NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology - The Challenges of Cultural Diversity

Q1: What is meant by cultural diversity? Why is India considered to be a very diverse country?
Ans: Diversity means there are many kinds of differences, not that there are inequalities.

• Cultural Variety in India: India has many different social groups and communities, each with its own culture, language, religion, and customs.
• Pluralistic Society: India is a diverse society with many different cultures living together. However, managing this diversity is becoming increasingly challenging.
• Challenges of Diversity: When different groups compete or have conflicts, it can create problems. For example, language, religion, and other cultural differences can lead to issues.
• Powerful Cultural Identities: Cultural identities are strong and can cause strong emotions and large-scale actions.
• Economic and Social Inequalities: Differences in culture can sometimes come with economic and social inequalities, making the situation more complex.
• Opposition and Resource Sharing: Efforts to fix inequalities in one community can lead to resistance from others, especially when resources like water, jobs, or government funds are limited.
• Language and Climate Challenges: India faces significant challenges due to its 1632 languages and dialects, various religions, and diverse climate and geography.

Q2: What is community identity, and how is it formed?
Ans: Community identity refers to the sense of belonging and connection that people feel with a specific group or community. This identity is not based on personal achievements or qualifications but rather on inherent characteristics and shared experiences.

• Based on Birth and Belonging: Community identity is shaped by factors such as where you were born and the community you belong to, rather than what you have accomplished.
• Ascriptive Nature: These identities are called ascriptive because they are assigned based on birth and are not chosen by the individual.
• Sense of Security: People find deep satisfaction and a sense of security in being part of a community.
• Difficult to Change: These identities are hard to change or ignore. Even if you try to distance yourself, others may still see you through these community markers.
• Meaningful Ties: Connections with family, kinship, ethnicity, and language give people meaning and help form their sense of identity.
• Universal Experience: Ascriptive identities and community feelings are common to everyone. Everyone has ties to their homeland, language, family, and faith, which they hold dear.
• Cultural and Linguistic Anchors: Our community provides our native language and cultural values, which help us understand the world and shape our self-identity.
• Role of Socialization: Our identity is formed through continuous interaction with important people like parents, family, and community members, making the community crucial to our sense of self.
• Challenges in Conflicts: Conflicts between communities are tough because each side tends to view the other as an enemy and may exaggerate their own virtues and the other’s flaws.
• Perception Issues: It’s challenging for each side to see that they might be creating similar but reversed views of each other.
• Judgment of Right and Wrong: Sometimes both sides are equally right or wrong, and history might later determine who was the aggressor and who was the victim.
• Historical Perspective: Such judgments often come long after the conflict has ended.
• Difficulty in Agreeing on Truth: In identity conflicts, finding a common and agreeable truth is very challenging.

Q3: Why is it difficult to define the nation? How are nation and state related in modern society?
Ans: Nation—an entity difficult to define. 

• Many nations are founded on the basis of shared religion, language, ethnicity, history or regional culture, but it is difficult to say that each nation will possess all these constituents. E.g. India. Cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, and diverse religions are found here.
• There are languages, religions, or ethnicities used across many nations, but those cannot make a nation. For example, English is spoken in almost all countries, and there are Christians, but they do not form a nation there.
• Thus, we see that conceptually, there seems to be no hard distinction as any of the other types of community can one day form a nation, but conversely, no particular kind of community can be guaranteed to form a nation.

On the basis of the above three points, it is easy to describe the nation as a common cultural, historical and political institution formed collectively as an entity of a nation, but the difficulty arises in giving its precise and accurate definition.
Relationship of nation and state in modern society. 

• Nations are communities that have a state of their own.
• There is a one-to-one bond between nation and state, i.e. one nation-one state or one state-one nation.
• Establishment of democracy and nationalism are the sources of state formation in modern society. The nation is the most accepted for a state, while the people are the ultimate source of legitimacy of the nation. It means a state needs a nation more than a nation needs a state.

Q4: Why are states often suspicious of cultural diversity?
Ans:

• Cultural diversity may go beyond the loyalty to the nation or nation-state because people have a stronger sense of identity with their community, i.e. ethnic, religious, and linguistic community.
• Recognition of cultural diversity may lead to social fragmentation, and a harmonious society, in those circumstances, cannot be created.
• The state's assimilation policy may also become harmful. Hence, states resort to either suppressing these diverse identities or ignoring them in the political domain.
• Cultural diversity leaves no particular way for the state to implement strict policies of assimilation and integration. The former tries to erode cultural differences between groups. (i.e. ethnic, religious or linguistic) but it is difficult to pass any legislation as it would certainly be protested by one or other groups. 
• The latter seeks to assert a single national identity by attempting to eliminate ethno-nation and cultural differences from the public by drawing them into the private domain, but in that effort, the majority group who will become predominant shall have to bear the brunt of strong protest from other minority groups.

Q5: What is regionalism? What factors is it usually based on?
Ans: Regionalism refers to the advocacy for or emphasis on the interests, culture, and identity of a specific region within a larger country. It often involves promoting regional interests and autonomy, sometimes in response to perceived inequalities or cultural differences.

Q6: In your opinion, has the linguistic reorganization of states helped or harmed India?
Ans:

• Language coupled with regional and tribal identity-and not religion-has provided the most powerful instrument for the formation of ethno-national identity in India. Language ensures better communication and results in more effective administration.
• Madras presidency was divided into Madras State, Kerala and Mysore State. The Report of the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) which was implemented on November 1, 1956, has helped transform the political and institutional life of the nation.
• It has proved to be perfectly consistent to be Kannadiga and Indian, Bengali and ’ Indian, Tamil an4 Indian, Gujarati and Indian.
• In 1953, Potti Sriramulu, died seven weeks after beginning a fast unto death. His death provoked violent protests and led to the creation of the state of Andhra Pradesh. 
• It also led to the formation of the SRC, which in 1956 put the formal, final seal of approval on the principle of linguistic states. These states based on language sometimes quarrel with each other. While these disputes are not pretty, they could in fact have been far worse.
• Currently there are 29 states (federal units) and 7 Union territories (centrally administered) within the Indian nation-state. 

Q7: What is a ‘minority’? Why do minorities need protection from the state?
Ans: 

• Minority usually involves some sense of relative disadvantage.
• Privileged minorities, such as extremely wealthy people, are not usually referred to as minorities; if they are, the term is qualified in some way, as in the phrase “privileged minority’.
• When a minority is used without any qualification, it implies a relatively small and disadvantaged group.
• The sociological sense of minority implies that the members of the minority form a collectivity i.e. they have a sense of group solidarity, a feeling of togetherness and belonging.
• This is linked to disadvantage because the experience of being subjected to prejudice and discrimination usually heightens feelings of intra-group loyalty and interests.
• Groups that may be a minority in the statistical sense, such as people who are left-handed or people born on 29th February, but are not minorities in a sociological sense because they do not form a collectivity.
• Religious or cultural minority groups need special protection because of the demographic dominance of the majority.
• These groups are politically vulnerable. They must face the risk that the majority community will capture political power and use the state machinery to suppress their religious or cultural institutions, ultimately forcing them to abandon their identity.

Exceptions

• Religious minorities like Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well off economically, but they may still be disadvantaged in the cultural sense because of their small numbers compared to the overwhelming majority of Hindus.
• Another set of complications arises from the fact of India's state’s simultaneous commitment to secularism as well as the protection of minorities.
• The protection of minorities requires that they be given special consideration in a context where the normal working of the political system places them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the majority.
• This leads to the accusation of favouritism. But supporters would state that without this protection, secularism can turn into an excuse for imposing the majority community’s values and norms on minorities.

Q8: What is Communalism?
Ans: 

• Communalism refers to aggressive chauvinism based on religious identity. Chauvinism is itself an attitude that sees one’s own group as the only legitimate or worthy group, with other groups being seen as inferior, illegitimate and opposed.
• Communalism is an aggressive political ideology linked to religion.
• This is a peculiarly Indian or South Asian meaning which is different from the ordinary English word.
• In the English language, ‘communal’ means something related to a community or collectivity as different from an individual. The English meaning is neutral, whereas the South Asian meaning is strongly charged.
• Communalism is about politics, not about religion. Although communalists are intensely involved with religion, there is no necessary relationship between personal belief and communalism. A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout persons may or may not be communalists.
• Communalists cultivate an aggressive political identity and are prepared to condemn or attack everyone who does not share their identity.
• One of the most important features of communalism is that religious identity overrides everything else, it also, constructs large and diverse groups as singular and homogenous.
• Examples of communal riots in our country- include the Sikh riots of 1984 and the Gujarat riots.
• But India also has a long tradition of religious pluralism, ranging from peaceful co-existence to actual mixing or syncretism. This syncretic heritage is reflected in the devotional songs and poetry of the Bhakti and Sufi movements.

Q9: What are the different senses in which ‘secularism’ has been understood in India?
Ans: 

• Secularism is hard to define clearly. Rather, it is quite controversial. It is quite a complex term in social and political theory.
• The process of separation of religious and political authority is called secularisation.
• Being secular can be defined as not being communal. So, a secular person or state is one that does not favour any particular religion over others.
• India is a secular state that respects all religions equally. The best example is that we have public holidays on the festivals of all religions. e) In the Western sense, being secular means maintaining distance from religion, whereas in India, being secular means giving equal respect to all religions.

Q10: What is the relevance of civil society organisations today?
Ans: 

• Civil society is the name given to the arena that lies beyond the private domain of the family but outside the domain of both state and market.
• Civil society is a non-state and non-market part of the public domain in which individuals get together voluntarily to create institutions and organisations.
• It is a sphere of active citizenship: individuals take up social issues, try to influence the state or make demands on it, pursue their collective interests or seek support for a variety of causes.
• It consists of voluntary institutions formed by a group of citizens. It includes political parties, media institutions, trade unions, NGOs, religious organisations and other kinds of collective entities.
• The main criteria for inclusion in civil society are that the organisation should not be state-controlled and it should not be a purely profit-making entity.
• Examples: Doordarshan is not a civil society entity, though private television channels are. The Indian people had an encounter with authoritarian rule during the ‘Emergency’ enforced between June 1975 and 1977. Forced sterilisation programs; censorship on media and government officials; civil liberties revoked.

Civil Society Today

• Today, the activists of civil society organizations have a wide range of issues, including advocacy and lobbying activity with national and international agencies, as well as active participation in various movements.
• The issues taken jip range from tribal struggles for land rights; devolution of urban governance; campaigns against rape and violence against women, primary education reform, etc.
• The media has also started to play an important role in civil society initiatives.
• Example Right to Information. Beginning with agitation in rural Rajasthan for the release of information on government funds spent on village development, this effort grew into a nationwide campaign, despite opposition from the bureaucracy. The government was forced to respond to the campaign and pass a new law formally acknowledging citizens’ right to information.