Compilation Notes

Sociology
Paper-I

Unit 3 - Research Methods

and Analysis

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 INDEX
1. INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS AND ANALYSIS ....................................................3

2. QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS .....................................................8

3. TECHNIQUES OF DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................... 13

4. VARIABLES, SAMPLING, HYPOTHESIS, RELIABILITY, AND VALIDITY ........................... 23

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 Introduction to Research Methods and Analysis

Methodology and Method

 The method is the tool or technique to collect data. It is a procedure for obtaining
knowledge based on empirical investigation and associated observation. When we talk
of the methodology of any social science, say of sociology, we refer to the method(s)
used by sociologist, e.g. survey method, experimental method, case study method,
statistical method and so on

 Methodology is the logic behind scientific investigation. It means explaining and

justifying the methods used for study instead of the methods themselves. It is the
philosophical positioning of a researcher.

 Methodology looks into the potentiality and limitations of the technique. It is the plan
and procedure for carrying out the research and it includes strategies and tools for
collecting information. It is a procedure of empirical investigation. It is not concerned
with building knowledge but how knowledge is built, i.e., how facts are collected,
classified and analysed

 To sum up, methodology refers to the philosophy on which research is based.

Research

 Research is an attempt to know new things, facts, information etc. in a scientific

manner.

 According to L.V. Redman, research is a systematised effort to gain new knowledge.

 Its main purpose is to diffuse knowledge and establish theories based on believable facts.
'Research is the aim and scientific method is the means of attaining knowledge'

What is Social Research?

 An individual has a complex social life where he enters into multiple social interactions
and relationships. His behaviour towards others or in particular situations may be
influenced by historical, social, psychological or economic factors.

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 Pauline V Young: Social Research is a systematic method of exploring, analysing and
conceptualising social life to extend, correct, verify knowledge, whether that knowledge
aids in the construction of a theory in practice of an art.

 Social Research seeks to find explanations to unexplained social phenomena to clarify

the doubtful and correct the misconceived fact of social life. Eg Durkheim in his study
of suicide explained the reasons for suicide as sociological rather than psychological as
was believed earlier.

Significance of Social Research

 Research is essential to diffuse knowledge and to expand its horizon.

 Research helps us to verify or disprove, confirm or reject, modify and re-assert the
existing theories and to establish new ones.

 Research provides practical clues, to undertake measures that lead to social

improvement, social change and social progress • Research provides new insights
regarding the nature of the problems. Eg- the problem of poor education among girls
due to issues of women’s safety, poverty etc.

 Research is of commercial importance also. Eg- companies do marketing research to

know about the customer’s nature of demand (fair and lovely - aspiration for the white
complexion, no beef burger by Mcdonalds in India)

 Researchers can provide all the required data and facts to the administrators to adopt
and undertake appropriate policies, plans and programmes.

 Information achieved through research has its academic and educational importance.

Difficulties Faced in Social Research

 The mere act of investigating social behaviour may alter the very behaviour that is
being observed which is referred to as the Hawthorne effect. The presence of a
researcher may alter the behaviour of the observed. Eg- people may give favourable
opinions regarding the caste system before a researcher rather than saying the actual
opinion.

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 People, unlike matters, have consciousness, have emotions, motives and other highly
individual personality characteristics. So, there is a need to understand these internal
meanings as advocated by Weber.

 Social behaviour is extremely complex, and is factored by multiple psychological, social,

historical and other factors. So, there is difficulty in controlling multiple direct variables
that are impacting the research object and establishing cause and effect relationships.

 The ethical question for the researcher is whether to disclose his identity or not. If
identity is disclosed, then there may be a change in behaviour of the observed while
disclosing one’s identity may lead to a violation of the privacy of the observed.

 The risk of Subjectivity creeping into the study i.e. Researcher's Bias may harm the goal
of achieving objectivity of research. Eg- Marx’s conception of communism is based on
romanticism rather than empiricism.

Research Design is the framework, a blueprint for the research study which guides the
collection and analysis of data.

A Research design has following steps and associated challenges:-

1. Choice of Topic and Problem Definition – Weber said values can be tolerated at this
level.

2. Accumulation of Facts – Here also choice of method is required – Primary or

Secondary. Many of the methods (like interviewing) also suffer from subjectivity.

3. Representation of Facts – It can be also coloured by various viewpoints.

Choice of Topic

Accumulation of Data

Representation of Data

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 Hypothesis Making

Theory Building

Testability

1. Hypothesis Making

2. Formulation of theories – It is also coloured by the investigators’ viewpoints. Weber and

Marx viewed the phenomenon of ‘Class’ differently.

3. Testability – There is also a limit on ‘Testability’

Types of Research Design

1. Exploratory Research Design: Used in the initial stage of research to acquire some
preliminary information. The main objective of the exploratory research is to fine-tune
the broad problem into specific problem statements and generate possible hypotheses.
It, therefore, gives useful direction for further research. Thus, it is used to carry out
initial research to narrow down on possible alternatives generally used methods in
exploratory research are –

a. Survey of existing literature

b. Survey of experienced individuals

c. Analysis of selected case studies

2. Descriptive Research Design- It aims at providing accurate descriptions of variables

relevant to the problem under consideration., they are generally used for preliminary
and explorative studies. They are the most frequently used research methods. In
comparison to an exploratory research study, the descriptive study is more formal and
less flexible. It is used both in quantitative and qualitative research methods.

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3. Experimental Research Design A researcher actively tries to change Inputs like
Situation, Circumstances, and experiences of individuals which may lead to changes in
behaviour and outcome for participants of the study. Its objective is to establish the
causality between dependent and independent variables and test a hypothesis. The
participants are ideally randomly assigned to different conditions, and variables of
interest are measured. This is done to eliminate all extraneous variables.
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 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

Research Methods

QUANTITATIVE METHOD
Quantitative research involves the collection and analysis of data that is quantifiable. The
quantitative method emphasizes objective measurement of social phenomena. It focuses on
gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or for larger
populations. It is generally endorsed by positivists. The goal of conducting quantitative
research is to determine the relationship between an independent variable and the
dependent variable within a population. The following are the characteristics of the
quantitative method-

 Data is usually gathered using structured research instruments

 The results are based on large sample sizes and the sample is considered representative
of the population

 Such kind of research can be replicated and reliability of such research is high

 The research question is clearly defined and the researcher is trying to seek objective
answers

 The collected data is representable in tables, charts or other non-contextual forms.

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 Quantitative methods were given a prime focus by the early sociologists. Early positivist
were influenced by their orientation towards natural sciences and emphasized
quantitative methods.

 Quantitative methods employ a systematic, scientific investigation of quantitative

properties of a phenomenon to develop different types of theories and they generate a
quantifiable image of reality. Quantified methods generate a quantified image of reality.

 So, positivists and functionalists use this method more often. Durkheim was one of the
earliest pioneers – through his theory of suicide. ‘Process of measurement’ is central to
these methods as it provides a fundamental connection between empirical observation
and an expression of quantitative relationship.

Advantages of the Quantitative method

 It allows broader study involving a greater number of subjects in an objective manner

and hence increases the potential for generalisation of results.

 Quantitative data is more efficient and can test hypotheses.

 There is greater objectivity that can be achieved in research when quantitative method
is used

 The personal bias can be avoided by keeping a distance from participating subjects and
using accepted computational techniques.

 Such kind of research can be replicated and reliability of such research is high.

 Lower degree of expertise is required as the procedures to collect data are fixed and
do not require a subjective understanding of the subject matter.

Limitations of the Quantitative Method

 It is more efficient to test hypotheses but may miss out on contextual detail.

 It uses a static and rigid approach and thus employs an inflexible process of discovery.

 The results of quantitative research provide less details on behaviour, attitude and
motivation.

 Researchers may collect a much narrower and sometimes superficial dataset.

 The research lags in providing an elaborate account of human perception.

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Qualitative Method
 The word qualitative implies that the emphasis of the researcher is on understanding
the qualities of entities and on processes and meanings that are not experimentally
examined or measured in terms of quantity

 It is used when the researcher has to study the socially constructed nature of reality.

 By using a qualitative method, the researcher can emphasise value-laden enquiry.

 It is used to capture experiences that are socially created.

 The methods used to collect data are unstructured interviews, observation methods,
focussed group discussions etc.

Characteristics of qualitative method

 In this method, the problem is not specifically defined rather it is loosely structured

 Hypotheses are not created before study. It is either created during the study or after
the study

 It is to capture subjective experiences and hence, discards generalisations

 Samples are not representative and sampling is either planned during the data
collection or after.

 In this method, formulating generalisations is not the focus. Rather the researcher
focuses on understanding the underlying meanings and motives of the actor to gain
complete understanding of the reality.

Advantages of Qualitative Method

 It obtains a more realistic view of the lived world that cannot be understood or
experienced in numerical data and statistical analysis

 It provides the researcher with perspectives of the participants as a result of direct

interaction with the participant.

 It allows the researcher to describe the existing phenomena and current situation.

 It develops flexible ways to perform data collection and analysis of collected information

 It provides a holistic view of phenomena under investigation.

 It unveils the underlying and non-observable reality.

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Limitations of Qualitative Method
 It allows a researcher to arrive at different conclusions based on the same information
depending on the personal characters and subjective experiences of the researcher.
Hence, the biases enter into the interpretation of data in this research method.

 With changes like the context under which research is conducted, there is the possibility
of the study to drift away from the objective position.

 Replication of a study is difficult. Hence, it lacks reliability.

 Research is subjected to ethical dilemmas which may undermine the objectivity and
validity of the study.

 Data collection is time-consuming and can also be an expensive affair.

 Due to plurality of causation, there is an inability of the method to investigate causality

between different research phenomena

 Generalisation is not effectively possible

 It requires high level of experience for the researcher to obtain targeted information
from respondents

Difference between Quantitative and Qualitative research

Quantitative method Qualitative Method

 It seeks to confirm hypothesis about a  It seeks to understand and interpret a

phenomena phenomena

 It used such instruments which are  It use instruments which are more
more rigid and inflexible in style and flexible in nature and these methods are
use highly structured methods semi structured or loosely structured

 It try to predict the causal relationships  It try to describe and explain

and try to generalise characteristics of relationship and tries to describe and
a larger population capture individual experiences of social
reality.

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The term Triangulation refers to the practice of using multiple sources of data or multiple
approaches to analyse data to enhance the credibility of a research study. Triangulation
aligns multiple perspectives and leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the
phenomenon under study. The triangulation approach includes the deployment of both
quantitative and qualitative methods and employs several evaluators to engage in
observation and analysis of participants' responses. Thus. it can take advantage of both
quantitative and qualitative methods. On the one hand, it can understand large-scale data
(as advocated by positivist) and also understands the meanings and motives of actors as
advocated by non-positivists. It considers multiple theoretical perspectives and engages
multiple methods to study a single phenomenon.
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 Techniques of Data Collection

Data Collection
 Data Collection is the process of gathering and analysing accurate information from a
variety of sources.
 It allows researchers to conduct a scientific, empirical and evidence-based study.

Sources of Data Collection

Primary Sources
 It consists of data collected by researchers themselves during their research.
 It makes use of Questionnaires, conducting interviews or carrying out participant
observation.
 It is more authentic and accurate than secondary data if collected properly.
 However, first-hand research is time-consuming and costly.
Secondary Sources:
 Secondary data is analysed information collected by someone else.
 It includes information from the government. records, mass media, diaries, letters,
historical records, work of other Sociologists etc.
 Secondary data saves time as the collection work is done by someone else. It is less
costly as compared to data collected from primary sources.
 Authenticity and accuracy of data may be doubtful.

Factors influencing Choice of Technique of Data Collection

 Availability of funds to conduct research.
 Availability of time with the researcher.
 Scale of Research- If the sample size is larger, then using secondary sources or
quantitative methods will be easier.
 Data Type- It also depends on the type of data to be collected by the researcher. Eg- if the
researcher has to collect data regarding age, education qualification etc. then quantitative
methods will be more suitable. But if one has to know about consumer preferences or beliefs
about caste biases, one has to make use of qualitative techniques of data collection.

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Quantitative Techniques of Data Collection

Surveys

 Social survey is a method to collect standardised data for a large scale of population.
In a social survey, collection of the same information about all the cases in the sample
is done. It is usually implemented through questionnaire or interview method and it is
useful for collecting data for large-scale populations in less time.

 When information in a survey is gathered from every member of the population, then
that is called census but census is a lengthy process and is expensive. On the other
hand, to save time and money, researchers focus on some portion of the population
and not all the units. This is called a sample survey. It involves analysis of collected data
to come at a meaningful conclusion

 The survey method is useful for positivist researchers as it allows the researchers to
generalise data over large-scale populations and maintains objectivity. Eg- Feedback
forms for restaurants, companies etc

Surveys: Types

 Factual Survey: It is used to collect descriptive information. Eg. Data on Social Exclusion,
or data about income, caste status etc

 Attitude Survey: It attempts to discover the subjective states of individuals. It doesn't

look to produce descriptive information. Eg. Polling Opinions.

 Explanatory survey: It either tests theories and hypotheses or produces new theories.
Eg. Collecting data to test any existing theory.

Quantitative Techniques of Data Collection

Questionnaire

 The questionnaire is described as “a document that contains a set of questions, the

answers to which are to be provided personally by the respondents”. The questionnaire
is a structured set of questions usually sent by mail, though sometimes it is delivered
by hand also.

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 It consists of a list of pre-set questions and the same questions are usually given to
respondents in the same order so that the same information can be collected from
every member of the sample

 It can be administered by an interviewer face to face or may be sent by post, distributed

during large gatherings or posted online.

 It is the responsibility of the researcher to frame the questions in a lucid manner which
can be easily understood by the respondent. He has to identify the target group which
is most suitable for the research and ensure that the language used is understood by
them.

Questionnaire: Types
 Close-Ended Questionnaire: Questions are followed by options and the respondent has
to choose their response from the given option. These are the fixed-choice questions.
They require the respondent to choose a response from those provided by the
researcher. Here is one example: “Whom do you consider an ideal teacher?”

(a) who takes teaching seriously;

(b) who is always available to students for discussions and guidance;

(c) whose approach to students’ problems is flexible;

(d) who does not believe in punishing students;

(e) who takes interest in co-curricular and extracurricular activities

 Open Open-ended questionnaire: It gives liberty to the respondent to express their

views in their own words. E.g. - Who do you consider an ideal government?

Alternate typology of Questionnaire

 Primary Questionnaire: Such a questionnaire carries questions which are directly
related to the research subject.

For example, for determining the type of family (whether it is husband-dominant,

wife dominant, equalitarian), the question “who takes decisions in your family is a
primary question

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 Secondary Questionnaire: It is a roundabout way to get someone to answer a personal
Question.

Secondary questions elicit information which do not relate directly to the topic, i.e.,
the information is of secondary importance. They only guard the truthfulness of the
respondents, e.g., in the above topic, the question “who decides the nature of gift to
be given in marriage to family relative” or “who finally selects the boy with whom
the daughter is to be married” are the secondary questions.

 Tertiary Questionnaire: In such a questionnaire, general or Casual Questions to set up

a framework for asking primary or secondáry qüêštion.allows convenient data collection
and sufficient information without exhausting or biasing the respondent.

 Direct Questionnaire: They are personal questions that extract information directly
about the respondent. Eg one’s personal choice about food, family etc

 Indirect Questionnaire: They seek information about a third person like that of the
father’s choice of car etc

Advantages of Questionnaire
 Lower cost: Questionnaires are less expensive than other methods. Even the staff
required is not much as either the researcher himself may mail or one or two
investigators may conduct this exercise.

 Time saving: Since the respondents may be geographically dispersed and sample size
may be very large, the time required for getting back the questionnaires may be little
greater but usually less than that for face-to-face interviews.

 Accessibility to widespread respondents: Geographically, they can be reached by

correspondence which saves travel cost.

 No interviewer’s bias: Since the interviewer is not physically present at the interviewee's
place, he cannot influence his answers, either by prompting or by giving his own opinion
or by misreading the question.

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Interviews
 It is a guided conversation between a researcher and the respondents and involves
interpersonal communication of data collection.
 It is conducted in the form of verbal questioning that may be face-to-face, telephonic
or group interview.

Interviews: Types

 Structured Interview: It is simply a questionnaire administered by an interviewer. The

interviewer and Interviewee are not allowed to deviate in any way from the questions
provided.

It is based on the structured interview guide which is little different from the
questionnaire. In reality, it is a set of specific points and definite questions prepared
by the interviewer. It allows little freedom to make adjustments to any of its elements,
such as content or wording.

 Unstructured Interview: It is a form of conversation where the interviewer has no

predetermined question.

In the unstructured interview, there are no specifications in the wording of the

questions or the order of the questions. The interviewer forms questions as and when
required. The structure of these interviews is flexible, being presented in the form of
a guide. He has not ordered questions in a particular way. He has no time-limit for
continuing the interview.

Advantage of Interview

Respondent’s confidence can be sought through personal rapport

 Interviewer can explain difficult terms and remove confusion and misunderstandings

 Administration is easy because respondents are not required to be educated or handle

long questionnaires

 Interviewer gets opportunity to observe respondents’ non-verbal behaviour.

 Identity of the respondent is known.

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 And since all questions asked by the interviewers are answered by the respondents,
completeness of the interview is guaranteed.

Disadvantages

 The interviewees can hide information or give wrong information because of fear of
identity.

 Interviews are more costly and time-consuming than questionnaires.

 The nature and extent of responses depends upon the interviewee's mood.

 The interviewer may record the responses differently, depending upon his own
interpretation sometimes.

 It offers less anonymity than other methods.

 It is less effective for sensitive questions.

Qualitative techniques of Data Collection

Ethnography

 This type of research method basically intends to study culture through close
observation and active participation.

 As per Judy Payne, the production of highly detailed accounts of how people in social
settings lead their lives, based on systematic and long term observation of their social
lives by engaging into communication and participating in their grouplife. Malinowski
was one of the pioneers of such an approach in sociology.

 It focuses on studying socio- cultural phenomena of a community or a group. The

ethnographer/ researcher collects information regarding the socio-cultural phenomena
from a lot of people belonging to the community under study.

 Participant observation and field study are part of ethnography. Eg- Malinowski's
study of Trobriands Islands is an example of Ethnography.

Observation

 Observation may be defined as a process in which a researcher observes some real life
situation/process/event and records relevant occurrences.

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 Observational research is a qualitative research method where the target
respondent/subject is observed and analysed in their natural/real-world setting.

 The main purpose of observation is to capture human conduct as it actually happens.

 Observation is always direct while other methods could be direct or indirect and it
tends to be less structured .

 It makes only the qualitative (and not the quantitative) study which aims at discovering
subjects' experiences and how subjects make sense of them (phenomenology) or how
subjects understand their life interpretive)

Observation: Types
Participant Observation

 It is a method in which the investigator becomes a part of the situation he is

studying.The researcher involves himself in the setting and group life of the research
subjects.

 Researcher shares the activities of the community observing what is going on around
him, supplementing this by conversations and interviews.

 It could be an overt or covert.

 Participant Observation aims at learning the whole way of life of a community or a

target group. Eg-M.N Srinivas study in Rampura village on Sanskritization

Disadvantages

 Researchers may get swayed by emotions while being a part of a group which may
affect the objectivity of study. Eg- William Whyte studied Italian Criminals where he
gained sympathy towards them and failed to observe them objectively.

 It is also difficult to be a part of a certain group and gain their trust.

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 The researcher safety may be at risk if the group includes criminals etc

 This type of research is also time consuming and costly than other methods.
 It may lead to Hawthrone effect and impact the objectivity of the research.
 Researchers may face some field limitations due to which understanding of a
phenomena may not be taken as valid.
 It is difficult for researchers to gain trust of group members and participate in group life.
Non Participant Observation
 The observer remains detached and does not participate or intervene In the activities
of those who are being observed. He merely observes their behaviour.
 Sometimes this places the persons being observed in an awkward position and their conduct
becomes unnatural. This may negatively impact the accuracy of data being collected.

Focus Group Discussion

 During a focus group, a group of individuals usually 9-12 people is brought together
to engage in a guided discussion of some topic.
 The participants of a focus group are selected based on their relevance and relationship
to the topic under study.
 Group dynamics often bring out aspects of the topic or reveal information about the
subject that may not have been anticipated by the researcher or emerged from
individual interviews.
 The researcher has less control over the session than he or she does in certain skills.
differences between groups can be troublesome. He serves the role of a moderator and
sets the desired direction of the research.
 Topic of the research is clearly defined but the discussion is unstructured and not fixed.
However, it may happen that the researcher’s bias may affect the credibility of the study.

Content Analysis
 It is a research method which is used to identify patterns and record the ways people
communicate.
 It is the study of recorded human communication such as books, magazines, paintings
and laws.
 Data is collected systematically from a set of texts.

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 Content Analysis can be made to figure out goals, messages, and effects of the content
of communication.

 It also helps you describe and draw conclusions about part of a communication. It may
be quantitative or qualitative analysis. Eg - The number of words allocated to a topic
which may determine its importance is a quantitative analysis.

 Sometimes data on topic of research may not be available

 It also poses problems of interpretation as it may be interpreted differently on the

basis of researcher’s ideology and ambiguity in words used in content. Eg- Division of
labour interpreted as functional by Durkheim while taken exploitative by Marx.

Case Study
 It is a complete detailed account of a single social phenomenon, in which, in-depth
details of an event is studied.

 It provides a comprehensive analysis of the issue by carefully taking into account all
relevant factors, such as causes and effects of an event.

 It studies whole units in their totality and not some selected aspects or variables of
these units.

 It is very effective for falsification of a theory. Eg- Margaret Mead’s theory of Sex and
Temperament falsifies the gender roles in society.

 It is flexible concerning using methods for collecting data, e.g., questionnaire, interview,
observation, etc.

 However, this method is time-consuming and costly.

Case Study: Types

 Critical Case Study: The researcher specifically chooses a case that offers a narrow focus
for investigations on myths or contradictions.

 Historical case studies: These studies trace the development of an organization/system

over time. The study of an adult criminal right from childhood through adolescence
and youth is an example of this type of case study. E.g.- The evolution of the caste
system in Indian society.

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 Observational case studies: These focus on observing a drunkard, a teacher, a student,
a union leader, some activity, events, or a specific group of people. However, the
researchers in this type of study are rarely total participants or total observers.

 Longitudinal Case Study: Researchers repeatedly examine the same individual or

phenomena to find any changes that might occur over some time.

BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
It is a pure sociological method that has been in use since recent times only. It includes oral
histories, autobiographies, narratives etc which are used to explore how individuals
experience social life and periods of social change. It provides new insights into already
existing knowledge as texts like life histories provide new voices. Life histories and other
biographical material yield information which is written over periods and hence a gradual
and deep understanding develops with biographical research. However, this method is
prone to suffer from biases and ideologies of writers who write biographies, narratives etc.

HISTORIC ANALYSIS or DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH

It is a method that provides sociologists with the luxury to look into the past and connect
the present with the past and provides a deeper perspective on current issues and problems.
To understand the structure of present society, it needs to be linked to its past as well as
present society is an outgrowth of the past only. Various sources used in this method are
government archives, historical records, historical works personal diaries and so on.
Historical facts are collected to gain an insight into past events related to a phenomenon.
It shows the social values and ideas on which present social structures are based. However,
in this method, the collection of facts is a stupendous task and reliability is a big problem.
Historical data cannot be subjected to experimentation and statistics cannot be used in this
method.
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 Variables, Sampling, Hypothesis, Reliability, and Validity

Variables

It refers to a quantity that may have several different values. Variable is a characteristic
or attribute that can take on several values. It is a characteristic that is common to several
individuals, groups, events, objects etc.

Variables- Types

 Dependent Variable: A dependent variable is one about which the prediction is made
based on the research. It changes as the researcher changes the independent variable.
It is resumed as the effect.

 Independent Variable: The Independent variable is that condition or characteristic that

is manipulated by the researcher to find out its relationship to some observed
phenomena It is presumed as the cause. Eg- The effect of poverty on education status
is studied by researchers, then poverty is an independent variable while education is a
dependent variable.

 Discrete Variable: These are the variables that have definite value.

 Continuous Variables: These can't be expressed as a particular value.

Sample
 After choosing a topic or method of research, a researcher decides upon choosing a sample.

 The sample is a part of a larger population representative of that population.

 However, it will be representative of the population only if it has the same basic
characteristics as the population from which it is drawn.

 The use of samples saves the researcher's time and money since it reduces the number
of individuals to be studied.

 If the sample is chosen carefully, it is possible to generalize from it i.e. to make

statements about the whole relevant population based on the sample. According to
Manheim, "a sample is a part of the population which is studied to make inferences
about the whole population"

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Sampling

 Sampling is the process that helps researchers from a larger population for study.

 The main principle behind sampling is that we seek knowledge about the total units
called population by observing a few units (called sample) and extend our inference
about the sample to the entire population.

 It offers a high degree of accuracy because it deals with a small number of persons.

 In a short period, valid and comparable results can be obtained.

 It is economical since the researcher has to select a representative subset of individuals

or groups.

 A large population would involve employing a large number of interviews which will
increase the total cost of the survey.

Sampling: Types

 Probability Sampling: every unit of the population has an equal probability of being
selected for the sample. It offers a high degree of representativeness. Eg- Every student
has an equal chance of being selected in a quiz.

 Non-probability sampling: It does not claim representativeness as every unit does not
get an equal chance of being selected. It is the researcher who decides which sample
units are to be chosen.

Probability Sampling: Types

 Simple Random Sampling:- In this technique, all possible subsets of a population are
given an equal probability of being selected. One way of obtaining a random sample is
to give each individual in a population a number, and then use a table of random
numbers to decide which individuals to include.

 Stratified Sampling Method: In this method, the population is first divided into
subgroups or s ra a who all share a similar characteristic.

 Systematic Sampling: Such sampling has a random starting point but the next
members are chosen on a fixed interval.

 Clustered Sampling: The population is divided into subgroups, known as clusters, and
then these clusters are randomly selected to be included in the study.

24
Non Probability Sampling: Types

 Convenience Sampling: This method involves selecting individuals who are readily
available or easy to access for study. Convenience sampling is often used when the
researcher has limited time, resources, or access to the population of interest.

 Quota Sampling: A quota is filled for a particular category and till then no responses
will be collected. Eg- We fill a category of population like women or STs and then fill
other categories. This is used when a particular category of population is less as
compared to other categories.

 Snowball Sampling: This method involves selecting a few individuals who meet in the
study and then asking them to refer to other individuals who also meet the criteria.
Snowball sampling is often used when the population of interest is difficult to reach or
identify.

 Purposive sampling: It is the deliberately selected sample based on certain variables.

This is done to serve the purpose of research. Eg- If one wants to study violence against
lower caste women, then he has to conduct a study on lower caste women only and
exclude other groups.

Hypothesis
 Hypothesis is a tentative explanation of the research problem or a guess about the research.

 According to Black and Champion, a Hypothesis is defined as "a tentative statement

about something, the validity of which is usually unknown".

 A Hypothesis can be constructed through a) the Experience and Creativity of the

Researcher, b)Background Knowledge, c) Scientific Theories.

 Hypothesis is never formulated in the form of a question.

 It should be empirically testable and should be specific.

 It should specify variables between which the relationship is to be established.

 When verified and found true, hypothesis leads to the formation of a theory.

 It enables direct enquiry along the right lines and suggests experiments and
observations required for the study.

25
Reliability
 Reliability is the consistency of your measurement or the degree to which an instrument
measures the same way each time it is used under the same condition with the same
subjects.

 If other researchers using the same method on the same material produce the same
results, then the reliability of a study is high.

 If reliability can be established, results can be generalised.

 Positivists majorly focussed on ensuring reliability of a research by eliminating biases

and prejudices.

 Reliability is about consistency and is of two types –

I. Temporal reliability – It concerns the reproducibility of the same results at

different times.

II. Comparative reliability – It is concerned with changes of targets, observers, testing

method and so on. Comparative reliability is further classified as – Inter-item
reliability, inter-observer reliability, and Inter-test reliability.

Validity
 Validity Involves the degree to which you are measuring what you are supposed to.

 It refers to the accuracy of your measurement and, accuracy of the inferences or

interpretations. It is an accurate reflection of social reality.

 Valid knowledge is always reliable while reliability does not guarantee validity.


26
 Compilation of
Daily Class Notes
SOCIOLOGY

Unit-4
Sociological Thinkers

1
 INDEX

1. Karl Marx ...................................................................................................................................... 3-17

2. Emile Durkheim .......................................................................................................................... 18-47

3. Max Weber .................................................................................................................................. 48-69

4. Talcott Parsons ............................................................................................................................ 70-86

5. RK Merton (1910-2003)............................................................................................................ 87-101

6. GH Mead (1863-1931)............................................................................................................. 102-109

Talcott Parsons

2
 Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

❖ Karl Marx was a German scholar, born in 1818, Rhinish city - Trier province.

❖ He was a great humanitarian philosopher, Historian, economist, and political writer.

❖ He completed his degree in Law from the University of Berlin, Germany in the year
1836.

❖ Marx after completing his PhD started his career as a journalist in the newspaper
named “Rheinche Zeitung” but this newspaper was closed by the government due to
its radical positioning/views. After this he moved to France.

❖ In France, he got exposed to a new set of ideas including French socialism and English
political economy. And along with this the idea of Hegel was already influencing. (Hegel’s
ideas of “Dialecticism”)
❖ Ludwig Feuerbach, another major thinker with his ideas of “Materialism” made an
intellectual influence on Karl Marx.
❖ In 1844, Marx met Friedrich Engels and befriended him. Engles was the one who
helped Marx financially throughout his life, so that Marx could focus on his intellectual
and political endeavors.

❖ Although Marx and Engles collaborated on many common ideas, there were some
differences between them. For eg. Marx was an abstract thinker however Engles on the
other hand was a practical thinker.

❖ Marx was very radical in his writings. In the year 1845, he was also expelled from
Paris as the Silesian Weavers Uprising was going on in Germany and Karl Marx was
highlighting it by writing in favor of this uprising.

❖ After being expelled from France, he moved to Brussels, Belgium. Here, his radicalism
grew further and at this point of time he was at the peak of his political endeavor.

❖ In 1847, he joined “The communist league” and in the year 1848 he wrote “The
communist manifesto” which came to be known as the birth certificate of modern
scientific socialism.

3
❖ Finally, he migrated to London, where he conducted a prolonged study of “Economics
of Industrial Capitalism”. From here he develops an understanding of capitalism and
writes on the concepts of capitalism. In the year 1867, he wrote the famous book “Das
Kapital” (The Capital).

Historical Materialism

❖ Marx’s Historical materialism is known as the materialistic interpretation of history.

❖ Marx believed that at the center of all historical changes lies contradiction in the
economic and material system. He was of the view that social reality can be understood
by History.

❖ While formulating this concept he was under the influence of Hegel’s theory of
“Dialectical Idealism” and Feuerbach’s notion of “Materialism”.

❖ Marx accepted the idea of Dialectical idealism but replaced Hegel's idealism with
Feuerbach's materialism and used it to criticize the work of Hegel.

❖ Dialectics = discussion, study of contradiction or study of opposing ideas.

❖ George Hegel conceived history as a struggle of dialectical process of ideas.

❖ Hegel has conceived that there is a dominant idea in an era known as Thesis. This thesis
is always confronted by opposing ideas called Antithesis. And there is a continuous
struggle in thesis and antithesis which results in Synthesis (incorporating value elements
of both thesis and antithesis).

(Dominant Idea) (Contest) (Opposing idea)

By Product - Synthesis

❖ This struggle of thesis and antithesis is the struggle of Dialecticalism.

❖ For Hegel, historical change was the dialectical movement of human ideas and thoughts.
Change in the phase of history or change in the historical phase of society comes through
the dialectical movement of human struggle of opposite ideas and conflicts of
contradictions.

4
❖ For Hegel, change in ideas results in change in society. For him, society itself is an
expression of thoughts and ideas.

❖ For Hegel, society is essentially an expression of thoughts and ideas. The conflict between
incompatible ideas produces new concepts that provide the basis for social change. He
saw reality in an idealistic sense. For this, he says, “Real is rational and rational is real”.
Reality is to be understood in an idealistic sense and these ideas can be understood
through reason.

❖ Feuerbach, through his concept of Theological Alienation, mentions that ideas create
divine images and ultimately leads to theological alienation as those ideas are part of
imagination and not a part of the real world.

❖ Feuerbach says, Material reality (and not ideological reality) is the true reality.

❖ Marx agrees that humans are alienated, but Feuerbach had a very limited view as he
kept it limited to theology. Marx, instead of limiting it to theology, alienation should
be related to materialism.

❖ Humans are alienated because there is some contradiction in economic activities. Marx
believed that alienation emerged from human, social and economic activities.

❖ While criticizing Hegel, Marx rejected the priority given to thoughts and ideas.

❖ Marx quotes that “ Matter is the realm of the truth”. By this he means that, nature of
humanity and nature of society is produced from their material life. He says that the
economic and material condition of any society determines historical phenomena.

❖ Marx believed that people's ideas are primarily a reflection of their social relation to
economic production. According to him, Production itself is a social act which requires
social relationships.

❖ Marx advocates that ideas are not the main source of change in history. It is the
contradiction and conflict in the economic system that is the real source of change in
history.

❖ According to Marx, production activity is the first historical activity. He in fact says
that history begins when humans start to produce means of subsistence. Production
activities are a manifestation of humans becoming capable of controlling nature.

5
❖ Economic reality and changes (production and advancements) develops or determine
social, political, cultural reality.

❖ At the base of a society, there is an

infrastructure, above which there is a
superstructure.

❖ It is the infrastructure (Economy) which

influences the superstructure. The
contradictions and conflicts in the
economic structure result in change in the
society.

❖ So, Marx is advocating that it is not the consciousness of man that decides their
existence; rather, it is the socio-economic existence of man that determines his
consciousness.

❖ Therefore, Marx rejects Hegel's concept of idea shaping the world or dialectical process
of idea shaping the world. And creates his own explanation of change using Dialectical
Materialism i.e. changes in history occurring through Dialectical Materialism, known as
Historical Materialism.

❖ Conflict within infrastructure i.e. conflict between forces of production and relations of
production results in occurrence of changes in history.

❖ Therefore, according to Marx, a change in history is the result of conflict or

contradiction of forces of production and relations of production, which defines Mode
of production.

❖ Mode of production is determining the socio-political and intellectual life of humans in

general.

❖ Social consciousness (society's outlook) owes to economic reality or material reality.

And when there is a major contradiction in this material condition, it results in change
in history.

❖ Conflict is resulting due to unequal distribution of forces of production which is being

manifested into various social groups in the relations of production.

6
❖ Stages of human history are not decided by what is being produced, rather, by what
means a human being produces is determining it.

❖ Stages of Historical development:

➢ Primitive communism - communal ownership of property, no private property, no

class.
➢ Ancient stage - emergence of concept of private property with the master - slave
relationship, have and have nots, appropriation of profit.
➢ Feudal stage - Lord and serf relationship, tributes of production.
➢ Capitalist society - Bourgeois (capitalist) and Proletariat (industrial workers)
➢ Socialism - Transitory in nature, dictatorship of proletariat, collective ownership
of property, no state, no classes, no concept of private property, end of alienation,
the dialectical material ends.

Historical Materialism

❖ The concept of Historical materialism mentions economic and social conditions are the
primary drivers of historical development.

❖ Infrastructure (economy) is at the base of superstructure (socio-political).

❖ The contradiction in the economic process and the dialectical process between the haves
and have-nots results in societal change.

❖ Marx believed that this economic structure of society could be done away with.

❖ He was of the view that each mode of production contained seeds of its own destruction
because the dialectical process is never ending.

❖ He argued that the only way to achieve true social justice is to eliminate the class
system altogether and replace it with a socialist society where the means of production
are controlled by the proletariat class.
Criticism of Historical Materialism:

❖ Sociologists are supposed to be empirical thinkers, but Marx was generalizing. He gave
a universal theory.

❖ Marx only considers two types of forces in society - haves and have-nots.

❖ He focuses on the dialectical process only and completely ignores the cooperation
between them.

7
❖ R. K. Merton argues that Marx formulated grand theories that are incapable of being
verified in scientific research tools. He believed in the universality of historical
materialism theory with different times and places. This receives criticism as his
research was limited to 19th-century capitalist society. This theory was not applied to
understand other kinds of social realities in the world.

❖ For example, Marxian theory is incapable of explaining the phenomenon of the Caste
system. In Indian society, a dialectical process takes place in the form of Caste.
Difference in economic status is seen as a result of difference in the belief system which
is part of culture.

❖ Karl Marx in his understanding believes that contradiction in economic structure factors
the dialectical process of struggle. But Seligman is of the opinion that not all wars and
conflicts take place only because of economic factors.

❖ Marxian work is also criticized for assuming that social life is necessarily derived from
economic conditions. Marx was wrong to completely ignore the role of interests, habits,
and motives that can drive social lives. Marx assumes that social life is an expression of
economic condition. He ignores other factors like - interest, habit, motive, etc.

❖ C. W. Mills and Raymond Aron criticized Marx for assuming a constant association of
economic ownership and political power.

❖ In fact, CW Mills argues that contradiction emerging out of differential, unequal

distribution of power can also result in conflict in society.

❖ When power is unequally distributed in society, it can result in conflict, which Marx
completely ignores.

❖ Ralf Dahrendorf - The root of the conflict is in the differential authority structure of
society, and not contradiction in economic infrastructure.

❖ According to Karl Popper, Marx overemphasizes material factors and ignores the ideas
completely. Therefore, he criticizes Marx for being an economic reductionist.
❖ Weber acknowledged that Marx was right in viewing that infrastructure results in a
change in the social structure. But at the same time, Weber criticized Marx for ignoring
the fact that, Social structure (which is a superstructure) can also lead to change in
the infrastructure.

8
❖ Weber's work - Protestant Ethics and Capitalism - with the help of this study, Weber
tries to show how protestant ethics boost capitalism in society.

❖ Protestant ethics is part of a culture that comes into the superstructure which impacts
the infrastructure i.e. economy.

❖ Gunnar Myrdal criticizes Marx for ignoring the role of the State. He argues that through
state intervention, there can be changes in infrastructure. For eg, LPG reforms.

❖ The state plays a welfare role in reducing the conflict pertaining to society. This positive
role of the state is being ignored by Marx.

Modes of Production

❖ It is the way surplus is produced and how it is controlled or appropriated.

❖ There are two elements of Mode of production :

➢ Forces of production
✓ Means of production and Labour power.

● This helps in the transformation of natural products into goods and services
that are exchanged in society.

➢ Relations of Production
✓ The social relations developed among the people involved in the process of
production.

✓ Relationship between the owner of means of production and laborers.

9
❖ Marx believed that every society is facing continuous change which is the result of
change in material forces of production. These changes in the material forces of
production determine superstructures and new forces of production are evolved.

❖ These new forces of production create new relations of production.

❖ These replacements are the result of conflict between existing new forces of production
and relations of production.

❖ Marx identified these different relations of production:

➢ Primitive mode of production - No class, lowest form of organization, low division

of labor, no conflict in relations of production.
➢ Ancient mode of production - Slave society, have and have-nots - masters and
slaves, private property, surplus accumulation, exploitation.
➢ Feudal mode of production - Lord and serf
➢ The capitalist mode of production - bourgeois and proletarians.
❖ Marx advocates that social relations of production are antagonistic, there is an existence
of conflict between these relations of production. As a result, there is a dialectical
struggle existing among these social relations.

❖ These conflicts will lead to the overthrow of capitalism as well and will lead to the
establishment of socialist and communist forces of production. This is known as negation
of negation, i.e. the emerging modes of production are replacing the pre-existing ones.

Asiatic Mode of Production:

❖ It is a characteristic of a Primitive community.

❖ According to Marx, in a society where there is a direct transition from a Primitive

society to a Feudal society, for eg, India, in such a society during the proto-feudal phase
of transition the Asiatic Mode of production occurs.

❖ In this kind of society, land ownership is community-based (Patidari) instead of private

ownership.

❖ Communities (consisting of peasants majorly) were organized in the form of Kinship

whereas the state was monarch.

10
❖ It was a combination of communal relations of production (land controlled by the state
but utilized by peasants) and an emerging form of exploiting class (in return the state
collected tax or tribute). It highlighted the presence of contradiction and was considered
a precursor to feudalism in India.

❖ Marx didn't give any systematic representation of history with respect to Indian society.
His observations were based on several findings concerning India.

❖ Therefore, the concept of the Asiatic mode of production in itself was inadequate to
understand Indian history.

Criticism of Mode of Production

❖ Raymond Aron mentions that Marx’s socialist mode of production is inadequate.

❖ According to Aron, Socialism is qualitatively equal to capitalism. The dictators in the

socialist system will ultimately control power in these states, and complete freedom
and equality may not be achievable for the workers.

❖ According to Marx, the ruling class forces the working class to accept its terms and
conditions. However, Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci believe that the dominant
class controls other classes not only by force but also by using ideology.

❖ Feminist critique mentions that Karl Marx sees the haves and have-nots in terms of
Males. He ignored the gender dimensions which are equally important.

❖ Marx’s work is narrow in terms, he is more into philosophical romanticism instead of

developing theories. His analysis is abstract and he ignores the possibility of the existence
of two types of mode of production at the same time.

Marxian theory of social change

❖ The social change in a society occurs through class conflict.

❖ It is interlinked with the Marxian concept of class and class conflict.

❖ For Marx, humans make their own history. Human history is a process through which
man changes himself and society.

❖ He advocates that the tension between competing and conflicting sections of society
causes change.

11
❖ For him, history is the story of the exploited and the exploited class. He states that
conflict tends to repeat itself until and unless there is a change in society.

❖ His theory of social change is conflict-oriented as this conflict has always existed. The
conflict will exist until and unless there is socialism in society.

❖ In post primitive mode of production, in every stage, conflict exists because there is a
class antagonism existing in society.

❖ Class antagonism - the interests of each class group are in conflict with each other.

❖ Marx predicted that the capitalist stage is the last stage where class antagonism exists,
after that, it will cease to occur.

Concept of class

❖ Class is a manifestation of economic differentiation. It is an aggregate of a person who

performs the same function in the organization of production. Basically, the relation
with the means of production decides a class group.

❖ Class is defined in terms of the functions that an individual performs in the process of
production.

❖ The people who control the means of production belong to one class (the dominant
class), while those who perform the actual work belong to a different class (the
oppressed class). Marx viewed this as the objective classification of class and referred to
it as Class in itself.

❖ However, when people develop class consciousness and know that they are being
exploited and that their interests are similar, this is a subjective classification of Class
and is referred to as Class for itself.

➢ Class consciousness - awareness of their common interest and discussion of common

problems. It is an unavoidable development according to Karl Marx and Engles.

❖ According to Marx, a true class must fulfill the criteria of Class for itself.

❖ Marx mentions that class for itself will occur -

➢ as the capitalist class is unstable because of continuous struggle.

12
 ➢ Acute exploitation of the working class due to poor working conditions, low wages,
reserve army labor, and poor living conditions.
➢ Alienated workers.
➢ Alienation of self.
➢ Contradiction in product.
➢ Similar conditions of workers - close proximity leading to the organization of
workers
➢ Invocation of class consciousness.
➢ Class Solidarity - Class consciousness is reached when the members of a community
realize that only by collective actions, overthrowing the ruling class can be done.
This helps in the development of class solidarity.
➢ Easy communication

❖ Karl Marx on class struggle and class conflict says that “the history of hitherto existing
society is the history of class struggle”. This class struggle and class conflict is the source

of change in society.

❖ Historical change from capitalism to socialism will happen through -

➢ The process of pauperization leads to the extreme poverty of the working class and
a high degree of inequality.
➢ Proletariatization - expansion of the labor class with similar socioeconomic
conditions.
➢ Homogenization - the difference between the different kinds of workers fades away.
➢ Polarization of class - the dominant class standing together against or suppressing
the working class. Only two groups will exist - Super-rich bourgeois and super-
poor proletariats.
➢ Proletariat revolution - as the working class mobilizes itself against the dominant
class there will be a breaking out of a revolution to destroy the structure of capitalist
society.
Criticism

❖ Marx predicts that there will be a polarization of class with the fading away of the
middle class. However, in reality, the middle class expanded.

13
❖ Weber mentions that as capitalism matures, the middle class expands. Properties for
the classification of class -
➢ Property
➢ Skill
❖ Based on this there are four criteria for classifying classes -
➢ Propertied capitalist class
➢ White collar workers
➢ Petty Bourgeoisie
➢ Proletariats
❖ Marx ignores the skills while classifying classes. He has majorly focused on the class in
terms of relation to the means of production.
❖ Marx says that the proletariat revolution is inevitable. However, Weber mentions that
it is a remote possibility.
❖ David and Moore have talked about the functions of society, that the strata, the division
in society is functional.
❖ The stratification tends to motivate people to sacrifice and to enhance their skills for
their own development. Through this, the talented members of the society are
positioned at the chief offices.
❖ According to Ralf Dahrendorf, modern capitalism has modified itself. Marx failed to
visualize this.
❖ Frank Parkin criticizes Marx by mentioning that communist society also has classes.
The concept of a classless society is a utopia.

Commodity Fetishism

❖ Extravagant irrational devotion. The concept of Commodity Fetishism was introduced

by Marx to describe the way people assigned mystical or magical qualities to
commodities.

❖ People treat commodities as if they have inherent value instead of use value.

❖ People tend to celebrate commodities rather than the human labor that has produced
that particular commodity.

❖ Commodity Fetishism refers to social phenomena in which objects or products are given
value beyond their inherent worth.

14
❖ Labor itself is a commodity, having an exchange value.
❖ Commodities have turned into a source of estrangement.

❖ Instead of individuals controlling commodities in a capitalist society, it is rather a

commodity that is controlling individuals, creating demand. As a result, people start
to fantasize that objects have inherent value in themselves.

❖ For eg. Land is a commodity having its own value. Land near a highway - high value
v/s land in a village - low value.

❖ Commodity Fetishism is a concept introduced by Karl Marx to describe the way people
assign the magical and mystical qualities to commodities, treating them as if they have
some inherent value rather than recognizing them as a result of human labor and social
relations.

❖ In simple words it can be defined as social phenomena in which objects/products are

given value beyond their inherent worth and are instead fetishized and ingrained with
symbolic and imaginary attributes.

❖ In commodity fetishism, Marx argues that we create commodities and their powers
are equivalent to God.

❖ These commodities are the product of labor with the sole purpose of exchange in the
market to generate profit.

❖ However, Marx argues that Commodity fetishism is the result of a situation where a
commodity is fetishized and the human labor underlying the production of that
commodity is undermined.

❖ Marx also presents the point that commodity fetishism is the result of the capitalist
economy which undermines the qualitative difference of commodities and just
overemphasizes the quantitative difference of commodities based on the exchange values
achieved in the market.

❖ Features:

➢ Commodities are treated as if they have intrinsic value. This means that
commodities are seen as having value in and of themselves, independent of the
labor that goes into producing them or the social relations that underlie their
production and consumption.

15
 ➢ The social relations behind the production of commodities are hidden. In capitalist
society, labor that goes into producing commodities is often hidden and people tend
to focus on the final product rather than the process that went into creating it.
➢ Commodity becomes Fetishized. In commodity fetishism, commodities are treated
as objects of desire and thus hold ultimate adoration in society. These commodities
are seen as having independent existence that is above the labor power that has
been put to create it.
➢ Exchange value becomes dominant over use value. This means that in capitalist
society people tend to value commodities on the basis of their value of exchange in
the market rather than its particular utility.
➢ Production is done according to and for the market.
➢ Labor as a commodity. It is labor that makes us human. Humans come to have
exchange value in the market in themselves. They sell their labor power in return
for the wages they receive. Labor power in itself is turned into an abstract thing.
It is appropriated by capitalists to produce objects for the market.
➢ Loss of control. Individuals lose control over commodities and markets because they
are accorded independent existence. Rather it is the commodities that cover the
individuals and create the demand. As a result, people start fantasizing that objects
have intrinsic values.

Alienation

❖ Alien - an estranged man.

❖ Alienation refers to separation from self.

❖ In a capitalist society, the producers of a commodity are separated from means and
the process of production.

❖ Capital i.e. dead labor starts dominating the living labor i.e. man.

❖ The individual is detached from their creativity thus leading to a feeling of alienation
from self.

❖ A product is made as per the need of the market and the profit is accorded to the
Capitalist. Thus, the product becomes independent of the control of workers.

❖ Alienation manifests itself in four ways.

16
 ➢ The worker is alienated from the product of his labor.

➢ The worker is alienated from the production process. This means that the worker
does not have any control over the production process. The labor of a worker is not
his will. Therefore, he does not find any enjoyment in his work.

➢ Alienation from real human nature. The worker is alienated from self. Humans are
creative beings but this creativity is being undermined.

➢ Workers are socially alienated. Long working hours, difficult working conditions,
and Co-workers have competitive relationships.

Criticism

❖ According to Marx, alienation is occurring in society due to the forced division of labor.
Marx believed that this forced division of labor could be done away with the help of the
proletariat revolution.

❖ However, Weber argues that this division of labor is inevitable because it is an outcome
of modern society which is rationalized. Development of rational institutions such as
bureaucracy.

❖ Herbert Marcuse argues that not only work, but even Leisure can also be alienating.

❖ Karl Popper mentions that alienation is not bad, it can also be functional by providing
a breeding ground for Innovation.

❖ Durkheim says that welfare and change in the structure can help in doing away with
alienation and anomie.

❖ CW Mills while studying the middle class mentions that Marx’s alienation is only about
Industrial workers. However, white-collar workers are also facing alienation.

17
 Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

❖ Durkheim was born in Epinal, France.

❖ He was born in a family with a long lineage of rabbis (Jewish clergy class)

❖ However, his interest in religion was more academic instead of theological. As he grew,
he became more interested in scientific methods.

❖ He believed that moral principles guide social life, thus, the study of these moral
principles will help in finding out the reason behind the disorder in the society and will
help in establishing order.

❖ As he grew, he became interested in Psychology, philosophy, ethics, and sociology. He

earned a degree in philosophy. In 1885 he moved to Germany to study sociology.

❖ In 1887, the University of Bordeaux allowed him to teach.

❖ In the year 1893, he published his first major work - Division of Labor. This enriched
sociology as a discipline. It was here only that he gave the concept of “Anomie”

❖ But it was his work of “The Rules of Sociological Method”, that went on to set sociology
as an independent discipline. It mainly focuses on what sociology is and how it should
be studied. It is in this only that he mentions the subject matter of sociology which is
“Social Fact”.

❖ In 1897, he published his work on “Suicide” and termed it as a social act or

phenomenon, which was till then regarded as personal, individual, and psychological.

❖ He argued that society is sui generis, it is above the individual, has its own existence,
and cannot be reduced to individuals, and by studying individuals it cannot be claimed
that society is explained.

❖ Just by studying individual minds and their instincts society can't be explained.
Therefore, to study all the aspects of society there is a requirement for an independent
discipline. Thus, sociology is established as an independent discipline and endorsed by
Durkheim as a positive discipline as it follows scientific methods.

18
❖ In 1912, he wrote “The Elementary Form of Religious Life”. In this, he tries to trace
the genesis of religion.

Influences on Durkheim that shaped his thought process.

❖ Social influence - Political instability in France - French Revolution - civil international

wars.

➢ Political turmoil present in French society.

❖ Issue of Education - polarisation in education (left-wing and right-wing). Left-wing

emphasised secular education whereas the right-wing focused on education being
controlled by the church. However, after a lot of effort, it was decided that education
would be secular.

❖ In this respect, Durkheim was tasked with designing a curriculum.

❖ Intellectual influences -

➢ He was influenced by the ideas of Montesquieu. Under his influence, he believed that
society is an interconnectedness of institutions.
➢ Under the influence of the idea of Rousseau's general will (collectively held will that
strives for the collective good of society), he gets the ideas of collective consciousness.

❖ Positive Methodology -

➢ Saint Simon and August Comte advocated that the scientific method of natural
sciences should be applied to study society. This influenced Durkheim to adopt a
positive methodology.
➢ Durkheim believed in Moral regulation of society. He took this idea from Immanuel
Kant
➢ Emile Bourdeau talks about social reality (it concerns only those aspects of reality
that are shared in common by members of society). This led to Durkheim assuming
that sociology should deal with those aspects of society that are commonly shared
by members of society.
➢ Ferdinand Tonnies’s work on Gemeinschaft & Gesellschaft has an influence on
Durkheim’s Division of Labor

19
General conditions for the establishment of social sciences by Durkheim

❖ Science is not concerned with total human knowledge. It can not test every kind of
question. (Partial reality). Thus, Durkheim mentions studying directly observable
phenomena.

❖ Science field of study is Specificity. Thus, social science has a definite subject matter
(social fact).

❖ Science is committed to the discovery of general patterns and principles.

Nature and scope of social sciences.

❖ Social science is different from natural science as social science deals with huan
relationships.

❖ According to Durkheim sociology is a social science, Therefore, it will look into social
relations and will do sociological enquiry.

❖ However, where it is going to accommodate natural science is in terms of use of

methods.

❖ For Durkheim sociology is distinct from philosophy. Philosophy is concerned with ideas
and concepts whereas science is concerned with objective realities.

❖ For him sociology is about objective understanding of objective reality.

❖ Sociology has its own subject matter - Social Fact

❖ Sociology also yields general principles of social reality.

Social Fact

❖ It refers to any aspect of social life that can be observed objectively and has influence
over people’s behaviour and attitude. They are external to individuals as well as they
are constraining upon individuals.

❖ Social fact refers to any aspect of social life that can be observed objectively and that
has an influence over people’s behavior and attitude.

❖ Durkheim mentions that social facts are external to individuals. Thus, they exist
independent of the individual’s consciousness and they hold coercive power on the
individual which means that it constrains the individual’s behavior and limits their
choices.

20
❖ Social Facts are products of collective forces and they can not be reduced to the actions
of individuals in society.

❖ The standard definition of the social fact that Durkheim provides is that social facts
are those ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that are capable of exercising external
constraints on individual members, they are generally diffused through the given society
and they can have their own existence independent of individual’s consciousness.

❖ The Subject matter of Sociology is Social Fact.

❖ Emile Durkheim wrote a book - “Rules Of Sociological Method”. In this, he mentioned

that sociology has its own defined subject matter which is Social Fact.

❖ It is a way of thinking, feeling, and acting which is external to the individual but applies
some degree of coercion. It is constraining upon the individual.

❖ They are external to the individual. Its existence is beyond an individual’s will. It is a
shared value of society as it is diffused in society in general.

❖ For example - School assembly (PT)

❖ Social fact is an objectively observed phenomenon.

❖ It is independent of the individual’s consciousness because it is a product of collectivity

and can’t be reduced to the individual level.

❖ For individuals to exist collectively some norms and values are required to maintain
social order. They enjoy coercive power over the will of individuals and act as a
constraint upon them.

Characteristics

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❖ Externality - social facts exist outside an individual’s consciousness. Durkiem argues
that an individual takes birth in a society and leaves that after death. However, Social

facts are already in society and remain in existence irrespective of the birth and death

of the individual. They remain external to the individual and are the result of

collectivity.

❖ Constraining/coercive - It forces itself on the individual. They command obligation on

the individual that it constrains. In simple words, it forces itself on an individual’s will

and choices.

❖ Independent - It continues to function independently of any single individual. Social

facts are those values, beliefs, and practices that the individual finds ready at birth and

learns through the process of socialisation. In fact, Durkheim mentions that they are
independent of individuals in the sense that any one individual is only a single element

within the totality of the relationship that constitutes society. So, he means that these

relationships or factors are not creations of a single individual but are developed by

multiple interactions between individuals.

❖ Generality - They have a general occurrence in society. It has its general presence over
the whole of a given society with an existence of its own. In fact, it is the concrete idea
of the whole society that affects the individual’s life.

Types of Social Facts -

22
❖ Material Social Fact - tangible objects- directly observable - building, tools, products…

➢ For example - the way of life, living patterns, customs, etc. of people living in Thar
is different from those living in Mountainous regions.
❖ Non-material Social fact - intangible - not directly observable- language, customs,
tradition, belief…

➢ They are more abstract and reflect shared values, attitudes, and ideas of a society.
➢ They may not be the consciousness of an individual but they are the consciousness

of a society.

❖ Both material and non-material social facts interact with each other. While doing so

they influence each other.

❖ For eg. The Jama masjid acts as a religious place for some sections of society, for some

it is a historical monument while for others it may act as a tourist place. Irrespective

of the fact, how it is acting for whom, and from where the person came from, there

are certain rules and restrictions like one cannot enter in Jama Masjid while wearing

shorts, slippers are not allowed… etc. This acts as a constraint on the individual.

❖ Emile Durkheim is more interested in Non-material facts because these are intangible

elements. Not visible but exists in society and its constraint is felt by individuals.

❖ They are the product of a strong collective conscience.

❖ Durkheim mentions that collective conscience is a feature of simple society. But in a

Modern complex society, there is a high level of differentiation and diversity.

❖ According to Durkheim, both material and non-material facts are equally important

in shaping our social behaviour or determining the course of our social development.

❖ Conflict arises when over the period of time the social fact changes. As they are not

static but dynamic, thus, subject to change.

❖ Therefore, Durkheim emphasises the scientific and objective study of social fact. By

using Empirical methods the nature, functions, and impacts of social facts can be

unveiled.

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Normal social fact and Pathological social fact

❖ Normal Social fact - When a social fact is encountered in a particular society at a

certain time in a certain phase in its evolution at a normal level i.e. it is functional in
society, e.g. - Crime - Salt making was seen as a crime in British India before 1930.
In 1930, Gandhi called for a Dandi march which was a crime at that particular time
as per British law. However, this march by Gandhi led to the further evolution of law.
Thus, to some extent crime played a functional role. Thus, if a social fact exists in
society and its occurrence in society is at a general level (acceptability) then it is a
Normal social fact.

❖ But when the intensity of that social fact increases beyond its acceptance on a general
level, when there is deviance from the standard, then it is called Pathological social
fact.

❖ Another example is vitamins - The body needs a particular level of vitamins and their
deficiency and excess can be harmful. Thus, the amount of vitamins required for a
healthy body is general or normal.

❖ Durkheim believed that crime and suicide are social phenomena.

Rules of Studying Social Facts

❖ Durkheim argued that social facts should be regarded as things, independent of

preconceived notions and perceptions. Abandon the prejudices, biases, and existing
perceptions concerning social facts before studying them. The researcher must study
social facts from the outside.

❖ In simple terms the researcher should attempt to eliminate the subjective biases about
the social facts in question before the object study commences.

❖ Then observe it as if it is a material social fact. For eg. Religion is a non-material social
fact. However, rites and rituals related to a religion can be tangible.

❖ Explanation of social fact should be done via causal (why, causes…) and functional
factors (need of the society it is fulfilling).

❖ Understanding of social facts or their observation must be restricted to verifiable facts.

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❖ Social facts must be observed in their collective manifestations rather than individual
manifestations.

❖ Observation of the social fact must be precise and definite and the phenomenon to be
studied and the social factor under investigation must be precise and definite.

❖ Durkheim while talking about the explanation of social facts suggests these explanations
to be in causal and explanation terms. The causal explanation will focus on answering
the question of why a social fact under question exists. Durkheim says that the c auses
that give rise to a given social fact must be identified separately from whatever social
function it may fulfill. He further argues that the cause of social fact should be sought
among the preceding social facts, which means that the determination of the causes of
social fact can be found in the social fact preceding it.

❖ On the other hand, when Durkheim talks about functional explanation, he mentions
that the corresponding link between that fact into consideration and the need of the
society that it satisfies must be made.

❖ Durkheim also mentions that to show that a given fact is the cause of another, we have
to compare cases in which we are simultaneously present or absent. Therefore, the
most suitable method that Durkheim suggests for studying social facts is the
comparative method. He propounded the use of the comparative method to classify
social phenomena in different types, this not only helps in the classification of society
as per structure and complexity but enables the researcher to also trace the causal
factors.

Criticism

❖ Gabriel Tardel - criticised for neglecting an individual’s agency/consciousness. The

individual is considered as controlled by social facts.

❖ Harry Elmers Beyons - criticised Durkheim for over-emphasizing or giving extra thrust
on constraints. In reality, individuals do many actions not out of society’s compulsion.

❖ Stephen Lukes - criticises the method used by Durkheim to study social fact. He believes
that empirical investigations lead to ignorance of an individual’s emotions/feelings.

❖ Peter Berger - questions objectivity in social observations.

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❖ Max Weber - He believes that Durkheim has treated social fact as objective reality.
However, Weber says that reality is not completely objective, there is some sort of
subjectivity involved in it. Social facts don't exist as things in their own right. Weber
believes that to understand social facts, the micro view needs to be accommodated. The
subject matter of sociology is not social fact but social action.

Division of Labor (DoL)

❖ Regarded as a major contribution to the field of sociological thought.

❖ Durkheim views the Industrial Revolution as a watershed event. The society existing
before this event has been characterised by him as a simple society and the industrial
society has been regarded by him as a Modern/Complex society.

❖ In his theory of DoL, he tries to explain how the simple society differs from modern
society and how simple societies were stable and how the integration (mechanical
solidarity) was made possible in such societies. Along with this, he has also shed light
on how stability and integration (organic solidarity) are being maintained in modern
societies.

❖ He also tries to explain the functionality of DoL in modern society to maintain or

establish solidarity.

❖ 3 senses of DoL -

➢ Technical DoL - It describes the division of a worker’s role in the process of

production. (emphasized by Neo school of economics)

➢ Sexual DoL - It describes the social division of Labor (Men and Women).

➢ Social DoL - Durkheim has heavily talked about this DoL. It is about the
specialization of roles which leads to differentiation in the society as a whole.

❖ In general terms, DoL is the assignment of a common task/specific task to a whole

unit.

❖ The Neo school of economics sees DoL as functional.

➢ Adam Smith talks about the Factory system. For him, DoL is a rational device for
increasing economic output of collectivity.

26
 ➢ Specialization of work is the major focus here as it is benefiting in economic terms
by increasing efficiency.
❖ Durkheim has rejected the view propounded by Adam Smith. According to Durkheim,
the choice of work is not merely economic, there is a social factor as well.

❖ Political scientists view DoL as a political fact. As it is embedded in contracts and

people confirming these contracts and rules of these institutions.

❖ Durkheim rejects the political stand as well, according to him people respect contracts
because they respect society.

❖ Recently it has been noticed that DoL exists as a result of people’s search for happiness.

❖ This is also being rejected by Durkheim. He mentions that DoL in simple society was
very low or did not exist whereas, in modern society, it existed at a large scale. The
explanation that DoL exists as a result of people’s search for happiness is not correct as
there is no conclusive proof to show that people of simple society were not happy and
the people of modern society are happier.

❖ According to Durkheim, DoL is fulfilling the societal functions of providing integration.

It creates an interdependency which helps in developing unity among the members of
a society. Thus, it has a social significance.

DoL from the perspective of different thinkers

❖ Herbert Spencer - DoL is the interplay of individual interests that holds society
together. There is an influence of Durkheim on Spencer.

❖ According to Spencer individuals have their own interests and society has its own, these
interests are matched by DoL.

❖ Individuals want to satisfy their own interests, that's why they interact with others.
This causes the development of interaction and social life.

❖ Auguste Comte - according to him people and society are tied together by shared ideas
(Social and moral values/norms/habits). He also considers high DoL as the reason behind
disorder in French society.

❖ Through DoL, Durkheim wanted to study the relationship between individual and
individual and between the individual and Society

27
Why did Emile Durkheim pick the Division of labor as his topic of research

❖ He wanted to access how an individual is related or integrated with other individuals

as well as he was looking for the answer of how individual is integrated to society

❖ While finding answers to these questions, he came across other several questions why is
there a division of labor, how the division of labor impact integration of the society,
how does the division of labor change from one type to another type, and if a so ciety
is based on the high division of labor then whether a society is characterized by high
solidarity, and if there is high solidarity then why there is Chaos in the society.

❖ During his research he came up with several concepts which were majorly borrowed.

Intellectual influences for understanding the division of labour

❖ Collective conscience: Originally this concept was given by Schaffle. Durkheim has
borrowed it in order to explain his concept of DoL.
➢ In general it is believed that most Human societies have longevity, continuity due
to shared beliefs which results in the order in the society. This is called collective
conscience.
➢ Collective conscience refers to the sum total of beliefs and sentiments of an average
member of society.
➢ In simple society, all the people tend to think similarly due to low division among
the members which results in high collective conscience.
❖ Collective representation - It is a specific state of collective conscience, it is substrata
of collective conscience.
➢ Collective representation refers to norms and values of specific collectivities (family,
religion, state).
❖ Society is sui-generis - It is a french word. It means that society is unique, it is one of
a kind, above individuals.
❖ Anomie - He borrowed it from Ferdinand Tonnies. The concept of anomie is rooted in
the change, as society undergoes transition, this changes not overnight.
➢ During this transition phase the old norms are not respected, they lose their hold,
however the new norms are not solidified yet.
➢ Thus, anomie is also referred to as a transitory phenomenon.

28
 ➢ It is also called the state of normlessness.
➢ The change in the society is seen in two aspects -
✓ Material aspect - changes quickly
✓ Ideological or normative aspect - takes time to get established
➢ The term anomie is used by Durkheim to highlight the situation in which the
material life of an individual changes rapidly but norms, values, and rules of society
are not able to keep pace with these changes.
➢ In such a situation the social norms and values seem to be very unclear to an
individual. This impacts the individuals in such a way that they are not able to feel
integrated with the society.
➢ They are not able to identify what is wrong and what is right thus they are not
able to identify what is moral and what is immoral. They do not feel morally
involved in society. There is an absence of collective consciousness leading to
increasing crime rates and suicide rates.
➢ Thus, in such a situation the individual tends to develop a new collective conscience.
➢ This results in the reestablishment of the social order.
➢ In simple society, the source of solidarity is collective consciousness but in modern
complex Industrial society the source of solidarity is a division of labor
❖ According to Durkheim, the division of labor is a social fact that can be understood by
looking into its causality and functionality.
❖ Causes - he explains the causes of Divisional labor in three terms -
➢ Volume - that is the size of the population.
➢ Material density - number of individuals on a given ground surface.
➢ Moral density - refers to the intensity of communication between individuals in a
society. With the growth of population, there will be an increase in the interaction
of the individuals.
❖ When the volume, material density, and moral density increases, the interaction on a
given ground surface increases. This results in a change in the needs of the population
as it grows.
❖ With this, the collective conscience present in society started getting weak due to an
increase in the individual conscience.

29
❖ To fulfill these needs, the specialization of roles emerged resulting in division of labor,
thus increasing interdependence. This interdependence is referred to by Durkheim as
organic solidarity.
Concept of Solidarity

❖ Durkheim’s division of labour is centred around individual and society.

❖ He believed that by seeking answers to the questions, the nature of the relationship
between the individuals and the society can be understood. The first question is how a
large number of individuals make up a society. The second question is how these
individuals achieve consensus.

❖ To answer these questions he came up with the concept of solidarity.

❖ He provided for two kinds of solidarity, the first is mechanical solidarity and the second
is organic solidarity.

❖ Social solidarity is similar to social cohesion or integration. It refers to the degree of

integration present in the society. It also refers to the condition of the group which
highlights the cooperation present therein.

❖ On the basis of social solidarity, he tries to identify different societies, he compares

primitive societies with a modern Industrial society within the concept of solidarity.

❖ He mentions that simple societies are characterised by mechanical solidarity.

❖ Mechanical solidarity is based on conscious collectivity.

❖ He also mentions that the complex industrial societies are characterised by organic
solidarity because division of labour is present in them and it creates specialisation of
roles and interdependence

❖ Mechanical solidarity - It is based on homogeneities. It can come from values or

behaviour or social constraints. It is present in society where there is loyalty to the
traditions or to the kinship groups

❖ Mechanical solidarity is based on resemblance; it is rooted in the similarities between

individuals in a society. There is a strong collective conscience which covers individuals
morality and mentality.

❖ In such a society laws are very repressive.

30
❖ Organic solidarity - On the other hand organic solidarity is present in modern
Industrial complex society where specialisation of role and interdependence is present
as a result of division of labour.

❖ Complex division of labour helps in bringing Corporation into the society, this
corporation is a result of interdependence which is due to specialisation of roles.

❖ He called this type of solidarity organic because it is similar to the unity of biological
organisms.

❖ While saying so Durkheim is inspired with the organic analogy of spenser, that says
organisms have highly specialised parts and organs, these different organs work
differently and have different functions despite that they don't compete rather
cooperate.

❖ The concept of division of labour and the consequent dissimilarity increases dependency
among members of society which is reflected in their mentality and morality.

❖ In modern industrial societies organic solidarity is result of consensus on the basis of

differentiation where as in primitive societies mechanical solidarity is a result of
consensus on the basis of similarities

❖ In Society where the division of labour and specialisation of roles results in organic
solidarity, the laws are restitutive rather than repressive.

❖ An increase in organic solidarity represents moral progress via the emergence of

concepts like equality, fraternity, liberty, and justice

Abnormal or Pathological Division of Labor

❖ As per Durkheim, modern Industrial society is marked by organic solidarity, which is

the result of the high division of labour, still it created disorganisation which Durkheim
saw during his time.

❖ He saw that on one side there is economic modernity and free trade market, on the
other hand, there is inequality present in the society

❖ All of this is because there is a pathological division of labour in the society

❖ According to him, this is due to abnormal division of labour

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❖ He provided for three type of division of labour the first one being an anomic division
of labour

❖ Anomic division of labour occurs when the society is grilled with anomy.

❖ The rules and regulations are not able to keep pace with the material aspects of society
due to which the society goes into a state of normlessness.

❖ Second division of labour is forced division of labour when society is grilled with equality,
in such a case it fails to produce a long-lasting impact or solidarity in society resulting
in a very abnormal form of division of labour with frustrated individuals.

❖ A rivalry and antagonism will be created in the society and to overcome the suggest a
society based on equality of opportunity must be created

❖ The third strand of the division of labour is an inadequate organisation of work. Work
in general is not well organised or coordinated in such a society and workers are often
engaged in doing meaningless tasks

❖ There is no unity of actions. In such a case solidarity will break and will result in disorder
in the society.

❖ The inadequate organisation of work will make a division of labour meaningless and
will produce disintegration and disunity in society.

❖ For example, the Labour Union in which the Employees Union represents the interest
of a particular group or class, and while this happens there is a reduction of social
solidarity. There will be reduced solidarity or cooperation between the workers and the
employers. It also may result in meaningless tasks

Comparison on Division of Labor

❖ This comparison is between Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx.

❖ According to Durkheim, growth in material and moral density causes the division of
labour in industrial societies.

❖ Durkheim also recognises the division of labour in Industrial society but unlike
Durkheim, who sees the moral density and material density as resulting in a source of
solidarity due to interdependence. Whereas Marx sees it in terms of forced division of

32
 labour that is coerced instead of cooperation and coexistence which is noticed by
Durkheim, Marx calls it imposed division of labour.

❖ However, for Durkheim, it is from the fact that individuals have a range of jobs that

are specialised, Marx sees the division of labour in terms of forced division.

❖ Whereas for Durkheim, specialisation of roles and division of labour results in

interdependence and increased social solidarity. For Karl Marx, the series division of

labour resulted in conflict instead of coordination because creativity is taken away from

the workers.

❖ Karl Mars believed that division of labour snatches away the creativity of a worker

along with developing competition. So that their class for itself is not created resulting

in social alienation.

❖ Anomic division of labour can be overcome by establishing new rules and social reforms.

However forced division of labour creates dehumanisation of labour and skills because

there is no more a creative being, it is the market that is controlling the worker and

the work done by him. The solution to this is in proletarian revolution

❖ Durkheim’s approach to the division of labour is functional, however, Marx's perspective

of division of labour is conflict.

❖ Durkheim says material and model density as the causes of division of labour whereas

Marx says that it is the inherent nature of the capitalist society resulting in division of

labour.

❖ For him, the nature of division of labour is in the unequal relationship between different

groups of society.

❖ For Durkheim, there is cooperation and integration among different sections of the

society whereas Karl Marx sees the disintegration of workers.

❖ According to Durkheim, the solution is reform in the society whereas according to Karl

Marx the problem lies in the concept of division of labour itself which itself is forced to

which the solution lies in proletarian revolution

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Alienation v/s Anomie
❖ Marxian concept of alienation says that alienation occurs when something that should
be familiar begins to feel alienated or different.

❖ For example, work that is inherent, which is supposed to be familiar because it is

something existing from you, but it has started to be alienated from you. You feel
alienated from the production process of which you were part. When you feel strange
from your inner creative being is when you are alienated.

❖ So, alienation along with being disconnected is also a loss of control. It is basically
limiting the ability to properly engage in society at a large level and this is an inherent
part of the capitalist economic structure because the interests of different classes are
different and are conflicting.

❖ However, Durkheim’s concept of anomie is different as it describes the lack of sufficient

moral regulation in society. This refers to the state of normlessness, this state is referred
to as anomie by Durkheim. In such a society the individual acts out of his own individual
pursuit rather than acting based on the moral regulation set by society

❖ The Marxian concept of alienation states that alienation occurs when something that
should be familiar begins to feel foreign, it does not only relate to the disconnect caused
from others but it also implies that the development of a feeling of estrangement from
one’s own culture or nature.

❖ Along with this feeling of disconnect, there is a sense of feeling of loss of control. Being
in the state of alienation impacts one's ability to properly engage in society with other
members of society and that is how it is more than one aspect of life. Marx sees
alienation as a product of capitalism

❖ The concept of anomie describes the loss of sufficient moral regulations in which
individuals are left to their own pursuit without a moral pursuit towards others or
towards society.

❖ It is the state of normlessness that arises because there are no norms and there is no
particular definition of an acceptable and unacceptable action.

34
Application of Anomie and Alienation to DoL

❖ Marx states that a Alienated labour is a task where the worker is estranged from the
product and gives no impact on the process.

❖ The production process itself is controlled by someone else and the worker merely
follows the direction of the production process.

❖ This means that the worker works for someone else, goes home without appropriating
the product that he or she made.

❖ This explains that the worker is alienated from self and Society along with alienation
from production and product.

❖ Marx himself was against the division of labour, as he believed that this division of
labour is forced and the labour became more and more divided. And the task performed
by each individual worker became simpler and more repetitive which led to demanding
of less competence from the worker.

❖ Marx argues that each person is able to do all the tasks required for survival. Therefore,
for Marx, division of labour is not necessary for society to function properly. Since each
person has the capability to be self-sufficient.

❖ Durkheim was in favour of division of labour, according to him division of labour allowed
for Cooperation among individuals and assured them that there are sufficient resources
for all in a society.

❖ Durkheim believed that division of labour benefits society not just because it increases
productive capacity and leads to increase in the set of skills of workmen, but more
importantly it creates the feeling of solidarity or Unity among people who share these
jobs.

❖ And this is why for him division of labour goes beyond economic interest. Because it is
contributing in establishing social and moral order within the society.

❖ Durkheim states that due to growth of specialisation of jobs competition is checked. He

argues that DoL diversifies talent which means competition with fewer people.

35
❖ However, Durkheim also points out that the pressure of a job becomes great at times
and the person performing specialised roles experiences anomie.

❖ This could happen because of the specialised task, workers become more and more
isolated resulting in them losing any sense of being a necessary component of something
larger.

Criticism

❖ Elton Mayo: Mayo argues that Durkheim considered human behaviour to be completely
logical and rational. He has also ignored the concept of humans and drives.

❖ Harold Wilensky - according to him division of labour is not able to provide social

integration of individuals in the market.

➢ He said that a lot of people do not integrate with the society because division of
labour is existing rather they are integrated to the market or the society in general

because they depend on the society for the stability of career as it defines experience

in the market.

❖ Michael Clarke - He says that Durkheim categorises society in two groups industrialised
and non industrialised. While doing so, he has not taken into cognizance a wide variety

of non-industrial societies. Durkheim describes industrialisation as a watershed

movement, based on this he describes society as simple or modern. However, Clarke

says that these non industrialised societies are not necessarily identical as there is a

wide range of such societies.

❖ David Lockwood - He says that Durkheim is confused in his understanding of

integration. According to him integration is of two types, the first is social integration

and the other is system integration. He says that social integration is an integration
through collective consciousness whereas system integration is a such kind of integration

that occurs due to division of labour. He mentions that due to high division of labour

social integration reduces leading to anomie in society. Thus, it is not always a

structured change rather a chronic condition which is in the inherent nature of high

division of labour.

36
❖ Marxists - According to them there is no collective consciousness in the society as long
as societies are divided on the lines of class. For Durkheim, the division of labour is a
source of order. However for Marxist Scholars division of labour is the source of
alienation and conflict.

❖ Jennifer Lehman - She says that the division of labour in the society also has a gender
problem. Durkheim is generally considering the workers to be men and is silent on
women. He is silent on the sexual division of labour therefore his work on the division
of labour has got sexist contradiction.

Theory of Suicide

❖ In the year 1897, Durkheim published his work on suicide. Till then suicide was seen
as a psychological fact a very personal fact however that kind for the first time tries
to give a sociological explanation of suicide.

❖ In this he has tried to highlight suicide which is being considered as a personal act has
a cause in the social act.

❖ By pursuing the study of suicide he tried to show the world the power of new
sociological science and try to establish sociology as a social phenomenon or social fact.

❖ He says that suicide is exterior to the individual.

❖ It is beyond the feeling of the individual because many times there are constraints
beyond the feelings of the individual which compel him/her to commit suicide.

❖ It can be also said that suicide has a very general occurrence, that is in society there is
a social current which develops known as suicidogenic current. All the people who are
vulnerable and are in contact with this current can commit suicide. This suicidogenic
current has got an independent existence of its own. This is a non-material social fact
which has got the same objectivity over all individuals.

❖ All cases resulting directly or indirectly from the positive or negative act of the victim
where the victim himself is aware that the effect of his action is going to cause his
death is termed as suicide.

❖ What an individual needs to protect himself is not being done by that particular person
and can also result in the death, this can also be termed as suicide.

37
❖ According to Durkheim, suicide is defined as all the cases of death resulting from direct
or indirect or positive or negative acts of the victim where the victim themselves are
aware that their action would lead to their death

❖ According to him, suicidogenic currents are such currents that reflect the collective
tendencies in a society that dominates some very susceptible individuals and catches
them in its sweep.

❖ For him suicide appears to be a social phenomenon that is explicit of an individual and
can be understood by analysing social structures and their ramifying functions.

❖ He uses empirical research and statistical techniques, identifies social variables and tries
to evaluate if there is a link between the social variables and the act of suicide.

❖ He finds marital status as one such variable along with locality or Urban and rural
areas as a factor or developed and underdeveloped areas as another factor and religious
orientations of individuals and gender.

❖ Based on this he tries to find out the link to the suicide committed by an individual. In
his studies, he finds that male has a greater tendency to suicide in comparison to
female.

❖ Bachelors have a greater tendency to suicide with respect to married people.

❖ He finds that protestant ethics people have got a greater tendency to suicide than
Catholic people.

❖ Similarly he finds that people living in developed areas or developed regions with
greater privileges have a higher suicidal tendency compared to people living in
underdeveloped regions.

❖ He identifies two social forces which become factors behind suicide. The first is
integration and the other is regulation. If this integration is over or under can lead to
suicide, similarly if the regulation is over or under it may cause suicide.

❖ Identifies four types of suicide, the first is altruistic suicide in which the individual find
himself to be overly integrated with the society and if you are lost or isolated within
the society then it is egoistic suicide. If the individual is overly regulated by the rules
and regulations of the society then the kind of suicide is known as fatalistic suicide on

38
 the other hand if there is a state of normlessness, there is lack of rules and regulations
of the society then there ill be anomic suicide.

❖ Egoistic suicide occurs due to the relatively week integration of the group in the society.
It might take place as a result of extreme loneliness and social isolation. It usually occurs
due to the excessive individualism leading to detachment from the society.

❖ Altruistic suicide happens due to the over integration with the society. Individuals take
such steps that may lead to them ending their life and society glorifies it.

❖ In the anomic suicide, the key role is played by regulation instead of integration when
there is a breakdown of social norms or social rules and there is a breakdown of values
that is the old norms lose their hold on individual. But the new norms are still not
accepted or institutionalised in the society. Thus, the collective consciousness among the
people living in a particular society is weak.

❖ Fatalistic suicide occurs due to the over regulation in a particular society. When an
individual's own will, his own agency, his own desires are undermined, his actions are
controlled and regulated strictly by the norms of the society. This leads the individual
to feel oppressed that is completely powerless, a sense of suffocation is felt by the
individual.

Criticism

❖ Robin Maris - Conducted a study known as Psychological Autopsy. In this study, he

found that people who commit suicide had a suicide career. These people were living
with the idea of suicide for a very long time period. Therefore, Durkheim only focuses
on social causes however psychological causes along with social causes will provide a
better understanding of suicide. He also reduces suicide to the capacity of an individual’s
unfavorable situation which is being ignored by Durkheim.

❖ Gabriel Tarde - gave the imitation theory of suicide. He also rejected Durkheim’s view
of suicide as a social fact. He argues that there are a lot of cases of suicides of individuals
which is based on a situation where the individual is imitating the act of suicide of
another individual.

39
❖ David Phillips conducts a study in the US and based on it he agrees to the theory of
Tarde.

❖ Dong says that Durkheim explains suicide only in terms of social fact which is wrong.
Suicide for any individual is a vital decision and this part is being ignored by Durkheim.

❖ Darwis also says that suicide is not a social fact rather it is an individual fact. He
mentions that for any society the value of life of people is very important and society
does not tend to provoke conditions which may lead an individual to suicide. That is
why it is being discouraged in almost all kinds of societies and religions. Therefore it is
an individual act and not a social fact.

❖ J M Atkinson - He says that Durkheim has used official data which is being developed
by a police official or State Authority. This data is itself speculated based on the thought
process and common sense of officials. Officials cannot decide the nature of suicide. Data
could be faulty due to multiple reasons like lack of reporting of incidents etc.

❖ J B Douglas - mentions that there can be built-in biases in the reporting of the society
with the high integration. This reduces reporting of suicide similarly a society where
there is no integration then the reporting of suicide cases can be high.

Religion and Society

❖ While studying religion Durkheim is more interested in academic pursuit rather than
looking at its theological aspects. He is interested in looking at its causality and functions
and its origin.

❖ He believed that Modern religion is very complex, behind it there is a basic idea existing
that it had already grown to a very large extent and had been influenced by ideological,
political and cultural factors.

❖ Thus, to understand the true form of religion, the simplest form of religion must be
understood.

❖ True character of a religion is manifested in its earliest forms.

❖ Simple form of religion is religion of such a society which is simply organised or which
is elementary socially organised, which may be a primitive tribal community, called as
Aboriginals, by Durkheim.

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❖ Durkheim studies Totemism, Arunta tribe for the same. He wrote Elementary forms of
religious life in 1912.

❖ Religion is a system of belief and practices which guide orientations of Individuals and
shape their behaviour in society.

❖ Durkheim’s work on religion consisted of an attempt to identify the enduring essence

of the religion.

❖ He says that we need to understand religion as the social institution, and it can not be
reduced to a concept of God. According to him religion is the consecration of society,
It is sacralization of society.

❖ According to him religion should be understood in the terms of belief and rights.

❖ It is a collective representation of common shared beliefs which determine a mode of

action

❖ He says religion is in phenomena which is amenable to positive methodologies so he

abandons all the preconceived notions related to it while studying.

❖ Totem means symbol. Tribes adopt symbols and religiously organise themselves around
that particular symbol.

❖ Totem is a symbol or certain things that come to be regarded as sacred. Durkheim

viewed it as the most primitive and the simplest form of religion.

❖ He believed that the totem is a representation of a clan. They used to feel that they
are related to that common symbol which is regarded by them as a totem.

❖ Durkheim says treat religion as a social fact. While doing so he criticises various
definitions given by various scholars till then.

❖ The first definition given by EB taylor : Animism(concept of soul), that religion is a

system of belief in spiritual beings.
➢ EB Taylor sought the genesis of religion as a result of the intellectual needs of man.
✓ Durkheim rejects tis definition by EB Taylor due to two reasons,
● It is not fulfilling the essence of religion

● Presence of reduction fallacy

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 ✓ The definition by EB Taylor fails to fulfil the universal key distinction by society.
(sacred and profane)

✓ He sees it as promoting religion as an illusion, imaginary construct or collective

hallucination.

✓ Durkheim says that it is not an imaginary construct or fulfil intellectual need

rather it is beyond that.

❖ Second definition by Max Muller says religion is worship of natural forces (Naturism).

He says the function of religion is to satisfy the emotional needs of man to get

comfortable with the power of nature.

➢ Durkheim says this definition has failed to explain some universal key distinctions.
➢ Max Muller is just personifying supernatural forces.

➢ Durkheim says that there is a problem of binaries. He says that using the word
Supernatural is in itself very confusing because it is showing that there is some kind

of line of demarcation between what is nature on one side and something else on

the other side (supernature).

➢ The question is how would you explain or identify what is nature and what is

supernature.
➢ For understanding this distinction between super and supernatural you have to rely

on an individual that is a priest therefore, it is not there in its original form.

➢ Muller is also seeing religion as hallucination (not exists permanently but religion is

permanent).

❖ Third definition is, Religion is God i.e. transcendental being.

➢ Durkheim says there are many religions that don't have transcendental god yet

considered as a religion.

❖ Durkheim says that religion is beyond these explanations, because these definitions are

not identifying the basic essence of religion.

❖ He identifies religion as a very profound, permanent and as a corresponding true

reality.

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❖ His theory on religion states that throughout history when people have never
worshipped a god or any other reality whether in the form of truth or not, then also
some faith have developed.

❖ He sees religion as a collective conscience or collective representation and a social fact

rather than seeing it in terms of theology.

❖ He says religion is a true reality of society rather than the true reality of God.

❖ He says that definition that he rejected lacks the true essence of religion, i.e. sacred
and profane.

❖ According to him the true essence of religion is the division of the world into two groups
that is sacred and profane.

True essence of religion - sacred profane dichotomy

❖ Sacred refers to the things and ideas that human beings have set apart requiring sacred
religious treatment.

➢ It is par-excellence,
➢ It should not be touched by profanity.
❖ Profane is Reverse of Sacred, something ordinary, and of common existence.

➢ It embraces those people, practices, things, and ideas that are all of common
existence, Common utility.
➢ Realms of the ordinary world.
❖ Durkheim explains religion as a unified system of beliefs manifested in activities related
to sacred and profane.

❖ Durkheim says Religion unites people in one simple moral community. That is, the main
function of religion is integration.

❖ Definition of religion according to Durkheim - It is a unified system of beliefs and

practices related to sacred things that is to say that there are some things which are
set apart and forbidden.

❖ In simple terms, for durkheim religion is the manifestation of a unified system of beliefs
and practices which unites people in one single moral community called church, all of
those who adhere to them.

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❖ Over Here, beliefs are those ideas which explain the sacred, such as some myths,
spiritual ideas or ethical codes.

❖ Practices are those rites and rituals which explain the individual’s behaviour toward
the sacred.

❖ These rituals provide guidelines for behaviour that outlines how an individual should act
in front of sacred artefacts.

❖ These are of two type -

➢ Positive rites - brings together the individual and sacred.

➢ Negative rites - to come close to the sacred, need to stay away from profane.
❖ Sacred - things that are set apart and are forbidden.

❖ These are connected for the supernatural or divine.

❖ These are the things which are at the utmost respect and are seen as something that
are par excellence. They are non-utilitarian and non-empirical

❖ These are the elements that are kept at a distance from ordinary attributes of everyday
life.

❖ Beliefs and practices related to them can take the form of collective representation.

❖ Sacred elements bring out an attitude of reverence or obligation.

❖ For Durkheim, anything can be sacred, because the tag of sacredness is provided by the
society.

❖ Profane - These are the things that are set apart from the sacred.

❖ It includes all day to day things that people use in their life and is a matter of
commonness, utility and familiarity.

❖ Durkheim believed that, in order to understand the role of religion in society, the
relation between sacred and profane and what it represents must be discovered.

❖ He believes that social obligations in the profane world are represented in sacred terms
and hence transformed into religious duties.

❖ As a result the worship of the sacred is nothing but worship of society's collective
consciousness.

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Arunta Tribe - Totemism

❖ Primitive people were hunters and gatherers.

❖ After a period of time whenever they meet each other, they feel a heightened energy.

❖ This feel of heightened energy was regarded as collective effervescence - it is a state of

exaltation.

❖ They connected it with something supernatural and related it to a symbol.

❖ In reality, according to Durkheim they are worshipping their society in the form of a
symbol to which they are thought to have some supernatural powers.

❖ And in order to regain the same feeling primitive people created totems.

❖ Collective effervescence refers to coming together with society, and simultaneously

communicating new thoughts and participating in similar actions which results in them
being occupied by heightened feelings of energy by virtue of their collective gatherin g.

❖ He argues that this feeling takes individuals away from the concerns of profane life.

❖ And in order to represent and regain the same feeling primitive people created totems.
❖ He adds that when people assemble near the totem they live that feeling again.

❖ And thus they assign these totems Sacred status.

❖ Therefore, Durkheim argues that these totems are material representations of

nonmaterial social forces.

❖ It is a symbol of connectivity and collectivity which causes social gatherings and

represents society itself.

❖ Therefore, to conclude we can say that, according to durkheim it is the society that
creates religion when they are in a state of exaltation.

Functionality of religion -

❖ Expression of Collective reality.

❖ Acts for integration and social solidarity.

❖ Gives meaning and purpose to life.

❖ Provides a platform for collective gathering.

❖ Reaffirmation of social norms.

❖ Thus, it is a critical part of society.

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Criticism

❖ Malinowski - Calls Durkhiem’s study as an armchair theory, as there is no field visit

being made by him in order to develop conclusions. Uses secondary data instead of
collecting primary data

➢ He did not collect enough data for his theory, thus, has a narrow base for his study.
Therefore, he calls his study as empirically narrow.
➢ He assumes the universality of totem. He assumes totem to be a universal
phenomenon associated with primitive society.
➢ Malinowski conducts field study of Trobriand island and finds that people of this
island do not practise totemism, rather they tend to follow Manaism.
➢ Manaism believes that the spirit is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient i.e.
spirits have total authority.
➢ This community is a fishing community. Malinowaski finds that when these people
go out for fishing and face any challenge, out of fear they tend to rely on religion
to stabilise their mind.
➢ Religion here is essentially to readjust their mental state. It helps them in regaining
the stability of mind, to readjust their emotional stress.
➢ Thus, religion here is utilitarian as per malinowski.
❖ AR Radcliff Brown - criticises Durkheim by stating that he did not explain the basis of
choice of a totem in a particular group, or why a particular totem is chosen. Why
factors are leading to the choice of different totems in different groups.

➢ Radcliff studies tribes of New South Wales, and finds that totems are divided based
on individual’s gender and clan.

➢ He also finds that a single group can have multiple totems.

➢ Hence, it is not necessary that totems are integrative, it can also be divisive.

❖ RK Merton - says that Durkheim's explanation may be relevant for a small and simple
and non-literate society.

➢ However, simple societies are close knits and are characterised by strong collective
consciousness. But in the case of modern, complex society this collective
consciousness breaks down. People following a particular religion start competing
with the people following another religion.

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 ➢ Thus, in modern and complex society, religion instead of being integrative and
providing social order is being divisive.
➢ Laws, rules and regulation are needed for social order, social control and social
solidarity.
❖ William Edwards - He questions the Sacred - Profane dichotomy. Same point is being
figured out by Evans Pritchard.
➢ Pritcherd says that the sacred profane dichotomy is not universal as claimed by
Durkheim.
➢ It is not necessarily antithetical. He gives the example of Srilanka’s Veddas society.
➢ He says that Durkheim has undermined the emotional aspects of an individual.
➢ Edwards points out that the society is not divided into sacred and profane only.
There is something that lies in between these two i.e Mundane (regular or ordinary)

❖ Edmund Leach - on similar lines says that sacred and profane are two extremes, and
our actions fall somewhere in between.

❖ Alexander Goldenweiser - He questioned Durkheim for considering the Arunta tribe as

the most primitive tribe.

➢ Secondly, for considering their religion as the most primitive.

➢ He says a tribe may have different totems but they are worshipping something else.
This has not been defined by Durkheim.

➢ Thirdly, he says that the difference between sacred and profane is easily
understandable in a simple society, but difficult for a complex modern society, as
there is lack of collective solidarity.
❖ Rodney Stark - says that if any society is based on religion then integration is possible
as it promotes religious nationalism. However, in the case of pluralistic society, especially
in globalised society, it leads to national crises.

❖ Peter Berger - criticises his work for the use of its methodology. He says that religion
which is personal to an individual is being studied at macro level.

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 Max Weber (1864-1920)

❖ He was born in Erfurt, Prussia.

❖ He was born in a rich, Protestant ethnic family.

❖ His surroundings were influenced by both politics and academics.

❖ In 1882, Weber gets enrolled in the University of Heidelberg. Later on goes to serve in
the army and then again completes his studies via the University of Berlin.

❖ He is more interested in studying History and Economics rather than indulging himself
in Sociology.

❖ He got an opportunity to work as an Associate Editor for a journal named Archives of

social science and social welfare. It was from here that he started involving himself in
the field of sociology.

❖ While working here he wrote an essay named - Protestant Ethic and Spirit of
Capitalism, recognized worldwide.

❖ It is from here, he got recognition worldwide.

❖ After this, he co founded the German Sociological Association. And later became
politically active.

Influences on Weber

❖ His Father was greatly involved in public life. This led to Webers’ interest in political
events. This is evident from his various works. He has provided theories on Power and
Authority.

❖ Immaual Kant - He says that human beings are partially involved in the natural world
and partly in the nominal world.

➢ There is natural science to study the natural world. To study the nominal world,
social science should be there.
➢ Immanual Kant believes that human action is influenced by his conscience.
➢ He says that it is the human conscience which makes an individual a true human
being, Thus it can’t be ignored.

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 ➢ And it was from this that Weber derived that human beings can’t be reduced to
the rules of natural sciences.
❖ During Weber's time, the society is seeing a transformation and moving towards
pluralism, where decisions are not solely driven by emotions, although it is still there
as a factor.

❖ Weber sees a pattern in modern life where the society is being rationalised (an attempt
to work out means and ends / development of systematic understanding).

❖ Weber says that to understand human behaviour it is required to understand the

meaning and motives behind that particular action.

❖ He also mentions the limited generalisation.

❖ Weber is more inclined towards developing a methodology that is more into

understanding substantive problems.

❖ He says that sociology formulates such types of concepts and generalises typologies
based on empirical research.

❖ He also believed that only limited generalisation is possible. It can not be in totality as
it is infinite. Thus, gives the concept of Ideal types.

Subject Matter of Sociology - Social Action

❖ Weber defines social act as a meaningful act that is directed towards other individuals
and influences other individuals.

❖ He mentions Social act as a unit of sociological study and as a meaningful act oriented
towards other individuals.

Social Action

❖ Social action is the basic unit of social reality or social phenomenon.

❖ Social action is any action or a meaningful act oriented towards others.

❖ 4 important things required for a social action to occur -

➢ At Least 2 individuals should be there.

➢ Individuals actions to be intended towards others.
➢ Is ment to affect others.
➢ Must have some significance.

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❖ Apart from this 2 more conditions are required.

➢ Individual is conscious of his actions.

➢ Oriented towards others.
❖ Several times social actions are driven by values, goals, interests. Such an action will be
rational.
❖ Social action is Objective in nature and empirically recorded.
Methodology to study social action
❖ Verstehen and Ideal Types

➢ It seeks to understand social action at level of meaning. It interprets the meanings

assigned to a particular action which unveils the motives behind that particular
action. The meanings and motives can be understood by stepping down in the shoes
of the actors.
➢ When an actor builds a social construct, it is rooted in social reality. But, this reality
is not there in totality.
➢ Methodology to understand social action consists of building ideal types of social
behaviour.
❖ According to Weber, the subject matter of sociology is social action. Because he believed
that the basic unit of social phenomenon is social action and sociology should aim to
study that.

❖ He says that social action is a meaningful act oriented towards other individuals.
❖ For Weber, there should be the presence of meaning behind an act for it to be called a
social action.
❖ Social action is defined as a behaviour by which human beings react to external forces
after knowing, understanding, and interpreting them. Therefore, he defines Social
action as meaningful actions and as responses to stimuli.
❖ It also includes the intervening thought process between the stimuli and the response.
❖ For Weber, sociology is the science that attempts the interpretive understanding of the
social action in order to arrive at a causal explanation of its cause and effects and social
action becomes an action that is social by virtue of meanings that are attached to it
by the actors, taking into account the behaviours of the others and thereby oriented in
its course.

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❖ For a behaviour to qualify as social action, following criteria should be fulfilled -

➢ At Least 2 individuals should be there.

➢ Individuals actions to be intended towards others.

➢ Is meant to affect others.

➢ Must have some significance for that individual and that is why meaning is attached

to it.

❖ Weber mentions that an action is social if some meanings are attached to it by the

actor,

➢ This implies that an actor must be conscious to his action

➢ Action is social if it is oriented to others i.e. only those actions are social which are
taken in orientation to some other objects.

❖ Weber advocates that social action includes all human behaviour that is oriented in its

course and has attached subjective meanings to it and takes into account behaviour of

others.

❖ Verstehen -

➢ It is the procedure by which a social researcher gains access to the meanings behind

human/social action.

➢ Weber had argued for interpretative sociology. There were two major reasons that
caused need for verstehen method -

✓ He argues that the subject matter of sociology should be social action that is
oriented towards others.

✓ He believed that if these actions are to be understood in totality then the

underlying meaning must be understood.

✓ He did believe that sociology had some scope for generalisation although he

advocated for limited generalisation.

✓ Features of Verstehen method -

▪ It argues that human actions can not be analysed by merely adopting

methods followed in natural sciences with absolute objectivity.

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 ▪ Human actions - Weber believed that the interpretation of human action
through recognition and empathy was crucial for a better understanding of

social phenomena of society.

▪ Verstehen requires the researchers to place themselves in the position of

individuals in order to observe the action and comprehend the meaning

behind the action.

▪ By doing so one is able to identify the motivational purpose attached to the

meaning behind an action

▪ Finally he argues that, verstehen is achieved through Hermeneutics. It refers

to the subjective understanding of empirical work from the perspective of

the author and the basic structure of the work.

▪ Verstehen understands the meanings behind the social action. And once the

meaning is understood verstehen looks for various causal explanations

behind the social phenomenon. This led to his approach of causal pluralism.
▪ He also mentions that verstehen could be used to study historical as well as

contemporary phenomena.

✓ Steps involved in Verstehen -

▪ Direct observational understanding - He mentions that there should be

identification of sense of the action as intended by the actor. This is done

through direct observation. Through it researchers can observe the action

of a person who is pointing a gun or giving a rose.

▪ After doing this, the researcher needs to recognise the context in which

the action is performed. This can only be understood through

empathetic liasoning i.e. getting into an actor's shoes. That means the

researcher should be imaginatively placing himself in the place of the actor

and then try to interpret the likely meaning which the actor might have
given to the situation and the consequent motives which would have given

rise to the action.

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 ▪ He also advocates that this method should not be confined to understanding
present social behaviour but also to understand the behaviour of historic

events.

▪ However, he does mention that in order to maintain the objectivity of the

research, a researcher must practise value neutrality.

✓ Ideal Types -

▪ It is a conceptual and logical research process through which knowledge is

developed.
▪ Ideal types are abstract models employed to understand the complex reality

of the social world. It is an analytical construct that acts as a measuring

rod to certain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases.

▪ These are conceptual logical research procedures by which knowledge is

developed. It is an analytical construct that serves an investigator a

measuring rod to certain similarities as well as deviations in concrete cases.

▪ Ideal types refers to a mental image or conception that acts as a

methodological tool and looks at reality objectively.

▪ He mentions that these ideal types are concepts that are developed by
sociologists to study empirical reality based on his conceptual understanding

of the essential feature of the social phenomenon.

▪ At the most basic level, ideal type is a concept constructed to capture the

essential features of a phenomenon.

▪ An ideal type depends upon the observer’s proximity to the social reality.

And are to be useful and helpful in doing empirical research and in

understanding specific aspects of social reality.

▪ Therefore Ideal types are not hypotheses. They do not state or imply an

average type or something to be ideal, It is just a mental construct created

by a social researcher and enables the researcher to compare the concrete

phenomenon with the ideal type.

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 ▪ Therefore, it is right to say that the ideal type is an analytical tool which
acts as a measuring rod.

Types of social action:

❖ There are four types of social action depending on the orientation of the action.

➢ Zweckrational Action - in relation to goal.

✓ Rational action in relation to goals via the means chosen rationally.

✓ Rationalisation of means and ends.

✓ It is predominantly the feature of an advanced capitalist society.

➢ Wertrational action -

✓ Rationalisation of means but ends are chosen based on the value.

✓ Some accommodation of emotions is there while choosing goals.

✓ Yet it is not to be called an emotional act as it is not an impulsive action.

✓ Action is done because societal approval is important.

✓ Feature of an early modern society which yet has not achieved high modernity.

➢ Affective or Emotional action -

✓ Affectional orientation is present

✓ Emotions are driving the action

✓ Emotions and impulse determine the ends and means.

➢ Traditional Action -

✓ Both means and ends are determined by customs and traditions.

✓ Actions are performed under a practice which has continued to exist in the

society for a long period of time.

Criticism

❖ Theodore Obel - He mentions empathetic liasoning.

➢ According to him, verstehen's application to understand social action is not easy.

➢ He is more focused on individuals and less focused on collective action.

❖ Talcott Parsons - He is too much emphasising on subjective meanings.

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 ➢ Several times action can be involuntary, rather than always being driven
consciously.

➢ Weber is limiting the understanding of social action.

➢ For Weber, social action is oriented towards others. Parsons mentions that it is not

necessary that actions are always oriented towards others. It may be oriented to a
situation.

❖ Cohen - says that Weber has not included freak actions (Actions done by virtue of
losing their nerves).

❖ Vilfredo Paredo - mentions illogical actions that are also a part of social life. These are

not being considered by Weber in his categorisation.

❖ Alfred schutz - Weber has not defined what he exactly meant by meaning.

Comparative Analysis

Between Social Fact and Social Action

Social Fact Social Action

❖ Treat them as things - Complete ❖ Value relevance and value neutrality -

objectivity

❖ Objective reality ❖ Subjective reality

❖ Positivist ❖ Interpretative

❖ Generalisation ❖ Limited generalisation

❖ No meanings attached ❖ Attached meanings

❖ Statical method, multivariate analysis, ❖ Versthen and Ideal types

comparative method

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Between Marx, Durkheim, Weber

Basis Marx Durkheim Weber

Methodology Dialectical Analysis Positivist Interpretative

Perspective Conflict orientist Functionalist Subjectivity

History Dialectical struggle Progress of science Fact

Subject matter of Conflict (rooted in Social fact Social Action

sociology economic structure) and
social change

Society Derived from economic Sui-generis Multidimensional

reality causality

Social Change Revolution Anomie - New norms Change in values

Power and Authority

❖ Power is the ability of an individual or a group or a society to fulfil its desires, to

implement its ideas and visions or to impose its wills or decisions on others with their
will or even without their will as well, in any situation.

❖ According to Weber, power is the ability of an individual, a group or a society to fulfil

its desires and implement its ideas and visions by implementing their will and decisions
on others in a given situation.

❖ It includes the ability to influence the behaviour of others with or against their will.

❖ Weber identifies power as part of social relationships. He argues that it is present in

social interactions and creates inequality because one who has power imposes it on
others.

❖ When power is implemented against the will or by use of force or violence is coercion.
On the other hand, the legitimate form becomes authority.

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❖ Weber uses the term - Domination which stands for the probability that a given group
of people will obey certain specific commands.

❖ Herrschaft (Domination) - Herr is the person who will give the command (master).

❖ Illegitimate domination - Power, Legitimate domination - Authority.

❖ Raymond Aron says that Herrschaft is the ability to obtain the obedience of those who
theoretically owe it to him.

❖ For legitimate domination, Weber mentions a few conditions -

➢ There should be a master/ruler.

➢ There should be those who are to be ruled.
➢ Will of the ruler to rule or influence the behaviour of the ruled.
➢ The ruler’s will should be expressed through command.
➢ Evidence of the influence of the command by the ruled.
➢ Ruled have accepted the fact that command should be obeyed.
❖ Authority implies a reciprocal relationship between the rulers and the ruled.

❖ The rulers believed that they had the legitimate right to exercise their authority. On
the other hand, the ruled accepted this power and complied with it reinforcing its
legitimacy.

Three types of Authority -

❖ Traditional Authority -

➢ Legitimacy flows from the traditional action.

➢ A ruler enjoys authority by virtue of inherited status.
➢ Commands are in accordance with the tradition
➢ Weber says that this kind of authority is irrational and rarely found in modern
societies.
➢ Weber says that traditional authority is legitimised on traditional grounds and is
based on an established belief in the sanctity of immemorial traditions and the
legitimacy of those who are exercising authority under them
❖ Charismatic Authority -

➢ Authority is held by an individual by the virtue of his charisma.

➢ Charisma refers to personality traits.

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 ➢ According to Weber, when the authority is legitimised by charisma possessed by an
individual then such authority is called charismatic authority.
➢ In this case, the individual holding a charismatic position has some extraordinary
personal traits or qualities by virtue of which the individual extracts exceptional
devotion from their followers.
➢ It is centred around a leader who has his or her own charisma exhibited in the
form of speeches, ideologies, etc.
➢ Such an authority draws legitimacy from the popularity of the leader. The more
popular a leader is, the more his or her authority is accepted.
➢ Weber also mentions that, because it is based on the personality of an individual,
the problem of succession arises from death and disappearance of the leader. The
person who succeeds the leader may not have the same charismatic powers. And
in order to transfer the original message of the leader some sort of organisation
develops. The original charisma transforms into either traditional or rational-legal
authority. Weber calls this a routinisation of charisma.
➢ Weber used routinization for charismatic leadership transforming into
institutionalised leadership where customs and traditions or an office becomes the
focus of authority.
❖ Legal - Rational Authority -
➢ Presence of such power and authority is an outcome of rationality.
➢ It is legitimised on the grounds that it rests on the belief in the legality of enacted
rules and the rights of those who are elevated to the authority positions under such
rules to issue commands.
➢ According to Weber, legal-rational authority is critical to the establishment of
bureaucracy.
➢ Such an authority is rationally structured and the presence of power is an outcome
of law.
➢ However, those who are exercising such power in authority positions do so as it is
their administrative obligation and in return, they are paid a salary.
➢ Weber states that this kind of authority is a typical feature of modern society, eg.
Bureaucracy.

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Criticism

❖ J Habermas -

➢ He says that Weber’s concept of authority can be criticised based on the concept of
legitimacy.
➢ Weber says that legitimate power is the result of acceptance given by people.
Habermas says that it is also clear that it is a legal-rational authority.
➢ If authority is established then it is legitimate domination. This legitimacy is derived
from the acceptance of the command by the people. But at the same time it is also
clear that it is a legal-rational authority. There is no appropriate distinction
between power and authority.
➢ There is inconsistency in the theory of Weber as the traditional and legal-rational
authorities are in conflict with each other. If the tradition is against the law then
the authority won’t be accepting it. They cannot co-exist. And therefore, Weber is
wrong to categorise them under the heading of authority.
❖ Anomaly of the ideal type of social action and authority. -

➢ Weber has come up with four types of social action but only three types of
authority.
❖ Michel Foucault -

➢ He says that authority and power don’t lie with a particular individual or
institution.
➢ He says that power is highly dispersed in society and operates at different levels
in different situations.
❖ Robert Dalf -

➢ Says that power or authority is a comparative or relative phenomenon.

Bureaucracy

❖ Its origin lies in the French word Bureau that means Desk.

❖ Bureaucratic government refers to a government which is run from the Desk.

❖ While doing a large scale administrative task, a rationally designed system i.e., hierarchy
is being developed and the work is distributed among the workers and coordinated.

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❖ Bureaucracy is organised according to rational principles. Officials are ranked
hierarchically and functions are characterised by impersonal rules.

❖ It is an indispensable instrument for achievement of rational goals for any given society.

❖ According to Weber, bureaucracy is a type of hierarchical organisation which is designed

rationally to coordinate the work of many individuals in pursuit of large -scale
administrative tasks.

❖ For Weber, bureaucracy is organised according to rational principles, officials are

ranked in hierarchical order, and operations are characterised by impersonal rules.

❖ Weber highlights that it is an indispensable instrument for the rational attainment of

goals of any organisation in industrial society.

❖ Therefore, it is understood as a large-scale formal organisation with specific functions.

❖ He also mentions that bureaucratisation and rationalisation of society go together

because bureaucracies are organised according to rational principles.

❖ Bureaucracy is the machinery that implements legal-rational authority and does make

rational actions that involve clear awareness of goals and systematic assessment of the

means to attain the goals.

❖ This is done by the selection of the most appropriate means by bureaucracy.

❖ Therefore, it is right to say that It is an organisation or machinery that is indulged in

rational action, and thus for Weber, bureaucratisation of societies is rationalisation of

modern societies.

❖ He also adds that bureaucracy is the system of control as it is a hierarchical organisation

where superiors strictly control the actions of subordinates and this way the whole

system is regulated.

❖ He also states that in any large-scale task, some of the people must control and

coordinate the actions of others. Therefore, bureaucracy involves some sort of voluntary

submission to higher authorities.

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Features of bureaucracy

❖ Alvin Gouldner - Bureaucracy can be of different types adopted according to scenarios.

➢ Mock bureaucracy -
✓ It is an outside agency.

✓ Not enforced by the company.

✓ Not followed by the workers.

✓ Little conflict.

➢ Representative bureaucracy -
✓ Rules are made by the workers and management together.

✓ Enforced by management and followed by workers.

✓ Little conflict.

➢ Punishment centred bureaucracy -

✓ Rules arise in reaction to the pressure of either worker and management.

✓ Either one of them enforces the rule and the other erode them.

✓ High tension or conflict.

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Factors behind the development of Bureaucracy.

❖ There was a development of a money economy that guarantees the constant income
for maintaining Bureaucracy.

❖ Populations increase and increase in large industries. The administration of these large
industries was challenging. To provide a solution to this Bureaucracy emerged.

❖ Increase in complexity in the administration. With time there is more emphasis on law
and order and social welfare.

❖ Focus on a more efficient system as there is increase in rationality.

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❖ Requirement of more personally detached officials as today’s society is based on
ascription. This is to ensure a more strict use of objective and rational means.

❖ It is an embodiment of rational interpretation of laws.

❖ Suitable for modern mass democracy.

Significance

❖ It is a more efficient system. It is considered to be most efficient authority structure

that is possible

❖ It is a rational organisation.

❖ It is achievement based i.e. recruitment of people based on merit.

❖ It is more scalable (in centralised as well as decentralised and macro as well as micro
organisations)

❖ It upholds equality.

❖ It helps in the easy performance of complicated tasks.

❖ It is comparatively less expensive and less conflicting.

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Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy

❖ It limits the individual liberty of bureaucrats. They can not act in discretions as they
are bound by the laws.

❖ Prevalence of Red Tapism. It is rule specific.

❖ Issue of bureaucratic apathy towards public sentiments due to their mechanical

functioning.

❖ Prevalence of corruption at a large scale as a result of lack of accountability and

transparency.

❖ They are trapped in a specialisation of daily routine.

❖ Emergence of Role conflict and value conflict.

Limitations of Bureaucracy.

❖ Alienation is an inevitable part of society because it is the result of rationalisation of

social life and Bureaucratisation of society. Decisions are not based on emotions rather
they are the result of rational thinking.

❖ Iron cage of rationality. Individuals' creativity, innovation, and discretion are almost
dead.

❖ Bureaucracy is escape proof. It is the hardest system to be destroyed once established.

It is a very rigid institution.

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❖ Dictatorship of officials. Decision making is in the hands of top officials.

Criticism

❖ RK Merton

➢ He says that bureaucrats are trained to strictly adhere to rules to be followed in a

static situation. But when the bureaucrats actually work in reality they are placed
in dynamic situations. There can be situations which may not be covered in the
training. In such a condition they can be rigid to handle that situation.
➢ Bureaucracy suffers from the problem of rigidity and Timidity (over emphasis on
rules in complex and uncertain situations).
❖ Robert Michels -

➢ Bureaucracy becomes so dominating even in democracy that it reduces democratic

rule into oligarchy.
❖ Peter Blau -

➢ Weber has over emphasised the formal structure of bureaucracy.

➢ He has focused more on the rational elements.
➢ Blau conducts a study of federal enforcement agencies in Washington. Here he notes
that there is the prevalence of both formal and informal structure which has
resulted in the efficiency.
❖ Elvin Gouldner -

➢ He conducts the study in Gypsum Plant, US, and finds out that formal structure is
leading to efficiency but when he conducts the study of Mining he finds out that
formal structure is resulting in inefficiency and informal structure is more efficient.
➢ He mentions that it is not necessary that formal structures will always lead to
efficiency. In some cases, efficiency can come out of informal structures as well.
❖ George Ritzer -

➢ He says that increasing rationalisation results in rationalisation of outcomes.

❖ Burn and Stalker-

➢ They say that Bureaucracy should have an organic structure instead of a mechanical
one so that it can handle dynamic situations.

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 ➢ Tom Burns finds out in his studies of Scotland and England that in the organisations
where there are excessive written rules quick decision making is not possible
resulting in cost to the company and thus leading to inefficiency.
❖ Marxist -

➢ Bureaucracy is the tool that works for bourgeoise class.

Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism

❖ It is a landmark body of work in sociology. It established Weber’s concept of Causal

Pluralism.

❖ It also acts as a critic of Marxian work.

❖ He tries to show how change in Religious values can result in change in the economic
behaviour of people in a society.

❖ Weber used statistical methods in this study, thus, he was not a complete anti-
positivist.

❖ Via this method he finds that workers of higher grade skills, business leaders, and
owners of factories, were a part of the Protestant religion.

❖ Thus, he concludes that capitalism is not the result of commercial / industrial revolution
rather it always existed in one form or other in the society. It is caused by the change
in values and from the need of accumulating more property.

❖ In the era of modernity, Protestant religion has played a major role in boosting it.

❖ Weberian Capitalism -

➢ Capital -
✓ Private Ownership,

✓ Technologically superior and efficient,

✓ Surplus accumulation and reinvestment,

✓ Savings driven.

➢ Different forms of capitalism -

✓ Booty capitalism - Capital is acquired by theft and robbery. Popular in ancient
times.

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 ✓ Pariah capitalism - money is lent and interest is earned, this way capital is
increased.

✓ Traditional capitalism - Capital was gained by traditional methods. It was a

result of an informal relation between master and serf. Prevalent in the

mediaeval times.

✓ Modern capitalism - It is efficiency oriented and requires discipline. Labor is

greatly controlled and hard work has a great value, orientation of profit

making. It is a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution.

▪ He also mentions that the industrial revolution is one factor behind the

emergence of Modern capitalism. There are many other factors as well. One

such factor is Protestant Ethics religion and boost in the spirit of capitalism

➢ Features of Modern capitalism -

✓ It is a result of change in values and not just change in material condition.

✓ This change in the values of the society, for Weber has come from the protestant

ethics religion.

✓ For him, capitalism is a rational system which has unintended consequences.

✓ A living social structure is created out of an anthropogenic social structure.

✓ Though it emerged out of Protestant values, it is self-sustaining.

✓ Production is for the market (open market system). It presupposes material

production, consumerism, surplus accumulation.

➢ Spirit of entrepreneurship in capitalism -

✓ It is innovative and disruptive.

✓ It is nonconformist and rational.

✓ It is dedicated, disciplined and hardworking.

➢ Capitalist market and Labor -

✓ Rational organisation of free labor.

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 ✓ It is dedicated, disciplined and hardworking, technically skilled, commercially

trained.

Comparison Between Marxian Capitalism and Weberian Capitalism

Marxian Capitalism Weberian Capitalism

❖ Capitalism is based on greed and ❖ Capitalism is based on Value and

production relation within society. Material condition.

❖ Class divide leads to capitalism. ❖ Class divide leads to position in the

market and not in the society.

❖ Society is formed as an economic base. ❖ Multi dimensional origin based on

class, power and prestige.

❖ Capitalism leads to Dehumanisation and ❖ May lead to emergence of

alienation. disenchantment, relative deprivation
and Bureaucratic rationalism.

❖ Religion serves capitalists. ❖ Religious values can lead to and can

be changed by capitalism.

❖ Structural approach ❖ Interpretative approach.

❖ Proletarian revolution ❖ Revolution is a Remote possibility.

Harmony in Capitalism and Protestantism

❖ Shift from ritualism and other worldly orientation to earthly pragmatism.

❖ Protestantism developed an anti ritualistic attitude along with developing science and
rationality.

❖ Change in attitude towards work (Work is Virtue). Hard Work is seen as contributing
to the glory of God. People are motivated towards Work.

❖ Catholics regarded work as primitive necessity (work as a punishment/original sin).

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❖ Concept of calling off - Faith is predestined. Individuals can not change it.

➢ Selection of Vocation and get success in that.

❖ Honesty in one’s calling - One must be true to oneself in work.

❖ Promoted that wealth should be promoted/used for production purposes.

❖ Catholicism prohibited collection of interest on loans.

❖ Protestantism prohibits consumption of alcohol and rather promotes asceticism thus,

promoting saving and investment.

❖ Rejection of Holidays - as it is regarded as anti-ritualistic.

Capitalism Ideal Type -

❖ Rational system

❖ Monetary measurement

❖ Money multiplication

Non Protestant Ethics and Capitalism -

Judaism -

❖ Weber’s perspective - All necessary ingredients (hardworking, dedicated, disciplined,

access to capital, material ethics) are there for capitalism, yet it is not able to grow
because of the anti semitism wave.

❖ Due to it they got scattered all over the world as they lacked a separate state thus an
absence of a legal-rational authority and could not gather their social capital.

Chinese Religion -

❖ Limited Capitalism is there, in rudimentary form.

❖ Structure and value of their capitalism was traditional and not rational.

❖ Society was patrimonial.

❖ Chinese language was pictographic in nature which over dominated intellectual

thoughts as it is tough to learn.

Hinduism -

❖ No scope for hinduism and capitalism to have harmony.

❖ This is due to the presence of caste system and occupation derived from ascription.

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❖ Money lending is considered as unethical.

❖ Brahmanism controlled every aspect of social life.

❖ Thus, no scope for a legal rational system.

❖ Little intellectual scope for technical advancement.

❖ Presence of Moh-maya concept making people lethargic.

Criticism -

❖ RH Tawney - Poor empirical evidence, narrow on empiricism, not enough research

done, suffering from confirmatory bias.

➢ There are certain communities in England where there is no concept predestined

still capitalism developed.
➢ There were some aspects of catholicism teachings which were equally compatible
with capitalism yet it was low therein.
➢ Weber's theory has boosted rationalism, Tawney mentions that protestantism did
not boost capitalism rather it was the outcome of rationality.
❖ Lawrence Stone - conducted study in England and finds that it was not protestantism
which promoted capitalism rather it is British aristocracy.

❖ Milton Singer - conducted study in India specifically, chettiars of Madras. Their values
are equivalent to Calvinism, but there is still no capitalism as there is a lack of
education.

❖ Bendix and Lipset - conducted study in Germany. They found out that their capitalism
came from abroad rather than coming from religion.

❖ Weber did not consider that capitalism also requires consumption to grow.

❖ TC Hall - conducted study in the highlands of Scotland and South America. He finds
out that protestantism is present there but still there is no capitalism but growth of
socialism. It is not the society rather the situation of people which leads to the growth
of capitalism.

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 Talcott Parsons

❖ He studied at Amherst College and then at the London School of Economics, and this
is where he came under the influence of Morris Ginsberg.

❖ Later on he moved to Germany to pursue his Ph.D.

❖ He joined Harvard University as an instructor in 1970, and here he came under the
influence of Durkheim, Pareto, and Spencer.
❖ He published his first major work Structure of Social Action in 1937.
❖ Later he became chairman of the Department of Sociology and further on he became
the president of the Department of Social Relations and American Sociological
Association.
❖ Racial conflict and feminist movements were pertaining in American society at that
time along with hunger, poverty, unemployment, etc.
❖ He is credited for providing an Encyclopaedic view on Sociology. He merged the micro
and macro views.
❖ He is influenced by both Durkheim and Weber.

Durkheim Weber

❖ His works are committed to concepts such ❖ Social Action Theory, Action System
as order, solidarity, and integration.

❖ He was concerned with how the subjective state of actors influences emerging patterns
of social organisation.
❖ Mitchell - He mentions that a social system consists of a plurality of all actors
interacting directly or indirectly with each other in a bounded system.

➢ This interaction is possible only because they are in a bounded system.

❖ Utilitarian concept - Utilitarians have a very individualistic view of social action because
they focus on utilitarian rational calculation in individual actions.
➢ According to them, the social system is a byproduct of an individual’s action.
➢ Individuals develop a coherent system around their needs, desires, and goals.

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 ➢ Social systems are an arrangement of compatibility of interest out of contractual
mutuality.
❖ Positivists view - They believe
that the action of social actors
is controlled by the social
structure.

❖ Parsons says that positivists

insist that true human action
is born out of full information
about the situation. They treat
humans as matter when they
say that humans react in a
similar pattern in a given situation. They see human actions as passive beings with an
inflexible nature.
❖ According to Parsons this is not true as this is not the true nature of humans. The
social behaviour of humans is different.

❖ Idealists see social action as the realisation of social spirit and realisation of ideas. They
refer to the social system as an arrangement of values and ideas that drive action and
interaction in society.
❖ Parsons says that idealists have overemphasised the values. He says that it is important
to understand the middle ground between the utilitarian, positivist, and idealist
approaches. For this, he developed his own theory named as Action approach.

Action Approach of Parsons

❖ Parson's approach to the social system is integrative because he emphasises both

motivating factors and values in the production of his social system theory.

❖ He treats social action as an intrinsic element of social action, therefore, his method to
study the social system is based on his theory of social action.

❖ According to Talcott Parsons, the structure of social action is any act that is consciously
performed.

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❖ For him, social action is an action of an individual or a group that starts because of
motivation to get maximum satisfaction or fulfilment of needs and desires.

Parsons's Theory of Social Action

❖ He wants to provide a conceptual structure for the whole of sociology, but this also
serves to integrate all social sciences.

❖ He does this by merging macro and micro views.

❖ The best way to understand society is to develop a synthesis of individual action and
social system.

❖ He mentions the Elements of Social Action -

➢ Actor
➢ Motive and Orientation towards other actors or situations
➢ Various means (actors have to choose between the various means)
➢ Regulated and constrained by norms.
➢ Social goals - Mutually agreed goals
❖ Parsons also believes that individuals have a typical nature and influence social action.

Types of Action Based on Motivational Orientation

❖ Cognitive action - Action is dominated by reason, rationality, and intellectual cognition

❖ Cathetic action - Action is dominated by emotions

❖ Evaluative action - Action is dominated by evaluative orientation, the actor is seeking

validation

Types of Action Based on Value Orientation

❖ Cognitive action - Action is dominated by a validity of judgement.

❖ Appreciative action - Enables the actor to examine the appropriateness of action.

❖ Moral action - Highlights the value commitment of an actor.

Final Types of Social Action

❖ He considers both the motivational and value orientations while discussing the types of
social actions.

❖ When an individual acts by merging the cognitive actions of both motivational and
value orientation then it is Instrumental action.

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❖ When an individual acts by merging the Cathetic actions and appreciative actions then
it is an Expressive action.

❖ When an individual acts by merging the evaluation actions and moral actions then it
is Moral action.

Social Action

❖ In simple words Social Action according to Parsons is any act that is consciously
performed in a situation.

❖ For him, an action to be qualified as Social Action must fulfil the following conditions:

➢ It must occur in a social situation i.e. an actor while performing an action must be
a member of society.
➢ A social action is oriented towards the attainment of a particular goal i.e. the actor
is motivated to that goal.
➢ Actions are regulated by norms and values.
➢ It involves the investment of energy.
❖ He also mentions that social goals also influence social action i.e. the goal chosen by the
actor is a mutually agreed goal.
❖ It is to be noted that according to him action is derived from behaviour of human
beings as living organisms.

❖ As living organisms they interact with external reality as well as within their own mind.
Such behaviour becomes action-oriented for the attainment of ends and that action is
in a social situation.
❖ A social situation has two aspects -

➢ Conditions
➢ Means
❖ Over conditions, the actor has little or no control.
❖ Parsons says that such actions are regulated by cultural norms and values of society
and there is an effort from the actor i.e. there is the investment of energy.

Types of Actions mentioned by Parsons are as follows:

❖ Instrumental action- Both means and ends are logically and rationally decided.

❖ Expressive action- Emotional or appreciative elements are dominant.

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❖ Moral action- The value of society constrains individuals' own motivations and
influences action.

❖ Parsons drives his classification of Social action based on motivational and value
orientation.

❖ He mentions that motivational orientation involves only motives and therefore is rooted
in the psychological aspects of individuals or it could be said that it is rooted at the
individual level.

❖ On the other hand, value orientation involves cultural systems.

❖ However, the cultural aspects of behaviour with the individual aspect are integrated.

❖ He also mentions that social actions do not occur in a vacuum i.e. it does not occur in
isolation but in the constellation.

❖ It is also to be noted that such a constellation in the form of institutionalised social

interaction is called a social system.

❖ His idea of social action was a hybrid of micro and macro perspectives.

❖ He took into account external factors in the form of value orientations and personal
internal factors of individuals in terms of motivational orientation.

System of Social Action or Structure or Social Action:

❖ In a system there is a set of rules and an institutionalised pattern for conducting an

action.

❖ He mentions that the general system of human action has some parts-
➢ Personality system - Storehouse of motivation
➢ Organismic system - Storehouse of energy
➢ Cultural system - Storehouse of information
➢ Social system - Society as a whole. Social relationships and interactions among
individual actors. Interconnected social institutions.
❖ While talking about social action he focuses on unit act whereas while explaining social
system he focuses on institutional orders.

❖ His work on the social system is not an empirical imprint rather it is a conceptual
framework.

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❖ For him, social reality as a whole consists of a physical environment and an action
system of social action and interaction.

❖ He defines social system as a system consisting of a plurality of individuals interacting

with each other in a situation that has an environment, and actors are motivated in
terms of optimisation of gratification and whose relation to their situation is defined
and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured norms and shared symbols.

❖ Parsons is a champion of structural functionalism.

❖ He studies social systems in terms of structure (actor, environment, relations,

institution, organisation) and functions (what needs it meets, achievement of
gratification).

❖ Action systems are conceptual abstractions that Parsons gives as a precursor to the
social system.

❖ He identifies the following important action systems-

➢ Organismic system/Behavioral system - According to Parsons, it is a physical or

biological aspect of social reality.
✓ He calls it a storehouse of energy.

✓ He argues that drives for behaviour comes from an organism’s biological

capacity.

✓ The main function of the system is to act as a source of energy for the rest of
the systems.

✓ And the major function of this system is an adaptation to the environment

(both physical environment and other individuals).

➢ Personality system - it is defined as an organised system of orientation and

motivation of the action of the individual actor.

✓ Parsons calls it the storehouse of the information.

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 ✓ An individual’s personality comes from a combination of biological drives and
culture.

✓ It develops through socialisation and then social approvals and disapprovals.

✓ The main function of this system is to function for goal attainment with
individuals motivated by optimisation of gratification.

➢ Cultural system - It is formed of normative patterns.

✓ It includes beliefs, values, norms, private moral obligations, and expressive
symbols that guide choices.
✓ Parsons calls it a storehouse of information.

✓ In his view, it is an ordered and patterned system of symbols.

✓ These ordered systems of symbols are influential for the orientation of the actor
and may become internalised aspects of the personality system and
institutionalised patterns.

✓ In simple words, a cultural system influences motivation and provides

knowledge, information, and regulation for actions.

✓ It is a social stock of knowledge and ideas.

✓ In fact for Parsons, a cultural system is essential as elementary communication

is not possible without some degree of conformity to these systems.

✓ According to him, the Cultural system dominates other action systems. It also
affects other systems, creating norms and values that guide social behaviour
and the personality system through socialisation and learning.

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 ✓ This is why sometimes he is called a Cultural determinist.

➢ Social system - According to Parsons, it reflects the society as a whole. It is an

implication of society and interaction among individual actors.
✓ It includes societal institutions such as family. Since these are created and
maintained through such interactions and relationships.

Characteristics of Action System

❖ Each of the systems is made up of interdependent parts called sub-systems.

❖ Each sub-system can be treated as a system itself.

❖ Each system has a defined boundary.

❖ These systems are organised in a stable manner.

❖ Each system fulfils some functions which are to fulfil the system’s needs.

❖ He uses the word equilibrium to represent stability.

❖ According to him, different systems perform different functions to maintain

equilibrium in society.

❖ He assumes that society is in a state of equilibrium (Mechanical Equilibrium).

❖ In case there is any external factor that disturbs this equilibrium, then the various
systems of the society will make adjustments to the external force and will set the
society again in the state of equilibrium.

Characteristics of Social System:

❖ Interaction takes place between

two or more actors.

❖ An actor is a social being with

emotions and values.
❖ The actor is acting to achieve a
collective goal.

❖ He sees the actor in terms of a

being who holds a social position.

➢ Status is the structural

position within the social system whereas role is the expected behaviour.

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Functional Prerequisites of Social System

❖ If the social system is to

function and is to be in
equilibrium, then certain
conditions must be fulfilled.

❖ Social systems must be

structured in order to be
compatible with other
structures.

❖ They must have support

from each other.

❖ They should meet the significant needs of its actors.

❖ The social system must have adequate participation from its members.

❖ It must have some control over disruptive behaviour.

➢ If conflict becomes disruptive, then it must be controlled.

❖ It requires language in order to survive.
AGIL Functions:

❖ Adaptation (adjustment to the external environment) Economic system

❖ Goal attainment (mobilising the members to invest their energy to attain goals) Political
system

❖ Integration (social solidarity and social cohesion) Social system

❖ Latency (pattern maintenance => tension management) Fiduciary system

❖ A function is a complex of activities directed towards meeting needs of the system.

❖ Parsons believed that there are 4 functional imperatives necessary for all systems.

❖ Adaptation

➢ A system must cope or adjust to external situational exigencies and it must adapt
to its environment and adapt the environment to its needs.
➢ In order to survive, a social system must gain control over the environment.
➢ It should ensure the production of food and maintain security.

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 ➢ This requires adaptation for society to the environment.
➢ This function is performed by the Economic system through labour, production,
and allocation.
➢ An economic system makes the adjustment in the external environment to society's
needs and helps them to adapt to these external realities.
❖ Goal Attainment
➢ A system must define and achieve its primary goal.
➢ The goals of the system must be defined and means of attempting to achieve these
goals should be set.
➢ This implies that society’s goals are pursued through a political system that performs
the role of goal attainment.
➢ Political system has the role of resource mobilisation as well as mobilisation of
members of the society for the achievement of these goals.
❖ Integration

➢ A system must regulate the interrelationship of its components. It also must

manage relationships among the other three functional imperatives i.e. A, G, and
L.
➢ In simple words, Integration is that functional prerequisite that helps to maintain
coherence, solidarity, and coordination in the system.
➢ In the social system this function is mainly performed by cultural and social values
or other social institutions for social control, be it formal, informal, or coercive
institutions. They coordinate with various components of society to suppress any
deviance of any nature that can disrupt order.
➢ So, basically they perform the function of maintaining stability, solidarity, and
integration.
❖ Latency
➢ It means pattern maintenance and is essential for tension management.
➢ A social system must furnish and renew both the motivation of the individual and
the cultural patterns that create and sustain that motivation.
➢ This is essential for the maintenance of ability.
➢ Therefore, Latency is the functional prerequisite of the social system that organises
and maintains the energy of the elements in the social system.

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 ➢ It is essential because very frequent changes in society about rules, values, and
norms will disrupt the value consensus and result in chaos in society thus, pattern
maintenance is a prerequisite in society.
➢ Parsons calls this as latency.
➢ Fiduciary institutions such as family, kinship, and education take this responsibility.
➢ These institutions socialise members and teach them about basic patterns of value
of society.

How is order maintained?

❖ Socialisation - Values and norms are transmitted to the members of society and become
an integral part of an individual’s personality.
❖ Social Control - Formal (constitution), informal mechanisms (family), and coercive
mechanisms (police) manage it.

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Characteristics of Social System:

Cybernetic Hierarchy of Control:

❖ LIGA - From the information point of view.

❖ AGIL - From the energy point of view.

❖ The AGIL System is considered a cybernetic hierarchy and generally has the following
order:

➢ LIGA - when the order is viewed from an informational point of view.

➢ This implies that L controls and defines I or I defines and controls G or G defines
and controls A.

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 ➢ This control of a function over another approximately occurs in the same way in
which the computer game program defines the game.
➢ In this way Parsons would say that culture would define the social system and the
social system would define the goals and according to the goals there would be
adjustments in the society.
➢ AGIL systems also have energy or conditions, which would follow the pattern of
AGIL.
➢ This means that the adaptive level would be the highest level of the cybernetic
hierarchy from the energy point of view.
➢ However, he also mentions that within these 2 river sequences of the hierarchy, in
the long historical perspective, a system that is high in information would tend to
prevail over systems that are high in energy.
➢ That is, within the action system Parsons would maintain that it was the culture
that was highest in information and in his way was in cybernetic control over other
components of the action system.
➢ For Parsons, social change occurs when there is a change in the energy flow or in
the information control as equilibrium is disturbed which is restored by socialisation
or social control.
Criticism
❖ RK Merton - He says that Parsons is showing intellectual aggression.
➢ He is developing grand theories which are futile and can not be used.
➢ He has considered the manifested roles as functions.
➢ He views only functional aspects and ignores the dysfunctions.
➢ Merton suggests the development of a Middle range theory.
❖ J Habermas - He says that Parsons has viewed coercive injection of values via cultural
institutions.
➢ Cultural institutions are controlled by the state (which according to Marx is under
the influence of Bourgeoise)
➢ Parsons assumes value consensus as voluntary. However, it is coercive as it is under
the control of the state.

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❖ Bryan Turner - He mentions Parsons's work is futile as he considers that in each system

there will be the same AGI, thus, each system will have a similar institutionalised

pattern. But at the grassroots level, in China, Germany, and India, AGIL may be

present but not the same.

❖ Ralf Dahredrof - Parsons overemphasised on Value consensus.

➢ He ignored conflict resolution.

➢ His work is low on empirical testability.

❖ Elvin Gouldner - Parsons theory seems to show that people are collectively acting for

goals. But that goal can be of the dominant section of the society.

❖ CW Mills - Parsons makes teleological errors where he considers effects as causes and

functions as purpose.

Pattern Variable (PV)

❖ Pattern Variables explain the process of socialisation and how to compare between 2

or more social structures.

❖ Any act has 2 orientations. It can be motivational orientation or value orientation.

❖ Pattern Variables are the choices between alternating values while performing any act.

❖ There are 2 types of choice -

➢ Pattern variable A

➢ Pattern Variable B

❖ Pattern Variable is an effective tool to analyse -

➢ Social action, social relationships and social system

❖ Parsons says that PVs are very important for classifying social relationships.

❖ Each PV provides mutually exclusive alternatives, One of these must be chosen before

an actor acts in a given situation.

❖ He identifies 5 types of PVs -

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 Pattern Variable A Pattern Variable B

❖ Affectivity ❖ Affective Neutrality

❖ Diffuseness ❖ Specificity

❖ Particularism ❖ Universalism

❖ Ascription ❖ Achievement

❖ Self orientation ❖ Collective orientation

➢ Affectivity refers to emotions.

➢ Affective Neutrality refers to emotional neutrality or emotional detachment.

➢ Diffuseness refers to a wide range of activity within a relationship/no fixed pattern.

➢ Specificity - particularity or narrow scope/Fixed pattern.

➢ Particularism - action is based on priority.

➢ Universalism - general standards for all.

➢ Ascription - Based on birth.

➢ Achievement - Based on achievements.

➢ Self-orientation - Preference is given to the self/individualism/action in the interest

of oneself.

➢ Collective orientation - preference is given to the group/action for the interest of

the group.

Criticism

❖ It is being borrowed from the Tonnies concept of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.

❖ His theory of PV is very vague. He has presented things in a very simplistic way
(generalisation)

❖ In reality, actions are more complex.

❖ Jesses Bernard - It is too scientific to make generalisations.

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Type of social systems or social structures:
❖ Universalistic achievement system- It is a type of system where the values that promote
achievements are based on the legal-rational standards.
➢ Example - Equality, freedom, democracy, liberty… etc.
➢ Example - Modern American society
❖ Universalistic ascriptive system - execution of responsibility is based on universal
standards but there are references in the allocation of authority.
➢ Example - Nazi Germany
❖ Particularistic achievement system - Primary criteria of achievement is not based on
universalistic standards here.
❖ Particularistic ascriptive system - Birth decides status, authority, and work.

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 RK Merton (1910-2003)

❖ He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

❖ He was born in very poor circumstances. After completing high school from Philadelphia
he got scholarship in Temple university, after that he went to Harvard University where
he got the opportunity with the likes of Pitirim Sorokin.
❖ He worked as a lecturer at Columbia University. Later became Associate Director of the
Bureau of Applied Research in the same university.
❖ Tallcot Parsons and Pitirim Sorokin had a great influence on the works of Merton.
❖ Parsons' influence led to the development of structural views.
❖ Merton’s work led to the development of Neo Functionalism (focus not only on functions
but also on dysfunctions).

Middle Range Theory (MRT)

❖ He emerges as the influential voice of the functionalists in his own way.

❖ Parsons developed a grand theory by synthesising micro and macro views. Merton
criticises this view and says that Parsons' approach is both starile and futile.
❖ Merton says that Parsons' analysis is premature as it is far from ground realities.

❖ He also criticises the paradigm of functional analysis of Parsons.

❖ It was influenced by the works of Malinoski and AR Radcliffe Brown.

➢ Functional unity
➢ Functional universality
➢ Functional indispensability

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 ✓ Radcliffe Brown says that the different components of society work in harmony
and unity. It also has universality and is indispensable.

❖ Merton argues that the analysis of Radcliffe brown is wrong, each element can be
replaced by another element.

❖ Elvin Gouldner and Merton both focused on middle range theory instead of the grand
theory.

❖ Merton says that sociological theories should be based on Empirical facts.

❖ Theories should be presented in a systematic and consolidated manner.

❖ Parsons theory is abstract and far away from relevant social reality.

❖ Merton rejects the use of natural science in sociological research. He mentions looking
into the actual problems of the society like corruption and crime.

❖ He says that the theories of natural science are cumulative research. Cumulative
research is possible in natural science as it is static but not in the case of sociological
science as the subject matter of social science is dynamic

❖ MRT is fact-driven, small, and understandable.

❖ Positivists are fact-driven and Parsons is abstract. The middle-range theory is in

between these two extremes.
❖ MRT acts as a guide to research in a systematic and consolidated way.

❖ Examples of MRT are - Merton's theory of deviance and reference group theory.

Criticism

❖ Too Deterministic - MRT tends to undermine human agency.

❖ This theory is less abstract but some degree of abstractness still exists.
Advantages:

❖ This theory makes sociological research more empirical oriented.

❖ MRT emerged as a madhyam marga i.e. it balances between the individual and
structures and directly observable reality and substantive reality. Thus emerged as a
dominant theory.

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Merton’s Paradigm of Functional Analysis:

❖ Merton mentions that the functional analysis given by Malinowski and AR Radcliffe
Brown is in the context of simple societies and, thus not suitable for studying
contemporary societies.

❖ When he developed his functional analysis that developed as a criticism of the functional
analysis given by Malinowski and AR Radcliffe Brown

❖ Merton attempted to recognise both functions and dysfunctions.

❖ He developed some steps involved in the functional approach in the form of systematic
arrangement.

❖ These are the tools of logical classification through which one studies social realities.

❖ Merton’s postulates came as criticism of the postulates given by Malinowski and AR

Radcliffe Brown.

❖ Postulates given by Malinowski and AR Radcliffe Brown.

➢ Functional unity - Society is purely integrative. All parts of the society work in
harmony and there is internal consistency in the society.
✓ Merton rejects this by saying that it is hard to find a society that is universally
integrative.

✓ There are certain societies where there are conflicts.

✓ An element of society that is functional for one society can be dysfunctional for
another society.

➢ Functional universality - This argues that all social and cultural values have some
sort of positive role or function.
✓ Merton says that this is not necessary as there can be some sort of dysfunctions
as well i.e. negative outcomes can also be there.

❖ Functional indispensability - There are certain social institutions that are indispensable
to society.

➢ Merton says that this is not necessary, any such stand by any sociologist makes
them status quoist.

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 ➢ He argues that nothing is indispensable, those institutions or elements of the society
that are to be disposed of, some functional alternatives of that particular element
emerge to replace it.
➢ Functional Alternatives - Example - Play schools emerged as an alternative to the
joint families for inculcating the
manners in the children.
❖ Postulates according to Merton -
➢ Paradigm is the logical tool for
classification.
➢ Necessary steps in constructing
theories.
➢ It brings out an array of
assumptions in the open.
➢ Helps understand the concepts and basic propositions.
➢ It helps reduce the randomness and arbitrariness of the researcher.
➢ It helps in understanding how to conduct analysis.
➢ Something that is part of regular analysis must be included in the functional
analysis (but do not include idiosyncrasies or peculiarities).
❖ Importance of Merton’s postulates -

➢ His Paradigm helps in developing conceptual understanding. The minimum set of

concepts without which the functional analysis can not be conducted are adequately
defined.
➢ Identification of underlying concepts.
➢ Sociologists should be sensitised towards ideological biases.
➢ Helps in theory building (theorisation)
❖ Further steps or guidelines for functional analysis by Merton -
➢ If there is any principle alternative that is excluded due to dominance of a particular
pattern should be indicated.
➢ Assessment of meanings and motives behind actions is important.
➢ Analyse if the motive corresponds with the conformity or deviance.
➢ There will be some recognised (manifest functions) and unrecognised (latent
functions) consequences of the matter under study that should be considered.

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 ➢ A functionalist should study both the latent and the manifest functions.
➢ Manifest - Observed, intended, recognised function
➢ Latent - Unintended, unrecognised
➢ Functions - Meets needs for adjustment/adaptation of the social system
➢ Dysfunction - Lessens the capacity of adjustment of the social system.
➢ Example - Lockdown
✓ Manifest function - Flattening of COVID curve.

✓ Manifest dysfunction - Economic slowdown.

✓ Latent function - Decline in the pollution level.

✓ Latent dysfunction - Increase in domestic violence.

❖ Importance of distinction between Manifest and Latent -

➢ It helps in understanding many social practices that persist in society.

➢ Even if the manifest purpose of social practice is not understood yet it enables us
to understand it.
➢ Focuses on such a range of consequences that are generally ignored.
➢ Opens new vistas for research.
➢ Departure from common sensical limitations.
➢ Identification of fault in any institution, policy…etc.

Criticism of RK Merton’s Functionalism:

❖ Lack of Rationalist: Merton has not clearly defined what is functional and what is
dysfunctional.

❖ Sometimes consensus and conflict work together to maintain balance in the society.
Merton is silent on this particular aspect.

❖ Lack of objectivity: Merton criticises the functionalist theories of Raddcliff and

Malinowski but when he himself conducts study for the same he also gives the example
of a simple society.

➢ Merton imagines on the lines of classical functionalists that society is like a biological
organism and harmony or unity constitutes different parts. (old wine new bottle)

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❖ Mark Abrahamson: Criticises Merton for underplaying conflicts in society. He mentions
that there are strains in the structure of society, Merton sees strains as deviant
behaviour (abnormal acts) and not
as normal acts.

❖ Francis Abraham: He criticises

Merton for his methodology. Merton
has used functionalist methodology.
Abraham mentions that the major
issue in the approach of
functionalist methodology is the
tendency to rely on the intuitions of the observer.
➢ Through the help of intuition researchers develop the ability to view the functions
that are performed by particular elements.
➢ A particular phenomenon can be functional for one and dysfunctional for another.
Prevalence of ambiguity while considering what is functional and dysfunctional and
what is latent and manifest.
❖ Colin Campbell: He argues that Merton has primarily focused on studying Latent
functions, but Latent functions can be used as a tool to justify many wrongdoings. It
couldn't prevent functionalism from being status quoits.

Merton’s Theory of Deviance

❖ It is not easy to define deviance.

❖ One phenomenon which is deviant for one may not be deviant for another.

❖ Norms are defined as guidelines that prescribe standards for the regulation of behaviour

of members of a particular society.

❖ Conformity refers to the action that is oriented towards the social norms or behaviour

that falls under the tolerance of society.

❖ Deviance refers to any behaviour that is not conforming to the accepted part of societal

norms.

❖ Based on the above-mentioned concepts, Merton has developed the theory of deviance.

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❖ Society maintains itself via the Normative system.

❖ Conformity and deviance exist in every type of society whether it is a simple society,
complex society, or modern society. However, the context of conformity and deviance

is relative.

❖ Classical Functionalist mentions that deviant behaviour is a common part of human

existence.

❖ Deviance has some positive and negative consequences that are related to the stability

of society. When there is too much deviance in society stability tends to disrupt. Any

disruption in the stability of society leads to the development/evolution of laws. Thus,

functionalists see deviance as a functional (necessary) part of society.

❖ Durkheim’s Anomie - One of the oldest and the most logical explanations of deviance

in society.

➢ He defines anomie as a state of normlessness.

➢ When there is a greater change in the material aspects of society than the

normative changes, society goes into a state of normlessness.

➢ Old norms are de-rooted but new norms are not established yet.

➢ In the state of anomie, people no longer share common values/goals. There can be

disintegration of the society as a result of this.

❖ RK Merton modifies this concept of Anomie. He says that when there is a disjunction

between cultural goals and institutionalised means that is called Anomie.

❖ The structural gap or strain while achieving the goals recognised by the society leads

to deviant behaviour (response to anomie) as per Merton.

❖ Merton’s Anomie is due to discrepancies existing in society as a result of differences

between socially approved goals and means.

❖ He locates the source of deviant behaviour in the cultural and social structure rather

than only in individuals.

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❖ As society is in a state of anomie, it exerts some pressure on certain individuals to
behave in deviant ways. This deviant behaviour can be of 5 types, one of them is
conformity and the rest is deviant.

❖ Anomie according to Merton refers to social and cultural conditions in which there is
either conflict of norms or ambivalent orientation towards norms.

❖ Through anomie, Merton aimed to show that some social structures exert a definite
pressure on certain people in society to engage in non-conforming conduct.

❖ He argues that this may be a result of a structural gap or structural strain.

Structural Strain:

❖ According to Merton, when the means that are institutionalised in the social structure

are not sufficient to achieve the culturally prescribed goals then it leads to structural
strain in society.

❖ Such a strain is due to the mismatch in the opportunity structure of the society and
the culturally prescribed goals.

❖ He further adds that differential access to legitimate means and opportunities to

achieve these goals results in a strain that is manifested in the form of frustration and
injustice and deviant behaviour can be seen as a symptom of this.

❖ When people experience social strain they channelise it in different ways in order to
manifest different forms of organic behaviour which are as follows:

Mode of adaptation Culturally prescribed goals Institutionalised means

❖ Conformity ❖ Accepted ❖ Accepted

❖ Innovator ❖ Accepted ❖ Rejected

❖ Ritualism ❖ Rejected ❖ Accepted

❖ Retreatist ❖ Rejected ❖ Rejected

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❖ Rebel ❖ Rejected (reject Culturally ❖ Rejected
prescribed goals)/New (develop
your own goals)

❖ Baumer and Gustafson - Conducted study on Financial crimes in the US and called it
as Instrumental Crimes.
➢ They found that where there is a strong commitment to the money's success but
poor commitment to legitimate means leads to instrumental crimes.
Criticism:

❖ Ian Robertson - He mentions that this theory is less useful in explaining some form of
deviance.

➢ For example Exhibitionism.

❖ Walter Miller - He mentions that this theory explains institutional crimes but there are
certain people who commit crime as a passion. Merton’s theory is unable to explain
these crimes which are the result of passion or thrill.

❖ Merton wrongly assumes that a single set of cultural goals act as a prescription for all
the members of society.

➢ For example, India is a pluralistic society, non-veg is conformity for one can be
deviant for another.
❖ Different people choose different responses in the same given condition. Merton has
given no explanation for this.

❖ Albert Cohen - He mentions that theory is suitable for crimes such as financial crimes
but it is not for crimes such as public or social violence or scandalising.

❖ Laurie Taylor - She mentions that powerful people make norms and rules in the society
and they are the ones who define defiance for their benefit. Thus, Power Structure
plays a major role in defining conformity and defiance, this fact is being ignored by
Merton.

Reference Group Theory:

❖ The term was coined by Herbert Hyman.

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❖ According to him, a reference group refers to a group against which an individual
evaluates one's own conduct or situation.

❖ Merton developed this concept in his reference group theory.

❖ Via this, he tries to systemise and identify those determinants and consequences of
those processes of evaluation that results in self appraisal or values that individuals take
as standards in a comparative frame of reference.
❖ A reference group is described as a group with which one always compares one's
achievements, objectives, situation, conduct, behaviour and role performance.

❖ According to Sheriff and Sheriff, Reference groups are those groups which the individual
relates to him/herself psychologically.

❖ In simple words, it means that Reference groups are those groups within which an
individual identifies or aspires to identify him/herself.
❖ Ogburn and Nimkoff define reference group theory as the group that serves as a point
of comparison, known as the reference group. He further adds that reference groups
are those groups from which we get our values and whose approval we seek.

❖ The concept of reference group arises essentially from the fact that any one person
acting in any situation may be influenced not only by his membership group but also
by his conception of other groups to which he is not a member.

❖ The other group exerts its influence as a reference group in a purely silent or passive
way simply by being thought of.

❖ Whether people or members of these groups refer or not refer to the norms and values
of these groups in evaluating their own behaviour and personality that is no less than
any other group to which a person feels loyal.

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❖ The frequency of the interaction is the first objective criterion for identifying the
reference group.

❖ The second criterion is the interaction among the people who identify themselves as the
members of the group should exist, i.e. members may feel that they are bound by
certain patterns of expectations or modes of engagement.

❖ Third requirement is that people involved must have a sense of belongingness towards
the group.

Types of Reference Groups :

Reference group: Socialisation and conformity

❖ Merton also mentions that a person can have several reference groups and it may

happen that he/she may not be referring to all the norms of a reference group.

❖ Reference groups are important for understanding socialisation and conformity.

❖ He mentions anticipatory socialisation refers to the process that is facilitated by social

interaction in which non group members learn and prepare for future roles and

statuses.

❖ This can include learning about and adopting the values, norms, and behaviours

associated with specific roles or positions they aspire to attain.

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❖ In this case, the ingroup of the person can be hostile to that person.

❖ The structure of authority of the ingroup awards members for their conformity, by

this they prevent outmigration.

❖ The concept of the reference group is important for understanding socialisation and

conformity.

❖ Merton argues that our evaluation of ourselves is strongly influenced by the reference

group that we chose.

❖ One of the features that link reference groups and socialisation process is the

phenomenon of anticipatory socialisation

❖ Anticipatory socialisation - Merton defines it as the process facilitated by social

interaction in which non group members learn to take values and standards of the

group that they aspire to join so as to ease their entry and acceptance in the group.

❖ He further argues that as the individual leans more towards anticipatory socialisation

he faces hostility from their ingroup.

❖ This may compel the individual to develop increasing conformity to the outgroup.

❖ He also advocates that in order to prevent the members from going out of the group,

greater rewards are offered for conformity to the norms and standards of the ingroup.

Determinants of reference groups

❖ Reference people - People choose them for their qualities and charms.

❖ Norms and values - The nature and qualities of norms and values in which an individual

is interested.

❖ Time period of the membership - The duration of the group is an important factor. A

group that has longer liveability or a longer duration has a greater chance of being a

reference group.

❖ Isolation in one's own group - when members of a group start feeling isolated in the

ingroup or feel less interactive, they feel isolated, thus they are referred as marginal

men.

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❖ Power and prestige also play an important role in deciding the reference group of an

individual.

❖ Open group and closed group - The degree of mobility allowed in society decides the

conformity and hostility in the society. An open society has a wide range of references.

Functions of reference groups:

❖ It acts as a point of comparison to assess their own attitude, belief, and behaviour.

❖ It gives a set of norms, values and standards in an individual’s life and brings a change

in the behaviour.

❖ It can also act as a source of inspiration. It can create a drive for goal attainment.

Structural elements of the reference group:

❖ Visibility and Observability - The norms and values of the reference groups and their

role performance should be clearly visible and observable.

❖ Privacy - Merton also mentions that there should be some sort of privacy as well in

order to maintain its importance in society.

❖ Nonconformity - Some degree of nonconformity in the ingroup is required so that the

other group can act as a reference group.

Reference group and Relative deprivation:

❖ Samuel A Stouffer - He has written a book - The American Soldier. Merton was
influenced by this work. This study reveals that different sets of soldiers measure
themselves differently with a different set of soldiers.

➢ In this study, he took two groups, in one group there were unmarried soldiers who
were not promoted and in the other group there were married soldiers with some
who had promotion.
➢ He finds out that the group of unmarried soldiers was happier than the group of
married one.
➢ The married set of soldiers feel deprived with those who had the promotion. While
there is no such thing in the other group.

99
 ➢ Married people are deprived because they feel detached from their family, they
need to spend more comparatively on the family than the unmarried ones.

✓ From this study, Merton concluded that, feeling of deprivation or happiness is

not absolute rather it is relative. It depends on -

❖ Scale of measurement

❖ Frame of reference

Conditions for a group to act as a reference group:

❖ If members of a particular group are aspiring to be a part of another particular group

then that group acts as a reference group.

❖ When there is an attempt of emulation (to imitate) a particular group.

❖ When there is a sense of superiority in a group they develop a negative reference group.

❖ When there is a simple comparison or standard of comparison.

Criticism:

❖ This theory does not discover something new, Menton has just provided some idea

about the comparison of behaviour.

❖ It explains behaviour but does not suggest ways and means to control it.

❖ This theory explains only how the individual impacts the individual but how the

individual impacts the group is not explained by this theory.

Self-fulfilling prophecy:

❖ It is a false condition that is predicted. It develops a behaviour that turns the prediction
into reality.

❖ It is a sociological term used to describe a prediction that causes itself to become true.

❖ Therefore, the processes by which a person's expectation about someone could lead to

behaving in ways that confirm to the expectations.

❖ Merton coined the term Self-fulfilling prophecy to describe a false definition of a

situation evoking a behaviour that makes the originally false assumption come true.

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Merton and Parsons
❖ Similarities

➢ They have made lasting marks in developing theories that have lasting marks in
understanding the sociology
➢ They treat sociology as a scientific discipline.
➢ Both treat society as a social system that is connected to form a whole i.e. social
structure which is made up of status role complex.
➢ Both have focused on theory building and both attempted to explain social change.
➢ Both are functionalists.
❖ Differences

Basis Merton Parsons

Basic approach ❖ Middle range theory, context- ❖ Grand theory

specific

Application ❖ To understand specific issues of ❖ Talks about the general

society. Such as relative theory of action,
deprivation deviant behaviour

Value goals ❖ Assumes consensus on values and ❖ Assumes value consensus

goals in a society is not necessary and goal consensus

Emphasises ❖ Emphasises on functions and ❖ Emphasises on functions.

dysfunctions.

Focus ❖ Focus on social problems ❖ Focuses on adaptation of

society

101
 GH Mead (1863-1931)

❖ He is an American sociologist primarily affiliated with the University of Chicago.

❖ He was raised in a protestant middle family.

❖ In 1879 he enrolled in Oberlin College. After this, he became a teacher in a grade

school.

❖ Later he joined Wisconsin Central Rail Road Company.

❖ Soon he enrolled himself at Harvard University and later shifted to Berlin University.

❖ Wilhelm Wundt had a huge impact on Mead, this resulted in Mead learning the concept

of gesture.

❖ When he returned to the US, started working as an instructor at the University of

Michigan. Here he met CH Cooley.

❖ From here, he moved to the University of Chicago. There he used to teach until his

death.

❖ In his 40 year career he had written constantly but never published his own book.

❖ After his death, his students started publishing his work. One such work was - My,

Self, and Society.

❖ He is also called a non-dualist theorist because via his theory he tries to explain that

mind, self, and society are integrated and not separate.

❖ He is also called a pragmatist as he has given the symbol of pragmatism.

❖ He talks about pragmatism and social behaviourism.

❖ Mead focuses on the development of self and objectivity of the world within the social

realm.

❖ Mead has insisted that the individual mind can exist only in relation to other minds in

shared relations.

❖ For interaction to happen, there is a need for common symbols and gestures with
shared meanings.

102
Pragmatism

❖ Pragmatism is a philosophy advocating that problems should be met with practical

solutions rather than ideological ones.

❖ It focuses more on facts rather than on emotions/ideals.

❖ Mead identifies 4 principles of pragmatism -

➢ True reality does not exist out there rather it is developed as we act towards it.
➢ People remember and raise knowledge of the world that has been useful to them,
what no longer works tends to be altered.
➢ People define social and physical objects according to their use for them.
➢ If we want to understand actors then we must base that understanding on what
people actually do.
❖ These principles become critical for symbolic interactionism.
➢ Focus on interaction between actors and the world.
➢ Views both actors and the social structure as dynamic (not static).
➢ Actors have the ability to interpret the social world.
❖ Mead mentions that consciousness is not a separate phenomenon rather it is an integral
part of action and interaction.

Social behaviourism

❖ Mead saw that the emergence of mind and self occurs from the communication process
between organisms. And he calls this phenomenon social behaviourism.

❖ He believes that behaviour develops from sociological experiences.

Symbols

❖ Human beings use it for interaction.

❖ There is an identification of an object or an event. And then it is defined in a specific

way along with denoting a response to it and shared among the members of society.
This helps in establishing communication.

❖ These symbols enable a meaningful human environment for interactions.

❖ Mead mentions that via symbols human beings are able to perceive objects and events
according to how they understand it.

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Gesture

❖ Symbols help in establishing communication. When people communicate with each

other they learn to predict each other’s actions through gestures.

❖ It is a fundamental mechanism for social interaction and social behaviour.

❖ Therefore, it is that essential aspect or physical mannerism of individuals through which

people predict each other’s actions or are able to share meanings.

❖ Gestures can also be a reaction to one another's action that helps in establishing
communication.
❖ Mead mentions that gestures are significant symbols (such gestures that arouse similar
response in everyone).

Communication

❖ It can be described as comprehension of the gestures of another individual.

❖ According to Mead, communication is a social act, when two or more people interact.
❖ Communication occurs through the most significant gesture i.e. language.

Mind

❖ According to Mead, the mind is a social conception.

❖ Mind arises and develops in a social process.

❖ For the development of the mind communication is an important process and language
is an important tool.
❖ Mind is a form of participation in an interpersonal process and it is a result of taking
the attitude of others into one's own gesture.

❖ Social reflexivity is also necessary for the development of the mind.

❖ Mead on Mind -

➢ According to him, the mind is a social phenomenon that arises and develops within
the social processes of social interaction.
➢ Therefore for him, the mind is the product of social interaction.
➢ He further adds that communication and language are essential factors for the
development of the mind.

104
 ➢ He argues that the emergence of the mind is the result of taking the attitude of
others towards one’s own gesture.
➢ For that the mind is dependent on language.
➢ Mind is the individualised focus of the communication process.
➢ It is the linguistic behaviour on the part of the individual. In fact, there is no mind
or thought without language.
➢ Therefore, we can define language as the content of the mind.
➢ According to Mead, the mind is not reducible to the neurophysiology of the
individual, rather it is an ongoing social process that is constituted out of
experience.
➢ He also relates the development of the mind to the concept of reflexivity.
➢ According to him, reflexivity is the ability to put yourself unconsciously into the
place of others and then act accordingly.
➢ Mead states that it is possible only by taking the role of others.
Role taking and Roleplaying

❖ Role - A constellation of behaviour that is a response to a set of behaviours of other

human beings.

❖ Role taking - Imaginary placement in other's positions via interactions (one has to take
the role of the other).
❖ Roleplaying - It is essential for human interaction because in this process an individual
is able to take the role of the other and is able to interpret others.

Self

❖ Self is socially emergent and develops with the help of social process.

❖ It is a product of social intervention and not a byproduct of a condition.

❖ Self does not exist at the time of birth but arises in social experiences.

❖ Mead says that the self is a sum total of its social relations and is built by imitating the
practices of others.

❖ Individual forms a reflective conception of self and their self is derived from the
interaction with specific others within the social spaces of the individual.

105
Development of self
❖ There are two parts of self -

➢ I and,
➢ Me

I Me

❖ True form of self ❖ Social form of self

❖ Deals with the response of an individual/ ❖ Attitude of an individual

Response to others attitude

❖ No consciousness/immediate response ❖ Social/reliable/predictable/conscious/h

generator/unpredictable as understanding of social norms

❖ Reaction to belief ❖ Shared belief itself

❖ Actual behaviour/unlearned ❖ Behaviour based on society/learned

behaviour

❖ Immediate response of individual to ❖ Awareness about social presence of

others others/adoption to generalised others

❖ Creative/unpredictable ❖ Conventional or habitual individual

❖ Unconscious (never totally aware) ❖ Conscious (aware)

❖ Initiate changes ❖ Maintains status quo

❖ Development of self happens solely through social experience.

❖ Social experience consists of the exchange of symbols.

❖ Taking the role of others.

❖ Communication between I and Me and understanding the role of others This results in
self awareness.

106
Understanding the role of others:

❖ It is also referred to as the process of social development of self. This happens at 2

stages-

➢ Play stage - 3 to 6 years age

✓ Child imitates the role or actions of significant others (people that are
important to others).

✓ Through this the child becomes more aware of him/herself or of the role that
is being imitated.

✓ When they assume a role, they obtain an image of that particular role.

➢ Game stage - 8 years+

✓ Child participates in the organised games and understands the rules of the
play/notion of fairness.

✓ Child is learning to grasp the generalised others.

✓ This is how the child learns the manner in which he/she is supposed to behave
in a particular situation.

✓ Child starts learning about the norms and values of the society. The child
develops a collective view.

✓ Child gets the total impression of the expectations and judgements.

Development of self

❖ GH Mead mentions that there are 4 principles behind the development of self:

➢ Social experience
➢ Social expressions consist of some symbols. The interpretation of the meanings that
symbols consist of is important.

➢ This interpretation can be done by taking into account the role of others.

➢ Understanding the role of others is important as it helps in the development of self

awareness.

❖ According to Mead, development of self is dependent on learning to take the role of

others.

107
❖ Role Taking requires that we imagine how our behaviour will be defined from the
standpoint of others.

❖ He argues that role taking occurs through the developmental process by which the self
is constructed and defined.

❖ Mead views it to occur in 3 stages

➢ Imitating stage - imitation without any meaning.

✓ Imitation is the process that is related to very young infants who simply copy
or imitate. At this stage the child simply copies others without any meaning.

❖ Play stage - Child takes the role of others and through various places symbolises the
role of significant others.
➢ These significant others are the people important for the child and in this stage
form of role playing involves a single role at a time. And in the course of switching
identities and imaginary conversation, the self through play becomes both separate
and defined.
➢ The child learns to see the unique self from the various perspectives of other role
players.
➢ In the process the child becomes aware that there is a difference between themselves
and the role that they are taking.
➢ Thus, the idea of self is developed as the child plays the roles of significant others.
❖ Game stage - In this stage the child participates in organised games.

➢ These are those games that have got certain specified norms, rules and regulations.
➢ In playing such games a child is able to see him/herself through the eyes of other
participants.
➢ This happens as the child becomes aware of his/her participation and relationship
with other players.
➢ To understand his/her position in the game, a child learns to see himself or herself
through the eyes of generalised others.
➢ In this stage a more complex form of role playing is involved in the play.
➢ In the game an individual is required to internalise not nearly the character of the
single specified other but the roles of all the others who are involved with him in
the game.

108
 ➢ These generalised others are nothing but the constellation of the roles organised
according to the roles that brings the attitude of all the others to formalise the
symbolised unity.
➢ In simple words we can say that the generalised other is an organised and
generalised attitude with reference to which the individual defines his/her own
conduct.
➢ Mead adds that in the game stage when the individual can view him/herself from
the perspective of generalised others then the self consciousness in the full sense is
attained.
➢ In the game stage the sense of values and morals develops with selfhood and a
definite personality starts to emerge.
➢ And this way, the child is able to function in organised groups and are able to
determine what they will do in specific situations.
Criticism:

❖ William Skidmore - He mentions that Mead does not take account of social structure
in development of self.

❖ Marxsist say that he does not take into account the role of class and class relations.

❖ Meltzer argues that his theory is very vague. He is not giving a clear picture of mind,
self, society, I, and ME.
❖ Weinstein argues that the role of large macro structures in shaping the self is being
ignored by Mead.

❖ Petras - Mead has ignored Emotions. He is undermining the impulsive and emotional
roles. He says that genetic influences do have a role in shaping the personality of an
individual which is being ignored by mead.
❖ Hamilton - Mead is over optimistic about reflexive intelligence of an individual.



109
 Compilation of
Daily Class Notes
SOCIOLOGY

Unit-5
Stratification and Mobility

1
 INDEX

1. Introduction to Social Stratification.............................................................................................. 3-4

2. Concepts - equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty, and deprivation. ................... 5-17

3. Theories of social stratification - Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian

theory............................................................................................................................................ 18-25

4. Dimensions - Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race. ......... 26-38

5. Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility…….
....................................................................................................................................................... 39-42

2
 Introduction to Social Stratification

❖ Human Society is heterogeneous in nature. Therefore, diversity and differences are

inherent in a society.

❖ Human Society is stratified.

➢ Different sets of groups are called strata.

➢ Individuals are assigned to these strata based on gender, caste, wealth, status, etc.

❖ Thus, Stratification refers to the division of members of society into different groups or

strata.

❖ Stratification is a process of interaction of differentiation whereby some people come

at a higher rank than others.

❖ Ogburn and Nimkoff - Stratification is a process by which different individuals and

groups are ranked in the hierarchy of status i.e. called stratas.

❖ Gisbert - He defines stratification as a division of society into permanent categories

that are related to each other by the relations of subordinate and superordinate.

❖ Melvin Tumin - He defines stratification as an arrangement of social groups into a

hierarchy of positions. This hierarchy of positions is unequal in terms of power,

property, status, etc.

❖ Till now, (mostly Western thinkers) stratification is a vertical form of layering.

❖ But, Dipanker Gupta questions this notion and says that not all societies that are

stratified are hierarchical. There are some stratified societies where the basis is social

differentiation and not hierarchy. Different groups are layered horizontally rather than

vertically placed.

3
Characteristics of Stratification

Elements of Social Stratification

4
 Concepts - Equality, Inequality, Hierarchy, Exclusion, Poverty, and
Deprivation

Equality:

❖ State of being equal in some respect.

❖ Equal opportunity so that people make the most out of their lives.

❖ Basic principles of equality -

➢ Basic needs

➢ Respect - Social esteem / Prestige

➢ Social acceptance.

❖ A condition where people or different members of a group have equal access to wealth,

power, and prestige.

❖ Thinker’s perspective -

➢ Peter Saunders -He gives three types of equality

✓ Formal or Legal Equality - All the members of society are subjected to the same

laws. But it does not necessarily mean that everyone will end up the same.

✓ Equality of opportunity -It provides people with equal chances to be unequal.

✓ Equality of outcome -It results in an egalitarian society. It undermines equality

of opportunity and formal/legal equality.

➢ Equality of condition - It refers to equality among equals. Equal starting point for

everyone.

➢ Pierre Bourdieu - He challenges the notion of equality of outcome. He regarded this

as unsustainable (due to the existence of the culture of excellence).

✓ In any society we strive for excellence, therefore, we make sacrifices for the

next generations.

5
❖ Marxian Perspective:

➢ If there is equality in infrastructure then only equality will sustain in the society.
➢ If there is inequality or contradiction in the infrastructure then the society will be

unequal.

➢ In a capitalist society, there is a contradiction in the infrastructure, economic

relations, distribution of wealth and resources. Thus, there is inequality persisting

in the society.

➢ To overcome this, there is a need for a proletarian revolution. The establishment of

a communist society will lead to the establishment of a true egalitarian society.

❖ Louis Dumont - He says that Indian society is characterised by Homo Hierarchicus. The

prevalence of the caste system is a hurdle to equality.

➢ He defines western society as Homo equilus. The prevalence of an open system of

stratification makes it possible to maintain equality in society.

➢ Andre Beteille - He criticises Dumont for eurocentric bias in his theory.

Challenges to social equality:

6
Solution:

Social Inequality:
❖ Social inequality is built into the social structure.
❖ Existence of unequal opportunity and reward for different social positions and strata.
❖ Ian Robertson - He insists that when a section of society consolidates power, wealth,
and prestige with them, depriving others is when it is called inequality.
➢ People having differential access to rewards.
➢ It can be wrt power, respect, or
wealth.
❖ Ralf Dahrendorf - He mentions 4 types of
inequality. Out of these, only 2 are
important from the sociological point of
view.
➢ The below two are those to which
sociology is not concerned.
✓ The first is natural differences
because of features, characteristics,
interests, etc.

✓ The other is the natural difference based on intelligence, talent, and strength.

➢ Sociology is concerned with corresponding inequality in relation to society.

7
 ✓ Social differentiation of position.

✓ Social differentiation of reputation.

➢ Plato imagined the society as class structured into -

✓ Guardians - Ruling class

✓ Producers- Farmers. Merchants, Articians

✓ Auxiliary -Troops, Soldiers.

➢ He argues that social inequality is a universal phenomenon.

➢ It neither lies in human nature nor in private property.
➢ He regards it as a certain feature of human society.
✓ Max Weber associates inequality with the trinitarian concept of Wealth,
Economy, and Power.

➢ Differential position of an individual leads to economic inequality. It is a result of

differential positioning of the individual in the market.
❖ Vilfredo Pareto - He mentions that every person is naturally endowed with different
kinds of residues. For example, - Sex residue, power residue, or wealth residue. Social
inequality justifies this.

❖ Tocqueville - He talks about a society where there exists competitive inequality. It is a

result of different people competing in society for resources, opportunities, and
positions. This is different from perpetual inequality.

➢ He is in favour of competitive inequality and against perpetual inequality.

❖ Pierre Bourdieu - He gave the concept of symbolic capital.

➢ He tries to create a distinction to identify those people who enjoy more prestige
and honour in society.
➢ People having greater symbolic capital in their pattern of behaviour and taste, they
hold differential statuses, honour, or prestige.
➢ This theory is still relevant in contemporary times.
❖ Karl Marx - For him, inequality is the result of contradiction in the economic
structures.
➢ It may result from differential control over MoP.
➢ Differential appropriation of products of production.

8
 ➢ Differential resource distribution.
❖ David Marsland - He argues that equality is a desirable feature of society.

➢ He talks about differential rewards as an important part of society.

➢ Because it creates an incentive for people to work hard.

Causes of Inequality:

How to reduce inequality:

❖ Nordic Economic model - Paul Krugman’s work - The Great Gatsby Curve - It mentions
that social inequality is low in nordic countries and social mobility is high.
❖ Welfare safety nets
❖ Corruption free governance.
❖ Fundamental rights to quality health care and education.
❖ High taxes for the rich.
❖ Ensure political empowerment. (Decentralisation of power)
❖ Resource mobilisation - (to fulfil basic needs)
❖ Employment generation
India has seen various forms of social inequality as a result of Covid pandemic:

❖ Worsening of educational equality.

➢ Emergence of learning gap between the children of poor and rich households.
➢ Children from poor households are deprived of mediums (internet, smartphone,
etc) to access education.
❖ Worsening of the Labor Market.
➢ Occupational and Income inequality.
➢ Work from home was possible for a handful of jobs.

9
 ➢ Street hawkers/vendors lost their source of income.
➢ Increase in unemployment.
➢ Informal economy suffered a lot
➢ Enhancement of Gender inequality.
✓ Global gender gap index -

▪ 2020 - 112

▪ 2021 - 140

▪ 2022 - 127
➢ Increased load of unpaid domestic work.
➢ Increase in Domestic violence.
❖ Financial marginalisation.

Hierarchy
❖ It is a reflection of grading system existing in the society

❖ It refers to the ranking of status within an organisation.

❖ Some criteria of evaluation are there that are relevant within the system.
❖ Features of Hierarchy
❖ Sociologists are interested in studying hierarchy because it helps in understanding the
society in a better manner.
❖ The relative position of an individual helps sociologists trace the difference between the
top and bottom of the hierarchy.

10
❖ It helps in the assessment of the relative position of the individual as well as of society
❖ Caste hierarchy - how different castes are graded differently
❖ Class hierarchy - how different classes are graded differently
❖ Gender hierarchy - how different genders are graded differently
❖ Racial hierarchy - how different are grad ed differently
Thinkers on hierarchy:

❖ Functionalists - Hierarchy is a symbol of increasing specialisation and Division of labour

in the society. It is essential for the orderly maintenance and persistence of society.
❖ Postmodernism -In Western societies there are numerous hierarchies due to infinite
stratos.
❖ Marxists - It is the design of the dominant class. It promotes conflict in society.
❖ CH Cooley - He states that the Varna system of the early Vedic period appears to be
an open system of stratification.
➢ Hierarchy increases rigidity and consolidation of hierarchical positions.
➢ It increases entry barriers into different stratas to reduce social mobility.
❖ Dipanker Gupta - Capitalist system is prone to be hierarchical. But in the caste system
there are multiple levels of hierarchies i.e. hierarchy is muddled and not single vertical
of hierarchy.
❖ Louis Dumont - He says that if normative structure proposes hierarchical structure in
the society then it becomes an instrumental principle of the society.
➢ India is homo -hierarchicus thus, the caste system emerges to be an instrumental
principle of the society.

Social exclusion:

❖ Social Exclusion is a situation where an individual or a group of people is cut off from
the rest of the society (delinking from the society) due to which they feel deprivation
and lead to hindrance in their development process.
❖ It can occur in a systematic manner in a society, this could be a result of structural
features of society.
❖ It could be realised in relation to social rights and can be practised regardless of the
wishes of those who are to be excluded.
❖ In order to establish the link again, a change in the structure will be required.

11
❖ Manifestation in Modern times-
➢ Economic Aspect
✓ Rural urban divide, lack of affordable housing, Slums

➢ Political Aspect
✓ Lack of political voices (immigrants), Lack of accountability,

➢ Gender Aspect
✓ Women, LGBTQ+

➢ Caste Aspects
➢ Digital Aspects

✓ Underprivileged, Elderly

➢ Environmental Aspects

✓ Air Purifier

❖ Thinkers

➢ Haralambous- In his book Perspectives of Sociology, he defines exclusion as a

situation in which multiple deprivations prevent individuals from participating in
different areas of their social life.
➢ Mary Daly - She argues that exclusion is a wider concept than poverty. It talks
about not only deprivation but also participation restriction.
➢ Marx -According to him alienation is the manifestation of exclusion.
➢ Weber -He comes up with the concept of social closure which means entry barriers.
➢ GS Ghurye- He talks about sadhus. Sadhus practice self exclusionwhich is chosen.
But the exclusion faced by dalits is different from that, as it is not chosen by them
➢ Amartya sen- He took the concept of social exclusion being basic needs, He includes
depreciation from participation in political rights education, sanitation, health, etc
in his definition.

✓ He looks at it both passively (there is no deliberate attempt yet deprivation

exists due to societal structure) (sample exclusion of proletariats in capitalist
society) and actively (rights of some individual deliberative denied by the state).

12
 ➢ Ambedkar - He sees social exclusion in terms of caste. When a particular caste is
dominated and excluded from the society results in cutting of the caste group from
wider society.

Forms of exclusion

Consequences of exclusion

Nature of exclusion

13
Poverty:
❖ WP Scott - Poverty can be defined as long lasting low standard of living.

➢ It undermines both material (health, education)and non material (confidence,

moral)aspects of life.
❖ John Sinclair and FM Eden - They both argue that poverty is a social construct rather
than a natural one.

❖ Goddard - He defines poverty as insufficient supply of those things that are needed to
maintain a basic human life (health and vigour).
➢ It also leads to denial of choice and sense of helplessness.
❖ Oscar Lewis -He gave the concept of Culture of Poverty
➢ He argues that poor people suffer from lack of resources.
➢ After some time a culture of poverty develops among poor people leading to the
death of aspirations among them, to break the cycle of poverty.
❖ Ralph Miliband- He says that the poor are the weakest group because they are indulged
in trying to fulfil their basic necessity.
❖ AG Frank - He argues that poverty is a regional phenomenon.
➢ It has come at a cost, Western society exploits Eastern societies to maximise their
gains.
❖ Gunnar Myrdal - Povertyexists due to lack of development of institutional structures
(Education, Economic, Legal)

❖ Amartya Sen- He talks about

multidimensional poverty.
➢ He takes into account social
dimensions of poverty like ,lack of
access to education, lack of access to
information, healthcare, power, etc.
❖ Max Weber - He links economic success
with cultural values.

❖ Marx - He sees poverty as a result of

contradiction in the economic structure.

14
❖ Diane Pearce - She gave the concept of Feminisation of poverty.
➢ More women are poor than men due to patriarchal norms, deprivation of
capabilities, lack of income, etc.
➢ Gender inequality is a manifestation of this
❖ Voluntary Poverty - It is a chosen one, For ex. Sadhus.
➢ It comes out of cultural dimensions or and is celebrated.
❖ Pope Benedict XVI - He argues that the poverty chosen is good. One should be
concerned with the poetry to be fought.
❖ RK Merton - He talks about Relative Poverty.
❖ Herbert Gans (functionalist) - He argues that poverty exists because it is a necessary
element of society.
Causes of Poverty:

Types and Forms of Poverty:

15
Deprivation
❖ It refers to asituation where an individual, or a group of society feels deprived.
❖ It refers to the inaccessibility or unavailability of needful resources.
❖ It also refers to inaccessibility of social groups.
❖ It is denial of access to resources necessary for the full development.
❖ It is closely related to the phenomenon of Poverty and the phenomenon of social
inequality.
❖ It is a condition where people are lacking what they need.
❖ Pierre Bourdieu -Lack of adequate social cultural and symbolic and economic capital.
➢ It is a broader phenomenon than poverty.
❖ RK Merton in his writings has mentioned absolute and relative deprivation.
➢ Absolute Deprivation - Lack of resources that satisfies basic minimum needs.
✓ It threatens survival.
✓ It is measured against some benchmarks.
✓ Potential for threatening life.
➢ Relative Deprivation - Individual or group finds lack of some resources , power , or
other elements in comparison to others or whom it is available.
✓ It threatens full participation in society.
✓ Measurement is done in comparative reference.
✓ It often leads to social movements.
➢ He argues that absolute developments are dealt with by affirmative actions but
relative deprivation is a constant phenomenon.

Indicators of Deprivation

16
Causes of Deprivation

17
 Theories of social stratification - Structural functionalist theory,
Marxist theory, Weberian theory

Theories of Stratification

❖ It is based on certain rules and norms that determine the manner in which rewards
are to be allocated.
Dimensions of Stratification

Types of Stratification:

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Functionalist theory of Stratification:

❖ HM Johnsons - Stratification encourages hard work in the society and promotes

circulation of Elites
➢ It performs economic functions via the Division of Labor.
➢ It ensures that talented people get important positions in the society via reward
system
➢ Helps individuals to pursue different roles.
❖ Functionalists believe that the Functional Prerequisites must be met in order to
smoothly run the society.
❖ They assume that the parts of the society form an integrated whole.
❖ According to them, the stratification system contributes to the integration and
continuance of society.
❖ Value consensus is regarded as an important aspect for this.
❖ It helps in the efficient functioning of the society as the most talented people fill the
most important positions.
❖ They regard it as a universal fact.
❖ Talcott Parsons -
➢ He argues that Stratification is an inevitable function of a society as it causes
integration in a society.
➢ Order and stability in society requires cooperation that is itself a result of value
consensus leading to agreement on various aspects of society.
➢ On the basis of degree of value adherence reward is given
➢ Different societies have different value systems that ways of attaining a high
position also vary.
➢ He argues that American society values individuals' achievement and efficiency but
it may not be the same in other societies.
➢ Earlier in India positions were based on birth but now it is based on merit.
➢ He argues that different stratas are interdependent thus cooperation exists.
➢ Criticism -Limitation of Parsons is that it is fit only for those societies that have
an open system of stratification.
✓ It is possible in achievement based societies only.

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 ✓ He is treating it as functional that is not true all the time as there can be
conflicts in the society.

✓ He regards it as an inevitable function of society. But the Marxist scholars

regarded that stratification can be done away with the help of proletariat
revolution.

✓ WhichBreak and JeanBaudrillard argue that parsons theory is no longer valid

as inequalities are now individualised and there is no longer existence of stratas.

➢ Davis and Moore - They wrote a book named “Some principles of stratification”
and argued that stratification is a functional prerequisite for survival of a system.
➢ It helps in effective role allocation in the society.
➢ He advocates that unequal rights and privileges leads to inequality which is
necessary to maintain motivation in the society
➢ He argues that there are some important positions in the society, to serve them
individual needs to make scarification.
➢ There is a shortage of talented people in society, to make sure that these talented
people fill the most important jobs, there is a need for differential reward to
compensate for their sacrifice.
➢ He regards some positions as functionally important that are to be filled by the
most talented/qualified people. There is scarce talent in society. To qualify for the
positions individuals need to make sacrifices thus need motivation. To maintain this
motivation, differential rewarding is required.
➢ They view stratification as a selection mechanism.
➢ Melvin Tumin - He argues that treating certain jobs more important is a value
loaded perspective in itself.
➢ He questions the manner in which the importance of a job is being decided.
➢ He says that the influence and the bargaining power also plays an important role
in causing differential distribution. Dais and Moore ignored this.
➢ He argues that there is no effective measure to evaluate talent.
➢ Secondly he says that differential rewarding is not the correct way to ensure
motivation. Rather he says that it is a barrier to motivation.
➢ Certain status groups impose entry barriers to ensure that there is high reward for
certain no. of people.

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 ➢ He also mentions that talent is not scarce in society.
➢ Lastly, there is an overemphasis on sacrifices, only earning is suspended. Training
cost is being borne by the society.
➢ Therefore, stratification is not functional rather it causes hostilities and distrust.
➢ Thus, it is not functional for society.
➢ Rather it is antagonistic to equality of opportunity.
➢ Instead of being integrative it is divisive.
➢ It limits the discovery from a full range of talent.
➢ Ralf Dahrendorf - Stratification is closely related to norms, power and sanctity of
the society.
➢ Functionalist theory is good for achievement based societies and not applicable for
ascription based societies.
➢ Deprivation and exploitation in the society exists which needs to be done away.

Neo-liberal Theory of Stratification:

❖ Peter Saunders - He Wrote “Stratification and Freedom”. In this he mentions that
stratification is inevitable.
➢ He argues that unequal rewarding is the correct preposition to maintain motivation
as it compels people to work hard.
➢ He argues that stratification will exist. If all the occupations are compensated
equally then it will lead to disruption in the society.
➢ However, he is not in consensus with functionalists when they say that equality is
unachievable and inequality is inevitable.
➢ According to him, unequal rewards are not the only way to maintain through
which important positions can be fulfilled.
➢ He says that though economic inequality is desirable, but not inevitable.
➢ He has advocated to understand the differential treatment of people.
➢ According to him, when someone puts in less effort to achieve equality of outcome
results in undermining equality of opportunity and formal equality.
➢ Differential treatment is necessary to achieve equality of outcome.
➢ Inequality fosters economic growth in society. With the enhancement of self-
interest, societal interests get enhanced. This is the reason behind society benefiting
from capitalism.

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 ➢ Saunders argues that the existence of inequality in society is because of unequal
distribution of capacities and unequal efforts put in.
❖ Conclusion of Peter Saunders:
➢ Capitalist society is unequal but liberty is there. Socialist society is restrictive, it
enforces responsibilities.
➢ He argues that it is because of stratification that individuals enjoy freedom and
liberty.
❖ Criticism:
➢ Undermines negative impacts of stratifications (how it weaken social cohesion)
➢ Generalises socialist societies as restrictive.
➢ Swift and Marshall:They reject the arguments of Meritocracy. They regard
neoliberalism as not promoting meritocracy.
✓ They argue that it is doubtful that merit is rewarded by the market.

✓ Merit is not being defined by Saunders

Marxist theory of stratification:

❖ Marx views social groups and social stratas in terms of class. And for him, class is
related to the means of production.
❖ Hence, it is a means of production that is acting as a force for stratification.
❖ The main layer of stratification is class.
❖ For him, stratification is a factor behind the conflicts in society. Thus, it is not
integrative.

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❖ Economic factors are the determinants for the stratification.
❖ Expansion beyond the level of subsistence results in the creation of surplus value. The
control of surplus value by some individuals results in the development of the concept
of private property and classes resulting in stratification in the society.
❖ Post primitive communism, mutually conflicting stratas in society existed.
➢ Ancient - Master-Slaves
➢ Feudal - Lord-Serf
➢ Capitalist - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
✓ All these classes have mutually conflicting interests thus conflict inevitably exists
in society.

✓ Thus, stratification leads to conflict.

❖ The basis of stratification lies in unequal distribution of economic resources.

❖ Stratification may be a universal phenomenon but not inevitable for societies. Marxism
argues for revolution to do away with this.
❖ Stratification leads toand is an outcome ofconflict over surplus value.
❖ The value of stratification is nothing but the value of or ideology of the dominating
class. It is just a medium to justify unequal distribution. Hence, it is unethical as an
institution.
❖ Criticism:
➢ Functionalists like-Kinsley Davis,Sorokin, Maciverreject marxist theory of
stratification.
➢ Stratification may be determinant of conflict but may not be the result of conflict.
➢ Stratification caters the inherited individual differences.
➢ Weber argues that in future capitalism will increase with time i.e. it is bureaucracy
that is going to maintain social order. Thus, conflict may continue to exist but
revolution is a remote possibility.
➢ Ralf Dharendorf- He argues that it is not necessary that stratification will lead to
revolution.
✓ The emergence of the welfare state will help ensure higher social mobility thus,
will lead to emergence of the middle class.

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Weber’s Theory of Stratification:
❖ He mentions that stratification occurs in a society because there is a struggle for limited
resources in society.
❖ He also agrees that class is a social criteria for stratification but he mentions tritarian
concept.
➢ Class, Status and Party.

❖ Weber defines class as the position of an individual in a market situation or a group of

people placed similarly in a market situation. He mentions four types of class.

➢ Property class.

➢ Property less White collar workers.

➢ Petty Bourgeoisie.

➢ Manual workers.

❖ He argues that the economic position of an individual influences life chances.

❖ Concept of Status groups differ from classes.

❖ The social esteem and social prestige held by the individual refers to the status. It

determines positive or negative social estimation of honour.

❖ Status reflects the effective claim to social esteem.

❖ The concept of Party is found in political order.

❖ Party is the structure that is struggling for power.

❖ It is a collective group that has a collective goal (moral or material , public or personal)

and strives towards the pursuit of legitimate power.

❖ It is a collective orientation of people for power.

❖ Weber argues that with time the class based hierarchy overlaps with status based

hierarchies.

❖ Criticism -

❖ Oliver C Cox- He argues that Weber is not clear on class.

➢ Weber recognises various types of classes and multiple criteria.

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 ➢ He has given social classifications and not sociological concepts.

❖ Cellia Heller- argues that on one hand Weber argues that economic class and status

groups are different and on other hand very often they are correlated.

❖ Ulrich Beck -He argues that today’s society is a risk society.

➢ Today's inequality results in a risk situation.

➢ Social differences in modern societies are a result of risk taking, risk consciousness

and risk aversion capacity.

➢ Weber’s framework is very narrow.

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 Dimensions - Social stratification of class, status groups, gender,
ethnicity and race

Dimensions of Stratification
❖ Class - Largely considered a phenomenon of industrial society.
➢ When the production goes beyond the level of subsistence results in the creation of
class.
➢ It is a pre-marxian idea. Aristotle viewed society divided in three stratas -
✓ Upper

✓ Middle

✓ Poor

➢ Aristotle didn't use the word class. It was used by Saint Simon.
➢ Class is a group of people within a society who possess some socio economic status.
➢ It is broadly perceived as a social group having identical income, relationship with
means of production, skills, property ownership as well as general material well
being.
➢ Class distinctions are identified through class boundaries and get expressed in the
form of social inequalities and social boundaries.
❖ Ralf Dharendorf - Class looks like a homogeneous society in the beginning of the
industrial society.
➢ However, with passage of time class criteria will become heterogeneous as a result
of specialisation of role and division of labour.
❖ Anthony Giddens - He argues that there are three types of class:

➢ Upper class - means of production

➢ Middle cass - technical skills
➢ Lower class - manual labour
❖ Frank Parkin argues that the middle class acts as a buffer. With passage of time this
class will expand.
❖ Ohlin Wright studies American society, and tries to synthesise both Weberian and
Marxian concepts.

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 ➢ He argues that there are three types of classes -
✓ Upper class - controls capital and investment

✓ Middle class - technology and management

✓ Lower class - earns wages

❖ Baudrillard and Beck (Post modernist) say that it is no longer segmentary rather than
a continuum of individualised inequalities. And as a result, an almost infinite division
of labour and consumption patterns develops.
❖ WL Warner - He came up with Reputational Approach i.e. what others and the
individual himself thinks about the subject.

Characteristics of class

Class as an agent of stratification

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Modernisation presupposes class society

❖ Modernisation is a process by which society inculcates the values, norms and structures
of modernity.
❖ Many scholars contemplate that class society is a prerequisite of a modern society.

❖ Modernity accepts class division.

➢ Parsons - Modernity is characterised by achievement and class society is based on

achieved status.

❖ Modern society does away with ascriptive forms of division like caste, race or ethnicity.

Hence, class is more suitable.

❖ Modern society celebrates ascriptive values therefore, structural changes in the social

institutions are an outcome.

❖ Individualisation increases leading to growth in the capacity of the individual to mobilise

his position in the social stratification is a result.

❖ Universalisation of standards for measuring different things is a result of modernity.

New Middle Class

❖ Jeffrey Alexander - Sociologist - Characterises ne middle class as

➢ Consumerist,

➢ Outsourcing class (traditional home activities outsourced)

➢ Discontinuity from past (value - non linear changes)

➢ Opinion (new from previous generation)

➢ Personal freedom

➢ Spiritualism coexisting with materialism

➢ Friendship replaces kinship

Status Group:

❖ Status groups are those groups that are founded on the variables of social honour and

prestige.

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❖ It is one ofthe ancient systems of social stratification and ranking is done based on the

relative positions wrt social honour, social prestige, social esteem.

❖ Traditional society - status based on ascription.

❖ Modern society - status based on achievement.

❖ It is a Weberian concept with a similar amount of social honour.

❖ They share similar status situations.

❖ There exists placement of restrictions in the ways outsiders interact with them.

❖ In modern times, social closure develops and they try to influence their superiority and

difference by maintaining social barriers and imposing certain qualifiers.

❖ Social closure is that process by which social collectives seek to maximise rewards by

restricting access to resources and opportunities to a limited circle of eligibility. Ex.

Caste groups.

❖ Marx mentions that status comes from class whereas Weber argues that status is

independent of class.

❖ Status group reflects the ranking of a group in a society on the basis of their relative

position in terms of honour and respect.

❖ Over here honour is a qualitative attribute which the member enjoys in a similar status

situation.

Achieved Status Ascribed Status

❖ Modern society ❖ Traditional society

❖ Merit/efforts ❖ Birth

❖ Education, power and income (acquired) ❖ Difficult to change

❖ Individual enjoys choice ❖ No choice

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❖ Pakulski and Waters - They argue that in post industrial society, status is becoming
more important than class.

➢ People are consuming based on status.

➢ Rising consumption has promoted status.
❖ WL Warner - Status as a form of stratification has become important due to education,
income, occupation, etc.

Status Inconsistency

❖ This concept was given by Gerhard Lenski in the 1950s. He says that people who have
status inconsistency will be dissatisfied compared to those people who have consistency
in their status.

❖ It refers to a situation in which an individual’s varied social position can have both
positive and negative impacts on his/her social position.

❖ It is very close to the concept of role conflict.

Gender

❖ Gender stratification refers to inequalities between genders. It is prevalent and pervasive

in nature.

❖ It is present from economic, family, work to religious and power systems.

❖ In the 1980s, a study was conducted by the UN on gender. It highlighted certain issues
and reported that women form half of the world’s population and perform 2/3rd of
the work hours but earn 1/10th of income and 1/100th of world property.
❖ Thus, gender concerns the psychological, social and cultural differences.
❖ Gender refers to cultural ideas that construct the images of both females and male.
❖ When differential status and roles are determined with different sex by culture then it
is referred to as gender construction.
❖ Gender is a social and cultural expression of sex.
❖ Gender as a form of stratification occurs from the social role expectation and it is
associated with ownership of property.
❖ Thinker’s View:
➢ Naila Kabir - She argues that biology is gendered as well as sexed.

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 ✓ She mentions that Male and Female are translated as Men and Women based
on mutually exclusive traits of masculinity and femininity.

➢ Ann Oakley - She mentions that nature created sexual differences. Gender is a
social construct. Biological basis of differentiation of role must be done away with.
✓ She argues that women are treated as a class and are oppressed by males
because the patriarchal structures and norms justify it. It is universal both
historically and geographically.

➢ Margeret Mead -Her work Sex and temperament of three primitive tribes showcase
that the myths around women were futile.
➢ Mary Daly - She argues that muscular power, brute force and aggression are the
tools through which male dominate females.
➢ JJ Rousseau - He argues that biological inequalities should matter least in the form
of social stratification.
✓ But in reality gender is the most dominant form of stratification.

➢ Plato - He has highlighted the reproductive role of women higher than the
productive role of men.
➢ Aristotle - He has not acknowledged women's citizenship rights.
➢ Sexual division of labour is inconsistent and this can be better understood by looking
at women employment patterns.
✓ It is also a major factor behind gender discrimination.

➢ Karuna Ahmad - She maintains that there are certain trends wrt women.
✓ Women are clustered in few occupations.

✓ They are clustered in low status occupations.

✓ They receive less salary compared to men.

✓ High proportion of highly qualified women who may be professionally trained

are unemployed

➢ Shulamith Firestone - gender based stratification is the result of biological

differences due to this they become dependent on male which further aids them to
exploit females.

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➢ Michelle Rosaldo - She conducted a study at Pygmy Mbuli and noticed that the
male counterpart shares the burden of females in domestic chores. They are
relatively more egalitarian.
✓ She concludes that the division of stratification of gender is based on the
domestic role of gender.

✓ This has led to the secondary status of women in society.

✓ The division of public and private work is the reason for subordination of
women

➢ Fredrick Engles - He says that primitive communist society was egalitarian.

✓ Slowly as society developed there was an expansion of production beyond the
subsistence level.

✓ With this the concept of private property emerged giving rise to the race to
control surplus production.

✓ Male used their power to control this, resulting in gender equality at a backfoot.

✓ However, the capitalist society provided an opportunity to women to work at

par with men. This resulted in some sort of equality.

✓ But bourgeois male still had some control over women.

➢ Sylvia Walby - She wrote the work - “Theorising patriarchy”. In this she mentioned
that in society there exists six patriarchal structures of male dominance. It
facilitates male dominance over females.
✓ Paid work - male / Unpaid work - female.

✓ Attaching the concept of beauty to females.

✓ Sexuality (sexually active women treated negatively)

✓ State makes policies that are in many aspects anti-female.

✓ Relation with household

✓ Manifestation of violence.

➢ Richard Shaefer - gives the term “Sexism”. He defines it as an ideology that states
that one sex is superior to the other sex and applies prejudices that discriminate
against one sex.

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Gender as agent of stratification

Sexism and Gender Biases

❖ When there is one gender i.s. preferred over other than it is a form of bias which may
occur in an individual unconsciously and lead to some stereotypes.
❖ Gender bias is a tendency of unconscious or implicit bias which occurs when one
individual unconsciously attributes certain attitudes and stereotypes to another person
or group ofpeople.
❖ Causes

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Solution

Race
❖ Vast collectivity of people bound together by shared evolutionary history and ancestral
relation and physical features.

❖ It is seen as a social category based on which ranking is done in terms of superiority

and inferiority.

❖ DNA Fingerprinting showed that there is small variation in the physical feature along
the continuum. This suggests that there are no clear cut lines separating them.

❖ Richard Shaefer - He mentioned that racial group used to describe a group that is set
apart from others because of obvious physical differences.

❖ Neil Smelser - He views racial groups as a kind of ethnic group that is set apart from
others on the basis of inherited biological traits.

❖ Steve Jones -He argues that genetic diversity has little to do with race.

➢ Race is more of a social construct.

➢ The overall genetic difference is not very great. Therefore it is not equivalent to a
biological phenomenon.
❖ Herbert Spencer - He came up with the concept of Social Darwinism.

➢ He is influenced by the works of Charles Darwin. One such work isOrigin of species.

34
 ➢ He argues that certain racial groups are more successful, hence superior than

others.

❖ Merton - He states that the victims of racism respond in various ways and can become

either retreatist, rebelist etc.

❖ Horton and Hunt - They define race as somewhat different from other groups and in

itscombination of different physical characteristics. But race is substantially determined

by popular social definition.

❖ In contemporary times defining races as biological differentiation is incorrect as there

has been intermixing of races or gradual change in physical characteristics.

❖ Race is a manifestation of social relation and it is a social creation.

❖ One group is treated differently in comparative reference with other groups on the

basis of biological traits.

❖ Race assumes importance not because it is a biological fact but a social fact.

❖ Race is a social fact because people are attaching meanings to physical differences (real,

imagined).

❖ If there is one racial group there will be an ingroup feeling.

Racism

❖ It is that set of beliefs, ideology or social processes that discriminate against others on
the basis of their supposed membership of racial group.

❖ Neil Smelser - If we identify a group on the basis of their racial category and on the
basis of that if there is discrimination or violent operation then it is called racism.

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❖ Richardson and Lambert - They view race as a social concept with no biological basis.
➢ Therefore it has more to do with what people make of physical differences and the
everyday or common sense notion which influence them.
❖ Park and Burgess - They argue that it is a product of history and culture.
❖ Paul Hirst - It is a product of capitalism because the economic opportunity was seen
in the outside labours.

➢ Slaves have got no rights. Slavery brought down the cost of production.
❖ Noel and Vander Zander - Racism exist on three conditions:

➢ 2 different groups (physical and cultural)

➢ Competition (resource and opportunity)
➢ Presence of groups with unequal power.

Contemporary relevance-

❖ A racialstudy in India was conducted by the Indian council of social science and
research.
➢ They wanted to evaluate hate crime and racial discrimination against Northeast
indians.
➢ It was found that they were seen as India's imagination of Chinese people.
➢ 78% of northeast people feel that physical appearance was one of the most
important reasons for prejudice against them.
➢ A series of attacks were faced by northeast indians in various parts of the country.

36
❖ During the pandemic as well they faced numerous attacks violence and discrimination.
❖ Use of offencive and derogatory language is one of the injustices faced by them.

Ethnicity
❖ It is also a socially defined category.
❖ It identifies people with each other with common ancestral, social, cultural and national
experience.
➢ It may include language, dietary practice, sense of common heritage, etc.
❖ It is coming from the term ethnos meaning people or nation.
❖ Ethnic group is a group with national origin or distinctive cultural patterns
❖ Thinker’s view -
➢ Milton Gorden - He argues that ethnic group thinks itself of people or nations.
✓ It is viewed together as culturally different.

✓ They identify themselves differently from other groups. It may come from
shared cultural norms, beliefs, etc.

➢ Horton and Hunt - They define ethnic group as a group that identifies itself as
different from the rest of the society on the basis of culture or national origin.
✓ They have a “we feeling” or a sense of nationhood.

➢ Richerd Schafer -He argues that an ethnic group is a group that is set apart from
others primarily because of its nature, national origin and distinctive cultural
patterns
➢ David Popeone- He mentions that there is a development of a subculture resulting
in a shared sense of peoplehood.
➢ Milton Yinger - 3 important elements are required for ethnic groups.
✓ Outsider's view of the group - it is seen as a distinctive group based on language,
religion, race.

✓ Insider's view of the group - Those people who belong or feel that they belong
to a particular group, they consider themselves as different from the society at
large.

✓ Participation in common action - People of an ethnic group are believed to take

part in a common activity that is based on their shared traits.

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 ➢ Karl Dutsh - He believed that ethnicity has led to the balkanization of many nations
in Europe post world war 2.
➢ Paul Hirst -He argues that ethnicity is becoming popular in modern society.
✓ It is becoming the tool of capitalism.Workingclass is divided on the basis of
ethnicity to prevent any sort of revolution.

➢ Habermas and Richmand - They mention that ethnicity becomes more prominent
in modern times.
✓ Because, the changes in the modern societies see the punch against them, in
the form of reinforcement of traditional identity.

➢ Gellner and Wallerstein- They argue that a merit based nature of society is being
developed. Thus it will spell out on the basis of class positions. Thus, there is no
scope of ethnicity.
✓ Clifford Geetz- They argue that it will continue to exist in modern society
because it is related to people’s emotions.

▪ He mentions the ethnicization of modern society.

Ethnic Group - Paul Brass

❖ There are some objective attributes related to them.

➢ He distinguishes ethnic groups on the basis of some objective cultural features.
➢ It attempts to separate one group from another on the basis of cultural traits.
❖ There are some subjective attributes related to them.
➢ We Feeling - sense of being one self.
➢ Behavioural aspect - A specific way in which an ethnic group behaves with others.

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 Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources
and causes of mobility

Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Capital

❖ Capital is defined as a sum of productive assets that are used to productive use.

➢ It has 4 forms -

✓ Social capital- Resources that are the manifestation of durable social networks.

It is an institutionalised relationship of mutual recognition and acquaintance.

✓ Cultural capital- Resources that help you to grab cultural authority.

✓ Economic capital- It refers to material assets.

✓ Symbolic capital- Honour, prestige, recognition

▪ There is interrelation and interlinking in all these capitals.

▪ If someone has economic capital it is likely for their children to have cultural

capital.

▪ All these capitals are convertible and can be transmitted between

individuals.

▪ Forms of capital are determined by class and social position.

Social Mobility

❖ It refers to the transmission of an individual or a group from one strata to another in

the social hierarchy.

❖ It is also defined as the change in position in hierarchy. People or the groups in the

society moving up and down in the social scale.

❖ Wallace and Wallace - Movement of a person or a group of people from one status to

another.

❖ WP Scott - Movement of a person or a group of people from one social class to another.

❖ It involves changes in lifestyle and life chances.

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Stratification system:

❖ There are two types of stratification systems.

➢ Open stratification system
➢ Closed stratification system

Open stratification system Closed stratification system

❖ Norms adopted by such social system ❖ Justifies inequality of status, power and
prescribes encouragement of mobility resources.

❖ Independent principles of ranking ❖ Discourage attempts to change in

(status,class, power) allows movement status or social position position
of individuals or groups along the social
structure (movement-merit or
achievement) .

❖ Achieved status ❖ Minimal opportunity for individuals to

make a change in position within
existing social structure. Ascriptive
status based on birth

❖ Flexible hierarchy ❖ Fixed hierarchy

Thinkers Perspective:

❖ Pitirim Sorokin - He gave the concept of Social and cultural mobility

➢ He argues that no society is completely closed or open.
➢ Different societies have different sets of or intensity of mobility.
➢ Rate of change depends upon the level of modernisation that a society has acquired.
➢ Speed of change varies at different points of time.
➢ He argues that mobility is impacted by primary and secondary factors.
➢ Primary factors include-
✓ Demographic factors like sex, age, race.

✓ Talent and ability - It is not necessary that the talent and ability of parents
and children will match.

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 ✓ Structural factors - Faulty distribution of individuals in social positions

✓ Change in environment - structural change leading to collective change

➢ Secondary Factors-
✓ Economic factors ex.- Industrialisation.

✓ Urbanisation

✓ Education

✓ Social capital

✓ Occupation

✓ Law and constitution

❖ Karl Marx- He argues that mobility in capitalist society will cause homogenisation and
polarisation.
❖ Weber- He mentions that on the basis of skills an individual changes their social
position.
➢ This leads to expansion of the middle class.
❖ Andre Beteille- He saw secularisation, education, migration, democratisation and
decentralisation resulting in social mobility in society.
❖ David Glass- He studies British society and finds out that the middle class can go
upward as well as downward.
➢ However, lower classes have high chances of upward mobility.
➢ And people belonging to the high class have low chances of downward mobility due
to the fact of elite self recruitment.
➢ However, Sorokin has critiqued that if the social position is not acquired as per the
talent and ability then the popular pressure occurs resulting in downward mobility.
❖ Gold Thorpe- He argues that mobility largely occurs in immediate ranks.
➢ Possibility of absolute long range mobility is extremely low.
❖ Anthony Giddens- He argues that social mobility in capitalist society is essential and
functional for society.
➢ If social mobility is low within the social group then social cohesion will be high
resulting in high class solidarity leading to a kick start in class struggle
❖ Sorokin mentions various types of mobility.

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 ➢ There can be two types of mobility -
✓ Vertical mobility

✓ Horizontal mobility

Vertical mobility Horizontal mobility

❖ It refers tothe movement of an individual ❖ Change in position but without

or a group from one strata to another change in status. (movement within
(change in status position) equivalent status)

❖ Upward Mobility - It refers to social ascendance i.e. upward movement in social scale.
❖ Downward Mobility - It refers to dependence ie downward movement in social scale

❖ Intergenerational mobility - It refers to change in status of family members from one

generation to another.

❖ Intragenerational mobility - It refers to the change in status within one's own lifetime.

❖ Absolute Mobility - It is quantifiable.

❖ Relative Mobility - It refers to mobility in comparative reference in context to relation

with others.

❖ Structural Mobility - It refers to change in mobility acquired due to change in structure.

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