Women and Society

Women's position in India

Social Problems faced by Women
o Dowry
o Child Marriages
o Neglect during Early Childhood
o Death during Childbirth
o Female Infanticide and Fetal Killing
o Early Marriage
Atrocities on women
Programmes for Women and their Impact
o Marriage Legislation
o The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929
o The Hindu Marriage Disabilities Removal Act,1946
o The Hindu Marriage Validity Act, 1949
o The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
o The Special Marriage Act, 1954
o The Hindu Widows Remarriage Act, 1856
o The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
o Socio-Economic Programme
o Rural women's Development and Employment Project
o Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA)
o Indira Mahila Yojna
o Balika Samriddhi Yojana
o Plan of Action to Combat Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children
o National Commission for Women
o National Women Fund
o Mahila Samridhi Yojana
Hostel for working women
Short Stay Homes for Women and Girls
Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP)
Employment and Income Generation-cum- Production Units (NORAD)
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)
Eradication of Child Prostitution
National Policy for the Empowerment of Women
Review & Amendment of the Legislation Relating To Women
Rehabilitation Of Marginalized Women Of Vrindavan
o Central Social Welfare Board
Impact of different programmes launched by government on women

Women's position in India

As of March 2001, the female population stands at 495.4 million out of total 1,028 million
Indian population. Thus, in the present population of 1.03 billion, there ought to be 528 million
women. Instead, estimates show only 496 million women in the population today. This implies
that there are some 32 million "missing" women in India. Some are never born, and the rest
die because they do not have the opportunity to survive. Sex-ratio (number of female per
1,000 male) is an important indicator of women's status in the society. In 1901 there were
972 females per 1,000 males, while by 1971; the ratio has come down to 930 females per
1,000 males. In 1981 there has been only a nominal increase in the female sex ratio within
934 females to 1,000 males. There were only 926 females per 1000 males in India according
to 1991 census.

The 2001 census indicate that the trend has been slightly arrested with the sex ratio at 933
females per 1000 males, with Kerala at 1058 females. The sex ratio of the 0-6 age group has
declined sharply from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. According to UNFPA State of world
population 2005, Punjab (793), Haryana (820), Delhi (865), Gujarat (878) and Himachal
Pradesh (897) have worst child sex ratio. Scheduled Tribes have fairly respectable CSR of 973
but that falls for Scheduled Castes it falls at 938.For non SC/ST population it stands at
917.Rural India has 934 per 1000 and for urban India it stands at 908.In most states least
literate districts have superior CSR compared to their most literate counterparts.
One reason for the adverse juvenile sex ratio is the increasing reluctance to have female
children. For women the literacy rate stands at 54.16 per cent. Still, 245 million Indian women
cannot read or write, comprising the world's largest number of unlettered women. National
averages in literacy conceal wide disparities. For instance, while 95 per cent of women in
Mizoram are literate, only 34 per cent of women in Bihar can read and write. The average
Indian female has only 1.2 years of schooling, while the Indian male spends 3.5 years in
school. More than 50 per cent girls drop out by the time they are in middle school. Similarly,
life expectancy has increased for both the sexes; it has increased to 64.9 years for women and
63 years for men according to UN Statistic Division (2000). The Working women population
has risen from 13% in 1987 to 25% in 2001.
However the UNFPA State of World Population 2005 states that about70% of graduate Indian
women are unemployed. Women constitute 90 per cent of the total marginal workers of the
country. Rural women engaged in agriculture form 78 per cent of all women in regular work.
They are a third of all workers on the land. The traditional gender division of labour ensures
that these women get on average 30 per cent lower wages than men. The total employment of
women in organized sector is only 4 per cent. Although industrial production increased in the
1980s; jobs in factories and establishments -- or non-household jobs -- stagnated at eight per
cent of the workforce. Increasingly, companies tend to rely on outsourcing, using cheap
labour.It is well known that women and children work in huge numbers in bidi-rolling,
agarbatti-rolling, bangle making, weaving, brassware, leather, crafts and other industries. Yet,
only 3 per cent of these women are recorded as laborers. They are forced to work for pitiable
wages and are denied all social security benefits. A study by SEWA of 14 trades found that 85
per cent of women earned only 50 per cent of the official poverty level income.
The sociological research on the status of women has generally suggested that the Indian
women enjoy a low status in their households because family decisions relating to finances,
kinship relations, selection of life partner are made by the male members and women are
rarely consulted. Although there has been an expansion in health facilities maternal mortality
rate continue to be high at 407 per 1, 00,000 live births (1998).WHO estimates show that out
of the 529,000 maternal deaths globally each year ,136,000 (25.7%) are contributed by India.
A factor that contributes to India's high maternal mortality rate is the reluctance to seek
medical care for pregnancy - it is viewed as a temporary condition that will disappear. The
estimates nationwide are that only 40-50 percent of women receive any antenatal care.
Evidence from the states of Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat
find registration for maternal and child health services to be as low as 5-22 percent in rural
areas and 21-51 percent in urban areas. Even a woman who has had difficulties with previous
pregnancies is usually treated with home remedies only for three reasons: the decision that
pregnant women seek help rests with the mother-in-law and husband; financial
considerations; and fear that the treatment may be more harmful than the malady.

Social Problems faced by Women

Dowry
Max Radin has defined dowry as the property, which a man receives from his wife or her
family at the time of his marriage. Dowry may be broadly defined as gifts and valuables

received in marriage by the bride, the bridegroom and his relatives. The amount of dowry is
regulated by factors like boy's service and salary, social and economic status of the girl's
father, the social prestige of the boy's family, educational qualifications of the girl and the boy,
girl's working and her salary, girl's and boy's beauty and features, future prospects of
economic security, size and the composition of the girl's and boy's family and factors like that.
What is significant is that girl's parents give her money and gifts not only at the time of her
wedding but they continue to give gifts to her husband's family throughout the life. McKim
Marriott holds that the feeling behind this is that one's daughter and sister at marriage
become the helpless possession of an alien kinship group and to secure her good treatment,
lavish hospitality must be offered to her in-laws from time to time.
One of the causes of dowry is the desire and aspiration of every parent to marry his daughter
in a higher and a rich family to keep up or to add to his prestige and also to prove comforts
and security to the daughter. The high marriage- market values of the boys belonging to rich
and high social status families have swelled the amount of dowry.
Other cause of the existence of dowry is that giving dowry is a social custom and it is very
difficult to change customs all of a sudden. The feeling is that practicing customs generates
and strengthens solidarity and cohesiveness among people. Many people give and take dowry
only because their parents and ancestors had been practicing it. Custom has stereotyped the
old dowry system and till some rebellious youth muster courage to abolish it and girls resist
social pressures to give it, people will stick to it.
Amongst Hindus, marriage in the same caste and sub-caste has been prescribed by the social
and religious practices with the result that choice of selecting a mate is always restricted. This
results in the paucity of young boys who have high salaried jobs or promising careers in the
profession. They become scarce commodities and their parents demand huge amount of
money from the girl's parents to accept her as their daughter-in-law, as if girls and chattel for
which the bargain has to be made. Nevertheless, their scarcity is exacerbated and aggravated
by the custom of marriage in the same caste.
A few people give more dowries just to exhibit their high social and economic status. Jains and
Rajputs, for example, spend lakhs of rupees in the marriage of their daughters just to show
their high status or keep their prestige in the society even if they have to borrow money.
The most important cause of accepting dowry by the grooms' parents is that they have to give
dowry to their daughters and sisters. Naturally, they look to the dowry of their sons to meet
their obligations in finding husbands for their daughters. For instance, an individual who may
be against the dowry system is compelled to accept fifty to sixty thousand rupees in cash in
dowry only because he has to spend an equal amount in his sister's or daughter's marriage.
The vicious circle starts and the amount of dowry goes on increasing till it assumes a
scandalous proportion.

Social Problems faced by Women

Child Marriages
Many people marry their daughters in childhood to escape from dowry, and pre-puberty
marriage is an evil in itself. On maturity, the boys may or may not be able to adjust with their
wives. This crisis situation is by no means left behind after the child marriage is consummated
on attaining maturity. If by chance a husband becomes educated or professionally trained and
his wife remains uneducated, both partners face crises.

Social Problems faced by Women

Neglect during Early Childhood

The neglect of the girl child starts very early in life. The extent of neglect varies from family to
family depending on their economic position. But in comparison to her male counterpart a
female child is relatively neglected in most of the socioeconomic strata. Throughout the
country it has been noticed that when the girl child depends on breast-feeding the chances of
her survival are relatively more. Data from various sources shows that from infancy till the age
of 15 the death rate for female child far exceeds the mortality rate for male child. There are
several causes underlying this. Firstly, the female children are breast fed for a far shorter
period than their male counterparts. Secondly, during illness parents show a greater concern
towards male children.
This neglect is quite often enforced by poor economic condition. Finally, in addition to the
intake of insufficient and non-nutritious food the female child is exposed to a greater workload
very early in life. Often in families of weaker economic strength the girl child is found
attending the household chores as well as taking care of her younger brothers and sisters.

Social Problems faced by Women

Death during Childbirth
Early marriage exposes women to longer childbearing period. This means greater health
hazards to women and children. Several studies show that teenaged mothers risk to health for
both themselves and their children. This risk is further enhanced by poor nutrition. Various
surveys indicate that women's caloric content is about 100 calories (per women per day) less
than they spend, whereas men show an 800 caloric surplus intake. Women expend a great
deal of energy working inside and outside the house, whereas they often have
insufficient food. Customarily they often eat after the men and other members of the family
have eaten. The lack of knowledge and improper care during postnatal period, and frequent
pregnancies lead to larger fetal wastage, birth of larger number of low eight babies, and death
of young women.

Social Problems faced by Women

Female Infanticide and Fetal Killing
This refers to killing the infant soon after its birth or at the fetus stage. Fetal killing has been a
crucial problem is some urban areas. A medical diagnostic process called Amniocentesis is
used in the U.S.A. to check possible deformities of the unborn child. However, this is fast being
used by parents to select the sex of their child. Misuse of the sex determination test has been
a crucial issue in some urban places in India. This has resulted in a new type female
infanticide i.e. abortion of female fetuses.

Social Problems faced by Women

Early Marriage
Early marriage affects women's health status adversely. A vast number of girls are married at
the teenage. It leads to teenage pregnancy and various physiological problems. In rural India
almost 60 per cent of girls are married before they are 18. Nearly 60 per cent of married girls
bear children before they are 19. Almost one third of all babies are born with low birth weight.
Thus, young girls are introduced to the sexual life and to the reproduction processes at the
teenage.
Because of malnutrition, over burden of work illiteracy, ignorance of the sex-behavior these
pregnant girls take high risk of life. Around 10 to 15% of the annual births are from these
adolescent mothers. However, most of their babies suffer from malnutrition, under weight and
risk of mortality. In India, women have on an average 8-9 pregnancy and they spend around
80% of their reproductive years in pregnancy and lactation. Study shows that in the low
income group pregnant women have deficiency of 1,100 calories and lactating women 1,000
calories.

Women of the lower socio-economic groups gain only around 3-5 kgs during pregnancy, which
is far less than the required weight. Anemia in pregnancy accounts directly 15 to 20% of all
material deaths in India. The maternal-mortality according to official report, is 400 to 500 per
1, 00,000 births. However, this figure is as high as 1,000 to 1,200 to 1,200 in some rural
areas. Again, more than 71% and 29% of the deliveries in the rural and urban areas took
place without trained personnel (NPPW, 1988). In most of the rural areas, Medical
Termination of pregnancy services is not available. Besides, women are not aware about the
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 that has made abortion legal. Hence, illegal
abortions by incompetent persons continue, resulting in abortion-related mortality and
morbidity as serious problems.

Atrocities on women
Male violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon. Although not every woman has
experienced it, and many expect not to, fear of violence is an important factor in the lives of
most women. It determines what they do, when they do it, where they do it, and with whom.
Fear of violence is a cause of women's lack of participation in activities beyond the home, as
well as inside it. Within the home, women and girls may be subjected to physical and sexual
abuse as punishment or as culturally justified assaults. These acts shape their attitude to life,
and their expectations of themselves
There are various forms of crime against women. Sometimes, it begins even before their birth,
sometimes in the adulthood and other phrases of life. In the Indian society, the position of
women is always perceived in relation to the man, from birth onwards and at every stage of
life, she is dependent on him. This perception has given birth to various social customs and
practices. One important manifestation of these customs and practices has been that of Sati.
It is seen as a pinnacle of achievement for a woman. This custom of self-immolation of the
widow on her husband's pyre was an age-old practice in some parts of the counter, which
received deification. The popular belief ran that the goddess enters into the body of the
woman who resolves to become a sati. The practice of sati has been abolished by law with the
initiative of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in the early decades of nineteenth century. However, there
has been a significant revival of the practice of sati in the last few decades. Indeed, Rajasthan
has been the focal point for this practice in recent years.
Violence against women both inside and outside of their home has been a crucial issue in the
contemporary Indian society. Women in India constitute near about half of its population and
most of them are grinding under the socio-cultural and religious structures. One gender has
been controlling the space of the India's social economic, political and religious fabric since
time immemorial.
The condition of widows is one of the most neglected social issues in India. Because of
widowhood the quality of life is lowered for many Indian women. Three percent of all Indian
women are widows and on an average, mortality rate is 86 percent higher among elderly
widows in comparison to married women of the same age group. Various studies indicated that
(i) legal rights of widows are violated, (ii) they suffer forceful social isolation (iii) they have
limited freedom to marry (iv) restrictive employment opportunities for widows, (v) most
widows get little economic support from their family or from the community.
It is common to read news about violation or wrongs committed on women everyday. Our
orthodox society is so much prejudiced by age-old habits and customs that a violated woman,
whether she is forced or helpless, has no place in the society.
Another danger in India is that, Indian law does not differentiate between major and minor
rape. In every ten-rape case, six are of minor girls. In every seven minutes a crime is
committed against women in India. Every 26 minutes a woman is molested. Every 34 minutes
a rape takes place. Every 42 minutes a sexual harassment incident occurs. Every 43 minutes a
woman is kidnapped. And every 93 minutes a woman is burnt to death over dowry. Onequarter of the reported rapes involve girls under the age of 16 but the vast majority are never
reported. Although the penalty is severe, convictions are rare.

Programmes for Women and their Impact

Marriage Legislation
In March 1961, when the bill on unequal marriages was being discussed in the Rajya Sabha,
one member quoted epic against its inclusion in the institution of Hindu marriage. Dr.
Radhakrishnan, the then chairman of the Rajya Sabha, had remarked: the ancient history
cannot solve the problems of modern society. This is an answer in one sentence to those
critics who want to maintain a gap between social opinion and social legislation.
Legislation must meet the social needs of the people; and because the social needs change,
legislation also must change from time to time. The function of social legislation is to adjust
the legal system continually to a society, which is constantly outgrowing that system. The
gulf between the current needs of the society and the old laws must be bridged. The laws
have got to give recognition to certain de facto changes in society. One of the changes in
modern India is the change in the attitude towards marriage; hence the necessity of laws on
different aspects of marriage.
The laws enacted in India relate to: (i) age at marriage (ii) field of mate selection, (iii) number
of spouses in marriage, (iv) breaking of marriage, (v) dowry to be given and taken, and (vi)
remarriage. The important legislations relating to these six aspects of marriage passed from
time to time are: (i) The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (dealing with age at marriage), (ii)
The Hindu Marriage Disabilities Removal Act 1946 and Hindu Marriage Validity Act, 1949
(dealing with field of mate selection), (iii) The Special Act. 1954 (dealing with age at marriage,
freedom to children in marriage without parental consent, bigamy, and breaking up of
marriage), (iv) the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (dealing with age at marriage with the consent of
parents bigamy, and breaking up of marriage) (v) The Dowry Act 1961, and (vi) The Widow
Remarriage Act, 1856

The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929

It came into force on April 1, 1930. It restrains the marriage of a child, though the marriage
itself is not declared void. Accordingly, contracting, performing and facilitating the marriage of
boys under eighteen and girls less than fourteen years of age were an offence. The age of girls
was later on raised to fifteen years. The amendment made in 1978 further rose the age for
boys to twenty-one years and for girls to eighteen years.
The violation of the Act prescribes penalty but the marriage itself remains valid. The offence
under the Act is non-cognizable and provides punishment for the bridegroom, parent,
guardian, and the priest, which are three months of simple imprisonment and a fine of up to
Rs. 1000.
No woman is, however, punishable with imprisonment under this Act. The Act also provides
for the issue of injunction order prohibiting the child marriage. But no action can be taken for
the offence if a period of more than one year has expired from the date of the alleged
marriage

The Hindu Marriage Disabilities Removal Act,1946

Among Hindus, no marriage is valid between persons related to each other within the
prohibited degrees, unless such marriage is sanctioned by custom. However, this Act validated
marriages between persons belonging to the same gotra or parivara (agnatic groups). This Act
now stands repealed after the passing of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The Hindu Marriage Validity Act, 1949

Pratiloma (hypogamy) marriage among Hindus was invalid while anuloma (hypergamy)
marriage was permitted till late 1940s. However there were judicial decisions against the
validity of such marriage. The 1949 Act validated all marriage between parties belonging to
different religions, castes sub-castes or sects. But it did not validate marriage between a
Hindu and a Muslim. This Act also stands repealed after the 1955 Act.

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

This Act came into force from May 18, 1955 and applies to whole of India, except Jammu and
Kashmir. The word Hindu in the Act includes Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and the Scheduled Castes.
The conditions for marriage between any two Hindus as provided in the Act are: (i) neither
party has a spouse living; (ii) neither party is an idiot or lunatic; (iii) the groom must have
completed eighteen years age and the bride fifteen years age. The amendment in the Act
made in 1978 has raised this age to twenty-one years for boys and eighteen years for girls (iv)
the parties should not be within the degrees of prohibited relationships, unless the custom
permits the marriage between the two; (v) the parties should not be sapindas of each other
unless the custom permits the marriage between the two; (vi) where the bride is under
eighteen years of age and the groom is under twenty-one years of age the consent of her/his
guardian in marriage must have been obtained.
The persons whose consent may be obtained in order of preference are: father, mother,
paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, brother paternal uncle, maternal, maternal
grandmother and maternal uncle. No particular form of solemnization is prescribed by the
Act. The parties are free to solemnize the marriage in accordance with the customary rites
and ceremonies. The Act permits judicial separation as well as annulment of marriage.
Either party can seek judicial separation on any one of the four grounds; desertion for a
continuous of two years, cruel treatment, leprosy, and adultery. The annulment of marriage
may be on any one of the following four grounds: (i) the spouse must have been impotent at
the time of marriage and continues to be so until the institution of the proceedings, (ii) party
to the marriage was an idiot or lunatic at the time of marriage, (iii) consent of the petitioner or
of the guardian was obtained by force or fraud. However, the petition presented on this ground
will not be entertained after one years of marriage, and (iv) the wife was pregnant by some
person other than the petitioner at the time of marriage.
The dissolution of marriage may be on the grounds of adultery, conversion of religion, unsound
mind, leprosy, venereal disease, renunciation, desertion for seven years, and cohabitation not
resumed after two years after judicial separation. A wife may also apply for divorce if her
husband had already a wife before marriage, and he is guilty of rape or bestiality. The 1986
amendment permits divorce on the ground of incompatibility and mutual consent also. The
petition for dissolution of marriage can be submitted to the court only when three years have
elapsed after marriage.
This period has, however, been reduced to one year after the 1986 amendment. The divorcees
cannot remarry till one year elapses since the decree of divorce. The Act also provides for the
maintenance allowance during judicial separation and alimony after divorce. Not only wife but
also husband can also claim the maintenance allowances.

The Special Marriage Act, 1954

This Act came into force on April 1, 1955. It repealed the Special Marriage Act, 1872 which
provided a form of marriage for those who did not wish to conform to the existing forms. The
1872 Act provided that persons wishing to marry (under the Act) had to declare that they did
not profess Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Parsis, Christian or any other religion. In 1923, an
amendment was made in the Act under which a person wanting to marry (under the Act) had
not to give any such declaration. Each party was simply required to make a declaration that it
professed one or other religion.
The Act, thus, recognized inter-religion marriages. The conditions pertaining to age, living
spouse, prohibited relationship and mental state as prescribed by the 1954 Act for marriage
are the same as provided in the 1955 Act. Under the 1954 Act, a marriage officer solemnizes

the marriage. The parties have to notify him at least a month before the marriage date. One
of the parties must have resided in the district in which the marriage officer's office is located.
During this one month, any person can raise objection against the marriage. If the marriage is
not solemnized within three months from the date of notice, a fresh notice is required.
Presence of two witnesses is necessary at the time of marriage. This Act also provides for
the annulment of marriage, judicial separation, as well as divorce and alimony. The grounds
for these are the same as provided in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The Hindu Widows Remarriage Act, 1856

From Smriti period onwards, widows were not permitted to remarry. According to Manu, a
widow who marries again brings disgrace on herself; she should, therefore, be excluded from
the seat of her lord. The 1856 Act removed all legal obstacles to the marriage of Hindu
widows.
The object was to promote good morals and public welfare. The Act declares that the
remarriage of a widow whose husband is dead at the time of her second marriage is valid and
no issue of such marriage will be illegitimate. In case the remarrying widow is a minor whose
marriage has not been consummated, the consent of father, mother, grandfather, and elder
brother or nearest male relative is required.
Any marriage contracted without such consent is void. However, if the marriage has been
consummated, it will not be declared void. The Act forfeits the widow her right of
maintenance out of the estate of her first husband.

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

This Act was passed on May 20, 1961. The Act does not apply to Muslims. It permits exchange
of gifts for not more than Rs. 2,000. It prescribes the penalty of six month's imprisonment or
a fine up to Rs. 5,000 or both for its violation. The police, on its own, cannot take any action
for the violation of the Act unless some complaint is lodged with it. No action can be taken
after one year of marriage.

Socio-Economic Programme
Under this programme, the Central Social Welfare Board gives financial assistance to voluntary
organizations for undertaking a wide variety of income-generating activities which include the
production of central components in ancillaries units, handlooms, handicrafts, agro-based
activities such as animal husbandry sericulture and fisheries and self-employment ventures
like vegetables or fish-vending, etc.
For production units, only women organization and organizations working for the handicapped
women cooperatives and institution like jails, and Nariniketans, are eligible for grants to the
extent of 85 percent of the project cost and the remaining 15 percent is to be met by the
grantee institutions.
The dairy scheme focuses exclusively on women's organizations having at least 20 women
members, including Mahila Mandals, Indira Mahila Kendras, Self Help Groups and
organizations already assisted under STEP schemes. The benefits of the scheme are meant
for women whose families are below the poverty line.

Rural women's Development and Employment Project

The Rural Women's Development and Empowerment Project (now also being called "SWASAKTI Project" has been sanctioned on 16 October 1998 as a Centrally-sponsored project for
five years at an estimated outlay of Rs. 186.21 crore. In addition, an amount of Rs. Five crore
is to be provided, over the project period but outside the project outlay, for facilitating setting

up in the project States of revolving funds for giving interest-bearing loans to beneficiary
groups primarily during their initial formative stage.
The objectives of the project are (i) Establishment of self-reliant women's self-help-groups
(SHGs) between 7,400 and 12,000 having 15-20 members each, which will improve the
quality of their lives, through greater access to and control over, resources; (ii) Sensitizing and
strengthening the institutional capacity of support agencies to proactively address women's
needs;
(ii) Developing linkages between SHGs and leading institutions to ensure women's continued
access to credit facilities for income generation activities; (iv) Enhancing women's access to
resources for better quality of life, including those for drudgery reduction and time-saving
devices; and (v) Increased control of women, particularly poor women, over income and
spending, through their involvement in income generating activities.
The implementing agencies will be the Women's Development Corporation of the concerned
States of Bihar, Haryana, and Karnataka; Gujarat Women's Economic Development
Corporation in Gujarat; M.P. Mahila Arthik Vikas Nigam in Madhya Pradesh and Mahila Kalyan
Nigam in Uttar Pradesh, who will actively associate NGOs in the implementation tasks. The
Government of India in the form of grant-in-aid will provide funds. At the Central level, the
Department of Women and Child Development, assisted by the Central Project Support Unit
(CPSU), handle the project. NIPCCD has been identified as the Lead Training Agency, while
Agricultural Finance Corporation has been contracted as the Lead Monitoring and Evaluation
Agency. Both of them work in close liaison with the CPSU, under the directions of the
Department.

Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA)

Development of Women and Children in Rural Area Programme (DWCRA) was started in
September 1982 in the form of a sub-plan of Integrated Rural Development Programme. The
main aim of this programme was to provide proper self-employment opportunities to the
women of those rural families who are living below the poverty line, so that their social and
economic standard could be improved. The main points of this programme are as under:
1. Under this programme, the policy of making a group of 10-15 women has been
adopted corresponding to the local resources, their own choices and skills to
complete the economic activities.
2. The targeted women are financed by the loans and subsidies under IRDP.
3. Since 1995-96, Revolving Fund of Rs. 25,000 has been provided to each women group
for meeting their working capital requirements.
4. The amount of the Revolving Fund was being shared by the Central Government, the
State Government and UNICEF in the ratio of 40:40:20. Since 1 Jan. 1996 UNICEF has
refused to contribute its share. That is why, now the ratio of 50:50 is being shared
between the Centre and the State Government.
5. The District Rural Development Agency has the responsibility of implementing the
DWCRA plan.
6. Since 1995-96 the childcare activities have also been included under DWCRA
programme. For this purpose, each district has been allotted an amount of Rs. 1.50
lakh p.a. In this, the share of the Central Government will be Rs. 1 lakh and remaining
Rs. 50,000 will be the share of the State Government.
7. In order to encourage the projects of DWCRA in the rural area, CAPART extends its
support to the voluntary institutions also.
8. During the Sixth plan, 3,308 women group were formed under this programmes and
the total number of members was 52,170. In the Seventh plan, 28,031 women groups
were formed and the total number of members was 4.70 lakhs. During Eighth plan, 1,
41,397 women groups were formed with total membership of 22.67 lakh. During
1997-98, 36,436 lakh women were benefited. During 1998-99, 19,657 groups were
formed in which 2.35 Lakh women were benefited.

Upto March 31, 1999, 38.04 lakh women were benefited under DWCRA since its inception.
Since April, 1, 1999 DWCRA has been merged with newly introduced scheme namely Swarna
Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana.

Indira Mahila Yojna

The Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY) aims at organizing at the grass-root level to facilitate their
participation in decision-making and their empowerment was launched on 20 August 1995, to
start with, in 200 ICDS blocks. The strength of the scheme lies in the strength of group
dynamics. The objectives of the scheme are: convergence of the schemes of every sectoral
department; awareness generation among the women from rural areas and urban slums; and
economic empowerment of women

Balika Samriddhi Yojana

The Balika Samriddhi Yojana (BSY) is a scheme to raise the status of the girl child. The first
component of the scheme of BSY was launched with effect from 2 October 1997. Under this,
the mother of a girl child born on or after 15 August 1997 in family living below the poverty
line was given a grant of Rs. 500. The benefits and means of delivery have been redesigned in
the current financial years. The post-delivery grant of Rs. 500 per girl child (up to two girls in
a family living below the poverty line) will be deposited in bank account in the name of the girl
child or in a post office if there is no bank nearby. In the same account will be deposited
annual scholarships ranging from Rs. 300 for class I to Rs. 1,000 for class X when the girl
starts going to school. The matured value of the deposits (along with interest) will be
repayable to the girl on her attaining the age of 18 years and having remained unmarried till
then.

National Commission for Women

The National Commission for Women was set up on 31 January 1992 in pursuance of the
National Commission for Women Act 1990. The functions assigned to the Commission are wide
and varied covering almost all facets of issues relating to safeguarding women's rights and
promotion. The Commission has a Chairman, five members and a Member Secretary, all
nominated by the Central government.
The Commission continues to pursue its mandated activities, namely, review of legislation,
interventions in specific individual complaints of atrocities and remedial action to safeguard the
interest of women where appropriate and feasible. The Commission has accorded highest
priority to securing speedy justice to women. Towards this end, the Commission is organizing
Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats, offering counseling in family disputes and conducting training
programmes for creating legal awareness among women.

National Women Fund

In 1992-93 a National Women Fund was established to meet the loan requirements of the poor
women. This fund was established in the form of a society under the Society Registration Act
by a collected sum of 31 crore rupees. This fund has given help to more than 250 nongovernment organizations. Women and Children Development Minister of State is the exofficial chairman of this fund.

Mahila Samridhi Yojana

With the objective of providing economic security to the rural women and to encourage, the
saving habit among them, the Mahila Samridhi Yojna was started on 2 October 1993. Under
this plan, the rural women of 18 years of above age can open their saving account in the rural
post office of their own area with a minimum Rs. 4 or its multiplier. On the amount not
withdrawn for 1 year, 25% of the deposited amount is given to the depositor by the
government in the form of encouragement amount. Such accounts opened under the scheme
account opened under the scheme are provided 25% bonus with a maximum of Rs. 300 every
year. Up to 31 March 1997 2.45 crore accounts were opened under this scheme with a total
collection of Rs. 265.09 crore. The Department of Women and Child Development, the nodal
agency for MSY, decided in April 1997 that now new MSY accounts should be opened from 1
April 1997 onwards but the existing account could be maintained.

Hostel for working women

Under the Scheme of `Construction /Expansion of Hostel Building for Working Women with a
Day Care Centre implemented by the Department of Women and Child Development ,
financial assistance is given to voluntary organizations, local bodies and cooperative
institutions engaged in the field of women's/ social welfare/ women's education, Public Sector
Under- takings, Women Development Corporations, Educational Institutions and State
Governments for the construction of hostels for working women in order to enable women
seek employment and participate in technical training. The objective of the Scheme is to
provide cheap and safe hostel accommodation to employment women living out of their
homes.
The target beneficiaries are single working women, widows, divorcee, separated and working
women whose husbands are out of town. Women getting training for employment and girl
students studying in post school professional courses are also to stay in the hostel. Since
inception of the programme in 1972-73, 830 hostels for 58,744 working women have been
sanctioned so far. Out of the 830 hostels, day care center facilities are also available for 7668
children in 293 hostels.

Short Stay Homes for Women and Girls

The Government of India launched a programme in 1969 in the Central Sector called the
Short Stay Homes for Women & Girls to protect and rehabilitate those women and girls who
are facing social and moral danger due to family problems mental strains, social ostracism,
exploitation or other causes. The services extended in these Homes include medical care; case
work services; occupational therapy; education- cum- vocational training and recreational
facilities.
The need for providing Short Stay Homes for Women and Girls has been due to the changing
pattern of life, rapid urbanization and industrialization and the resulting migration from rural to
urban areas. The breakup of social institutions like the joint family, contributes considerably in
creating problems of adjustment for women and young girls. Cases of marital conflict and
emotional disturbance occur. This effort is made to help the women to rehabilitate themselves within a short period of time. These Short Stay Homes have been established by
voluntary organizations.
At present, 273 Short Stay Homes receive grants from the Department, covering
approximately 8190 beneficiaries. Under the scheme the grant is being released at the revised
financial norms on the recommendation of the State Governments to the extent of Rs.4,
51,350 (Recurring and Non-recurring) when approved by the Government of India and
subsequently, recurring grant of Rs. 4, 01,350 is given to the Home every year on the basis
of 'C' Class City. There is also a provision for some increase in subsequent years on the
component of rent and the maintenance cost for residents.
Provisions have also been made for upgrading skills and capacities of staff and residents as
well as education of the children of residents. The implementation of the scheme has been
transferred to the Central Social Welfare Board.

Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women

(STEP)
The Government of India launched a programme in 1969 in the Central Sector called the
Short Stay Homes for Women & Girls to protect and rehabilitate those women and girls who
are facing social and moral danger due to family problems mental strains, social ostracism,
exploitation or other causes. The services extended in these Homes include medical care; case
work services; occupational therapy; education- cum- vocational training and recreational
facilities.
The need for providing Short Stay Homes for Women and Girls has been due to the changing
pattern of life, rapid urbanization and industrialization and the resulting migration from rural to

urban areas. The breakup of social institutions like the joint family, contributes considerably in
creating problems of adjustment for women and young girls. Cases of marital conflict and
emotional disturbance occur. This effort is made to help the women to rehabilitate themselves within a short period of time. These Short Stay Homes have been established by
voluntary organizations.
At present, 273 Short Stay Homes receive grants from the Department, covering
approximately 8190 beneficiaries. Under the scheme the grant is being released at the revised
financial norms on the recommendation of the State Governments to the extent of Rs.4,
51,350 (Recurring and Non-recurring) when approved by the Government of India and
subsequently, recurring grant of Rs. 4, 01,350 is given to the Home every year on the basis
of 'C' Class City. There is also a provision for some increase in subsequent years on the
component of rent and the maintenance cost for residents.
Provisions have also been made for upgrading skills and capacities of staff and residents as
well as education of the children of residents. The implementation of the scheme has been
transferred to the Central Social Welfare Board.

Employment and Income Generation-cum- Production Units

(NORAD)
Under the scheme, which is assisted by Norwegian agency for International Develop- ment
(NORAD), projects of skill development and training of achieving self- reliance through
income generation for women are supported. These projects of training for income generation
are in the nontraditional trades of electronics, watch manufacturing/assembly, computer
programming, garment making, handlooms etc. During the year upto Dec, 1997 Rs, 1.56
crores has been sanctioned to benefit about 6980 women through 45 projects. Between198283 when the scheme was launched, till 31 Dec, 1997, 1.40 lakh women have been benefited
through 887 projects

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)

The National credit Fund for Women is an innovative mechanism for reaching credit to poor
women. Through access to credit, it aims to raise the capacity of women by enhancing
through productivity and economic self- reliance. It has provided credits to over 2.32 lakh
women since its inception from 1993. It encourages formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) for
promotion of thrift and credit leading to income generation activities.

Eradication of Child Prostitution

the public concern on the issue of child prostitution originated in a land mark judgment of the
Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in 1990. In response to Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the
subject, the Court ruled that the States and Central Government should initiate comprehensive
measures for the rehabilitative care of such children and elimination of this social menace. The
Court directed the Government to form a Central and State Advisory Committees. As per the
directives of the Supreme Court, a Central Advisory Committee was constituted to eradicate
child prostitution. Further a Subcommittee has been set up to frame recommendations/ plan
of action for the rescue and rehabilitation of all child prostitutes. The Subcommittee has
submitted its report.
The report of the Central Committee (1994) was deliberated upon in the national consultations
held in 1994 at Mumbai. Predictably, it was felt that regional consultations were essential to
document and understand the problem. Accordingly, a number of regional workshops were
held at Calcutta, Goa, Hydrabad, Patna, Chandigarh and Bangalore with assistance from
UNICEF. A report has been prepared and submitted in August, 1996.

National Policy for the Empowerment of Women

As a follow up action to the commitments made by India during the Fourth World Conference
on Women held in Beijing during Sep. 1995, the Department has drafted a National Policy for
the Empowerment of Women after nation-wide consultations to enhance the status of women

in all walks of life on par with men and actualize the constitutional guarantee of equality
without discrimination on grounds of sex.
The draft policy was considered by a core group of Experts in its meeting held on 8.11.1995.
The draft policy was circulated to select women organizations for holding regional level
consultations with State Governments, State Women Commissions, State Social Welfare
Advisory Boards, Women's Organizations, Academicians, experts and activists. These women's
organizations completed the process of regional level consultations in December, 1995.
A meeting of the Secretaries of States dealing with women Development/Social Welfare
Departments was held on 27.12.1995 to consider the draft National Policy for the
Empowerment of Women. The draft National Policy was also discussed in a meeting of the
committee of Secretaries in the meeting held on 7.3.1996. The reformulated National Policy
was discussed in the Parliamentary consultative committee attached to the Ministry of Human
Resource Development on 17.12.96 and 13.02.97.
The comments/ views of the concerned Central Ministries/Departments were obtained and the
revised policy document prepared on the basis of comments received from other Ministries/
Departments was sent to the Cabinet Secretariat on 30th June, 1999 for obtaining Cabinet's
approval for the Policy. The Cabinet Secretariat has suggested that the process of interdepartmental consultations in the matter may be completed after formation of the new
Government. The process of consultation has already been initiated.

Review & Amendment of the Legislation Relating To Women

The Department of Women and Child Development is reviewing the following four Acts with
which it is administratively concerned: with a view to make the provisions more stringent and
to remove the lacunae:
1. The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition)Act, 1886.
2. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
3. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
4. The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
The Department of WCD had entrusted the work of reviewing the Indecent Representation of
Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 and Immoral (Traffic) Prevention Act, 1956 to the National Law
School of India, University (NLSUI), Bangalore. The reports received from the National Law
School in this regard were been sent to NCW for comments.
On the basis of the comments received from NCW with regard to the amendments suggested
by the National Law School of India in the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, the
Department has prepared a draft Cabinet Note, which will be circulated to the concerned
Ministries/ Departments after formation of the new Government. The comments of NCW with
regard to the NLSUI's report on the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act,
1986 have been received and the matter is under examination. In respect of the other two
legislations, namely, Dowry Prohibition Act and Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act interministerial consultations are being held to bring about the amendments.

Rehabilitation Of Marginalized Women Of Vrindavan

The Central Government has set up a Committee under the Chair- personship of Minister of
State for Women and Child Development to co-ordinate the efforts of Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal Governments and Central Government organizations for rehabilitation of the
marginalized women of Vrindavan, to monitor flow of benefits of Central Schemes to the target
group; to recommend a plan of Action and implementation schedule for their rehabilitation etc.
The Committee consists of Chairpersons of NCW and CSWB, Secretaries of the Department of
Women and Child Development, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Department
of Youth Affairs & Sports, Director General of Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sangathan, Joint
Secretary (WD), Department of Women and Child Development, Chief Secretaries of Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal, besides representative of voluntary organizations and activists in
the field. Three meetings were called by the Department of Women and Child Development

(on 17.5.1999 in New Delhi, on 29.5.99 in Vrindavan and on 5.8.1999 in New Delhi) to
identify action points for rehabilitation of the marginalized women in Vrindavan. Under the
programme of Rehabilitation of marginalized women of Vrindavan, "Meera Shabhagini Uddhar
Abhiyan was launched on 16.06.1999.

Central Social Welfare Board

The Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) was set up in 1953 with the objective of promoting
social welfare activities and implementing welfare programmes for women, children and the
handicapped through voluntary organizations. The SCWB is unique in the sense that it was the
first organization in post-Independence era to achieve people's participation for
implementation of welfare programmes for women and children through non-governmental
organization (NGOs).
Presently more than 18,000 NGOs are receiving financial assistance and guidance from the
Board. The programmes implemented by the Board include: socio-economic programmes for
needy/ destitute women, condensed courses of education and vocational training courses for
women and girls, awareness generation projects for rural and poor women, family counseling
centres/voluntary action bureau, holiday camps for children, welfare extension projects in
border areas, and balwadis, crches and hostels for working women, etc.

Impact of different programmes launched by government on

women
In recent years the result of the programme launched by the programme of India in different
fields (social, political and educational) has given some good results. This is quite obvious
from the table 4. The literacy rate, which was 8.86% in 1951, has gone up to 53.67%.
Although the cent-percent literacy is yet to achieve. In comparison to 1951 the enrolment of
the girls in primary school is eight times more. About more than 40 lacs women engage in the
organizing sector, playing a very important role in development, whereas in 1951 their number
was 19.3 lacs.
In these years life expectancy rate has also increased. In 1951 the expectancy rate of women
was only 31.6 year, which has gone up to 64.5 by 2001. From the above discussion it is quite
clear that the health facility has improved a lot. It is quite clear that the condition of women
has improved in all spheres of life but much more is needed to improve and establish their
due position. Reality is that in spite of acceptance of science and technology, industrial
growth, modernization, our policies, by the government of India, challenge, and the norms
values and ethics are changing at very slow rate, leaving women development at the back
seat.

Plan of Action to Combat Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children

The Supreme Court in a case passed an order on 9 July 1997, directing interalia the
constituting of a committee to make an in-depth study of the problem of prostitution, child
prostitutes and children of prostitutes and to evolve suitable schemes for their rescue and
rehabilitation. Accordingly the Committee on Prostitution, Child Prostitutes and Children of
Prostitutes of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children and
children of the women victims was constituted to evolve such schemes as are appropriate and
consistent with the directions given by the Supreme Court. A draft plan of Action prepared by
the Committee has been approved in a meeting chaired by the Hon'ble Prime Minister.
The Plan of Action would guide the actions of the Ministries/ Departments of the Central
government, NGOs, the public and private sectors and other sections of society. The Plan of
Action consists of action points grouped under prevention, trafficking, awareness generation
and social mobilization, health care services, education and childcare, housing, shelter and
civic amenities, economic empowerment, legal reforms and law enforcement, rescue and
rehabilitation, institutional machinery and methodology. The report of the Committee and the
plan of Action to combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children
have been sent to the concerned Central Ministries/ Departments and State governments/ UT
administrations for implementation of the action points.

Central Social Welfare Board

The Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) was set up in 1953 with the objective of promoting
social welfare activities and implementing welfare programmes for women, children and the

handicapped through voluntary organizations. The SCWB is unique in the sense that it was the
first organization in post-Independence era to achieve people's participation for
implementation of welfare programmes for women and children through non-governmental
organization (NGOs).
Presently more than 18,000 NGOs are receiving financial assistance and guidance from the
Board. The programmes implemented by the Board include: socio-economic programmes for
needy/ destitute women, condensed courses of education and vocational training courses for
women and girls, awareness generation projects for rural and poor women, family counseling
centres/voluntary action bureau, holiday camps for children, welfare extension projects in
border areas, and balwadis, crches and hostels for working women, etc.

Phenomenology
At the simplest level religion is the belief in the power of supernatural. These beliefs are
present in all the societies and variations seem endless. A belief in the supernatural almost
always incorporates the idea that supernatural forces have some influence or control upon the
world. The first indication of a possible belief in the supernatural dates from about 60,000
years ago. Archaeological evidences reveal that Neanderthal man buried his dead with stone
tools and jewellery.Religion is often defined as peoples organized response to the supernatural
although several movements which deny or ignore supernatural concerns have belief and ritual
systems which resemble those based on the supernatural. However these theories about the
origin of religion can only be based on speculation and debate.
Though religion is a universal phenomenon it is understood differently by different people. On
religion, opinions differ from the great religious leader down to an ordinary man. There is no
consensus about the nature of religion. Sociologists are yet to find a satisfactory explanation
of religion.
Durkheim in his The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life defines religion as a unified system
of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things that is to say things set apart and forbidden.
James G Frazer in his The Golden Bough considered religion a belief in powers superior to man
which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life.Maclver and
Page have defined religion as we understand the term, implies a relationship not merely
between man and man but also between man and some higher power. According to Ogburn
religion is an attitude towards superhuman powers.Max Muller defines religion as a mental
faculty or disposition which enables man to apprehend the infinite.
To answer the question how did religion begin two main theories animism and naturism were
advanced. The early sociologists, adhering to evolutionary framework, advocated that societies
passed through different stages of development and from simplicity to complexity is the
nature of social progress. The scholars who have contributed to the field of magic, religion and
science can broadly be divided into four different types such as

evolutionary scholars
fundamentalist
symbolic theorists
analytical functionalists.

Sociology Questions
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Socialization
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Collective Behavior and Social Movements
Population and Environment
Political Institutions
Deviance and Social Control

Questions on Sociological Approach

What is Sociology?
Sociology is the science that studies society and human behavior.

What is special about the way sociologists approach topics?

The subject matter of sociology is quite often invisible or not directly observable. However
sociologists can observe the consequences of such social characteristics as group pressure,
authority, prestige and culture. They then form images of these concepts using what C Wright
Mills has called the sociological imagination taking into account the influence in order to view
their own society as an outsider might.

What sort of questions do sociologists address?

Sociologists want to understand: (a) what goes on in and between groups of people ;(b) what
are the social differences we observe;(c) what is happening in social institutions;
(d) why and how social change is occurring.

What are theories, concepts and propositions and how are they used?
A sociological issue as a question we seek to answer with a theory or general explanation of a
social phenomenon. A concept is a category of behaviour, events or characteristics that are
considered similar for the sake of theory construction. A proposition is a statement that
explains one concept by means of another. If we seek to discover why racial groups sometimes
live in harmony and sometimes so not, we may use the concept of racial harmony to describe
the differing ways of relating. The behavior is defined as indicating harmony exists. We would
then state our theory in propositions for example different racial groups will live in harmony in
situations where enough work exists for all groups to earn a decent living.

How did the discipline of sociology develop?

Sociology developed in the midst of the social and intellectual upheaval surrounding the
Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. Three branches of sociology grew from roots in three
interest groups: social activists a new breed of scientists dedicated to applying the scientific
approach to society and philosophers interested in humanity's social nature.

What is the place of Marx, Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Mead and Weber in the development
of sociology?
Karl Marx was the first major proponent of the conflict perspective. He believed that inequality
between classes causes conflict between groups of people and that society must change in
order to fulfill the needs of all the people.Auguste Comte was the French scientist who gave
sociology its name and promoted the scientific study of society. Herbert Spencer extended his
work developing the idea that society was an organic whole that could be studied much like
the human body- the beginnings of structural-functionalism.Emile Durkheim also promoted
sociology as a science and strucutural -functionalism as a perspective with his emphasis on
social facts explaining other social facts -for example in his classic study ,Suicide. George
Herbert Mead focused on how we use symbols, including language and how our use of symbols

influences our social dev elopement and social life.Max Weber's analysis of the major dynamics
of society and social change provides the foundations for much of the sociological theory and
research of our time. His study 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism' was an
important study of the roots of the industrial Revolution which was sweeping the world in his
day.

What are the basic concepts of structural - functionalism, the conflict approach and
symbolic Interactionism?
Structural-functionalism assumes that order is dominant in society and that social
arrangements arise and persist because they serve society and its members well. The conflict
approach assumes the dominant process in society is conflict and that society divides into two
groups the masses and small elite who exploit them. The symbolic - interaction perspective
assumes that the important action in society takes place around the use of symbols that
channel our thoughts and thereby define what is socially comprehensible and
incomprehensible. Practitioners of this approach often focus on interaction among individuals
in contrast to the other perspective which tend to look more at social institutions.

What are the contributions of Mills, Collins, Parsons, Davis, Thomas and Goffman to the
development of these theories?
C Wright Mills effectively promoted a general conflict perspective in the US focusing on social
class differences and introducing the concept of power elite, a tiny minority of government,
military and business figures believed to control the US. Randal Collins is one of the most
articulate voices today from that perspective and he developed a formal theory of conflict
applicable to all levels o society, especially analyzing the inequalities in the American
educational system.Talcott Parsons extended Durkheim's tradition into the 20th century
developing the idea that society could be viewed as a system that must adapt to changes in its
environment, pursue its goals, integrate itself with other systems and maintain order within
itself much like a biological organism.Kingsley Davis is a major contemporary proponent of this
structural-functionalism perspective and he analyses wealth and poverty from this
viewpoint.W.I.Thomas extended Mead's ideas, theorizing that people define or construct their
own social reality and that their definitions become real because they are real in their
consequences.Erving Goffman has served as a major contemporary spokesperson for the
symbolic interaction perspective and he describes how people present themselves in everyday
life in order to manage the impression they give to others.

What is the scientific method and how can it be applied to the study of sociology?
The scientific method involves eight basic steps:a)Observation of an event that stimulates
thinking.b)Defining or classifying the terms or events being considered.c)Formulating the
research
issue
or
hypothesis.
d) Generating a theory or proposition - a general statement that serves as a potential answer
to the research question.e) Creating a research design in order to test whether the theory or
proposition is valid.f) Collecting data-working through the research design to make
observations.g) Analyzing the datah) Making conclusions and evaluating the theory.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the survey method, analysis of existing
sources, observational study and experimental research in the study of sociology?
A survey is a research method in which a representative sample of a population is asked to
respond to questions. In principle every member of the population has an equal chance of
being selected so the survey should give an accurate representation of the views of a
population. However people may try to answer questions as they think the survey interviewer
wants them to biasing the results of the research. Analysis of existing sources is a research
technique in which the researcher uses existing documents that were created for some other
purpose. This research generally costs much less than the survey allows access to otherwise
unavailable subjects and to date over long periods of time and involves data that is not
influenced by the interviewer. Documents used however may be biased toward their original
purpose and thus distort the true picture the researcher is trying to find. In an observational
study the researcher actually witness social behavior in its natural setting either as a

participant or an unobtrusive observer. The advantage of this study is that research is

accomplished by directly observing subjects' behavior thus permitting access to nonverbal a
well as verbal behaviour.Obervation also allows for study over a time rather than at one point.
An experiment is a research design in which the researcher exposes a group of subjects to a
treatment and observes its effect usually in comparison to a similar control group that did not
receive the treatment. Experiments can demonstrate clearly that a variable has a particular
effect on the subject group because the researcher retains maximum control over the
circumstances of the research. However experiments are very expensive. Sometimes an
aspect of the experiment other than the treatment is the real cause of the experiment's
outcome but this goes unnoticed and the artificiality of many experimental settings makes
generalizing to natural settings risky.

What are some of the challenges and ethical issues in the study of sociology?
Sociology faces the challenge of working with human beings and their social groupings
because people have rights that limit what we can do with them while we are studying them.
Sociological subjects can give us important information but their information can be distorted.
Sociologists must decide whether their own views will influence their research and theory
development, either believing that knowledge is neutral or that value neutrality is either nave
or a rationalization for the fact that one is working for the elite because most sociological
research is funded by and disproportionately available to powerful elites.

Questions on Culture
How do sociologists define culture?
Culture is the values, norms, language, tools and other shared products of society that provide
a plan for social life.

What do functionalists see as the functions of culture?

Functionalists suggest that culture provides for continuing social order by handling down
prescribed ways of behaving in specific situations and allows people to benefit from the
achievements of previous generations.

What are norms and why are they important?

Norms are shared rules or guidelines for behavior in specific situations. The strongest norms
are taboos or rules that prohibit certain behavior and carry severe punishment for violators.
Norms carry sanctions or rewards for behavior that conform to a norm and punishment for
behavior that violates a norm. Institutions are organized sets of norms, values, statuses and
roles that are centered on the basic needs of society. The five basic institutions of most
societies are: the family, religion, the state, the economic system and education.

How do values underlie norms?

Values are shared ideas about what is right and wrong, good and bad, desirable and
undesirable. Values are the general concepts on which our specific norms are built.

How do norms vary between cultures?

Many norms are specific to one society or to one group in a society for example most college
students in the United States share a norm against turning in a fellow student for cheating.

What are the symbolic elements of culture?

A symbol is that which represents something else. Norms and values are often transmitted
within a culture or to other cultures through symbolic elements such as language, gesture and
stance, style of clothing, hairstyle, social distance, time use or symbolic representation such as
flags.

What is the importance of language in transmitting culture?

Most social scientists see a strong connection between a society's language and the rest of its
culture with the language reflecting what is important to that society to its new members and
those outside of the culture. Our silent language or nonverbal space and time messages are
also tied to our culture.

How do cultures vary?

Cultures differ in the degree of complexity whether they are focused around kinship or
institutions and the pace of change. In simple societies kinship organizes people's lives around
families and relatives. Such societies might change rather slowly compared to modern
postindustrial society.

How do the functional, ecological, evolutionary, conflict and symbolic interactionist

approaches explain cultural variation?
The functional approach suggests that a functional cultural trait has a positive consequence for
the society and will probably not be adopted unless it fits well with the existing culture and
contributes to the well-being of the society. The ecological approach shows how societies
adapt culture to their physical environment in order to survive thus making it a sub form of
the functional approach. The evolutionary approach views culture as developing through a
series of stages toward forms that are increasingly well suited to the environment based on
changes in the culture's basic tools or technology. The conflict approach points out that
prevailing definition of beauty, justice and truth may serve the elites at the expense of the
masses with culture being created and imposed on the masses by the ruling class. The
symbolic interactionist approach highlights the importance of symbols in understanding culture
and the social behavior it shapes, suggesting that symbols are the major agent for
transmitting and shaping culture.

How do subcultures and counter cultures differ from the dominant culture?
A subculture is the culture of a subgroup of society that adopts norms that set them apart
from the dominant group; for instance persons who live in a Chinatown but are integrated into
the life of the city as a whole. A counterculture is a subculture whose norms and values are
not just different from but in conflict with those of the dominant culture.

How do cultural universalism and cultural relativism differ?

Some sociologists believe that cultural universals or traits common to all human
societies,exist.Others suggest that each culture should be studied only in relation to itself and
not be judged by an external cultural standards or by a universal standard a stance known as
cultural relativism.

How does ethnocentrism affect one's viewpoint?

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to use one's own cultural values in evaluating the beliefs and
customs of other cultures with different values. It can be useful to a society in that it bonds
members together, but can also lead to conflict with people from other cultures.

Questions on Ethnicity
What is ethnicity and how is it transmitted?
Ethnicity is a sense of people hood or nationhood that is culturally transmitted.

What is race and how has it been used by societies?

A race is a population that shares visible physical characteristics from inbreeding and that
thinks of itself or is thought of by outsiders as distinct. It has been used by societies to justify
poor treatment of minority groups.

What is a minority group?

A minority group is one that has less power and influence than the dominant group.

What is prejudice?
Prejudice is a judgment based on group membership or social status.

What is discrimination?
Discrimination involves treating someone differently because of his or her group membership
or social status.

What is the relationship between prejudice and discrimination?

Prejudice and discrimination can exist separately but are most often mutually reinforcing.

What are the basic patterns of race and ethnic group relations?
The basic patterns of race and ethnic relations are amalgamation (blending two or more
groups into a society that reflects the cultural and biological traits of the group), assimilation,
pluralism, structured inequality, population relocation and extermination.

How do conflict theorists define inter group conflict and what are the five major factors
that might contribute to it?
When conflict exists between two groups the group that gains the most power, wealth and
prestige becomes the majority regardless of its size. The five major factors that contribute to
such conflict are visible differences between groups, competition for resources, racist ideology,
potential for exploitation and the minority -group response to the majority definition of the
situation.

What are some of the possible sources of prejudice and discrimination?

Prejudice may be formed through both individual and group influences including socialization,
rationalizing through stereotypes, the scapegoating process, reinforcement of a self-fulfilling
prophecy ramification of an authoritarian personality and degree of contact with minority
groups
.

Questions on Gender Role Inequalities

What is the difference between sex and gender?

The term gender refers to culturally transmitted differences between men and women,
whereas the sex refers to the biological differences between males and females.

What do cross-cultural comparisons of gender roles show us?

Culture largely determines what is considered masculine or feminine. These definitions can
change with social change in the culture.

What are the functionalist and conflict theories of the origin of gender roles?
Functionalist suggests that men perform instrumental roles and women perform expressive
roles because that division is functional to the society. Conflict theory sees the almost
universal inequality between the sexes in societies as an outgrowth of patriarchy the form of
social organization in which men dominate or rule over women. Patriarchy assumes that men
are superior to women based on sexism or the belief that one sex is inferior and thus deserves
inferior treatment.

What are the major socialization agents that teach us our gender roles?
The major gender -role socialization agents are the family, schools, the media and the
language and the observed interactions in the institutions of the culture.

What are the basic modes in which the family socializes gender behavior?
The family socializes gender roles through reinforcement of appropriate behaviors differential
opportunities for boys and girls, role modeling of adult gender behavior and explicit verbal
instruction.

What is the relationship between women's work and power in society?

One reason men hesitate to perform traditional female tasks is that the tasks are often seen
as less valuable to society than are traditional male tasks. As a society we are only beginning
to appreciate the economic and social value of homemakers, women or men.

What political gains have women made?

More women are entering government from the local to the national level.

What changes might occur in the second stage of gender relations?

In the second stage of gender relations, women and men must join together, contributing their
own special qualities to building a better society both in the family and in the business world.
Women must seek out friendships with other women and learn to value their own contributions
to the world.

What is Jessie Bernard's basic concept concerning the female world?

Bernard believes that the female world is based on love, cooperation and duty whereas the
male world is based on competition and striving. She seeks to sensitize women to the unique
contributions the female world view might make to society in order to help it to grow more
cooperative and peaceful.

What is patriarchy?
It is a form of social organization in which men dominate or rule over women.

What is sexism?
It is a belief that one sex is inferior and thus deserves inferior treatment.

Questions on Group and Bureaucracy

What is a group?
A group is a set of people recurrently interacting in a structured way according to shared
expectations about each other's behavior.

What is the difference between primary and secondary groups?

A primary group is based on intimate, face to face interaction whereas a secondary group is
less cohesive, more formal and less supportive of members.

How important is social support to the quality and length of life?

Social support has been found to significantly increase an individual's satisfaction with life,
promote health and well-being of individuals and reduce the effects of stress in a person's life.
People who have supportive primary group relationships also live longer.

How do small groups differ in structure, leadership, size and membership?

A small group is a collection of people who meet more or less regularly in face to face
interaction who possess a common identity or exclusiveness of purpose and who share a set of
standards governing their activities. Their structure can be formal - public and explicit or
informal private and implicit depending on the needs of the group members. The nature of a
group's structure often depends on its central person. As groups grow, they are likely to
develop formal structures that are increasingly elaborate. Even numbered groups are more
characterized by disagreement and conflict than odd numbered groups.

How do leaders emerge within groups?

Members who have the highest rate of group participation are most often chosen to be
leaders. Other traits associated with leadership are intelligence, enthusiasm, dominance, selfconfidence and egalitarianism. Democratic leadership is most useful when there is sufficient
time to involve the entire group in decisions.

How do groups influence individual perception and behavior?

Groups generally reward members who conform to their norms. Group opinion strongly
influences individual behavior and judgment toward that of the group.Homan's exchange
theory states that people try to maximize rewards and minimize costs in social transactions
and will conform to the group under these conditions.Deindividuation occurs when a person
feels submerged in a large group that has strong feelings of group unity and focuses on
external goals. The lack of self-awareness that results may cause pressure toward group
conformity.

How is group decision- making different from individual decision-making?

Group decision-making is much slower than individual, but group decisions tend to be more
accurate. People in a group are sometimes willing to make decisions involving greater risk
than they would alone. Groups first orient themselves, evaluate control the expression of
negative and positive reactions and then achieve solidarity in making a decision. In some
cases, groups seek concurrence so strongly that groupthink occurs, creating a situation in
which alternatives are not viewed realistically but only in terms of making the group members
happy with each other. This can be combated by the leader being receptive to the opinions of
everyone by asking for outside advice on the issue and by assigning group members to
troubleshoot suggested options.

What is a formal organization?

A formal organization is a group deliberately constructed to achieve specific objectives through
explicitly defined roles and specified rules. Modern societies are characterized by the growth of
such organizations and the reduction of primary groups.

What are the stages in the development of bureaucracy?

Three conditions are necessary for the rise of bureaucracy: a money economy, a steady
income to the bureaucracy and a large population base.

What are the six characteristics of Weber's ideal bureaucracy?

Bureaucracies are large-scale, formal organizations that are highly differentiated and
organized through elaborate policies and procedures in a hierarchy of authority. They are
characterized by fixed division of labor, hierarchy of offices, written documents, management
by trained experts, official work as the primary activity and management by rules.

What are the functions and dysfunctions of modern bureaucracy?

Bureaucracy allows a society to accomplish large and complicated tasks, provides an efficient
means for repetitive tasks and creates order in society. It also facilitates large-scale conflict by
sometimes creating inappropriate or harmful rules, slowing upward communication of bad
news, promoting antagonism between superiors and subordinates, perpetuating itself after it
has served its purpose, growing beyond a size t hat is efficient, creating a situation in which
workers feel dehumanized, creating a gulf between those at the top and those at the bottom
and becoming a tool for exploitation. Robert Merton suggests that working in a bureaucracy
for extended periods tends to entangle workers in rules, reinforcing timid and rigid attitudes
among them.

How does the Peter Principle work?

Peter Principle states that in a hierarchy competent employees tend to be promoted until they
reach a level at which they are not competent to do the work, and then they remain there
because they feel insecure about their shoddy work. They begin to concentrate on rules and
regulations, reducing the quality of their work even more.

Questions on Socialization
how

How does socialization shape a person's self-image?

To some extent, we accept the definitions of ourselves that we are taught by our families and
other members of our society.

What does Cooley mean by looking glass self?

Cooley decided that a person comes to think of himself or herself as an 'I' through a
combination of biological and social processes. The looking glass self is the image of self that a
person sees reflected by others.

How does Mead explain people taking the role of the other?
Mead believes people take the role of the other by progressing through three stages. In stage
I the infant is all "I". The "me" begins to develop through play in stage II and fully develops as
the child learns to respond to the generalized other in stage III, taking into account the
broader social community. Significant others or persons with whom an individual has intimate
and long term contact facilitate this process. This self-awareness makes it possible for people
to position themselves within larger social units.

What is Goffman's contribution to the idea of the social self?

Goffman points out that the socialization process continues into adulthood. He discusses for
instance, impression management, or how in daily activity we alter ourselves to fit the
audience we are addressing, a process made up of thousands of small every day social
responses.

What is sociobiology and why is it controversial?

Sociobiology introduced by Edward Wilson is the systematic study of the biological basis of
social behavior in every kind of organism. Wilson believes that human social behavior rests on
a genetic foundation. His ideas have created controversy because they could conceivably be
used to promote racist and sexist policies.

What are three modes of socialization?

Socialization occurs through explicit instruction, conditioning and innovation and role
modeling. In practice, these modes are usually blended.

What are three characteristics of the socialization process?

The socialization process tends to be general rather than specific, calls forth automatic
behaviors and responses and persists through time.

What are the basic agents of socialization or domination?

The family, peer groups, television, day care and schools are today's basic agents of
socialization. Conflict theorists point out that these agents can be thought of as agents of
domination because they may use their position to perpetuate an unequal power situation and
to dominate the one being socialized.

What are the basic thesis of Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg and Gilligan?
Erikson presented an eight stage theory of personality development in which each stage may
be positively resolved or unresolved. He stressed that the close interaction between the social
environment and personality.Piaget suggests that everyone passes through four major
intellectual stages: Sensory-motor, preoperational, concrete operations and formal operations.
He believes that social contact is necessary for advancing through the stages. Kohlberg: Moral
decisions based on fear of punishment, idea of rewards taken into account, immediate
punishments and rewards not necessary, strict adherence to rules, recognition that
conventional rules may come into conflict with a higher sense of right and wrong and universal
principles of justice, human rights and human dignity guide decisions. Gilligan: When women
reach the upper stages of moral development their decisions are guided by the principle of
protecting relationships and people rather than by the principle of individual rights that guides
mens' decisions.

How does socialization continue in adulthood?

Socialization in adulthood is more concerned with learning overt norms and behaviors than is
the socialization of childhood which is concerned primarily with regulating antisocial
behavior.Levinson's work suggests that successfully completing the transitions between our life
stages is of crucial importance in leading a fulfilling life.Resocialization may occur in adulthood
when an individual commits himself or herself to a new goal or enters a total institution.

In what ways is socialization important to society as a whole?

Society as a whole may encourage or discourage the development of individual characteristics.
A genius can grow in a social group more easily if the intellectual atmosphere of the group
nurtures genius.Nisbet urges that we protect our social setting to provide experiences that
foster the growth of genius in our society

Questions on Social Stratification

What is social stratification?
Stratification is a hierarchy of positions with regard to economic production which influences
the social rewards to those in the positions.

What is class?
Class is large set of people regarded by themselves or others as sharing similar status with
regard to wealth, power and prestige.

What are the major forms of stratification?

Primitive communalism characterized by a high degree of sharing and minimal social
inequality. Slavery involving great social inequality and the ownership of some persons by
others. Caste in which an individual is permanently assigned to a status based on his or her
parents' status. Estate in which peasants are required by law to work land owned by the noble
class in exchange for food and protection from outside attacks.

How do stratification systems differ?

Openness is the opportunity for individuals to change their status. Caste stratification systems
are closed whereas class stratification systems are more open. The degree of equality is the
degree to which the social structure approaches an equal distribution of resources. Hunting
and gathering societies are typically very equal with inequality developing in later stages of
agriculture and industrialization.

What are Weber's three dimensions of stratification?

Class or a set of people with similar amounts of income and wealth. Party or a set of people
with similar amounts of power. Status group or a set of people with similar social prestige or
positive regard from members of a society.

What are the five basic viewpoints on why stratification exists?

Natural inevitability which suggests that inequality exists because of natural differences in
people's abilities and is a just system. Structural -functionalist which states that stratification
is useful to society because it enhances stability and induces members of the society to work

hard. Conflict which suggests that stratification occurs through conflict between different
classes, with the upper classes using superior power to take a larger share of the social
resources. Evolutionary which states that people will share enough resources to ensure the
survival of the group until a surplus exists at which time power determines how the surplus is
distributed. Symbolic Interactionist which calls attention to the importance of symbolic
displays of wealth and power that influence one's definition of self and the importance of ideas
in defining social situations.

In what regard is some stratification inevitable?

Inequality may emanate from natural differences in people's abilities. What are the
functionalist and conflict theories as to the reasons for stratification? Structural-functionalists
believe that societies tend to be stable and are held together through consensus.Stratifiction
provides an important function to society by aiding this process because it lessens conflict and
provides structure. Conflict theorists believe that society tends toward conflict and change and
that stratification system coerce the lower classes in order to benefit the upper classes.

What are the basic premises of the evolutionary perspective?

In primitive societies the survival of the group is paramount and people will share their
resources to ensure that the group survives. As society develops increasingly sophisticated
technology, surplus exists and power will determine the distribution of the surplus.

How are the supporting beliefs symbolically important to a stratification system?

Symbolic Interactionists point out that symbols help to define the meaning of all social actions,
and a person's self is developed socially through social interaction. Legitimating ideas,
expressed symbolically in the form of language provide reasons for inequality for strata for the
ways people are placed in the strata and for changes in the stratification system. These
supporting ideas also strongly affect how people evaluate themselves within the system,
influencing them to accept their position in the structure as good and right.

What is social mobility?

Social mobility is the movement of a person from one status to another, either between
generations or within a person's adult career.

What is structural mobility?

Structural mobility is mobility brought about by changes in the stratification hierarchy for
instance as society becomes more technologically advanced.

Questions on Society
How do subsistence adaptation and technology help in the process of sorting societies?
We can identify six types of societies by focusing on the dominant form of work in a society or
subsistence adaptation. In hunting and gathering societies, people live by hunting wild animals
using primitive weapons and gathering food as it grows naturally. Herding or pastoral,
societies often arise in areas with poor soil and rely on the domestication of animals into herds
as a major means of support, linked with either hunting and gathering or other technology.
The semi permanent horticulture produces its food through cultivation of the soil with hand
tools and is more common in areas with fertile soil which is exhausted within three to five
years. Agricultural societies employ animal-drawn plows to cultivate the land and often

combine this with irrigation to increase productivity. In industrial societies the largest portion
of the labor force is involved in mechanized production of goods and services.

What are the elements of social structure?

Social structure is the enduring patterns of social behavior including statuses, roles, norms
and institutions that constitute relatively stable relations in society. A status is a position in a
particular social pattern. A role includes the behavior that goes with but is distinct from the
status.

What are two ways in which status is conferred?

Status is either conferred independently of the individual's efforts or abilities (ascribed) or
attained through effort or performance (achieved).

What is a status intervention, and how might it affect a group?

A status intervention is an attempt to diminish the influence of an undesirable status
characteristic. Research shows that groups will discount the input of persons with low status
characteristics and be overly positive toward the input of persons with high status
characteristics even if the status has nothing to do with the task of the group at the time.
People of low status can be taught to be assertive in their own realm by learning that people
of higher status do not necessarily know more about everything.

What are postindustrial societies and how are they distinguished from industrial
societies?
In a post industrial society, increasingly sophisticated virtually automatic machines take over
much unskilled work and the majority of the labor force becomes employed in service
occupations. Government becomes more involved in realms that were previously dominated by
the other institutions of so ciety: family, religion, education and the economy. This form of
society might be thought of as a service society or an information based society.

What are the major differences between modern and pre-modern societies?
According to Durkheim, pre-modern societies are held together by mechanical solidarity or
bonds of common activities and values as opposed to modern societies that are held together
by organic solidarity or bonds based on interdependence.Tonnies used the labels Gemeinschalf
or community and Gesellschalf or association to describe similar differences. Modern societies
have more complexity in occupational structure, more formal relationships, and more reliance
on nonfamily institutions and less reliance on custom to regulate behavior.

What is the essential nature of the basic social processes?

Conflict is the process in which the parties struggle against one another for a commonly prized
object for example wars and feuds. Coercion is a process of being forced to act against one's
will, as in slavery. Similar to coercion is exploitation a process in which one is deprived of
things that one rightfully is due- for instance when migrant workers are not paid their full
wages due to inability to function well and cheating occurs on the part of the produce c
ompany.Competition involves two or more parties seeking a goal that is not available to them
all- for instance getting a contract to build a bank. Cooperation is a social process in which the
parties involved act jointly to bring about mutual benefit, either as a result of traditional
values, direction of an authority figure or a contract.

How do conflict and functionalist theories view social processes?

Structural-functionalists assume that cooperation is part of the nature of society and they look
for ways in which the structure functions to maintain society. Conflict theorists assume that
conflict is intrinsic to society and examine society for signs of conflict, coercion and
exploitation.

Questions on Religion
What is religion?
We define religion as a system of symbols, beliefs and practices focused on questions of
ultimate meaning.

According to Durkheim, what are the elements of religion?

Durkheim observed that all religions divide the world into sacred and special realm and a
profane or ordinary realm. He suggested that society itself is the true object of worship and
that various cultures develop various symbolic representations of society.

What are the functions of religion?

Religion functions to promote social solidarity strengthen the normative structure of the
community mark life events and explain life's uncertainties.

How is religion related to social conflict?

Religion also contributes to bitter and often bloody conflict and a tool of exploitation. Elites use
religion to justify their exploitation of the masses and to distract the masses from awareness
of this exploitation. As Marx and Engel have shown religion often helps sustain social class
inequality which eventually leads to revolution. Religious groups often fight and divide.
Religious figures are frequently found at the front of social movements such as those for civil
rights, peace, nuclear disarmament and liberation from the tyranny of dictators.

What are the types of religion?

The various types of religions hold various objects to be sacred and or supernatural. In simple
supernaturalism an impersonal force of nature is regarded as sacred whereas in animism the
sacred resides in spirits of the animals and natural phenomena.Totemism is a form of animism
in which an animal or plant is worshipped as a god and ancestor. Theistic religions focus
attention on a sacred god or gods. Ethical religions focus on principles held to be sacred.

What are the types of religious organizations?

Religious organizations tend to fall into four types.Ecclesias are state supported whereas
denominations are not and must compete with other religious organizations emphasizing lay
leadership and a return to the true beliefs of the dominant religion. Cults are often small but
they are distinguished primarily with a claim to new revelation often made by a charismatic
leader.

What have sociologists learned about cults?

Cults typically have not become large denominations. The public is extremely wary about the
acts carried out by some cults.

How has religion become politicized?

Religious leaders increasingly take political positions.

What is animism?
It is a belief that the sacred and resides in spirits found in people and other natural
phenomena, such as wind and the rain.

What is a cult?
Cult is a religious organization that claims a unique new revelation.

What are ethical religions?

Religions that do not worship a god as such but rather promote a moral code or belief.

What are religious symbols?

Objects, images and words that take meaning from sacred things that they represent and that
may become sacred themselves after repeated assoc

Questions on Marriage and Family

What are the sociological definitions of marriage and the family?
Marriage is a long term socially approved sexual union between two people.Marrige usually
forms the basis of a family: two or more generations of people related by marriage, birth or
adoption who live together and share economic resources.

How do societies control love and marriage?

Societies love and marriage through rules about marriage partners including kinship ties,
locality and isolation of pubescent.

What are the functions of the family as a social institution?

The family controls human reproduction, caring for dependents, socialization of children and
intimate relationships.

What are the conflict and functionalist views of families and social stratification?
Functionalists see the family's role in transmitting social status as natural and valuable.
Conflict theorists see it as an agent of inequality and an impediment to reform.

What are some of the major disadvantages of the nuclear family?

The nuclear family has an inherent lack of extended support system, instability and a
vulnerability to economic stress.

How is violence seen in the family context?

Although families are usually considered positive social groups, recent research has uncovered
rampant violence in the family from the spouse abuse to sexual and physical and
mental/emotional abuse of children. This violence crosses class boundaries and is found in
virtually all types of families.

How does divorce affect the family members?

Divorced men and women show great signs of emotional stress: high suicide rates, loss of jobs
and seeking psychiatric treatment. Divorced mothers will likely struggle against poverty
whereas divorced fathers struggle against loneliness. Children show symptoms from anxiety to
drug abuse and poor school performance.

What is exogamy?
It is a marriage form in which spouses must come from outside the social group.

What is the difference between family of orientation and family of procreation?

Family of orientation is the nuclear family we are born into, our parents and siblings. Family of
procreation is the family we create by marrying and becoming partners.

Questions on Collective Behavior and Social Movements

What are the differences between collective behavior and social movements?
Collective behavior describes the actions, thoughts and feelings of a relatively temporary and
unstructured group of people. In contrast a social movement is a large ongoing group of
people engaged in organized behavior designed to bring about or resist change in society.

What are the four types of crowd behavior?

The casual crowd gathers around a specific event and its members have little interaction with
one another. A conventional crowd gathers for a socially sanctioned purpose. An expressive
crowd gathers specifically for the purpose of letting out emotions. An acting crowd focuses on
a specific action or goal.

What do contagion and convergence theories say about crowd behavior?

LeBon's contagion theory is that a collective mind forms in a crowd which takes over the
individual minds of crowd members and causes them to act alike. Convergence theory builds
on this by suggesting that crowd members do not really lose their individuality in a group but
act from their unconscious selves.

How do norms emerge in crowd interaction?

Turner and Killian say that as people interact in a crowd they form new norms for that specific
crowd and as the norms emerge; the crowd pressures its members to conform to them.

When are crowds likely to use violence?

Crowds are more likely to use violence - rioting when they feel they are being oppressed and
wish to overthrow their oppressors.

How does Neil Smelser explain collective behavior?

Smelser says six determinants are necessary and sufficient for a collective episode to occur.
They are structural conduciveness, structural strain, growth and spread of a generalized belief,
precipitating factors, mobilization of participants for action and the operation of social control.

Under what circumstances does a diffuse crowd form?

Diffuse crowd or mass behavior involves action by people with common concerns who may or
may not have met each other.

Why do we believe in rumors and how do they affect our actions?

Rumors are information that travels from person to person usually by word of mouth. As they
spread rumors become leveled or simplified and sharpened or focused on certain details.
Rumors may be a casual factor in riots. It has been suggested that they are often a substitute
for news.

How do hysteria and panic affect us?

Hysteria generalized anxiety about some unknown situation and panic an attempt to flee from
an imagined or real threat often create behavior changes in individuals from illness caused by
an imagined bug to flight out of town in response to an imagined invasion from Mars.

What is the difference between fashions and fads?

Fashions and fads are changing styles currently accepted by a part of the population but which
are not considered a permanent part of the culture. Fashions change more gradually than
fads.

What are the major influences on public opinion?

A public is an unorganized diffuse crowd with opinions on an issue of current interest. Public
opinion is influenced in two major ways: by friends or reference groups and by members of
that group whose judgment is considered important opinion leaders.

How does the mass media influence other social phenomena?

The national media strongly influence the formation of public opinion. They may also be a
catalyst in social explosions such as riots. The fact that programming is now immediate leads
to less sorting of what is important and what is not and may actually distort reality for the
viewer.

What is the relationship between television and suicide?

David Philips and Lundie Carstensen determined that in the specific case of teenage suicide,
media violence causes audience violence. They found that television news or feature stories
about suicides triggered additional teenage suicides because of imitation.

What are four types of social movements?

Resistance movements are formed to resist a change that is already occurring in so
ciety.Reform movements endeavor to change elements of the system as it currently
stands.Revolutionery movements deny that the system will ever work and seek to replace it.
Expressive movements concentrate on change among their members and their immediate
social contacts.

How do social movements become professionalized?

It has been suggested that many social movements today have leaders whose primary
function is to organize and obtain funds and support for a movement thus making it a highly
centralized organization run by professionals.

What are the stages in the life of a social movement?

In the preliminary stage, society shows a restless concern over an issue on which people are
divided. In the popular stage the movements begins to rally around a charismatic leader who
speaks for reform,revolution,resistence or expression of self in such a way that people relate
to the leader and begin to feel hopeful that their questions have answers. In the third stage, it
destroys itself as a movement and becomes an institution with all the organized and accepted
norms of society.

Questions on Population and Environment

What is demography?
Demography is the study of the size, composition and distribution of society as it is affected
by three major population processes.

What are the elements of population and how are they measured?
The elements of population are size, composition and distribution. Size is measured through
census or official count of people and their relevant characteristics such as age, sex and
occupation. Composition refers to the distribution of a population in various categories like age
orsex.Composition can be measured by such terms as the sex ratio, the median age, the

dependency ratio and the population pyramid, a pictorial representation of the age and sex
distribution of the population of an area.

What are the three processes that affect population size

? Three processes that affect population size are fertility, mortality and migration. Fertility
refers to the frequency of births in a population and its study includes crude birthrate, age at
marriage, use of contraceptive, societal attitudes toward family size, infanticide and abortion
but fertility is distinguished from fecundity or the potential number of children that the women
of a population could produce. Mortality is measured in a crude mortality rate, an age-specific
mortality rate, a life expectancy at birth rate and an infant mortality rate. Studying migration
includes counting the emigrants and immigrants in order to find a crude migration rate.

What is the Malthusian theory?

Malthus believed that population without any external controls will double once every
generation until the uppermost level of subsistence will not support the population size at
which time preventive checks will come into play.

What is the demographic transition?

The demographic transition is the pattern populations follow as their nations develop from an
agricultural base to an industrial one. Stage one has high birth and death rates. Stage two has
a high birth rate and lower death rate. In stage three the birth rate falls, bringing about a
stable population size again.

Questions on Political Institution

What is the state and what are its features?
The state is the institution that monopolizes legitimate power in a territory through the
establishment of its major features: courts, official leaders, written laws and taxation.

What is the conflict view of the state?

Conflict permeates the state which exists in part to regulate it. But conflict theory shows that
the state to be a tool of the elites in the class struggle. This justifies sometimes resorting to
non routine or extra-legal means of remedying this exploitation, such as demonstrations,
violent strikes, terrorism, revolution and guerrilla warfare.

What are the functions of the state?

The major functions of the state are to arbitrate disputes between private parties to contribute
to social control of the society to serve as the agent of intersocial relations, to provide
planning and direction for the society and increasingly in recent times to provide for the
welfare of those unable to care for themselves.

What are the origins of the state?

The origins of the state are partly hidden because many of the first states emerged in prehistoric times. Simple societies exist without states. City states emerged with the invention of
agriculture. As technology expands, so does the state. New ideas such as sovereignty had to
be invented for the state to be accepted. Thomas and Meyers point out those contemporary
states emerge not in a vacuum but out of cultural conditions that influence their size and form.

What are the bases of power?

Power, the ability to realize one's will in a communal action even against the resistance of
others rest either on the threat of physical force or the ability to offer valuable contingent
upon compliance with commands.

What are the types of authority?

Authority is power legitimized by tradition, charisma or rational-legal institutions.

How do states differ?

States differ primarily in how equally they distribute political power and how much of the
societies affairs they try to control. They also have important differences in ideology.

What is Oligarchy?
It is the dictatorial rule of the small, upper stratum.

What is pluralism?
The view that many relatively small groups have political power and that none dominates in
general.

What is hegemony?
Hegemony is the situation in which one nation maintains a position of leadership or dominance
over other nations.

What are codified norms?

Codified norms rules that have been written and published

Questions on Deviance and Social Control

What do sociologists mean by social control and when do social controls influence
behavior?
Social control is the means by which members of a society attempt to induce each other to
comply with the society's norms. Social controls influence behavior constantly because they
are internalized and come into play every time a person has a deviant impulse.

How do the various theories explain deviance?

Social -control theory argues that deviance is largely a matter of failed social controls. Merton
believes that the strain between the norms that define socially appropriate goals and the
norms that specify socially appropriate means for attaining these goals creates an atmosphere
in which deviance will appear. Travis Hirschi says that persons with a weakened bond to their
social group are likely to become deviant.
Differential association and cultural transmission theories propose that deviance is a natural
outgrowth of a person's contacts during socialization and can be a part of a subculture that
can be transmitted indefinitely. Conflict theory traces the origin of criminal behavior to class
conflict between the powerful and the weak and sees criminals as reasonable individuals
forced by circumstance to break laws in order to regain some of what has been taken from
them or denied to them by an exploitative system. Functionalist theory proposes that
deviance enhances feelings of unity within a society and helps define and redefine the
norms. Labeling theory concentrates on the reactions of others to deviance and studies which
offenders are likely to be punished rather than which are likely to commit deviant
acts.Deterrance theory suggests that deviance increases as the perceived risk of being
punished decreases and that people are more likely to be deviant if they think of themselves
as deviant.

How might anomie create a climate for deviance?

Durkheim believed that an absence of clear norms for a society or an individual might create a
social setting in which deviance will occur.

What is the difference between deviance and deviants?

Deviance is behavior that violates the norms of the social group in which the behavior occurs
where as a deviant is one who is characterized as a violator of a norm. Engaging in deviant
behavior does not automatically lead to a deviant reputation or self-image.

How the mentally ill are treated?

The mentally ill not only are treated as deviants but are feared. The fact that society treats
them in this way increases their chances of being deviant in the future. The labeling of the
mentally ill decreases their chances of future employment and of normal social relationships.

How does society define crime?

Crime is behavior that violates criminal law. It can be defined through laws, through official
police reports of crime, or through victimization surveys of persons who have been involved in
crime but perhaps not involved with the police department.

Who are the criminals and how are they treated by society?
A criminal is someone who has become publicly associated with commission of crime.

What distinguishes white collar crime and how might it be deterred?

White-collar crime is crime committed by a person of responsibility and high social status in
the course of his or her occupation. It differs from conventional crime in that the victims may
be unaware of the crime and the offender may not view himself as a criminal.Deterrence of
white-collar crime by regulatory agencies and internalized controls in organizations appears to
be most promising.