Chapter – 2

Terms, Concepts and Their use in Sociology

In this post we have given the detailed notes of Class 11 Sociology Chapter 2 (Terms, Concepts and Their use in Sociology) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in Class 11 board exams.

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Chapter 2: Terms, Concepts and Their use in Sociology

Introduction

• Sociology studies the interplay between society and individuals.  
• Individuals are part of collective bodies like families, tribes, castes, classes, clans, and nations.  
• This chapter explores the types of groups individuals form, the kinds of social stratification, how social control operates, the roles individuals play, and the status they occupy.  
• Sociology needs specific terms and concepts to understand society clearly and precisely, going beyond everyday language.  
• Many sociological concepts reflect social changes from pre-modern to modern societies.  
• Sociology is marked by different perspectives, such as conflict theory and functionalism, which offer different ways of understanding society.  
• Concepts are tools for understanding reality and entry points in our understanding, not the final answer.  

Social Groups and Society

• Humans interact, communicate, and construct social collectivities.  
• Groups and collectivities differ across societies.  
• Aggregates are collections of people in the same place at the same time, without shared connections.
  • Examples: Passengers at a train station, people at a bus stop, or a cinema audience.  
• Quasi groups are aggregates that lack structure or organization.
  • Examples: Social classes, status groups, age groups, gender groups, crowds.  
  • Quasi groups may become social groups over time.  
• Social groups have characteristics like persistent interaction, a stable pattern of interactions, a sense of belonging, shared interest, common norms, and a definable structure.  

Types of Groups

• Sociologists categorize groups based on size, interaction patterns, and social relationships.  
• Primary groups are small, intimate, and face-to-face.
  • Examples: Family, village, close friends.  
• Secondary groups are larger, formal, and impersonal.
  • Examples: Schools, government offices, hospitals, student associations.  
• Community refers to personal, intimate, and enduring relationships.  
• Society or association refers to impersonal, superficial, and temporary relationships in modern urban life.  
• In-groups have a sense of belonging and separate themselves from out-groups.
  • Examples: Students of a particular school, migrants.  
• Reference groups are those whose lifestyles are emulated.
  • Example: British people during the colonial period for some middle-class Indians.  
• Peer groups are primary groups formed between individuals of similar age or profession.
  • Peer pressure influences how individuals dress, behave, and what they like.  

Social Stratification

• Social stratification refers to structured inequalities between groups in society regarding access to rewards.  
• Four basic systems of stratification are slavery, caste, estate, and class.  
• Slavery is an extreme form of inequality where individuals are owned by others.  
• Estates characterized feudal Europe.  
• Caste is an ascribed system where an individual’s position depends on birth.
  • Traditional India: Castes formed a hierarchy based on purity and pollution.  
  • Caste system has undergone changes due to urbanization and democracy.  
• Class is an achieved system where an individual’s position can change based on personal ability and achievements.
  • Marx: Social classes are defined by their relation to the means of production.  
  • Weber: Inequality can be based on economic relations, prestige, or political power.  
  • Functionalism: Social stratification is necessary to place and motivate individuals in the social structure.  

Status and Role

• Status is a social position with defined rights and duties.  
• Role is the dynamic or behavioral aspect of status.  
• Ascribed status is acquired at birth.
  • Examples: Age, caste, race, kinship.  
• Achieved status is earned through personal achievements.
  • Examples: Educational qualifications, income, professional expertise.  
• Status set refers to the multiple statuses an individual occupies in a modern complex society.  
• Status sequence refers to the statuses attained in succession at various stages of life.  
• Prestige is the value attached to a social position.  
• Role taking and role playing involve performing roles according to social expectations.  
• Role conflict occurs when there are incompatible expectations from different roles.
  • Example: Working women juggling their roles as mothers, wives, and professionals.  
• Role stereotyping reinforces specific roles for certain members of society.
  • Example: Men as breadwinners and women as homemakers.  

Society and Social Control

• Social control refers to the means used by society to regulate the behavior of its members.  
• Functionalist perspective: Social control is necessary for stability.  
• Conflict perspective: Social control is a mechanism to impose the dominance of certain groups.  
• Social control can be:
  • Formal: Codified, systematic, and formal mechanisms like law and the state.  
  • Informal: Personal, unofficial, and uncodified mechanisms like smiles, frowns, criticism, ridicule.  
• Sanctions are rewards or punishments that reinforce social expectations.  
• Deviance refers to actions that do not conform to social norms or values.  

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