Introducing Society 1 · Section 10

far seen as a ‘natural phenomenon’, began to be seen as a ‘social problem’ caused by human ignorance or exploitation. Poverty therefore could be studied and redressed. One way of studying this was through the social survey that was based on the belief that human phenomena can be classified and measured. You will be discussing social survey in chapter .

Thinkers of the early modern era were convinced that progress in knowledge promised the solution to all social ills. For example, Auguste Comte, the French scholar ( – ), considered to be the founder of sociology, believed that sociology would contribute to the welfare of humanity. VII THE MATERIAL ISSUES THAT WENT INTO THE MAKING OF SOCIOLOGY The Industrial Revolution was based upon a new, dynamic form of economic activity — capitalism. This system of capitalism became the driving force behind the growth of industrial manufacturing.

Capitalism involved new attitudes and institutions. Entrepreneurs now engaged in the sustained, systematic pursuit of profit. The markets acted as the key instrument of productive life. And goods, services and labour became commodities whose use was determined by rational calculation.

The new economy was completely different from what it replaced. England was the centre of the Industrial Revolution. In order to understand how far–reac hing the change industrialisation brought about was, we take a quick look at what life in pre- industrial England was like. Before industrialisation, agriculture and textiles were the chief occupations of the British.

Most people lived in villages. Like in our own Indian villages, there were peasants and landlords, the blacksmith and leather worker, the weaver and the potter, the shepherd and the brewer. Society was small. It was hierarchical, i.e.

the status and class positions of different people were clearly defined. Like all traditional societies it was also characterised by close interaction. With industrialisation each of these features changed. One of the most fundamental aspects of the new order was the degradation of labour, the wrenching of work from the protective contexts of guild, village, and family.

Both the radical and conservative thinkers were appalled at the decline of the status of the common labourer, not to mention the skilled craftsman. Urban centres expanded and grew. It was not that there were no cities earlier. But their character prior to industrialisation was different.

The industrial cities gave birth to a completely new kind of urban world. It was marked by the soot and grime of factories, by overcrowded slums of the new industrial working class, bad sanitation and general squalor. It was also marked by new kinds of social interactions. The Hindi film song on the next page captures both the material as well