SYLLABUS COVERED

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 Section-A

Q1. Write short answer of the following in about 150 words each : (10 x 5 = 50)
Q1(a)How social movements influenced by leadership and ideologies? Discuss.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Leaders are critical to social movements: they inspire commitment, mobilize resources, create
and recognize opportunities, devise strategies, frame demands, and influence outcomes. As
numerous scholars have noted, however, leadership in social movements has yet to be adequately
theorized.
• Early studies of social movement and leadership identified the functional roles
played leaders at different stages in movement’s development. Gusfield points to the
conflicting requirements for a leader to function both within the movement as a “mobilizer”,
inspiring participants, and outside the movement as an “articulator,” linking the movement to
the larger society.
 Leaders are important for movements because they help clarify the issues and
thus shape the movement.
 Provide guidance to a movement.
 Prevent it from becoming a desperate, unruly collection of people.
 Leadership is expected to reflect the views of the people.
 Leaders articulate the views of the participants.
 They present peoples view in an organized manner.
 Without leadership movement would be fizzled out and cannot sustain over a period of
time.
• More recent work further analyzes the complexity of leadership roles at different
levels within movements, the conflicts between different leadership tasks, and changes
over time in movement leadership.
• Weber elaborated the movement associated with charismatic leadership, including the
emotional character of the community and the appointment of officials based on loyalty to
the charismatic leader.
Ideologies (coherent set of ideas and beliefs) justify and legitimizes the means and
strategies as well as goals of the movement.
Ideology plays a role in sustaining the movement.
 It helps in understanding a situation.
 It legitimizes actions perused by the people.
 Ideology makes people understand and justify the implications of their actions.
 Ideology indicates the goals, means and forms of practical activities of social groups and of
individuals.
 It supplies the justification for various social, political and moral ideals.
 Ideology distinguishes a social movement from mere instances.
Leaders operate within ideological framework.:
 Naxalite movement inspired by communist ideology which justified armed struggle
against Zamindars with a goal to bring structural transformation in agrarian relation.
Leadership provided by communist Charu Majumdar etc.,
 Chipko movement inspired by ideology of eco-feminism and leadership provided by
women which challenged authority and also patriarchal relations.
 Jyotiba phule challenged Brahmanical orthodoxy and ideology of movement reflect
in writings of Phule such as Gulamgiri.He revised the myth of Raja Bali and propounded
Bahujan ideology.
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  Nevertheless, social movement are not always influenced by ideology. The grievances
away from ideologies such as drought can also inspire social movement. The people unite to
solve the problem. E.g. Naaz foundation, Pani foundation in Maharashtra.
Thus ideology and leadership are structural determinants of social movement. They can
become the cause of social movement or they may develop in process.

Q1(b)Elaborate on the social necessity of religion.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
The sociology of religion is concerned with how different religious institutions and
organizations actually function. In modern industrial society, however, religions have
become established in separate, often bureaucratic, organizations, and so sociologists focus on the
organizations through which religions must operate in order to survive.
• Religions are among the most important institutions in society. They are a primary
source of the most deep-seated norms and values. At the same time, religions are
typically practiced through an enormous variety of social forms (Source of diversity in
society). Within Christianity and Judaism, for example, religious practice often occurs in
formal organizations, such Asian religions as Hinduism and Buddhism, where religious
practices are likely to occur in the home or some other natural setting.
• Sociologists often view religions as a major source of social solidarity. To the extent
that religions provide believers with a common set of norms and values, they are an important
source of social solidarity. Religious beliefs, rituals and bonds help to create a ‘moral
community’ in which all members know how to behave towards one another.
• Durkheim defined religion as a united system of beliefs and practices about the
sacred things which are set apart and forbidden. Thus religion regulates the conduct of
its members and ensures social control and social solidarity. In this way Durkheim justified
the social necessity.
• Durkheim proposed that religion has three major functions in society: it provides
social cohesion to help maintain social solidarity through shared rituals and beliefs,
social control to enforce religious-based morals and norms to help maintain conformity and
control in society, and it offers meaning and purpose to answer any existential questions.
Further, Durkheim placed himself in the positivist tradition, meaning that he thought of his
study of society as dispassionate and scientific. He was deeply interested in the problem of
what held complex modern societies together. Religion, he argued, was an expression of social
cohesion.
• Malinowski also justified social necessity of religion through his study of Trobrind
islanders. Religion assures continuity in the phase of discontinuity. Malinowski’s thesis
also justify the social necessity of religion in modern societies characterized by uncertainty.
• Some researchers argue that people often ‘get religion’ when their fundamental
sense of a social order is threatened by economic hard ship, loneliness, loss or grief,
physical suffering, or poor health; explaining the appeal of religious movements,
sociologists are more likely to focus on the problems of the social order than on the
psychological response of the individual.
• If a society’s members adhere to numerous competing religions difference may lead
to destabilizing social conflicts.
• Recent EXAMPLES of religious conflict within a society include struggles between
Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in India; clashes between Muslims and Christians in Bosnia
and other parts of the former Yugoslavia; and ‘hate crimes’ against Jews, Muslims and other
religious minorities in the United States. Religion as a protest ideology for mobilization of
people justify the social necessity (functional cum dysfunctional) of Religion.

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 The commoditization of religion like yoga, Patanjali products etc. has many functional
consequences. Thus growth of religious pluralism justify social necessity of religion. Further
fast development of material life is leading to creation of cultural lag. Here religion can help to
cope up but religion itself has to evolve and secularize itself.

Q1(c) What has been the impact of industrialization on family and kinship organization?
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Industrialization is a process of structural transformation characterized by factory
mode of production by application of advanced technology, bureaucratic organization,
merit and achievement orientation, mass production etc.,
Impact on family and Kinship organization:
• Industrialization changed household dimensions of family. Joint household
transformed into nuclear household. T. PARSONS & WILLIAM J. GOODE have been
important figures to describe the role of industrialization in the emergence of nuclear families.
Parsons argues that the isolated nuclear family is the typical family found in modern industrial
society. It is structurally isolated, because it does not form an integral part of wider system of
kinship relationship. T. Parsons says that a modern industrial system with a specialized
division of labour demands considerable geographical mobility, from its labour force.
Individuals with specialized skills are required to move to the places where those skills are in
demand.
• Like Parsons, Goode argues that industrialization tends to undermine the extended
family and larger kinship grouping. He explains the high rate of geographical mobility in
industrial society, decreases the frequency and intimacy of contact among members of kin
network. The relativity of high level of social mobility also tends to weaken kinship ties.
• The industrialization process accompanied by migration to urban centers led to
weakening of community kinship bonds and values.
• Industrialization promoted values of individualism and merit. It led to democratization
of auth-ority within the institution of family and provided freedom to women and youth and
Change in family system.
• Women joining the labour force impacted traditional gender role segregation and
also enhanced the status of women.
• Industrialisation broke down the lineage specific functioning, e.g. Khap Panchayats
authority corded.
• Post-industrialization characterized by IT (Information Technology), Internet and social
media has brought change in family and kinship Organization. e.g. virtual families and fictive
kinship organisationon social Media.
Thus, the process of industrialisation has led to changes in structure such as authority,
size and relational compositon while in functions such as interactions, role relations.
further globalization and urbanization along with modernization are changing the
institution of family.

Q1(d) What is Content Analysis in social science research.?

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Content analysis is a research technique used to make replicable and valid inferences by
interpreting and coding textual material. By systematically evaluating texts (e.g., documents,
oral communication, and graphics), qualitative data can be converted into quantitative data.
• Social scientists use content analysis to quantify patterns in communication. Practices
and philosophies of content analysis vary between scholarly communities. They all involve
systematic reading or observation of text or artifacts which are assigned labels (sometimes

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 called codes) to indicate the presence of interesting, meaningful patterns . After labeling a
large set of texts, a researcher is able to statistically estimate the proportions of patterns in the
texts, as well as correlations between patterns. Computers are increasingly used in content
analysis. Popular qualitative data analysis programs provide efficient work-flow and data
management tools for labeling. Simple computational techniques can provide descriptive
data such as word frequencies and document lengths. Machine learning classifiers can greatly
increase the number of texts which can be labeled, but the scientific utility of doing so is a
matter of debate.
• Content analysis is frequently used to study cultural change and study different aspect
of culture. Here any researcher is not studying the people directly but study the communication
produced by them. It is used by researchers to study culture change and its different aspects.
Inferences are then made about the messages and the culture selected. It is a statistical exercise
which involves categorizing some aspect of behavior and counting number of times such
behavior occurs.
Some of the advantages of this method are-
1) No effect on the person being studied
2) Easy to gain access to media source or publication
3) It can show an objective account of events, themes, issues.
Disadvantages-
1) Limited resource
2) it cannot tell us what people really think about these images, or how they affect people’s behavior
3) Sometimes objectivity is lost due to observers choice of how to interpret certain behavior.
4) Time consuming
However it is not advisable to use content analysis when researcher can go for direct data gathering
techniques like interview, survey, etc.

(e) Discuss world system Theory in the context of present society.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
World system theory has been closely associated with Immanuel Wallerstein and this
theory is a macro-sociological perspective that seeks to explain the dynamics of the capitalist
economy as a total system.
• For Wallerstein, a world system is a social system that has boundaries, structures,
member groups, rules of legitimation and coherence. Its life is made up of the conflicting
forces which hold it together by tension and tear.
• It has the characteristics of on organism in that, has a life span over which its
characteristics change in some respect and remain stable in others. Life within it is
largely se -contained and the dynamics of its development are largely internal. World system
is an economic system integrated through the market rather than a political centre in
which two or more regions are inter-dependent with respect to necessities like food, fuel and
protection and two or more polities compete for domination without the emergence on
single centre forever.
• According to Wallerstein world system is a multicultural division of labor in which
the production and exchange of basic goods and raw materials is necessary for the
everyday life of inhabitants. This division of labor refers to the forces and relations of
production of the world economy as a whole and it leads to the existence of two independent
regions-core and periphery. These are geographically and culturally different, one focussing
on labor intensive and other on capital intensive production.
• This core - periphery relationship is structural. Among the most important structures of
the current world system is a power hierarchy between core and periphery in which powerful
and wealthy core societies dominate and exploit weak and poor peripheral societies.
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 Technology is also a central factor in the positioning of a region in the core or periphery.
Peripheral countries are structurally constrained to experience a kind of development that reduces
their subordinate status. The different strength of the multiple states within the system is crucial to
maintain the system as a whole, because strong states reinforce and increase the differential flow
of surplus to core zone.
This is what Wallerstein called ‘unequal exchange’, where systematic transfer of surplus is
taking place from semi-proletarian sectors in the periphery to the high technology, industrialised
core. This leads to a process of capital accumulation at a global scale.
For Wallerstein, nation-states are variables, elements within the system. States are used by class
forces to pursue their interest, in the case of core countries. According to this theory, imperialism
refers to the domination of weak peripheral regions by strong core states. Hegemonic power of
strong state maintain a stable balance of power and enforce free trade as long as it is to their
advantage.

Q2 (a)“The secularization of religion is essentially a modern phenomenon.” Discuss.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Bryan Wilson defines secularization as ‘the process whereby religious thinking, practice
and institutions lose social significance’. Peter Berger defines secularization as the “process
by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions
and symbols”.
The secularization of religion is a process of modernization characterized by:-
• Decline of social significance of religious institutions, identities, beliefs and
practices: David martin argues that in Victorian times, church attendance was more strongly
motivated by non-religious factors such as middle-class respectability. With Modernity
in Europe, church attendance is no longer an indication of respectability for many
members of the middle class. Thus, their absence from church may have nothing to do
with a change in their religious beliefs.
• Modernity and Privatisation and religious pluralism evident from growth of sects
and cults: Robert N Bellah argues that the decline in institutional religion cannot be taken as
an indication of a decline in religious belief and commitment. Religion today may simply be
expressed in a different way. Bellah argues that there has been a move from collective worship
to privatized worship and from clerical to individual interpretation of doctrine.
• Modernity and Change in religious attitude i.e. from other wordly to this worldly towards
social problems.
• Modernity and Differentiation and Disengagement of religion from other social
institutions like education, state law etc.: compared to its role in medieval Europe, the
church in contemporary western society has undergone a process of disengagement. In the
middle ages, there was a union of church and state. Today, apart from the right of bishops to
sit in the British house of lords, the church is hardly represented in government. Ecclesiastical
control of education and social welfare has been superseded by secular organizations
under state control. Church patronage of the arts & architecture was reflected by the fact
that most art in the middle ages was based on religious themes. Today secular themes
predominate.
• Modernity and Secularization of rites and rituals.
• Modernity and Secularisation of religious ideology.
All these indications of secularization emerged is context of modern industrial societies.
Which emerged with industrial Revolution, Enlightenment, French revolution, Renaissance
etc. in European societies. Thus is historical context Secularization is a modern phenomenon.
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 • In Indian Society; the process of secularization of religion started is colonial period.
British introduced features of modernity-law, education, industrialisation, etc. which facilitate
the process of secularization.
• Socio-Religious Reform movements of 18th and 19th Centuary advanced the cause
of modern education, social legislations abolished religious disabilities, notion of purity
and pollution, which led to secularization of religion.
• Achievements in modern science and technology broke the plausible structure of
religion; provided scientific explanations and solutions to the problem and rationalized the
social attitude of people.
• The numerous growth of sects and cults in modern Indian society is also as indicator
of secularization of religion. The theme of these cults based on liberal-humanistic principles.
e.g. Art of living foundation, Transcendental Meditation. etc.,
Thus, it can be concluded that the secularization of religion is essentially a modern phenomenon.

Q2(b)How the social structure and socio-cultural variables facilitate the development process
and modernization of a society? Elucidate with examples and write sociological
perspective?
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Modernization is the rational transformation of political, economics, social, intellectual
aspects of society. Development process is characterized by a set rational values, status
of women, actual autonomy, growth and equity etc.
A socio-cultural approach means to overcome the decomposition and disintegration of
the society, the embodiment of the principles of social selforganization based on trust and
solidarity, moral and social qualities of the citizens, harmony of social relations.
• The social structure and socio-cultural variables - caste, religion, patriarchy, kinship
structure etc., facilitate as well as retard this development process.
Refer to Thinkers : Karl Marks, Emile Durkheim & T. Persons
• “Weber in his classical work the Protestant ethic and spirit of Capitalism”
demonstrated through comparative study how the Calvinist ethics facilitated the rise of
modern capitalists and the same process could not be take place in eastern societies of china
and India.
• Kerala has high development indicators comparable to Scandinavian countries. Thus
success can be attributed to structural cultural variables-weak patriarchy (legacy of Anti-
Brahmin movements), popular mobilizations, socio - political culture etc.
• Amartya Sen has attributed TN health systems success to the minimum social distance
between doctors and patients overwhelmingly belonged to same background.
• Backwardness of Northern states can be attributed to structural variables-rigidity of
caste system, patriarchy, political culture, domination of hierarchy etc. These regions
characterized by high incidence of poverty, low status of women, lower female labour
participation high fertility etc.
• Himachal Pradesh has achieved tremendous success in literacy of school children;
increased participation of women is public life. Sociologists have attributed this success to
relatively egalitarian social structure of hill society of Himalayas. Similarly hill societies of
North East have favorable sex ratio as tribal societies are characterized by egalitarian social
structure.
• Marwaris, Baniyas, Parsis because of their entrepreneurship skills have facilitated
the industrial modernisation of Indian society.
Thus socio-cultural variables and social structure facilitate development process
and modernization of society.
{Note: You shoulg give more such illustrations}
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Q2(c)How is religious revivalism different from communalism? Elaborate with suitable
examples from the Indian context.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
• Religious revivalism is term applied to mass movements which are based upon
intense religious upheaval. Periodic religious revivals which seek to restore commitment
and attachment to the group is regular observable feature of religious traditions rise in number
of sects,culture etc. and Fundamentalism is a kind of religious revivalism.
• The word communalism comes from the word “community”, which in simple term
means “individuals attachment or identification with the community to which she/
he belongs”. In this sense, the term “communal” is a positive term. In its modern usage, term
‘communalism’ refers to the tendency of socio-religious groups of a sectarian exploitation of
social traditions as a medium of political mobilization to promote the political, social and
economic interests of one group even at the expense of or in antagonistic conditions of other
group. In doing so, the religious group may consider other religious communities as opponents
and enemies. Communalism in this context has been explained mainly in two ways:
- As an ideology or belief system; and
- As a social phenomena.
• As an ideology, it means, a belief that people who follow a particular religion have
common social, political and economic interests. Therefore, one should have primary
social and political allegiance to one’s religious groups.
• This belief in due course takes the shape of social phenomena. It means aggressive
assertion of communal identity in organized way in opposition and antagonism to other
religions. This assertion is used to demand for voting on religious basis and also confronting
the opposing group violently.
• Swami Vivekanda, Mahatma Gandhi revived universalistic values of Hindu religion to
promote humnity while Md. Ali Jinnah promoted communalism through demand of separate
electorates for muslims.
• Arya Samaj promoted religious revivalism (e.g. go back to Vedas) and its Shuddhi
movement led to communalism is society.
• Revivalists have faith is their religious ideology. Revivalist derives political
principles from a sacred ancient text. It tries to evoke a utopian past mentioned in
the sacred religious text at the cost of modern structures, institutions and rights.
• One of the defining characteristics of Revivalists has been that adherents often see themselves
as the guardians of the truth, usually to the exclusion of others. e.g. Tara singh Bhindranwale.
While a communal person not necessarily believe is religion. e.g. Jinnah was an atheist.
• Religious Revivalism is accompanied by religious code of morality while communalism is
amoral in nature.
• Religious revivalism appeal to the followers of religion while; it is not necessary in
case of communalism. e.g. British were communal is Indian Context.
• Religious Revivalism can be functional as well as dysfunctional to society while communalism
is dysfunctional to wider society.
• Revivalist refers to religious scriptures while communalists have nothing to do with it.
Today, both use modern means of communication e.g. social media to propagate
their ideologies. Thus religious revivalism is qualitatively different from
communalism and both exist side by side in our society.

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Q3(a) Analyze the importance of qualitative method in social research.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Social scientists often want to understand how individuals think, feel or behave in
particular situations or in relations with others that develop over time. They use in-depth
interviews, participant observation and other qualitative methods to gather data. Researchers
might watch a school playground to observe and record bullying behaviours, or ask young people
about exactly what they understood by being bullied, and how they thought it affected them.
• Qualitative research methods have a long and distinguished history within sociology.
They trace their roots back to Max Weber’s call for an interpretive understanding of
action. Today, qualitative sociology encompasses a variety of specific procedures for collecting
data, ranging from life history interviews to direct observation of social interaction to
embedded participant observation. In all of these cases, the social scientist directly interacts
with those whom he or she is studying.
• Qualitative methods are scientific, but are focused more on the meaning of different
aspects of peoples’ lives, and on their accounts of how they understand their own
and others’ behaviour and beliefs. A major strength of qualitative approach is the depth
to which explorations are conducted and descriptions are written, usually resulting in
sufficient details for the reader to grasp the idiosyncracies of the situation.
• Case studies (where researchers examine a small number of specific examples) and
narratives (where researchers study respondents’ stories in depth) are just two examples of
methods used in qualitative research.

Advantages of Qualitative Research Approach

• Berg and Howard (2012) characterise qualitative research as meanings, a concept,
a definition, metaphors, symbols and a description of things. This definition clearly
show that qualitative research contains all necessary instruments that can evoke recall which
aids problem-solving.
• Qualitative data instruments such as observation, open-ended questions, in-depth
interview (audio or video), and field notes are used to collect data from participants
in their natural settings. The methods employed in data collection give full description of
the research with respect to the participants involved.
• The participants’ observation and focused group nature of qualitative research
approach create wider understanding of behaviour. Hence, qualitative research
approach provides abundant data about real life people and situations.
• Secondly, the system through which data are retrieved in qualitative research
approach is regarded as being unique. The reliance on the collection of non-numerical
primary data such as words and pictures by the researcher who serves as an instrument
himself makes qualitative research well-suited for providing factual and descriptive
information.
• Thirdly, in this research approach, theory emerges from data. Different authors use
different words or phrases such as: ‘investigative, do-it-yourself and bottom-up’ to explain
the originality and independent nature of the qualitative research approach.
• Moreover, a qualitative research approach views human thought and behaviour in
a social context and covers a wide range of phenomena in order to understand and appreciate
them thoroughly.
This however account for significant understanding of experiences as its participants
understand themselves and also understand experience as unified
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Q3(b) “No society gives absolute freedom to its members to select their partner.” Evaluate the
statement in context of rules of marriage and analyse the problems associated to marriage
in Indian society.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Marriage is the approved social pattern whereby two or more persons establish a family.
It involves not only the right to conceive and rear children (who are some- times conceived
as an institutionalized preliminary to marriage) but also a host of other obligations and
privileges affecting a good many people.
• Indian society is a pluralistic society in terms of religion, region, caste, ethnicity etc.,
and the rules of marriage among different communities by influenced by a complex interplay
of these factors in addition to modern factors like law, class, status etc.,
• Endogamy is a social rule that requires a person to select the spouse from within the
caste and sub-caste,
• Exogamy forbids selection from same gotra and sapinda (i.e., cousins like chachera,
mamera, phuphera and mausera);
• According to hypergamy, a boy from the upper caste can marry a girl from the lower caste
and vice-versa.
• In early society, caste endogamy was functional because it preserved the occupational
secrets of the caste, maintained the solidarity of the caste and checked decrease in the
membership or strength of the caste.
• In the present society, though it makes marital adjustment easier, yet it has proved to be
dysfunctional in some ways since it creates inter-caste tensions which adversely affect the
political unity of the country, makes field of mate-selection limited and circumscribed, and
creates problems of dowry, child marriage, etc.
• Ghurye has considered caste endogamy as central feature of Indian society. Recently
conducted surveys showed that more than 95% couple practiced caste endogamy. The factors
like instability, individualism, anomie created by globalization also influence attitude towards
caste endogamy as it provides stability.
• Social legislations have impacted rules of marriage which gives an individual
freedom to choose their life partner and also fixed the minimum age of marriage
21st for boys and 18 for girls. However, more than 40% global child marriage are practiced
in India. This shows how the law is challenged by custom and tradition.
• Veena Das has attributed high incidence of child marriage to social and religious
attitude of members of society which frames rule to exercise control over sexuality
of women i.e. safe transfer of virginity from parental home.
• In middle-class families, however individual members exercise their choice regarding mate
selection, age of marriage. To a much extent, they exercise freedom to select their marital
partners.
Problems associated with marriage:
• Inter-caste marriage not accepted by families and resistance increases in case of
Hypogamy ( Pratiloma) marriages often accompanied by honour killings. Sometimes,
it becomes a matter of pride and manifests in the form of caste-conflict.
• Marriage is accompanied by dowry system in Indian society. In era of globalization.
Dowry has become a way to satisfy consumerist needs. Fat weddings considered as status
symbols. It has become a rural-as well as-urban phenomenon.
• The skewed sex ratio in Green Revolution area has led to purchase-brides from
backward areas and communities. Thus problem of human trafficking as associated with
institution of marriage.
Thus individual freedom is constrained by structural factors of rules of marriage and
accompanied by various problems with institution of marriage.
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Q3(c)“The social evaluation of biological differences give rise to the problem of gender.”
Examine the statement.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
The gender and transgender is a socio-cultural construct i.e. sex is gendered giving rise
to problem of gender and transgender.
Margret Mead is his work “Sex and temperament and three primitive societies” showed
that how cultural condition-upbringing, socialization construct gender.
• George Murdock saw it as both practical and convenient that women should
concentrate on domestic and family responsibilities while men work outside the
home. On the basis of a cross- cultural study of more than two hundred societies.
• Murdock concluded that the sexual division of labour is present in all cultures. While
this is not the result of biological ‘programming’, it is the most logical basis for the organization
of society.
• When Biological differences between male; female, third sex are socially evaluated
as high or low, superior or inferior giving rise to problem of gender and social
exclusion of transgender from mainstream society.
• S. Firestone , an early radical feminist writer, argued that men control women’s
roles in reproduction and child- rearing. Because women are biologically able to give
birth, they become dependent materially on men for protection and livelihood of child. This
‘biological inequality is socially organized in the patriarchal family.
• Firestone speaks of a ‘sex class’ to describe women’s social position and argues that
women can be emancipated only through the abolition of the family and the power relations
which characterize it.
• The patriarchal social structures like marriage, family, Religion, caste, state etc.,
reinforce this social evaluation of biological differences and further exclude the
women and transgender.
• Ann Oakley strongly criticizes cultural division of labour. She argues that functionalist’s
viewpoints are based on narrow insights of their own culture due to which they find
universality of gender based division of labour. She concludes that gender roles are culturally
constructed rather than biologically determined. This reflects in sexual division of labour in
private and public life.
• With rise of modernity and feminism, this social evaluation is being challenged.
Kerala has come up with Transgender policy which not only recognize transgender identity
rather ensures their participation in the workforce. Kochi Metro has provided jobs to
Transgenders.
• Temple, Mosque entry protest movement are also challenging religion-notion of
purity and pollution and serenity of status. e.g. Sbrimala temple entry, Hazi Ali Mosque
entry etc.
Thus, the problem of gender and transgender is a social not biological. It manifests in every
social, political and economical sphere. The problems of gender (along with transgender) violence,
rape, discrimination and inequality can be solved by addressing the root cause i.e. Social evaluation
of biological differences.
{Note: Can throw light on Judicial decisions and Law Commissions Recommendations on
Transgender}

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 Section B
Q4. Write short answer of the following in about 150 words each:
Q4(a)“Religion and science are forms of human understanding and provides ways to humans
to relate themselves to reality”. Discuss.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Religion is an institutionalized integration between man and mundane. Science is
systematic body of tentative knowledge. Thus both are cognitive systems which try to comprehend
the social reality.
The relationship between science and religion, one of interaction, at minimum holds
that dialogue between science and religion can be valuable, more that science and religion
can constructively benefit from engagement, and at maximum envisions a convergence of scientific
and religious perspectives. Generally, this view encourages an effort to explore the significance of
scientific understanding for religious understanding and vice versa. With this approach science
remains relevant beyond the museum for many people who might otherwise ignore scientific
findings.
Sociologist Émile Durkheim considered religious beliefs as social glue that helped to
keep society together. Sigmund Freud (1927) saw religious belief as an illusion, a childlike
yearning for a fatherly figure.
• Both explains the social phenomenon but their methods are different. Science employs
empirical means while religion focus on non-empirical means to logical ends.
• Science answers “what and how” of social reality while religion explains “why” of a
social phenomenon. Science deals with what is known, it is potential knowledge based on
sensory evidences.
• Religious beliefs refer to the world beyond the senses. Knowledge which cannot be
proved by the methods of science, cannot be disproved also. Thus Religion offers the
continuity in the phase of discontinuity created by science.
• Religion furthers the growth of science and technologies. The Calvinist ethics cites
that unraveling the mysteries of nature is glorification of god.
• The social necessity of both cognitive systems is evident from super growth of
science and technology as well as super growth of religious sects and cults.
• Science has taken cognitive role of religion while religion provides source of morality to
exercise control over technology. e.g. surrogacy.
• H.E. Barnes says that EVEN IF there exists conflict between fundamentals of religion
and modern science none exists between the later and humanism because the
humanists frankly base their religion upon the findings of the science.
• Both are two facets of life. One touches soul while other indicates material
advancement. Religion gives peace to scientifically advanced and worried society.
Both try to pierce into the realm of unknown. Thus conflicts and compatibility of religion and
science can not be studied is an isolated manner as development of science can provide base
for the interpretation of ideas of religion. Science is a search for knowledge as well as
method of solving problems.
• Both religion and science are forms of human understanding. Both science and
religion are human ways to relating themselves to reality.
• Both science and religion try to make explicit the world of unknown. Religion is
more collectively oriented than science, but science too emphasizes team spirit and
cooperation of scientific community. Both science and religion claim access to truth.
Thus, both science as well as religion are functional to human society and provide ways to
humans to relate themselves to reality. Religion may not need science and science may
not need religion but man needs both.
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Q4(b) Discuss the alternatives to traditional forms of Marriage and Family.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Family is a kinship social group in which members are connected to each other through
bonds of affinity and consanguinity and performs the function of production,
reproduction, household etc. Marriage is the approved social pattern whereby two or more
persons establish a family. It involves not only the right to conceive and rear children (who are
some-times conceived as an institutionalized preliminary to marriage) but also a host of other
obligations and privileges affecting a good many people.
Alternatives to the traditional forms of family and marriages:
• Non-marital Cohabitation Has Increased: There have always been some unmarried couples
who lived together openly as ‘lovers” rather than as husband and wife. They were generally
condemned as scandalous and immoral. Today, however, non marital cohabitation multiplied
by many times. Live-in-relationships are increasing in the society and their acceptance by
society and law as well as parents.
• Common Law Marriage: While common law marriages were once widely recognized, they
are currently not available in all states. However, where they are available, the couple can be
recognized as a married couple even though they never had a wedding or obtained a state
marriage license.
• Usually there are specific requirements that must be met for couples to be considered
common law married (such as being of legal age to get married, not being married to
anyone else, and having cohabitated for a specific period of time), and those requirements
are specific to each state.
• When a couple is considered common law married, they are able to enjoy all of the same
rights as traditionally married couples despite not having a state marriage license.
• Gay and lesbian household and families and their recognition by law by eastern societies-
challenging traditional form of family and marriage.
• Single-parent families due to adoption laws, surrogate technology, acceptance of
motherhood without marriage, are emerging alternatives. Unmarried Parenthood Has
Increased Since 1950, the illegitimacy rate has multiplied more than four times. A generation
ago nine out of ten illegitimate babies were placed for adoption. Today more than nine in ten
of them are kept by their mothers. This often condemns the mother to a life of economic
deprivation and the baby to a life of emotional deprivation (Furstenberg & Forsberg).
• It was historically difficult for a person to live comfortably alone. Only by joining a
family or by setting up a household complete with servant staff could one live in comfort.
Today the physical accommodations are more favorable-furnished apartments and maid
service, wash-and wear clothes, Laundryman, and catering services of many kinds make it
easier for the singles. Changing gender roles within family assisted by domestic maid is emerging
as alternative.
• Outsourcing of productive and reproductive role of women through Assisted
Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) and other technology challenging the existing institutions.
• Neo-local families by young couples challenging traditional household dimension of family.
Thus, with social change and modernity, new forms of family and marriage are emerging as
alternatives. The institutionalization and patternization can be witnessed in today’s society. They
are getting legal recognition also while social recognition is still in infancy.

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Q4(c)“Education helps in democratization of society and brings social change.” Illustrate the
statement.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Social Change refers to the modifications in the organization and behavior of the group
expressed in its laws, institutions, customs, modes and beliefs. When change supposedly for
the better it becomes progress which is essentially an evolutionary concept”.
• Education is mechanism or process of Inter-generational transmission of knowledge
skills, values, and attitudes through informal and formal means-family, society, educational
institutions.
• Schools should be viewed not only as institutions that impart certain knowledge and skills to
students, but also as environments that socialize them.
• Socializing students to achieve just what “aims” is the subject of current debates
among educators, politicians, and business leaders alike. This debate can be understood
as a conflict among three points of view: 1.) that education is an extension of market forces
that helps to prepare students for employment opportunities; 2.) that schools should not
socialize but should be limited to providing basic academic skills and knowledge; and 3.) that
education is a democratizing force that helps to prepare students to participate actively in all
aspects of democratic life.
• The John Dewey Project on Progressive Education grounds its work in Dewey’s
assumption that the aims of education should be oriented towards preparing young people
to be full and active participants in all aspects of democratic life. The skills and dispositions
needed to actively participate in all aspects of democratic life include: the ability to think
critically, a sense of efficacy, a commitment to compassionate action, and a desire to actively
participate in political life by engaging in local decision-making processes, lobbying, voting,
etc., as well as the basic need to be able to read, write and do arithmetic.

Democratization of society and social change.

• Education based on modern scientific and humanistic principles challenge the
undemocratic, unjust socio-religious institutions and practices e.g. (caste system, religion
etc.,) they facilitate democratization of society.
• Preservation and transmission of our social, moral and cultural values. In Education,
through curriculum, students will be acquainted with social, moral and cultural values and
teachers make them familiar with values and ideal through different activities, games, story-
telling etc. Education makes them familiar with constitution, rules and regulations of citizens
and so on. As we find in NPE 1986 major objectives to produce a productive citizen has been
fulfilled by education so education preserves our value and it make others to imbibe those
values.
• Through education individuals become aware about the importance of unity, love,
fraternity and other values. Education makes all people get awakened of being a part of
society and how they can contribute the world as society. People know different values and
life skills and thus they develop concern for society including social mindedness, values life
skills, learning to be, learning to do, learning to know, learning to live together via different
activities story telling dramatization etc.
• Education help in political modernization. Education makes all aware about rights and
duties of all, which are their responsibilities and duties so that they can develop their civic
sense. Through different lesson of political leaders and stories education develop ideal
leadership quality so that in future citizens can lead the state and society. Educated people
build modern organizations, lay political parties or Associations to articulate their interest.
E.g. Dalit Panthers.
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 • Education challenge patriarchal norms-which are unjust and undemocratic. Savitribai
Phule Challenged Brahmanical-knowledge system and their pedagogy.
• “Educate, agitate and organize” – Philosophy of Ambedkar highlights how education
helps in democratization.
• Education helps in economic modernization. The skilled workforce work in industries
and absorbs new technology.
• Education assist process of secularization i.e. social significance of religious institutions
decline
• Educated women are more aware about their rights and exercise control over body
and sexuality. It helps in achieving fertility control. For example, Kerala’s TFR (Total Fertility
Rate) is below national average of 1.2
• Amartya Sen pointed out in his book, Development as Freedom, education is crucial
to give people capabilities such as literacy, confidence and attitudes that they need to
participate in society. For example, providing education to poor and marginalized children
and young people often means they are more likely to participate in meetings of local political
bodies managing resources such as education, health and water.
• Further, Education for All is about empowerment, the effects of good quality
education reach far beyond the benefits it offers individuals. Education reduces poverty,
boosts economic growth, leads to better health and survival rates and promotes gender equality
and causes overall improvement in community life.
• Modern education promotes the values of equality, individualism which challenge
the undemocratic value system underlying the caste system i.e. values of hierarchy and
holism.
• British opened the education for all irrespective of gender, caste i.e. first time Dalits,
Women got access to modern education which in turn became agent of democratization.
• During SNDD movement, educated Ezhava members achieved social mobility
through modern education and occupations.
• Educated middle class led the Indian freedom movement which is itself was a process
movement which is itself was a proces of democratisation.
• Education provides modern means to social groups to orgnise themselves. e.g. Dalit,
Tribal, youth, women, student etc. through pressure group and political parties articulate
their interest.
• Education helps in building civic social capital formation through growth of civil
society orgnisations. e.g. human-rights organisations.
Nevertheless, There are many examples of societies with a well-educated citizenry that might not
be very democratic, as well as of democratic societies with low levels of education. But education
can help people participate in democracy in a variety of ways, including providing them with
literacy and other skills to enable them to take part in political discussions and access political
information through the media. Thus education facilitate the democratization process is society.
Nevertheless, it also resists social change and democratization if it promotes
conservative values and partisan attitude.
Thus, education helps and facilitates the value modernization and democratization and society
and hence brings social change.

Q4(d)“The religion cannot be the sufficient basis of nation-building.” Examine the statement.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Nation is an imagined entity to which people have sense of belongingness, similar kind of
consciousness. A NATION is a nationality which has organized itself into a political entity.
• A NATION is a group of people who feel their uniqueness and oneness which they are keen to
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 maintain and promote. The formation of nation-states is essentially a modern phenomenon.
Today’s societies are pluralistic societies characterized by unique and diverse cultural identity-
religion; region, ethnicity, caste etc.,
• Nation building is a dialectal phenomenon in which the individual and society interact
with their physical, biological and inter-human environments, transforming them for their
own good and that of humanity at large and being transformed in the process.
• Durkheim (1948) defined Religion as … a unified system of beliefs and practices
relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and
practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere
to them.

Different basis of Nation-building in India:

- Accountable, responsive and legitimate government:
- Economic growth and development :
- Reduction of inequality and poverty:
- Accommodation of social diversity:
- Dignity and freedom of the citizens:
- Improvement in the quality of decision-making;
- Democratic method to resolve conflicts; and
- All room to correct mistakes.
• Content analysis of historical literature justify this statement. Pakistan emerged as an
Islamic nation and ignored, suppressed Bengali ethnic identity, which led to another nation-
state-Bangladesh.
• Cultural nationalism based on religion is not constitutional. As it does not recognise
the cultural diversity of Indian Tradition and culture.
• America as a nation emerged in the basis of universalistic principles and recognised
the multiple identities. The idea of France as a nation rooted in philosophy of French
Revolution i.e. complete absence of religion in public life. It derecognizes religious identities
also creating conflict in society. e.g. protest movement against Burqa and Turban by respective
religious communities.
Thus religion cannot be the sufficient basis of nation-building in India neither in another
country. Any nation-building project has to recognize and accommodate huge diversity.

Q4(e)Comment on institutionalization of ‘live-in-relationship’ and give reasons.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Live-in-relationship: A living arrangement in which an unmarried couple lives together in a
long-term relationship that resembles a marriage. Couples cohabit, rather than marry, for a variety
of reasons. They may want to test their compatibility before they commit to a legal union.
When such social relationships become normal type i.e. widely diffused and internalized throughout
the society, recognized by parents, law, society at large as legitimate and just, then it is referred as
institutionalization of live-in-relationships.
Reasons :
• Increasing age of marriage, geographical mobility, to satisfy emotional and sexual
needs gave rise to live-in-relationships.
• Law recognizes some aspects and functions of live in relationship such as Children
born out of live-in relationships are eligible to be maintained by both the parents
and can succeed in inheritance of property of the parents;
• Domestic Violence Act also includes and recognises live-in relationships; Indian courts also
tend to look at long term live-in relationships more or less like marriages with application of
maintenance laws.
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 • To escape from institutional obligations of family and marriage also a determinant
factor.
• The rise of individual consciousness and mutually negotiated gender roles also
facilitate live-in-relations.
• The rising status of women particularly middle-class and upper class women has
provided them an opportunity to challenge traditional, productive and reproductive role.
• Change in orientation, attitude towards marriage.
Nevertheless, In Indian society, these social relationships are in a process of
institutionalization and yet to get a full-fledged social institution status due to some
conservative traditions and ideologies of Indian Society.
Thus, the changing socio-economic orientation, emerging technologies, globalization, innovation
in work is leading to creation of liberal democratic ideas and institution hence institutionalization
of live-in-relationships can be seen in modern societies and India also.

Q5(a)“Religious pluralism is the order of present-day societies”. Discuss with suitable

examples.
Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Religious Pluralism: Religious pluralism is the state of being where every individual in
a religiously diverse society has the rights, freedoms, and safety to worship, or not, according
to their conscience.
• Religious pluralism is both an opportunity and a problem. It can be an opportunity
because when multiple religious beliefs coexist, it allows for a greater exchange of ideas and
worldviews. It also enables people increased freedom to choose their personal faith because
they are exposed to a variety of possibilities. Religious pluralism also prevents governmental
leaders from becoming vassals for religious leaders; throughout history, religion has been a
breeding ground for despotic totalitarianism.
• Durkheim’s view of religion implied that a truly religious society could only have
one religion in that society. In Durkheim’s analysis this was the situation in small-scale,
Aboriginal societies, where every member of that society comes together at certain times in
the year to engage in religious rituals. It was based on observations of such societies that
Durkheim theorized that when worshiping religion, people were really worshiping society.
• However, in more modern societies, especially postmodern societies, there is no
one dominant religion: there are many religions, or a plurality of religions. Sociologists
describe such a situation as religious pluralism.
• According to Steve Bruce (2011) modernization and industrialization in Northern
Europe and America brought with them social fragmentation, such that a plurality
of different cultural and religious groups emerged. We see religious pluralism most
obviously in the growth of sects and cults and in the increase in ethnic diversity of religion in
societies.
• Two process happen as a result of this: people find that their membership of their
particular group or religion no longer binds them to society as a whole; and the state finds it
difficult to formally support one ‘main religion’ without causing conflict.
• Bruce thus argues that ‘strong religion’, which influences practically every areas of
people’s lives: shaping their beliefs and practices cannot exist in a religiously plural society.
Strong religion can only exist in isolated pockets, such as the Amish communities, but these
have isolated themselves from society as a whole.
• Religiously plural societies are thus characterized by ‘weak religion’ – which is a
matter of personal choice and does not dominate every aspect of people’s lives. Weak religions
accept that there is room for other religious belief systems and have little social impact.
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 • In our world today, there exists a bewildering variety of world views, religions and
confessions, ethical beliefs and lifestyles. Historic faiths as well as new religions and religious
movements strive for attention, if not supremacy, in a multi-religious and multicultural world.
Indeed, many gods are worshipped today, for ours is a religiously pluralistic world.
• This is not to say that previous ages did not also have a rich diversity of religions,
lifestyles, and world views. However, these were often either regionally confined or engaged
in bitter controversies with conflicting views. Today in many places adherents of different
religions and confessions live and work more or less peacefully side by side. Besides, the
world has become what is called a ‘global village’ whose every comer can be reached within
hours and from where mass media can communicate almost instantly to the rest of the world.
Thus, religious, ethical, or any other ideas can float almost from everywhere to everywhere.
• India is a multi-cultural and a diverse nation with a flourishing history of pluralism
that has been thriving for thousands of years. Among the many faiths represented here
are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
• As the world’s largest democracy, India presents a unique opportunity to understand
a long and multifaceted heritage of religious diversity. The larger Indian society is
pluralistic giving rise to cultural diversity and a symbiotic relationship among communities.
• Communities developed their sacred geography based on their faith and the belief
in structures specific to their individual cults by marking on the ground their
meanings for places and natural features. Within the framework of a pluralistic society,
the different communities coexisted symbiotically, lending to the diversity extant in the sub-
continent, which had been achieved over centuries.
• Example: the popular belief of Char Dham, the four comers of the idea of India is equally
understood by the majority, irrespective of their value-system within the Hindu sects. The
cultural and religious diversity leads to individual, social and political choices of organized
and recognized pluralism. In the process, both individual and collective identities are redefined,
incessantly moving along the continuum that ranges from exclusion to inclusion.
• Religious Pluralism is one of many forms of pluralism in contemporary globalised
world. Some others include ethnic pluralism, value pluralism, doctrinal pluralism, ethical
pluralism, political pluralism.
• Religious pluralism is, however, one of the most important in contemporary society,
considering globalization and the role of religions in many conflicts. It has its root in political
liberalism. Tension between group solidarity and productive relations with’ others’ has been
part of human history for as long as evidence exists.
In Europe it has played out most enduringly in relations among the monotheistic
religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Today, in the face of mass migration from Muslim
regions, questions of political identity and belonging remain bound up with religious affiliation.
Since religious convictions clearly influence social, political and economic activity on a global
scale, emphasizing the shared common values of religions has the potential to facilitate better
global relationships.

Q5(b)Distinguish between probability and non probability sampling methods.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Sampling means selecting a particular group or sample to represent the entire population.
Sampling methods are majorly divided into two categories Probability Sampling and Non-
Probability Sampling. In the first case, each member has a fixed, known opportunity to belong
to the sample, whereas in the second case, there is no specific probability of an individual to be a
part of the sample.
The significant differences of Probability and Non Probability Sampling are as follows.
• The sampling technique, in which the subjects of the population get an equal opportunity to

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 be selected as a representative sample, is known as probability sampling. A sampling method
in which it is not known that which individual from the population will be chosen as a
sample, is called nonprobability sampling.
• The basis of probability sampling is randomization or chance, so it is also known as
Random sampling. On the contrary, in non-probability sampling randomization technique
is not applied for selecting a sample. Hence it is considered as Non-random sampling
• In probability sampling, the sampler chooses the representative to be part of the
sample randomly, whereas, in non-probability sampling, the subject is chosen arbitrarily,
to belong to the sample by the researcher.
• The chances of selection in probability sampling, are fixed and known. As opposed to
non-probability sampling, the selection probability is zero, i.e. it is neither specified not known.
• Probability sampling is used when the research is conclusive in nature. On the other
hand, when the research is exploratory, nonprobability sampling should be used.
• The results generated by probability sampling, are free from bias while the results of
non-probability sampling are more or less biased.
• As the subjects are selected randomly by the researcher in probability sampling, so
the extent to which it represents the whole population is higher as compared to the
nonprobability sampling. That is why extrapolation of results to the entire population is
possible in the probability sampling but not in non-probability sampling.
• Probability sampling test hypothesis but nonprobability sampling generates it.
Thus, While probability sampling is based on the principle of randomization where every
entity gets a fair chance to be a part of the sample, non-probability sampling relies on the
assumption that the characteristics are evenly distributed within the population, which make the
sampler believe that any sample so selected would represent the whole population and the results
drawn would be accurate.

Q5(c) Nomothetic and Idiographic Methods in Social Science Research.

Line of Thought - Content/Knowledge
Nomothetic and Idiographic Methods represent two different approaches to
understanding. A nomothetic method, focuses on general statements that account for larger
social patterns that form the context of single events or individual behavior and experience, on the
other hand, An ideographic method focuses on individual cases or events. Ethnographers, for
example, observe the minute details of everyday life to construct an overall portrait.
• Nomothetic Method refers to the approach of investigating large groups of people
in order to find general laws of behaviour that apply to everyone.” Nomos” refer to
laws in ancient Greek; this approach assumes that an individual is a complex combination of
many universal laws; it is best to study people on a large scale.
• According to Nomothetic Method, Quantitative Experimental methods are best to
identify the universal laws governing behaviour. The individual will be classified with
others and measured as a score upon a dimension, or be a statistic supporting a general
principle.
• One of the major advantage of Nomothetic method is that in line with the deterministic,
law abiding nature of science, useful in predicting and controlling behaviour; nomothetic
findings on prejudice and discrimination perhaps helpful (reduce discrimination).
• However; it has a limitation that a superficial understanding of any one person; even
if two persons have same IQ they may have answered different questions in the test; a person
may have one percent chance of developing depression(but is he among the one percent?);
classification manuals are not accurate and does not help people.

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 • Idiographic Method refers to the approach of investigating individuals in personal,
in-depth detail to achieve a unique understanding of them.
• “Idios” refer to ‘private’ or ‘personal’ in ancient Greek; this approach assumes that
humans are unique. According to Idiographic Method, Qualitative methods are best; case
study method will provide a more complete and global understanding of the individual who
should be studied using flexible, long terms and detailed procedures in order to put them in a
‘class of their own’.
• One of the major advantages of Ideographic method is that it provides more complete
and global understanding of an individual, sometimes the most efficient, often lead
to results that spark off experimental investigation of behavior. But then one instance
of its disadvantage is that Difficult to generalize findings; Sociologists create universal theories
on the basis of a limited and unrepresentative sample; Idiographic research tends to be more
unreliable and unscientific (subjective, long term and unstandardised procedures).
• While comparing Sociology and History, Radcliff Brown said “sociology is nomothetic,
while history is idiographic”. In other words, sociologists produce generalizations
while historians describe unique events.

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