NCERT Class 11 Geography Practical Chapter 3: Longitude, Latitude and Time
Earth is Oblate Spheroid or Geiod
Equatorial radius and the polar radius of the earth is not the same
Rotation on axis produces bulge at equator
network of imaginary lines is drawn on a globe or a map to locate various places – geographical grid
The grid consists of two sets of horizontal and vertical lines, which are called parallels of latitudes and the meridians of longitudes
Latitude or Parallel – Drawing Them
Latitude or Parallel
Horizontal lines parallel to each other and appear as circles
Angular distance, in degrees, minutes and seconds of a point north or south of the Equator
Midway between north & south pole is equator
Divide globe in 2 equal half – great circle
Rest are smaller – called parallels or latitude
If parallels of latitude are drawn at an interval of one degree, there will be 89 parallels in the northern and the southern hemispheres each. The total number of parallels thus drawn, including the equator, will be 179.
If earth was perfect sphere – length of one degree would be 111 km and would be same as longitude.
But the degree of latitude changes slightly in length from the equator to the poles. While at the equator, it is 110.6 km at the poles, it is 111.7 km.
Latitude of a place may be determined with the help of the altitude of the sun or the Pole Star.
Draw Parallels: Draw a circle and divide it into two equal halves by drawing a horizontal line in the center. This represents the equator. Place a protractor on this circle in a way that 0° and 180° line on the protractor coincide with the equator on the paper. Now to draw 20°S, mark two points at an angle of 20° from the equator, east and west in the lower half of the circle. The arms of the angle cut the circle at two points. Join these two points by a line parallel to the equator. It will be 200S.
Longitude or Meridian – Drawing Them
Longitude or Meridian
Run N-S
Join the poles
Called meridians
Angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian
Farthest at equator and converge at poles
Help in coordinates, location, distance and direction
Infinite number of these can be drawn – but we draw selected ones
Latitudes and longitudes are measured in degrees (°) because they represent angular distances. Each degree is further divided into 60 minutes ( ′ ) and each minute into 60 seconds ( ″ ) .
Unlike the parallels of latitude which are circles, the meridians of longitude are semi-circles that converge at the poles – (if opposite are taken, they complete circle and are valued as 2 meridians)
The meridians intersect the equator at right angles
Greenwich is zero-degree meridian passing through London
The longitude of a place is its angular distance east or west of the Prime Meridian. It is also measured in degrees.
The rotation of the earth over its axis takes 24 hours to complete one circle or 360° of longitudes. As 180° of longitudes fall both east and west of the Prime Meridian, the sun, thus takes 12 hours՚ time to traverse the eastern and western hemispheres. In other words, the sun traverses 150 of longitudes per hour or one degree of longitude in every four minutes of time
Distance b/w 2 longitude is maximum at equator 111.3 km and at 45 degrees it is 79 km, converging at poles.
Determine local time
Solving Problems on Latitude & Longitude
Determine the local time of Thimpu (Bhutan) located at 90° east longitude when the time at Greenwich (0°) is 12.00 noon.
Difference between Greenwich and Thimpu = 90° of longitudes
Total Time difference = 90 x 4 = 360 minutes
= 360/60 hours
= 6 hours or Local time of Thimpu is 6 hours more than that at Greenwich, i.e.. 6.00 p. m.
If the location is 90° west of Greenwich it would be 6 hours behind. We take standard time to maintain uniformity across country
The Indian Standard Time is calculated from 82°30 ′ E meridian passing through Mirzapur. Therefore, IST is plus 5.30 hours from the GMT
The world is divided into 24 major time zones
International Date Line
The 180° line of longitude is approximately where the International Date Line passes
The time at this longitude is exactly 12 hours from the 0-degree longitude, irrespective of one travels westward or eastward from the Prime Meridian
Cross eastward <- it is loss a day from Thursday to Friday
Crossing westward -◊ it is gaining a day Thursday to Wednesday.
Class 11 Sociology Revision Notes for Indian Sociologists of Chapter 5
EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN INDIA.
Indian sociology emerged as a separate discipline because the Indian society and social structure was completely different from that experienced by western European societies.
Indian sociology was formally introduced as a discipline at university level for the first time in 1919 at the University of Bombay.
In the 1920’s, two other universities, those at Calcutta and Lucknow, also began programmes of teaching and research in sociology and anthropology.
Today, every major university has a department of sociology, social anthropology or anthropology, and often more than one of these disciplines is represented.
At the beginning stage, it wasn’t clear as to what should be the subject matter of Indian sociology.
The need for the subject raised many questions in the Indian context:
Western sociology emerged as an attempt to make sense of modernity but the waves of modernity that Indian society was experiencing was entirely different as it was closely entwined with colonial subjugation. Hence, understanding modernity in the Indian context was entirely different then the western societies.
Social anthropology in the west developed out of curiosity to know about the primitive cultures but India was an ancient and advanced civilisation already which also had parallel existence of primitive societies within it. Hence, it was felt that different theoretical perspectives are needed to understand the functioning of Indian social structure.
THE SPECIFICITY OF THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY IN INDAIN CONTEXT RAISED MANY QUESTIONS.
First of all, if western sociology emerged as an attempt to make sense of modernity, what would its role be in a country like India? India too, was of course experiencing the changes brought about by modernity but with an important difference, it was a colony. The first experience of modernity in India was closely intertwined with the experience of colonial subjugation.
Secondly, if social anthropology in the west arose out of the curiosity felt by European society about primitive cultures, what role could it have in India which was an ancient and advanced civilisation, but which also had ‘primitive’ societies within it?
Finally, what useful role could sociology have in a sovereign, independent India, a nation about to begin its adventure with planned development and democracy?
The pioneers of Indian sociology not only had to find their own answers to questions like these, they also had to formulate new questions for themselves. It was only through the experience of ‘doing’ sociology in an Indian context that the questions took shape, they were not available readymade. Pioneers of Indian sociology
L.K. Ananthakrishna Iyer and Sarat Chandra Roy were true pioneers of Indian sociology in the sense that they began practicing a discipline that didn’t yet exist in India (in early 1900s).
Moreover, there was no institutions to promote the discipline yet their works were recognised and appreciated amongst well know anthropologists internationally.
L.K. Ananthkrishna Iyer
He was the first self-taught anthropologist who was the first Indian to carry out an Ethnographic survey of the state of Cochin.
His work was much appreciated by British anthropologists and administrators.
He was later appointed as a reader at the University of Calcutta, where he helped set up the first department of post-graduate anthropology.
Sarat Chandra Roy
He was an accidental anthropologists and pioneer of the discipline.
He got interested in interpretation of tribal customs and laws as a by- product of his professional need due to practicing law.
He did intensive fieldwork among various tribal communities.
He was recognised for his monographs and research articles based on fieldwork and became famous amongst anthropologists in India and Britain.
Early Indian sociologist G. S. Ghurye
G. S. Ghurye majorly worked on caste and race in India. His other works included themes like tribes, kinship, family and marriage, culture, civilisation and the historic role of cities, religions and the sociology of conflict and integration.
His works were influenced by various schools of thoughts such as that of diffusionism, orientalist on Hindu religion and thoughts, nationalism and cultural aspects of Hindu identity.
G. S. Ghurye on caste system Ghurye emphasised on six main features to help explain the functioning of caste systems:
Caste is an institution based on segmental division
Caste society is based on hierarchical division
The institution of caste necessarily involves restrictions on social interaction
Caste also involves differential rights and duties for different castes
Caste restricts the choice of occupation
Caste involves strict restrictions on marriage
D. P. Mukherjee
D.P.’s work was mainly emphasised on the crucial role of a social system for society.
According to him, to study about Indian society means it was necessary to study and know the social traditions of India.
Understanding the tradition was necessary to understand the social system of a society. T
his study of traditions not only include its past but also its sensitivity to change and hence, it’s a living tradition.
D.P.’s argument on Indian culture and society as different from the western society: Indian culture is not individualistic in the western sense because in Indian society individual’s behaviour pattern is rigidly fixed by his socio-cultural group pattern. Indian social system is oriented towards group, sect, caste, etc.
A R Desai is one of the rare Indian sociologists who was directly involved in politics as a formal member of political parties.
He has been a life-long Marxist follower who was associated with various kinds of non-mainstream Marxist political groups.
His best work was the social background of Indian nationalism. Various other themes that Desai worked on are Peasant movements, Rural sociology, Modernisation and urban issues, Political sociology, Forms of the state and human rights, etc.
Desai offered a Marxist analysis of Indian nationalism where he gave prominence to economic processes and divisions of the specific conditions of British colonialism.
According to Desai, India’s nationalism is the result of the material conditions created by the British colonialism.
The Britishers developed new economic relations by introducing industrialization and modernization.
Desai thinks that when traditions are linked with economic relations, the change in the latter would eventually change the traditions.
It is in this context that he thinks that caste will disintegrate with the creation of new social and material conditions, such as industries, economic growth, education, etc.
Desai on welfare state
Modern capitalist state was one of the most significant themes of interest to A R Desai.
Using a Marxist approach, he provided a detailed critique of the notion of welfare state and pointed out many of its shortcomings.
Features that describes a welfare state.
A welfare state is a positive state. This means that, unlike the ‘laissez faire’ of classical liberal political theory, the welfare state does not seek to do only the minimum necessary to maintain law and order.
The welfare state is a democratic state. Democracy was considered an essential condition for the emergence of the welfare state.
A welfare state follows a ‘mixed economy’ means an economy where both private capitalist enterprises and state or publicly owned enterprises co-exist. A welfare state does not seek to eliminate the capitalist market, nor does it prevent public investment in industry and other fields.
Test criteria suggested by Desai against which the performance of the welfare state can be measured
Does the welfare state ensure freedom from poverty, social discrimination and provide security for all citizens?
Does the welfare state remove inequalities of income?
Does the welfare state transform the economy to use the capitalist profit to the benefits ofmeeting the real needs of the community?
Does the welfare state ensure stable development free from economic booms and depressions?
Does it provide employment for all?
The notion of the welfare state is a myth
Using the test criteria identified for welfare state, Desai examines the performance of those states that are most often described as welfare states, such as Britain, the USA and much of Europe, and finds their claims to be greatly exaggerated.
Thus, most modern capitalist states, even in the most developed countries, fail to provide minimum levels of economic and social security to all their citizens.
They are unable to reduce economic inequality and often seem to encourage it.
The so-called welfare states have also been unsuccessful at enabling stable development free from market fluctuations.
The presence of excess economic capacity and high levels of unemployment are yet another failure.
Based on these arguments, Desai concludes that the notion of the welfare state is something of a myth.
M N Srinivas
M N Srinivas is popularly known as the sociologist of the post-independence era. Major influence on his work was the outcome of his association with the British social anthropology discipline.
He successfully established Indian sociology on the world map and was instrumental in making village studies the dominant field in Indian sociology.
Other major themes he worked on are caste, modernisation and process of social change.
Srinivas’s village studies were based on two broad types of writings:
i) Ethnographic accounts of fieldwork done in villages
ii) Historical and conceptual discussions about Indian villages as a unit of social analysis
Srinivas believed that the village was a relevant social entity.
Srinivas also criticised the British administrator anthropologists who had put forward a picture of the Indian village as unchanging, self-sufficient, “little republics”.
Using historical and sociological evidence, Srinivas showed that the village had, in fact, experienced considerable change.
He emphasised the usefulness of the village as a concept. However, some sociologists like Louis Dumont argued against village studies as they thought that social institutions like castes were more important than something like a village due to the reason that villages may live or die, and people may move from one village to another, but their social institutions, like caste or religion, follow them and go with them wherever they go.
Dumont believed that it would be misleading to give much importance to the village as a category.
Advantages of village studies as a site of research
It provided an opportunity to illustrate the importance of ethnographic research methods.
It offered eye-witness accounts of the rapid social change that was taking place in the Indian countryside as the newly independent nation began a programme of planned development.
These vivid descriptions of village India were greatly appreciated at the time as urban Indians as well as policy makers were able to form impressions of what was going on in the heartland of India.
Village studies thus provided a new role for a discipline like sociology in the context of an independent nation.
The study of village is also relevant to the study of a modernised India.
Class 11 Sociology Revision Notes for Introducing Western Sociologists of Chapter 4
Three major social processes developed the intellectual ideas and materialistic aspects that went into the making of sociology as a discipline. These social processes were:
The age of reason or enlightenment
The French revolution
The scientific or industrial revolution
The modern era in Europe and the conditions of modernity that we take for granted today were brought about by these three major processes.
The ideas of the classical thinkers like Marx, Weber and Durkheim about society were influenced by social conditions of the three processes that helped sociology to emerge.
Emergence of radically new ways of thinking about the world made it felt necessary to displace nature, religion and the divine acts of gods from the central position they had in earlier ways of understanding the world.
It helped to develop attitudes of mind that is referred to as secular, scientific and humanistic.
The Age of Enlightenment
The age of enlightenment is important in the development of sociology because it helped in establishing human being, the subject matter of sociology at the centre of the universe.
It established the ability to think rationally and critically and that transformed humans into both the producer and the user of all knowledge.
This was the era when society was considered as the handiwork of humans and thus amenable to rational analysis.
The French Revolution – The French Revolution introduced political sovereignty at the level of individuals as well as nation states. – Questioning the legitimacy of privileges inherited by birth was made possible due to declaration of human rights. – Emancipation of individuals from the oppressive rule of religious and feudal institutions became possible due to political sovereignity. – Every citizen was given equal rights before the law and other institutions of the state. – Separated the private realm from the public sphere and state had to respect individual autonomy without intruding it. – Ideas like liberty, equality and fraternity became the watchwords of the modern states. – The conditions of modernity brought by the French Revolution thus laid the ground for sociology to study the new social phenomena. The Industrial Revolution – The industrial revolution laid down numerous conditions that were responsible for the rise of sociology as a discipline. – Sociological thought was concerned with the scientific analysis of developments in industrial society, the foundations of which was laid down by the industrial revolution.
Durkheim was the first professor of sociology and hence, known as the founder of sociology as a formal discipline.
Society for him was a social fact that existed as a moral community over and above the individual.
Social ties that bound people in groups are crucial to the existence of society as these exert pressure on individuals to conform to norms and expectations of groups.
Durkheim’s vision of sociology was characterised by two defining features:
The subject matter of sociology that is social facts
Sociology can be defined as an empirical discipline as the social facts can be empirically
Social facts are the level of complex collective life where social phenomena/social fact can emerge like in the social institutions of religion or the family.
Social facts are social values like friendship or patriotism that exist in the larger society.
Individuals functions according to these social facts.
Sociology can be termed as an empirical discipline as the subject matter of sociology that is social facts is observable and can be empirically tested and verified.
As individuals follow social facts, their behaviour become regulated and patterned. The social facts are external to individuals however these constrain human behaviour. Hence, social facts are indirectly observable through behavioural patterns of individuals who are part of society.
According to Durkheim, modern society can be characterised by the following features:
Individuals with similar goals come together voluntarily and form associations or groups.
Individuals might belong to various such groups and thus have many different identities.
MAJOR WORKS OF MAX WEBER
Weber developed an interpretative sociology of social action and of power and domination.
According to Weber, the process of rationalisation in modern society has relationship of the various religions of the world.
Weber suggested that human actions carry subjective meaning and to study these, sociologist need to constantly practice ‘empathetic understanding’ to be objective.
Weber use the ideal type to illustrate the three types of authority that he defined as traditional, charismatic and rational-legal.
While the source of traditional authority was custom and precedence, charismatic authority derived from divine sources or the ‘gift of grace’, and rational-legal authority was based on legal demarcation of authority that is inherent in the bureaucracy of modern times.
Bureaucracy Bureaucracy is a mode of organisation which was premised on the separation of the public from the private (domestic) world. This means the behaviour in the public domain was regulated by explicit rules and regulations. As a public institution, bureaucracy restricted the power of the officials in regard to their responsibilities and did not provide absolute power to them. Characteristic features of bureaucratic authority
Functioning of Officials
Hierarchical Ordering of Positions
Reliance on Written Document
Office Management
Conduct in Office
Functioning of Officials
Within the bureaucracy officials have fixed areas of ‘official jurisdiction’ governed by rules, laws and administrative regulations.
The regular activities of the bureaucratic organisation are distributed in a fixed way as official duties.
As duties are to be fulfilled on a regular basis, only those who have the requisite qualifications to perform them are employed.
Official positions in a bureaucracy are independent of the incumbent as they continue beyond the tenure of any occupant.
Hierarchical Ordering of Positions
Authority and office are placed on a graded hierarchy where the higher officials supervise the lower ones.
Hierarchical ordering of position allows scope of appeal to a higher official in case of dissatisfaction with the decisions of lower officials.
Reliance on Written Document – The management of a bureaucratic organisation is carried out on the basis of written documents (the files) which are preserved as records. Office Management – As office management is a specialised and modern activity it requires trained and skilled personnel to conduct operations. Conduct in Office
As official activity demands the full time attention of officials irrespective of her/his delimited hours in office, hence an official’s conduct in office is governed by exhaustive rules and regulations.
These rules and regulations have legal recognition, officials can be held accountable
Class 11 Sociology Revision Notes for Environment and Society of Chapter 3
Social relationships with the environment have changed over time and they vary from place to place.
There are a few environmental problems that demand attention.
All societies have an ecological basis. The term ‘ecology’ denotes the web of physical and biological systems and processes of which humans are one element.
The ecology of a place is also affected by the interaction between its geography and hydrology.
Cultural interventions due to human actions can also modify the ecology of a place. For instance, the use potato today in India though seems to be natural was actually a modification in environment by cultural interventions due to human actions.
Ecology indeed has been modified by human actions over a period of time. For instance, what appears to be a natural feature of the environment such as aridity or flood proneness is often produced by human intervention. Deforestation in the upper catchment of a river may make the river more flood-prone.
It is often difficult to separate and distinguish between the natural and human factors that brings ecological change. For instance, an agricultural farm is a human transformation of nature. The city environment is also a human artifact.
When there is interaction between biophysical ecology and human interventions, it leads to emergence of social environment. This interaction is a two-way process, where nature shapes society and society shapes nature.
The interaction between environment and society is shaped by social organisation. It is basically the relationship that different social groups have with property. This property relation determines how and by whom natural resources can be used.
Social organisation influences how different social groups relate to their environment.
The relationship between environment and society also reflect different social values, norms and knowledge systems. For instance, values underlying capitalism have supported commodification of nature, turning it into objects that can be bought and sold for profit.
Relationship between environment and society
The nature versus nurture debate is a long standing controversy about the effects of biology and social systems on individuals and their behaviour.
The nature side argues that people are shaped primarily by genetics and biology. Nurture side alternatively argues that our participation is social life is the most important determinant of who we are and how we behave.
Hence, environment shapes society and it in turn shapes individuals’ behaviour.
Risk society
According to Anthony Giddens, a risk society is “a society increasingly preoccupied with a future that generates the notion of risk.
For instance, incidents like nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, industrial accidents like Bhopal and Mad cow disease in Europe shows the dangers inherent in industrial environments and that the human population is living in a risk society.
We consider ourselves as living in risk societies because human relations with the environment have become increasingly complex in modern society due to spread of industrialisation.
The complex industrial technologies and modes of organisation require sophisticated management systems which are often fragile and vulnerable to error. We do not fully grasp the technologies and products we use. Hence, are unaware of the risk involved.
Major Environment Problems and Risks Resource Depletion
Resource depletion refers to exhaustion of non-renewable natural resources.
Using up of non- renewable resources is one of the most serious environmental problems.
Depletion of fossil fuels like petroleum is always in news. The depletion and destruction of water and land is occurring at a rapid pace as aquifers accumulated with water are getting emptied to meet growing demands of intensive agriculture, industry and urban centres.
Other major rapid resource depletion includes biodiversity habitats like forests, grasslands and wetlands largely due to expansion of agriculture.
The risks or adverse consequences due to resource depletion are many fronts. For example, water crisis, loss of fertile soil, flood risk, etc.
Pollution
Pollution is one of the major environmental problems.
Different types of environmental pollutions are air pollution, water pollution and noise pollution.
Air pollution is considered to be a major environmental problem in urban and rural areas.
Sources of air pollution include emissions from industries and vehicles, burning of woods and coal for domestic use.
Indoor air pollution from cooking fire is also a major source of risk especially in rural homes due to poor ventilation.
Water pollution is a serious problem affecting surface as well as groundwater.
Sources of water pollution include domestic sewage, factory waste, runoffs from agricultural farms using synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.
Noise pollution is mostly caused in city. Sources of noise pollution include amplified loud speakers, political campaigns, vehicle horns, traffic, construction works, etc.
Various risks or consequences due to pollution
Air pollution can cause respiratory problems resulting in serious illness and death.
Indoor pollution from fire used for cooking inside poorly ventilated homes can put village women at serious risks.
WHO estimates that almost 600,000 people died due to indoor pollution in Indian in 1998 and almost 500,000 of them were in rural areas.
Water pollution can cause water borne diseases, contaminated drinking water.
Noise pollution can cause hearing impairments due to sound energy produced.
Global Warming
Global warming is a major environmental problem caused by release of gases like carbon dioxide, methane, etc.
There are multiple risks and consequences faced by the society due to global warming. Significant rise in global temperatures can result in climate change projected to melt polar ice-fields and rise in sea level.
Climate changes can lead to submerging of low-lying coastal areas and also affect the global ecological balance. It will result in greater fluctuations and uncertainty in climates across the globe.
Global warming is likely to result in greater fluctuations and uncertainty in climates across the world.
Genetically modified organism
Genetically modified organisms are the outcome of a new technique of gene-splicing allowing scientists to import genes from one species to another and introducing new characteristics.
Genetic modifications are done to reduce growing time, increasing size and store life of a product. However, there are numerous risk and consequences due to this.
Human community knows very little about the long term effects of genetic modifications on those who consume these foods and on the ecosystem.
Moreover, agricultural companies can use this technique to create sterile seeds preventing farmers from reusing them and forcing them to be dependent on such companies.
Natural and man-made environmental disasters
Human society has faced lots of risk and consequences due to natural and man-made environmental disasters.
The Bhopal disaster of 1984, when a toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide factory, it killed about 4000 people, and the tsunami of 2004 are the most recent examples of man-made and natural environmental disasters.
Environmental problems are also social problems
Environmental problems are actually social problems because environmental problems affect different social groups differently due to social inequality.
Social status and power determine the extent to which people can protect themselves from environmental crises or overcome them.
Overcoming environmental problems by certain groups can sometimes actually worsen environmental disparities.
Certain environmental problems might be of universal concern and not related to specific social groups but how these problems are pursued may not be universally beneficial to all due to how public priorities are set.
Securing public interests from environmental crises can actually serve the interests of particular politically and economically powerful groups and hurt the interests of poor and politically weak. Thus, environment as a public interest is a hugely debated topic.
Varied interests and ideologies related to the environment by different groups in societies generate environmental conflicts.
To address such environmental problems, it is required to change the environment-society relations that exists in society. To change environment society relations, it needs efforts to change relations between different social groups.
Changed social relations between different social groups will give rise to different knowledge systems and modes of managing the environment.
Sociology Class 11 Notes Chapter 2 Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society
Change is the most permanent feature of any society. Social change can be defined as transformation in the methods of thinking and working of people. It is basically changes in social structures and social relationships of a society.
Social change occurs due to physical, social, demographic, cultural and technological factors.
Population growth influences adversely on the usage of natural resources which also causes social change.
Evolution, progress and revolution are various forms of social change.
Sudden or accidental changes are called revolution whereas slow and gradual social changes are called revolutions.
Social change is a broader concept. It includes all the areas of society like political, cultural, economic and physical etc. By and large there are five broad sources of social change i.e. environmental, technological, economic, political and cultural change.
Social change can be seen in terms of structural changes. Structural change refers to transformation in the structure of society to its institutions or the rules by which these institutions run e.g. Paper money as currency marked a major change in the organisation of financial markets and transactions.
Changes in values and belief can also facilitate change.
Physical environment and ecology also play a significant role in the structure of society e.g. poor economic conditions are inevitable in the geographical regions where natural calamities are common.
Technology also alters nature and relationships. It allows us to adopt to the problems posed by nature. For example, Japan being mostly hilly and cold country developed expertise in electrical and electronic gadgets.
Industrial revolution has caused massive social changes in almost all the societies of the world.
Use of gun powder, paper, mode of transport, railways and aviation’s have brought tremendous social changes.
The social changes due to technological factors are very fast and complex.
Social changes occur differently in rural and urban societies.
Rural societies are mostly agriculture based and this lacks technology and specialization. People are more comfortable with traditional knowledge and members of their group instead of experts.
Joint family system, caste system, superstitions, homogeneity and illiteracy are very common in rural societies. In such societies social change is particularly very slow.
Urban societies are mostly industrialized. There is differentiation and stratification not only on the basis of caste but also class.
Heterogeneity in occupation is common. There are a variety of people and culture in a high density area.
The association and relationship are secondary and time based.
People of different castes, religions and regions live together with more tolerance.
Urban societies are slightly individualistic and characteristic segregation of groups and functions significantly.
Cities are basically commercial hubs.
In such urban societies social changes are drastic and quick.
As social change is inevitable, similarly all societies need to have a network of social control.
Social control means the active maintenance and reproduction of a particular pattern of social relations and of values and norms.
All societies encourage members spontaneously. They abide by a set of rules and norms or people are compelled in various ways to obey such norms.
For control, society needs authority. Authority is a person who has inherent power to give reward or punishment to maintain social network. According to Weber, authority is a legitimate power. Bureaucracy, police, judiciary etc. exercise their power. The authority is provided to them by the system.
Domination and law are another aspects of social control.
Domination is a psychological phenomena. Dominance exists as a feeling in the personality of the individual. It is a personal trait which ir.ay also be related to a specific situation e.g. a father has a dominant role in Indian family system.
Law refers to an explicitly codified norm or rule which is usually in written form.
In social term, legitimacy refers to the degree of acceptance that is involved in power relations.
Contestation is a broad form of insistent disagreement. Competition and conflict are more specific than this. Counter cultures among faith is example of this. These are refusal to conform to prevalent social norms.
Contestations are manifestation of protest against laws or lawful authorities.
A crime is an act that violates an existing law. Basically crime is the breaking of the law.
Crime has many features like any behavior prohibited by law, criminal intent. It is directly linked with punishment, positively correlated to behavior and causing harm etc.
There are various factors of crime like biological factors, economic factors, geographical factors, socio-cultural and psychological factors.
Important terms:
Authority: It refers to a person or institution which has inherent power to give reward or punishment. It may be traditional authority, legal authority or charismatic authority. According to Weber, it is legitimate power.
Social change: Changes which occur in the social organisation or social structure and function.
Internal social change: Changes in norms and values.
External social change: Changes in forms of family, marriage, caste, class, kinship, marriage etc.
Change: Difference in the form of any condition or existence from its previous form is called change.
Cultural lag: Any imbalance that occurs in the speed of change between two types of culture.
Law: Body of rules which are recognized, interpreted and applied to particular situations by the courts of the state.
Contestation: The broad forms of insistent disagreement. A situation when people tend to protest against to conform to existing social norms.
Conformity: A type of social influence. It is behavior according to pre-existing group norms.
Obedience: A type of social influence. It is behavior according to the orders or command of any authority.
Compliance: A type of social influence. It is behavior according to request made by some one, may be an authority.
Social sanctions: Related to reward and punishments that are used to bring about social control.
Crime: Any act of the individual that violates the existing law is considered as crime.
Diffusion: Transmission of some traits of a particular culture to another culture, which causes change is known as diffusion.
Social evolution: A kind of social change which manifests gradual and slow process of change in institutions.
Revolution: Sudden or accidental change in the structure of society is called revolution.
Charismatic authority: A leader having great influence on others due to his personality is known as charismatic authority.
Rural society: A simple community based on agriculture.
Urban society: A large organisation of people living in limited area with high population, density and high degree of intercommunication.
Village: A unit of the rural community, where rural life upholds itself and does perform its functions.
Class 11 Sociology Revision Notes Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Society of Chapter 1
Social structure
The term ‘social structure’ points to the fact that society is structured i.e. organised or arranged in particular ways.
Social structure thus refers to the regularities or patterns of how people behave and the relationships they have with one another.
The regularities or patterns exist due to the fact that it is repeated across periods of time and distances of space.
For example, in a school certain ways of behaving are repeated over the years and become institutions.
Social structure is made up of human actions and human relationships. These are patterned and arranged regularities which are repeated across periods of time and distance of space.
Social structure helps every social institution to exist. However, changes take place in social structure when individuals who are part of different social institutions introduce changes.
Thus, changes are introduced to reproduce the structure of the social institutions.
Changes take place through either cooperative behaviour or serious conflict arising due to competition.
According to Durkheim, social structure constrains our activities in a parallel way, setting limits to what we can do as individuals. It is external to us as individuals.
Karl Marx also emphasised on the constraints that social structure exert on individuals but at the same time stressed on human creativity or agency that leads to reproduction of human behaviour and change in social structure.
Social stratification
Social stratification refers to the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards.
While all societies involve some forms of social stratification, modern societies are often marked by wide differences in wealth and power.
The most evident forms of stratification in modern societies involve class divisions, others like race and caste
The concept of stratification, then, refers to the idea that society is divided into a patterned structure of unequal groups, and usually implies that this structure tends to persist across generations.
Different bases of social stratification like gender or class constrain existing social processes and also to opportunities and resources available to individuals or groups to compete.
Social processes
Social processes refer to actions taken by individuals in various ways within the constraints of social structure.
Sociologists seek to explain these social processes in terms of actual social structure and society and on the basis of the pluralistic understanding of the society.
Mac Iver and Page defines social process as “continuous change taking place in a definite manner within the social structure”.
Social processes are thus the byproduct of social interaction and is also referred to as process of social interaction.
But both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim presume that human beings have to cooperate to meet their basic needs, and to produce and reproduce themselves and their world.
Cooperation
Cooperation is necessary for the survival of human society.
The idea of cooperation rests on certain assumptions about human behaviour.
It is argued that without human cooperation it would be difficult for human life to survive.
Cooperation is required to fulfil certain basic needs of society which is possible through division of labour in society.
According to Emile Durkheim, cooperation is required to fulfil certain needs of society and the role of division of labour emphasises on this function.
He emphasises that solidarity through division of labour, the moral force of society is fundamental for our understanding of cooperation and thereby the functioning of society.
According to Karl Marx, humans adjust and accommodate to cooperate but in the process alter society.
Humans in cooperating thus do not passively adjust and accommodate but also change the natural or social world to which they adjust.
Competition
Competition may be defined as struggle between two or more individuals, who are striving to get something which is relatively limited.
Competition is a universal and natural social process that exists in all human societies. It is a predominant idea, norm and practice in contemporary society.
In today’s time, there can be no society without competition as a guiding force.
Competition gives rise to individualism in modern societies. It is intrinsic to the ways modern capitalist societies function.
Modern capitalist society focuses on the expansion of trade and hence emphasises on mass scale production in a factory where the work is done by multiple workers.
The ideology of competition works as the dominant idea of capitalism.
Conflict
When people are competing for inadequate material and non-material products, it may mean clash of interests.
The objectives of conflict may be power, status or property.
We may see conflict occurring in every aspect of the society be it political, social, economic or religious.
The bases of conflict may vary from caste or class, tribe or gender, ethnicity or religious community.
Conflicts have always been part of a society. It may change in nature and form at different stages of social development.
Class 11 Sociology Revision Notes for Doing Sociology: Research Methods of Chapter 5
Sociological research can provide explanations for issues that affect us both as individuals and as members of larger groups.
It can help us to make the links between personal troubles and public issues, understanding, for example, how your social background can affect your educational attainment and why people in some countries die from diseases that have long since been eradicated in other parts of the world, etc.
People hold a vast range of views on social issues, such as why certain people become criminals, why women are massively underrepresented in positions of power in the political and business world, and why fewer people attend religious services now than in the past.
The findings of sociological research should help lessen the misconceptions and prejudices that often form the basis of commonsense views on many important social issues.
Sociological research produces facts, knowledge, ideas, etc. Each of these has a particular meaning but can be seen as dimensions of a larger concept that is ‘evidence’. Evidence can be referred to as information that supports a statement. It can also be seen as a form of knowledge derived from various sources. Thus, sociological knowledge is derived from research.
Steps in Research Process
Selecting a topic and defining a problem: It relates to what a sociologist wants to know about. The selection may depend on the sociologist’s personal interest, relevance and even availability of funds. The selected topic is defined in the form of a problem/a puzzle/question. This puzzle represents a gap in knowledge or understanding. For example, within the topic a lot of research questions can be framed, how far does the economic position of women lag behind that of men or does education lead to better sex ratio etc.
Review of secondary literature: Here the sociologist familiarises himself/herself with existing literature on that topic. This literature could be in the form of books, journals, studies, newspaper articles etc. It helps the researcher sharpen his own research questions and also helps in making his own research questionnaire as well as the interview questions.
Formulating the hypothesis: Hypothesis is an educated guess about what is going on. The hypothesis tries to answer the research questions before the data collection on the basis of the secondary review of literature. The factual material gathered will provide evidence either supporting or disapproving the hypothesis.
Choosing the research method: Any one or a combination of one or more research methods can be used. There are a number of research methods and techniques of data collection such as surveys, observation, case study and interview. The choice of research method or technique depends on a number of factors: (a) The nature of research question being asked. (b) The time and resources available to researcher. (c) Size of community that needs to be studied. (d) Preferences of the researcher while some researchers are more comfortable with statistical method and others are more comfortable with anthropological method.
Collecting the data and recording the information: The data that is collected needs to be both valid and reliable. It should be valid to the problem that the researcher seeks to find answer for.
Analysing the result: It is at this step that the hypothesis is tested. Analysis of the result requires specific technique ranging from statistical analysis to content analysis.
Sharing the result: The final report is written or published and shared with other social scientists. This stimulates ideas for further research.
Methodological issues in social research Objectivity
It is difficult to be objective because human world cannot be studied in isolation. Human beings may develop bias views and influence the thinking about the group as being a part of it.
The researcher who carries the research will also have his/her own values and prejudices about the social context they are studying and this may present as difficulty while gathering objective information.
Since the problem of objectivity cannot be eliminated, a social researcher should try and reduce the problem of objectivity in the following ways:
By rigorously and continuously examining one’s own idea and feelings about the subject of research.
Through reflexivity: By taking an outsider’s perspective on the work and looking at the research through the eyes of others.
By consciously adopting the views of those who are the subjects of research.
Making a careful documentation of what one is doing, all procedures undertaken and formal citing of all sources of evidence
Objectivityshouldbeapproachedasthegoalofacontinuousongoingprocessandnotasan already achieved end result.
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the knowledge existing in the mind belonging to the thinking subject (the respondents) rather than the object of thought (the social issue being researched).
t is necessary to study of the ways in which people understand and interpret the world in which they live.
People attach meanings to what they do and while doing sociological research the researcher has to acknowledge this and attempt to interpret those meanings.
Sociological research is directed by values which are cultural products and the status of knowledge will differ from culture to culture due to its subjective nature.
The sociologist should not overlook the subjectivity of social world while doing social research rather he/she should make use of it to interpret meanings that will provide answers to the research questions.
RESEARCH METHODS
Research methods can be classified into micro and macro research methods, primary and secondary methods, qualitative and quantitative methods.
Macro vs Micro Research
Micro Method: It is designed to work in small, intimate settings usually with a single researcher. Thus the interview and participant observation are thought of as micro method.
Macro Method: It is designed to tackle large scale research involving a large number of respondents and investigators. Survey research is the most common example of a ‘macro’ method.
Primary vs Secondary Research
Primary Research: It is designed to produce fresh or ‘primary’ data. Interviews generate primary data.
Secondary Research: It relies on ‘secondary’ or already existing data (in the form of documents or other records and artefacts). Historical methods typically rely on secondary material is found in archives.
Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research: It deals in countable or measurable variables (proportions, averages and the like). Example-Survey.
Qualitative Research: It deals with more abstract and hard to measure phenomena like attitudes, emotions, values etc. Examples: interview, observation, content analysis of paintings, advertisements. etc
SURVEY METHOD
A survey is a quantitative macro research method. It is an attempt to provide a compressive perspective on same topic. (a) It is used to collect information about people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. (b) It involves the collection of standardised information from the population being studied. (c) Standardised information is gathered by asking same questions to all respondents in exactly same order.
Surveys rely on questionnaires as the main technique of data collection. Surveys are of two types:
Descriptive survey: They provide an accurate measurement of the distribution of certain characteristics in a given population. For example, income distribution, extent of literacy in a particular area.
Analytical survey: It is concerned with different variables. For example, a researcher may want to look at the relationship between level of prosperity and sex ratio.
The information collected through a questionnaire in a survey is statistically analysed to reveal the pattern of regularity. These findings are presented as pie charts.
Survey research is usually done by large teams consisting of those who plan and design the study (the researchers) and their associates and assistants who may get the questionnaire filled up.
If the population of the study is too large, the survey will be based on information gathered from a representative sample of the population.
Advantages of survey
It allows to generalise result for a large population by actually studying only a small portion of the population. Therefore, with the help of survey one can study with manageable investments of time, efforts and money.
Disadvantages of survey
In a survey it is not possible to get in-depth information from respondents. This is because the time spent on each respondent is very limited.
Since a survey involves a large number of investigators, it becomes very difficult to ensure that the complicated questions are asked from all respondents in exactly the same way.
Questions that are asked in survey cannot be of personal or sensitive type. This is because there is no long-term interaction between the investigator and respondents.
In a survey unlike what is in an observation method, it is very difficult for the investigator to know for sure whether the response given by the respondent is true or not.
Survey as a method is not very flexible as once the questions are set one can not add any more questions.
For a survey to be successful it is highly dependent on a well formed questionnaire and a well selected sample. Basic principles of sample selection process:
A researcher selects a representative sample from the population they are studying depending on the methodological preference and on the basis of the hypothetical questions formed.
The selection of sample is based on two main principles:
Representation of relevant sub groups of the population to be surveyed
Actual sample units selected
Statistical properties of a sample mean that the sample is distributed equally. It ensures that the characteristics of the sample closely resemble the characteristics of the population under study.
Margin of error: Sometimes there might be small differences for the result obtained and the population but there will be no huge difference if the sample selected is correct. Such small errors are termed as ‘margin of error’ or sampling error.
Researchers must specify not only the size and design of their sample but also the margin of error related with their sample.
Non-sampling errors occur due to the fault or shortcomings of the research design and the manner of its implementation. Some of these errors are difficult to foresee and cannot be guarded against. Such errors may lead to surveys going wrong and produce misleading results.
Sociology Class 11 Notes Chapter 4 Culture and Socialisation
Society is defined as a web of social relationships.
All human societies are marked by culture.
Tyler defines culture as the “complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
Clyde Kluck defines culture as a total way of life of people.
Thus culture consists of all the learnt and shared ways of thinking, feeling and doing. It is a lens through which we perceive and evaluate the world around us. It affects everything that we think, do or feel.
Major characteristics of Culture:
Culture is learned. It is an acquired behaviour.
It is shared (cannot be possessed by an individual in isolation) and transmitted amongst the members of a society. It binds the members of a society.
Culture is dynamic. It constantly changes. It makes each society and group unique or distinct.
Animal Society
Human Society
Majority of behaviour is instinctive. Inherited and genetically patterned behaviour are common to all the normal members of a species.
Majority of behaviour is acquired The behaviour makes a particular group of society distinct and unique
Major components of Culture: Two types: 1. Non-material (Cognitive and Normative) 2. Material
Non-material Culture: It refers to the abstract or intangible elements of culture, such as the ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour. It includes the normative and cognitive dimensions of culture.
(A) Normative: This dimension includes social rules and social expectations, i.e. the norms and values of a society. Norms are socially approved guidelines which direct behaviours of members of a society or a social group. In other words, they are the social expectations of proper behaviour.
Norms usually vary across societies and even within the same society across different social groups. A social norm is not necessarily actual behaviour. (‘Unwritten rules’) Most of human actions is norm-governed. There are different types of norms, depending on how strict they are.
Folkways: It refers to traditional customary ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Most people conform to folk ways out of habit. They are the lesser order of norms, as they are not as strictly enforced as mores or laws.
Mores: Mores are higher order norms linked to the core values of a group. They are considered vital for the group and are expressed as ‘must’ or ‘must not’ behaviour. They are more strictly enforced as compared to folk ways. Violations of these are not taken lightly. Eg: Behaving in a decent manner when you go out; not eating non-veg when visiting religious places; maintaining silence in hospitals.
Laws: Most formal definition of acceptable behavior. They are the formal standardized expressions of norms. (Laws are codified norms and have been given a sanction).
Usually those norms are qualified as laws about which society feels strongly about. Laws may be based on customs, but they are different from customs because:
They are upheld by the authority of the state implied to all those accepting the authority of state.
They are backed by penal sanctions. Laws are enforced by the courts.
In a few cases where laws are contrary to the folkways and mores, the enforcement of law becomes difficult.
Social Values:
They are the standards that define what is good, desirable, worthwhile in society. They are the underlined principles guided by choices and actions.
Any action contrary to cherished values is condemned.
Differences between Norms and Values:
Norms
Values
Norms are guidelines to actions which apply to specific situations.
More general guidelines,
A number of specific norms are a reflection of single value.
E.g.: Like a dress code for a function is a norm
e..g.: Respecting elders (norms under this: norm.touching feet)
Example. In Indian society there is a value of respect for seniors and from that a number of norms are derived regarding expected behaviour towards seniors, such as offering seats to elders, touching their feet, or greeting them, not addressing by first names. Importance of Norms and Values:
Shared values and norms bring commonality in the outlook between members of society binding them together.
It makes social life orderly and predictable. E.g.: without norms, we would never know, whether to shake hands with a new acquaintance or give them an affectionate push.
Norms are essential because they regulate the behaviour of numbers of society or group. Without norms there would be chaos and disorder.
(B) Cognitive Dimension: The cognitive dimension of culture refers to ideas which include beliefs, knowledge, myths, superstitions etc. of a society.
In literate society, ideas are transcribed in books and documents.
But in non-literate societies ideas are in the form of legends and myths which are committed to memory and transmitted orally.
In the contemporary world ideas are also reflected in audio-visual media [ads, films]
Material aspect of Culture: It refers to the tangible, concrete products that members of society possess and make use of; c.g.-machines, buildings, jewellery, modes of transportation, technological gadgets.
Both material and non-material dimensions of culture undergo change over time. However, material or technological dimensions change faster than non-material aspects (values and norms are slower to change). This gives rise to “cultural lag” or a situation whereby non¬material dimensions are unable to match the advances of technology (material dimension ).
Ethnocentrism and Cosmopolitism:
Ethnocentricism—It refers to tendency to devalue others, disrespect of diversity, looking through and evaluating other cultures through our own cultural lens. It is the application of one’s own cultural values in evaluating the behaviour and beliefs of people from other cultures. It implies devaluing others by looking at them through your cultural lens. Ethnocentrism is not open in diversity.
Cosmopolitanism: It is exactly the opposite of ethnocentrism. It accommodates other cultures’ and their beliefs .
Cultural Changes:
External: changes in environment, colonialism, revolutions, media.
Internal: evolution
Both internal and external changes influence social change that is totally internal.
Socialisation:
Socialisation is a process by which a person learns to behave in an acceptable manner within the society or group. It refers to the way by which the values and norms of the society or group become a part of the individual’s own way of thinking and feeling. This process is referred to as socialisation and through this the individual becomes a part of the given culture. For society to operate smoothly, individuals must be socialised into institutionalised patterns of behaviour, values and norms.
According to Gillin and Gillin, “By the term socialisation we mean a process by which an individual develops into a functioning member of the group according to its standards, conforming to its mode, observing its traditions and adjusting himself to the social situations.”
According to Bogardus, “Socialization is the process of working together, of developing group responsibility, of being guided by the welfare means of others.”
Characteristics of Socialization:
Process of learning: Socialization is a matter of learning and not of biological inheritance. In the socialization process the individual learns the folkways, mores, sanctions and other patterns of culture as well as skills ranging from language to manual dexterity.
Lifelong process: The process of socialization starts right from the time of birth and continues till the death of the individual.
Process of cultural assimilation: An individual not only learns the folkways, mores, sanctions, norms and values but he imbibes and assimilates the culture of his society.
Process of becoming a functional member of society: Socialization consists of teaching the person the culture which we must acquire and share. It makes him a participating member in the society and in various groups.
Process of cultural transmission: Socialization is a process through which society transmits the cultural heritage from one generation to another.
Process of Socialization: The process of socialization is operated not only in childhood but throughout the life. It is a process which begins at birth and continues till the death of the individual. According to Prof. Johnson, there are four stages of socialization:
Oral Stage: A child is born with some inborn physical and mental capacities. The mother is the first of the parents who begins the process of socialization. It is from her that the earliest social stimuli to which a child is subjected to learn. He responds to the stimuli by imitating them. Generally this stage continues till about one and a half years.
Anal Stage: This stage starts from one and a half year and continues till three years. In this stage the main source of socialization of the child is the family. In the family he starts to learn many things like speaking, walking, eating, etc. He also leams toilet training and starts recognizing family relations.
Latency Stage: Generally this stage continues from 3-4 yrs to 12-13 yrs. The child requires something from his equals which he cannot get from a person in authority. From them he acquires the co-operative mentality and some of the informal aspects of culture like folkways, praises, facts, secrets, forbidden knowledge etc.
Adolescent Stage: This is the most important stage of socialization. It starts from 14 -15 yrs till 18-19 yrs. During this stage the individual is more attracted towards the classmates and friends. He gets interested more into recreation, fashion, clubs, sports etc.
Factors of the process of Socialization: There are four factors of the process of learning. These are:
Imitation: It is copying by an individual the actions of another. This may be conscious or unconscious, spontaneous or deliberate, perceptual or ideation. Imitation is the main factor in the process of socialization of a child. Language and pronunciation are also required by the child.
Suggestion: It is the process of communicating information which has no logical or self-evident basis. Suggestion influences not only behavior with others but also one’s own private and individual behavior. Propaganda and advertising are based on the fundamental principles of suggestion.
Identification: In the early years, the child cannot make any distinction between his self . and the environment. Most of his actions are random. As he grows in age he comes to know about the nature of things which satisfy his needs. Such things become the object of his identification. The spread and area of identification increase with the advancement in age. Through identification he becomes sociable.
Language: It is the medium of social interactions. It is the means of cultural transmissions. At first the child utters some random syllables which have no meaning but gradually he comes to learn his mother tongue. The mother tongue moulds the personality of the individual from infancy.
Importance of Socialization:
It makes transmission of culture possible over generations.
It helps individuals to perform their social roles.
It transforms individuals from a biological being to a social person.
Phases of Socialization There are two broad phases:
Primary phase: It occurs from infant to late childhood. During this stage, family is the most important agency of socialization. The child learns the language and the basic behavior pattern during this phase, which forms a foundation for later learning.
Secondary phase: It extends from late childhood to maturity. During this phase other agents of socialization also play a role e.g. : peer group, school, media etc.
Adult Socialization: Socialization, however, is a lifelong process. Individuals throughout their lives are learning new roles associated with different stages of life which extend even beyond the stage of attaining maturity.
Thus, one can talk about adult socialization. It takes place when individuals enter roles in which primary and secondary socialization has not prepared them fully.
As an individual enters a new life and a new group, he/she learns the roles associated with the new status. Agencies of Socialization include: Family, peer group, mass media etc.
Important terms:
Ethnocentrism: It is the application of one’s cultural values in evaluating behaviour and beliefs of people from other culture.
Little tradition: It consists of the cultural traits or traditions which are oral in nature. It operates at the village level.
Great Tradition: The cultural traits or traditions which are generally written make great traditions. Such kind of cultural traditions is popular among the elites of a society who are educated and learned.
Estates System: It was a system of ranking in feudul Europe. Occupation of the people was the base of this system. The nobility clergy and the third state were the three estates of this system. The third estates generally consisted of chiefly professional and idle class people. Each class had his own representative but the peasants and labourers did have regret to hope.
Sub-culture: A group of people within a large culture represents sub-culture. They borrow from or often distant, exaggerate or invent the symbols, values and beliefs of the people.
Social Roles: Social roles signify rights and responsibilities associated with a person’s social position or status.
Self Image: The image of a person expressed in the eyes of others.
Cultural Evolution: It is a theory of culture. According to this theory, just like natural species, culture also evolves through variation and natural selection.
Cognitive aspect of culture: It refers to how we learn to process what we hear, so as to give it a proper meaning.
Normative aspect of culture: It refers to rules of conduct like not opening other people’s letters, performing rituals at death.
Acculturation: It comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original cultural pattern of either or both of groups.
Socialization: It means the process of inducting the individual into the social and cultural world of making him a participant member in the society and its various groups and inducing him to accept the norms and values of that society.
Conformity: It is action that is oriented to a social norm (or norms) and falls within the bank of behaviour permitted by the norm.
“The social looking glass is the group or society in which persons imagine how others see them.”
Sociology Class 11 Notes Chapter 2 Terms, Concepts and their Use in Sociology
As opposed to commonsensical knowledge, Sociology like any other science has its own body of concepts, theories and methods of data collection.
Asa social science, Sociology does need to have certain agreed upon meanings of social realities and processes it is studying.
Sociological concepts help in defining as well as in understanding social realities.It becomes all the more important to discuss sociological terms so as to distinguish what they mean from commonsensical usage which may have varied meanings and connotations.
Some of the basic concepts used in Sociology are:
Social Group: A social group is a collection of two or more persons who are continuously interacting and share common interests and a sense of loyalty within a given society. It has the following characteristics:
Persistent interaction among its members.
A shared sense of belonging amongst its members.
Shared interests.
Acceptance of Common norms and values.
Membership of the group may be formal or informal.
Difference between a social group and other forms of collectivities (Quasi-Groups) All forms of human gatherings and collectivities do not constitute a social group. A social group is different from the related concepts of Aggregates and Social Category. Aggregates are collection of people who temporarily share the same physical space but do not see themselves as belonging together and do not have sustained or persistent interaction
For example: A crowd, or a number of commuters stuck in a traffic jam. Social Category: It refers to a statistical grouping of people or classification of people on the basis of similar characteristics. For example, all men having the same occupation, or all girls having a height of 5 ft. and above.
Unlike a social group, people who make up a social category do not interact with one another. In fact, they may not even know of each other’s existence.
Both Aggregates as well as Social Category are quasi-groups which can sometimes become a social group over time. For example, all domestic workers in a locality may over time form a union and become organized and develop a. common identity as a social group.
Types of Social Group: Different sociologists have classified social groups differently. In their classifications they take different criterion into account. Primary Group and Secondary Group on basis of size/type of relationship.
It is the most well known classification given by Cooley on the basis of size and type of relationship shared among its members.
Primary Group
Secondary Group
(i) Primary group is small group of people.
(i) Secondary group is relatively large in size.
(ii) It is characterized by intimate, face face, and emotional relationships.
(ii) It is marked by formal, and impersonal relationships
(iii) For example, family and peer group
(iii) For example, Club, Residents Welfare Association
Primary groups are “primary” because they are central in our lives and they play an important role in influencing our lives. Very often Primary groups are formed within the orbit of secondary groups. For example, a group of friends within an office.
In-Group and Out Group—not on basis of size but sense of belonging/attachment. Classification of In-Group and Out-Group has nothing to do with size.
In Group
Out Group
(i) The group with which an individual identifies himself/herself, has a sense of belonging with.
(i) A group to which an individual feels individual has no sense of belonging/ identification.
(ii) It is a “we-group”.
(ii) It is a “they group”.
(iii) There is a sense of attachment members of In-group.
(iii) There is a sense of indifference and at times may be even hostility towards members of out-group
Reference Group: It is that group to which we do not belong but we aspire to be like them and therefore we try to emulate their lifestyles. For example, for many Indian youths, Americans or Bollywood stars are a reference group.
Peer Group: A type of primary group composed of individuals who are either of similar age or who share a common profession. Peer groups have a very strong influence on the life of an individual.
Status And Role: Status: It is refers to the position an individual occupies in a group or in society. Each status has certain defined rights and duties assigned to it. Examples of status—Doctor, mother, teacher etc.
Status set: Each individual occupies status in the society. The totality of the status occupied by an individual in the society is called a Status Set. For example, the status set of Nimisha is – daughter, friend, student, sister, club member etc.
Prestige: Status has a certain amount of prestige or social value attached to it. Prestige is attached to the status (social position) rather than to the person occupying it. Example, prestige of a doctor may be higher than that of a shopkeeper even if the earning of the doctor is lesser than that of the shopkeeper.
Status is of two types: Ascribed Status and Achieved Status
Achieved Status
Ascribed Status
(i) It is achieved by an individual on merit and effort
(i) It is assigned to us on the basis of birth, biological inheritance, parents’ status etc.
(ii) It is based on individual’s choice
(ii) A person does not choose this status.
(iii) It can change qualifications, income etc.
(iii) It is difficult to change status
(v) It plays an important role in modern societies Eg. Class
(iv) It plays an important role in traditional societies. Eg. Caste
Role: Status and role are inter-connected because role is the behavioural aspect of status. It is the expected behaviour associated with a status. For example, the status of a student has certain expected behaviour attached to it. However, while a status is occupied, role is played.
Socialisation: Role Conflict: Each individual performs a number of roles in society. Role conflict occurs when performance of one role conflicts with that of another. Eg. Modern working woman very often finds that her role as a professional conflicts with that of a mother and wife.
Role Stereotyping: It refers to reinforcing of certain roles. For example, the role of breadwinner for the husband and that of homemaker for the wife is often stereotyped in ads and films.
Social roles and status are not fixed. People do make efforts to change the role and status (even ascribed status) assigned to them by society. For example, Dalits have been opposing the low status assigned to them on the basis of caste.
Social Stratification: According to Giddens, social stratification refers to division of members of a society into different social categories or strata which are ranked into a hierarchy, according to their relative power, prestige and wealth. According to Tumin, “Social stratification refers to arrangement of society into hierarchies of strata of social categories that command unequal amounts of property, power and honour.” Social stratification is not an individual fact, it is rather a social fact. It refers to the ranking of a large number of individuals into hierarchically organized strata. It has little to do with individual merit/abilities and more to do with socially patterned inequalities. Major systems of stratification include:
Caste
Class
Gender
Slavery
Estate
The privileges or social rewards enjoyed by any individual depends upon his or her caste, class, gender and position in society.
Social stratification and natural differences: Stratification systems have a social and not a biological bases. They are socially created inequalities. Social inequality occurs when biological differences are culturally assigned and subjected to prejudices.
For example, racism and gender based equalities have little to do with biological differences. Blacks are not “naturally unfit” for high ranking jobs, neither a woman “naturally inferior” in intellectual abilities.
Another example is that of old age. Old age is evaluated differently in different societies. In traditional societies, old age is given power and prestige, but in modern societies old age is not associated with much respect.
Social Mobility: It refers to the movement of individuals and groups between different socio-economic positions. Open and closed systems of stratification:
Open System of Stratification
Closed system of Stratification
1. Social mobility is easy.
1. There is limited social mobility,if at all.
2. Individual position in the society depends on achieved status.
2. Individual position is based on ascribed status.
3. It is prominent in modem societies
3. It is prominent in traditional societies
4. Example – class
4. Example – caste, slavery
Class as a System of Stratification:
Class refers to a group based on sharing of similar economic resources, that is, wealth, income or property.
Members of the same class share:
Similar economic interests so that they may form organizations. For example, Trade Unions are formed by factory workers in an industrial society.
They share similar lifestyles.
They would also share similar life chances as they have similar kinds of access to health, education etc.
Features of class:
As opposed to caste system, class does not have any religious or legal sanction.
It is an open system of stratification. Social mobility is relatively easy.
Membership of class is primarily based on achieved status.
Caste as a System of Stratification:
Caste refers to inequalities in terms of social honour/prestige.
Castes are ascriptive groups, membership to which is determined by birth.
Each caste is ranked as higher or lower as compared to the others in the social hierarchy.
It is an institutional characteristic of Hindu society, but it has spread to other non-Hindu communities too such as the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. Although it was very important in traditional India it holds its way in modern India too in political as well as social life.
Origin of Caste and Varna Scheme: There are no authentic historical records to show the exact age of caste system. The caste system stood for different things in different time periods.
In facts, it is believed that the caste system originated in the varna system of the Rig Vedic society. In its earliest phase (the late Vedic period between 900-500 BC), the caste system was actually the Varna system.
Varna system: Varna literally means “colour”. The Varna system divided the Hindu society into four categories on the basis of occupation and colour.
Brahmins-priests
Kshatriyas-warriors and kings
Vaishyas-traders
Shudras-service castes like artisans, peasants etc.
(The so called “untouchables” or the panchamas – the fifth category – were outside the varna scheme). Initially these divisions were not very rigid, they represented mere occupational division. Therefore, mobility across categories was possible. For example, Vishwamitra, a Kshatriya, became a Brahmin through achievements.
It is also believed by historians that the Varna system initially represented the division between the Aryans and the Dravidians. In the Post Vedic period:
The number of sub-divisions within each Varna increased due to growth in trade and increasing specialization of labour. Consequently new sub-groups emerged within the Varna scheme.
Caste became rigid, i.e., it came to be defined on birth.
Each Varna (and its sub-divisions) was ranked hierarchically, with strict rules governing their life and relations between different castes.
The first three Varnas became the “twice born” castes.
The rigid and hierarchical division of society got religious justification throughthe ancient religious texts like the Dharmashastras as well as the Manusmritis. These texts set out caste rules, unequal duties of the four Varnas and their sub-divisions. In fact the religious notions of Karma and Dharma strengthened the caste system.
Ideas of purity and pollution—In traditional India, the caste hierarchy was based on ideas of “purity and pollution” derived from the religious texts. It was believed that the “most pure” Brahmins are close to sacred, and therefore are superior to all others. The “Untouchables” are the “most polluting” and therefore the most inferior. Even the mere touch of the Brahmin was considered to be pure while everything related to the so-called untouchables’ touch, shadow, and occupation – was “impure”.
Features of Caste It is important to note that the above-mentioned features are only the prescribed rules found in ancient texts. We have no firm evidence telling us the way. These rules actually or empirically determined the life of different castes.
Caste is ascribed: Caste is determined by birth.
A person is bom into the caste of one’s parents. Caste is not a matter of choice. One can not change one’s caste or leave it.
Caste is endogamous, i.e., marriage is restricted to members of the group.
Strict rules about food and food sharing: Caste membership involves rules about food and food sharing, what kind of foods may or may not be eaten is prescribed and whom one may share food with is also prescribed.
Hierarchy of rank and status: All castes are arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status while the hierarchical position of many castes may vary from region to region.
Segmental organization: Caste involves sub-divisions within themselves, that is, caste almost always have sub-castes and sub-castes may have sub-sub castes.7. Traditionally linked to occupation: A person born into a caste could only practice the occupation associated with that caste. So, occupations were hereditary under caste system.
Varna and Jati: Sociological studies of villages in 1950s-70s revealed that caste as it actually functions at local level is different from the Varna scheme. Varna Jati, a broad pan-Indian aggregative are actually existing hierarchies at classification and is uniform throughout level, but varies from region to region. In India there are only four Varnas —a complex division in each area. There are actually hundreds of castes and sub-castes in contemporary Indian villages. Studies show that the caste system in contemporary India has two main aspects: 1. Ritual aspect: It is based on ideas of purity. It is derived from religious texts. 2. Secular aspect: It takes both the economic and political aspects into account. Therefore, caste position in local hierarchies depends on a number of factors.
Rituals and customs of a caste
Food habits (vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Pork eating or non-pork eating)
Occupation
Land holding.
Political power etc.
At local level, very often intermediate and lower level castes try to rise up in the caste hierarchy through the process of Sanskritisation. Sanskritisation
Concept of Sanskritisation was introduced by Mr. M.N. Srinivas.
It refers to the process by which a “low” Hindu caste or tribe tries to achieve upward mobility in the local hierarchy by emulating the customs, rituals, and way of life of the “twice born castes”. For example, giving up liquor, taking up vegetarianism etc.
Dominant Caste: Dominant caste is a term introduced by M.N. Srinivas to understand the process of change in rural India. Dominant castes are those intermediate castes (Dominant castes need not be Brahmins. In parts of Punjab, U.P. and Haryana non-Brahmin castes are dominant castes) that exercise domination at local or regional level is due to the presence of following characteristics:
Economic Power: They own large amount of cultivable land. A large number of them managed to get land rights after the Land reforms. They, therefore, dominate the agrarian economy. Also they have greater access to urban sources of income, western education and jobs in govt and administration.
Political Power: Dominant castes are numerically preponderant. This leads to dominance in regional politics. Examples of Dominant castes; Yadavs of Bihar and U.P., Reddys of Andhra Pradesh, Jats of Punjab and Haryana.
Social Control: Society is a harmonious organisation of humans. Individuals are expected to discharge their roles and perform functions accordingly. In order to exist and progress society has to exercise a certain control over its members. Such controls are termed as social control. According to L.Bernard, “Social control is a process by which stimuli are brought to bear effectively upon some person or group of persons thus producing responses that function in adjustment to the group.”
Characteristics Of Social Control: Social control has the following features:
It is an influence: The influence may be excessive through public opinion, question, social suggestion, religion, appeal to reason and any other method found suitable by the group.
The influence is exercised by society: It means that the group is better able to exercise influence over the individual than any single individual. The group may be the family, the church, the state, the club, the school, the trade union etc. The effectiveness of influence however depends upon variable factors. However sometimes the influences of the family may be vice-versa —the influence of the clan may be more effective than that of the church. The influence is exercised for promoting the welfare of the group. As a whole social control is exercised with some specific end in view. The end is always the others in the group thus an outing to the welfare of the whole group. The individual is made conscious of the other existence and their interest. Thus it is required to promote the interest of all.
Need for social control: Social control is essential for the existence of society. Every individual has a separate personality. No two persons are alike in their nature, ideas, interests, habits and attitudes. There is so much difference in the ways of living of the people that at every moment there is a possibility of clash between them. Therefore, social control is necessary to protect the interests of all the people living in society.
To develop cooperative views: With the help of social control individuals are able to come in contact with each other according to their interests, habits, position and status. Thus they develop the cooperative nature which is the basic element for the development of society.
To provide social sanction: Social control provides social sanction and social ways of behaviour. There are many norms and customs in every society. Every individual has to follow them. If an individual violates the social norms, he is compelled by the social control to observe them.
The above reasons show the need for social control. In modem society the need is greater.
Means and agencies of social control: The means by which individuals are compelled to conform to the usages and life values of the group are numerous. The most important ones are custom, law, public opinion, religion, morality, social suggestion and norms.
Custom and Laws: Custom, law and fashion play an important role in bringing about social control, out of them custom is an important means of controlling social behaviour and its importance in society cannot be minimised. They are very powerful and regulate social life. They are essential to the life of a society and are very dominant specially among illiterate people. They preserve our culture and transmit it to the succeeding generation. They bring people together and develop social relations among them. According to Bogardes, “Customs and traditions are group accepted techniques of control that have become well established, that are taken for granted and that are passed along from generation to generation.” Characteristics of custom
Custom is a social phenomena.
Custom is socially recognized.
Custom is normative.
Custom has great social significance.
Custom maintains social order.
Custom is inherited.
Custom has an external sanction.
Law: In primitive society, the norms and customs were sufficient to control the individual behaviour since there was an almost unquestioned compliance with them but in modern civilized societies custom tends to lose their hold with the result that laws are enacted by the state to control the individual. Sommer stated that laws’are actually codified customs and mores.
Definition: According to Macaiver and Page, “Law is the body of rules which are recognised, interpreted and applied to a particular situation by the courts of the state.” Characteristics of Law
Laws are the general conditions of human activity prescribed by the state for its members.
It is a product of conscious and thorough planning and a deliberate formulation.
Law is definite, clear and precise.
They are equal to all without exception in identical circumstances.
The violation of law is followed by penalties determined by the authorities of the state .
Factors of social change: There are numerous factors that bring about social change. Ecological factors: Man has stepped into space but his control over geographical phenomena is negligible. Nature as if to prove its might has jnany a time shown its devastating power. Human history is full of examples where flourishing civilizations were wiped out by natural calamities e.g. Civilization of Mohen-jo-daro and Harappa are said to have been lost as a result of an earthquake. To a large extent the geographic conditions include the kind of clothes the people wear, food they eat, the language they speak etc. However, earthquakes, floods, storms and other natural events are known to change the social structure suddenly.
important terms:
Social groups: A number of individuals, defined by formal or informal criteria of membership, who share a feeling of unity or are bound together in relatively stable patterns of interaction are called social groups.
Social system: A system in any structured or patterned relationship between any number of elements, where the system forms a whole or unity.
Social trend: A notable pattern of change displayed by a social indicator or index.
Social work: A generic term applied to the various organised methods for promoting human welfare through the prevention and relief of suffering.
Socialization: A process by which we learn to become members of society, by internalizing the norms and values of society also by learning to perform our social roles.
Social problems: A generic term applied to the range of conditions and aberrant behaviors which are held to be manifestations of social disorganization and to warrant changing we mean social engineering.
Social order: Explanation of social order, of how and why societies where, are the control concern of sociology.
Social fact: Ways of thinking, feeling and acting that are experienced by individuals as external and constraining, and that are general throughout a social group.
Social control: It refers to the social processes by which the behavior of individuals or groups is regulated.
Social role: Social expectations attached to particular social positions and analyses the working of such expectations.
Ritual: An often repeated pattern of behavior which is performed at appropriate time.
Social status: It refers to the position that a person occupies in the social structure. It may be ascribed or achieved.
Identity: Distinctive characteristics of a person or character of a group which relate to why they are and what is meaningful to them.
Sanctions: A mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially expected forms of behavior.
Norms: Written or unwritten rules of behavior which reflects cultural values
Sociology Class 11 Notes Chapter 1 Sociology and Society
A society is a group of people who share a common culture, occupy a territorial area and are bound to each other by a common history.
Societies may be simple, may be complex. It is natural to human beings. We all are social beings. We cannot survive without society. We human beings cannot attain our goals alone, we want society. The society provides us security, relationship, identity and sense of belonging ness.
Society is mandatory not only for mere survival but also for a good life.
Society is a continuous process. It is not imposed upon people. It goes on as a natural process. Social relations are the base of social structure. Society can be understood in its abstract as well as concrete form.
The main characteristics of the society are interdependence, cooperation and conflict, mutual awareness, similarities and differences, abstraction in terms of relationship and dynamism in nature.
Individual and society are directly related to each other. Both are complementary. The individuals live in collective activities not due to compulsion but by necessity. Human beings and their societies are inseparable although we all individuals are compliant and rebellion, conventional as well as unorthodox, submissive and aggressive i.e. all sort of contradictions and functioning with opposites.
Biological, ecological, psychological and social factors significantly influence all of us. These influences cause variation in individual and with all commonality in cultural factors each individual becomes unique with different physical and psychological attributes.
All human beings are social beings. We all belong to some culture which determines the individual’s economic maintenance system for personality development. The society basically promotes a particular system to everybody in which individual develops different terms of relationship.
In this perspective human society is different from animal society. Human beings have its own culture and a dynamic communication system whereas the animal society has no culture and they have no dynamic form of speech. Animal
behavior is instructive whereas we are social beings. Human society is dynamic and interdependent, having common goals and interact among one another whereas animals’ society is static.
Sociology is a scientific and comprehensive study of society.
The very origin of the word ‘Sociology’ comes from the Latin word ‘Socius’ (companion) and the Greek word Ology (study of), to indicate its nature as a hybrid discipline.
August Comte, a French philosopher coined the term Sociology in 1838 and called it the science of human associations. He is known as the ‘Father of Sociology’. The contributions of Durkheim Spencer and Max Weber is significant to develop Sociology as a separate discipline.
Sociology is a scientific study but due to its relationship with social life it can neither be specifically defined nor its boundaries can be marked. According to Bottomore, “Sociology is a modern science, not a century old.” Sociology is a new science.
Emile Durkheim said that Sociology is the study of collective representation. Human personality i.e. cognitive (Thinking), conative (Behavioral) and Affective (Feeling) constitute social facts. These social facts are external dimension of human mind which controls human behavior to maintain the social network. According to Durkheim, “All that which is a social fact constitutes the subject matter of Sociology.”
According to Hobhouse, “Sociology studies the interaction of human minds.”
Park and Burgese said that Sociology is the science to study collective behavior. According to Max Weber, human activities are goal directed, which fulfills some objectives. All human beings engage in actions for the realization of given goals. Sociology asserts the importance of the community and the comparatively limited possibilities that exist for social change.
It has often been taken up by the social reforms.
In the present form, Sociology embraces a range of different views concerning both what a social science should comprise, and what might be the proper subject matter of Sociology in particular.
There are three general conceptions of the object of sociological interest:
Social ‘Structure’ in the sense of patterns of relationships which have an independent existence, over and above the individuals or groups that occupy positions in these structures at any particular time e.g. the positions of nuclear family may remain same from generation to generation.
Collective Representations: Meaning and ways of cognitively organizing the world which have a continued existence over and above the individuals who are socialized into them.
Meaningful Social Action: According to this view, there is no such thing as society; merely individuals or groups entering into social relationships with each other.
By and large Sociology as a scientific discipline has certain characteristics. It is a social science, not a natural science, which studies social groups and social relations. It is a categorical science, not a normative science because it deals with ‘what is’ instead of ‘Who ought to be’.
Sociology is a pure science, not an applied science. It simply collects the knowledge about human society. It is an abstract science not a concrete science. It simply deals with the design and norms and interested in the fact that despite the differences in their origin and culture people live in a common human society.
Sociology is a science of generalization and not specialization. It simply makes generalizations about human groups, social actions, societies and their structure. Sociology is both a rational and empirical science. It draws facts, classify them and derive their mutual relationship which are verified with empirical evidence with minimum error and maximum accuracy.
Sociology analyses society. It focuses on the emergence of society. It deals with major social units and their dynamics.
There are two main schools of thought to determine the scope of society.
Formal School: According to this perspective, sociology studies the forms of social relations. The propounders ofthis approach are Weber, Simmel, Vierkandt Ward and Von Wiese.
Synthetic School: This school mainly emphasizes on the need of social science which studies general conditions of school life. It studies society as a whole. Main propounders of this school are Durkheim, Hob house and Sorokin. Sociology is a comprehensive study of society. It is positively related with other social sciences particularly with economics, history, psychology and political science.
Sociology and history are positively related as both are social sciences and concerned with each other. But Sociology is a general science.
History is a special science dealing with events only. It focuses on description of historical events using historical facts. Sociology uses scientific methods to derive facts.
Sociology analyses the social problems and provides solutions whereas history simply provides description of facts.
Sociology is an analytical discipline whereas history is a descriptive discipline.
Sociology is concerned with the present and to some extent with future whereas history studies only the past. Sociology deals with the similarities in different events whereas history focuses on differences in similar events.
Sociology is an abstract science. It studies the social processes and relationships, whereas history is a concrete science, which focuses on social events occurred due to social interaction.
Sociology and political science are related to each other being social sciences but both have different domains.
Sociology is a general science whereas political science is a special science, dealing with political aspect of human life.
Political science focuses only on one form of human association, the ‘state’ but sociology deals with all forms of association.
Sociology is considered a broader form of political science.
Political Science treats human beings with a political perspective whereas Sociology explains how the people change as a political animal.
According to Barnes, “The most significant thing about sociology and political theory is that most of the changes that have taken place in the political theory in the last 50 years have been suggested and marked out by sociology.”
Sociology and social psychology have a positive link.
Sociology studies the society while psychology studies the individual in the society.
Sociology focuses on organisations of group while psychology studies the individuals.
Sociology deals with social processes whereas psychology is the study of mental processes like Attention, Memory, Learn up etc.
Sociology and Anthropology are closely related because anthropology is the study of man and its development of human race and sociology studies modem society in which the people live.
Anthropology studies culture which is small and static while sociology studies the dynamic and vast culture.
Sociology is a comprehensive study of whole society whereas economics studies only the economic part of the society. Sociology is an extensive science as it focuses on all the aspects whereas economics mainly deals with economic view point.
Sociological approach is collectivistic to deal with people whereas economics has individualistic approach .
Social behavior is explained in sociology through social norms but in economics activities of people are dealt from rules of economics.
Sociology is related with social relations in general terms whereas economics being special science focuses only on economic relations.
Important terms:
Anthropology: The multidisciplinary study and analysis of the origin and characteristics of human beings and their societies, customs and beliefs. It is the study of primitive society and studies man and the development of human race.
Bourgeoisie: The middle class, especially regarded as politically conservative and socially self interested.
Capitalism: An economic system based on private rather than state, ownership of businesses, factories, transport services etc, with free competition and profit making.
Dialectic: The existence or action of opposing social forces.
Feminism: A belief or movement advocating the cause of women’s rights and opportunities particularly equal rights with men, by challenging inequalities between the sexes in society.
Gemeinschoft: A kind of society in which life intimates, a community in which everyone knows every one else and people share a sense of cohesiveness.
Gesellschaft: A form of society characterized by impersonal relationship, individual accomplishment and self-interest.
Macro Sociology: The study of large social groups, organisation and social systems.
Micro Sociology: The study of human behavior in context of face to face interaction.
Positivism: Method of scientific inquiry and given emphasis on empirical research rather than introspection method.
Praxis: Practice to find solution of human problems.
Society: Web of social relationship.
Values: Ideal mode of behavior i.e. what ‘ought to be’ or should be aspect of life.
Sociology: A recently developed academic discipline, based upon the tenet that all animals and human behavior is ultimately dependent upon genetic encoding moulded through evolutionary history by the process of selection.
