SOCIOLOGY II

Definition:

Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and
compelling enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings. The
scope of sociological study is extremely wide ranging from analysis of passing
encounters between individuals in the street to the investigation of global social
processes.

Scope and way of sociological study:

Sociology basically studies human relationships and it can be studied both at a macro
as well as a micro level. For example a family can be studied in two ways.

At the macro level, one can study the functions of the family in the society. Functions
such as

1) giving identity to a person

2) giving emotional, psychological support to a person

While at the micro level individual members of the family can be studied. A study of
relationships can take place.

1) Relation between spouses

2) Relation between siblings, parent and child, grand parents

Study of the family at the micro level involves the study of individual actors that
constitute the family rather than the study of the family as a whole, which takes place
at a macro level study of the family. At the macro level family is taken to be one unit
of the entire society while at the micro level each individual is one unit of the family.

Both the micro and macro level represent the analytical point of departure from where
we start our study.

Scope of Sociology:

Sociology has a very wide scope as there can be many perspectives to one particular
activity. This has been explained through the example of coffee and romantic love

It has been explained how the perception of love has changed over a period of time. In
the present times, love is concerned to be an emotion that ultimately leads to
marriage. However, this perception was not always there. In the earlier times, the
concept of love and then marriage never even existed. It was said that to love one’s
wife was adultery. Earlier marriages took place to keep one’s property in the hands of
the family or to raise children to work at the farm. After marriage, the people might
have come close but not before. Love was considered at best, to be a weakness and at
worst, to be a sickness. This shows how with changing views of the people who
constitute society the perception a particular thing changes.
The second example that has been used to explain the scope of sociology is coffee. It
is said that coffee can be viewed differently by different people.

1) It can be a habit, a form of a ritual like brushing your teeth for some people.
Like people in the morning drink tea, for some people coffee would be the
same. It has symbolic value
2) Coffee can be viewed as a form of social ritual where the conversation
between the coffee drinkers is more important than drinking the coffee itself
3) Coffee can be perceived as a drug, a form of addiction in countries where it is
banned and not perceived as a drug where it is not. Sociologists are interested
in knowing why these contracts exist.
4) It can be seen as something that helps in establishing social and economic
relationships. It can be used as a commercial good for example, countries like
Brazil package, distribute and market coffee. As a result, transactions might
take place between people millions of miles away. Studying these global
transactions forms a part of sociology, as many aspects of our lives are
affected by world wide influences and communications.
5) It also reflects past social and economic relationships. It shows how the past
has influenced the present. Coffee originated in the Middle East. But due to
colonization by the British, there was an intermixing of cultures. The colonizer
(british) gave something about his culture to the colonized and vice versa. This
is how coffee spread to western countries like the US, where it became such
an inherent part of their culture over a period of time that it was forgotten it
was acquired from the British. A sociologist is interested in studying such
influences.

Concept of Sociological Imagination:

The concept of sociological imagination is used for sociological study. The concept of
sociological imagination is studying something that everybody can relate to it has to
be something familiar and not necessarily experienced by the person who tries to
understand the study of the sociologist. It is studying in a particular context. In social
imagination, following questions are asked

1) What is the incident that has happened

2) Why did it happen
3) How did the incident happen
4) Where did it happen
5) Did it have any change

The sociologist studies these incidents without any bias and does a systematic
research. Sociological imagination helps us to see events in the larger context.

For example

1) Divorce could be a troublesome issue for the people involved yet at the same
time it could be a public issue as well in the society as well, if a third of all
marriages break down in 10 years
 2) Unemployment is another example, which could be a huge problem for an
individual yet at the same time it could be a problem for the entire country
where many are unemployed.

Sociology helps us in understanding human behaviour.

Human behaviour is linked to the concept of social structure. This is not a physical
structure, but it is just a patterned structure. They are the regularities in the ways we
behave and in the relationships we have with one another. It is reconstructed by the
individuals continuously.

As a result, human behaviour is influenced by the social context, yet, not completely.
There has to be a balance between what the society makes of us and what we make of
ourselves independently away from the influence of the society.

Intended and Unintended consequences

Every social phenomenon has two types of consequences.

1) Manifest or intended - these are the intentional consequences or the desired

result of the action, or the change that one intends to bring about
2) Latent or unintended- these are the unintentional consequences of the action
undertaken. They are not desired and it is a change that one never intended to
bring about. This change can either be seen immediately or over a period of
time.

For example, a parent tries to discipline a child by being strict and authoritarian so
that he conforms to the socially accepted way of acting. This is the intentional
consequence. However, the unintended consequence of such an action could be that
over a period of time the child could rebel and break loose.

Example 2 - The government tries to construct a big dam for the purpose of providing
electricity and irrigation facilities to a large number of people. This is their intentional
consequence. But the unintentional consequence would be destruction of villages near
the dam site, loss of livelihoods and damage to life, property and environment. But for
the government providing electricity is greater than all the destruction and loss that
takes place, which is why that becomes the government’s intentional consequence.

The same problem if viewed from the perspective of the NGO. For them providing
relief to the ones displaced is more important, so for them to save the villages from
destruction would be the intentional consequence. And the provision of irrigation
facilities and electricity would be the unintentional consequence.

What we do in our lives is a mix of these intended and unintended consequences.

Social Transformation and Social Reproduction

Social reproduction refers to how societies keep going over a period of time. It occurs
because there is a continuity in what people do from day to day and year to year and
the social processes that they follow.
Example- Respecting your elders

Social Transformation—It is the change that society undergoes. These changes occur
due to the intentional and unintentional consequences of peoples’ actions.

Sociologists have to study a balance between social transformation and social

reproduction.

Sociology as a science

Science is the use of systematic method of

1) empirical investigation
2) the analysis of data
3) theoretical thinking
4) logical assessment of arguments
to develop a body of knowledge about a particular subject matter.

According to this definition sociology qualifies as a science. However it shouldn’t

been seen as a natural science as there are certain limitations,

1) Human beings are self aware unlike objects of nature. They confer sense and
purpose on what they do
2) Being aware that they are being studied, they would subconsciously or
consciously behave in a manner that is different from their usual attitudes.
They would portray themselves differently.
3) They might try to assist the researcher by giving them the response they think
the researcher wants.

How Sociology helps us in our lives

1. Awareness of Cultural Differences:

Sociology helps us to see society from different perspectives. It helps us to understand

the problems of others by making us understand their perspective and social
background.

Sociology is a study of diversity, a study of heterogeneous cultures present in society,

a study of complicated relationship of society broken up into

1) Customs and Conventions

2) Language
3) Religion
4) Caste, Race and Gender

This diversity is linked to hierarchy. Hierarchy is linked to importance or preference

given. This preference helps us understand the reason behind anything that happens.
For example- Tamil, Telugu and many regional languages are spoken in the country.
However, hindi is the language that is universally spoken throughout the country as
the majority speaks hindi.

Hierarchy can change from place to place. For example, in certain states there the
hindu population might be less as compared to the non hindu population. In states like
these preferences are given to minors’ religions and languages. While on the other
hand, where hindu population is more, preference to Hinduism and Hindi is given.

2. Assessing the Effect of Policy

Sociology helps us in assessing the results of policy initiatives. It helps us in

understanding the law and the legal system.

Law can be defined as the rules and regulations that regulate human behaviour. There
is a link between Sociology and Law. Both of them are forms of professional practice.
They are similar in scope but completely different in method and aims.

Law is a scholarly professional concerned with the elaboration of the practical art of
government through rules. Its concern is prescriptive and technical. It does not
provide for any reasons as to why the law is like that, it just implies that it has to be
followed. Law tells us the do’s and the don’ts

Sociology is concerned with the scientific study of social phenomena. Its concern is
explanatory and descriptive. They study these phenomena as uncommitted observers.
They do not intend to change society as they are not leaders. They are present only to
make a systematic study. They are the best people to comment on the effect of the law
when laws are made based on the phenomena they have studied. But they are just arm
chair academicians.

Both of them are concerned with a whole range of social relationships. They view
these phenomena as a part of a social structure.

Law is a practical craft that of systematic control of social relations and institutions.
They are various controlling authorities-

1) Judiciary- through laws and establishing rights and duties of a citizen they
help in controlling interpersonal relations. They may pass judgements that
may have not have become a law but suggest formation of a law.

For example- In Vishaka v State of Rajasthan, court tried to control behaviour at

the work place by passing a judgement to prevent sexual harassment against
women at the work place by setting up a complaint cell.

2) Police – is a law enforcement agency to control human behaviour. They are

entrusted with certain responsibilities. It has a very important role to play in times
of communal violence, showing that a democratic state through its agencies can
sometimes take repressive measures legitimately. It assesses whether a complaint
should be registered. Registration of a compliant depends on the profile of the
 person filing it, so this is system is slightly biased. It sometimes takes the role of
a moral guardian.

Sociology is the scientific enterprise that seeks systematic knowledge about them.

There are certain similarities between law and sociology

1. They are concerned with norms and rules that prescribe the appropriate behaviour
for people in a given situation
2. They study conflict and conflict resolution and how finally order can be
established. All laws that are present are to resolve conflicts, so in a way they pre-
empt the existence of a conflict, so that people are aware that if such a conflict
happens, a particular punishment might take place so as to deter them.
3. They are concerned with 1. Nature of legitimate authority
2. Mechanisms of social control
3. Issues of civil rights, power arrangements
4. Relationship between public and private spheress

Classical theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkhiem understood the analysis of
social phenomena in the broad sense. They asked questions such as

1. Nature and direction of social change

2. Conditions and forms of social order
3. Relationship between individual and society

It is at this level of sociological study that sociology has contributed to much

enlightenment and to the law. It does not offer finished knowledge but a continually
broadening self critical effort to explore the mysteries presented by the empirical data
of social life.

3. Self Enlightenment

This refers to increased self understanding. The more we know about why we act as
we do and about the overall workings of our society, the more likely we are to be able
to influence our own futures. Self enlightened groups can benefit from sociological
research and respond in an effective way to government policies or form policy
initiatives of their own

4. Sociologists’ role in the society

Sociologists concern themselves directly with practical matters as professionals.

Sociologists are found to be industrial consultants, urban planners, social workers and
personnel managers as well as in many other practical jobs. Sociologists are highly
aware of all the problems in society and it is difficult for them to not take sides and
become biased.
ARTICLE- SOCIOLOGY AS A FORM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

This article talks about four sociological concepts. They are

1) Interrelationship between society and social

2) Difference between social problems and sociological problems
3) Debunking motif of a sociologist
4) Difference between manifest and latent functions

INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIETY AND SOCIAL

Definition and Applicability of the term Society:

This term has been derived by sociologists from common usage and so its meaning is
imprecise. It can mean

1) A particular band of people eg: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals
2) People endowed with great prestige or privilege, for example, Boston society
ladies
3) Denote company of some sort, for example, a statement like he suffered a lot
in those days because of lack of society.

A sociologist defines society as ‘a large complex of human relationships referring to a

system of interaction’

The term society could be used to denote millions of human beings. It could also be
used to refer to a smaller collectivity.

Two people chatting on the street would not constitute society. But three people
stranded on the island certainly will. Applicability of the term cannot be decided on
quantitative grounds.

It is a complex of relationships succinct enough to be recognised as an autonomous

entity.

Definition and Applicability of Social

In general usage the term could mean

1) The informal quality of the gathering, for example, a statement ‘ this is a

social meeting lets not discuss business here’
2) An altruistic attitude on somebody’s part, for example, ‘ he had a strong social
concern for his job’
3) Anything derived from contact with other people, for example, ‘ a social
disease’
A sociologist refers to the term as the quality of interaction, interrelationship and
mutuality. An exact definition of the term social was given by Max Weber who a said
a social situation was one in which people orient their actions towards one another

So two people chatting on the street is not society. But what transpires between them
is social. Society consists of complex of such social events. The link between society
and social is this meaningful interaction as society is a complex of relationships and
relationships are based on interaction.

Through meaningful interaction one becomes aware of the nature of a relationship

between the people who are interacting and so know what kind of behaviour is
expected.

2. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL PROBLEM AND SOCIOLOGICAL

PROBLEM

Social Problem: Is when something in society does not work the way it is supposed to
according to the official interpretations.

There are 3 social problems given

1. Crime
2. Divorce
3. Revolution

There a lot a of things that are common between these problems

1. Conflict---

Crime- Is a conflict between perpetrator of the crime and the victim

Divorce – Is a conflict between husband and wife
Revolution- Is a conflict of ideas between the revolutionists and the political
group

2. Disorder
3. Deviance—all are considered to be wrong. Element of morality is present in
deviance in deciding what is right or wrong in the larger context of the society.
4. Solution for all these is through the legal system. Law as an agency is a
problem solver to establish order. Both disciplines are about conflict and
resolving conflicts.

Sociological Problem: Is understanding of what goes on in society in terms of social

interaction. So it is not so much why some things go wrong from the viewpoint of the
authorities and the management of the social scene but how the whole system works
in the first place.
A sociological problem sees the structure as a whole and tries to study the problem in
the context in which it happens using sociological imagination.

Crime- a sociologist would study what are the factors that lead to the crime. Factors
such as unemployment or how political parties use people for their own benefit that
leads them to do crime.

So for a sociologist the problem would not be Crime but the Law as a system

Divorce- Rather than viewing it as a problem, a sociologist would look at the

institution of marriage, its functions and support that it gives so that we can realize the
solution.

Revolution— Rather than looking at it from the state’s perspective where people are
rebelling, a sociologist prefers to study the political process of transformation and
analyse and study the policy of the state. For example, the industrial revolution over a
period of time brought about a transformation from one economy to the other. This
long term change shall reflect the revolution rather than any sudden protest by people.
So for a sociologist it is better to study the political authority and its views rather than
the people

3. DEBUNKING MOTIF OF THE SOCIOLOGIST

Debunking means ‘questioning the given’ and by this questioning one looks beyond
of what exists. All sociologists should have this habit of debunking. Sociology as a
discipline, as a mode of study should debunk. It is a practice that is followed in the
discipline, inherently generated in the discipline to be critical. It is a methodology and
is not dependent on the personal choice of the sociologist.

A sociologist should look beyond the façade that exists. There are various examples
given in the article

1) Studying the social structure of a city ( Pg 20- Pg 44,45 of the article )

2) Regarding question of power and denomination ( Pg 21 left column- Pg 46 of
the article)
3) Formal and Informal Organisation of business ( Pg 21 right column- Pg 47 of
article)
4) Investigating whether people marry because they are in love ( Pg 22—Pg 48
of article )

Link between legal positivism and debunking motif. ( Bringing out the link between
sociology and law )

Legal Positivism: It is the oldest and most criticised school of jurisprudence or the
theory of law or the philosophy on which law is based, propounded by Austin, who
was the first significant jurist. It still has a lot of influence. It believed in complete
separation of facts from values. It believed in the is/ought proposition. Legal
positivism is what is and not what should be. According to positivists law is about
what is given and no questions can be asked, it has to be accepted the way it is. Law
cannot be touched and is a part of the society.
Sociology on the other hand debunks. Over a period of time debunking has taken
place. Movements have led to framing of laws.

4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANIFEST AND LATENT FUNCTIONS -

Concept has been discussed earlier in intended and unintended consequences. Some
examples are given further on Pg 25 of the module (Pg 53 of the article). Read from
line 18 onwards.
_____________________________________________________________________

Pg 40 – 105. They are four concepts that are discussed in these pages

1. MODERNITY - This concept has a historical background. They are 3 events that
led to this change

a) Enlightenment- this was a philosophical change over a period

of time around the 16th century AD. This questioned religion.
Prior to enlightenment, dominance of church, superstitious
beliefs.
b) French Revolution – This was a political change that
happened in 1789. There was a change from aristocracy to
democracy. It came up with three concepts- liberty, equality
and fraternity all of which are linked to individuals. Liberty
of the individual. Equality among individual. Fraternity
between individual.
c) Industrial Revolution- This was an economic change that led
to a change from an agrarian to an industrial economy. There
was mass manufacturing and establishment of factories took
place which had a lot of impact. It lead to unemployment,
emergence of working class, skilled labour, migration to
cities for work as there was a separation of the work from
home, clock system- the concept of working hours arose
which was linked to performance with time

LIVING IN MODERNITY

Both time and space were central to the formation of modernity.

For example- A railway time table is like ‘ time space ordering device’ which permits
the complex coordination of trains and their passengers over time and space

Money which provides the enactment of transactions between agents widely separated
in time and space.

Becoming modern meant transformation of time and space and they are explained
through the following
 1) Living as a slave ---

The quote showing diversity in food habits is linked to colonialism. Living as a

slave means the long term cultural impact on African, Latin American and sub-
continental by the colonial powers such as the British. It was a phase of cultural
and structural domination. This domination was linked to hierarchy. Inequality led
to the onset of modernity.

The quote represented the growth of global communication and commerce at that
point of time.

For example- American tobacco and Caribbean sugar which sweetened tea and
coffee harvested by European colonists using slaves was transported across
Atlantic from Africa.

Enslavement highlighted the development of modernity against one’s will. The

slaves were plucked from their existing homes and cultures, transported around
the world in appalling conditions and put to work in the service of capitalism.
For a slave owner, the labour power of the slave was a commodity that had to be
traded and exploited as efficiently as possible. Management of slave labour also
took place to increase productivity and profit.

2) Living by the clock---

This concept was linked to industrial revolution that saw emergence of factory
based system of production that

a) Decided work hours for people

b) Shift from rural to urban areas
c) Separation of the work place from home

It was the basis of social organisation. The crucial aspect was how in the eighteenth
and nineteenth century, the tempo of agricultural and manufacturing labour came to
be set by the clock and the calendar rather than the way it was in the pre modern
times.
Prior to capitalism work rhythms were set by factors such as the period of daylight,
the breaks between tasks and constraints of deadlines or other social duties.

Factory production implied the synchronisation of labour and it brought about

urgency to work. People who used to be free now became subject to the surveillance,
discipline and regulation of industrial capitalism. Employers actively tried to
introduce new attitudes towards work

3) Living in the city---

They were four consequences of living in the city life that are explained below

1) Growth of Urbanisation
Urbanisation was a key dimension of the making of the modern societies.
Urbanisation refers to a movement in the early modern era or the post 18th century,
where a large number or Europeans moved from the country side to urban centres.
This movement was linked to industrialisation. As establishment of large number of
factories took place, life grew around these factories that led to the formation of cities.

2) Creation of Impersonal Relationships

Urbanisation produced a new kind of social as well as physical environment, they

identified sea change in personalities, attitudes and relationships emerging out of city
life. Sociologists suggested the city presented the people with new problems of social
integration.

This creation of impersonal relationships was another important consequence of city

life. Ferdinand Tonnies chartered a shift from gemeinshaft1 to gesellschaft2.

George Simmel described the emergence of distinctive urban personality. He argued

that the pace, complexity and segmentation of modern life increased the number of
non-intimate, standard relationships such as one based on legal rules or the exchange
of money.

3) Anonymity

This is linked to the impersonal relationships. In a city an individual was concerned

with his own life, busy in his own job and living in a very large area as compared to a
small locality back in the rural areas. There was no concept of good neighbours or
anything as people weren’t close enough. City life produced a greater sense of
individuality and detachment and that led to anonymity. People living nearby did not
know each other and it was more about trying to attain one’s own goals and earn for
one’s family that kept everyone going.

4) Control -

In rural areas, in small localities, control could take place within the village as
everyone knew the other. But in cities such control and surveillance was done by the
law. People who had migrated to the cities were from different places, followed
different cultures, practices and laws. In order to keep a proper check it was necessary
to bind them under one common law.

4) Living as a worker-----

The factory provided a strikingly new working environment. In pre- modern times
financial remuneration was only aspect and more importance was given to subsistence
or non monetary obligations.

Under the new conditions of industrial capitalism, a regular wage became crucial for
the survival of the mass of the population. The wage depersonalised relations between
1
Intimate, sentimental and stable relationships between friends and neighbors, based on clear
understanding of social position
2
Impersonal relationships of organizations and association
the employer and employee, turning the worker into abstract labour to be exploited as
efficiently as possible.
A new definition of work arose in the 20th Century

1) It was waged
2) Took place outside the home
3) Performed pre dominantly by men

All of this generated new kinds of social divisions.

1) Sharpened gender differences: Women were squeezed out of economic

activity and left with a clearly defined domestic role
2) Age divisions were heightened: Children and the elderly were excluded from
production and segregated socially
3) A new class structure emerged because of the fluid impersonal relationships of
capitalism.

Employers increasingly engaged in the observation, organisation and regulation of

their workers. As a result the employees often lost control over their work as tasks
were divided into complex divisions of labour. The new conditions of work increased
output but they also brought about conflict and dissatisfaction. The alienation3 and
exploitation of the labour resulted in the workers reacting both informally and
formally in a more organised fashion through trade unionism and other forms of
political activity.

The informal methods were 1) sabotage,

Absenteeism
Pilfering
Day Dreaming

GLOBAL PROCESSES, LOCAL EXPERIENCES – Pg 44 – (not sure about

relevance)

The big city has become a metaphor for modernity. Living as a slave, by the clock and
in the city illustrate one of the many ways in which the formation of modernity
involved the reworking of social worlds and individual biographies. The fundamental
characteristics of modernity were its dynamism and its complexity.

The description of modernity is on the continuing pace and scope of social

development. Modern social structures are in a permanent state of change. According
to Harvey, modernity not only entails a ruthless break with any or all preceding
historical conditions but is characterized by a never ending process of internal
ruptures and fragmentations within itself.

Social forms of modernity have altered greatly over time. During the first half of the
20th Century the influence of modernity spread and modern institutions achieved a
new dominance and sophistication.
3
originally utilized by Marx to describe feelings of estrangement experienced by workers under
industrial capitalism. Now used to describe people’s feelings of isolation, powerlessness and self
estrangement.
Another issue with modernity is diversity of experiences of and responses to
modernity. ….. ( Read the article ! pg 44 - 48)

This basically discusses four key developments which shall be discussed in detail later
in the notes

1) Rise of industrial capitalism (this includes living as a worker. It has been

explained earlier because it was done in the class)
2) Growth of Rationality
3) Dominance of Nation State
4) The separation of public and private spheres

Box 2.1 of this article on Pg 46-47 has six points

1) New forms of capitalism and industrial production

2) Growth of Specialisation and Alteration of occupational structures
3) Emergence of Nation State and its activities
4) Intellectual and Cultural Change
5) Science and Technology
6) Globalisation

RISE OF INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM

1) Living as worker – covered earlier

2) Living as a consumer—

Capitalism generated a consumer revolution. The dominance of the wage and rise of
large scale production drew a large number of people into the world of commodities.
The range of goods available grew rapidly. By the 20th century infrastructure of mass
consumption developed such as establishment of trademarks, brand names,
departmental stores, billboards all of which promoted consumption. This era also
witnessed the birth of occupations such as design, marketing and advertising devoted
to selling goods.

There was emergence of consumerism – a culture centred on the promotion, sale and
acquisition of consumer goods. It involved shifts in attitudes and behaviour. Practice
of following changing fashions became commonplace. Choices in clothes, hair style
and even body shape came to be seen as expression of self. There was a crucial
change in outlook as explained by Campbell, 1992, a willingness to reject existing
goods and practices in favour of new ones. This was due to existence of many goods
and hence a consumer could make a many choices in a particular good.

According Marcuse 1964- People recognised themselves in their commodities.

Consumer goods have eventually become raw materials of life in modernity,

implicated in a whole range of social activities.
LIVING WITH RATIONALITY

Rationality v Law ( ? … not in module. Missed this bit.)

Rationality is a preoccupation with calculating the most efficient means to achieve

one’s goal.

Law—

There is a debate between rationality and law. In a democracy, law is rational or

expected to be rational. Law claims to be rational. The debate is over the question that
who decides the rationality of law. They are different views on this. The legal
positivists think that law should be followed as it is, unquestioned, hence the debate
should not arise in the first place. From the society’s perspective these laws could be
irrational. But sociologists have constantly questioned the rationality of law. This
questioning is linked to gender, feminism. The concept of reasonable man is also
questioned. It is concluded that some source of authority decides whether law is
rational or not.

Living in Rationality is linked to Enlightenment. Enlightenment was an 18th century

philosophical movement based on notions of progress through the application of
reason and rationality. The philosophers of this period saw a world free from religious
dogma within human control, and leading ultimately to emancipation for all human
mankind.

There was a growth of rationality in the 20th century.

1) Rise of science and academia signified rational thought

2) Industrial manufacture meant rationalisation of production
3) Capitalism indicated calculating and systematic pursuit of profit
4) Codified law was the rational organisation of justice

Living in modernity meant being subject to these rational forms of thoughts and social
organisations

This concept is explained through the concept of bureaucracy. They are mainly 3
points that are highlighted in this

1) Functional Hierarchy
2) Impersonal Relationships
3) Specialisation of Work

This concept should not be thought of as something that is only pertaining to

government organisations, but it has universal applicability. It can be used anywhere
such as educational institutions, hospitals and courts. Hierarchies referred to
hierarchies in government civil services, multinational corporations and educational
institutions
In a bureaucracy there are large impersonal organisations in which power lies with the
institutional structure rather than with the individuals who people it.

Bureaucracies also involve specialisation of tasks with clear demarcation of authority

and formal rules and regulations.

LIVING WITH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science and technology as mentioned earlier, reflected the triumph of reason and
rationality.

Scientific knowledge and technological systems played a very important role in

transforming the natural world into an environment that is subject to human control
and co-ordination.

The complexity of these systems reduced the ability of individuals to understand

them. People use technologies such as electricity, medicines and computers without
really understanding how they work. People trust the claims of scientific knowledge
and take advice of technical experts.

For example—In medicine, we hand over our body to the doctor, who claims to
understand our health better than we do

Science and technology provides evidence and has replaced superstition. It poses a
question whether religion has been replaced by a newer faith by the name science and
technology. Science and technology is called the new faith because it has done things
that were earlier considered to be impossible such as looking inside the human body
or flying in the air.

Long distance communication is possible which has had an effect on human

relationships. Communication has become possible through various modes such as the
net which has led to the birth of a new language. Consequently with such a rise of
relationships through the internet, laws have developed to regulate the conduct of
people sitting on the internet. As any kind of crime can happen and the geographical
area covered is vast.

Communities have come up which represent a particular idea. There have been online
petitions. People have from different parts of the world have joined in such causes. It
should be noted that the impact of the internet is limited only to a particular class of
people. Over a period of the time, access to internet has become easier rather than an
individual’s access to the internet.

However with the growth of science and technology there is a heightened sense of
risk. Prior to science and technology, people faced risks through natural disasters or
plagues which were considered to be outside human control. However now, mankind
is responsible for problems such as nuclear war, global warming and large scale
pollution. These problems being in human control has increased the risk. Also only
specialists and experts have the solution to these and their inability to answer or
provide solutions further increases the risk.
LIVING AND DYING WITH THE STATE- Emergence of the State

The nation state was an important aspect of the great transformation. It established an
unprecedented position of power and influence over its population. The role played by
the state in the 19th and 20th century was the following

1. Through codified system of criminal and civil law it claimed the right to judge
and punish the wrong doers of the society and mediate dispute between
individuals. It meted out different type of punishments such as incarceration,
putting people in an asylum or even giving death sentences. It regulated public
and private conduct

There was need for codified laws because of heterogeneity present in the
cities. People came from different cities, backgrounds and cultures following
different types of laws and so they had to be brought under the ambit of one
common law. The state is the ultimate authority and it can intervene in various
aspects about law. With respect to private law it can make laws to increase
population or decrease population. The state can decide what a person should
do or not.

2. It played a key role in economic activity by taking production out of the hand
of the capitalists or by developing a close relationship with them. As a result,
the state became the largest employer in the modern society.

3. National systems of education and welfare were set up. For example, all
children were expected to attend school and people in poverty could expect
some aid from the state

The nation state developed a role that was coercive and supportive of its people. The
development of a modern state was an element of rationalisation.

The reach and power of the government rested on new impersonal bureaucratic forms
of organisation. The state’s authority was maintained through a mixture of force and
consent.

The state exercised a monopoly of coercive power within its borders engaging in
surveillance and at times violence against its own people. Nationalism- a loyalty to
the nation state- became a potent source of identity and a justification of great
brutality. An example was the way in which the authority of the state mobilised
people for war.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE

Modernity meant major shifts in the experience of public and private worlds, in the
conduct of social relationships in the people’s sense of self.
Public life

It highlighted the impersonal character of the city. Urbanisation was one of the factors
contributing to the development of a new public sphere. Other things such as
development of mass communications such as newspapers, books, advertising
billboards etc also contributed as they addressed people as members of public and
audiences. Development of modernity grounded people in anonymous masses and
other pressures contributed to a heightened feeling of individuality and self
consciousness.

The following trends have contributed to a transformation in the ways people are
sociable

1. Custom and tradition as a grounding of social relationship was undermined.

Less emphasis was given to inherited status when defining people and more to
achieved social positions

2. Social practice in pre modern society rested on relative similarity of

background and perspective of all participants. Modernity required to deal
with people who are different from ourselves.

3. There was a greater level of complexity and specialisation in modern societies.

4. In pre-modern societies people were categorised into familiar or strangers.

Living in modernity required a more subtle stance towards many people we
came across.

5. Modern life is characterised by a large number of impersonal relationships,

particularly those governed by formal rules where contact is not really with an
individual but with their bureaucratic rank or professional status

In this environment, people were forced to reflect constantly on whom they are and
how they fit into the world around them.

PRIVATE LIFE

Urbanisation, industrialisation and growth of bureaucracy gave rise to a set of

impersonal relationships in the modern society. However, this did not mean that
intimacy and familiarity disappeared altogether. It got compartmentalised into a
different sphere called the private sphere.

Industrial capitalism separated the work place from resting place. The formal
education system took away some of the household’s responsibility for socialising the
young.

Household was given the new significance of a home that portrayed family as a
crucial site of intimacy. ( Crow and Allan 1980). The modern family came to be
viewed as a source of support and security in an often impersonal and threatening
social environment. (Lasch, 1979).

However, feminists have shown that notions of privacy have masked violence and
exploitation. Modern household has run on the unending labour of women, has not
been fully acknowledged or rewarded.

LAW AND MORALITY

This article deals mainly with three issues. Homosexuality. Racism and Abortion. The
Abortion part – is the debate on right to life. That was the only part dealt in class. The
MRTP Act. Notes below are on homosexuality and racism portion.

Relationship between law and morality

The relationship between law and morality can be represented by 2 partially

intersecting circles, and where they overlap, there is correspondence between law and
moral values. For example- murder is both morally and legally prohibited

Outside the overlapping zone there are

1) Acts that illegal but not necessarily immoral, for example- exceeding your
time limit on a parking meter.
2) Acts that are immoral yet not illegal – for example adultery

The greater that is the intersection the more the law shall be accepted and respected
by the members of the society.

There can also be a conflict between the law and the moral codes of individuals and
groups. For example- in apartheid South Africa, law was used to pursue immoral
aims. The white community, the political system disenfranchised every black person
and law discriminated against them in important aspects of social and economic life.

Fuller’s approach of law

According to Professor Fuller law has an internal morality. In his view a legal system
is the purposive human enterprise of subjecting human conduct to the guidance and
control of general rules. The legal system must conform to certain procedural
standards.

Internal morality has eight essential principles failure to comply with any one of them
or substantial failure in respect of several suggests that law does not exist in that
society.

It is explained through an example of a king Rex – Pg 85 of module. Not very

relevant. For understanding

These failures are mirrored by eight forms of legal excellence towards which a system
of rules may aspire, and which are embodied in the inner morality of the law. They
are
 1) generality
2) promulgation
3) non-retroactivity
4) clarity
5) non- contradiction
6) possibility of compliance
7) constancy
8) congruence between declared rule and general action

If a system does not conform to any of these principles or fails substantially in several
of them then it can be said that law does not exist in that community. Hence Fuller
espouses a procedural natural law approach. The internal morality of law is essentially
a morality of aspiration.

Hart/ Devlin Debate

This illuminates certain fundamental aspects of the role of the law in seeking to
enforce morality. This debate arose because of a report of a British committee that
had been appointed to examine homosexual offences and prostitution. The committee
had concluded that the function of criminal law was to preserve public order and
decency, to protect citizens from what is offensive and injurious. Also to protect from
exploitation and corruption especially the young, inexperienced and frail.

The views of the committee had been influenced by the views of John Stuart Mill who
said that – ‘……. the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over
any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to
others….. ’ ( for complete quote Pg 87 of module, left column)

This harm principle created two problems which was the nucleus for the debate. First
is the criminal law was justified in not punishing what another Victorian called
grosser forms of vice. Second was how does one decide what is harm

Devlin

Lord Devlin took the view that the

1) Society had the every right to punish conduct that in the view of the ordinary
member of the society is grossly immoral.
2) He contended that harm was irrelevant.
3) The fabric of society was maintained by a shared morality. This social
cohesion was undermined when immoral acts were committed.
4) He also said that societies disintegrate from within rather than destroyed by
external forces.
5) Suppression of vice is as much the laws business as the suppression of
revolutionary activities, as it helps the society to maintain its moral code.
6) Acts that cause ‘intolerance, indignation and disgust’ warrant punishment

Hart

Hart challenges the social cohesion argument. He insists that society that does not
require shared morality. He supports the paternalistic role of the law. He differs from
Mill and acknowledges the fact there might be circumstances in which the law ought
to protect individuals from physically harming themselves.

Hart also draws a key distinction between harm caused by public spectacle on one
hand and the offence caused merely through knowledge on the other. So bigamy can
be justifiably be punished as it is a public act, as it can cause offence to religious
sensitivities. Private consensual sexual acts by adults may cause offence but only
through knowledge and thus do not justify punishment. Such acts can be dealt by
legislation.

Natural Law

Natural law is the law of god established through reason. The great roman lawyer
cicero put it as

‘True law is right reason in agreement with Nature. It is of universal application

unchanging and ever lasting. It is a sin to try and alter this law and it is not allowable
to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. God is the author of
law, its promulgator and its enforcing judge.

17th century Europe – there are complete expositions of law purported to be based on
natural law. Hugo de Groot is associated with the secularization of natural law. In the
18th century, Sir William Blackstone proclaimed the significance of natural law in his
commentary on the laws of England where conscreates English law with god given
principles.

Concept of natural law has been exploited to justify various revolutions especially the
American and the French. The American Declaration of Independence holds natural
law to be self evident and says that all men were born equal. They are endowed by the
Creator with unalienable rights. The French Revolution also refers to the natural
rights of mankind. Natural law implicitly condemns genocide. The International
Criminal Court was set up to deal with this. There have been various convictions such
as that of Saddam hussien.

Concept of Individual Rights

Law and Morals are linked to the concept of individual rights. Moral calims are
transformed into moral rights. For example individuals claim rights to a whole range
of goods such as life, work, health, education and housing. People assert their right to
self determination, sovereignity, free trade. Rights have acquired such a significance
that they are considered to be synonymous with law itself.

On the international front at least in theory there are three conventions that bring out
the universal conception and protection of human rights. They are

1) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

2) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
3) Economic, Social, Cultural Rights of 1976
Class discussion on this … that pregnancy act …. Not yet written

SOCIALISATION OF GENDER ROLES

GENDER RELATIONS

CULTURAL UNITY AND DIVERSITY

Culture refers to the social heritage of a people- those learned patterns for thinking,
feeling and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next. It includes

1) Non-material culture- these include abstract creations such as values, beliefs,

symbols, norms, customs and institutional arrangements

2) Material Culture- these include physical artifacts or objects such as stone,

axes, computers etc

Society refers to a group of people who live within the same territory and share a
common culture. In other words, culture is to do with customs of the people and
society is to do with the people who are practicing the customs.

According to social scientists culture is something that provides individuals with a set
of common understandings used to fashion behaviour. Culture allows us to know
what we can expect of others and what they can expect of us. It provides a
configuration of dos and don’t s a complex of patterned mental stop and go signs that
tell us about the social landscape. Culture binds the separated lives of individuals into
a larger whole, making society possible by providing a common framework of
meaning.

The components of culture are the following

1) Norms
2) Values
3) Symbols
4) Language

Norms:

Norms are social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in given
situations. They tell us what we “should”. “ought” and “must” do, as well as what we
“should not”, “ought not” and “must not” do. In all cultures the great body of these
social rules deal with matters involving sex, property and safety.

Norms provide guidance so that we can align our actions with those of others when
situations are unclear or ambigious, and they provide standards by which we judge
other people and make decisions about how we will interact with them.

Norms are subjective in nature but even though they are subjective, we experience
them as objective and independent features of our social environment.
Norms give sanctions. These sanctions could be positive or negative. In a positive
sanction one does not realise the rule, however in the negative sanction one realises
the rule prevalent. The type of sanction that is imposed depends on the nature of
relationship. For example- in a hostel gossip might stop a person from acting in a
particular way as compared to a letter from the warden.

They are different types of norms. They are

1) Folkways- They have to do with customary ways and ordinary conventions by

which we carry out our daily activities. For example- brushing, combing our
hair etc. We view people who violate folkways as strange or different.
Ordinarily we do not give much moral significance to folkways. For example-
we might consider people coming late for appointments as thoughtless but not
evil. Gossip and ridicule are important mechanisms for enforcing folkways.

2) Mores- they are seen vital to a society’s well being and survival. People
usually attach moral significance to mores, and they define people who violate
them as sinful and evil. Consequently the punishment for violators of a
society’s mores is severe. They maybe put to death, imprisoned, mutilated, or
tortured.

3) Laws- Norms are formalized into laws. They are rules that are enforced by a
special political organization composed of individuals who have the right to
use force. The people who administer laws use physical force and there is a
very little chance of retaliation by a third party. Laws are result of a) conscious
thought b) deliberate planning and c) formal declaration. They can be changed
more easily than folkways or mores.

It should be noted that folkways and mores are distinguished from laws by the fact
that they are usually enforced by people acting in a spontaneous and collective
manner. As mentioned above gossip and ridicule is one good way of enforcing
folkways. These efforts of social control not only involve individual interest but also
group interests. As one belongs to different groups such as family friends all of these
are affected by one’s conduct.

Values:

Values are broad ideas regarding what is desirable, correct and good that most
members of a society share. They are very general and they do not explicitly specify
which behaviour is acceptable and which is not. Values provide us with criteria and
conceptions by which we evaluate people, objects and event to their relative worth,
merit, beauty and morality. People tend to values as the ultimate rationales for the
choices they make in life.
At times different norms are based on same values. Values change over a period of
time.

Norms and Values are intangible aspects of social life, what sociologists term “non
material culture”.

Symbols and Language:

Symbols are acts or objects that have come to be socially accepted as standing for
something else. They come to represent other things through shared understandings
people have.

Symbols are a powerful code or shorthand for representing and dealing with aspects
of the world about us. Symbols can take different forms, for example – gestures.

Gestures also may not be universally interpreted correctly. Greeting and leaving
gestures are different in different cultures. Even gestures used to communicate are not
universal. Also, even though gestures are easily understood within a society of
persons who share their meaning, they are often the basis for misunderstandings
between cultures.

One of the most important symbols is language.

Language is

1) A socially structured system of sound patterns ( words and sentences) with

specific and arbitrary meanings.
2) It is the chief vehicle by which people communicate ideas, information,
attitudes and emotions to another.
3) It is the principal means by which human beings create culture and transmit it
from generation to generation.

Significance of symbols:

Symbolic expression is important. By virtue of it reality becomes internally coded in a

condensed and more easily manipulated form within the individual. Human beings
live their lives primarily within symbolic environments. Other organisms
communicate in a variety of generally programmed ways, including gestures, touch,
chemical signals and sounds, while human beings main symbol of communication is
language which makes them completely unique and distinct from the other species.
Human cultures have unambiguous symbolic elements.

The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis:

According to linguistic relativity hypothesis, people conceptualize the world

differently depending on the nature of the concepts available in their language.
Language serves as a screen admitting some things while filtering out others.
Experience that is perceived through one set of linguistically patterned sensory
screens is quite different from experience perceived through another set.
For example- people living in Florida would have only one word for different types of
snow as they would fail to recognize different types of snow, as they won’t
experience them. While on the other hand, Eskimos would easily be able to identify
different types of snow as they experience them daily and so they shall have different
names for them.

Expressive Symbolism and the Production of culture:

Expressive symbolism is an important vehicle for communicating the norms, values

and beliefs of a society. Both elite culture and popular culture including art, music,
and literature are carriers of expressive symbolism. Expressive symbolism is
intimately connected to society in several important ways.

1) It is a reflection of society. We can understand much about how a society is

organized by examining its culture.
2) Expressive Symbolism carries a code that enables people to recreate society
from one day and from one generation to the next. Through expressive
symbolism of television, literature etc people internalize the values norms nad
beliefs that establish basic goals and guide actions.
3) It can be designed to enhance the power positions of certain groups and
categories of people at the expense of others. For example- production of
patriotic films during war time

Cultural universals:

Culture provides guideposts for our daily activities and these differ from one society
to another. The ‘oughts’ and ‘musts’ of some societies are the ‘ought nots’ and ‘must
nots’ of other societies. The ‘good’ and ‘desirable’ of a group of people might be
‘bad’ and the ‘undesirable’ of another group of people.

Culture universals are the patterned and recurrent aspects of life that appear in all
known societies. They are things that everyone faces in their day to day life. Such as
people must secure a livelihood, socialize children, handle grief and deal with
deviations.

Culture represents an accumulation of solutions to the problems posed by human

biology and the generalities of the human situation. A study carried out has identified
88 general categories of behaviour that are found among all cultures such as food,
clothing, settlements, property etc. These are further sub divided into additional
topics. For example- funeral rites always include expressions of grief.

Universal components do not include the specific details of actual behaviour. They
relate to broad, overall categories and not to content of culture.

Cultural integration:

The items that form a culture tend to constitute a consistent and integrated whole. For
example- societies that value universal education also usually have norms and laws
prescribing that children should go to school, organize education into a collective
activity and create expressive symbolism that that communicates the values of
education such as degrees and diplomas etc.

However, perfect integration is never achieved. The various elements of culture and
society are always changing usually at different rates indicating that there are
inconsistencies. So the aim is to strive for consistency. This strain towards
consistency indicates that there are powerful forces that link various elements of
culture. The parts of culture comprise of a closely interwoven fabric, so that meaning
of one part depends in its connections to other parts.

Ethnocentrism:

The phenomenon of judging the behaviour of other groups by the standards of our
own culture is known as Ethnocentrism.

All groups are ethnocentric- such as families, tribes, nations, cliques etc. The notion
that one belongs to the best people can be functional for groups because it provides a
kind of social glue cementing people together. But it can also be dysfunctional when
it generates inter-group conflict. Combined with competition for scarce resources and
power imbalance between groups ethnocentrism is particularly destructive.

Cultural Relativism:

Cultural relativism is the approach with which one examines the behaviour of other
people in the light of their values, beliefs and motives. That is viewing the other
people from the perspective of their own culture.

In contrast to ethnocentrism cultural relativism employs the kind of value free or

neutral approach. A perspective characterised by cultural relativism does not ask
whether a particular trait is moral or immoral, but what part it plays in the life of a
people.

For example- the practice of Inuits to leave their infirm elderly to perish in the cold
when viewed from their perspective shows that it is a humane measure. As inuits
believe that the individuals experience in the next world a standard of health similar to
that which they enjoyed immediately preceding death.

This same measure might seem to be quite appalling for other cultures. But like
mentioned cultural relativism shall only focus on the significance it plays in that
particular culture and not on how the other cultures view it.

Sub cultures and Counter cultures:

In many modern nations, the members of some groups participate in the main culture
of the society while simultaneously sharing with one another a number of unique
values, norms, traditions and life styles. These distinctive cultural patterns are called
sub cultures.
So in sub culture, the people follow their own culture within the main culture. One
example is the youth culture. The western nations postponed the entrance of their
adolescents into adulthood for economic and educational reasons segregating them in
schools and colleges and relieving them from competing against adults. This created
conditions for development of youth culture. In this instead of competing with adults
along the value dimensions of mainstream culture, adolescents compete with each
other along dimensions of youth culture. Youth culture finds expression in music,
entertainment idols etc.

At times the norms, values and lifestyles of a sub culture are substantially at odds with
those of the larger society and constitute a counter culture. A counter culture rejects
many of the behavioural standards and guideposts that hold in the dominant culture.

For example- in the late 1960 s and 1970 s the dominant youth culture in the United
States included the hippie movement and the anti- Vietnam War movement. It was a
counter culture that emphasized political beliefs, sexual standards and attitudes about
drug use that challenged mainstream US culture.

Social structure:

Social structure provides an organized and focused quality to our group experiences,
and it allows us to achieve our collective purposes. Social structure consists of a
recurrent and orderly relationships that prevail among the members of a group or
society. It gives us the feeling that life is characterized by organisation and stability.

We experience them as social facts as external to ourselves – as an independent reality

that forms a part of our objective environment. Social structures constrain our
behaviour and channel our actions in certain directions.

For example- the social structure of college. Each term u enter new classes it does not
take to much difficulty in attuning yourself to new classes.

GLOBALIZATION

The central idea about globalisation is that many contemporary social issues cannot be
adequately studied at the level of nation states, but need to be seen in terms of trans-
national processes beyond the level of particular countries.

The study of globalisation in sociology revolves primarily around two main classes of
phenomena and they are

1) Globalized economy- based on new systems of production, finance and

consumption.
2) Global culture

Researchers on globalisation have focused on two important phenomena

 1) The ways in which transnational corporations have facilitated the globalization
of capital and production
2) They have been interested in transformations in the global scope of particular
types of Transnational Corporations as this is often connected with the spread
of particular patterns of consumption and a culture and ideology of
consumerism at the global level.

This article discusses the main theoretical approaches to globalisation. The

approaches are

1) The world systems approach

2) The global culture approach
3) The global society approach
4) The global capitalism approach

The World Systems Approach

This is an approach inspired by the world of Wallerstien. It has been developed in a

large and continually expanding body of literature since 1970s.

The world systems approach is based on the distinction between the core, semi-
peripheral and peripheral countries in terms of their changing role in the international
division of labour dominated by the capitalist world system.

The theory works like this: The ‘core’ capitalist countries such as the US and many of
western Europe, exploit the resources of poor ‘peripheral’ countries belonging to
regions of Latin America, Asia and Africa as they have done historically. They extract
their raw materials cheaply and convert them into much more expensive
manufactured goods. Some of these goods are sold back to the countries from the raw
material itself has been taken.

When the manufacturing wages rise in the core countries capitalists move some of
their factories to the ‘semi-periphery’ countries of Latin America and East Asia. And
then when wages rise in the ‘semi-periphery’ they move to the periphery.

There is no specific concept of the global mentioned in the world systems literature.
There is, therefore, no distinctively ‘global’ dimension in the world-systems model
apart from the international focus that it has always emphasized. Wallerstein himself
rarely if ever uses the word ‘globalization’. The Economics of the model rests on the
international division of labour that distinguishes core, semi-periphery and periphery
countries. The politics are mostly bound up with anti-systemic movements and
‘superpower struggles’ and the cultural covers debates about the ‘national’ and the
universal and the concept of civilisation in the social sciences.

Global Culture Model

The global culture approach focuses on the problems that a homogenizing mass media
based culture poses for national identities. The work of global culture researchers
constitutes as a whole.
 1) They tend to prioritize the cultural over the political and the economic.
2) There is a common interest in the question of how individual and national
identity can survive in the face of emerging ‘global culture’

The basic idea is that the spread of the mass media, especially television, means that
everyone in the world can be exposed to the same images, almost instantaneously.
This the argument goes turns the whole world into a sort of global village.

Globalisation has brought an increased cultural homogeneity where people all over
the world can consume the same products such as Coca Cola, eat McDonalds burgers,
watch the same movies yet at the same time it has also brought about differentiation.

Globalisation has made people more aware of their cultural and national differences.
There has been an upsurge of regionalism and nationalism. It is not simply about
disembedding the of the local by the global. It is about creating a new global-local
nexus about exploring the new relations between global and local spaces.

Refer to Pg 53 of module. Box 2.4 for detailed description

SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY

HINDU COJUGALITY

THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION