Subject: Sociology

Aims

1. To familiarise candidates with the basic concepts of Sociology and Anthropology.
2. To develop in candidates an understanding of various forces that constitute social life and social problems.
3. To create an awareness of the process of change and development in general and with reference to the Indian society in particular.
4. To provide candidates with the means whereby they can come to a better understanding of other cultures as well as of their own.
5. To form in candidates the habit of scrutinising social assumptions and beliefs in the light of scientific evidence.
6. To introduce a deeper study of the subject for the tertiary level.

CLASS XI

There will be two papers in the subject.

Paper I - Theory: 3 hours ……70 marks
Paper II- Practical Work ……30 marks

PAPER - I  THEORY – ( 70 Marks )

Part 1 (20 marks) will consist of compulsory short answer questions testing knowledge, application and skills relating to elementary / fundamental aspects of the entire syllabus.
Part II (50 marks) will consist of seven questions out of which the candidate will be required to answer five questions, each carrying 10 marks.

Origin and Development of Sociology and Anthropology

1. Emergence of Sociology as a discipline: Discuss briefly the origins and growth of the discipline.
2. Classical thinkers and theories: Discuss in brief the contribution of Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber.
3. Nature and Scope of Sociology: Meaning and Definition of Society. General/broad definition of society.
4. Relation of Sociology with other Social Sciences: Political Science, Economics Anthropology, History, Psychology, Philosophy.
5. Research methodology:  Formulation of the problem, Observation, Classification, Hypothesis, Verification, Prediction.

6. Nature and Scope of Anthropology:
   Definition: Root words, general definition; growth of the discipline - travelers, explorers, administrators and missionaries; Branches of Anthropology: Physical Anthropology; Socio-cultural Anthropology - Ethnology, Archaeology, Linguistics; Applied
   Anthropology.

The Nature of Society - Concepts and Characteristics

(i) (a) Society and the individual: man as a social being.
     Explain man as a social being, using the examples of the feral cases of Hauser, Amla and Kamala and Anna.
    (b) Human being as a rational and social partner in environmental actions.
     While human beings are responsible for the present state of the environment, they are also capable of acting intelligently and finding solutions. For a man to sustain himself, a balance between his social life/existence and his environment is necessary. The two cannot be isolated. (a general understanding of the above to be provided).
(ii) Types of Society (Rural and Urban Society): Discuss the nature of Rural and Urban Society.
(iii) Social Groups: Community and Association, Primary Groups (in-group), Secondary Groups (out-group) and Reference Groups.
(iv) Social Processes: Co-operation and conflict, folkways and mores, crowd and crowd behaviour.

Race, Ethnicity and Culture

(i) Concept of race: Definition, traits and racial types.
(ii) Notion and attributes of culture:
      Indian traditions, customs and culture – past and present.Definition; material and non material culture; characteristics of culture. A brief look at some past traditions and customs which reflect a close understanding of material and non material culture e.g. sacred groves, johads, eris [water tanks of South India], farmers crops and growing season in complete harmony with the local environment and seasons, etc.
(iii) Notion of Ethnicity: Definition and features of ethnicity.
(iv) Relationship between race and culture: Causes of prejudice: misinformation, ethnocentrism, economic advantages, political advantages, compensation for frustration.Remedies.
(v) Examples of ethnic separatism: Examples of ethnic separatism, e.g. Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, or any other similar movement.

Natural and Social Selection – Heredity andEnvironment

(i) Natural selection and heredity: Definition of natural selection and heredity; survival of the fittest, mechanisms of heredity – basic process and terms; genetic changes and acquired characteristics.
(ii) Social selection and Environment: Definition of social selection and environment; types of environment (natural and social); struggle for existence.
(iii) Interplay of heredity and environment: Self explanatory.

Social Stratification

(i) Social stratification: the elements: Definition of stratification, inequality, difference.
(ii) The class system: its nature, development, types of classes: Discuss briefly the growth and nature of the different classes (lower, middle, upper).
(iii) The caste system:
       concept, caste origin, caste and class comparison, its features; caste in modern India. Definition. Vertical and horizontal division of society. Characteristics - social, ancient, universal, diverse forms; caste in modern India – reservation, caste and politics; social mobility-- brahminisation, sanskritisation and westernization - definitions only.

Population and other Social Problems

(i) Over population, crime, juvenile delinquency, beggary, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, child labour:
      Inter relationships between the social problems.
(ii) Impact of urbanisation on the environment:
     Stress on civic amenities; supply of water and electricity, waste disposal, transport, health services, pollution, problems of housing, migrating and floating population, natural resources and their depletion. A close look at each of the above, with specific examples from the Indian context.
(iii) Alleviating the problems: Discuss briefly the causes, consequences and solutions for the above social problems.

CLASS XII

There will be two papers in the subject.

Paper I - Theory: 3 hours ……70 marks
Paper II- Practical Work ……30 marks

PAPER - I  THEORY – ( 70 Marks )

Part 1 (20 marks) will consist of compulsory short answer questions testing knowledge, application and skills relating to elementary / fundamental aspects of the entire syllabus.
Part II (50 marks) will consist of seven questions out of which the candidate will be required to answer five questions, each carrying 10 marks.

1. Social Institutions:
    Definition of Social Institutions. Types of social institutions: Kinship, Marriage, Family, Religion, Economic organizations, Law and Justice systems.

2. Kinship and Clan:
  (i) Types of kinship: consanguineous and affinalkinship.
  (ii) Degree of kinship, range of kinship descent.
  (iii) Kinship usages - avoidance, joking relationship, teknonymy, avunculate, amitate, couvades.
  (iv) Kinship terms - descriptive and classificatory.
  (v) Residence and descent.
  (vi) Clan:
         basic features, phratry, views about formation of phratry, moiety and dual organization, Morgan's claim, Tylor's analogy; clan organisation in Indian tribes. Discuss the nature of types of kinship; degree of kinship (primary, secondary, tertiary), broad range and narrow range; discuss avoidance, joking relationship, teknonymy, avunculate, amitate, couvade; Also discuss descriptive and classificatory, residence and descent. Clan: basic features, phratry, views about formation of phratry, Morgan's claim, Tylor's analogy; clan organisation in Indian tribes.

3. Marriage and Inheritance
  (i) Definitions and functions of marriage. Discuss the nature of marriage and its functions.
  (ii) History of human marriage.
      Ways of acquiring mates: probationary, by capture, by trial, by purchase, by service, by exchange, by mutual consent and elopement, by intrusion, by inheritance of widows. Examples of promiscuity, monogamy, polyandry and polygyny among certain tribes; views of Morgan. Discuss the various ways of acquiring mates as specified above.
 (iii) Forms of marriage: exogamy, endogamy, cross cousin, levirate, sororate, polygamy, and hypergamy. Self explanatory.

The Family

(i) Origin of family: Morgan's evolutionary scheme.
(ii) Definition and features: Definition and features by MacIver.
(iii) Functions of family:
      Reasons for the universal existence of family: roots of family, family as an association (primary and extended family, consanguineous and conjugal family, family of origin and procreation, polygyny, polyandry, unilateral and bilateral, lineage, sib, gotra, patripotestal, matripotestal and avuncupotestal, matrilineal and patrilineal, matrilocal, patrilocal and avunculocal).
(iv) Forms of the family: Matriarchal and patriarchal societies in India, Nuclear and joint families; small family norm.
(v) Changing nature of the family: Structural changes, functional changes; Factors responsible for the changes.

Religion, Magic and Morality

(i) Definition and concepts: magic, religion and science; beliefs, rituals, superstitions, taboo. A brief discussion on the above.
(ii) Functions and dysfunctions of religion: A brief discussion on the above.
(iii) Theories of religions:
animism, animatism, manaism, bongaism, naturism, totemism, fetishism, functional theories. A brief discussion of above concepts.
(iv) World religions:
Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism. A brief discussion of the basic principles of each religion.
(v) Religion, magic and science:
Frazer's types of magic, differences and similarities between religion and magic, between religion and science. Discussion on Frazer's types of magic (contagious and homeopathic); white and black magic. Differences and similarities between religion and magic, religion and science.
(vi) Morality:
notion of morality, relation between religion and morality. Definition of morality; moral code, religious code; relationship between religion and morality.

Economic Organisation

(i) Economic activity and its types:
preliminary concepts, collective economy, simple transformative economy, early industrialism, modern industrialism. Preliminary concepts - utility, wealth, economic and free goods, capital and consumer goods, price, costs, profit. The collecting economy. The simple transformative economies: types, examples in India, exchange of economic goods. Early Industrialism: characteristics, feudal, guild and domestic systems. Modern industrialism: characteristics, effects.
(ii) Industry and social change:
impact of industry on society, class as an effect of industrialisation, the new class, industry and position of women, urbanisation and modernisation. Class as an effect of industrialization - Characteristics of class: individualism, economic and professional values, rationalism, disregard for taboos and prohibitions, the new class - urbanism. The factory system. More freedom. Urbanization and Modernization - definition only.
(iii) Economic organisation in tribal India:
definition and classification; nature of primitive economies; property in primitive economies. Definition of economic organization. Growth of types of economic organizations through prehistoric times. Thurnwald's classification. Classification given by Adam Smith, List, Hildebrand, Grosse, Darryl Forde, Gordon Childe, Herskovitz and Ehrenfels. Nature of primitive economies: Exploitation of nature. Barter and money; The profit motive, collective endeavour, rate of innovation, regular market, manufacture of consumption goods, specialization based on age and sex, property. Property in primitive economies: conception of property; individual and collective ownership of property - multiple possessory rights; rules of inheritance.
(iv) Economies of Indian tribes:
food gathering, agriculture, shifting axe cultivation, handicrafts, pastoralism, industrial labour. Economies of Indian tribes: Food gathering; agriculture; shifting axe cultivation - different names, the process, criticism of this type of cultivation, examples of tribes having this practice; handicrafts; pastoralism; industrial labour - migration of large numbers of Santhal, Kond and Gond to tea gardens in the north east; large resources of coal, iron and steel in Bengal, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh; examples of Santhal, Ho in pick-mining, coal- cutting, the mica and the iron & steel industry. Important factors responsible for changes in tribal economy: education, religious factor, economic factor, technological inventions, standard of health, mode of production, modernculture, role of Media.

Women in Society

(i) Theoretical Background:
     determinants of status – the gap between theory and practice. Definition of the term ‘Status’; the determinants of status (Malinowski and Lowie); examples of incompatibility between theoretical and actual status.
(ii) Matrilineal Societies:
     The Khasi and the Garo (A brief reference can be made to the Nairs – not for testing). Economic interpretation: hunters and gatherers, cultivators and nomads. Inheritance (only for the purpose of discussion and not for testing).
(iii) Status of Women in Patrilineal Societies. Residence:
example of the Khasi; Kulinism – Taboos; examples from the Ho, the Gond, the Tharu, the Khasa, the Nagas and some central Indian tribes.
(iv) Changing status of Women:
      Changing status of women in - Pre British and British India (social reforms – abolition of Sati and child marriage, widow remarriage). Modern India: A brief discussion on legislation on Abolition of dowry, anti-rape laws, inheritance bill. (Discuss empowerment of Women to explain the legislations – not for testing).

Law and Justice

Nature of primitive law: origins of law, differences between primitive and modern law, intention, responsibility, evidence, punishment, wergild. The above can be explained by using examples such as Kamar, Kharia, Rengma Naga and the Ho. (Examples are only for the purpose of discussion and not for testing). Definition of law - Transformation of custom into law- origins of primitive law; nature of primitive law - difference between primitive and modern law: territory, public opinion, collective cognizance, ethical norms intention, collective responsibility, evidence punishment, improvement, murder for murder, gradation of punishment, wergild. Why law is obeyed: public opinion and equation of law with ethical norms; Government - three functions of the government; types of government in primitive society; examples from India.

Social Change and Development

(i) Defining social change, globalization and development: role of individual and community.
    The relationship between globalization, development and social change, special focus on sustainable development for improving quality of life for the present and future and understanding the challenges faced for sustainable development - social, political and economic considerations.
(ii) Role of Education. Meaning and functions:
      Role of the teacher in the educational system. Meaning and functions of education; role of teacher in the educational system. Emphasize the role of education in creating social change.
(iii) Role of Mass Media (Print, electronic, audio- visual; positive and negative aspects of mass media)
     Understanding each of the above forms of mass media and their role in creating social change.
(iv) Role of social movements – Narmada Bachao Andolan; Dalit Movement.
      A brief history of a tribal movement and its consequences – the Narmada Bachao Andolan. A brief history of a caste movement and its consequences - the Dalit Movement.

Tribal India - Past, Present and Future

(i) Definition of tribe, features and classification (geographical, linguistic, racial, cultural and economic).
    Self explanatory.
(ii) Dormitories: dormitories in India - features and activities; origin of dormitories, culture, contacts, educative function.
      Discuss the nature of the dormitory system and its functions in the context of tribal society.
(iii) Contact with the wider society (assimilation, and isolation, relationship between caste and tribe, tribal transformation).
      Self explanatory.
(iv) Present conditions and problems.
      Economic, political (regionalism and separatism), social and cultural, problems.
(v) Action by the Government.
     Policies of the Government of India (post independence) for upliftment of the Indian tribes.

Courtesy: cisce.org

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