Notes: Communalism | Sociology Mains Optional for UPSC 2024 PDF Download

 Page 1


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Communalism 
Definition: Using social traditions to mobilise people, generally to satisfy some vested interests.  
1) India -> Religion  
2) USA -> Race  
3) West Asia -> Shia – Sunni (Sectarianism)  
4) Africa -> Tribal  
Bipin Chandra -> 3 types of communalism (Communal communalism),(Extreme 
Communalism) 
1) Liberal communalism - Similar secular interests, different religions interests  
2) Communal Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests  
3) Extreme Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests but 2 
communities cannot exist together. 
Causes:  
1) Unhealthy Competition for opportunities  
2) Different perception of history  
3) Events in past -> Partition  
4) Vested interests  
5) Insecurity in religious minorities  
6) Perception of threat even majority  
7) International linkages  
Consequences:  
1) Atmosphere of unrest  
2) Violent clashes  
3) Loss of life & property  
4) Hindrance to social change 
5) Continued distrust  
6) Forced migration  
7) Xenophobia  
8) Ghettoization 
9) Political Mobilisation     
 
  
Page 2


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Communalism 
Definition: Using social traditions to mobilise people, generally to satisfy some vested interests.  
1) India -> Religion  
2) USA -> Race  
3) West Asia -> Shia – Sunni (Sectarianism)  
4) Africa -> Tribal  
Bipin Chandra -> 3 types of communalism (Communal communalism),(Extreme 
Communalism) 
1) Liberal communalism - Similar secular interests, different religions interests  
2) Communal Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests  
3) Extreme Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests but 2 
communities cannot exist together. 
Causes:  
1) Unhealthy Competition for opportunities  
2) Different perception of history  
3) Events in past -> Partition  
4) Vested interests  
5) Insecurity in religious minorities  
6) Perception of threat even majority  
7) International linkages  
Consequences:  
1) Atmosphere of unrest  
2) Violent clashes  
3) Loss of life & property  
4) Hindrance to social change 
5) Continued distrust  
6) Forced migration  
7) Xenophobia  
8) Ghettoization 
9) Political Mobilisation     
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
B-6 and C-4 
Problems of Religious Minorities 
Religious Minorities : Significantly different Identity & in Minority.    
Jagganath Pathy: 4 dimensions of Problems related with Religious Minorities 
1) Subordination (Physical | Economic)  
2) Deprivation (Material | Empl. | Education) 
3) Inferiority (majority culture gets celebrated  
4) Distinctiveness (manifestly)  
Otherwise, various other problems as well:  
1) Low literacy (ghettoisation, Terrorism) 
2) Identity (Suspicion, Housing Problems -> Kashmiri Pandit)  
3) Political representation  
4) Identity in Transition (eg. – Kashmiri Pandits) 
5) Ethnocentrism (Shown by majority) 
6) Problem of preserving culture  
7) Violence communal Tensions, Riots  
8) UCC  
 
  
Page 3


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Communalism 
Definition: Using social traditions to mobilise people, generally to satisfy some vested interests.  
1) India -> Religion  
2) USA -> Race  
3) West Asia -> Shia – Sunni (Sectarianism)  
4) Africa -> Tribal  
Bipin Chandra -> 3 types of communalism (Communal communalism),(Extreme 
Communalism) 
1) Liberal communalism - Similar secular interests, different religions interests  
2) Communal Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests  
3) Extreme Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests but 2 
communities cannot exist together. 
Causes:  
1) Unhealthy Competition for opportunities  
2) Different perception of history  
3) Events in past -> Partition  
4) Vested interests  
5) Insecurity in religious minorities  
6) Perception of threat even majority  
7) International linkages  
Consequences:  
1) Atmosphere of unrest  
2) Violent clashes  
3) Loss of life & property  
4) Hindrance to social change 
5) Continued distrust  
6) Forced migration  
7) Xenophobia  
8) Ghettoization 
9) Political Mobilisation     
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
B-6 and C-4 
Problems of Religious Minorities 
Religious Minorities : Significantly different Identity & in Minority.    
Jagganath Pathy: 4 dimensions of Problems related with Religious Minorities 
1) Subordination (Physical | Economic)  
2) Deprivation (Material | Empl. | Education) 
3) Inferiority (majority culture gets celebrated  
4) Distinctiveness (manifestly)  
Otherwise, various other problems as well:  
1) Low literacy (ghettoisation, Terrorism) 
2) Identity (Suspicion, Housing Problems -> Kashmiri Pandit)  
3) Political representation  
4) Identity in Transition (eg. – Kashmiri Pandits) 
5) Ethnocentrism (Shown by majority) 
6) Problem of preserving culture  
7) Violence communal Tensions, Riots  
8) UCC  
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Religious fundamentalism 
Infallibility of texts + Selective usage of texts 
 
A movement or belief calling for return to fundamentals or basic texts. Consider certain 
original values to be pure 
 
This is in direct contrast to modernism 
Can be traced back to Protestantism in 1920s in USA and recently in Islam 
 
Reasons 
1. According to Giddens- reasons is high modernity and globalisation 
2. Whenever there is a period of drastic social change, which disturbs the order--> 
leading to loss of identity or rootlesness---> people clutch onto any support 
available 
3. Fundamentalism promises earlier better age (Taliban did so). The psychological 
appeal is difficult to resist for people 
4. Perception of threat  
5. Economic deprivation  
6. Vested intants  
7. Lack of modern education 
 
Means 
• To bring back the earlier better age- fundamentalists build rigid belief system and 
practice--> developing intense commitment among believers 
• This belief system is so rigid that non believers are denied their rights 
• So very often fundamentalism takes aggressive militant stand, where killing is justified 
 
Challenge lies in the balance 
 
  
Page 4


 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Communalism 
Definition: Using social traditions to mobilise people, generally to satisfy some vested interests.  
1) India -> Religion  
2) USA -> Race  
3) West Asia -> Shia – Sunni (Sectarianism)  
4) Africa -> Tribal  
Bipin Chandra -> 3 types of communalism (Communal communalism),(Extreme 
Communalism) 
1) Liberal communalism - Similar secular interests, different religions interests  
2) Communal Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests  
3) Extreme Communalism - Different secular interests, different religions interests but 2 
communities cannot exist together. 
Causes:  
1) Unhealthy Competition for opportunities  
2) Different perception of history  
3) Events in past -> Partition  
4) Vested interests  
5) Insecurity in religious minorities  
6) Perception of threat even majority  
7) International linkages  
Consequences:  
1) Atmosphere of unrest  
2) Violent clashes  
3) Loss of life & property  
4) Hindrance to social change 
5) Continued distrust  
6) Forced migration  
7) Xenophobia  
8) Ghettoization 
9) Political Mobilisation     
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
B-6 and C-4 
Problems of Religious Minorities 
Religious Minorities : Significantly different Identity & in Minority.    
Jagganath Pathy: 4 dimensions of Problems related with Religious Minorities 
1) Subordination (Physical | Economic)  
2) Deprivation (Material | Empl. | Education) 
3) Inferiority (majority culture gets celebrated  
4) Distinctiveness (manifestly)  
Otherwise, various other problems as well:  
1) Low literacy (ghettoisation, Terrorism) 
2) Identity (Suspicion, Housing Problems -> Kashmiri Pandit)  
3) Political representation  
4) Identity in Transition (eg. – Kashmiri Pandits) 
5) Ethnocentrism (Shown by majority) 
6) Problem of preserving culture  
7) Violence communal Tensions, Riots  
8) UCC  
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
C-4 
Religious fundamentalism 
Infallibility of texts + Selective usage of texts 
 
A movement or belief calling for return to fundamentals or basic texts. Consider certain 
original values to be pure 
 
This is in direct contrast to modernism 
Can be traced back to Protestantism in 1920s in USA and recently in Islam 
 
Reasons 
1. According to Giddens- reasons is high modernity and globalisation 
2. Whenever there is a period of drastic social change, which disturbs the order--> 
leading to loss of identity or rootlesness---> people clutch onto any support 
available 
3. Fundamentalism promises earlier better age (Taliban did so). The psychological 
appeal is difficult to resist for people 
4. Perception of threat  
5. Economic deprivation  
6. Vested intants  
7. Lack of modern education 
 
Means 
• To bring back the earlier better age- fundamentalists build rigid belief system and 
practice--> developing intense commitment among believers 
• This belief system is so rigid that non believers are denied their rights 
• So very often fundamentalism takes aggressive militant stand, where killing is justified 
 
Challenge lies in the balance 
 
  
 
www.YouTube.com/SleepyClasses 
Sleepy Classes 
Secularism: 4 basic Tenets  
1) Tolerance  
2) Flexibility  
3) Rationality  
4) Coexistence 
 
D.Smith -> India has strong secular credentials & makes all efforts to establish it. 
 
Desacralisation 
Opposite of Sacred 
Means supernatural beliefs are no longer seen as controlling the world. Action is no longer 
controlled by religious belief 
 
 
Consequences of fundamentalism  
Negatives  
- Orthodoxy  
- Intolerance  
- Hinders progressive social change  
- Riots, wars  
- Perpetuation of social evils (women at greater receiving end)  
 
 
Positives  
- Helps in checking abrupt social change  
- Brings solidarity  
- Political, social mobility  
Clifford Geertz ? Ideology based belief system & phenomenon.  
Exists at Latent Level but becomes problematic when Manifested.