered. For in the final analysis,
questions are clearly part of the lived
sociologists can claim to be different
experience of actors involved, and they
from lay persons not because of how
much they know or what they know, are of great interest to sociology. This
but because of how they acquire their need to understand both the outsider’s
knowledge. This is one reason for the and the insider’s points of view is
special importance of method in another reason why method is
sociology. particularly important in sociology.
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DOING SOCIOLOGY: RESEARCH METHODS 83
II geologist and the botanist are not

themselves part of the world they study,
SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES i.e. the natural world of rocks or of
Although it is often used simply as a plants. By contrast, social scientists
substitute for (or synonym of) ‘method’, study the world in which they
the word ‘methodology’ actually refers themselves live — the social world of
to the study of method. Methodological human relations. This creates special
issues or questions are thus about the problems for objectivity in a social
general problems of scientific science like sociology.
knowledge-gathering that go beyond First of all, there is the obvious
any one particular method, technique problem of bias. Because sociologists
or procedure. We begin by looking at are also members of society, they will
the ways in which sociologists try to also have all the normal likes and
produce knowledge that can claim to dislikes that people have. A sociologist
be scientific. studying family relations will herself
be a member of a family, and her
Objectivity and Subjectivity experiences are likely to influence her.
in Sociology Even when the sociologist has no direct
In everyday language, the word personal experience of the group s/he
‘objective’ means unbiased, neutral, or is studying, there is still the possibility
based on facts alone. In order to be of being affected by the values and
objective about something, we must prejudices of one’s own social context.
ignore our own feelings or attitudes For example, when studying a caste
about that thing. On the other hand, or religious community other than her
the word ‘subjective’ means something own, the sociologist may be influenced
that is based on individual values and by the attitudes about that
preferences. As you will have learnt community prevalent in her own past
already, every science is expected to be or present social environment. How do
‘objective’, to produce unbiased sociologists guard against these
knowledge based solely on facts. But dangers?
this is much harder to do in the social One method is to rigorously and
sciences than in the natural sciences. continuously examine one’s own ideas
For example, when a geologist and feelings about the subject of
studies rocks, or a botanist studies research. More generally, the sociologist
plants, they must be careful not to let tries to take an outsider’s perspective
their personal biases or preferences on her/his own work — she/he tries to
affect their work. They must report the look at herself/himself and her/his
facts as they are; they must not (for research through the eyes of others.
example) let their liking for a particular This technique is called ‘self-reflexivity’,
scientific theory or theorist influence the or sometimes just ‘reflexivity’. The
results of their research. However, the sociologist constantly subjects her own
2021-22
attitudes and opinions to self- (You could go back to Chapter 1, and

examination. S/he tries to consciously re-read the section (pp. 7-8) which talks
adopt the point of view of others, about the difference between common
specially those who are the subjects of sense and sociology).
her research. Another problem with objectivity in
One of the practical aspects of sociology is the fact that, generally,
reflexivity is the importance of carefully there are many versions of the ‘truth’
documenting whatever one is doing. in the social world. Things look different
Part of the claims to superiority from different vantage points, and so
of research methods lies in the the social world typically involves many
documentation of all procedures and competing versions or interpretations
the formal citing of all sources of of reality. For example, a shopkeeper
evidence. This ensures that others can and a customer may have very different
retrace the steps we have taken to arrive ideas about what is a ‘good’ price, a
at a particular conclusion, and see for young person and an aged person may
themselves if we are right. It also helps have very different notions of ‘good
us to check and re-check our own food’, and so on. There is no simple
thinking or line of argument. way of judging which particular
But however, self-reflexive the interpretation is true or more correct,
sociologist tries to be, there is always and often it is unhelpful to think in
the possibility of unconscious bias. To these terms. In fact, sociology tries not
deal with this possibility, sociologists to judge in this way because it is really
explicitly mention those features of their interested in what people think, and
own social background that might be why they think what they think.
relevant as a possible source of bias on A further complication arises from
the topic being researched. This alerts the presence of multiple points of view
readers to the possibility of bias and in the social sciences themselves. Like
allows them to mentally ‘compensate’ its sister social sciences, sociology too
for it when reading the research study. is a ‘multi-paradigmatic’ science. This
Activity 1
Can you observe yourself as you observe others? Write a short description of
yourself as seen from the perspective of : (i) your best friend; (ii) your rival; (iii)
your teacher. You must imagine yourself to be these people and think about
yourself from their point of view. Remember to describe yourself in the third
person — as ‘he’ or ‘she’ rather than ‘I’ or ‘me’. Afterwards, you can share similar
descriptions written by your classmates. Discuss each others’ descriptions —
how accurate or interesting do you find them? Are there any surprising things
in these descriptions?
2021-22
means that competing and mutually families are still ‘joint families’, then a
incompatible schools of thought census or survey is the best method.
coexist within the discipline (Recall the However, if one wishes to compare the
discussion in Chapter 2 about status of women in joint and nuclear
conflicting theories of society). families, then interviews, case studies
All this makes objectivity a very or participant observation may all be
difficult and complicated thing in appropriate methods.
sociology. In fact, the old notion of There are different ways of
objectivity is widely considered to be an classifying or categorising various
outdated perspective. Social scientists methods commonly used by
no longer believe that the traditional sociologists. It is conventional, for
notion of an ‘objective, disinterested’ example, to distinguish between
social science is attainable; in fact such quantitative and qualitative methods:
an ideal can actually be misleading. the former deals in countable or
This does not mean that there is no measurable variables (proportions,
useful knowledge to be obtained via averages, and the like) while the latter
sociology, or that objectivity is a useless deals with more abstract and hard to
concept. It means that objectivity has measure phenomena like attitudes,
to be thought of as the goal of a emotions and so on. A related
continuous, ongoing process rather distinction is between methods that
than an already achieved end result. study observable behaviour and those
that study non-observable meanings,
Multiple Methods and Choice of values and other interpretational things.
Methods Another way of classifying methods
Since there are multiple truths and is to distinguish the ones that rely on
multiple perspectives in sociology, it is ‘secondary’ or already existing data (in
hardly surprising that there are also the form of documents or other records
multiple methods. There is no single and artefacts) from those that are
unique road to sociological truth. Of designed to produce fresh or ‘primary’
course, different methods are more or data. Thus historical methods typically
less suited to tackle different types of rely on secondary material found in
research questions. Moreover, every archives, while interviews generate
method has its own strengths and primary data, and so on.
weaknesses. It is thus futile to argue Yet another way of categorisation is
about the superiority or inferiority of to separate ‘micro’ from ‘macro’
different methods. It is more important methods. The former are designed to
to ask if the method chosen is the work in small intimate settings usually
appropriate one for answering the with a single researcher; thus the
question that is being asked. interview and participant observation
For example, if one is interested in are thought of as micro methods.
finding out whether most Indian Macro methods are those that are able
2021-22
to tackle large scale research involving Participant Observation

large numbers of respondents and
Popular in sociology and specially
investigators. Survey research is the most
social anthropology, participant
common example of a ‘macro’ method,
observation refers to a particular
although some historical methods can method by which sociologist learns
also tackle macro phenomena. about society, culture and people that
Whatever the mode of classification, h/she is studying (Recall the discussion
it is important to remember that it is a on sociology and social anthropology
matter of convention. The dividing line from Chapter 1).
between different kinds of methods This method is different from
need not be very sharp. It is often others in many ways. Unlike other
possible to convert one kind of method methods of primary data collection like
into another, or to supplement one with surveys or interviews, field work
another. involves a long period of interaction
The choice of method is usually with the subjects of research.
dictated by the nature of the research Typically, the sociologist or social
question being addressed by the anthropologist spends many
preferences of the researcher, and by months — usually about a year or
the constraints of time and/or sometimes more — living among the
resources. The recent trend in social people being studied as one of them.
science is to advocate the use of As a non-native ‘outsider’, the
multiple methods to bear on the same anthropologist is supposed to
research problem from different immerse himself/herself in the culture
vantage points. This is sometimes of the ‘natives’ — by learning
referred to as ‘triangulation’, that is, a their language and participating
process of reiterating or pinpointing intimately in their everyday life —
something from different directions. In in an effort to acquire all the explicit
this way, different methods can be and implicit knowledge and
used to complement each other to skills of the ‘insider’. Although the
produce a much better result than sociologist or anthropologist usually
what might have been possible with has specific areas of interest, the overall
each method by itself. goal of ‘participant observation’ field
Because the methods most work is to learn about the ‘whole way
distinctive of sociology are those that of life’ of a community. Indeed the
are designed to produce ‘primary’ data, model is that of the child: sociologists
these are the ones stressed here. Even and anthropologists are supposed to
within the category of ‘field work’ based learn everything about their adoptive
methods, we shall introduce you to communities in just the holistic way that
only the most prominent, namely the small children learn about the world.
survey, interview and participant Participant observation is often
observation. called ‘field work’. The term originated
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in the natural sciences, specially results obtained from first hand work
those like botany, zoology, geology helped cement this growing prejudice
etc. In these disciplines, scientists (See Box on next page).
could not only work in the laboratory, Since the 1920s, participant
they had to go out into ‘the field’ to observation or field work has been
learn about their subjects (like rocks, considered an integral part of social
insects or plants). anthropological training and the
principal method through which
III knowledge is produced. Almost all of
the influential scholars in the discipline
FIELD WORK IN SOCIAL have done such field work — in fact,
A NTHROPOLOGY many communities or geographical
Field work as a rigorous scientific places have become famous in the
method played a major role in discipline because of their association
establishing anthropology as a social with classic instances of field work.
science. The early anthropologists were What did the social anthropologist
amateur enthusiasts interested in actually do when doing fieldwork?
exotic primitive cultures. They were Usually, s/he began by doing a census
‘armchair scholars’ who collected and of the community s/he was studying.
organised information about distant This involved making a detailed list of
communities (which they had never all the people who lived in a community,
themselves visited) available from the including information such as their sex,
reports and descriptions written by age group and family. This could be
travellers, missionaries, colonial accompanied by an attempt to map the
administrators, soldiers and other ‘men physical layout of the village or
on the spot’. For example, James settlement, including the location of
Frazer’s famous book, The Golden houses and other socially relevant sites.
Bough, which inspired many early One of the important techniques
anthropologists was based entirely on anthropologists use, specially in the
such second hand accounts, as was the beginning stages of their field work is
work of Emile Durkheim on primitive to construct a genealogy of the
religion. Towards the end of the 19th community. This may be based on the
and in the first decade of the 20th information obtained in the census, but
century many early anthropologists, extends much further since it involves
some of whom were natural scientists creating a family tree for individual
by profession, began to carry out members, and extending the family tree
systematic surveys and first hand as far back as possible. For example,
observation of tribal languages, the head of a particular household or
customs, rituals and beliefs. Reliance family would be asked about his
on second hand accounts began to be relatives — brothers, sisters, cousins —
thought of as unscholarly, and the good in his or her own generation;
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Bronislaw Malinowski and the ‘Invention’ of Field Work

Although he was not the first to use this method — different versions of it had
been tried out all over the world by other scholars — Bronislaw Malinowski, a
Polish anthropologist settled in Britain, is widely believed to have established
field work as the distinctive method of social anthropology. In 1914, when the
First World War broke out in Europe, Malinowski was visiting Australia, which
was a part of the British Empire at that time. Because Poland was annexed by
Germany in the war, it was declared an enemy country by Britain, and
Malinowski technically became an ‘enemy alien’ because of his Polish nationality.
He was, of course, a respected professor at the London School of Economics and
was on very good terms with the British and Australian authorities. But since
he was technically an enemy alien, the law required that he be “interned” or
confined to a specific place.
Malinowski had anyway wanted to visit several places in Australia and the
islands of the South Pacific for his anthropological research, so he requested
the authorities to allow him to serve his internment in the Trobriand Islands, a
British-Australian possession in the South Pacific. This was agreed to — the
Australian government even financed his trip and Malinowski spent a year
and a half living in the Trobriand Islands. He lived in a tent in the native villages,
learnt the local language, and interacted closely with the ‘natives’ in an effort to
learn about their culture. He maintained careful and detailed records of his
observations and also kept a daily diary. He later wrote books on Trobriand
culture based on these field notes and diaries; these books quickly became
famous and are considered classics even today.
Even before his Trobriand experience, Malinowski had been converted to
the belief that the future of anthropology lay in direct and unmediated interaction
between the anthropologist and the native culture. He was convinced that the
discipline would not progress beyond the status of an intellectual hobby unless
its practitioners engaged themselves in systematic first-hand observation
preceded by intensive language learning. This observation had to be done in
context — that is, the anthropologist had to live among the native people and
observe life as it happened rather than interviewing individual natives
summoned to the town or outpost for this purpose. The use of interpreters was
also to be avoided — it was only when the anthropologist could interact directly
with the natives that a true and authentic account of their culture could be
produced.
His influential position at the London School of Economics and the reputation
of his work in the Trobriand enabled Malinowski to campaign for the
institutionalisation of field work as a mandatory part of the training imparted to
students of anthropology. It also helped the discipline to gain acceptance as a
rigorous science worthy of scholarly respect.
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then about his/her parents’ would be like a child, always asking

generations — father, mother, their why, what and so on. In doing this, the
brothers and sisters etc. — then about anthropologist usually depends on one
the grandparents and their brothers, or two people for most of the
sisters and so on. This would be done information. Such people are called
for as many generations as the person ‘informants’ or ‘principal informants’; in
could remember. The information the early days the term native informant
obtained from one person would was also used. Informants act as the
be cross-checked by asking other anthropologist’s teachers and are
relatives the same questions, and after crucially important actors in the whole
confirmation, a very detailed family tree process of anthropological research.
could be drawn up. This exercise helped Equally important are the detailed field
the social anthropologist to understand notes that the anthropologist keeps
the kinship system of the community — during field-work; these notes have to
what kinds of roles different relatives written up every day without fail, and
played in a person’s life and how these can be supplemented by, or take the
relations were maintained. form of, a daily diary.
A genealogy would help acquaint
the anthropologist with the structure
of the community and in a practical Activity 2
sense would enable him or her to meet
Some famous instances of field
with people and become familiar with
the way the community lives. Building work include the following:
on this base, the anthropologist would Radcliffe-Brown on the
constantly be learning the language of Andaman Nicobar islands;
the community. H/she would also be Evans Pritchard on the Nuer
observing life in the community and in the Sudan; Franz Boas on
making detailed notes in which the various Native American tribes
significant aspects of community life in the USA; Margaret Mead on
would be described. Festivals, religious Samoa; Clifford Geertz on Bali
or other collective events, modes of etc.
earning a living, family relations, modes Locate these places on a
of child rearing — these are examples map of the world. What do
of the kinds of topics that these places have in common?
anthropologists would be specially What would it have been like
interested in. Learning about these for an anthropologist to live in
institutions and practices requires the
these places in a ‘strange’
anthropologist to ask endless questions
culture? What could be some
about things that are taken for granted
of the difficulties they faced?
by members of the community. This is
the sense in which the anthropologist
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IV of one’s time with the members of the

community.
FIELD WORK IN SOCIOLOGY For example, William Foote Whyte,
More or less the same techniques are an American sociologist, did his field
used by sociologists when they do work among members of a street
field work. Sociological field work ‘gang’ in an Italian-American slum in
differs not so much in its content — a large city and wrote a famous book
what is done during field-work — but Street Corner Society. He lived in the
in its context — where it is done — area for three and half years ‘hanging
and in the distribution of emphasis out’ — just spending time together —
across different areas or topics of with members of the gang or group,
research. Thus, a sociologist would who were mostly poor unemployed
also live among a community and youth, the first American-born
attempt to become an ‘insider’. generation in a community of
However, unlike the anthropologist immigrants. While this example of
who typically went to a remote tribal sociological field work is very close to
community to do field work, anthropological field work, there are
sociologists did their field work important differences (See Box). But
among all sorts of communities. sociological field work need not only
Moreover, sociological field work did be this kind — it can take different
not necessarily involve ‘living in’, forms, as in the work of Michael
although it did involve spending most Burawoy, for example, another
Field Work in Sociology – Some Difficulties
Compared to the anthropologist who studies a primitive tribe in a remote part of

the world, the student of a modern American community faces distinctly different
problems. In the first place, he is dealing with a literate people. It is certain
that some of these people, and perhaps many of them, will read his research
report. If he disguises the name of the district as I have done, many outsiders
apparently will not discover where the study was actually located... The people
in the district, of course, know it is about them, and even the changed names do
not disguise the individuals for them. They remember the researcher and know
the people with whom he associated and know enough about the various groups
to place the individuals with little chance of error.
In such a situation the researcher carries a heavy responsibility. He would
like his book to be of some help to the people of the district; at least, he wants to
take steps to minimise the chances of it doing any harm, fully recognising the
possibility that certain individuals may suffer through the publication.
— William Foote Whyte, Street Corner Society, p.342
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American sociologist who worked for modern aspects of colonised societies

several months as a machinist in a rather than their progressive or positive
Chicago factory and wrote about the side. So, studying villages and villagers
experience of work from the perspective seemed much more acceptable and
of workers. worthwhile for a sociologist than
In Indian sociology, an important studying tribes only. Questions were
way in which fieldwork methods have also being asked about the links
been used is in village studies. In the between early anthropology and
1950s, many anthropologists and colonialism. After all, the classic
sociologists, both Indian and foreign instances of field work like that of
began working on village life and Malinowski, Evans Pritchard and
society. The village acted as the countless others were made possible
equivalent of the tribal community by the fact that the places and
studied by the earlier anthropologists. people where field work was done were
It was also a ‘bounded community’, part of colonial empires ruled by the
and was small enough to be studied by countries from where the Western
a single person — that is, the sociologist anthropologists came.
could get to know almost everyone in However, more than the
the village, and observe life there. methodological reasons, village studies
Moreover, anthropology was not very were important because they provided
popular with nationalists in colonial Indian sociology with a subject that was
India because of its excessive concern of great interest in newly independent
with the primitive. Many educated India. The government was interested
Indians felt that disciplines like in developing rural India. The national
anthropology carried a colonial bias movement and specially Mahatma
because they emphasised the non- Gandhi had been actively involved in
Activity 3
If you live in a village: Try to describe your village to someone who has never
been there. What would be the main features of your life in the village that you
would want to emphasise? You must have seen villages as they are shown in
films or on television. What do you think of these villages, and how do they
differ from yours? Think also of the cities you have seen which are shown in
film or on television: would you want to live in them? Give reasons for your
answer.
If you live in a town or a city: Try to describe your neighbourhood to someone
who has never been there. What would be the main features of your life in the
neighbourhood that you would want to emphasise? How does your
neighbourhood differ from (or resemble) city neighbourhoods as shown in film
or on television? You must have seen villages being shown in film or on television:
would you want to live in them? Give reasons for your answer.
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what were called ‘village uplift’ important part of Indian sociology,

programmes. And e v e n u r b a n and field work methods were very
educated Indians were interested in well suited for studying village
village life because most of them society.
retained some family and recent
historical links to villages. Above all, Some Limitations of Participant
villages were the places where most Observation
Indians lived (and still do). For these You have already seen what participant
reasons village studies became a very observation can do — its main strength
Different Styles of Doing Village Studies

Village studies became the main preoccupation of Indian sociology during 1950s
and 1960s. But long before this time, a very well known village study, Behind
Mud Walls, was written by William and Charlotte Wiser, a missionary couple
who lived for five years in a village in Uttar Pradesh. The Wisers’ book emerged
as a by-product of their missionary work, although William Wiser was trained
as a sociologist and had earlier written an academic book on the jajmani system.
The village studies of the 1950s grew out of a very different context and were
done in many different ways. The classical social anthropological style was
prominent, with the village substituting for the ‘tribe’ or ‘bounded community’.
Perhaps the best known example of this kind of field work is reported in M.N.
Srinivas’s famous book, The Remembered Village. Srinivas spent a year in a
village near Mysore that he named Rampura. The title of his book refers to the
fact that Srinivas’s field notes were destroyed in a fire, and he had to write
about the village from memory.
Another famous village study of the 1950s was S.C. Dube’s Indian Village.
As a social anthropologist at Osmania University, Dube was part of a multi-
disciplinary team — including the departments of agricultural sciences,
economics, veterinary sciences and medicine — that studied a village called
Shamirpet near Secunderabad. This large collective project was meant not only
to study the village but also to develop it. In fact, Shamirpet was meant to be a
sort of laboratory where experiments in designing rural development programmes
could be carried out.
Yet another style of doing village studies is seen in the Cornell Village Study
Project of the 1950s. Initiated by Cornell University, the project brought together
a group of American social anthropologists, psychologists and linguists to study
several villages in the same region of India, namely eastern Uttar Pradesh. This
was an ambitious academic project to do multi-disciplinary studies of village
society and culture. Some Indian scholars were also involved with this project,
which helped train many Americans who later became well known scholars of
Indian society.
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is that it provides a very rich and is really very common in the larger
detailed picture of life from the community (i.e. in other villages, region,
perspective of the ‘insider’. It is this or in the country) or whether it is
insider perspective that is the greatest exceptional. This is probably the
return on the substantial investment of biggest disadvantage of field work.
time and effort that field work demands. Another important limitation of
Most other research methods cannot field work method is that we are never
claim to have a detailed knowledge of sure whether it is the voice of the
the ‘field’ over a fairly long period of anthropologist we are hearing or that
time — they are usually based on a of the people being studied. Of
short and quick field visit. Field work course, the aim is to represent the
allows for the correction of initial views of the people being studied, but
impressions, which may often be it is always possible that the
mistaken or biased. It also permits the anthropologist —whether consciously
researcher to track changes in the or unconsciously — is selecting what
subject of interest, and also to see the will be written down in his/her notes,
impact of different situations or and how it will be presented to the
contexts. For example, different aspects readers of his/her books or articles.
of social structure or culture may be Because there is no other version available
brought out in a good harvest year and to us except that of the anthropologist,
in a bad harvest year; people could there is always the chance of bias or
behave differently when employed or error. However, this risk is present in
unemployed, and so on. Because s/he most research methods.
spends a long period in ‘full time’ More generally, field work methods
engagement with the field, a participant are criticised because of the one-sided
observer can avoid many of the errors relationship they are based on. The
or biases that surveys, questionnaires anthropologist/sociologist asks the
or short term observation are inevitably questions and presents the answers
subject to. and speaks for ‘the people’. To counter
But like all research methods, field this, some scholars have suggested
work also has some weaknesses — more ‘dialogic’ formats — that is, ways
otherwise all social scientists would be of presenting field work results where
using this method alone! the respondents and people can be
Field work by its very nature more directly involved. In concrete
involves very long drawn out and terms, this involves translating the
intensive research usually by a single work of the scholar into the language
scholar working alone. As such, it can of the community, and asking their
only cover a very small part of the opinion of it, and recording their
world — generally a single village or responses. As the social, economic and
small community. We can never be sure political distance or gap between the
whether what the anthropologist or researcher and the researched becomes
sociologist observed during fieldwork less wide, there is greater and greater
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chance that the scholar’s version will be ‘investigators’ or ‘research assistants’).

questioned, qualified, or corrected by The survey questions may be asked
the people themselves. This will surely and answered in various forms. Often,
make sociological research more they are asked orally during personal
controversial and much more difficult. visits by the investigator, and
But in the long run this can only be a sometimes through telephone
good thing because it will help to take conversations. Responses may also be
social science forward and make it more sought in writing, to ‘questionnaires’
democratic, thus allowing many more brought by investigators or sent
people to participate in producing and through the post. Finally, with the
critically engaging with ‘knowledge’. increasing presence of computers and
telecommunication technology, these
Surveys days it is also possible for surveys to
Survey is probably the best known be conducted electronically. In this
sociological method, one that is now so format, the respondent receives and
much a part of modern public life that responds to questions by email, the
it has become commonplace. Today it Internet, or similar electronic medium.
is used all over the world in all sorts of Another way is to go to a internet
contexts going well beyond the website through links details and fill the
concerns of sociology alone. In India, format digitally available.
too, we have seen the increasing use of The survey’s main advantage as a
surveys for various non-academic social scientific method is that it allows
purposes, including the prediction of us to generalise results for a large
election results, devising of marketing population while actually studying
strategies for selling products, and for only a small portion of this population.
eliciting popular opinions on a wide Thus a survey makes it possible to
variety of subjects. study large populations with a
As the word itself suggests, a survey manageable investment of time, effort
is an attempt to provide an overview. It and money. That is why it is such a
is a comprehensive or wide-ranging popular method in the social sciences
perspective on some subject based on and other fields.
information obtained from a carefully The sample survey is able to provide
chosen representative set of people. a generalisable result despite being
Such people are usually referred to as selective by taking advantage of the
‘respondents’ — they respond to discoveries of a branch of statistics
questions asked of them by the called sampling theory. The key
researchers. Survey research is usually element enabling this ‘shortcut’ is the
done by large teams consisting of those representativeness of the sample. How
who plan and design the study (the do we go about selecting a representative
researchers) and their associates and sample from a given population?
assistants (the latter are called Broadly speaking, the sample selection
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The Census and the National Statistical Organisation

The population census of India conducted every ten years is the largest such
exercise in the world. (China, the only country with a larger population, does
not conduct a regular census.) It involves literally lakhs of investigators and a
stupendous amount of logistical organisation not to speak of the huge
expenditure incurred by the Government of India. However, in return for this
outlay, we get a genuinely comprehensive survey in which every household in
India and every one of the more than one billion people living in India get included.
Obviously, it is not possible to conduct such a gigantic survey very often; in fact,
many developed countries no longer conduct a full census; instead they depend
on sample surveys for their population data, because such surveys have been
found to be very accurate. In India, the National Statistical Organisation (NSO)
conducts sample surveys every year on the levels of family expenditure,
employment and unemployment (and other subjects). Every five years it also
conducts a bigger survey involving about 1.2 lakh households covering more
than 6 lakh persons all over India. In absolute terms this is considered a large
sample, and the NSO surveys are among the biggest regularly conducted surveys
in the world. However, since the total population of India is over one billion you
can see that the five-yearly survey of the NSO involves a sample that is only
about 0.06 per cent or just over one twentieth of one per cent — of the Indian
population! But because it is scientifically selected to be representative of the
total population, the NSO sample is able to estimate population characteristics
despite being based on such a tiny proportion.
process depends on two main considering the rural population of any

principles. one state, we have to allow for the fact
The first principle is that all the that this population lives in villages of
relevant sub-groups in the population different sizes. In the same way, the
should be recognised and represented population of a single village may be
in the sample. Most large populations stratified by class, caste, gender, age,
are not homogenous — they belong to religion or other criteria. In short, the
distinct sub-categories. This is called notion of stratification tells us that the
stratification (Note that this is a representativeness of a sample depends
statistical notion of stratification which on its being able to reflect the
is different from the sociological characteristics of all the relevant strata
concept of stratification that you have in a given population. Which kinds of
studied in Chapter 4). For example, strata are considered relevant depends
when considering the population of on the specific objectives of the research
India, we must take account of the fact study. For example, when doing
that this population is divided into rural research on attitudes towards religion,
and urban sectors which are very it would be important to include
dif ferent from each other. When members of all religions. When
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researching attitudes towards trade sample is again likely to be purposive.

unions it would be important to The point is that after the relevant strata
consider workers, managers and in a population are identified, the
industrialists, and so on. actual choosing of sample households
The second principle of sample or respondents should be a matter of
selection is that the actual unit — i.e. pure chance. This can be ensured in
person or village or household — various ways. Different techniques are
should be based purely on chance. This used to achieve this, the common ones
is referred to as randomisation, which being drawing of lots (or lottery), rolling
itself depends on the concept of of dice, the use of random number
probability. You may have come across tables specially produced for this
the idea of probability in mathematics purpose, and more recently, random
course. Probability refers to the chance numbers generated by calculators or
(or the odds) of an event happening. For computers.
example, when we toss a coin, it can To understand how a survey sample
fall with the ‘head’ side up or the ‘tail’ is actually selected, let us take a concrete
side up. With normal coins, the example. Suppose we wish to examine
chance — or probability — of heads or the hypothesis that living in smaller and
tails appearing is exactly the same, that more intimate communities produces
is 50 per cent each. Which of the two greater intercommunity harmony than
events actually happens when you toss living in larger, more impersonal
the coin — i.e. whether it comes up communities. For the sake of simplicity,
heads or tails — depends purely on let us suppose we are interested only
chance and nothing else. Events like in the rural sector of a single state in
this are called random events. India. The simplest possible sample
We use the same idea in selecting a selection process would begin with a list
sample. We try to ensure that the actual of all villages in the state along with their
person or household or village chosen population (Such a list could be
to be part of the sample is chosen obtained from the census data). Then
purely by chance and nothing else. we would decide on the criteria for
Thus, being chosen in the sample is a defining ‘small’ and ‘large’ villages.
matter of luck, like winning a lottery. From the original list of villages we now
It is only if this is true that the sample eliminate all the ‘medium’ villages, i.e.
will be a representative sample. If a those that are neither small nor big.
survey team chooses only villages that Now we have a revised list stratified by
are near the main highway in their size of village. Given our research
sample, then the sample is not a question, we want to give equal
random or chance sample but a weightage to each of the strata, i.e.
purposive one. Similarly, if we choose small and big villages, so we decide to
mostly middle class households, or select 10 villages from each. To do this,
households that we know, then the we number the list of small and
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big villages, and randomly select any mistakes made by researchers but
10 numbers from each list by drawing because we are using a small sample
lots. We now have our sample, to stand for a large population. When
consisting of 10 big and 10 small reporting the results of sample surveys,
villages from the state, and we can researchers must specify the size and
proceed to study those villages to see if design of their sample and the margin
our initial hypothesis was true or false. of error.
Of course, this is an extremely The main strength of the survey
simple design; actual research studies method is that it is able to provide a
usually involve more complicated broad overview representative of a large
designs with the sample selection population with relatively small outlays
process being divided into many stages of time and money. The bigger the
and incorporating many strata. But the sample the more chance it has of being
basic principles remain the same — a truly representative; the extreme case
small sample is carefully selected such here is that of the census, which
that it is able to represent or stand for includes the entire population. In
the entire population. Then the sample practice, sample sizes may vary from
is studied and the results obtained for 30-40 to many thousands. (See the box
it are generalised to the entire on the National Statistical Organisation).
population. The statistical properties It is not only the size of the sample that
of a scientifically selected sample matters; its mode of selection is even
ensure that the characteristics of the more important. Of course, decisions
sample will closely resemble the on sample selection can often be based
characteristics of the population it is on practical considerations.
drawn from. There may be small In situations where a census is not
differences, but the chance of such feasible the survey becomes the only
deviations occuring can be specified. available means of studying the
This is known as the margin of error, population as a whole. The unique
or sampling error. It arises not due to advantage of the survey is that it
Activity 4
Discuss among yourselves some of the surveys you have come across. These
may be election surveys, or other small surveys by newspapers or television
channels. When the results of the survey were reported, was the margin of
error also mentioned? Were you told about the size of the sample and how it was
selected? You must always be suspicious of surveys where these aspects of the
research method are not clearly specified, because without them, it is not possible
to evaluate the findings. Survey methods are often misused in the popular
media: big claims are made on the basis of biased and unrepresentative sample.
You could discuss some specific surveys you have come across from this point of
view.
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Activity 5
How would you go about selecting a representative sample for a survey of all
students in your school if the objective of the survey were to answer the following
questions:
(i) Do students with many brothers and sisters do better or worse in studies
compared to those with only one brother or sister (or none)?
(ii) What is the most popular break-time activity for students in the primary
school (Classes I-V), middle school (Classes VI-VIII), secondary school
(Classes IX-X) and senior secondary school (Classes XI-XII)?
(iii) Is a student’s favourite subject likely to be the subject taught by the
favourite teacher? Is there any difference between boys and girls in this
regard?
(Note: Make different sample designs for each of these questions).
Aggregate Statistics: the Alarming Decline in the Sex Ratio

You have read about the sharp fall in the sex ratio in Chapter 3. In recent
decades, fewer and fewer girls are being born relative to the number of boys,
and the problem has reached worrying levels in states such as Punjab, Haryana,
Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.
The (juvenile, or child) sex ratio is expressed as the number of girls per
1,000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years. This ratio has been falling steadily
over the decades both for India as a whole and for many states in particular.
Here are some of the average juvenile sex ratios for India and selected states as
recorded in the Census of 1991, 2001 and 2011.
Number of girls per 1,000 boys in the age group of 0-6 years
1991 2001 2011
India 945 927 914
Punjab 875 798 846
Haryana 879 819 830
Delhi 915 868 866
Gujarat 928 883 890
Himachal Pradesh 951 896 906
https://updateox.com/india/child-sex-ratio-in-india-state-wise-data/
(This source is secured)
The child sex ratio is an aggregate (or macro) variable that only becomes
visible when you collate (or put together) statistics for large populations. We
cannot tell by looking at individual families that there is such a severe problem.
The relative proportion of boys and girls in any individual family could always
be compensated by a different proportion in other families we have not looked
at. It is only by using methods like a census or large scale survey that the
overall ratio for the community as a whole can be calculated and the problem
can be identified. Can you think of other social issues that can only be studied
by surveys or censuses?
2021-22
provides an aggregated picture, that is, strangers. Questions of a personal or

a picture based on a collectivity rather sensitive kind cannot be asked, or if
than on single individuals taken asked are likely to be answered
separately. Many social problems and ‘safely’ rather than truthfully. These
issues become visible only at this kinds of problems are sometimes
aggregative level — they cannot be refered to as ‘non-sampling errors’,
identified at the more micro levels of that is, errors due not to the sampling
investigation. process but to faults or shortcomings
However, like all research methods, of the research design or the manner
survey also has its disadvantages. in which it was implemented.
Although it offers the possibility of Unfortunately, some of these errors are
wide coverage, this is at the cost of difficult to foresee and guard against,
depth of coverage. It is usually not so that it is possible for surveys to go
possible to get in-depth information wrong and produce misleading or false
from respondents as part of a large estimates of the characteristics of a
survey. Because of the large number population. Ultimately, the most
of respondents, the time spent on each important limitation of survey is that,
must be limited. Moreover, since the in order to be successful,
survey questionnaire is being taken it must depend on a tightly structured
around to respondents by a relatively inflexible questionnaire. Moreover,
large number of investigators, it howsoever well designed the
becomes difficult to ensure that questionnaire might be, its success
complicated questions or those depends finally on the nature of the
requiring detailed prompting will be interactions between investigators and
asked of all respondents in exactly the respondents, and specially on the
same way. Differences in the way goodwill and cooperation of the latter.
questions are asked or answers
recorded could introduce errors into Interview
the survey. That is why the
questionnaire for a survey (sometimes An interview is basically a guided
called a ‘survey instrument’) has to be conversation between the researcher
designed very carefully — since it will and the respondent. Although it has
be handled by persons other than the few technicalities associated with it, the
researchers themselves, there is little simplicity of the format can be
chance of corrections or modifications deceptive because it actually takes a
in the course of its use. lot of practice and skill to become a
Given that there is no long-term good interviewer. Interview occupies
relationship between investigator and the ground between a structured
respondent and hence no familiarity questionnaire of the type used
or trust, questions that can be asked in surveys, and the completely
in a survey have to be of the kind that open-ended interactions typical
can be asked and answered between of participant observation methods.
2021-22
Its chief advantage is the extreme concluded. The introduction of

flexibility of the format. Questions equipment like recorders and so on
can be re-phrased or even stated frequently makes the respondent
differently; the order of subjects or uneasy and introduces a degree of
questions can be changed according formality into the conversation. On the
to the progress (or lack of progress) in other hand, important information can
the conversation; subjects that are sometimes go unnoticed or not be
producing good material can be recorded at all when other less
extended and built upon others that comprehensive methods of record
provoke unfavourable reactions can be keeping are being employed.
cut short or postponed to a later Sometimes the physical or social
occasion, and all this can be done circumstances in which the interview
during the course of the interview itself. is being conducted determine the mode
On the other hand, many of the of recording. The way in which the
disadvantages of the interview as a interview is later written for publication
research method are also related to its or as part of a research report can also
advantages. The very same flexibility differ widely. Some researchers prefer
can also make interview vulnerable to edit the transcript and present a
to changes of mood on the part of
‘cleaned up’ continuous narrative;
respondent, or to lapses of
others wish to retain the flavour of the
concentration on the part of interviewer.
original conversation as much as
It is in this sense an unstable and
possible and therefore include all the
unpredictable format — it works very
asides and digressions as well.
well when it works, and fails miserably
The interview is often used along
when it doesn’t.
with or as a supplement to other
There are different styles of
interviewing and opinions and methods, specially participant
experiences differ as to their relative observation and surveys. Long
advantages. Some prefer a very loosely conversations with ‘key informants’ (the
structured format, with only a check- main informant in a participant
list of topics rather than actual observation study) can often provide a
questions; others like to have more concentrated account that situates and
structure, with specific questions to be clarifies the accompanying material.
asked of all respondents. How interview Similarly, intensive interviews can add
is recorded can also differ according to depth and detail to the findings of a
circumstances and preferences, survey. However, as a method, the
ranging from actual video or audio interview is dependent on personalised
recording, detailed note taking during access and the degree of rapport or
interview, or relying on memory and mutual trust between the respondent
writing up the interview after it is and the researcher.
2021-22
G LOSSARY
Census : A comprehensive survey covering every single member of a

population.
Genealogy : An extended family tree outlining familial relations across
generations.
Non-sampling Error : Errors in survey results due to mistakes in the design
or application of methods.
Population : In the statistical sense, the larger body (of persons, villages,
households, etc.) from which a sample is drawn.
Probability : The likelihood or odds of an event occuring (in the statistical
sense).
Questionnaire : A written list of questions to be asked in a survey or
interview.
Randomisation : Ensuring that an event (such as the selection of a
particular item in the sample) depends purely on chance and nothing else.
Reflexivity : The researcher’s ability to observe and analyse oneself.
Sample : A subset or selection (usually small) drawn from and representing
a larger population.
Sampling Error : The unavoidable margin of error in the results of a survey
because it is based on information from only a small sample rather than
the entire population.
Stratification : According to the the statistical sense, the subdivision of a
population into distinct groups based on relevant criteria such as gender,
location, religion, age etc.
EXERCISES
1. Why is the question of a scientific method particularly important in

sociology?
2. What are some of the reasons for ‘objectivity’ being more complicated
in social sciences, particularly disciplines like sociology?
3. How do sociologists try to deal with difficulties in “objectivity” and
strive for objectivity?
4. What is meant by ‘reflexivity’ and why is it important in sociology?
5. What are some of the things that ethnographers and sociologists do
during participant observation?
2021-22
6. What are the strengths and weaknesses of participant observation

as a method?
7. What are the basic elements of the survey method? What is chief
advantage of this method?
8. Describe some of the criteria involved in selecting a representative
sample.
9. State some of the weaknesses of the survey method.
10. Describe main features of the interview as a research method.
READINGS
B AUMAN, ZYGMUNT . 1990. Thinking Sociologically. Basil Blackwell, Oxford

University Press, New Delhi.
BECKER , HOWARD S. 1970. Sociological Work : Method and Substance. The
Penguin Press, Allen Lane.
BETEILLE, ANDRE and MADAN, T.N. ed. 1975. Encounter and experience: Personal
Accounts of Fieldwork. Vikas Publishing House, Delhi.
BURGESS, ROBERT G. ed. 1982. Field Research : A Sourcebook and Field Manual.
George Allen and Unwin, London.
COSER, LEWIS. RHEA, A.B. STEFFAN, P.A. and NOCK, S.L. 1983. Introduction to
Sociology. Harcourt Brace Johanovich, New York.
SRINIVAS. M.N. SHAH, A.M. and RAMASWAMY, E.A. ed. 2002. The fieldworker and
the Field : Problems and Challenges in Sociological Investigation. 2nd
Edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
2021-22

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INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY

TEXTBOOK FOR CLASS XI

` 00.00 Publication Team

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, recommends that

CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS AT THE HIGHER

A NOTE TO THE TEACHER AND STUDENTS viii

1. SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY 1

2. TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY 24

3. UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 40

4. CULTURE AND SOCIALISATION 63

5. DOING SOCIOLOGY: RESEARCH METHODS 82

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY

market that decides which subject

The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and

The Pradhan Mantri Awas

This question of what to focus in

Discuss the visuals

IV everyday life and also about others’

In any political or military conflict evidence that allow others to check on

knowledge have been made, generally

scientific procedures can be understood developed. The Indian colonial

far seen as a ‘natural phenomenon’, understand how far–reaching change

From working class neighbourhoods to slum localitites

as the experiential aspects of city life.

functioning as well as concerted

Here Africans and Chinese, Biharis

Capitalism and its global but uneven transformation of societies

Govindan is indeed from Madras. I India, the great workshop of cotton

In keeping with contemporary- characteristic feature of the two

Discuss how you think history, sociology, political science, economics

and methods. It is therefore very

Pierre Bourdieu wrote in 1998. Sociology and Political Science

A true economic science would look As in the case of economics, there is an

political science. Sociologists like history of less glamorous or exciting

social characteristics of these between those who studied and those

Tea pickers in Assam

Today the distinction between a

Capitalism : A system of economic enterprise based on market exchange.

1. Why is the study of the origin and growth of sociology important?

BERGER , PETER L. 1963. Invitation to Sociology : A Humanistic Perspective.

TERMS, CONCEPTS AND THEIR USE IN SOCIOLOGY

terms and concepts to understand this.

has a biography or history. We saw how essentially harmonious. They found it

cannot but be otherwise for society

What kind of groups are these?

A quasi group is an aggregate or attention to how social groups emerge,

Find out a name that is relevant under each heading.

TYPES OF GROUPS However a complete contrast is

Contrast the two types of groups.

of friends are examples of primary

actual definition of who belongs and but we do identify ourselves with

Activity 5 Peer Groups

S OCIAL STRATIFICATION enter into details about estates here but

society, the fewer the kinds of status occupies it or to his/her performance

middle class working woman who has is mistaken. It suggests that

and also refers to the enforcing of values

Man kills sister for marrying from outside the caste

Conflict Theories : A sociological perspective that focuses on the tensions,

backed by sanctions of one kind or another, varying from informal disapproval