Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY

market that decides which subject
I
choice may increase or decrease your
chances in the job market. The third
INTRODUCTION
and fourth advice complicate the matter
Let us begin with some suggestions even more. It is not just our personal
that are often made to young students effort or just the job market that makes
like you. One advice often made is, a difference — our gender and family or
“Study hard and you will do well in social background also matter.
life.” The second advice as often made Individual efforts matter a great deal
is, “ If you do this subject or set of but do not necessarily define outcomes.
subjects you will have a better chance As we saw there are other social factors
of getting a good job in the future”. The that play an important role in the final
third could be, “ As a boy this does not outcome. Here we have only mentioned
seem a correct choice of subject” or “As the ‘job market’, the ‘socioeconomic
a girl, do you think your choice of background’ and ‘gender’. Can you
subjects is a practical one?” The fourth, think of other factors? We could well
“Your family needs you to get a job soon ask, “Who decides what is a ‘good job’?”
so why choose a profession that will Do all societies have similar notions of
take a very long time” or “You will join what is a “good job?” Is money the
your family business so why do you criteria? Or is it respect or social
wish to do this subject?” recognition or individual satisfaction
Let us examine the suggestions. Do that decides the worth of a job? Do
you think the first advice contradicts culture and social norms have any role
the other three? For the first advice to play?
suggests that if you work very hard, you The individual student must study
will do very well and get a good job. hard to do well. But how well h/she
The onus rests upon the individual. The does is structured by a whole set of
second advice suggests that apart from societal factors. The job market is
your individual effort, there is a job defined by the needs of the economy.

2 INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY

The needs of the economy are again Third, this chapter introduces
determined by the economic and sociology as a systematic study of
political policies pursued by the society, distinct from philosophical and
government. The chances of the religious reflections, as well as our
individual student are affected both by everyday common sense observation
these broader political and economic about society. Fourth, this distinct way
measures as well as by the social of studying society can be better
background of her/his family. This understood if we look back historically
gives us a preliminary sense of how at the intellectual ideas and material
sociology studies human society as an contexts within which sociology was
interconnected whole. And how society born and later grew. These ideas and
and the individual interact with each material developments were mainly
other. The problem of choosing subjects western but with global consequences.
in the senior secondary school is a Fifth, we look at this global aspect and
source of personal worry for the the manner in which sociology emerged
individual student. That this is a in India. It is important to remember
broader public issue, affecting students that just as each of us have a
as a collective entity is self evident. One biography, so does a discipline.
of the tasks of sociology is to unravel Understanding the history of a
the connection between a personal discipline helps understand the
problem and a public issue. This is the discipline. Finally the scope of sociology
first theme of this chapter. and its relationship to other disciplines
We have already seen that a ‘good is discussed.
job’ means different things to different
societies. The social esteem that a II
particular kind of job has or does not
have for an individual depends on the THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION:
culture of his/her ‘relevant society’. THE P ERSONAL P ROBLEM AND THE
What do we mean by ‘relevant society’? PUBLIC ISSUE
Does it mean the ‘society’ the individual We began with a set of suggestions that
belongs to? Which society does the
drew our attention to how the individual
individual belong to? Is it the
and society are dialectically linked. This
neighbourhood? Is it the community?
is a point that sociologists over several
Is it the caste or tribe? Is it the
professional circle of the parents? Is it generations have been concerned with.
the nation? Second, this chapter C. Wright Mills rests his vision of the
therefore looks at how the individual in sociological imagination precisely in
modern times belongs to more than one the unravelling of how the personal and
society. And how societies are unequal. public are related.

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIETY 3

Activity 1
Read the text from Mills carefully. Then examine the visual and report below.
Do you notice how the visual is of a poor and homeless couple? The sociological
imagination helps to understand and explain homelessness as a public issue.
Can you identify what could be the causes for homelessness? Different groups
in your class can collect information on possible causes for example, employment
possibilities, rural to urban migration, etc. Discuss these. Do you notice how
the state considers homelessness as a public issue that requires concrete
measures to be taken, for instance, the Indira Awas Yojana?

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

The Indira Awas Yojana,
operationalised from 1999-
2000 is a major scheme by
the government’s Ministry of
Rural Development (MORD)
and Housing and Urban
Development Corporation
(HUDCO) to construct houses
free of cost for the poor and
the homeless. Can you think
of other issues that show the
connection between personal
problems and public issues?
A homeless couple


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


Discuss the visuals
What kind of pluralities and inequalities do they show?


Activity 2
The Economic Survey of the Government of India suggests that access to
sanitation facilities is just 28 per cent. Find out about other indicators of social
inequality, for instance education, health, employment etc.

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


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


ledge have been made, generally
Activity 3 incrementally and only rarely by a
dramatic breakthrough.
An example of poverty has been
given below and we also touched Sociology has a body of concepts,
upon it in our discussion on the methods and data, no matter how
homeless. Think of other issues and loosely coordinated. This cannot be
how they could be explained in a substituted by common sense.
naturalistic and sociological way. Common sense is unreflective since it
does not question its own origins. Or
Sociology thus breaks away from in other words it does not ask itself:
both common sense observations and “Why do I hold this view?” The
ideas as well as from philosophical sociologist must be ready to ask of any
thought. It does not always or even of our beliefs, about ourselves — no
generally lead to spectacular results. matter how cherished — “is this really
But meaningful and unsuspected so?” Both the systematic and question-
connections can be reached only by ing approach of sociology is derived
sifting through masses of connections. from a broader tradition of scientific
Great advances in sociological know- investigation. This emphasis on
Explanation of Naturalistic Sociological
Poverty People are poor because they are Contemporary poverty is caused
afraid of work, come from by the structure of inequality in
‘problem families’, are unable to class society and is experienced
budget properly, suffer from low by those who suffer from chronic
intelligence and shiftlessness. irregularity of work and low
wages (Jayaram 1987:3).

Unsuspected Connections?
In many societies, including in many parts of India, the line of descent and
inheritance passes from father to son. This is understood as a patrilineal system.
Keeping in mind that women tend not to get property rights, the Government of
India in the aftermath of the Kargil War decided that financial compensation for
the death of Indian soldiers should go to their widows so that they were provided
for.
The government had certainly not anticipated the unintended consequence
of this decision. It led to many forced marriages of the widows with their brother-
in-law (husband’s brother or dewar). In some cases the brother-in-law (then
husband) was a young child and the sister-in-law (then wife) a young woman.
This was to ensure that the compensation remained with the deceased man’s
patrilineal family. Can you think of other such unintended consequences of a
social action or a state measure?


scientific procedures can be understood developed. The Indian colonial
only if we go back in time. And experience has to be seen in this light.
understand the context or social Indian sociology reflects this tension
situation within which the sociological which “go far back to the history of
perspective emerged as sociology was British colonialism and the
greatly influenced by the great intellectual and ideological response
developments in modern science. Let us to it…” (Singh 2004:19). Perhaps
have a very brief look at what because of this backdrop, Indian
intellectual ideas went into the making sociology has been particularly
of sociology. thoughtful and reflexive of its practice
(Chaudhuri 2003). You will be
VI engaging with Indian sociological
thought, its concerns and practice in
THE INTELLECTUAL IDEAS THAT WENT greater detail in the book,
INTO THEMAKING OF SOCIOLOGY Understanding Society (NCER T,
Influenced by scientific theories of 2006).
natural evolution and findings about Darwin’s ideas about organic
pre-modern societies made by early evolution were a dominant influence on
travellers, colonial administrators, early sociological thought. Society was
sociologists and social anthropologists often compared with living organisms
sought to categorise societies into and efforts were made to trace its
types and to distinguish stages in growth through stages comparable to
social development. These features those of organic life. This way of looking
reappear in the 19th century in works at society as a system of parts, each
of early sociologists, Auguste Comte, part playing a given function influenced
Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer. the study of social institutions like the
Efforts were therefore made to classify family or the school and structures
different types of societies on that such as stratification. We mention this
basis, for instance: here because the intellectual ideas that
• Types of pre-modern societies such went into the making of sociology have
as hunters and gatherers, pastoral a direct bearing on how sociology
studies empirical reality.
and agrarian, agrarian and non-
The Enlightenment, an European
industrial civilisations.
intellectual movement of the late 17th
• Types of modern societies such as and 18th centuries, emphasised reason
the industrialised societies. and individualism. There was also great
Such an evolutionary vision advancement of scientific knowledge
assumed that the west was and a growing conviction that the
necessarily the most advanced and methods of the natural sciences should
civilised. Non- western societies were and could be extended to the study of
often seen as barbaric and less human affairs. For example poverty, so


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


From working class neighbourhoods to slum localitites


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


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

Here Africans and Chinese, Biharis
and Dutch, Persians and Tamils,
Activity 6 Arabs, French and English all rub
Find out how industrial capitalism merrily with one another... A Tamil,
changed Indian lives in villages and for instance, bears a deceptively
cities. south Indian face and a name to go
with it to boot; Radha Krishna


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

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


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


Discuss how you think history, sociology, political science, economics
will study fashion/clothes, market places and city streets


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


Pierre Bourdieu wrote in 1998. Sociology and Political Science

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


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


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

Tea pickers in Assam


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


GLOSSARY

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

EXERCISES

1. Why is the study of the origin and growth of sociology important?
2. Discuss the different aspects of the term ‘society’. How is it different
from your common sense understanding?
3. Discuss how there is greater give and take among disciplines today.
4. Identify any personal problem that you or your friends or relatives are
facing. Attempt a sociological understanding.


READINGS

BERGER , PETER L. 1963. Invitation to Sociology : A Humanistic Perspective.
Penguin, Harmondsworth.
BIERSTEDT, ROBERT. 1970. Social Order. Tata Mc. Graw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd,
Bombay.
BOTTOMORE, TOM. 1962. Sociology : A Guide to Problems and Literature. George,
Allen and Unwin, London.
C HAUDHURI, M AITRAYEE . 2003. The Practice of Sociology. Orient Longman,
New Delhi.
DESAI, A.R. 1975. Social Background of Indian Nationalism, Popular Prakashan,
Bombay.
DUBE, S.C. 1977. Understanding Society : Sociology : The Discipline and its
Significance : Part I. NCERT, New Delhi.
FREEMAN, JAMES M. 1978. ‘Collecting the Life History of an Indian Untouchable’,
from V ATUK, SYLVIA. ed., American Studies in the Anthropology of India.
Manohar Publishers, Delhi.
GIDDENS, ANTHONY. 2001. Sociology. Fourth Edition, Polity Press, Cambridge.
INKELES, ALEX. 1964. What is Sociology? An Introduction to the Discipline and
Profession. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
JAYARAM, N. 1987. Introductory Sociology. Macmillan India Ltd, Delhi.
LAXMAN, R.K. 2003. The Distorted Mirror. Penguin, Delhi.
MILLS, C. WRIGHT. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. Penguin, Harmondsworth.
SINGH , YOGENDRA . 2004. Ideology and Theory in Indian Sociology. Rawat
Publications, New Delhi.
SRINIVAS, M.N. 2002. Village, Caste. Gender and Method : Essays in Indian
Social Anthropology. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
SWEDBERG, RICHARD. 2003. Principles of Economic Sociology. Princeton University
Press, Princeton and Oxford.

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