LNamrata Rana

NOTES: Invitation to sociology

Dr Sangita Yadav
About the Teacher:
UP, Ayodhya
PG- Lucknow uni
M.Phill and PhD- JNU
Laxmibai
Woman’s emancipation - Ambedkar

8 Teachers Total:
Dr Sangita Yadav
Dr Akhilesh Pathak
Dr Sunil Kumar Mishra
Dr Pratyasha Sahoo
Dr Nidhi

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Dr Aditi Naraini
Ms Nivedita

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Ms Nishta Chaturvedi
Most have doctorates
2 are pursuing
1 will submit in December

Why did Sociology emerge?

What is common sense?
4th Year- Dissertation
70-100 Pages
R
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Research-based
proposal (Want to do this topic and method to do it)
Research Methods: Technical (1st Sem)
Thesis (PhD)
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21 november-1st class

Enlightenment period:
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➔ Era of reason
➔ Questioning the norm
➔ Revolution: Rapid change. It is radical.
➔ Questioning against Lenin’s idealogy.
➔ Karl Marx doesn’t talk about the middle class. He only talks about the upper (Elites)
N

and lower class (Labour).

➔ Is equality true? Does it exist?

Important books:
Basic
● Sociological Theory George Ritzer(Emergence, development)
● Sociological themes and perspective by Haralambos Holborn
● Sociology: Basic Concepts (3rd unit) by HK Rawat (Very important)
● Dictionary of Sociology:

○ Penguin ○ Cambridge:
○ Sage ○ Oxford:

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30-11-22
➔ Sociology has a long past but a brief history.
➔ It is the science of society. It’s one of the youngest as well as one of the oldest
disciplines of the social sciences.
➔ It is one of the youngest sciences because only recently has it come to be established
as a distinct branch of knowledge. With its own distinct set of concepts and its own
methods of enquiry.
➔ Sociology is also one of the oldest of the sciences. It was established in 1838.
➔ Since the dawn of civilization, society has been a subject of speculation and enquiry
along with other phenomena. Which have agitated the restless and inquisitive mind of
man.
➔ Even centuries ago, man was thinking about society and how it should be organised and

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help use on man and his destiny, the rise and fall of people and civilization
➔ Age of enlightenment

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RITZER GEORGE
Modernity → Social change
Renaissance → Gave secular idea
French revolution → Egalitarian ideology
Industrial revolution → Utilitarian
↓ R
Max happiness (satisfaction)
↓
Max People
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Results of Renaissance, the French revolution and industrial revolution:
➔ Feudal society to industrial society
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➔ Rise of liberal democracy

➔ Emergence of middle-class
Industrial Revolution Brought:
➔ Poor working conditions
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➔ Slums Developed
➔ Absolute Poverty (Only in modern societies)
➔ Nuclear Family —-----↓—------------------–↓
Domestic Violence Divorce
➔ Faith in religion decreased
➔ Alienation (Neighbours, Product you produce, yourself, colleagues)
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➔ Rise of Liberal Democracy

➔ Technological development
➔ Age of reason/Enlightenment
➔ Capitalism (-ve)
➔ Socialism idea emerged as a counter to Capitalism
➔ Negative changes
Emergence of sociology

Social Thinkers Sociologists

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➔ French sociologist:
Alexis (Political theorist)
➔ Freedom(People should have freedom
but no equality)
➔ Freedom Supported by social thinkers
➔ But don’t supports equality
➔ Centralisation
➔ of power in context of equality

St. SImon
➔ Last parah
➔ Conservative significance

a
➔ Radical Marxian theory
➔ He wanted to preserve society as it
was but he did not seem to return to

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th life as it was in middle ages
(basically wanted t stop time)

➔ Hegel
➔ Karl Marx
German

Karl Marx
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ta
➔ Capitalism
➔ When it’ll be time for evolution and
they will face alienation (from
colleagues, hamsters and even
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themselves)
➔ Reason for alienation: product
produced isn’t for your own use.
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There is a disconnect between the

worker and the work.
➔ (After alienation) Class in itself →
Class for itself (Collective
consciousness, fight back the
injustice)
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➔ It will lead to class struggle/conflict

(conflict theory)
➔ After capitalism there will come
socialism then communism
(equalise)
Criticism:
➔ This is a Eutopia idea
➔ He doesn’t talk about middle class

➔ Classical thinkers talk abt positivist

theory.

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➔ Weber
British
➔ Adam smith and

16-12-22
Common sense: Obvious

Sociological Imagination:
➔ Founder: CW Mills
➔ Sociological Imagination

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↓
To develop sociological perspective

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↓
Goes beyond common sense
↓
Use of Logical Reasoning and Critical Thinking/Scientific Method

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➔ Mills says that human life is filled with various events and to understand these events
we have to build sociological understanding.
➔ Our day-to-day life is influenced by society, social forces and social structure.
➔
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Individual
___________|__________
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↓ ↓ ↓

Society Biography History

↑____________↑____________↑
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|
Our Roots

➔ Mills says, Individual is connected with society. There is a relationship between self
and society.
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➔ Life events are milestones

➔ Routine is day-to-day tasks/duties
◆ What happens due to these multiple engagements of your life
➔ Mills says that to develop sociological imagination an individual needs to get out of
their chair and they have to start questioning the ordinary. Start observing and
critically analyse our situation.
➔ Because individual and society are interconnected, hence an individual can’t live in
isolation.
➔ EXAMPLES: Act of drinking tea of coffee
◆ Why do we drink coffee?
- Primary:
Refreshment

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Habit
- Secondary (Social aspect of drinking tea/coffee):
Socializing/Developing Social Bond
Social Interactions
◆ Coffee: Drink of Elites
Produced by poor, developing nations (Africa)
Import-Export business develops in Africa.
(Absent) 19-22-22
21-12-22
The sociological imagination: Chapter- 1
➔ Individuals feel trapped.
➔ Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood w/o
understanding both.

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➔ The current historical era can be seen at the mercy of two superpowers: the soviet
union and the USA
➔ Published in 1959, written book in the 1930s [1939-45]

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➔ The sociological imagination helps people understand the plight of other similar
circumstances.
➔ Socio-historical context
➔ Example: unemployment, war, divorce etc become public issues

example of personal trouble.

● Trouble: Personal
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◆ An individual couple experiences tough times. The marital crisis is an

○ W self and w hose limited areas of social life where they are
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personally aware
● Issue: Public
○ Matters that transcend the individual and reigns of individual's
life.
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○ A Crisis
○ Marxists call it Contradiction
◆ Unemplyinment:
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● Personal Trouble: 1 out of 100 people are unemployed.

● Public issue: 15 M out of 50 M are unemployed. There is a pattern.
Low opportunities.
◆ Divorce:
● Personal issue: 1/100. Dispute, end of relationship etc
● Public issue: 30% within the first 4 years (250/1000).
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➔ Human Nature:
➔ Quality of mind is developed because of sociological imagination
➔ When an individual impact social structure human nature is developed
➔ Humans can’t understand anything outside of human structure
➔ METHOD:
➔ Sociology as a way of thinking
◆ Once a sociologist, always a sociologist.
◆ All the changes in society are seen with sociological imagination
◆ Uses of sociology
● Caring professions, social works, teaching, criminal justice system,
research, professional sociologists (personal enlightenment)

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● Applied sociology: homelessness, self-harm, phone addiction,

unemployment, women studies etc
● Recent ideas for the need of sociologists
➔

UNIT-3 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

➔ In order to understand capitalism you can’t ignore Karl Marx and Weber.

Test (sociological imagination)

Emergence of sociology
Quoting the reading is important

a
to Know the content

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Thinking sociologically
Reading specific
Direct question on CW Mills
Social anthropology related ques

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Social groups (definition: 4 to 5 definitions…-ve and +ve criticism)
Social institution, change…etc…in both Indian and western context.

Antonio Francesco Gramsci (academician, famous, Marxist, got in jail for life, check
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him out)

Unit-1 reading 2, what is sociology

Auguste Comte
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● Coined term sociology-1838

● Social physics
● Positivist method
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● Scientific method (purely scientific)

● Evolutionary tool
● Theory
● Theory: Law of the three stages
○ Theological
■ Religious ideas/Superstitious
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○ Metaphysical
■ Age of reason/Enlightenment
○ Positivist
■ Scientific

Law of three stages

Theological Metaphysical Positivist

● Religious Ideas ● Age of ● Scientific

● Superstition reason/enlightenment ● After Industrialization
Era

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KARL MARX: 1818-83

Hierarchy of Sciences:
Mathematics
↓
Astronomy
↓
Physics
↓
Chemistry
↓
Biology
↓

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Sociology

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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
➔ After sociology emerged, 20 years later, he was born.
➔ One f the founding fathers of sociology
➔ Also adopted scientific method to understand society
Evolutionary method
➔
➔
➔ Book 1: The first principle of sociology
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He saw sociology as a new science that could be used to elucidate

◆ Social fact: A method to understand society.

◆ A social fact is a set of rules, norms, and values
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◆ We all are ruled by social facts

➔ Book 2: Division of labour

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◆ Advent of the industrial era meant the emergence of new types of solidarity.
● Social Solidarity
● Moral Solidarity
◆ In making this argument he contrasted two types of solidarity:
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● Mechanical Solidarity
○ Village areas/Rural Areas
○ Less division of labour
● organic solidarity
◆ The forcs of industrialization, urbaniation, mordanizatiuon, led to growing division of
labour
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SOLIDARITY (On the basis of Division of labour)

MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY ORGANIC SOLIDARITY

● Village areas/Rural Areas ● Urban Division of labour

● Less division of labour
● Bound together by common experience
andshared beliefs
● Strength of shared beliefs is repressive
● More/Excessive division of labour
● Caused Mechanical solidarity to end.
● Increwasingly depended on one
another
● Relationships of economic reciprocity
and mutual dependcy come to replace

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● Swiftly punishes whoever goes against shared belifs.

the traditional way of life.
● Grounded in consensus
●

◆
➔ 3 main themes: (classical theory)
◆ Rise of individual
◆ Souce and character of
➔ He was preoccupied by the changes happening in his lifetime
➔ His focus was on social and moral solidarity.
➔ Social Solidarity

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◆ Shared values and customs
◆

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Social fact

●
External

Everything is
imposed on us
●
●
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Coercive

Imposed on us
How yo behave in
●
General

Implement on
everyone equally
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society
● “Normal” behaviour
● Rewarded when
follows norms
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● If not, punishment.
○ Punishment
is either
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● Suicide was a studey focus of psychology

● Emile Durkheim brought it to sociology.
● He studied suicide in context to social settings and society.
● He studied it asa societal probem rather than an individual problem.
● He studied religion of diffrent countries.
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● To understand what is the impact of religion in suicide.

● Why does Europe have more suicide rate than India or China.
● Social Cohesion, social collectiveness (unity towards the community) how much you
feel attached to ig.
● Married people attempt suicide less.
● Individual- suicide eaten high
● In timesof war, suicide rate is less
● When no far/free time- more suicide rate
● Men commit suicide more than women.
● Protestant has high suicide rate and Catholic has less.
● Social Solidarity.
● Protestant (more suicides)

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○ Individuality
○ Isolation
○ Your life is your own
○ No social Solidarity
● 4 Tyoes o suicides:
○ Egoistic suicide
■
○ Economic suicide
○ Capitalistic
○
Significance of nationalism in today's world. What is modern nationalism? Is it abt
unity or power?

a
an
R
ta
ra
am
N

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