Assignment Code: BSOC –132/ASST /TMA /2021-22

Course Code: BSOC –132

Assignment Name: Sociology Of India

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Assignment - I

Answer the following Descriptive Category questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. 2 x20=40

1. Discuss the nature and types of diversities found in India.

Ans) The nature and types of diversities found in India are:

Racial Diversity

A race is a group of people with a set of distinctive physical features such as skin colour, type of nose, form of hair, etc. Herbert Risley had classified the people of India into seven racial types. These are (i) Turko-Iranian, (ii) Indo-Aryan, (iii) Scytho-Dravidian, (iv) Aryo-Dravidian, (v) Mongolo-Dravidian, (vi) Mongoloid, and (vii) Dravidian. These seven racial types can be reduced to three basic types–the Indo-Aryan, the Mongolian and the Dravidian. In his opinion the last two types would account for the racial composition of tribal India. He was the supervisor of the census operations held in India in 1891 and it was data from this census, which founded the basis of this classification. As, it was based mainly on language-types rather than physical characteristics; Risley’s classification was criticised for its shortcomings.

Linguistic Diversity

Around 179 languages and 544 dialects in India are spoken as mother tongue. Not all these languages are, however, equally widespread. Many of them are tribal speeches and these are spoken by less than one percent of the total population. Here you can see that in India there is a good deal of linguistic diversity. Only 18 languages are listed in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. These are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Out of these 18 languages, Hindi is spoken by 39.85 per cent of the total population; Bengali, Telugu and Marathi by around 8 per cent each; Tamil and Urdu by 6.26 and 5.22 per cent, respectively; and the rest by less than 5 per cent each as per 1991 census report.

Religious Diversity

India is a land of multiple religions. We find here followers of various faiths, particularly of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, among others. You know it that Hinduism is the dominant religion of India. According to the census of 1981 it is professed by 82.64 per cent of the total population. Next comes Islam, which is practised by 11.35 per cent. This is followed by Christianity having a following of 2.43 per cent, Sikhism reported by 1.96 per cent, Buddhism by 0.71 per cent and Jainism by 0.48 per cent. The religions with lesser following are Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Bahaism. While Hindu and Muslim are found in almost all parts of India, the remaining minority religions have their pockets of concentration. Christians have their strongholds in the three southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and in the north-eastern states like Nagaland and Meghalaya. Sikhs are concentrated largely in Punjab, Buddhists in Maharashtra, and Jains are mainly spread over Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat, but also found in most urban centres throughout the country.

Caste Diversity Unity and Diversity in India

India, as you know, is a country of castes. The term caste is generally used in two senses: sometimes in the sense of Varna and sometimes in the sense of Jati. (i) Varna refers to a segment of the four-fold division of Hindu society based on functional criterion. The four Varna are Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra with their specialised functions as learning, defence, trade and manual service. The Varna hierarchy is accepted all over India. (ii) Jati refers to a hereditary endogamous status group practising a specific traditional occupation. You may be surprised to know that there are more than 3,000 jati in India. These are hierarchically graded in different ways in different regions. It may also be noted that the practice of caste system is not confined to Hindus alone. We find castes among the Muslim, Christian, Sikh as well as other communities.

2. In what ways did society in India change in terms of its economy and society after 1990’s?

Ans) The factors that led to change in India are:

The vastness of plurality of traditions and the caste system makes it different on the world map. The changes of both cultural and structural types specific to Indian society are due to several factors. Contemporary India is a developing economy where there is a gradual shift from the established patterns of traditional society towards modernization through Industrial growth and development of modern technology, equipment and scientific knowledge. It is experiencing processes of economic growth, industrialization, urbanisation, and globalisation. Since these processes are still unfolding, India is experiencing continuous change both culturally and structurally. Colonisation is a process when technologically dominant people temporarily conquer other people, inhabit their land and exploit them for political, military and economic expansion and power. In India British took control over to establish their own empire. Along with technology they also transported modern legal and administrative system from Britain. The new system ushered changes in our political, economic and social structure. The impact of Colonialism therefore is far more than can be imagined. The far-reaching structural changes due to the impact of colonisation that also initiated cultural changes can be experienced in contemporary period too.

The unintended changes inherent in colonization were Modernization and Secularization. They are crucial factors in understanding the ongoing cultural changes in India. The western impact and rise of education lay the foundations for modernization in India during colonial period. M.N. Srinivas’s Westernization explains the western impact at two levels. It includes all changes that happened with intellectual growth due to the spread of western education, liberal ethos and rise of middle class along with those that reflected in western ways of dressing, eating and adoption of cultural traits. Colonial encounters brought ideas of individualism, nationalism, ideas of freedom, rational and objective thinking. The basic application of such principles of modernity is modernization. Modernization in simple terms would mean a “process denoting a movement from traditional or quasi-traditional order to certain desired types of technology and associated forms of social structure, value orientations, motivations, and norms” (Dube 1996: 112).

As Rudolph and Ruloph would argue ‘this would mean adoption of universal and scientific thinking over the parochial and non-rational.’ Modernization is when along with technological expansion; people’s lives are regulated by choices and not by birth. Secularization is the process that emerges with modernization where religion is not the guiding framework for human action and is less influential in the lives of ordinary people. Changing India Modern thinkers believed education, critical thinking and scientific advancement will contribute towards decline of religion and will give birth to scientific temperament in human societies. This did work so well in the Indian context.

In India, after Independence, Industrialisation was seen as key to achieving economic growth and development. Industrialisation is a process that ensures the growth of industrial society in contrast to the agriculture one by restructuring the economic system for manufacturing goods and services. Sociologically societies of industrial types were considered as developed where the human beings controlled the technological and natural growth, with extreme division of labour and prosperity. Or let us say societies that have experienced processes of modernisation, industrialisation and technological expansion. These are seen in contrast to the traditional societies, which are based on agriculture, less prosperous and rural in nature. Closely linked to processes of industrialization and modernisation is the process of Urbanisation. It is growth of cities and movement of people from rural areas to urban areas, such as towns and cities, where in place of agriculture, employment opportunities are linked to trade, manufacture and Industrial production. In comparison to villages, you must have noticed, cities have better educational facilities and increased economic activities. This is because they have definite cultural patterns, advanced economic, political structures and modern bureaucratic and administrative systems.

Assignment - II

Answer the following Short Category questions in about 250 words each. Each question carries 10 marks. 3 X 10 = 30

3. Define the concept of class. Discuss the structure of class in urban India.

Ans) In Indian society, caste and class as two different forms of social stratification have often been found to overlap with each other.

The structure of class in urban India is as follows:

Commercial and Industrial Classes

Under the British rule, production in India became production for market. As a result of this, internal market expanded, and the class of traders engaged in internal trading grew. Simultaneously, India was also linked up with the world market. This led to the growth of a class of merchants engaged in export-import business.

The Corporate Sector

Any organisation that is under government ownership and control is called as public sector units and any organisation, which does not belong to public sector can be taken to be a part of private sector. The firms and organisation which are owned, controlled and managed exclusively by private individuals and entities are included in private sector.

Professional Classes

The new economic and state systems brought about by the British rule required cadres of educated Indians trained in modern law, technology, medicine, economics, administrative science and other subjects. In fact, it was mainly because of the pressing need of the new commercial and industrial enterprises and the administrative systems that the British government was forced to introduce modern education in India.

Petty Traders, Shopkeepers and Unorganised Workers

In addition to the new classes discussed above, there has also been in existence in urban areas a class of petty traders and shopkeepers. These classes have developed with the growth of modem cities and towns. They constitute the link between the producers of goods and commodities and the mass of consumers.

Petty Traders, Shopkeepers and Unorganised Workers

In addition to the new classes discussed above, there has also been in existence in urban areas a class of petty traders and shopkeepers. These classes have developed with the growth of modem cities and towns. They constitute the link between the producers of goods and commodities and the mass of consumers.

4. What is a family? How many types of family are found in India? Discuss.

Ans) Family is a group defined by a sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the procreation and upbringing of children. It is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction.

Types of Family found in India

Nuclear and Joint Family

The above definitions of the nuclear and the joint family are limited in the sense that they do not say anything more than the compositional aspect of the family. When we look at the wide variations through time in patterns of family living based on region, religion, caste and class in India we find that the nuclear and the joint family organisation cannot be viewed as two distinct, isolated and independent units but as a continuum, as something interrelated in a developmental cycle.

The Continuum of Nuclear and Joint Family Systems

We say that the nuclear and the joint family systems must be viewed as a continuum. This means that these two types of family systems must be looked at as something interrelated in a developmental cycle. The structure of a family changes over a time period in terms of size, composition, role and status of persons, the family and societal norms and sanctions. There probably is rarely a family in India, which remains perpetually nuclear in composition. Often additional members like an aged parent or unmarried brothers and sisters may come to live with a man, his wife and unmarried children. The nuclear family then, is a stage in a cycle with other structural types of families. Even when certain forces have enjoined the establishment of nuclear household, for a relatively long period of time, the ritual, economic and sentimental link with relatives who compose a joint family are often maintained. We shall discuss about these forces and impact of these forces in the next section.

5. Describe the relationship between religion and society mentioned by Marx and Weber.

Ans) Max Weber

Max Weber, a German sociologist, is known to have developed a theory of religion in which the economic relevance of religion is demonstrated. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1948), he assessed the contribution of Protestant ethics in the development of modern economic system of capitalism. For him Protestant ethics played a decisive role in the development of capitalism in the West, whereas it could not develop in Asian countries such as India. It is considered that the religious ethics of Hinduism, about caste, hinders development of capitalism according to Weber. He considered Hinduisms, as another worldly religion. Caste imposed structural restraints on economic development. (However, later scholars like Milton Singer and Bernard Cohn studied the Madras capitalists who did not subscribe to Weber’s ideas on Hinduism) He argues that there is a fundamental difference between Protestants and Catholics in terms of their inclination towards industrial and commercial actions. Protestants could acquire industrial skills and explored modern occupations and avenues of administrative positions whereas Catholics remained in traditional occupations. According to him, Protestants have methodical and ascetic norms of conduct which is the essential spirit of capitalism.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx, a German philosopher has developed the critical theory of religion unlike Durkheim and Weber. Marx was more concerned with how religion generate a false consciousness of the existing social reality thereby normalising and justifying the unequal social structure and giving people an illusory happiness. Marx was not only theorising the relationship between religion and society and how does religion affect human behaviour, but he was also addressing how to change the unequal structure of society which is disguised in religion. In this way, Marx was primarily dealing with the political aspects of religion rather than the functionality as Durkheim was. In his materialist conception of history, Marx argued that religion reflects the material conditions of society. To quote him, “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but on the contrary, their social existence determines their consciousness (1859).” This means that ideas at the level of consciousness cannot solely determine the social structure as Weber has propounded. Religious idea can justify the prevailing socio-economic conditions but cannot produce them alone. Religion cannot exist in an isolated fashion from the socio-economic structure. In this way Marx’s thesis on religion is opposite to Weber’s Religion understanding.

Assignment - III

Answer the following Short Category questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 6 marks. 5 X 6 = 30

6. What is a tribe?

Ans) The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant usage of the term is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflicting theoretical understandings of social and kinship structures and reflecting the problematic application of this concept to extremely diverse human societies. The concept is often contrasted by anthropologists with other social and kinship groups, being hierarchically larger than a lineage or clan, but smaller than a chiefdom, nation or state. These terms are equally disputed. In some cases, tribes have legal recognition and some degree of political autonomy from national or federal government, but this legalistic usage of the term may conflict with anthropological definitions.

7. How many languages are there in India.

Ans) While the famous linguist Grierson noted 179 languages and 544 dialects, the 1971 census on the other hand, reported 1652 languages in India which are spoken as mother tongue. Not all these languages are, however, equally widespread. Many of them are tribal speeches and these are spoken by less than one percent of the total population. Here you can see that in India there is a good deal of linguistic diversity. Only 18 languages are listed in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. These are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Out of these 18 languages, Hindi is spoken by 39.85 per cent of the total population; Bengali, Telugu and Marathi by around 8 per cent each; Tamil and Urdu by 6.26 and 5.22 per cent, respectively; and the rest by less than 5 per cent each as per 1991 census report.

8. What is secularism? Give an example.

Ans) The word secular is derived from the Latin word ‘secular’, which means the ‘present age or generation’. The word secular came to be associated with the social process of secularisation. Secularisation came into use in Europe, to describe the transfer of territories previously under the control of the church to the dominion of secular authority or the state. The distinction that was already prevalent in Christian conception between the sacred and secular was brought into the fore to assert the superiority of the sacred.

Example: The separation of church and state in the US constitution in the First Amendment and the ban on religious tests for office, the Fundamental Rights in the Indian constitution that guarantees freedom of religion and equality before law for all citizens, the Fundamental Rights in the Irish constitution that guarantees citizens the same rights are three simple examples. None of these states have a “state religion” or an “official” religion.

9. Define the concept of caste.

Ans) Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanisation and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in eusocial insects such as ants, bees, and termites

10. What is social change?

Ans) In sociology, we look at social change as alterations that occur in the social structure and social relationship. The International Encyclopaedia of the Social Science looks at change as the important alterations that occur in the social structure, or in the pattern of action and interaction in societies. Alterations may occur in norms, values, cultural products and symbols in a society. Other definitions of change also point out that change implies, above all other things, alteration in the structure and function of a social system. Institutions, patterns of interaction, work, leisure activities, roles, norms and other aspects of society can be altered over time as a result of the process of social change.