NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Sociology - Globalisation and Social Change

Q1: Choose any topic that is of interest to you and discusses how you think globalisation has affected it. You could choose the cinema, work, marriage or any other topic.
Ans. 

• The effect of globalization on cinema is far-reaching. It affects us, on culture, our modes of behaviour, mode of thinking, etc. but affects us differently while for some it may mean new patterns and opportunities of culture, music, dance, etc. but for others the challenge for their own style of music for identity of culture, for own dance, etc.
• Advancement in IT (Information Technology), photography, musical instrument, cameras etc. had definitely positive effects on cinema due to globalization. It has opened wider and larger markets for film producers and even for people to enjoy more films of their own choices and likings.
• Sociology studies the social or cultural consequences of globalization. With the opening up of the market and removal of restrictions to the import of many products, we have many more products from different corners of the world in our neighborhood shops. The dramatic changes in the media (including cinema) are perhaps the most visible effect of globalization. Some of the Indian film producers, directors, actors and so on are being welcome in other countries and regions or film industries of the world. Similarly, several foreign film-makers, directors, heroes and heroines are being called and welcomed by different countries and film industries.
• Children's films, cartoon films, comedies, social and love films are produced in several languages side by side. Film festivals and film promotion shows are being screened in different countries.
• Music, dance forms, styles of presentations, natural and other scenes, filmy sets are mutually exchanged and are impressive minds of the concerned people of the film industry on a universal level.

Q2: What are the distinctive features of a globalised economy ? Discuss.
Ans: The distinctive features of a Global Economy are:

• Globalisation refers to the growing interdependence between different peoples, regions and countries in the world as social and economic relationships come to stretch world-wide.
• Although economic forces are an integral part of globalization, it would be wrong to suggest that they alone produce it. Globalisation involves a stretching of social and economic relations throughout the world. This stretching is pushed by certain economic policies very broadly. This process in India is termed liberalization. The term liberalization refers to a range of policy decisions that the Indian state took since 1991 to open up the Indian economy to the world market. This marked a break with an earlier stated policy of the government to have a greater control over the economy.
• Among the many economic factors during globalization, the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) is particularly important.
• Since July 1991, the Indian economy has witnessed a series of reforms in all major sectors of the economy (agriculture, industry, trade, foreign investment and technology, public sector, financial institutions, etc). The basic assumption was that greater integration into the global market would be beneficial to Indian economy.
• Hie process of liberalization also involved the taking of loans from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These loans are given on certain conditions. The government makes commitments to pursue certain kinds of economic measures that involve a policy of structural adjustments. These adjustments usually mean cuts in state expenditure on the social sector such as health, education and social security. There is also a greater say by international institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Q3: Briefly discuss the impact of globalisation on culture.
Ans: The Impact of Globalisation on Culture.

• Globalisation in the last decade (1999-2000) has seen major cultural changes leading to fears that our local cultures would be overtaken.
• From time to time we listen about heated debates (or discussion) in our society (or on mass media) not just about political and economic issues but also about changes in clothes, styles, music, dance, films, languages, body-languages.
• The 19th century socio-religious reformers and early nationalists (moderates also debated on culture and tradition. The issues today are in some ways the same ways different. What is perhaps different is the scale and intensity of change.
• Some of the scholars declares that India’s cultural tradition has been wary of the Kupamanduka, the frog that lives its whole life within a well, knows nothing else,and is suspicious of everything outside it. It talks to no one, and argues with no
  one on anything. It merely harbours the deepest suspicion of the outside world. Fortunately for us we retain our ‘traditional’ open-minded attitude to this day.
• All cultures are homogeneous. There is an increasing tendency towards globalization of culture. Globalization refers to the mixing of the global with the local. It is not entirely delinked from the commercial interests of globalization.
• It is a strategy often adopted by foreign firms while dealing with local traditions in order to enhance their marketability. In India, we find that all the foreign television channels like Star, MTV, Channel V and Cartoon Network use Indian languages, even McDonald sells only vegetarian and chicken products in India and not its beef products, which are popular abroad. McDonald’s goes vegetarian during the Navaratri Festival.
• The strength of Indian culture has been its open-minded approach. Culture cannot be seen as an unchanging fixed entity that can either collapse or remain the same when faced with social change.

Q4: What is globalisation? Is it simply a market strategy adopted by multinational companies or is genuine cultural synthesis taking place ? Discuss.
Ans: 
(i) Meaning of globalisation:

• There is no one meaning or definition of the term (or of the word) ‘globalisation’. Indeed we find different that different subjects focus on different aspects of globalization for instance, economics may be dealing more with the economic dimensions such as capital flows, Political Science may focus on the changing role of governments.
• The very process of globalisation is so far-reaching that disciplines have to increasingly borrow from each other to understand both are causes and consequences of globalization.
• 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, between teachers and students, between two friends or family members.
• It can likewise focus on national issue such as unemployment or caste conflict or the effect of state policies on forest rights of the tribal population or rural indebtedness.
• 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, or the entry of foreign universities on the education system of the country.
• 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.
• Sociology is not defined by what it studies but how it studies. It would be not quite right to state that sociology only studies the social or cultural consequences of globalization. What it does is the use of sociological imagination to make sense of the connections between the individual and society, the micro and the macro, the local and the global.

(ii) International companies, their adopted strategy and cultural synthesis in India

• Since April 1, 2001, all types of quantitative restrictions (QR) on imports were withdrawn. It is no surprise now to find a Chinese pear, an Australian apple vying for attention in the local fruit stall. The neighbourhood store also has Australian orange juice and ready to fry chips in frozen packets.
• What we eat and drink at home with our family and friends slowly changes.
• The same set of policy changes affects consumers and producers differently.
• They are obviously also linked to public policies adopted by the government and its agreement with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Likewise, macro policy changes have meant that instead of one television channel we have literally scores today.
• The sociological imagination enables to make this connects between the micro and the macro, between the personal and public.
• Among the many economic factors driving globalization, the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) is particularly important.