INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY

INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY CHAPTER UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS I INTRODUCTION This book began with a discussion about the interaction of the individual and society. We saw that each of us as individuals, occupies a place or location in society. Each one of us has a status and a role or roles, but these are not simply what we as individuals choose. They are not like roles a film actor may or may not opt to do.

There are social institutions that constrain and control, punish and reward. They could be ‘macro’ social institutions like the state or ‘micro’ ones like the family. Here in this chapter we are introduced to social institutions, and also to how sociology/social anthropology studies them. This chapter puts forth a very brief idea of some of the central areas where important social institutions are located namely: (i) family, marriage and kinship; (ii) politics; (iii) economics; (iv) religion; and (v) education.

In the broadest sense, an institution is something that works according to rules established or at least acknowledged by law or by custom. And whose regular and continuous operation cannot be understood without taking those rules into account. Institutions impose constraints on individuals. They also provide him/her with opportunities.

An institution can also be viewed as an end in itself. Indeed people have viewed family, religion, state or even education as an end in itself. We have already seen that there are conflicting and different understandings of concepts within sociology. We have also been introduced to the functionalist and conflict perspective, and seen how differently they saw the same thing, for instance, stratification or social control.

Not surprisingly, therefore, there are different forms of understanding of social institutions as well. Activity Think of examples of how people sacrifice for family, for religion or for the state. - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY functionalists. In such a family one adult can work outside home while the second adult cares for the home and children.

In practical terms, this specialisation of roles within the nuclear family involves the husband adopting the ‘instrumental’ role as breadwinner, and the wife assuming the ‘affective’, emotional role in domestic settings (Giddens ). This vision is questionable not just because it is gender unjust but because empirical studies across cultures and history show that it is untrue. Indeed, as you will see in the discussion on work and economy how in contemporary industries like the garment export, women form a large part of the labour force. Such a separation also suggests that men are necessarily the heads of households.

This is not necessarily true as the box which is given below shows. Variation in Family Forms A central debate in India has been about the shift from nuclear family to joint families. We have already seen how sociology questions common sense impressions. The fact is that nuclear families have always existed in India particularly among deprived castes and classes.

The sociologist A.M. Shah remarks that in post-independent India the joint family has steadily increased. The contributing factor is the increasing life expectancy in India according to him. It has increased from .

– . years for men and from . – . years for women during the period – to - .

Consequently, the proportion of aged people ( years and above) in the total population has increased. “We have to ask” writes Shah: “in what kind of household do these elderly people live? I submit, most of them live in joint household” (Shah ). This again is a broad generalisation.

But in the spirit of the sociological perspective, it cautions us against blindly believing a common sense impression that the joint family is fast eroding. And alerts us to the need for careful comparative and empirical studies. Studies have shown how diverse family forms are found in different Female headed households When men migrate to urban areas, women have to plough and manage the agricultural fields. Many a time they become the sole providers of their families.

Such households are known as female headed households. Widowhood too might create such familial arrangement. Or it may happen when men get remarried and stop sending remittance to their wives, children and other dependents. In such a situation, women have to ensure the maintenance of the family.

Among the Kolams, a tribal community in south-eastern Maharashtra and northern Andhra Pradesh, a female headed household is an accepted norm. - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY because the new German state withdrew all the protection and welfare schemes which were provided to the families prior to the unification. With growing sense of economic insecurity people responded by refusing to marry. This can also be understood as a case of unintended consequence (Chapter ).

Family and kinship are thus subject to change and transformation due to macro economic processes but the direction of change need not always be similar for all countries and regions. Moreover, change does not mean the complete erosion of previous norms and structure. Change and continuity co-exist. How gendered is the family?

The belief is that the male child will support the parents in the old age and the female child will leave on marriage results in families investing more in a male child. Despite the biological fact that a female baby has better chances of survival than a male baby the rate of infant mortality among female children is higher in comparison to male children in lower age group in India. The Institution of Marriage Historically marriage has been found to exist in a wide variety of forms in Sex Ratio in India between - Year Sex Ratio Year Sex Ratio ( )* * In the sex ratio of girls in - group was enumerated as Activity A Telegu expression states: ‘Bringing up a daughter is like watering a plant in another’s courtyard’. Find out other such sayings that are contrary.

Discuss how popular sayings reflect the social arrangement of a society, The incidence of female foeticide has led to a sudden decline in the sex ratio. The child sex ratio has declined from per thousand males in to in . The percentage of decline in the child sex ratio is more alarming. The situation of prosperous states like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and western Utter Pradesh is all the more grave.

In Punjab the child sex ratio has declined to girls per , boys. In some of the districts of Punjab and Haryana it has fallen below . - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY Activity Collect different wedding songs and discuss how they reflect the social dynamics of marriages and of gender relations. Activity Have you ever seen matrimonial advertisements?

Divide your class into groups and look at different newspapers, magazines and the internet. Discuss your findings. Do you think endogamy is still the prevalent norm? How does it help you to understand choice in marriage?

More importantly, what kind of changes in society does it reflect? Endogamy requires an individual to marry within a culturally defined group of which he or she is already a member, as for example, caste. Exogamy, the reverse of endogamy, requires the individual to marry outside of his/her own group. Endogamy and exogamy are in reference to certain kinship units, such as, clan, caste and racial, ethnic or religious groupings.

In India, village exogamy is practised in certain parts of north India. Village exogamy ensured that daughters were married into families from villages far away from home. This arrangement ensured smooth transition and adjustment of the bride into the affinal home without interference of her kinsmen. The geographical distance plus the unequal relationship in the patrilineal system ensured that married daughters did not get to see their parents too often.

Thus parting from natal home was a sad occasion and is the theme of folk songs, which depict the pain of departure. Father, we are like flocks of bird We shall fly away; Our flight will be long, We know not to which, Region we will go. Father, my palanquin cannot Pass through your palace, (because the door is too small) Daughter, I shall remove a brick (to enlarge the passage for your palanquin), You must go to your home. (Chanana :WS26) Rock-a-bye-baby, combs in your pretty hair, The bridegroom will come soon and take you away The drums beat loudly, the shehnai is playing softly A stranger’s son has come to fetch me Come my playmates, come with our toys Let us play, for I shall never play again When I go off to the strangers’ house.

(Dube : ) Defining Some Basic Concepts, Particularly those of Family, Kinship and Marriage A family is a group of persons directly linked by kin connections, - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY Types of Work physical effort, which has as its objective the production of goods and services that cater to human needs. Modern Forms of Work and Division of Labour In pre-modern forms of society most people worked in the field or cared for the livestock. In the industrially developed society only a tiny pro- portion of the population works in agriculture, and farming itself has become industrialised — it is carried on largely by means of machines rather Activity Find out the proportion of Indians who are in rural based occupations. Make a list of these occupations.

- INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY Discuss the two forms of production in the two sets of visuals Cloth production in a factory - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY construction of a moving assembly line. Modern industrial production needed expensive equipment and continuous monitoring of employees through monitoring or surveillance systems. Over the last decades there has been a shift to what is often called ‘flexible production’ and ‘decentralisation of work’. It is argued that in this period of globalisation, it is the growing competition between firms and countries that makes it essential for firms to organise production suiting the changing market conditions.

To illustrate how this new system operates and what the implications may be for the workers, read the quote from a study of the garment industry in Bangalore. The industry is essentially part of a long supply chain, and the freedom of manufacturers is to that extent extremely limited. There are, in fact more than a hundred operations between the designer and the final consumer. In this chain, only are in the hands of the manufacturer.

Any serious agitation for a rise in wages would lead manufacturers to shift their operations to other localities, beyond the reach of unionists... whether it is the payment of the existing minimum wage, or its substantial revision upwards, what is important is to enlist the support of the retailer in order to create the necessary pressure upon the government and local agencies for a higher wage structure and its effective implementation. Thus the vision here is that of the creation of an international opinion forum (Roy Choudhury : ). Read the above given report carefully.

Notice how the new organisation of production and a body of customers outside the country have altered the economics and the politics of production. IV POLITICS Political institutions are concerned with the distribution of power in society. Two concepts, which are critical to the understanding of political institutions, are power and authority. Power is the ability of individuals or groups to carry out their will even when opposed by others.

It implies that those who hold power do so at the cost of others. There is a fixed amount of power in a society and if some wield power others do not. In other words, an individual or group does not hold power in isolation, they hold it in relation to others. This notion of power is fairly inclusive and extends from family elders assigning domestic duties to their children to principals enforcing discipline in school; from the General Manager of a factory distributing work among the executives to political leaders regulating programmes of their parties.

The principal has power to maintain discipline in school. The president of a political party possesses power to expel a member from the party. In each case, an individual or group has power to the extent to which others abide by their will. In this sense, political activities or politics is concerned with ‘power’.

- INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY prerogative of every individual to enjoy a certain minimum standard of economic welfare and security. They include such rights as health benefits, unemployment allowance, setting of minimum level of wages. The broadening of social or welfare rights led to the welfare state, which was established in Western societies since the Second World War. States of the erstwhile socialist countries had far-reaching provision in this sector.

In most developing countries, this was virtually non-existent. All over the world today these social rights are being attacked as liabilities on the state and hindrances to economic growth. Nationalism can be defined as a set of symbols and beliefs providing the sense of being part of a single political community. Thus, individuals feel a sense of pride and belonging, in being ‘British’, ‘Indian’, ‘Indonesian’ or ‘French’.

Probably people have always felt some kind of identity with social groups of one form or another — for example, their family, clan or religious community. Nationalism, however, only made its appearance with the development of the modern state. Contemporary world is marked both by a rapid expansion of the global market as well as intense nationalist feelings and conflicts. Sociology has been interested in the broader study of power, not just with the formal apparatus of government.

It has been interested in the distribution of power between parties, between classes, between castes, and between Activity Find out when women got voting rights in different countries. Why do you think that despite the right to vote and the right to stand for public office, women are so inadequately represented? Will power in its wider sense be a useful concept to understand this under-representation in the Parliament and other bodies? Does the existing division of labour within families and households impact women’s participation in political life?

Find out why there is a demand for per cent reservation for women in the Parliament. Activity Collect information about different states doing away with social rights. Find out what explanation is given for this. Discuss and see whether you can see the relationship between the economic, political and social spheres.

Activity Collect information of events that show the growth of global inter- connectedness as well as instances of divisions along ethnic, religious, national conflicts. Discuss how politics and economics may have a part to play in them. - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY Sociologists of religion, following Emile Durkheim, are interested in understanding this sacred realm which every society distinguishes from the profane. In most cases, the sacred includes an element of the supernatural.

Often the sacred quality of a tree or a temple comes with the belief that it is sacred precisely because there is some supernatural force behind it. However, it is important to keep in mind that some religions like early Buddhism and Confucianism had no conception of the supernatural, but did allow sufficient reverence for things and persons which they considered sacred. Studying religion sociologically lets us ask questions about the relationship of religion with other social institutions. Religion has had a very close relationship with power and politics.

For instance, periodically in history there have been religious movements for social change, like various anti-caste movements or movements against gender discrimination. Religion is not just a matter of the private belief of an individual but it also has a public character. And it is this public character of religion, which has an important bearing on other institutions of society. We have seen how sociology looks at power in a wide sense.

It is, therefore, of sociological interest to look at the relationship between political and religious spheres. Classical sociologists believed that as societies modernised, religion would become less influential over various spheres of life. The concept secularisation describes this process. Contemporary events suggest a persisting role of religion in various aspects of society.

Why do you think this is so? A pioneering work by Max Weber ( - ) demonstrates how sociology looks at religion in its relationship to other aspects of social and economic behaviour. Weber argues that Calvinism (a branch of Protestant Christianity) exerted an important influence on the emergence and growth of capitalism as a mode of economic organisation. The Calvinists believed that the world was created for the glory of God, meaning that any work in this world had to be done for His glory, making even mundane works acts of worship.

More importantly, however, the Calvinists also believed in the concept of predestination, which meant that whether one will go to heaven or hell was pre-ordained. Since there was no way of knowing whether one has been assigned heaven or hell, people sought to look for signs of God’s will in this world, in their own occupations. Thus if a person in whatever profession, was consistent and successful in his or her work, it was interpreted as a sign of God’s happiness. The money earned was not to be used for worldly consumption; rather the ethics of Calvinism was to live frugally.

This meant that investment became something like a holy creed. At the heart of capitalism is the concept of investment, which is about investing capital to make more goods, which create more profit, which in turn creates more capital. Thus Weber was able to argue that religion, in this case Calvinism, does have an influence on economic development. - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY Children learnt customs and the broader way of life by participating in activities with their adults.

In complex societies, we saw there is an increasing economic division of labour, separation of work from home, need for specialised learning and skill attainment, rise of state systems, nations and complex sets of symbols and ideas. How do you get educated informally in such context? How would parents or other adults informally communicate all that has to be known to the next generation? Education in such social context has to be formal and explicit.

Furthermore modern complex societies, in contrast to simple societies, rest on abstract universalistic values. This is what distinguishes it from a simple society that depends on particularistic values, based on family, kin, tribe, caste or religion. Schools in modern societies are designed to promote uniformity, standardised aspirations and universalistic values. There are many ways of doing this.

For example one can speak of ‘uniform dress for school children’. Can you think of other features that promote standardisation? For Emile Durkheim, no society can survive without a ‘common base-a certain number of ideas, sentiments and practices which education must inculcate in all children indiscriminately, to whatever social category they belong’ (Durkheim : ). Education should prepare the child for a special occupation, and enable the child to internalise the core values of society.

The functionalist sociologist thus speaks in terms of general social needs and social norms. For the functionalists, education maintains and renews the social structure, transmits and develops culture. The educational system is an important mechanism for the selection and allocation of individuals in their future roles in the society. It is also regarded as the ground for proving one’s ability and hence selective agency for different status according to their abilities.

Recall our discussion on the functionalist understanding of roles and stratification in Chapter . For the sociologists who perceive society as unequally differentiated, education functions as a main Discuss the visuals (Two types of schools) - INTRODUCING SOCIOLOGY GLOSSARY Citizen : A member of a political community, having both rights and duties associated with that membership. Division of Labour : The specialisation of work tasks, by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. All societies have at least some rudimentary form of division of labour.

With the development of industrialism, however, the division of labour becomes vastly more complex than in any prior type of production system. In the modern world, the division of labour is international in scope. Gender : Social expectations about behaviour regarded as appropriate for the members of each sex. Gender is seen as a basic organising principle of society.

Empirical Investigation : Factual enquiry carried out in any given area of sociological study. Endogamy : When marriage is within a specific caste, class or tribal group. Exogamy : When marriage occurs outside a certain group of relations. Ideology : Shared ideas or beliefs, which serve to justify the interests of dominant groups.

Ideologies are found in all societies in which there are systematic and engrained inequalities between groups. The concept of ideology connects closely with that of power, since ideological systems serve to legitimise the differential power which groups hold. Legitimacy : The belief that a particular political order is just and valid. Monogamy : When marriage involves one husband and one wife alone.

Polygamy : When marriage involves more than one mate at one time. Polyandry : When more than one man is married to a woman. Polygyny : When more than one woman is married to a man. Service Industries : Industries concerned with the production of services rather than manufactured goods, such as the travel industry.

State Society : A society which possesses a formal apparatus of government. Stateless Society : A society which lacks formal institutions of government. Social Mobility : Movement from one status or occupation to another. Sovereignty : The undisputed political rule of a state over a given territorial area.

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