Class 11 Sociology Previous Year Paper - 2 | Sociology Class 11 - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


 
Sociology  
Date:                                                                                                               Class: XI 
Time: 3 Hr                                                            M. M: 80 
General Instructions: 
1. Questions 1-14 are of 2 marks each and should be answered in not more than 40 words each. 
2. Questions 15-21 are of 4 marks each and should be answered in not more than 100 words each  
3. Question 22-24 is of 6 marks and should be answered in not more than 160 words. 
4. Question 25 is passage based. 
 
 
1 Write a note on Indra Awas Yogana.  
 
2 
2 Why does sociology need to have a special set of terminologies? 
 
2 
3 What are micro and macro structures of sociology? 
 
2 
4 Who was the founding father of sociology? What was the contribution of the discipline 
towards the society according to him? 
 
2 
5 Define culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn. 
 
2 
6 Differentiate between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
2 
7 Why should we study the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe? 
  
2 
8 What are the non-material aspects of culture? 
  
2 
9 What is the subject matter of political-sociology? 
 
2 
10 Why is the scope of sociology as a discipline wide? 
 
2 
11 What are the four basic systems of stratification in human societies? 
 
2 
12 According to Weber, what are the different methodological tools for doing sociology? 
 
2 
13 Define the term little traditions and great traditions. 
 
2 
14 Is community a part of primary group? Justify your answer. 
 
2 
15 What is meant by Enlightenment? Why is it important for the development of sociology? 
OR 
Mention some important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
4 
16 What are the intellectual ideas that went into making of Sociology as a discipline? 
 
4 
17 Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some member of the 
society. Justify your answer through examples. 
 
 
 
4 
Page 2


 
Sociology  
Date:                                                                                                               Class: XI 
Time: 3 Hr                                                            M. M: 80 
General Instructions: 
1. Questions 1-14 are of 2 marks each and should be answered in not more than 40 words each. 
2. Questions 15-21 are of 4 marks each and should be answered in not more than 100 words each  
3. Question 22-24 is of 6 marks and should be answered in not more than 160 words. 
4. Question 25 is passage based. 
 
 
1 Write a note on Indra Awas Yogana.  
 
2 
2 Why does sociology need to have a special set of terminologies? 
 
2 
3 What are micro and macro structures of sociology? 
 
2 
4 Who was the founding father of sociology? What was the contribution of the discipline 
towards the society according to him? 
 
2 
5 Define culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn. 
 
2 
6 Differentiate between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
2 
7 Why should we study the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe? 
  
2 
8 What are the non-material aspects of culture? 
  
2 
9 What is the subject matter of political-sociology? 
 
2 
10 Why is the scope of sociology as a discipline wide? 
 
2 
11 What are the four basic systems of stratification in human societies? 
 
2 
12 According to Weber, what are the different methodological tools for doing sociology? 
 
2 
13 Define the term little traditions and great traditions. 
 
2 
14 Is community a part of primary group? Justify your answer. 
 
2 
15 What is meant by Enlightenment? Why is it important for the development of sociology? 
OR 
Mention some important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
4 
16 What are the intellectual ideas that went into making of Sociology as a discipline? 
 
4 
17 Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some member of the 
society. Justify your answer through examples. 
 
 
 
4 
18  
 
What are social actions according to Weber? How can they be studied? 
OR 
Why do we need to be objective while studying the human society according to Weber? 
 
4 
19 
 
What are the features of an industrialised society? 
 
4 
20 What are the various agencies of socialization? 
  
4 
21 People make efforts to fight against discriminating roles and status. Explain 
 
4 
22 Explain the Revolutionary change in culture. 
 
6 
23 
 
 
 
What are the various components of the mode of production according to Karl Marx? 
OR 
Discuss Marx’s views on class struggle. 
6 
24 How did Durkheim explain the evolution of society? 
 
6 
25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a) 
 
b) 
 
c) 
 
Read the passage and answer the following questions: 
  
Passage 
I believe that a complete life is inclusive of everything around us: plants, cattle, guests, 
feasts, festivals, quarrels, friendship, companionship, discrimination, scorn. All these 
and more were present in one single place, my home. Although life sometimes 
appeared complicated then, I now understand how consummate it was. It is thanks to 
such a childhood, perhaps, that if I get just a glimpse of someone’s suffering, I feel I 
can comprehend the whole of it (Vaidehi 1945). 
 
How is the process of socialisation gendered? 
 
What is a biradari? 
 
Does hidden curriculum help in socialisation of the children? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
2 
 
2 
 
Page 3


 
Sociology  
Date:                                                                                                               Class: XI 
Time: 3 Hr                                                            M. M: 80 
General Instructions: 
1. Questions 1-14 are of 2 marks each and should be answered in not more than 40 words each. 
2. Questions 15-21 are of 4 marks each and should be answered in not more than 100 words each  
3. Question 22-24 is of 6 marks and should be answered in not more than 160 words. 
4. Question 25 is passage based. 
 
 
1 Write a note on Indra Awas Yogana.  
 
2 
2 Why does sociology need to have a special set of terminologies? 
 
2 
3 What are micro and macro structures of sociology? 
 
2 
4 Who was the founding father of sociology? What was the contribution of the discipline 
towards the society according to him? 
 
2 
5 Define culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn. 
 
2 
6 Differentiate between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
2 
7 Why should we study the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe? 
  
2 
8 What are the non-material aspects of culture? 
  
2 
9 What is the subject matter of political-sociology? 
 
2 
10 Why is the scope of sociology as a discipline wide? 
 
2 
11 What are the four basic systems of stratification in human societies? 
 
2 
12 According to Weber, what are the different methodological tools for doing sociology? 
 
2 
13 Define the term little traditions and great traditions. 
 
2 
14 Is community a part of primary group? Justify your answer. 
 
2 
15 What is meant by Enlightenment? Why is it important for the development of sociology? 
OR 
Mention some important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
4 
16 What are the intellectual ideas that went into making of Sociology as a discipline? 
 
4 
17 Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some member of the 
society. Justify your answer through examples. 
 
 
 
4 
18  
 
What are social actions according to Weber? How can they be studied? 
OR 
Why do we need to be objective while studying the human society according to Weber? 
 
4 
19 
 
What are the features of an industrialised society? 
 
4 
20 What are the various agencies of socialization? 
  
4 
21 People make efforts to fight against discriminating roles and status. Explain 
 
4 
22 Explain the Revolutionary change in culture. 
 
6 
23 
 
 
 
What are the various components of the mode of production according to Karl Marx? 
OR 
Discuss Marx’s views on class struggle. 
6 
24 How did Durkheim explain the evolution of society? 
 
6 
25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a) 
 
b) 
 
c) 
 
Read the passage and answer the following questions: 
  
Passage 
I believe that a complete life is inclusive of everything around us: plants, cattle, guests, 
feasts, festivals, quarrels, friendship, companionship, discrimination, scorn. All these 
and more were present in one single place, my home. Although life sometimes 
appeared complicated then, I now understand how consummate it was. It is thanks to 
such a childhood, perhaps, that if I get just a glimpse of someone’s suffering, I feel I 
can comprehend the whole of it (Vaidehi 1945). 
 
How is the process of socialisation gendered? 
 
What is a biradari? 
 
Does hidden curriculum help in socialisation of the children? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
2 
 
2 
 
 
 
 
 
                
                       Answer Key
 
  
Date of Exam:                                   Class: XI 
 
Subject: Sociology 
 
   
1 The Indira Awas Yojana, operationalised from 1999- 2000 is a major scheme by the government’s 
Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation 
(HUDCO) to construct houses free of cost for the poor and the homeless. 
 
 
2 For a discipline such as, say, nuclear physics that deals with matters unknown to most people and 
for which no word exists in common speech, it seems obvious that a discipline must develop a 
terminology. However, terminology is possibly even more important for sociology, just because its 
subject matter is familiar and just because words do exist to denote it. We are so well acquainted 
with the social institutions that surround us that we cannot see them clearly and precisely. 
For example we may feel that since we live in families we know all about families. This would be 
conflating or equating sociological knowledge with common sense knowledge. 
 
 
3 Within sociology some tried to understand human behaviour by starting with the individual, i.e. 
micro interaction. Others began with macro structures such as class, caste, market, state or even 
community. 
 
 
4 Auguste Comte, the French scholar (1789–1857), considered to be the founder of sociology, 
believed that sociology would contribute to the welfare of humanity. 
 
 
5 Culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn- 
 
a) A way of thinking, feeling, believing 
b) The total way of life of a people. 
c) An abstraction from behavior 
d) Learned behavior 
e) A storehouse of pooled learning 
f) The social legacy the individual acquires from his group 
g) A set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems 
h) A mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior. 
 
 
6 Difference between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
In-Group- A sense of belonging marks an in-group. This feeling separates ‘us’ or ‘we’ from 
‘them’ or ‘they’. Children belonging to a particular school may form an ‘in-group’ as against those 
who do not belong to the school. 
 
Out-Group- An out-group on the other hand is one to which the members of an in-group do not 
belong. The members of an out-group can face hostile reactions from the members of the in-group. 
Migrants are often considered as an out-group. 
 
 
7 Most of the issues and concerns of sociology also date back to a time when European society was 
undergoing tumultuous changes in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advent of capitalism and 
industrialisation. For our past, as Indians is closely linked to the history of British capitalism and 
colonialism. Capitalism in the west entailed a world-wide expansion.- explain  
 
 
Page 4


 
Sociology  
Date:                                                                                                               Class: XI 
Time: 3 Hr                                                            M. M: 80 
General Instructions: 
1. Questions 1-14 are of 2 marks each and should be answered in not more than 40 words each. 
2. Questions 15-21 are of 4 marks each and should be answered in not more than 100 words each  
3. Question 22-24 is of 6 marks and should be answered in not more than 160 words. 
4. Question 25 is passage based. 
 
 
1 Write a note on Indra Awas Yogana.  
 
2 
2 Why does sociology need to have a special set of terminologies? 
 
2 
3 What are micro and macro structures of sociology? 
 
2 
4 Who was the founding father of sociology? What was the contribution of the discipline 
towards the society according to him? 
 
2 
5 Define culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn. 
 
2 
6 Differentiate between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
2 
7 Why should we study the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe? 
  
2 
8 What are the non-material aspects of culture? 
  
2 
9 What is the subject matter of political-sociology? 
 
2 
10 Why is the scope of sociology as a discipline wide? 
 
2 
11 What are the four basic systems of stratification in human societies? 
 
2 
12 According to Weber, what are the different methodological tools for doing sociology? 
 
2 
13 Define the term little traditions and great traditions. 
 
2 
14 Is community a part of primary group? Justify your answer. 
 
2 
15 What is meant by Enlightenment? Why is it important for the development of sociology? 
OR 
Mention some important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
4 
16 What are the intellectual ideas that went into making of Sociology as a discipline? 
 
4 
17 Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some member of the 
society. Justify your answer through examples. 
 
 
 
4 
18  
 
What are social actions according to Weber? How can they be studied? 
OR 
Why do we need to be objective while studying the human society according to Weber? 
 
4 
19 
 
What are the features of an industrialised society? 
 
4 
20 What are the various agencies of socialization? 
  
4 
21 People make efforts to fight against discriminating roles and status. Explain 
 
4 
22 Explain the Revolutionary change in culture. 
 
6 
23 
 
 
 
What are the various components of the mode of production according to Karl Marx? 
OR 
Discuss Marx’s views on class struggle. 
6 
24 How did Durkheim explain the evolution of society? 
 
6 
25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a) 
 
b) 
 
c) 
 
Read the passage and answer the following questions: 
  
Passage 
I believe that a complete life is inclusive of everything around us: plants, cattle, guests, 
feasts, festivals, quarrels, friendship, companionship, discrimination, scorn. All these 
and more were present in one single place, my home. Although life sometimes 
appeared complicated then, I now understand how consummate it was. It is thanks to 
such a childhood, perhaps, that if I get just a glimpse of someone’s suffering, I feel I 
can comprehend the whole of it (Vaidehi 1945). 
 
How is the process of socialisation gendered? 
 
What is a biradari? 
 
Does hidden curriculum help in socialisation of the children? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
2 
 
2 
 
 
 
 
 
                
                       Answer Key
 
  
Date of Exam:                                   Class: XI 
 
Subject: Sociology 
 
   
1 The Indira Awas Yojana, operationalised from 1999- 2000 is a major scheme by the government’s 
Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation 
(HUDCO) to construct houses free of cost for the poor and the homeless. 
 
 
2 For a discipline such as, say, nuclear physics that deals with matters unknown to most people and 
for which no word exists in common speech, it seems obvious that a discipline must develop a 
terminology. However, terminology is possibly even more important for sociology, just because its 
subject matter is familiar and just because words do exist to denote it. We are so well acquainted 
with the social institutions that surround us that we cannot see them clearly and precisely. 
For example we may feel that since we live in families we know all about families. This would be 
conflating or equating sociological knowledge with common sense knowledge. 
 
 
3 Within sociology some tried to understand human behaviour by starting with the individual, i.e. 
micro interaction. Others began with macro structures such as class, caste, market, state or even 
community. 
 
 
4 Auguste Comte, the French scholar (1789–1857), considered to be the founder of sociology, 
believed that sociology would contribute to the welfare of humanity. 
 
 
5 Culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn- 
 
a) A way of thinking, feeling, believing 
b) The total way of life of a people. 
c) An abstraction from behavior 
d) Learned behavior 
e) A storehouse of pooled learning 
f) The social legacy the individual acquires from his group 
g) A set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems 
h) A mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior. 
 
 
6 Difference between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
In-Group- A sense of belonging marks an in-group. This feeling separates ‘us’ or ‘we’ from 
‘them’ or ‘they’. Children belonging to a particular school may form an ‘in-group’ as against those 
who do not belong to the school. 
 
Out-Group- An out-group on the other hand is one to which the members of an in-group do not 
belong. The members of an out-group can face hostile reactions from the members of the in-group. 
Migrants are often considered as an out-group. 
 
 
7 Most of the issues and concerns of sociology also date back to a time when European society was 
undergoing tumultuous changes in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advent of capitalism and 
industrialisation. For our past, as Indians is closely linked to the history of British capitalism and 
colonialism. Capitalism in the west entailed a world-wide expansion.- explain  
 
 
 
8 The non-material aspects of culture: 
 
• Cognitive Aspect- refers to how we learn to process what we hear or see, so as to give it meaning. 
Ex.- identifying the ring of a cell-phone as ours. 
• Normative Aspect-refers to rules of conduct like not opening other people’s letters, performing 
rituals at death, etc.  
 
 
9 The focus of political sociology has been increasingly on the actual study of political behavior. 
Even in the recent Indian elections one has seen the extensive study of political patterns of voting. 
Studies have also been conducted in membership of political organisations, process of decision 
making in organisations, sociological reasons for support of political parties, the role of gender in 
politics, etc. 
 
 
10 The scope of sociological study is extremely wide. It can focus its analysis of interactions between 
individuals such as that of a shopkeeper with a customer. 
It can likewise focus on national issues such as unemployment or caste conflict or the effect of 
state policies on forest rights of the tribal population or rural indebtedness.  
It also examines global social processes such as: the impact of new flexible labour regulations on 
the working class; or that of the electronic media on the young population. 
What defines the discipline of sociology is therefore not just what it studies (i.e. family or trade 
unions or villages) but how it studies a chosen field. 
 
 
11 Four basic systems of stratification have existed in human societies-  
1. Slavery- is an extreme form of inequality in which some individuals are literally owned by 
others. As a formal institution slavery has gradually been eradicated but we do continue to have 
bonded labor, often even of children.                                                                                                                        
2. Estates characterized feudal Europe.  
3. Caste- an individual’s position totally depends on the status attributes ascribed by birth rather 
than on any which are achieved during the course of one’s life. In traditional India different castes 
formed a hierarchy of social precedence. No two castes are equal. Each position in the caste 
structure was defined in terms of its purity or pollution relative to others. 
4. Class- Stratification based on income. There are different strata (layer) in society according to 
the material wealth they have. Modern class system is open and achievement based. ( Can add 
from Marx’ s class struggle) 
 
 
12 According to Weber, there are different methodological tools for doing sociology: 
 
a) Empathetic understanding- Sociology was a systematic form of ‘empathetic understanding’, 
that is, an understanding based not on ‘feeling for’ (sympathy) but ‘feeling with’ 
(empathy). This method would enable the sociologist to access the subjective meanings and 
motivations of social actors. Sociologists were meant to describe, not judge, the subjective 
feelings of others. Weber called this kind of objectivity ‘value neutrality’.  
 
b) Ideal type- An ideal type is a logically consistent model of a social phenomenon that 
highlights its most significant characteristics. Being a conceptual tool designed to help 
analysis, it is not meant to be an exact reproduction of reality. Its main job is to assist 
analysis by bringing out important features and connections of the social phenomenon 
being studied. 
 
 
 
13 Great Tradition: It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are written and widely 
accepted by the elites of a society who are educated and learned. 
Little Tradition: It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are oral and operates at the 
village level. 
 
14 The term ‘community’ refers to human relationships that are highly personal, intimate and 
enduring, those where a person’s involvement is considerable if not total, as in the family, with real 
friends or a close-knit group. You may draw a parallel between the community with the primary 
 
Page 5


 
Sociology  
Date:                                                                                                               Class: XI 
Time: 3 Hr                                                            M. M: 80 
General Instructions: 
1. Questions 1-14 are of 2 marks each and should be answered in not more than 40 words each. 
2. Questions 15-21 are of 4 marks each and should be answered in not more than 100 words each  
3. Question 22-24 is of 6 marks and should be answered in not more than 160 words. 
4. Question 25 is passage based. 
 
 
1 Write a note on Indra Awas Yogana.  
 
2 
2 Why does sociology need to have a special set of terminologies? 
 
2 
3 What are micro and macro structures of sociology? 
 
2 
4 Who was the founding father of sociology? What was the contribution of the discipline 
towards the society according to him? 
 
2 
5 Define culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn. 
 
2 
6 Differentiate between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
2 
7 Why should we study the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe? 
  
2 
8 What are the non-material aspects of culture? 
  
2 
9 What is the subject matter of political-sociology? 
 
2 
10 Why is the scope of sociology as a discipline wide? 
 
2 
11 What are the four basic systems of stratification in human societies? 
 
2 
12 According to Weber, what are the different methodological tools for doing sociology? 
 
2 
13 Define the term little traditions and great traditions. 
 
2 
14 Is community a part of primary group? Justify your answer. 
 
2 
15 What is meant by Enlightenment? Why is it important for the development of sociology? 
OR 
Mention some important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
 
4 
16 What are the intellectual ideas that went into making of Sociology as a discipline? 
 
4 
17 Role stereotyping is a process of reinforcing some specific role for some member of the 
society. Justify your answer through examples. 
 
 
 
4 
18  
 
What are social actions according to Weber? How can they be studied? 
OR 
Why do we need to be objective while studying the human society according to Weber? 
 
4 
19 
 
What are the features of an industrialised society? 
 
4 
20 What are the various agencies of socialization? 
  
4 
21 People make efforts to fight against discriminating roles and status. Explain 
 
4 
22 Explain the Revolutionary change in culture. 
 
6 
23 
 
 
 
What are the various components of the mode of production according to Karl Marx? 
OR 
Discuss Marx’s views on class struggle. 
6 
24 How did Durkheim explain the evolution of society? 
 
6 
25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
a) 
 
b) 
 
c) 
 
Read the passage and answer the following questions: 
  
Passage 
I believe that a complete life is inclusive of everything around us: plants, cattle, guests, 
feasts, festivals, quarrels, friendship, companionship, discrimination, scorn. All these 
and more were present in one single place, my home. Although life sometimes 
appeared complicated then, I now understand how consummate it was. It is thanks to 
such a childhood, perhaps, that if I get just a glimpse of someone’s suffering, I feel I 
can comprehend the whole of it (Vaidehi 1945). 
 
How is the process of socialisation gendered? 
 
What is a biradari? 
 
Does hidden curriculum help in socialisation of the children? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
2 
 
2 
 
 
 
 
 
                
                       Answer Key
 
  
Date of Exam:                                   Class: XI 
 
Subject: Sociology 
 
   
1 The Indira Awas Yojana, operationalised from 1999- 2000 is a major scheme by the government’s 
Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) and Housing and Urban Development Corporation 
(HUDCO) to construct houses free of cost for the poor and the homeless. 
 
 
2 For a discipline such as, say, nuclear physics that deals with matters unknown to most people and 
for which no word exists in common speech, it seems obvious that a discipline must develop a 
terminology. However, terminology is possibly even more important for sociology, just because its 
subject matter is familiar and just because words do exist to denote it. We are so well acquainted 
with the social institutions that surround us that we cannot see them clearly and precisely. 
For example we may feel that since we live in families we know all about families. This would be 
conflating or equating sociological knowledge with common sense knowledge. 
 
 
3 Within sociology some tried to understand human behaviour by starting with the individual, i.e. 
micro interaction. Others began with macro structures such as class, caste, market, state or even 
community. 
 
 
4 Auguste Comte, the French scholar (1789–1857), considered to be the founder of sociology, 
believed that sociology would contribute to the welfare of humanity. 
 
 
5 Culture according to Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn- 
 
a) A way of thinking, feeling, believing 
b) The total way of life of a people. 
c) An abstraction from behavior 
d) Learned behavior 
e) A storehouse of pooled learning 
f) The social legacy the individual acquires from his group 
g) A set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems 
h) A mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior. 
 
 
6 Difference between In-groups and Out-groups. 
 
In-Group- A sense of belonging marks an in-group. This feeling separates ‘us’ or ‘we’ from 
‘them’ or ‘they’. Children belonging to a particular school may form an ‘in-group’ as against those 
who do not belong to the school. 
 
Out-Group- An out-group on the other hand is one to which the members of an in-group do not 
belong. The members of an out-group can face hostile reactions from the members of the in-group. 
Migrants are often considered as an out-group. 
 
 
7 Most of the issues and concerns of sociology also date back to a time when European society was 
undergoing tumultuous changes in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advent of capitalism and 
industrialisation. For our past, as Indians is closely linked to the history of British capitalism and 
colonialism. Capitalism in the west entailed a world-wide expansion.- explain  
 
 
 
8 The non-material aspects of culture: 
 
• Cognitive Aspect- refers to how we learn to process what we hear or see, so as to give it meaning. 
Ex.- identifying the ring of a cell-phone as ours. 
• Normative Aspect-refers to rules of conduct like not opening other people’s letters, performing 
rituals at death, etc.  
 
 
9 The focus of political sociology has been increasingly on the actual study of political behavior. 
Even in the recent Indian elections one has seen the extensive study of political patterns of voting. 
Studies have also been conducted in membership of political organisations, process of decision 
making in organisations, sociological reasons for support of political parties, the role of gender in 
politics, etc. 
 
 
10 The scope of sociological study is extremely wide. It can focus its analysis of interactions between 
individuals such as that of a shopkeeper with a customer. 
It can likewise focus on national issues such as unemployment or caste conflict or the effect of 
state policies on forest rights of the tribal population or rural indebtedness.  
It also examines global social processes such as: the impact of new flexible labour regulations on 
the working class; or that of the electronic media on the young population. 
What defines the discipline of sociology is therefore not just what it studies (i.e. family or trade 
unions or villages) but how it studies a chosen field. 
 
 
11 Four basic systems of stratification have existed in human societies-  
1. Slavery- is an extreme form of inequality in which some individuals are literally owned by 
others. As a formal institution slavery has gradually been eradicated but we do continue to have 
bonded labor, often even of children.                                                                                                                        
2. Estates characterized feudal Europe.  
3. Caste- an individual’s position totally depends on the status attributes ascribed by birth rather 
than on any which are achieved during the course of one’s life. In traditional India different castes 
formed a hierarchy of social precedence. No two castes are equal. Each position in the caste 
structure was defined in terms of its purity or pollution relative to others. 
4. Class- Stratification based on income. There are different strata (layer) in society according to 
the material wealth they have. Modern class system is open and achievement based. ( Can add 
from Marx’ s class struggle) 
 
 
12 According to Weber, there are different methodological tools for doing sociology: 
 
a) Empathetic understanding- Sociology was a systematic form of ‘empathetic understanding’, 
that is, an understanding based not on ‘feeling for’ (sympathy) but ‘feeling with’ 
(empathy). This method would enable the sociologist to access the subjective meanings and 
motivations of social actors. Sociologists were meant to describe, not judge, the subjective 
feelings of others. Weber called this kind of objectivity ‘value neutrality’.  
 
b) Ideal type- An ideal type is a logically consistent model of a social phenomenon that 
highlights its most significant characteristics. Being a conceptual tool designed to help 
analysis, it is not meant to be an exact reproduction of reality. Its main job is to assist 
analysis by bringing out important features and connections of the social phenomenon 
being studied. 
 
 
 
13 Great Tradition: It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are written and widely 
accepted by the elites of a society who are educated and learned. 
Little Tradition: It comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are oral and operates at the 
village level. 
 
14 The term ‘community’ refers to human relationships that are highly personal, intimate and 
enduring, those where a person’s involvement is considerable if not total, as in the family, with real 
friends or a close-knit group. You may draw a parallel between the community with the primary 
 
 
group as primary groups are small group of people connected by intimate and face-to-face 
association and co-operation. 
 
15 The Enlightenment refers to the emergence in Western Europe, during the late 17th and 18th centuries, 
of radically new ways of thinking about the world. It is important for the development of sociology 
because: 
a) The new philosophies during this period established: 
• The human being at the center of the universe 
• Rational (sensible, realistic) thought as the central feature of the human being. 
b) The ability to think rationally and critically transformed the individual human being into both the 
producer and the user of all knowledge, ‘the knowing subject’. 
c) To make reason the most important feature of human world, nature, religion and the divine acts of 
gods were displaced from the central position they held previously. 
d) Enlightenment helped to develop attitudes of mind that we refer to today as secular, scientific and 
humanistic (Humanism is the belief that people can achieve happiness and live well without religion). 
 
OR 
 
Important features of the French Declaration of Human Rights. 
i) The Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1789 in France, during the French 
Revolution. 
ii) It asserted the equality of all citizens and questioned the legitimacy of privileges 
inherited by birth.  It signaled the liberation of the individual from the oppressive rule 
of the religious and feudal institutions that dominated France before the Revolution. 
iii) The peasants, most of whom were serfs tied to landed estates owned by members of the 
aristocracy, were freed of their bonds.  
iv) The numerous taxes paid by the peasants to the feudal lords and to the church were cancelled.  
iv) As free citizens of the republic, sovereign individuals were given equal rights and were 
equal before the law and other institutions of the state. 
v) The state had to respect the privacy of the free individual and its laws could not intrude 
upon the domestic life of the people. A separation was built between the public realm of 
the state and a private realm of the household. 
 
 
16 The intellectual ideas that went into the making of sociology: 
Influenced by scientific theories of natural evolution and findings about pre-modern societies made 
by early travellers, colonial administrators, sociologists and social anthropologist sought to 
categorise societies into types and to distinguish stages in social development. These features 
reappear in the 19th century in works of early sociologists, Auguste Comte, Karl Marx and Herbert 
Spencer. 
Efforts were therefore made to classify different types of societies on that 
basis, for instance: 
• Types of pre-modern societies such as hunters and gatherers, pastoral and agrarian, agrarian and 
nonindustrial civilisations. 
• Types of modern societies such as the industrialised societies. 
Such an evolutionary vision assumed that the west was necessarily the most advanced and 
civilised. Non- western societies were often seen as barbaric and less developed. The Indian 
colonial experience has to be seen in this light. 
Darwin’s ideas about organic evolution were a dominant influence on early sociological thought. 
Society was often compared with living organisms and efforts were made to trace its growth 
through stages comparable to those of organic life. This way of looking at society as a system of 
parts, each part playing a given function influenced the study of social institutions like the family 
or the school and structures such as stratification. We mention this here because the intellectual 
ideas that went into the making of sociology have a direct bearing on how sociology studies 
empirical reality. 
The Enlightenment and European intellectual movement of the late 17
th
 and 18th centuries, 
emphasised reason and individualism. There was also great advancement of scientific knowledge