Sociology Super-Notes >> Class XI - Introducing Sociology >> Sociology and Society

1. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Version 1.0 Sociology and Society M S Ahluwalia

2. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Sociology Super-Notes Introducing Sociology

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8. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 8 Let’ start…

9. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Contents 1. How are an individual and the society related? 2. What are ‘plurality’ and ‘inequality’ of society? 3. What is the nature of sociology? 4. What went into the making of Sociology? 5. Why do we study European sociology? 6. What influenced emergence of Sociology in India? 7. What is the scope of Sociology? 8. How is Sociology related to other disciplines? Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society

10. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 10 1. How are an individual and the society related? Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both... C. Wright Mills, 1959

11. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners • Society’s Issues • Matters beyond the local environment of the individual and the range of his/her inner life • Individual’s problems/troubles • Occur within the character of the individual and his immediate relations with others • They are linked to his self and to areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware 11 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 1. How are an individual and the society related? • Mills vision of the sociological imagination is set in the unravelling of how the personal and public are related. • The individual and society are dialectically linked – with a distinction between: ‘Personal troubles of the milieu’ ‘Public issues of social structure’

13. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 13 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 2.1. What is plurality of society? • In today’s world, we humans belong to more than one ‘society’ • This diversity leads to difficulty in mapping of society. • Our reference to ‘our society’ may mean different things depending on the context – it may refer to ‘Indian society’ or ‘Punjabi society’ or ‘Muslim society’ or anything else from the following list: • For example, one person can be: Country Region Religion Linguistic community Ethnic Community Caste Tribe … Indian Muslim Keralite Well-educated Malayali Pathan Urban Middle-class

14. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 14 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 2.2. What is inequality of society? • Inequality is the cause of differences amongst societies. • There are different kinds of inequality, and each of them requires serious attention, Amartya Sen (2005): Money Education Lifestyle Political Power Opportunity Respect Dimension High Low Rich Poor Illiterate Toiling hard for little money Can’t influence anything No opportunities Treated like dirt Well- Educated Easy lives of luxury Can influence national policies Great opportunities for advancement Treated with respect by police

16. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 16 Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. Its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings. 3. What is the nature of sociology?

17. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 17 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 3. What is the nature of Sociology? 1. Only Observes and Understands • Sociology is concerned with observation and collection of data regarding norms and values. • It is not concerned with prescribing what they should be like. 2. Concerned with Ethics • Sociologists have the responsibility to ask about the goals of his/her study and the work to which the sociological findings will be applied 3. Sociology is a Science • Sociologists are bound to follow scientific methods • This ensures that their work can be validated by others 4. A Structured Profession • Sociology is more than common- sense: it has a body of concepts, methods and data. • Sociology is reflective, unlike common-sense. The Nature of Sociology

19. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 19 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 4. What went into the making of Sociology? Theory/ Ideas Material Issues Sociology

20. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 20 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 4.1. Intellectual Ideas involved in making Sociology • Darwin’s ideas about organic evolution were a major influence - Society was compared with living organisms. • Findings about pre-modern societies by early travellers and colonial administrators were another major influence • Sociologists and anthropologists made efforts to trace the growth of society through stages, similar to those of organic life – they categorised societies into types distinguished by their stages of social development • Example: societies were classified into: − Pre-modern societies such as hunters and gatherers, pastoral and agrarian, agrarian and nonindustrial civilisations. − Modern societies such as the industrialised societies • This way of looking at society as a system of parts, each part playing a given function influenced the study of social institutions like the family or the school and structures such as stratification.

21. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 21 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 4.1. Intellectual Ideas… contd. • The Enlightenment, an European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries, emphasised reason and individualism. • Thinkers of the early modern era were convinced that progress in knowledge promised the solution to all social ills. • They believed that social issues could be studied - social survey was based on the belief that human phenomena can be classified and measured.

22. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 22 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 4.2. Material issues involved in making Sociology Industrial revolution and capitalism caused permanent changes to the social structure, and consequently had a profound impact in shaping Sociology as several issues related to the changes surfaced: • Chief occupation changed from agriculture and textiles to factory workers, marked by degradation of labour • From villages to urban cities • From small societies to large cosmopolitans • From hierarchical setup to mixed free-floating defined by current economic status • From close interaction to distanced individuals • From work-rhythms decided by phase of daylight, constraints of deadlines and other social duties, to clock time as a basis of social organisation

24. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 24 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 5. Why do we study European sociology? Two major reasons: • The issues and concerns of sociology that came to the fore with the advent of capitalism and industrialisation in the European society are pertinent even now, and relevant to all modern societies. • For Indian sociologists it is even more important to understand the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe considering India’s modern history is closely intertwined with that of its colonial ruler England, and England was the hotseat of most of these changes

26. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 26 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 6. What influenced emergence of Sociology in India? 1 A Colonial Past • India’s colonial past impacted the emergence of sociology • Impact of industrialisation in India was not the same as in the west. • Example: the people displaced due to industrialisation were not necessarily able to get jobs and a better urban lifestyle 2 Incorrect Western Understanding • Emergence of sociology in India was impacted by incorrect western writings and ideas. • The western view of the Indian village as a ‘remnant or survival’ from ‘the infancy of society’ 3 Social Plurality • The difference that exists between Sociology (industrial societies) and Social Anthropology (simple societies) in the western world does not exist in India considering its extreme plurality.

28. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 28 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 7. What is the scope of Sociology? From the perspective of the content that Sociology is studying i.e., the focus of its analysis, scope of Sociology includes: Global Issues National Issues Individuals’ Issues Focus on the examination of global processes. Example: impact of media on the young, impact of foreign universities on Indian education system. Focus on national issues. Example: unemployment, caste conflict, effect of policies on tribal population, rural indebtedness Focus on meaningful interactions between individuals. Ex: between shopkeeper and customers, teachers and students, two friends or family members.

30. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners • Sociology is one of a group of social sciences which also includes other disciplines • These sciences share common interests, concepts, and methods. 30 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8. How is Sociology related to other disciplines? Social Sciences Anthropo- logy Economics History Political Science Psychology Sociology

31. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 31 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8.1. Sociology and Social Anthropology The Difference • Content: Sociology is the study of modern, complex societies while social anthropology is the study of simple societies. • Focus: Social anthropology studies simple societies in all their aspects, as wholes. The specialisation is on the basis of area. Sociologists focus on either parts of society like the bureaucracy, religion, caste or a process such as social mobility. • Research Method: Social anthropology was characterised by a long field work tradition, living in the community, studying and using ethnographic research methods. Sociologists have often relied on survey method and quantitative data using statistics and the questionnaire mode. The Change • Assumption behind studying a simple society was that it was bounded. Today, we know this is not true. • It was feared that with decline of simple societies, anthropology would lose its specificity and merge with sociology. But: • There have been fruitful interchanges between the two disciplines and today often methods and techniques are drawn from both. • There have been anthropological studies of the state and globalisation, instead of the traditional subject matter. • Sociology started using anthropological quantitative and qualitative techniques, macro and micro approaches for studying the complexities of modern societies.

32. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 32 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8.2. Sociology and Economics How Sociology views economics The sociological approach looks at economic behaviour in the broader context of social norms, values, practices and interests. The large investment in the advertisement industry is directly linked to the need to reshape lifestyles and consumption patterns. How Economics contributes to Sociology The defined scope of economics has facilitated its development as a highly focused, coherent discipline, which can translate the results of theoretical work into practical suggestions having major implications for public policy. How Sociology and Economics complement each other • Economists’ predictive abilities often suffer because of their neglect of individual behaviour, cultural norms and institutional resistance, things which sociologists study. • Sociology unlike economics usually does not provide technical solutions. But it encourages a questioning and critical perspective.

33. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 33 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8.3. Sociology and History The Difference • Content: Historians study the past, sociologists are more interested in the contemporary or recent past. • Focus: Earlier, historians were content to delineate the actual events, to establish how things actually happened, while in sociology the focus was to establish causal relationships. • Level of Depth: History studies concrete details while the sociologist is more likely to abstract from concrete reality, categorise and generalise. The Change • Historians now use sociological methods and concepts in their analysis. • Earlier, history was about the history of kings and war. Less glamorous or exciting events as changes in land relations or gender relations within the family were not studied by historians, but formed the core area of the sociologist’s interest. • Now, history is far more sociological - it looks at social patterns, gender relations, mores, customs and important institutions other than the acts of rulers, wars and monarchy.

34. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 34 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8.4. Sociology and Political Science The Difference • Content: Conventionally, political science was focused primarily on two elements: political theory and government administration. Neither branch involved extensive contact with political behaviour. Sociologists like Max Weber worked in what can be termed as political sociology which focused on the study of political behaviour. • Focus: Sociology focuses on interrelationships between sets of institutions including government, whereas political science focuses on processes within the government. Studies have also been conducted in membership of political organisations, process of decision-making in organisations, sociological reasons for support of political parties, the role of gender in politics, etc.

35. Sociology Super-Notes PsychoTech Services Sociology Learners 35 Introducing Sociology – Sociology and Society 8.5. Sociology and Psychology • The two disciplines complement each other, and Social Psychology serves as a bridge between the two • It maintains a primary interest in the individual but concerns itself with the way in which the individual behaves in social groups, collectively with other individuals. • Sociology attempts to understand behaviour as it is organised in society, that is the way in which personality is shaped by different aspects of society.

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