NCERT Book Understanding Society-Class XI
NCERT Book Understanding Society-Class XI
NCERT Book Understanding Society-Class XI
The central question that this regularities that the concept of social
chapter seeks to discuss is to what structure refers. Upto a point, it is
extent the individual constrained by, helpful to think of the structural
and to what extent s/he is free of, the characteristics of societies as
social structure? To what extent does resembling the structure of a building.
one’s position in society or location in A building has walls, a floor and a roof,
the stratification system gover n which together give it a particular
individual choice? Do social structure ‘shape’ or form (Giddens 2004: 667).
and social stratification influence the But the metaphor can be a very
manner people act? Do they shape the misleading one if applied too strictly.
way individuals cooperate, compete Social structures are made up of
and conflict with each other? human actions and relationships.
In this chapter we deal briefly with What gives these their patterning is
the terms social structure and social their repetition across periods of time
stratification. You have already and distances of space. Thus, the ideas
discussed social stratification in some of social reproduction and social
detail in Chapter 2 of the earlier book structure are very closely related to one
Introducing Sociology (NCERT, 2006). another in sociological analysis. For
We then move on to focus on three example, consider a school and a
social processes namely; cooperation, family structure. In a school certain
competition and conflict. In dealing ways of behaving are repeated over the
with each of these processes we shall years and become institutions. For
try and see how social structure and instance admission procedures, codes
stratification impinge themselves on of conduct, annual functions, daily
the social processes. In other words assemblies and in some cases even
how individuals and groups cooperate, school anthems. Likewise in families
compete and conflict depending upon certain ways of behaving, marriage
their position within the social
practices, notions of relationships,
structure and stratification system.
duties and expectations are set. Even
as old members of the family or school
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND STRATIFICATION may pass away and new members
The term social structure points to the enter, the institution goes on. Yet we
fact that society is structured — i.e., also know that changes do take place
organised or arranged — in particular within the family and in schools.
ways. The social environments in The above discussion and activity
which we exist do not just consist of should help us understand human
random assortments of events or societies as buildings that are at every
actions. There are underlying moment being reconstructed by the
regularities, or patterns, in how people very bricks that compose them. For as
behave and in the relationships they we saw for ourselves human beings in
have with one another. It is to these schools or families do bring changes
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 3
Activity 1
Discuss with your grandparents and others of that generation to find out about the
ways in which families/schools have changed and the ways in which they have
remained the same.
Compare descriptions of families in old films/television serials/novels with
contemporary depictions.
Can you observe patterns and regularities of social behaviour in your family? In
other words can you describe the structure of your family?
Discuss with your teachers how they understand the school as a structure. Do
students, teachers and the staff have to act in certain ways to maintain or reproduce
the structure? Can you think of any changes in either your school or family? Were
these changes resisted? Who resisted them and why?
to reproduce the structure even while or her possible activities. The placing
introducing changes. They cooperate of the walls and doors, for example
at various levels in their everyday lives defines the routes of exit and entry.
towards this reproduction. No less true Social structure, according to
is the fact that they also compete with Durkheim, constrains our activities in
each other, often viciously and a parallel way, setting limits to what
ruthlessly. The fact remains that along we can do as individuals. It is ‘external’
with cooperative behaviour we also to us just as the walls of the room are.
witness serious conflict. And as we Other social thinkers like Karl
shall find later in this chapter, Marx would emphasise the constraints
cooperation can be enforced and of social structure but would at the
thereby serve to conceal conflict. same time stress human creativity or
A major theme pursued by Emile agency to both reproduce and change
Durkheim (and by many other social structure. Marx argued that
sociological authors since) is that the human beings make history, but not
societies exert social constraint over as they wish to or in conditions of their
the actions of their members. choice, but within the constraints and
Durkheim argued that society has possibilities of the historical and
primacy over the individual person. structural situation that they are in.
Society is far more than the sum of To recall the concept of social strati-
individual acts; it has a ‘firmness’ or fication in Chapter 2 of Introducing
‘solidity’ comparable to structures in Sociology (NCER T, 2006). Social
the material environment. stratification refers to the existence of
Think of a person standing in a structured inequalities between
room with several doors. The structure groups in society, in terms of their
of the room constrains the range of his access to material or symbolic
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 5
may include not only economic or cooperate or conflict as the case may
advantages of wealth and income, be because it is human nature to do
but also benefits such as health, so. The assumption behind such
job security and recreation. explanations is that there is something
(ii) Social Status: Prestige or high intrinsic and universal in human
standing in the eyes of other nature that accounts for these
members of the society. processes. However, as we have seen
earlier, sociology is not satisfied with
(iii) Political Influence: The ability of one
either psychological or naturalist
group to dominate others, or to
explanations (see pages 7-8 of
have preponderant influence over
Introducing Sociology. Sociology seeks
decision-making, or to benefit
to explain these processes of
advantageously from decisions.
cooperation, competition and conflict
The above discussion on the three in terms of the actual social structure
social processes will repeatedly draw of society.
attention to the manner that different
bases of social stratification like Activity 3
gender or class constrain social
Think of examples of cooperation,
processes. The opportunities and
competition and conflict in your
resources available to individuals and everyday life
groups to engage in competition,
cooperation or conflict are shaped by
In Introducing Sociology we
social structure and social
discussed how there are differences and
stratification. At the same time,
plural understandings of society (pages
humans do act to modify the structure
24-25, 36). We saw how functionalist
and system of stratification that exists.
and conflict perspectives varied in their
understanding of different institutions,
TWO WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL be it the family, the economy or social
PROCESSES IN SOCIOLOGY stratification and social control. Not
In the earlier book Introducing surprisingly therefore, these two
Sociology (NCERT, 2006) you have perspectives seek to understand these
seen the limitations of common sense processes a bit differently. But both Karl
knowledge. The problem is not that Marx (usually associated with a conflict
commonsense knowledge is perspective) and Emile Durkheim
necessarily false, but that it is (usually identified with a functionalist
unexamined and taken for granted. By perspective) presume that human
contrast, the sociological perspective beings have to cooperate to meet their
questions everything and accepts basic needs, and to produce and
nothing as a given. It would therefore reproduce themselves and their world.
not rest content with an explanation The conflict perspective emphasises
which suggests that humans compete how these for ms of cooperation
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 7
changed from one historical society to refer to the fulfilment of the broadest
another. For instance, it would conditions which are necessary for a
recognise that in simple societies system’s existence (and which
where no surplus was produced, there therefore keep it alive and prevent its
was cooperation between individuals destruction) such as:
and groups who were not divided on
(i) The socialisation of new members;
class or caste or race lines. But in
societies where surplus is produced — (ii) A shared system of communication;
whether feudal or capitalist — the (iii) Methods of assigning individuals
dominant class appropriates the to roles.
surplus and cooperation would
You are well aware how the
necessarily involve potential conflict
functionalist perspective rests upon the
and competition. The conflict view thus
assumption that different parts or
emphasises that groups and
organs of society have a function or role
individuals are placed differentially
to play for the broader maintenance
and unequally within the system of
and functioning of the whole society.
production relations. Thus, the factory
Seen from this perspective, cooperation,
owner and the factory worker do
competition and conflict can be seen
cooperate in their everyday work. But
as universal features of all societies,
a certain conflict of interests would
explained as the result of the inevitable
define their relationship.
interactions among humans living in
The understanding that informs the
society and pursuing their ends. Since
conflict perspective is that in societies
the focus is on system sustenance,
divided by caste, or class or patriarchy,
some groups are disadvantaged and
discriminated against. Furthermore the Babul Mora. Naihar Chuto hi jai
dominant groups sustain this unequal Fears of the Natal home is left behind
order by a series of cultural norms, and
Babul ki dua-ein leti ja
often coercion or even violence. As you
Ja tujhko sukhi sansar mile
will see in the next paragraphs, it is
not that the functionalist perspective Maike ki kabhi na yaad aaye
fails to appreciate the role of such Sasural me itna pyar mile
norms or sanctions. But it understands Take your father’s blessings/prayer
their function in terms of the society as you go;
as a whole, and not in terms of the Go, and (may you) get a happy
dominant sections who control society. household;
The functionalist perspective is May you never be reminded of your
mother’s home;
mainly concerned with the ‘system
requirements’ of society — certain (Because of) all the love you receive
functional imperatives, functional At your in-laws’ place.
requisites and prerequisites. These (Basu 2001: 128)
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 9
Activity 4
Discuss whether women are cooperating, or refusing to engage in conflict or
competition because of a range of normative compulsions. Are they cooperating
with the given norm of male inheritance because of the fear of losing the affection
of their brothers if they behave otherwise? The song in the box below is specific to
a region, but evokes the more general fears of natal abandonment for women in a
patrilineal society.
has come about naturally, not as their attention to the fact that competition
own united power, but as an alien force itself has to be explained sociologically
existing outside them…” (Marx 1972: and not as a natural phenomena. The
53). Marx used the term alienation to anecdote refers to the teacher’s
refer to the loss of control on the part assumption that the children will
of workers over the concrete content naturally rejoice at the idea of a
of labour, and over the products of competitive race where the winner
their labour. In other words, workers would get a chocolate as a prize. To her
lose control over how to organise their surprise, her suggestion not only did
own work; and they lose control over not evoke any enthusiasm but instead
the fruits of their labour. Contrast, for seemed to cause considerable anxiety
example, the feeling of fulfillment and and distress. On probing further they
creativity of a weaver or potter or expresses their distaste for a game
ironsmith with that of a worker where there would be ‘winners’ and
involved in a factory whose sole task ‘losers’. This went against their idea of
may be to pull a lever or press a button fun, which meant for them a necessarily
throughout the day. Cooperation in cooperative and collective experience,
such a situation would be enforced. and not a competitive one where the
rewards necessarily exclude some and
COMPETITION AS AN IDEA AND PRACTICE reward one or few.
As in the case of cooperation, In the contemporary world
discussions on the concept of however competition is the dominant
competition often proceed with the idea nor m and practice. Classical
that competition is universal and sociological thinkers such as Emile
natural. But going back to our Durkheim and Karl Marx have noted
discussion on how sociological the growth of individualism and
explanation is dif ferent from competition respectively in modern
naturalistic ones, it is important to societies. Both developments are
understand competition as a social intrinsic to the way modern capitalist
entity that emerges and becomes society functions. The stress is on
dominant in society at a particular greater efficiency and greater profit
historical point of time. In the maximisation. The underlying
contemporary period it is a assumptions of capitalism are:
predominant idea and often we find it (i) expansion of trade;
difficult to think that there can be any (ii) division of labour;
society where competition is not a
(iii) specialisation; and
guiding force.
An anecdote of a school teacher who (iv) hence rising productivity.
recounted her experience with children And these processes of self-
in a remote area in Africa draws sustaining growth are fuelled by the
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 13
Land Conflicts
Harbaksh, a Rajput had borrowed Rs100 from Nathu Ahir (Patel) in the year 1956,
by mortaging (informally) 2 acres of land. In the same year Harbaksh died and
Ganpat, his successor, claimed the land back in 1958 and he offered Rs 200.
Nathu refused to return the land to Ganpat. Ganpat could not take to legal
proceedings as this exchange was not codified in the revenue records. Under the
circumstances Ganpat had resorted to violence and forcefully cultivated the land
in 1959 (one year after Gramdan). Ganpat, being a police constable, could influence
the police officials. When the Patel went to Phulera (the police thana headquarters)
he was taken to the police station and was forced to agree that he will give the land
back to Ganpat. Later a meeting of the villagers was convened when the money
was given to Patel and Ganpat received the land back.
Source: Oommen, T.K., 1972: Charisma, Stability and Change; An Analysis of
Bhoodan-Gramdan Movement in India, p.84. Thompson Press, New Delhi.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 17
The advent of technology had also reduced the necessity for cooperation. For
instance, for the operation of a Charas, an indigenous device of well irrigation, one
requires 2 pairs of bullocks and four men. An ordinary peasant cannot afford the
cost of four bullocks or an average household may not have the required manpower.
In such situations they resort to borrowing bullocks and men from other households
(kin, neighbours, friends, etc.) assuring similar services in return. But if a Charas
is replaced by a Rehat (persian wheel) for irrigation which calls for a heavier capital
investment, one needs only one pair of bullocks and one person for its operation.
The necessity of cooperation in the context of irrigation is reduced by a heavier capital
investment and an efficient technology. Thus, the level of technology in a system
may determine the need for cooperation between men and groups.
Source: Oommen, T.K., 1972, Charisma, Stability and Change; An Analysis of
Bhoodan-Gramdan Movement in India, p.88. Thompson Press, New Delhi.
Activity 11
Read the report carefully and discuss the relationship between social structure,
stratification and social processes. Describe how the characters Santosh and Pushpa
are constrained by the social structure and stratification system. Is it possible to
identify the three social processes of cooperation, competition and conflict in their
lives? Can these marriages be seen as processes of cooperation? Can these marriages
be seen as actions that people consciously adopt in order to survive in the competitive
job market since married couples are preferred? Is there any sign of conflict?
Outlook 8 May 2006
“Meet the Parents: Teen marriages, migrant labour and cane factories in crisis.
A vicious cycle.”
18 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
It is the same old story, only with a few twists. Santosh Shinde, 14, son of landless
labourers who take a loan of Rs 8,000 to educate him. Now the moneylender wants
the loan to be repaid, so the cash strapped Shindes take a salary advance from the
only man offering jobs around town, a sugarcane factory contractor. Problem is
that they are just a husband, a wife and gawky boy. So the Shindes hurriedly find
a bride for Santosh: another 14 year old, Pushpa, who accompanies them from
their village in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad district to Karnataka. They stop en route
for a no-frills marriage at a temple.
…There’s even a name for it, ‘gatekin’. It probably comes from the makeshift camps
these migrant labourers set up outside the factory gates in the cane-cutting season.
Contractors prefer married couples to single boys as they are more likely to stay on
at the factories for months.
…With western Maharashtra’s cane factories — which once produced nearly a third
of India’s sugar output — in a state of crisis, jobs for migrant labourers have dried up.
Some estimates say the factories have accumulated losses of over Rs 1,900 crore, and
this year 120 of the 177 sugar factories were forced to avail of the Centre’s Rs. 1,650
crore bailout package. But the trickle down has been harsher on the migrant labour,
out in the fields cutting cane feverishly during the six-month-long season. Their chances
of landing jobs have become harder, and wages have plummeted.
… Gangly Santosh, now 16 and sporting a straggly moustache, has just finished his
X exams while wife Pushpa took her XII exams. Pushpa, a good student, balances
her academic ambitions with caring for a one-and-a-half-year-old son. Then there’s
home and labour in the fields. As she says, “My marriage was so quick, I wonder
sometimes — when did I get married — when did all this happen?” Asked if her
health has suffered, the young mother says “I try not to think about things I can’t
control. Instead I focus on what I can do now.” Her in-laws have said she can study
further only if she gets a scholarship. Otherwise, the young couple will migrate to
Mumbai to work at a construction site.
Activity 12
Read the report carefully and contrast the competition that Vikram and Nitin face
with that of Santosh and Pushpa in Activity 11.
The Week (7 May 2006) carried a special feature titled “The New Workaholics:
Their Goals, Money, Risks Health”.
As the Indian economy gallops at 8 per cent, firing on all cylinders, thousands
of jobs are being created in every sphere of business resulting in changing attitudes
and work styles. Young professionals want rewards instantly. Promotions must come
fast and quick. And money — exceptional salaries, perks and big increments — the
prime motivator, makes the world go round. Vikram Samant, 27, who recently joined
a BPO, makes no bones about quitting his last job for a better salary. “Money is
important but my new employers are fully aware that I’m worth every rupee paid to
me,” he reasons.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE, STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PROCESSES IN SOCIETY 19
…What is also driving young workaholics is the need to sprint up the corporate ladder
rather than climb each rung at a measured pace. “Yes, I want the next designation
quickly, not when I am starting to go bald,” says Nitin, who refused to wait around
for the next big jump and hopped from ICICI to Standard Chartered with a promotion
and then to Optimix as zonal manager (emphasis original).
GLOSSARY
EXERCISES
REFERENCES
BOTTOMORE, T.B. 1975. Sociology as Social Criticism. George Allen and Unwin
Ltd., London
DURKHEIM EMILE. 1933. The Division of Labour in Society. A Free Press (Paperback),
The MacMillan Company, New York.
JAYARAM, N. 1987. Introductory Sociology. MacMillan India Ltd, Delhi.
HALE SYLVIA, M. 1990. Controversies in Sociology: A Canadian Introduction. Longman
Groups, London.
MARX KARL and FREDERICK ENGELS. 1974. The German Ideology. Selected Works,
Vol. 1. Peoples Publishing House, Moscow.
SEN AMARTYA. 1990. “Gender and Cooperative Conflicts” in Persistent Inequalities
(ed) II.Tinker, pp.123-49. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
SINGH YOGENDRA. 1973. Modernization of Indian Tradition. Thomson Press, Delhi.
SRINIVAS, M.N. 1972. Social Change in Modern India. Orient Longman, New Delhi.
OOMMEN, T.K. 1972. Charisma, Stability and Change; An Analysis of Bhoodan-
Gramdan Movement in India. Thomson Press, New Delhi.
WHITE, S.C. 1992. Arguing With the Crocodile, Gender and Class in Bangladesh,
Zed Books, London.
CHAPTER 2
It is often said that change is the earth for approximately 500,000 (five
only unchanging aspect of society. lakh) years, but they have had a
Anyone living in modern society does civilized existence for only about 6,000
not need to be reminded that constant years. Of these civilized years, it is only
change is among the most permanent in the last 400 years that we have seen
features of our society. In fact, the constant and rapid change; even
discipline of sociology itself emerged within these years of change, the pace
as an effort to make sense of the rapid has accelerated only in the last 100
changes that Wester n European years. Because the speed with which
society had experienced between the change happens has been increasing
seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. steadily, it is probably true that in the
But though social change last hundred years, change has been
seems such a common and obvious faster in the last fifty years than in
fact about moder n life, it is – the first fifty. And within the last fifty
comparatively speaking – a very new years, the world may have changed
and recent fact. It is estimated that more in the last twenty years than in
human beings have existed on planet the first thirty…
soon as they were able to. Children some industries in our country that
were often helping their families at even today depend on child labour at
work from the age of five or six; the least partially (such as carpet weaving,
early factory system depended on the small tea shops or restaurants, match-
labour of children. It was during the stick making, and so on), child labour
19th and early 20th centuries that is illegal and employers can be
ideas about childhood as a special punished as criminals.
stage of life gained influence. It then But by far the most common way
became unthinkable for small of classifying social change is by its
children to be at work, and many causes or sources. Sometimes the
countries passed laws banning child causes are pre-classified into
labour. At the same time, there inter nal (or endogenous) and
emerged ideas about compulsory exter nal (or exogenous) causes.
education, and childr en wer e There are five broad types of sources
supposed to be in school rather than or causes of social change:
at work, and many laws were passed environmental, technological,
for this as well. Although there are economic, political and cultural.
Students in a classroom
26 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
The earth caves in after heavy floods may have shaped societies, but how did
it play any role in social change? The
easiest and most powerful answer to
this question can be found in natural
disasters. Sudden and catastrophic
events such as earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, floods, or tidal waves (like
the tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri
Lanka, the Andaman Islands and parts
of Tamil Nadu in December 2004) can
change societies quite drastically.
These changes are often irreversible,
that is, they are permanent and don’t
allow a return to the way things were.
For example, it is quite possible that
many of those whose livelihoods were
destroyed by the tsunami will never be
able to return to them again, and that
many of the coastal villages will have
their social structure completely
altered. There are numerous instances
of natural disasters leading to a total
transformation and sometimes total
destruction of societies in history.
Environmental or ecological factors
need not only be destructive to cause
change, they can be constructive as
well. A good example is the discovery
of oil in the desert regions of West Asia
(also called the Middle East). Like the
discovery of gold in California in the
19th century, oil reserves in the Middle
East have completely transformed the
societies in which they were found.
Countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or
the United Arab Emirates would be very
different today without their oil wealth.
nature on society is changing rather
Technology and Economy
than simply declining.
But how, you might ask, does this The combination of technological and
affect social change? The environment economic change has been responsible
28 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
Activity 3 Politics
Have you noticed other such In the old ways of writing and
technological changes which have recounting history, the actions of
social consequences in your own life? kings and queens seemed to be the
Think of the photo-copying machine most important forces of social
and its impact. Have you ever change. But as we know now, kings
thought of what things were like and queens were the representatives
before photo-copying became so
of larger political, social and economic
cheap and freely available? Another
example could be the STD telephone
trends. Individuals may indeed have
booths. Try to find out how people had roles to play, but they were part
communicated befor e these of a larger context. In this sense,
telephone boths had appeared and political forces have surely been
very few homes had telephone among the most important causes of
connections. Make a list of other social change. The clearest examples
such examples. are found in the history of warfare.
When one society waged war on
Sometimes changes in economic
another and conquered or was
organisation that are not directly
conquered, social change was usually
technological can also change society.
an immediate consequence.
In a well-known historical example,
Sometimes, conquerors brought the
plantation agriculture — that is, the
seeds of change and planted them
growing of single cash crops like
wherever they went. At other times,
sugarcane, tea or cotton on a large
scale — created a heavy demand for the conquered were actually
labour. This demand helped to successful in planting seeds of change
establish the institution of slavery and among the conquer ors and
the slave trade between Africa, Europe transformed their societies. Although
and the Americas between the 17th there are many such examples in
and 19th centuries. In India, too, the history, it is interesting to consider a
tea plantations of Assam involved the modern instance — that of the United
forced migration of labour from States and Japan.
Eastern India (specially the Adivasi The United States won a famous
areas of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh). victory over Japan in the Second World
Today, in many parts of the world, War, partly through the use of a
changes in customs duties or tariffs weapon of mass destruction never
brought about by inter national seen before in human history, the
agreements and institutions like the nuclear bomb. After the Japanese
World Trade Organisation, can lead to surrender, the United States occupied
entire industries and occupations and ruled over Japan for several years,
being wiped out or (less often) sudden bringing about lots of changes,
booms or periods of prosperity for including land refor m in Japan.
other industries or occupations. Japanese industry, at that time, was
30 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
cannot be denied that universal adult social change. In India too we find
franchise serves as a powerful norm many examples of religion bringing
that exerts pressure on every society about social change. Among the best
and every government. Governments known are the impact of Buddhism on
must now at least appear to seek the social and political life in ancient India,
approval of the people in order to be and the widespread influence of the
considered legitimate. This has Bhakti Movement on medieval social
brought massive social changes in structure including the caste system.
its wake. A different example of cultural
change leading to social change can
Culture be seen in the evolution of ideas about
Culture is used here as a short label the place of women in society. In the
for a very wide field of ideas, values, modern era, as women have struggled
beliefs, that are important to people for equality, they have helped change
and help shape their lives. Changes society in many ways. Women’s
in such ideas and beliefs lead naturally struggles have also been helped or
to changes in social life. The hindered by other historical
commonest example of a socio- circumstances. For example, during
cultural institution that has had the Second World War, women in
enormous social impact is religion. western countries started to work in
Religious beliefs and norms have factories doing jobs that they had
helped organise society and it is hardly never done before, jobs which had
surprising that changes in these always been done by men. The fact
beliefs have helped transform society. that women were able to build ships,
So important has religion been, that operate heavy machinery, manufacture
some scholars have tended to define ar maments and so on, helped
civilisations in religious terms and to establish their claims to equality. But
see history as the process of it is equally true that, had it not been
interaction between religions. for the war, they would have had to
However, as with other important struggle for much longer. A very
factors of social change, religion too different instance of change produced
is contextual — it is able to produce by the position of women can be seen
effects in some contexts but not in in consumer advertising. In most
others. Max Weber’s study ‘the urban societies, it is women who take
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of most of the everyday decisions about
Capitalism’ showed how the religious what to buy for their households. This
beliefs of some Christian Protestant has made advertisers very sensitive to
sects helped to establish the capitalist the views and perspectives of women
social system. It remains one of the as consumers. Significant proportions
most famous examples of the impact of advertising expenditure are now
of cultural values on economic and directed at women, and this in turn
32 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
of the teacher does not extend into the as an individual agree with a
home of the pupil where parents or particular law, it has binding force on
guardians have primary responsibility me as a citizen, and on all other
and authority over their children. citizens similarly regardless of their
There may be other for ms of beliefs.
authority that are not so strictly So, domination works through
defined, but are nevertheless effective power, but much of this power is
in eliciting consent and cooperation. actually legitimate power or authority,
A good example is the authority a large part of which is codified in law.
wielded by a religious leader. Although Consent and cooperation are obtained
some institutionalised religions may on a regular and reliable basis because
have partly formalised this authority, of the backing of this structure of
but the leader of a sect or other less- legitimation and formal institutional
institutionalised minor religious group support. This does not exhaust the
may wield enor mous authority domain of power or domination —
without it being formalised. Similarly there are many kinds power that are
reputed scholars, artists, writers and effective in society even though they
other intellectuals may wield a lot of are illegitimate, or if legitimate are not
authority in their respective fields codified in law. It is the mix of
without it being formalised. The same legitimate, lawful authority and other
is true of a criminal gang leader — he kinds of power that determines the
or she may exercise absolute authority nature of a social system and also its
but without any formal specifications. dynamics.
The difference between explicitly
codified and more informal authority Contestation, Crime and Violence
is relevant to the notion of the law. A
law is an explicitly codified norm or The existence of domination, power,
rule. It is usually written down, and legitimate authority and law does not
there are laws that specify how laws imply that they always meet with
are to be made or changed, or what is obedience and conformity. You have
to be done if someone violates them. already read about the presence of
A modern democratic society has a conflict and competition in society. In
given body of laws created through its a similar way, we need to recognise
legislature, which consist of elected more general forms of contestation in
representatives. The laws of the land society. Contestation is used here as
are enacted in the name of the people simply a word for broad forms of
of that land by the people’s insistent disagreement. Competition
representatives. This law forms the and conflict are more specific than
formal body of rules according to this, and leave out other forms of
which society will be governed. Laws dissent that may not be well described
apply to all citizens. Whether or not I by such terms.
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL ORDER IN RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETY 37
are exceptions like self defense meant of the major changes in social
for extraordinary and rare situations). structure brought about by the
Thus, technically, every act of violence transition from nomadic ways of life
is seen as being directed against the based on hunting, gathering food and
state. Even if I assault or murder some transient agriculture to a more settled
other individual, it is the state that form of life. With the development of
prosecutes me for violating its sedentary forms of agriculture — or
monopoly over the legitimate use of forms that did not involve moving from
violence. place to place — social structure also
It is obvious that violence is the changed. Investment in land and
enemy of social order, and an extreme technological innovations in
form of contestation that transgresses agriculture created the possibility of
not only the law, but important social producing a surplus – something over
norms. Violence in society is the and above what was needed for
product of social tensions and survival. Thus, settled agriculture
indicates the presence of serious meant that wealth could be
problems. It is also a challenge to the accumulated and this also brought
authority of the state. In this sense it with it social differences. The more
also marks the failure of the regime of advanced division of labour also
legitimation and consent and the open created the need for occupational
outbreak of conflicts. specialisation. All of these changes
together shaped the emergence of the
SOCIAL ORDER AND CHANGE IN VILLAGE, village as a population settlement
TOWN AND CITY based on a particular form of social
Most societies can be divided into rural organisation.
and urban sectors. The conditions of In economic and administrative
life and therefore the forms of social terms, The distinction between rural
organisation in these sectors are very and urban settlements is usually
different from each other. So also, made on the basis of two major factors:
therefore, are the forms of social order population density and the proportion
that prevail in these sectors, and the of agriculture related economic
kinds of social change that are most activities. (Contrary to appearances,
significant in each. size is not always decisive; it becomes
We all think we know what is difficult to separate large villages and
meant by a village and by a town or small towns on the basis of population
city. But how exactly do we size alone.) Thus, cities and towns
differentiate between them? (see also have a much higher density of
the discussion in Chapter 5 on Village population — or the number of
Studies in the section on persons per unit area, such as a
M.N. Srinivas). From a sociological square km — than villages. Although
point of view, villages emerged as part they are smaller in terms of absolute
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL ORDER IN RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETY 39
numbers of people, villages are spread for the first time in human history, the
out over a relatively larger area. world’s urban population will
Villages are also distinguished from outnumber its rural population.
towns and cities by the larger share of Indian society is also experiencing
agricultural activities in their urbanisation: the percentage of the
economic profile. In other words, population living in urban areas has
villages will have a significant increased from a little less than 11 per
proportion of its population engaged cent in 1901 to a little more than
in agriculture linked occupations, 17 per cent in 1951, soon after
much of what is produced there will independence. The 2001 Census
be agricultural products, and most of shows that almost 28 per cent of the
its income will be from agriculture. population now lives in urban areas.
The distinction between a town
and city is much more a matter of Social Order and Social Change in
administrative definition. A town and Rural Areas
city are basically the same sort of Because of the objective conditions in
settlement, differentiated by size. An villages being different, we can expect
‘urban agglomeration’ (a term used in the nature of social order and social
Censuses and official reports) refers change to be different as well. Villages
to a city along with its surrounding are small in size so they usually permit
sub-urban areas and satellite more personalised relationships; it is
settlements. A ‘metropolitan area’ not unusual for members of a village
includes more than one city, or a to know all or most other members by
continuous urban settlement many sight. Moreover, the social structure
times the size of a single city. in villages tends to follow a more
Given the directions in which traditional pattern: institutions like
modern societies have developed, the caste, religion, and other forms of
process of urbanisation has been customary or traditional social
experienced in most countries. This practice are stronger here. For these
is the process by which a progressively reasons, unless there are special
larger and larger proportion of the circumstances that make for an
country’s population lives in urban exception, change is slower to arrive
rather than rural areas. Most in villages than in towns.
developed countries are now There are also other reasons for
overwhelmingly urban. Urbanisation this. A variety of factors ensure that
is also the trend in developing the subordinate sections of society
countries; it can be faster or slower, have much less scope for expressing
but unless there are special reasons themselves in rural areas than their
blocking it, the process does seem to counterparts in cities. The lack of
occur in most contexts. In fact, the anonymity and distance in the village
United Nations reports that by 2007, makes it difficult for people to dissent
40 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
because they can be easily identified major impact on rural societies. Thus,
and ‘taught a lesson’ by the dominant measures like land reform which alter
sections. Moreover, the relative power the structure of land ownership have
of the dominant sections is much more an immediate impact. In India, the
because they control most avenues of first phase of land refor ms after
employment, and most resources of all independence took away proprietary
kinds. So the poor have to depend on rights from absentee landlords and
the dominant sections since there are gave them to the groups that were
no alternative sources of employment actually managing the land and its
or support. Given the small population, cultivation in the village. Most of these
it is also very difficult to gather large groups belonged to intermediate
numbers, particularly since efforts castes, and though they were often not
towards this cannot be hidden from the themselves the cultivators, they
power ful and are very quickly acquired rights over land. In
suppressed. So, in short, if there is a combination with their number, this
strong power structure already in place factor increased their social status and
in a village, it is very difficult to dislodge political power, because their votes
it. Change in the sense of shifts in mattered for winning elections. M.N.
power are thus slow and late to arrive Srinivas has named these groups as
in rural areas because the social order the ‘dominant castes’. In many
is stronger and more resilient. regional contexts, the dominant castes
Change of other sorts is also slow became very powerful in economic
to come because villages are scattered terms and dominated the countryside
and not as well connected to the rest and hence also electoral politics. In
of the world as cities and towns are. more recent times, these dominant
Of course, new modes of communication, castes are themselves facing
particularly the telephone and the opposition from the assertive
television have changed this. So the uprisings of castes further below them,
cultural ‘lag’ between villages and the lowest and the most backward
towns is now much shorter or non- castes. This has led to major social
existent. Communication links of upheavals in many states like Andhra
other sorts (road, rail) have also Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and
generally improved over time so that Tamil Nadu.
few villages can really claim to be In the same way, changes in the
‘isolated’ or ‘remote’, words often technological organisation of
unthinkingly attached to villages in agriculture also has a large and
the past. This has also accelerated immediate impact on rural society.
the pace of change somewhat. The introduction of new labour saving
For obvious reasons changes machinery or new cropping patterns
associated with agriculture or with may alter the demand for labour and
agrarian social relations have a very thus change the relative bargaining
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL ORDER IN RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETY 41
strength of different social groups like natural advantage. So did cities that
landlords and labourers. Even if they were well located from the point of view
don’t directly affect labour demand, of military strategy. Finally, religious
technological or economic changes places attracted large numbers of
can change the economic power of pilgrims and thus supported an urban
different groups and thus set in economy. In India too we have
motion a chain of changes. Sudden examples of such old cities, including
fluctuations in agricultural prices, the well known medieval trading towns
droughts or floods can cause havoc of Tezpur on the Brahmaputra river
in rural society. The recent spate of in Assam or Kozhikode (formerly
farmer suicides in India is an example known as Calicut) on the Arabian Sea
of this. On the other hand, large scale in northern Kerala. We also have
development programmes aimed at many examples of temple towns and
the rural poor can also have an places of religious pilgrimage, such as
enormous impact. A good example Ajmer in Rajasthan, Varanasi (also
of this is the National Rural known as Benaras or Kashi) in Uttar
Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. Pradesh, or Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
As sociologists have pointed out,
Activity 5 city life and modernity go very well
Find out more about the National together; in fact, each may be
Rural Employment Guarantee Act. considered an intimate expression of
What does it aim to do? Why is it the other. Though it houses large and
considered such an important very dense populations, and though it
development programme? What has been known throughout history as
problems does it face? What would the site for mass politics, the city is also
be the likely consequences if it the domain of the modern individual.
succeeds?
In its combination of anonymity and
the amenities and institutions that only
Social Order and Social Change in
large numbers can support, the city
Urban Areas
of fers the individual boundless
It is well known that though the city possibilities for fulfillment. Unlike the
itself is very old — even ancient village, which discourages individuality
societies had them — urbanism as a and cannot of fer much, the city
way of life for large segments of the nurtures the individual.
population is a modern phenomenon. But while the many artists, writers,
Before the modern era, trade, religion and scholars who have celebrated the
and warfare were some of the major city as the haven of the individual are
factors that decided the location and not wrong, it is also true that freedom
importance of cities. Cities that were and opportunity are available only to
located on major trade routes, or had some individuals. More accurately,
suitable harbours and ports had a only a socially and economically
42 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
privileged minority can have the luxury Most of the important issues and
of a predominantly free and fulfilling problems of social order in towns and
life. Most people who live in cities have cities are related to the question of
only limited and relative freedoms space. High population density places
within larger constraints. These are a great premium on space and creates
the familiar economic and social very complex problems of logistics. It
constraints imposed by membership in is the primary task of the urban social
social groups of various kinds, already order to ensure the spatial viability of
known to you from the previous the city. This means the organisation
chapter. The city, too, fosters the and management of things like:
development of group identities — housing and residential patterns; mass
based on factors like race, religion, transit systems for transporting large
ethnicity, caste, region, and of course numbers of workers to and from work;
class — which are all well represented arranging for the coexistence of
in urban life. In fact, the concentration residential, public and industrial land-
of large numbers in a relatively small use zones; and finally all the public
space intensifies identities and makes health, sanitation, policing, public
them integral to strategies of survival, safety and monitoring needs of urban
resistance and assertion. governance. Each of these functions
class, and often also by race, ethnicity, process. This has happened in many
religion and other such variables. cities in India, most recently in Gujarat
Tensions between such identities both following the riots of 2002. The
cause these segregation patterns and worldwide phenomenon of ‘gated
are also a consequence. For example, communities’ is also found in Indian
in India, communal tensions between cities. This refers to the creation of
religious communities, most commonly affluent neighbourhoods that are
Hindus and Muslims, results in the separated from their surroundings by
conversion of mixed neighbourhoods walls and gates, with controlled entry
into single-community ones. This in and exit. Most such communities also
turn gives a specific spatial pattern to have their own parallel civic facilities,
communal violence whenever it erupts, such as water and electricity supply,
which again furthers the ‘ghettoisation’ policing and security.
Shopping in a city
SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL ORDER IN RURAL AND URBAN SOCIETY 47
GLOSSARY
Ghetto, Ghettoisation: Originally from the term used for the locality where Jews
lived in medieval European cities, today refers to any neighbourhood with a
concentration of people of a particular religion, ethnicity, caste or other common
identity. Ghettoisation is the process of creation of ghettoes through the conversion
of mixed composition neighbourhoods into single community neighbourhoods.
Legitimation: The process of making legitimate, or the grounds on which
something is considered legitimate, i.e., proper, just, right etc.
Mass Transit: Modes of fast city transport for large numbers.
EXERCISES
1. Would you agree with the statement that rapid social change is a comparatively
new phenomenon in human history? Give reasons for your answer.
2. How is social change to be distinguished from other kinds of change?
3. What do you understand by ‘structural change’? Explain with examples other
than those in the text.
4. Describe some kinds of environment-related social change.
5. What are some kinds of changes brought about by technology and the economy?
6. What is meant by social order and how is it maintained?
7. What is authority and how is it related to domination and the law?
8. How are a village, town and city distinguished from each other?
9. What are some features of social order in rural areas?
10. What are some of the challenges to social order in urban areas?
REFERENCES
Look around you. What do you see? If map these resource flows and you will
you are in a classroom, you may see soon see how complex such
students in uniform, sitting on chairs relationships are!
with books open on their desk. There In this chapter, we will study social
are school bags with lunch and pencil relationships with the environment as
boxes. Ceiling fans might be whirring they have changed over time and as
overhead. Have you ever thought they vary from place to place. It is
about where these things — school important to analyse and interpret
clothes, furniture, bags, electricity, such variations in a systematic way.
come from? If you trace their origins, There are many urgent environmental
you will find that the source of each problems that demand our attention.
material object lies in nature. Every To address these crises effectively, we
day, we use objects whose production need a sociological framework for
draws upon natural resources from understanding why they occur and
around the world. The chair in your how they might be prevented or
classroom may be made from wood resolved.
with iron nails, glue and varnish. Its All societies have an ecological
journey from a tree in a forest or basis. The term ecology denotes the
plantation to you depends on web of physical and biological systems
electricity, diesel, facilities for trade, and processes of which humans are
and telecommunications. Along the one element. Mountains and rivers,
way, it has passed through the hands plains and oceans, and the flora and
of loggers, carpenters, supervisors and fauna that they support, are a part of
managers, transporters, traders and ecology. The ecology of a place is also
those in charge of buying school affected by the interaction between its
fur niture. These producers and geography and hydrology. For
distributors, and the inputs that they example, the plant and animal life
provide into chair manufacturing, in unique to a desert is adapted to its
tur n use a variety of goods and scarce rainfall, rocky or sandy soils,
services derived from nature. Try and and extreme temperatures. Similar
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 51
A dam
A small dam
that has transfor med lives and are just a few of the environmental
landscapes. Air pollution and effects of cars. Human interventions
congestion in cities, regional conflicts increasingly have the power to alter
and wars over oil, and global warming environments, often permanently.
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 53
The warnings kept coming. In May 1982, three experts from the Union
Carbide Corporation, USA, surveyed safety measures and pointed out alarming
lapses. These fears were reported in a local weekly Rapat, in what was to be a
series of prophetic articles in 1982. At the same time, the factory’s employees
union also wrote to Central ministers and the chief minister warning them of
the situation. The state Labour Minister reassured legislators at several times
that the factory was safe. Only a few weeks before the gas leak, the factory had
been granted an environmental clearance certificate by the state pollution control
board. The Central government rivalled its state counterpart in casualness. It
ignored the plant’s safety record in granting it permission and ignored Department
of Environment guidelines on the siting of hazardous plants.
Why the guidelines and warnings were ignored is clear. The company employs
the relatives of powerful politicians and bureaucrats. Its legal adviser is an
important political leader and its public relations officer is the nephew of a former
minister. The company’s posh guesthouse was always at the disposal of politicians.
The chief minister’s wife had reportedly received lavish hospitality from the company
during visits to the USA, and the company had donated Rs 1.5 lakh to a welfare
organisation in the chief minister’s home town.
Union Carbide Corporation also played its full part in the run-up to the tragedy.
The Bhopal plant was under-designed and lacked several safety features. It did
not have a computerised early warning system, a standard device in the company’s
factories in the US. The company had not worked out emergency evacuation
procedures with the local community. The plant was not being maintained and
operated at the requisite level of efficiency. Morale was low because sales were
dropping and the plant was running at a third of its capacity. Staff strength had
been reduced and many engineers and operators had left, making it impossible
for the existing staff to monitor all the tasks. Many instruments were out of order.
Discussion: Which social institutions and organisations play a role in industrial
accidents like the Bhopal disaster? What steps can be taken to prevent such
disasters?
Deforestation
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 57
Industrial Pollution
used. The pollution of rivers and water low-lying coastal areas, and more
bodies is a particularly important important, affecting the ecological
problem. balance. Global warming is also likely
Cities also suf fer from noise to result in greater fluctuations and
pollution, which has been the subject uncertainty in climates across the
of court orders in many cities. Sources world. China and India are
include amplified loud speakers used increasingly significant contributors to
at religious and cultural events, world carbon and green house gas
political campaigns, vehicle horns and emissions.
traffic, and construction work.
D. Genetically Modified Organisms
C. Global Warming
New techniques of gene-splicing allow
The release of particular gases (carbon scientists to import genes from one
dioxide, methane and others) creates species into another, introducing new
a ‘greenhouse’ effect by trapping the characteristics. For instance, genes
sun’s heat and not allowing it to from Bacillus thuringiensis have been
dissipate. This has caused a small but intr oduced into cotton species,
significant rise in global temperatures. making it resistant to the bollworm,
The resulting climate change is a major pest. Genetic modification
projected to melt polar ice-fields and may also be done to shorten growing
raise the sea level, thus submerging time, increase size and the shelf-life
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 59
between different social groups — men charges alone. Welcome to the Fun
and women, urban and rural people, and Food Village Water and
landlords and labourers. Changed Amusement Park in Bazargaon gram
social relations will give rise to panchayat of Nagpur (Rural) district.
different knowledge systems and A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi greets
modes of managing the environment. visitors in the office of the huge
complex. And you’re assured daily
What literally defines social ecology disco, ice skating, ice sliding and “a
as “social” is its recognition of the well stocked bar with cocktails.” The
often overlooked fact that nearly all 40-acre park itself offers 18 kinds of
our present ecological problems arise
water slides and games. Also services
from deep-seated social problems.
Conversely, present ecological
for events ranging from conferences to
problems cannot be clearly kitty parties.
understood, much less resolved, The village of Bazargaon
without resolutely dealing with (population 3,000) itself faces a huge
problems within society. To make this water crisis. “Having to make many
point more concrete: economic, daily trips for water, women walk up
ethnic, cultural, and gender conflicts, to 15 km in a day to fetch it,” says
among many others, lie at the core of sarpanch Yamunabai Uikey. “This
the most serious ecological whole village has just one sarkari
dislocations we face today — apart,
well. Sometimes, we have got water
to be sure, from those that are
produced by natural catastrophes. once in four or five days. Sometimes,
Murray Bookchin, political once in ten days.” Bazargaon falls in
philosopher and founder of the a region declared as scarcity-hit in
Institute for Social Ecology 2004. It had never faced that fate
before. The village also had its share
Two examples of environment- of six-hour — and worse — power
society conflicts are given below: cuts till about May. These hit every
aspect of daily life, including health,
No Rain, but Snow and Water Parks and devastated children appearing
for exams. The summer heat,
Water -starved Vidharbha has a
touching 47, made things worse. All
growing number of water parks and
these iron laws of rural life do not
amusement centres.
apply within Fun and Food Village.
Even when it’s 47 degrees in the rest This private oasis has more water
of the region, it’s cool here. A little than Bazargaon can dream of. And
away from us is a patch that clocks in never a moment’s break in power
at minus 13 degrees. This is “India’s supply. “We pay on average,” says Mr
first Snowdome” — in bur ning Singh, General Manager of the Park,
Vidharbha. Keeping its ice rink firm “about Rs 400,000 a month in
costs Rs 4,000 a day in electricity electricity bills.”
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 61
The Park’s monthly power bill has covered the region for years. Shri
alone almost equals the yearly revenue Singh insists the Fun and Food Village
of Yamunabhai’s gram panchayat. conserves water. “We use sophisticated
Ironically, the village’s power crisis filter plants to reuse the same water.”
eased slightly because of the Park. But evaporation levels are very high in
Both share the same sub-station. The this heat. And water is not just used
park’s peak period begins with May. for sports. All the parks use massive
And so things have been a little better amounts of it for maintaining their
since then. The Park’s contribution to gardens, on sanitation and for their
the gram panchayat’s revenue is clientele. ”It is a huge waste of water
Rs.50,000 a year. About half what Fun and money,” says Vinayak Gaikwad in
and Food Village collects at the gate Buldhana. He is a farmer and a Kisan
in a day from its 700 daily visitors. Sabha leader in the district. That in
Barely a dozen of the Park’s 110 the process, public resources are so
workers are locals from Bazargaon. often used to boost private profit,
Water -starved Vidharbha has a angers Mr. Gaikwad. “They should
growing number of such water parks instead be meeting people’s basic water
and amusement centres. In Shegaon, needs.” Back in Bazargaon, sarpanch
Buldhana, a religious trust runs a Yamunabai Uikey isn’t impressed
giant “Meditation Centre and either. Not by the Fun and Food Village.
Entertainment Park.” Ef forts to Nor by other industries that have taken
maintain a 30-acre ‘artificial lake’ a lot but given very little. “What is there
within it ran dry this summer. But not in all this for us,” she wants to know.
before untold amounts of water were To get a standard government water
wasted in the attempt. Here the entry project for her village, the panchayat
tickets are called “donations.” In has to bear 10 per cent of its cost.
Yavatmal, a private company runs a That’s around Rs.4.5 lakh. “How can
public lake as a tourist joint. Amravati we afford the Rs.45,000? What is our
has two or more such spots (dry just condition?” So it’s simply been handed
now). And there are others in and over to a contractor. This could see the
around Nagpur. project built. But it will mean more
This, in a region where villages have costs in the long run and less control
sometimes got water once in 15 days. for a village of so many poor and
And where an ongoing farm crisis has landless people. In the Park, Gandhi’s
seen the largest number of farmers’ portrait still smiles out of the office as
suicides in Maharashtra. “No major we leave. Seemingly at the ‘Snowdome’
project for either drinking water or across the parking lot. An odd fate for
irrigation has been completed in the man who said: “Live simply, that
Vidharbha in decades,” says Nagpur- others might simply live.”
based journalist Jaideep Hardikar. He (P. Sainath in The Hindu, June 22, 2005.)
62 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
‘God forbid that India should ever have to drill deeper, and pests have
take to industrialism in the manner become resistant to many pesticides,
of the West. The economic requiring far mers to spray new
imperialism of a single tiny island pesticides, more frequently. Farmers
kingdom (England) is today keeping in need of credit to purchase these
the world in chains. If an entire inputs end up approaching private
nation of 300 million took to similar moneylenders and traders who
economic exploitation, it would strip
charge them high rates of interest. If
the world bare like locusts.’
— Mahatma Gandhi the crop fails, the farmer can’t repay
the money. Not only can they not feed
As a consequence of developments their families, they cannot fulfil family
like the water park described above, obligations like arranging children’s
small farmers in areas of dryland marriages. Faced with financial and
agriculture now find life increasingly social ruin, many far mers have
impossible. Over the last six years, nowhere to turn. Suicide seems to
reports indicate that thousands of be the only way out to them.
far mers in Andhra Pradesh, Discussion: Is water scarcity natural
Karnataka and Maharashtra have or human-made? What social factors
killed themselves, often by drinking shape how water is allocated among
pesticide. What drives farmers, people different users? How do different
who stoically deal with the patterns of water-use affect different
uncertainties inherent in agriculture, social groups?
to this extreme step? The investigation
of journalist P. Sainath shows that Activity 2
farmers’ recent distress is due to a
Find out how much water your
fusion of environmental and economic
household uses in a day. Try and find
factors. Agrarian conditions have
out how much water is used by
become more volatile as farmers are
comparable households belonging to
exposed to the fluctuations of the
different income groups. How much
world market and as government
time and money do dif fer ent
support for small farmers declines due
households spend on getting water?
to liberalisation policies. Cotton
Within the household, whose job is
farmers grow a high-risk, high-return
it to collect water? How much water
crop. Cotton needs some irrigation.
does the government provide to
It is also very susceptible to pest
different classes of people?
infestation. Cotton growers thus need
capital to invest in irrigation and pest
The Urban Environment: A Tale of
control. Both of these inputs have
Two Cities
become more expensive over the
years: high levels of extraction have Here is a typical conflict over the urban
depleted water reserves so farmers environment. On the morning of
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 63
30 January 1995, Delhi was waking affluent residents of the area who paid
up to another chilly winter day. to have a wall constructed between the
Imagine the well-to-do colony of Ashok dirty, unsightly jhuggis and their own
Vihar in north Delhi, posh houses homes. The wall was soon breached,
shrouded in grey mist, early risers to allow the traffic of domestic workers
setting off on morning walks, some who lived in the jhuggis but worked
with their pet dogs — Pomeranians to clean the homes and cars of the
and Alsatians, straining at the leash. rich, and to of fer access to the
As one of these morning walkers delinquent defecators.
entered the neighbourhood ‘park’, the Dilip’s death was thus the
only open area in the locality, he saw culmination of a long-standing battle
a young man, poorly clad, walking over a contested space that, to one set
away with an empty bottle in hand. of residents, embodied their sense of
Outraged, he caught hold of the man gracious urban living, a place of trees
and called out to his neighbours. and grass devoted to leisure and
Someone phoned the police. A group recreation, and that to another set of
of enraged house-owners and two residents, was the only available space
police constables descended on the that could be used as a toilet. If he
youth and, within minutes, beat him had known this history of simmering
to death. conflict, Dilip would probably have
The young man was eighteen year- been more wary and would have run
old Dilip, a visitor to Delhi, who had away when challenged, and perhaps he
come to watch the Republic Day would still be alive. The violence did
parade in the capital. He was staying not end there. When a group of people
with his uncle in a jhuggi (shanty from the jhuggis gathered to protest
house) along the railway tracks against this killing, the police opened
bordering Ashok Vihar. His uncle fire and killed four more people.
worked as a labourer in the Wazirpur As cities grow, the conflict over
industrial estate nearby. Like all other urban space is becoming more acute.
planned industrial areas in Delhi, While migrants come to the city in
Wazirpur too has no provision for search of work, they cannot afford
workers’ housing. The jhuggi cluster scarce legal housing and are forced to
with more than 10,000 households settle on public lands. This land is
shared three public toilets, each one now in great demand to build
with eight latrines, effectively one toilet infrastructure for affluent residents
between more than 2000 persons. For and visitors — malls and multiplexes,
most residents, then, any large open hotels and tourist sites. As a result,
space, under cover of dark, became a poor workers and their families are
place to defecate. Their use of the being evicted to the outskirts of the
‘park’ brought the industrial workers city and their homes demolished.
and their families up against the more Besides land, air and water have also
64 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
GLOSSARY
Hydrology: The science of water and its flows; or the broad structure of water
resources in a country or region.
Deforestation: The loss of forest area due to cutting down of trees and/or taking
over of the land for other purposes, usually cultivation.
Green House: A covered structure for protecting plants from extremes of climate,
usually from excessive cold; a green house (also called a hot house) maintains a
warmer temperature inside compared to the outside temperature.
Emissions: Waste gases given off by a human-initiated process, usually in the
context of industries or vehicles.
Effluents: Waste materials in fluid form produced from industrial processes.
Aquifers: Natural underground formations in the geology of a region where water
gets stored.
Monoculture: When the plant life in a locality or region is reduced to a single
variety.
EXERCISES
1. Describe in your own words what you understand by the term ‘ecology’.
2. Why is ecology not limited only to the forces of nature?
3. Describe the two-way process by which ‘social environments’ emerge.
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 65
4. Why and how does social organisation shape the relationship between the
environment and society
5. Why is environmental management a complex and huge task for society?
6. What are some of the important forms of pollution-related environmental
hazards?
7. What are the major environmental issues associated with resource depletion?
8. Explain why environmental problems are simultaneously social problems.
9. What is meant by social ecology?
10. Describe some environment related conflicts that you know of or have read
about. (Other than the examples in the text.)
REFERENCES
Centre for Science and Environment. 1982. The State of India’s Environment: The
Citizens’ Report. CSE, New Delhi.
DAVIS, MIKE. 2004. ‘Planet of Slums: Urban Involution and the Informal Proletariat’
in New Left Review, 26: 5-34.
DAVIS, MIKE. 2004. ‘The Political Ecology of Famine: The Origins of the Third World’
in Richard Peet and Michael Watts (eds) Liberation Ecologies: Environment,
Development, Social Movements. Routledge, (second edition), London.
GADGIL, MADHAV and RAMACHANDRA GUHA. 1995. Ecology and Equity: The Use and
Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India. Penguin, New Delhi.
GUHA, RAMACHANDRA. 1997. ‘The Environmentalism of the Poor’ in Ramachandra
Guha and J. Martinez-Alier. Varieties of Environmentalism: Essays North and
South. Oxford University Press, Delhi.
POLLAN, MICHAEL. 2001. The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World.
Random House, New York.
CHAPTER 4
Sociology is sometimes called the child begin with a few words about the
of the ‘age of revolution’. This is because context in which sociology emerged.
it was born in 19th century Western
Europe, after revolutionary changes in THE CONTEXT OF SOCIOLOGY
the preceding three centuries that
The modern era in Europe and the
decisively changed the way people lived.
conditions of modernity that we take
Three revolutions paved the way for the
for granted today were brought about
emergence of sociology: the
by three major processes. These were:
Enlightenment, or the scientific
the Enlightenment or dawning of the
revolution; the French Revolution; and
‘age of reason’; the quest for political
the Industrial Revolution. These
sovereignty embodied in the French
processes completely transformed not
Revolution; and the system of mass
only European society, but also the rest
manufacture inaugurated by the
of the world as it came into contact with
Industrial Revolution. Since these
Europe.
have been discussed at length in
In this chapter the key ideas of
Chapter 1 of Introducing Sociology,
three sociological thinkers: Karl
here we will only mention some of the
Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max
intellectual consequences of these
Weber will be discussed. As part of
momentous changes.
the classical tradition of sociology,
they laid the foundation of the
subject. Their ideas and insights Activity 1
have remained relevant even in the Revisit the discussion of the coming
contemporary period. Of course, of the modern age in Europe in
these ideas have also been subjected Chapter 1 of Introducing Sociology.
to criticism and have undergone What sorts of changes were these
major modifications. But since ideas three processes associated with?
about society are themselves
influenced by social conditions, we
INTRODUCING WESTERN SOCIOLOGISTS 67
Marx was a proponent of class now hidden, now open fight’. The
struggle. He believed that class major opposing classes of each stage
struggle was the major driving force were identified from the contradictions
of change in society. In The Communist of the production pr ocess. In
Manifesto (which was also a capitalism the bourgeoisie (or
programme of action), Marx and capitalists) owned all the means of
Engels presented their views in a clear production, (such as investible capital,
and concise manner. Its opening lines existing factories and machinery, land
declare, ‘The history of all hitherto and so on). On the other hand, the
existing societies is the history of class working class lost all the means of
struggle’. They went on to trace the production that it owned (or had
course of human history and access to) in the past. Thus, in the
described how the nature of the class capitalist social system, workers had
struggle varied in different historical no choice but to sell their labour for
epochs. As society evolved from the wages in order to survive, because they
primitive to the modern through had nothing else.
distinct phases, each characterised by Even when two classes are
particular kinds of conflict between the objectively opposed to each other, they
oppressor and oppressed classes. do not automatically engage in
Marx and Engels wrote, ‘Freeman and conflict. For conflict to occur it is
slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and necessary for them to become
serf, guild master and journeyman, in subjectively conscious of their class
a word, oppressor and oppressed, interests and identities, and therefore
stood in constant opposition to one also of their rivals’ interests and
another, carried out an uninterrupted, identities. It is only after this kind of
Activity 2
Although it is also called a ‘class’, does the group formed by you and your classmates
form a class in the marxian sense? What arguments can you give in favour and
against this view? Do factory workers and agricultural workers belong to the same
class? What about workers and managers working in the same factory — do they
both belong to the same class? Does a rich industrialist or factory owner who
lives in the city and owns no agricultural land belong to the same class as a poor
agricultural labourer who lives in the village and owns no land? What about a
landlord who owns a lot of land and a small peasant who owns a small piece of
land — do they belong to the same class if they live in the same village and are
both landowners?
Think carefully about the reasons for your responses to these examples.
[Suggestion: Try to imagine what interests the people mentioned in these examples
may have in common; think of the position they occupy in the larger social system,
particularly in relation to the production process.]
INTRODUCING WESTERN SOCIOLOGISTS 73
to the modern. He classified a society individuals and allows for their need
by the nature of social solidarity which to be different from each other, and
existed in that society. He argued that recognises their multiple roles and
while a primitive society was organised organic ties. The laws of modern
according to ‘mechanical’ solidarity, society are ‘restitutive’ in nature rather
modern society was based on ‘organic’ than ‘repressive’. This means that in
solidarity. Mechanical solidarity is modern societies, the law aims to
founded on the similarity of its repair or correct the wrong that is done
individual members and is found in by a criminal act. By contrast, in
societies with small populations. It primitive societies the law sought to
typically involves a collection of different punish wrong doers and enforced a
self-sufficient groups where each person sort of collective revenge for their acts.
within a particular group is engaged in In modern society the individual was
similar activities or functions. As the given some autonomy, whereas in
solidarity or ties between people are primitive societies the individual was
based on similarity and personal totally submerged in the collectivity.
relationships, such societies are not very A characteristic feature of modern
tolerant of differences and any violation societies is that individuals with
of the norms of the community attracts similar goals come together voluntarily
harsh punishment. In other words, to form groups and associations. As
mechanical solidarity based societies these are groups oriented towards
have repressive laws designed to prevent specific goals, they remain distinct
deviation from community norms. This from each other and do not seek to
was because the individual and the take over the entire life of its members.
community were so tightly integrated Thus, individuals have many different
that it was feared that any violation of identities in different contexts. This
codes of conduct could result in the enables individuals to emerge from the
disintegration of the community. shadow of the community and
Organic solidarity characterises establish their distinct identity in
modern society and is based on the terms of the functions they perform
heterogeneity of its members. It is and the roles they play. Since all
found in societies with large individuals have to depend on others
populations, where most social for the fulfilment of their basic needs
relationships necessarily have to be like food, clothing, shelter and
impersonal. Such a society is based education, their intensity of
on institutions, and each of its interaction with others increases.
constituent groups or units is not self- Impersonal rules and regulations are
sufficient but dependent on other required to govern social relations in
units/groups for their survival. such societies because personalised
Interdependence is the essence of relations can no longer be maintained
organic solidarity. It celebrates in a large population.
INTRODUCING WESTERN SOCIOLOGISTS 77
Activity 3
Try to compare what Durkheim and Marx say about the social division of labour.
They both agree that as society evolves, the social organisation of production
grows more complex, the division of labour becomes more detailed, and this creates
unavoidable interdependencies among different social groups. But where Durkheim
emphasises solidarity, Marx emphasises conflict. What do you think about this?
Can you think of reasons why Marx may be wrong about modern society? For
example, can you think of situations or examples where people are joining together
to form groups or collectivities despite being from different class backgrounds
and having conflicting interests? What counter arguments could you give to
persuade someone that Marx may still have a point?
Can you think of reasons why Durkheim may be wrong about modern society
giving more freedom to the individual? For example, isn’t it true that the spread
of mass communication (specially through television) has tended to standardise
popular fashion in things like clothes or music? Today, young people in different
social groups, different countries, states or regions are now more likely to be
listening to the same music, or wearing the same kind of clothes than ever before.
Does this make Durkheim wrong? What could be the arguments for and against
in this context?
Remember, sociology is not like mathematics where there is usually only one
right answer. In anything to do with society and human beings, it is possible that
there are many right answers, or that an answer is right in one context but wrong
in another, or that it is partly right and partly wrong, and so on. In other words,
the social world is very complex, and it changes from time to time and from place
to place. This makes it all the more important to learn how to think carefully
about the reasons why a particular answer may be right or wrong in a particular
context.
Max Weber was one of the leading Max Weber and Interpretive Sociology
German social thinkers of his time. Weber argued that the overall objective
Despite long periods of physical and of the social sciences was to develop
mental ill health, he has left a rich an ‘interpretive understanding of social
legacy of sociological writing. He wrote action’. These sciences were thus very
extensively on many subjects but different from the natural sciences,
focused on developing an interpretive which aimed to discover the objective
sociology of social action and of power ‘laws of nature’ governing the physical
and domination. Another major world. Since the central concern of the
concern of Weber was the process of social sciences was with social action
rationalisation in modern society and and since human actions necessarily
the relationship of the various involved subjective meanings, the
religions of the world with this process. methods of enquiry of social science
INTRODUCING WESTERN SOCIOLOGISTS 79
(the files) which are preserved as training and given responsibilities with
records. There is cumulation in the the requisite authority to implement
decision making of the ‘bureau’ or them. The legal delimitation of tasks
office. It is also a part of the public and authority constrained unbridled
domain which is separate from the power and made officials accountable
private life of the officials. to their clients as the work was carried
(iv) Office Management: As office out in the public domain.
management is a specialised and
modern activity it requires trained Activity 4
and skilled personnel to conduct To what extent do you think the
operations. following groups or activities involve
(v) Conduct in Office: As official activity the exercise of bureacratic authority
demands the full time attention of in Weber’s sense?
officials irrespective of her/his (a) your class; (b) your school; (c) a
delimited hours in office, hence an football team; (d) a panchayat samiti
of ficial’s conduct in of fice is in a village; (e) a fan association for
a popular film star; (f) a group of
governed by exhaustive rules and
regular commuters on a train or bus
regulations. These separate her/ route; (g) a joint family; (h) a village
his public conduct from her/his community; (i) the crew of a ship; (j)
behaviour in the private domain. a criminal gang; (k) the followers of
Also since these rules and a religious leader; and (l) an audience
regulations have legal recognition, watching a film in a cinema hall.
officials can be held accountable. Based on your discussions, which
Weber’s characterisation of of these groups would you be willing
bureaucracy as a modern form of to characterise as ‘bureaucratic’?
political authority demonstrated how Remember, you must discuss reasons
both for as well as against, and listen
an individual actor was both
to people who disagree with!
recognised for her/his skills and
GLOSSARY
EXERCISES
REFERENCES
INDIAN SOCIOLOGISTS
As you saw in the opening chapter of play in India. In this chapter, you are
your first book, Introducing Sociology, going to be introduced to some of the
the discipline is a relatively young one founding figures of Indian sociology.
even in the European context, having These scholars have helped to shape
been established only about a century the discipline and adapt it to our
ago. In India, interest in sociological historical and social context.
ways of thinking is a little more than a The specificity of the Indian context
century old, but formal university raised many questions. First of all, if
teaching of sociology only began in western sociology emerged as an
1919 at the University of Bombay. In attempt to make sense of modernity,
the 1920s, two other universities — what would its role be in a country like
those at Calcutta and Lucknow — also India? India, too, was of course
began programmes of teaching and experiencing the changes brought
research in sociology and anthropology. about by modernity but with an
Today, every major university has a important difference — it was a colony.
department of sociology, social The first experience of modernity in
anthropology or anthropology, and India was closely intertwined with the
often more than one of these disciplines experience of colonial subjugation.
is represented. Secondly, if social anthropology in the
Now-a-days sociology tends to be west arose out of the curiosity felt by
taken for granted in India, like most European society about primitive
established things. But this was not cultures, what role could it have in
always so. In the early days, it was India, which was an ancient and
not clear at all what an Indian sociology advanced civilisation, but which also
would look like, and indeed, whether had ‘primitive’ societies within it?
India really needed something like Finally, what useful role could sociology
sociology. In the first quarter of the have in a sovereign, independent India,
20th century, those who became a nation about to begin its adventure
interested in the discipline had to with planned development and
decide for themselves what role it could democracy?
84 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
professional need to interpret tribal been born in the second decade of the
customs and laws to the court. He 20th century. Although they were all
travelled extensively among tribal deeply influenced by western traditions
communities and did intensive of sociology, they were also able to offer
fieldwork among them. All of this was some initial answers to the question
done on an ‘amateur’ basis, but Roy’s that the pioneers could only begin to
diligence and keen eye for detail ask : what shape should a specifically
resulted in valuable monographs and Indian sociology take?
research articles. During his entire G.S. Ghurye can be considered the
career, Roy published more than one founder of institutionalised sociology
hundred articles in leading Indian and in India. He headed India’s very first
British academic journals in addition post-graduate teaching department of
to his famous monographs on the Sociology at Bombay University for
Oraon, the Mundas and the Kharias. thirty-five years. He guided a large
Roy soon became very well known number of research scholars, many of
amongst anthropologists in India and whom went on to occupy prominent
Britain and was recognised as an positions in the discipline. He also
authority on Chhotanagpur. He founded the Indian Sociological
founded the journal Man in India in Society as well as its jour nal
1922, the earliest journal of its kind in Sociological Bulletin. His academic
India that is still published. writings were not only prolific, but very
Both Ananthakrishna Iyer and wide-ranging in the subjects they
Sarat Chandra Roy were true pioneers. covered. At a time when financial and
In the early 1900s, they began institutional support for university
practising a discipline that did not yet research was very limited, Ghurye
exist in India, and which had no managed to nurture sociology as an
institutions to promote it. Both Iyer increasingly Indian discipline. Ghurye’s
and Roy were born, lived and died in Bombay University department was the
an India that was ruled by the British. first to successfully implement two of
The four Indian sociologists you are the features which were later
going to be introduced in this chapter enthusiastically endorsed by his
were born one generation later than successors in the discipline. These
Iyer and Roy. They came of age in the were the active combining of teaching
colonial era, but their careers and research within the same
continued into the era of independence, institution, and the merger of social
and they helped to shape the first anthropology and sociology into a
formal institutions that established composite discipline.
Indian sociology. G.S. Ghurye and D.P. Best known, perhaps, for his
Mukerji were born in the 1890s while writings on caste and race, Ghurye also
A.R. Desai and M.N. Srinivas were wrote on a broad range of other themes
about fifteen years younger, having including tribes; kinship, family and
86 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
specially his debate with Verrier Elwin of tribal cultures to show that they had
which first made him known outside been involved in constant interactions
sociology and the academic world. In with Hinduism over a long period.
the 1930s and 1940s there was much They were thus simply further behind
debate on the place of tribal societies in the same process of assimilation
within India and how the state should that all Indian communities had gone
respond to them. Many British through. This particular argument —
administrator-anthropologists were namely, that Indian tribals were
specially interested in the tribes of hardly ever isolated primitive
India and believed them to be primitive communities of the type that was
peoples with a distinctive culture far written about in the classical
from mainstream Hinduism. They also anthropological texts — was not really
believed that the innocent and simple disputed. The differences were in how
tribals would suffer exploitation and the impact of mainstream culture was
cultural degradation through contact evaluated. The ‘protectionists’ believed
with Hindu culture and society. For that assimilation would result in the
this reason, they felt that the state severe exploitation and cultural
had a duty to protect the tribes and extinction of the tribals. Ghurye and
to help them sustain their way of life the nationalists, on the other hand,
and culture, which were facing argued that these ill-effects were not
constant pressure to assimilate with specific to tribal cultures, but were
mainstream Hindu culture. However, common to all the backward and
nationalist Indians were equally downtrodden sections of Indian
passionate about their belief in the society. These were the inevitable
unity of India and the need for difficulties on the road to development.
moder nising Indian society and
culture. They believed that attempts Activity 1
to preserve tribal culture wer e
misguided and resulted in maintaining Today we still seem to be involved in
tribals in a backward state as similar debates. Discuss the different
sides to the question from a
‘museums’ of primitive culture. As
contemporary perspective. For
with many features of Hinduism itself example, many tribal movements
which they felt to be backward and in assert their distinctive cultural and
need of reform, they felt that tribes, political identity — in fact, the states
too, needed to develop. Ghurye of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh
became the best-known exponent of were for med in response to
the nationalist view and insisted on such movements. There is also a
characterising the tribes of India as major contr oversy around the
‘backward Hindus’ rather than disproportionate burden that tribal
communities have been forced to
distinct cultural groups. He cited
bear for the sake of developmental
detailed evidence from a wide variety
88 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
have been introduced into groups that (iii) The institution of caste necessarily
were already racially varied. involves restrictions on social
Today, the racial theory of caste is interaction, specially the sharing
no longer believed, but in the first half of food. There are elaborate rules
of the 20th century it was still prescribing what kind of food may
considered to be true. There are be shared between which groups.
conflicting opinions among historians These rules are governed by ideas
about the Aryans and their arrival in of purity and pollution. The same
the subcontinent. However, at the also applies to social interaction,
time that Ghurye was writing these most dramatically in the
were among the concerns of the institution of untouchability,
discipline, which is why his writings where even the touch of people of
attracted attention. particular castes is thought to be
Ghurye is also known for offering polluting.
a comprehensive definition of caste. (iv) Following from the principles of
His definition emphasises six features. hierarchy and restricted social
(i) Caste is an institution based on interaction, caste also involves
segmental division. This means differential rights and duties for
that caste society is divided into a different castes. These rights and
number of closed, mutually exclusive duties pertain not only to religious
segments or compartments. Each practices but extend to the secular
caste is one such compartment. world. As ethnographic accounts
It is closed because caste is of everyday life in caste society
decided by birth — the children have shown, interactions between
born to parents of a particular people of different castes are
caste will always belong to that governed by these rules.
caste. On the other hand, there is (v) Caste restricts the choice of
no way other than birth of occupation, which, like caste itself,
acquiring caste membership. In is decided by birth and is
short, a person’s caste is decided hereditary. At the level of society,
by birth at birth; it can neither be caste functions as a rigid form of
avoided nor changed. the division of labour with specific
(ii) Caste society is based on occupations being allocated to
hierarchical division. Each caste is specific castes.
strictly unequal to every other (vi) Caste involves strict restrictions
caste, that is, every caste is either on marriage. Caste ‘endogamy’,
higher or lower than every other or marriage only within the caste,
one. In theory (though not in is often accompanied by rules
practice), no two castes are ever about ‘exogamy’, or whom one
equal. may not marry. This combination
90 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
that the root meaning of the word challenged by the collective experience
tradition is to transmit. Its Sanskrit of groups and sects, as for example in
equivalents are either parampara, that the bhakti movement. D.P. emphasised
is, succession; or aitihya, which comes that this was true not only of Hindu
from the same root as itihas or history. but also of Muslim culture in India. In
Traditions are thus strongly rooted in Indian Islam, the Sufis have stressed
a past that is kept alive through the love and experience rather than holy
repeated recalling and retelling of texts, and have been important in
stories and myths. However, this link bringing about change. Thus, for D.P.,
with the past does not rule out change, the Indian context is not one where
but indicates a process of adaptation discursive reason (buddhi-vichar) is the
to it. Internal and external sources of dominant force for change; anubhava
change are always present in every and prem (experience and love) have
society. The most commonly cited been historically superior as agents of
internal source of change in western change.
societies is the economy, but this Conflict and rebellion in the Indian
source has not been as effective in context have tended to work through
India. Class conflict, D.P. believed, had collective experiences. But the
been “smoothed and covered by caste resilience of tradition ensures that the
traditions” in the Indian context, pressure of conflict produces change
where new class relations had not yet in the tradition without breaking it.
emerged very sharply. Based on this So we have repeated cycles of
understanding, he concluded that one dominant orthodoxy being challenged
of the first tasks for a dynamic Indian by popular revolts which succeed in
sociology would be to provide an transfor ming orthodoxy, but are
account of the internal, non-economic eventually reabsorbed into this
causes of change. transformed tradition. This process
D.P. believed that there were three of change — of rebellion contained
principles of change recognised in within the limits of an overarching
Indian traditions, namely; shruti, smriti tradition — is typical of a caste society,
and anubhava. Of these, the last — where the formation of classes and
anubhava or personal experience — is class consciousness has been
the revolutionary principle. However, in inhibited. D.P.’s views on tradition and
the Indian context personal experience change led him to criticise all
soon flowered into collective experience. instances of unthinking borrowing
This meant that the most important from western intellectual traditions,
principle of change in Indian society including in such contexts as
was generalised anubhava, or the development planning. Tradition was
collective experience of groups. The neither to be worshipped nor ignored,
high traditions were centred in smriti just as modernity was needed but not
and sruti, but they were periodically to be blindly adopted. D.P. was
INDIAN SOCIOLOGISTS 93
simultaneously a proud but critical A.R. Desai is one of the rare Indian
inheritor of tradition, as well as an sociologists who was directly involved
admiring critic of the modernity that in politics as a formal member of
he acknowledged as having shaped his political parties. Desai was a life-long
own intellectual perspective. Marxist and became involved in Marxist
politics during his undergraduate days
Activity 2 at Baroda, though he later resigned his
membership of the Communist Party
Discuss what is meant by a ‘living of India. For most of his career he was
tradition’. According to D.P. Mukerji, associated with various kinds of non-
this is a tradition which maintains
mainstream Marxist political groups.
links with the past by retaining
something from it, and at the same Desai’s father was a middle level civil
time incorporates new things. A living servant in the Baroda state, but was
tradition thus includes some old also a well-known novelist, with
elements but also some new ones. sympathy for both socialism and
You can get a better and more Indian nationalism of the Gandhian
concrete sense of what this means if variety. Having lost his mother early
you try to find out from different in life, Desai was brought up by his
generations of people in your father and lived a migratory life
neighbourhood or family about what
because of the frequent transfers of
is changed and what is unchanged
about specific practices. Here is a list
his father to different posts in the
of subjects you can try; you could also Baroda state.
try other subjects of your own choice. After his undergraduate studies in
Games played by children of Baroda, Desai eventually joined the
your age group (boys/girls) Bombay department of sociology to
Ways in which a popular festival study under Ghurye. He wrote his
is celebrated doctoral dissertation on the social
Typical dress/clothing worn by aspects of Indian nationalism and was
women and men awarded the degree in 1946. His
… Plus other such subjects of
thesis was published in 1948 as The
your choice …
For each of these, you need to Social Background of Indian
find out: What aspects have Nationalism, which is probably his
remained unchanged since as far best known work. In this book, Desai
back as you know or can find out? offered a Marxist analysis of Indian
What aspects have changed? What nationalism, which gave prominence
was different and same about the to economic processes and divisions,
practice/event (i) 10 years ago; (ii) while taking account of the specific
20 years ago; (iii) 40 years ago; conditions of British colonialism.
(iv) 60 or more years ago
Although it had its critics, this book
Discuss your findings with the
proved to be very popular and went
whole class.
through numerous reprints. Among
94 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
the other themes that Desai worked interested A.R. Desai. As always, his
on were peasant movements and rural approach to this issue was from a
sociology, moder nisation, urban Marxist perspective. In an essay called
issues, political sociology, forms of the “The myth of the welfare state”, Desai
state and human rights. Because provides a detailed critique of this
Marxism was not very prominent or notion and points to it many
influential within Indian sociology, shortcomings. After considering the
A.R. Desai was perhaps better known prominent definitions available in the
outside the discipline than within it. sociological literature, Desai identifies
Although he received many honours the following unique features of the
and was elected President of the welfare state:
Indian Sociological Society, Desai
remained a somewhat unusual figure (i) A welfare state is a positive state.
in Indian sociology. This means that, unlike the ‘laissez
faire’ of classical liberal political
A.R. Desai on the State theory, the welfare state does not
seek to do only the minimum
The modern capitalist state was one necessary to maintain law and
of the significant themes that order. The welfare state is an
INDIAN SOCIOLOGISTS 95
interventionist state and actively from the rich to the poor, and by
uses its considerable powers to preventing the concentration of
design and implement social policies wealth?
for the betterment of society. (iii) Does the welfare state transform
(ii) The welfare state is a democratic the economy in such a way that
state. Democracy was considered the capitalist profit motive is made
an essential condition for the subservient to the real needs of the
emergence of the welfare state. community?
Formal democratic institutions, iv) Does the welfare state ensure
specially multi-party elections, stable development free from the
were thought to be a defining cycle of economic booms and
feature of the welfare state. This depressions?
is why liberal thinkers excluded
(v) Does it provide employment for all?
socialist and communist states
from this definition. Using these criteria, Desai
(iii) A welfare state involves a mixed examines the performance of those
economy. A ‘mixed economy’ means states that are most often described as
an economy where both private welfare states, such as Britain, the USA
capitalist enterprises and state and much of Europe, and finds their
or publicly owned enterprises claims to be greatly exaggerated. Thus,
co-exist. A welfare state does not most modern capitalist states, even in
seek to eliminate the capitalist the most developed countries, fail to
market, nor does it prevent public provide minimum levels of economic
investment in industry and other and social security to all their citizens.
fields. By and large, the state They are unable to reduce economic
sector concentrates on basic goods inequality and often seem to encourage
and social infrastructure, while it. The so-called welfare states have also
private industry dominates the been unsuccessful at enabling stable
consumer goods sector. development free from market
fluctuations. The presence of excess
Desai then goes on to suggest some
economic capacity and high levels of
test criteria against which the
unemployment are yet another failure.
performance of the welfare state can
Based on these arguments, Desai
be measured. These are:
concludes that the notion of the welfare
(i) Does the welfare state ensure
state is something of a myth.
freedom from poverty, social
A.R. Desai also wrote on the
discrimination and security for all
Marxist theory of the state. In these
its citizens?
writings we can see that Desai does
(ii) Does the welfare state remove not take a one-sided view but openly
inequalities of income through criticises the shortcomings of
measures to redistribute income Communist states. He cites many
96 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
little time for his own research. Despite University of Chicago, which was then
these difficulties, Srinivas produced a a power ful centre in world
significant body of work on themes anthropology. Like G.S. Ghurye and
such as caste, modernisation and the Lucknow scholars, Srinivas
other processes of social change, succeeded in training a new
village society, and many other issues. generation of sociologists who were to
Srinivas helped to establish Indian become leaders of the discipline in the
sociology on the world map through following decades.
his inter national contacts and
associations. He had strong M.N. Srinivas on the Village
connections in British social The Indian village and village society
anthropology as well as American remained a life-long focus of interest
anthropology, particularly at the for Srinivas. Although he had made
98 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY
short visits to villages to conduct wherever they go. For this reason,
surveys and interviews, it was not Dumont believed that it would be
until he did field work for a year at a misleading to give much importance
village near Mysore that he really to the village as a category. As against
acquired first hand knowledge of this view, Srinivas believed that the
village society. The experience of field village was a relevant social entity.
work proved to be decisive for his Historical evidence showed that
career and his intellectual path. villages had served as a unifying
Srinivas helped encourage and identity and that village unity was
coordinate a major collective effort at quite significant in rural social life.
producing detailed ethnographic Srinivas also criticised the British
accounts of village society during the administrator anthropologists who
1950s and 1960s. Along with other had put forward a picture of the Indian
scholars like S.C. Dube and D.N. village as unchanging, self-sufficient,
Majumdar, Srinivas was instrumental “little republics”. Using historical and
in making village studies the sociological evidence, Srinivas showed
dominant field in Indian sociology that the village had, in fact, experienced
during this time. considerable change. Moreover, villages
Srinivas’ writings on the village were never self-sufficient, and had been
were of two broad types. There was involved in various kinds of economic,
first of all ethnographic accounts of social and political relationships at the
fieldwork done in villages or regional level.
discussions of such accounts. A The village as a site of research
second kind of writing included offered many advantages to Indian
historical and conceptual discussions sociology. It provided an opportunity
about the Indian village as a unit of to illustrate the importance of
social analysis. In the latter kind of ethnographic research methods. It
writing, Srinivas was involved in a offered eye-witness accounts of the
debate about the usefulness of the rapid social change that was taking
village as a concept. Arguing against place in the Indian countryside as the
village studies, some social newly independent nation began a
anthropologists like Louis Dumont programme of planned development.
thought that social institutions like These vivid descriptions of village India
caste were more important than were greatly appreciated at the time
something like a village, which was as urban Indians as well as policy
after all only a collection of people makers were able to form impressions
living in a particular place. Villages of what was going on in the heartland
may live or die, and people may move of India. Village studies thus provided
from one village to another, but their a new role for a discipline like sociology
social institutions, like caste or in the context of an independent
religion, follow them and go with them nation. Rather than being restricted
INDIAN SOCIOLOGISTS 99
GLOSSARY
EXERCISES
1. How did Ananthakrishna Iyer and Sarat Chandra Roy come to practice
social anthropology?
2. What were the main arguments on either side of the debate about how
to relate to tribal communities?
3. Outline the positions of Herbert Risley and G.S. Ghurye on the
relationship between race and caste in India.
4. Summarise the social anthropological definition of caste.
5. What does D.P. Mukerji mean by a ‘living tradition’? Why did he insist
that Indian sociologists be rooted in this tradition?
6. What are the specificities of Indian culture and society, and how do
they affect the pattern of change?
7. What is a welfare state? Why is A.R. Desai critical of the claims made
on its behalf?
8. What arguments were given for and against the village as a subject of
sociological research by M.N. Srinivas and Louis Dumont?
9. What is the significance of village studies in the history of Indian
sociology? What role did M.N. Srinivas play in promoting village studies?
REFERENCES
DESAI, A.R. 1975. State and Society in India: Essays in Dissent. Popular
Prakashan, Bombay.
DESHPANDE, SATISH. ‘Fashioning a Postcolonial Discipline: M.N. Srinivas
and Indian Sociology’ in Uberoi, Sundar and Deshpande (eds) (in press).
GHURYE, G.S. 1969. Caste and Race in India, Fifth Edition, Popular
Prakashan, Bombay.
PRAMANICK, S.K. 1994. Sociology of G.S. Ghurye, Rawat Publications, Jaipur,
and New Delhi.
MUKERJI, D.P. 1946. Views and Counterviews. The Universal Publishers,
Lucknow.
MUKERJI , D.P. 1955. ‘Indian Tradition and Social Change’, Presidential
Address to the All India Sociological Conference at Dehradun,
102 UNDERSTANDING SOCIETY