Chapter 1: Sociology & Society

I. Introduction: Understanding Society and the Individual

This section explores how individual outcomes are shaped by a mix of personal efforts and powerful societal forces.

1. The Role of Individual Effort: One common piece of advice is: “Study hard and you will do well in life.” This suggests that success is entirely dependent on the individual’s effort. The responsibility, or onus, rests upon the individual.

2. The Impact of Social Factors: However, outcomes are complicated by social factors. Other advice reflects this, such as choosing specific subjects because the job market dictates better opportunities.

3. Key External Factors: Apart from the job market, other crucial social factors influencing outcomes include gender and family or social background (socioeconomic background).

4. Sociology’s View: While individual efforts are important, they do not necessarily define outcomes. Sociology helps us understand society as an interconnected whole and examines how society and the individual constantly interact with each other.

5. Defining a ‘Good Job’: It is important to note that the definition of a ‘good job’ is not universal. What is considered worthy depends on social norms and criteria, such as money, respect, social recognition, or individual satisfaction within a given culture.

II. The Sociological Imagination: Personal Trouble and Public Issue

This concept, introduced by C. Wright Mills, is central to sociological thinking.

1. The Dialectical Link: Sociologists study how the individual and society are dialectically linked (meaning they influence each other).

2. C. Wright Mills’ Vision: C. Wright Mills’ vision of the sociological imagination lies precisely in uncovering the relationship between the personal and the public.

3. Task of the Imagination: The sociological imagination allows us to grasp history and biography and the relationship between them within society.

4. Personal Troubles: These troubles occur within the character of the individual and their limited immediate relations or milieu (the specific environment they are directly aware of).

5. Public Issues: These issues transcend the local environments of the individual and concern matters relating to the overall social structure.

Example: Homelessness: If one couple is homeless, it is a personal trouble. If homelessness affects many people due to factors like lack of employment or rural-to-urban migration, the sociological imagination helps explain it as a public issue. The state addresses this issue through collective measures, such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna–Gramin.

III. Pluralities and Inequalities Among Societies

In modern times, our social belonging is complex, and societies are inherently unequal.

1. Belonging to Multiple Societies: In the contemporary world, we belong to ** more than one ‘society’**. The term ‘our society’ can refer to ‘Indian society’ when speaking to foreigners, or a smaller unit like a linguistic, ethnic, religious, caste, or tribal society when speaking among fellow Indians.

2. Relevant Society: The social esteem of a job or status depends on the culture of the individual’s ‘relevant society’, which could be the community, caste, professional circle, or nation.

3. Centrality of Inequality: Inequality is a fundamental aspect that illustrates differences among societies.

4. Types of Inequality: Societies are unequal in various ways, including differences in wealth (some are rich, most are not), education, opportunities, and political power. Furthermore, people are treated unequally, such as in their interactions with authorities like the police.

IV. Introducing Sociology: A Systematic Study

Sociology is a systematic way of studying society that differs significantly from how philosophers think and how people use common sense.

1. Sociology Defined: Sociology is the systematic study of society. It is the study of human social life, groups, and societies, focusing on our behavior as social beings.

2. Distinct from Philosophical/Religious Reflections:

• Philosophical/religious thinkers often reflect on what is moral or immoral and what a good society should look like. Their focus is on norms and values as they ought to be.

• Sociology’s concern is with the way norms and values function in actual societies.

3. Empirical Investigation: Sociology relies on empirical study (factual enquiry) of societies.

4. Objectivity in Sociology: A sociologist must be willing to observe and collect findings even if they are not to her/his personal liking.

5. The Sociologist as a ‘Spy’: Peter Berger compared the sociologist to a spy whose job is to report as accurately as he/she can about a certain terrain, meaning the information must be free of personal bias and ideology.

6. Sociology as a Science: Since its beginnings, sociology has understood itself as a science. It is bound by scientific canons of procedure. This means that the statements and findings must be based on rules of evidence that allow others to check on, repeat, or develop the findings further.

V. Sociology and Common Sense Knowledge

Sociological knowledge is also distinct from everyday common sense.

1. Common Sense is Individualistic/Naturalistic: Common sense explanations are often ‘naturalistic’ and/or individualistic. They assume that one can identify ‘natural’ reasons for behavior.

Example of Common Sense Explanation: People are poor because they are afraid of work, lack intelligence, or are unable to budget properly.

2. Sociological Explanation: Sociology provides a deeper understanding by looking at social structures.

Example of Sociological Explanation: Poverty is caused by the structure of inequality in class society and is experienced by those who suffer from chronic irregularity of work and low wages.

3. Common Sense is Unreflective: Common sense is considered unreflective because it does not question its own origins (it doesn’t ask, “Why do I hold this view?”).

4. The Sociologist’s Question: Sociology requires a systematic and questioning approach. The sociologist must ask of any cherished belief, “is this really so?”.

VI. The Intellectual Ideas that Went into the Making of Sociology

Sociology emerged in Europe influenced by major intellectual and scientific developments.

1. Impact of Modern Science: Sociology was significantly influenced by the major developments in modern science.

2. Evolutionary Ideas:

• Early sociologists like Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, and Herbert Spencer (19th century) were influenced by scientific theories of natural evolution.

• They sought to categorize societies into types (like hunter-gatherers, pastoral, agrarian, industrialised) and define stages in social development.

• Society was often compared to living organisms, with different parts playing a specific function (this influenced the study of institutions like family).

• Bias: This evolutionary view typically assumed that the West was necessarily the most advanced and civilised, often viewing non-Western societies as barbaric.

3. The Enlightenment (Late 17th and 18th Centuries):

• This European intellectual movement emphasized reason and individualism.

• There was a strong conviction that the methods of natural sciences could be extended to human affairs.

• Poverty as a Social Problem: Due to the Enlightenment, problems like poverty, which were previously seen as ‘natural phenomena,’ began to be viewed as a ‘social problem’ caused by human factors (ignorance or exploitation) and thus capable of being studied and redressed.

4. Founder of Sociology: Auguste Comte (1789–1857), a French scholar, is considered the founder of sociology, believing that the discipline would contribute to humanity’s welfare.

VII. The Material Issues that Went into the Making of Sociology

The social landscape of Europe was fundamentally altered by the Industrial Revolution, providing the key material context for sociology’s birth.

1. Capitalism and Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution was driven by capitalism, a dynamic new economic system.

2. Features of Capitalism:

• Entrepreneurs engaged in the systematic pursuit of profit.

• Markets became the key instrument of productive life.

• Goods, services, and labour became commodities.

3. Change from Pre-Industrial Life: Pre-industrial England was largely agricultural and rural, characterized by small, hierarchical societies with close interactions. Industrialization changed all these features.

4. Degradation of Labour: A fundamental aspect of the new industrial order was the degradation of labour, as work was torn away from the protective contexts of the guild, village, and family.

5. Rise of New Urban Centers: Industrialization led to the expansion of urban centers, resulting in a new urban world marked by factory pollution, overcrowded slums of the working class, bad sanitation, and general squalor.

6. The Factory System: The factory was oppressive, yet potentially liberating according to Karl Marx, as it taught workers collective functioning and organized efforts for better conditions.

7. Clock-Time and Social Organization: Modern societies saw a new significance of clock-time as a basis for social organization. Work rhythms, previously set by daylight or social duties, were now strictly synchronised by the clock and calendar. This led to the perception that ‘time is now money’.

VIII. Why Study European Origins of Sociology?

Understanding the origins of sociology in Europe is crucial, even for Indian students.

1. Relevance to Modern Societies: The issues (like urbanization and factory production) that sociology studied in 18th and 19th-century Europe are pertinent to all modern societies today.

2. Link to Indian History: The answer is simple: India’s past is directly linked to the history of British capitalism and colonialism. Capitalism in the West entailed a worldwide expansion.

IX. The Growth of Sociology in India

The development of sociology in India was shaped by the unique impact of colonialism.

1. Colonialism and Capitalism: Colonialism was an essential part of modern capitalism and industrialization.

2. Uneven Impact of Industrialization: In India, the impact of industrialization was different from the West. The influx of British manufactured goods ruined Indian handicraftsmen, who were largely forced to take up agriculture instead of being absorbed into new industries.

3. Western Portrayals of India: Early Western writings about Indian society, often from colonial officials or scholars, were not always correct. For example, the Indian village was often portrayed as unchanging.

4. India as the ‘Past’ of Europe: In line with Victorian-evolutionary ideas, Western writers saw 19th-century India as a remnant or survival from the “infancy of society,” essentially viewing it as the past of European society.

5. Sociology vs. Social Anthropology (India vs. West):

• The traditional Western distinction was that Sociology studied modern, complex, industrialized societies, while Social Anthropology studied simple, non-Western, or ‘other’ cultures.

• In India, this distinction is not rigid. Due to India’s vast diversity (regional, caste, linguistic, rural/urban), the ‘other’ is encountered literally next door.

• Indian social anthropology expanded its focus from ‘primitive people’ to include peasants, ethnic groups, and modern industrial societies. Indian sociology is therefore eclectic, studying both complex urban environments and tribes holistically.

X. The Scope of Sociology and its Relationship to Other Disciplines

Sociology interacts closely with other social sciences, but its approach is distinct.

1. Defining Factor is Method: The scope of sociology is vast, ranging from individual interactions (shopkeeper/customer) to global processes (impact of flexible labour laws). What defines sociology is not just what it studies, but how it studies a chosen field.

2. Interdisciplinary Approach: The divisions among social sciences (anthropology, economics, political science, history, sociology) are not clear-cut, and they share common interests, concepts, and methods. Distinctions can be seen as somewhat arbitrary.

1. Sociology and Economics

2. Sociology and Political Science

3. Sociology and History

4. Sociology and Psychology

5. Sociology and Social Anthropology

Key Terms to Remember (Glossary)

• Capitalism: An economic system based on market exchange and the private ownership of assets (capital, property, machines) used to produce commodities for profit.

• Dialectic: The existence or action of opposing social forces, such as social constraint versus individual will.

• Empirical Investigation: A factual enquiry carried out in a specific area of sociological study.

• Social Constraint: The conditioning influence exerted on our behavior by the groups and societies of which we are a part.

• Values: Ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, or bad.