NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS CLASS – 12 | SOCIOLOGY PART B IMPORTANT QUESTIONS | CHAPTER-8 | SOCIAL MOVEMENTS | EDUGROWN |

In This Post we are  providing  CHAPTER 8 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS for Class 12 SOCIOLOGY PART B which will be beneficial for students. These solutions are updated according to 2021-22 syllabus. These MCQS  can be really helpful in the preparation of Board exams and will provide you with a brief knowledge of the chapter

NCERT MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Question 1.
What are the features of Reformist movements?
Answer:

1. The reformist movement wanted to bring reforms to the old social system.
2. The speed of the reformist movement is always slow.
3. Peaceful methods are used in reformist movements and they are initiated for peaceful changes in society.
4. They generally exist in democratic countries.

Question 2.
Distinguish between New social movement and the Old social movement.
Or
In what way the new social movements are different from the old social movements.
Answer:

1. The old social movements functioned within the frame of political parties but the new social movements were not aimed at changing the distribution of power in the society as they were about the quality of life issues like having a clean environment.
2. Old social movements wanted to remove evils from society and wanted to remove exploitation, but new social movements were started with an aspiration of better living standards.
3. In the old social movements, the role of political parties was central but modem movements are left away by the formal political systems and they put pressure on the state from the outside.

Question 3.
Explain something about the Chipko Movement.
Answer:
Chipko movement started in the hilly areas of Uttrakhand (U.P. at that time) in 1070. Forests in those areas were the means of livelihood for people living there. People used to collect things from forests to live their lives. The Government gave these forests to private contractors to earn revenue. When the people went to the forests to collect wood and other things they were stopped by contractors as they also wanted to earn money from these forests. People of many villages stood against this and collectively started to struggle against this. When the contractors came to cut down the trees, villagers stepped forward to hug the trees to prevent them from being felled. Women and children actively participated in it. Prominent Environmentalist Sundra Lai Bahuguna also joined the struggle. As people used to hug the trees, this movement came to be known as the Chipko movement. In the end, the movement was successful and the government banned the cutting of forests of the Himalayan region for 15 years.

Question 4.
What were the issues against which the leaders of the Jharkhand movement were agitating?
Or
Mention the issues which agitated the Jharkhand leaders.
Answer:
The issues against which the leaders of the Jharkhand movement agitating were:

1. Acquisition of land for large irrigation projects and firing ranges,
2. Survey and settlement operations, which were held up, camps closed down, etc.,
3. Collection of loans, rent, and cooperative dues, which were resisted,
4. Nationalization of forest produce which they boycotted.

Question 5.
Bring out the differences between social change and social movement.
Answer:
Difference between social change and social movements-

1. Social change is continuous and ongoing.
2. Sum total of countless individual and collective actions gathered across time and space.
3. Social movements are directed towards some specific goals.
4. Involves long and continuous social effort and action by people.

Question 6.
State the features of new farmer’s movements.
Answer:
Features of New farmer’s movements

1. Movements were regionally organized
2. Involved farmer rather than peasants
3. Not involved with any party
4. The basic ideology of the movements was strongly “anti-state and anti-urban”
5. Demands were “price and related ‘issues”
6. Novel methods of agitation were used e.g., road and railway blocks, refusing entry of politicians/bureaucrats, etc.

Question 7.
What is meant by Social Movement? Explain its different types.
Answer:
When people of any society are dissatisfied with the prevailing social circumstances of society and they want to bring about change in it, then social movement comes into being. Social movement always starts with an ideology. Sometimes social movement develops to oppose any change. Earlier, sociologists used to think that social change is an effort to bring change but modern sociologists think that movement either brings social change or stops any change. Different thinkers gave their views about social movement and these are given below:

According to Merril and Eldridge, “Social movement is more or less a conscious effort for change in the society.” According to Hurston and Hunt, “Social movement is the collective effort for bringing change or opposing in the society or in its members.”

According to Herbert Blunder, “Social movement can be called as the collective effort to establish a new system of life.”

So on the basis of these views of different scholars, we can say that social movement is the collective behavior of the members of society, whose aim is to either change the prevailing culture and social structure or to oppose that change. So social movement can be understood in the form of the effort of social action and collective effort.

Types of Social Movements: Hurton and Hunt were of the view that the classification of social movement is not easy work. It is seen because of the different nature of different movements. Different scholars gave different classifications and the main types of social movements are given ahead:
1. Special Social Movements: Objectives of special social movements are pre¬determined and are pre-organized. These movements are controlled by experienced leaders. Revolutionary and Reformist movement come under this category.

2. General Social Movements: General Social movements are related to the prevailing cultural values of the society. This type of movement develops due to those slow changes which are included in cultural values. It is also because the changed values, ideas, and beliefs are not clear when they are in their earliest stage. Feminist movements and scheduled caste movements come under this category.

3. Expressive Movements: The main objective of expressive social movement is to express collective disagreement on any subject. Herbert Blumer had divided these types of movements into two parts and these are religious movements and linguistic movements. ‘

4. Resistance Movements: Resistance movements are exactly opposite to revolutionary movements. The main objective of the resistance movement is to stop or remove change but the main aim of the revolutionary movement is to bring change. Many types of resistance movements took place in India during the 20th century.

5. Utopian Movements: Those movements come under utopian movements that were started by great scholars or thinkers to make an imaginative and ideal society. The Socialist movement of Karl Marx and the Bhoodaan movement of Vinoba Bhave come under this category.

6. Migratory Movements: Migratory movements occur due to war, flood, famine, or any disease. People migrate from one place to another under this type of movement. When people of one area or country collectively decide to live in another country then this type of movement takes place.

7. Revolutionary Movements: The main objective of the revolutionary movement is to overthrow the existing system out of power and to establish a new system. These are of two types-violent and non-violent. These movements start due to dissatisfaction, which prevails in society. The main feature of revolutionary movements is their pace and violence. But many times non-violence is also present.

8. Reformative Movements: The main objective of reformative movements is to bring reforms in the society by removing evils from the existing social system. Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, and Prarthna Samaj come under this category. They can develop only in a democratic set up because the government, in democracy, itself is interested in bringing reforms in the society.

Question 8.
What were the conducive conditions in India to start Social reform movements?
Answer:
1. Western Education: When the Britishers started to rule over India, then they started to spread western education. When Indians came in contact with western education, they came to know about science and reasoning. They came to know that the prevailing customs of Indian society were useless and baseless. That’s why enlightened Indians started social movements.

2. Development of means of transport: Britishers developed means of transport for their own convenience but Indians took maximum advantage of these means. With the advent of means of transport, Indians came in contact with each other. Enlightened and educated Indians reached different parts of the country and explained to the people that the prevailing customs are useless for them. People . were already fed up with these customs. They gave a good response to these requests and conditions became conducive with the development of means of transport.

3. Advent of Indian Press: Press started in India after the advent of the British organizers of movements started to publish small newspapers and magazines so that Indians could read them and should understand that these evils are very harmful to the society. It is necessary for them to overthrow these evils from society. In this way, Indians came to know that it is necessary for them to remove these social evils.

4. Increasing impact of Missionaries: When the Britishers came to India Christian missionaries also came with them. They were given help by the Britishers. The function of these missionaries was to propagate Christianity but their way of propagating was somewhat different. First of all, they worked for social welfare. They solved the problems of the people and then used them to propagate their religion. Gradually, people started to adopt Christianity. When Indian social reformers came to know about this thing, they also started reform movements in India. In this way, these movements were started due to the impact of Christian missionaries.

5. Evils of Indian Society: Most of the social reform movements were started to remove the social evils of the society. Sati Pratha, child marriage, restriction on widow remarriage, dowry system, untouchability, etc. are examples of some of the social evils of Indian society. People were fed up with social evils. When these movements started the movement was welcomed with open hands. That’s why these movements got what conducive environment and social reform movements became successful.

Question 9.
What changes in Indian society due to social movements? Explain them.
Answer:
1. End of Sati Pratha Place: Sati System prevailed in Indian society from the very beginning. Widows had to die with the death of her husband. She had to sit alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. This inhuman custom was started by higher castes. Due to social movements, the British government started to oppose this system and it passed a law called ‘Sati Prohibition Act’ in 1829. This law declared Sati Pratha as illegal. In this way, the custom of ancient times came to an end. All this happened due to social movements.

2. End of Child Marriage: Child marriages were prevailing in Indian society. Due to child marriage, parents used to marry their children at the age of 4-5 years. It hardly mattered to them whether the child even knew the meaning of marriage or not. The British government fixed the minimum age of child marriage due to social movements. British Government made a law in 1860 and fixed a minimum age of 10 years for marriage.

3. Widow Remarriage: Widows in our society were not allowed to remarry and this custom was going on from the very beginning. They were not allowed to take part in family functions. They had no right to live a happy life. Due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the British Government passed an act in 1856 called the ‘Widow Remarriage Act, 1856’ with which widows got permission to remarry. In this way, they got the legal right to remarry and to live a happy life.

4. End of Purdah System: Purdah system prevailed among Muslims. Females always had to live behind purdahs. They were not allowed anywhere. Gradually, this system spread all over the country. Social reformers raised their voice against the purdah system. Even Sir Syed Ahmed Khan also raised his voice against this system. In this way, this system started to decrease and with the passage of time, it came to an end.

5. Change in Customs of Dowry System: Dowry is that which is given by the father of the bride at the time of her marriage according to his wish. But many problems also cropped up along with it. Parents of the bridegrooms started to demand dowry because of which parents of the girls had to face a number of problems. Many movements were started against this. That’s why the British government and later on in 1961, the Indian Government declared it illegal.

6. End of Untouchability: The custom of untouchability was prevalent in Indian society from the ages. In this, lower castes were not allowed to touch the people of higher castes. So the voice was raised in social movements against untouchability. That’s why an atmosphere was created for declaring it illegal. After independence, the Indian government passed an act with which it was declared illegal.

7. Intercaste marriages: Intercaste marriages were not allowed in Indian society. But inter-caste marriages were encouraged by these social movements and they also received legal permission after independence.

8. Caste System: The caste system was one of the important bases of Indian society. But the caste system was weakened by these movements. Almost all the movements raised their voices against the caste system. Gradually, the caste system lost its importance and it is now on the verge of its end.

9. Women Education: Almost all the social movements agreed on one thing and that was women’s education. The status of women was very low in our society. They had no rights. All the social movements worked for women’s education with which women’s education got encouragement. That’s why now she is standing side by side with her husband.

So we can say that social movements were started in the 19th century in India and many changes came in the Indian society due to these movements.

Question 10.
Explain the peasant movements that started in India.
Answer:
Peasant movements are associated with the relations between farmers and agricultural activities. When there is a lack of coordination between agricultural workers and landowners, then workers take the path of movement and peasant movement starts to take place. Actually, these movements start because of the exploitation of farmers. Its main base is class struggle and it is different from worker’s movement. The important base of these movements is the agricultural system. A different type of structure has been developed among the agricultural classes due to agriculture relations and the diversity of land systems. This structure is different in different areas. Agricultural classes of India can be divided into three parts-

1. Owner
2. Farmer
3. Laborer.

The owner is also known as a landowner. This class is the owner of the whole land on which agricultural work takes place. Farmers come after landowners. Small marginal farmers are the owners of small pieces of land. They used to till their land themselves. The third class is of laborers who earned money by working in the agricultural field. They are generally landless and very poor.

Peasant movements started because of different causes. As the earning of agricultural laborers is affected by industrialization, they opposed it with a movement. Except this, there are certainly other reasons for initiating peasant movements, like the demand for more value of their produces, their exploitation by the officials, bonded laborers, opposition of reducing farming subsidies, etc.

Beginning of Peasant Movement: These movements started in the 19th century when the British government associated itself with the agricultural system. The Santhal revolt took place in the 19th century against the British. In 1875, riots of money lenders, Awadh revolt, and farmer’s opposition of money lenders in Punjab took the form of the peasant movement. Gandhiji adopted the way of nonviolence for farmers and workers in 1917-18. Farmer’s organization and peasant labor unions were formed in 1923.

Farmer’s association was developed in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, and Punjab. The struggle between farmers and laborers started in Gujarat during 1928-29 and 1930-31. The first struggle was started under Sardar Patel and the government was forced to accept their demands. Many movements started from 1937 till 1946 against zamindars, landlords, and landowners. Peasant movements of Mysore and Travnkor were started against kings and local landlords. In the same way, the movements of Odisha, Udaipur, Gwalior, and Jaipur were important in the history of the Indian Peasant Movement.

Even after independence, there was no reduction in the problems of peasants and agricultural laborers and that’s why the number of farmer movements increased all over the country. The main objective of all these movements was the protection of the interests of farmers. These movements also aimed at removing farmer’s exploitation and providing socio-economic justice to the farmers.