Class-12
Chapter-1
INDIAN SOCIETY
Point To Remember
✿ All of US live in the society and all of us
know something about it. Sociology is a type of subject which anyone hardly
starts from zero. We study society in Sociology and all of us know a lot about
society.
✿
We know about other subjects in school, college, university etc., but our
knowledge about society increases without taking any formal education. It is so
because we live in a society and grow up in it. Our knowledge about it
increases naturally.
✿The
main objective of this book is to introduce the students with Indian society.
But this introduction is not meant for common perspective. This book is meant
to introduce Indian society from sociological perspective. Here those social
processes will also be addressed with the help of which Indian society was
moulded into a proper shape.
✿Circles
of community-ties are founded of family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language,
region or religion. It is community identity.
✿Nation
is a sort of large scale community viz it is a community of communities.
✿Sociology
teaches self-reflexivity viz. an ability to reflect upon yourself to turn-back
or do introspection. It should be quick to criticise and slow to praise on
self.
✿A
comparable social map understood through introspection tells one's location in
the society. For an instance, a student of senior secondary falls in social
group of young people, this group accounts for forty percent in India's
population, his languages may be any one of twenty two languages scheduled in
constitution (viz. regional or linguistic community). As per parent's
occupation and family income, he may be form middle class, lower class, upper
class family. As per religion, caste or tribe or such other social group, he is
grouped in and among a web of social relationships, one can thus, find his
identity.
✿Sociology
helps in mapping the links and connections between personal troubles and social
issues. Personal troubles consist of individual worries, problems or concerns
while social issues consist of generation gap, unemployment, communalism,
casteism, gender inequalities etc.
✿The
boundaries or the barriers drawn around an individual are (i) Age boundaries
(ii) Regional boundaries, (iii) Economic, (iv) Religious boundaries and (v)
Cast boundaries. This kind of map is always misleading and it can distort the
human personality because it gives birth to narrow mindedness.
✿Nationalism
in India could emerge only when colonialism had reached at its climate It was
actually colonial rule that unified all of India for the first time and brought
in the forces of modernisation and capitalist economic change. We can state in brief
that an Indian nationalism took shape under British colonialism.
✿Colonialism
gave birth to new classes and communities which came to play great role in
subsequent history. The urban middle classes were the main carriers of
nationalism and they led the campaign for freedom. Religious and caste base communities
were also crystallised by colonial interventions. These two became major
players.
Glossary
1. Tribe: A group of people who live in traditional
society, away from the civilise society, in forest, mountains, valleys etc.
They have their own culture, language religion etc.
2. Class: A group of persons having specific status in a
particular time especially from the point of view of wealth, social status,
views, ideas and behaviour towards each other.
3. Casteism: Exploitation or exclusion of some castes (low
castes) by others.
4. Nationalism: The desire by a group of people who share the
same race, culture language etc. to form an independent country.
5. Pluralism: The
existence within a society of variety of ethnic, cultural and religious groups.
6. Integration: The social process by which different units of
a society are united viz brought together to form a whole.
7. Globalisation: A
process by which decisions and activities in one part of the world have
significant consequences for individuals and communities in quite distant part of
the globe.
8. Community: A group of people who share the same religion,
race, job etc. e.g., local community, international community, ethnic
community.
9. Unity: To
bring different elements within a society (or nation) to form a single unit or
whole. It is the state of being in agreement and working together.
10. Reflexivity: An
ability to understand one's social map thoroughly and break a demarcations with
an axe of cosmos-consciousness. It requires a critical self-inspection.
11. Nation: A
community of people sharing a common culture, history, language and lineage
living within an identified geographical areas.
VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE
QUESTIONS
Q. 1. What is meant by social class ?
Ans. Social
class is a group of people who have a specific social status at a particular time.
Time is why they have some special power, rights and duties.
Ability of an individual is important in class
system. Bases of class are different from each other and many classes exist in Indian
society.
Q. 2. What is meant by communalism?
Ans. Communalism is
an ideology which tries to propagate religious views of one religion among the
masses. It is the animosity of one religious group towards another.
Q. 3. What changed the Indian society ?
Ans. Britishers, for
the first time, unified whole of the country and brought in the forces of
modernisation and capitalist economic change. It changed the Indian society.
Colonial rule led to the emergence of nationalism in India.
Q. 4. Write the names of some social
groups. (CBSE 2012)
Ans. These are (i)
Family, (ii) Caste, (iii) Tribe, (iv) Social class (e.g, rich and poor), (v)
Associations and unions etc.
Q. 5. What do you understand by the term
social structure?
Ans. It refers to the
way, the different parts of society (viz. relationship between husband and
wife, between parent's and children and between various groups) are organised
and follow stable patterns of collective rules, roles and activities.
Q. 6. What is an odd fact of social
life?
Ans. It is an interia
within individuals that makes them to feel a deep sense of security and
satisfaction in belonging to communities in which their membership is entirely
accidental and based on their birth.
Q. 7. How is formed the community
identity ?
Ans. It is formed by
community-ties known as family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region or
religion based ties. It gives meaning to our world and gives us a sense of
identity of who we are. This is the reason people often react emotionally or even
violently whenever there is perceived threat to their community identity.
Q. 8. What do you understand by progress
?
Ans. Progress is an effort
to attain the goal which is defined and which has support from social values.
Q. 9. What do you understand by
accommodation ?
Ans. It is a process
of social interaction among individuals in society by which they try to adjust
themselves within society or the group of people.
Q. 10. How can you say that social map
study is must for understanding Indian society ?
Ans. It is so because
social map comprises age boundaries (young and old), regional boundaries,
economic boundaries, religious boundaries and caste boundaries. Thus, an individual
may work out this place, status and calibre in the society to which he belongs.
Q. 11. What is a group ?
Ans. Groups are the
essence of life in society. This term refers to such diverse collectivises as
the family, the crowd or the social class, informal cliques or vast communities.
It also refers to the member of races or religions or occupations or to this or
that division of sex or age or intelligence or temperament: As per the meaning
given to this term in Webster's dictionary "Group consists of a number of
individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship."
Q. 12. Which countries established their
colonies in Asia and Africa ?
Ans. Colonialism took
place between 18th and 20th centuries. The major colonial powers that
established their colonies in Asia and Africa were European countries including
England, France, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium etc. Later on Russia,
U.S.A and Japan also joined the race.
Q. 13. Highlight the features of Ascriptive
identity.(CBSE Outside 2011)
Ans. The features of
Ascriptive identity are given below:
(i)
Ascriptive identity is determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve
any choice on the part of the individuals concerned. (ii) It is universal in
nature.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q. 1. How many types of classes can we
see in urban areas ? (CBSE 2013)
Ans. (i) Upper Class : It is that class which
is rich and most powerful. Political leaders, industrialists, LAS officers come
in this category. They have more wealth and authority because of official
power.
(ii) Middle Class :
Doctors, engineers, teachers, white collar people and small businessmen come in
this category. Upper class uses this class to retain its domination over lower
class.
(iii) Lower Class :
Those people come in this class who sell their labour to earn their livelihood.
For example labourers. They have no means of production and they work for the
other two classes.
Q. 2. What is meant by class system ?
(CBSE 2012)
Ans. It is social
system in which the status of an individual is determined by the family in
which he/she is born. The members of a class has some responsibilities, rights and
powers. Class consciousness is the necessity of class. Person in class
considers others as superior or inferior to him. People in this system keep
close relations with members of their own class. They keep
limited
relations with members of other classes. Class system is an open system in which
a person can change her class with his ability.
Q. 3. What is class struggle ?
(CBSE2011)
Ans. The concept of
class struggle was given by Karl Marx. According to him two classes exist in
society related to system of production. One is the owner of means of
production and other is the one who produces things. Labour class sells its labour
to earn money. First class is rich
and
second class is poor. According to Marx first class exploits the other class
and becomes more rich but labourer class becomes more poor. A time comes when labourer
is even alienated with his tools. Then, the struggle starts between capitalist
and labour class. This struggle increases with the passage of time and after
some time capitalists will be throw out of power. It is known as class struggle.
Q. 4. Why did the process of emergence of
nationalism in colonies is related with the Anti-Colonial movements ?
Ans. The
process of emergence of nationalism in colonies is definitely related with the Anticolonial
movements. People came to identify their unity during their struggle against
colonial rulers. All of them were equally exploited and suppressed by colonial rulers.
This common experience of suppression tied them in a chain of unity. They came
to know that foreign rulers could be thrown out of the country only with the unified
strength. This sense of unified strength helped in the emergence of nationalism.
Q. 5. Write any one effective remedy for
national integration.
Ans. All
citizens of this country require understanding sustainable development and
peaceful co-existence and it can be attained only when a spirit of universal brotherhood
beyond reach of disparity on the basis of language, region, caste, creed, race starts
cooling their hearts and make them cosmopolitan or member to global society free
from enmity and fatal vanity. They should always think, plan and act for national
interest point of view and give up their narrow politics of vote bank.
Q. 6. Which questions do suggest our community
identity ?
Ans. These questions
are (i) Who am I ? viz what is my name caste, sir name, the community I
belong to (ii) How am I different from other ? viz which rituals, mores,
customs, rules etc. differ me from an individual of other community (iii) How
do others understand and comprehend me viz the particular acts performed by
one's community good or bad, illustrious or
infamous, one's particular class, family, race, caste etc. and (iv) What
goals and aspirations should I have ? viz. the acts expected on the basis of
one's caste, religion etc.
Q. 7. Why is the social-map provided to
us in childhood by the dividing socialisation ?
Ans. It is because
that version of social map, we are provided by our parents, siblings, relatives
and neighbour. It is of specific and varied nature or in other words, partial.
It provides us only with common sense or unlearnt or perceivable knowledge which
may or may not be real when we weigh it up after attainment of an ability of reflexivity
or introspection. A proper use and application of reflexivity is essential for drawing
other kinds of maps. It is sociological perspective that teaches us the procedure
of drawing social maps, while some are exclusive.
Q. 8. What is meant by cultural diversity? (CBSE Outside2012)
Ans. The meaning of
cultural diversity is expressed below
i)
The word cultural diversity
concentrates more on the differences in comparison to the inequality. If India
is great country of cultural diversity,
it means that several types of social groups and communities live here.
ii)
The different communities living in
India are defined by the various community cultural identities such as
languages, religion, ethnicity, region, etc. Virtually it is the multiplicity
or plurality of identities which make India a great nation of cultural
diversity.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q. 1. What does sociology have to contribute
to the study of markets that goes beyond what economics can tell us?
Ans. Economics
as a subject or discipline educates us only the system in which markets work in
modern economics. For an instance, it explains price mechanism, the probable
impact of specific kinds of investment or the factors that influence people to
save or spend. It has nothing to bear with the cascading effects of all these factors
on the society, hence, sociology in these perspectives goes beyond the reach of
economics.
We will first
discuss about the political economy as it was called during eighteenth century
in England. Adam Smith is known as the father of economics and his "The Wealth
of Nations" is an attempt to understand the market economy which he says
made up of a series of individual exchanges or transactions that create a functioning
and ordered system· in an automatic way. The unseen force at work that converts
individual welfare or good into good for society. As per Smith, the capitalist economy
works best in the circumstance when individual buyers and sellers make rational
decisions that serve their own interests. For this reason idea of a free market
or laissez-faire (viz leave alone or let it be) economic philosophy has been supported
by Smith.
Sociologists see markets
as social institutions. In their opinion, economics are society embedded. This
is because, markets are controlled or organised by particular social groups or
classes and they have specific links to other institutions, social processes
and structures.
Q. 2. What is community identity ? Discuss its characteristics.
Ans. Every human
being needs a sense of stable identity to operate in this world. It is the
process of socialisation that gives this identity to each individual. The
socialisation process involves a continuous dialogue, negotiation and even
struggle against our parents, family, kin group and our community viz a giant
form of varied groups of people. It is therefore, our community that provides
us the language and cultural values through which· we comprehend the world. It
is based on birth and belongings and never on some form of acquired
qualifications or accomplishment. Birth based identity is called ascriptive
because this does not involve any choice on the part of the individuals
concerned. It is actually worthless and discriminating. However, these
ascriptive identifies are very hard to shake off because irrespective of our
efforts to disown them, others may continue to identify us by those very
markers of belonging.
Such ascriptive
identity is the most deterrent to self-realisation.· However, expanding and
overlapping circles- of community ties i.e. family, kinship, caste, ethnicity,
language, region or religion give meaning to our world and give us sense of identity
of who we are.
These are universal
because everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family and a faith. The
communities distinct on the basis of nation, language, religion, caste or region
we see always in war for no vital reason to all. Each side in the conflict
thinks of the other side as a hatred enemy, and there is a tendency to
exaggerate the virtues of one's own side as well as the vices of the other
side. Some nations of naturally agreed upon truth is very hard to establish in situations
of identity conflict, it usually takes decades, sometimes centuries for one
side to accept that it was wrong.
Q. 3. What are the major issues of
concern of Adivasis today ? (CBSE Outside 2012)
Ans. The major issues of concern of
Adivasis today are described below
(i)
Where the adivasis
are in majority in India, their condition is generally pitiable from the
economic, political point of view in comparison with the non-Adivasi people.
The adivasis living in these areas are really poor and have been exploited
constantly.
(ii) Even after independence in 194 7, the life of the
Adivasis did not change. It remained rather as it was. The forests remained
under the monopoly of the government. In order to implement the policy of
capital based industrialisation adopted by the government of India, mineral resources
and the capacity of electricity production were badly required. But these
possibilities and the other resources were located in the Adivasi areas. As a
result, it exploitation started.
(iii)
The Adivasi lands
were acquired for the new mines and the dam projects. Consequently, lakhs of
Adivasis were displaced from their homes and they were not duly compensated for
their lose and given rehabilitation facilities. Such situations greatly
disturbed their life. They started facing hunger even.
(iv)
In the name of
national development and economic prosperity, the process of displacement
related to the Adivasis has been justified. After 1990,
the problems faced by them increased
many folds on account of the policy of liberalisation adopted by the
government. For example, the agitation started by the Orissa Adivasis and their
violent protest are the fitting example of social and political differences
they met with.
Q. 4. Why does the prior knowledge with
society becomes both an ad vantage and a disadvantage for sociology? (CBSE
2013 Outside)
Ans. It becomes
advantage when socialization process at home is perfect or wholesome with
cosmos-consciousness. This subject becomes easy for the students and they start
taking keen interest ab-initio because of their learning through socialisation
at the levels at home, peer groups, neighbourhood, colony as also the community
and the institutions like school, hospital, health centre, post office etc.
where they visit frequently with their parents, siblings and other children of
the same age group. The disadvantage is that this prior knowledge can be a
problem in order to learn sociology. We have to erase the state of our mind if
prior learning is acquired from a particular view point or if it is below or
self-centred. The beliefs and expectations about society and social relations
being specific may delude us if is sallow or self-centred, unsound and they are
unscientific. In case, we not erase them, there is danger of being ours partial
which will act as deterrent in understanding sociology.
Q. 5. What are the different
characteristics of class system?
Ans. 1.
Feeling of Superiority and Inferiority : Relations of inferior and superior
exist in class system. For example, people of higher class think themselves as different
and supe1ior to lower class. Rich people falls in higher class and poor people comes
under lower class.
2.
Social Mobility : Class
system is not definite for any person. It keeps on changing. Man can achieve
higher status with hard work and can go to lower status by wrong deeds. Every
person wants to uplift his mobility is there in class system. For example, if a
person, who is working as a clerk in any office, does a lot of hard work and
passes the I.A.S. exam then his status and position will be completely changed.
It means that class system has social mobility in which a person can move from
one place to another with his hard work and ability.
3.
Openness : Openness exists in
class system because in this every-person is free to do anything. He is free to
adopt any occupation. Anyone can become the member of any class on the basis of
his ability. Person from lower class can go to higher class with his hard work.
In this, there is no value of birth of the person. Status of person depends upon
his ability. A boy from rich family can become rich only if he has the
property. If this property goes away then he would become poor. This class
system gives opportunity to everyone to move upward. In this way openness exists in class system.
4.
Limited Social Relations : Social relations
of a person are limited in class system. Persons of every class establish relations
with the people of their own class. Every class wants to establish contacts
with persons of their own class. They socialize among themselves.
5.
Development of Sub-classes : We can
divide class system into three parts from economic point of view and these are
: (i) Upper Class (ii) Middle Class (iii) Lower Class
These
classes are again divided into
subclasses. For example, we can see difference between rich people. Someone is
a billionaire and somebody else is a millionaire. In the same way we can see
sub-classes in middle class and lower class.
6.
Different Bases : Classes are
made on different bases. According to Karl Marx, the main base of class system
is economic. According to him, there are two classes in society. One is the
capitalist class and another is labour class. According to Ogburn and Nimkoff,
MacIver and Gilberg social base is important for class. Ginsberg and Lapire
have accepted cultural base as the main base of class system.
In this way we can
say that there is not a single base of class system but there are many bases of
class system.
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