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ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2014-2015)

E.S.O.-11
The Study of Society
Disclaimer/Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the Questions given in the
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answers may be seen as the Guide/Help Book for the reference to prepare the answers of the Question given in the
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and exact information, data and solution. Student should must read and refer the official study material provided by the
university.

Section-I

Answer the following questions in about 500 words each.

Q. 1. Define the concept of culture and discuss the structure of culture in different societies.
Ans. The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature,
music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is likely to be a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing in a
nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish. However, for anthropologists and other behavioural scientists, culture is
the full range of learned human behaviour patterns. The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English
Anthropologist Edward B. Taylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Taylor said that culture is that
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society. Of course, it is not limited to men. Women possess and create it as well.
Since Taylor's time, the concept of culture has become the central focus of anthropology.
Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and
easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made
things are merely the products of culture. They are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists cannot
dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people that they uncover
are only material remains that reflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and used through cultural
knowledge and skills.
Culture is changing constantly. Certain products of culture are governments, languages, buildings and manmade
things. It is a powerful tool for the survival of mankind. Cultural patterns of ancient people are reflected in their
artifacts and are studied by archaeologists to understand their way of life. Culture is an important part of a society for
the very existence of society. Culture also plays an important role to establish discipline in a society. According to
the behaviour patterns and perceptions, there are three levels of culture.
First one is the body of cultural traditions that makes you to differentiate a society from others. When people
speak German, Japanese or Italian, then they are referred as the language, beliefs and traditions shared by each set of
people that is different from others. Second one is the subculture in which different societies from different parts of
the world preserve their original culture. Such people are the part of a subculture in the new society. For example,
subcultures in United States consist of ethnic groups like Mexican Americans, African Americans and Vietnamese
Americans. The members of each subculture share a common language, identity, food tradition and other traits

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through a common ancestral upbringing. The third level is the cultural universals that consist of behaviour patterns
shared by the humanity as a whole. Some examples of such behavior patterns are communicating with a verbal
language, use of age and gender to classify people, differentiation based on marriage and relationships.
Society is referred to as a group of people who share common area, culture and behaviour patterns. Society is
united and referred as a distinct entity. Society consists of a government, health care, education system and several
occupations of people. In a society each and every individual is important because each individual can contribute
something to the society. Also you can find smaller groups of people with a certain goal which include groups of
students, government agencies or groups that raise money for a specific cause in a society. Many different cultures
can be found within a society. You can find several differences within a country or town.
In a broad sense, the society is made of varied multitude of individuals with social, economic or industrial
infrastructure. One of the major benefits of a society is that it serves the individuals in the time of crisis. Societies are
also organized depending up on their political structure such as State, bands, chiefdoms and tribes.
Q. 2. Discuss the political system in modern societies. Is India having a modern political system? Comment.
Ans. A political system is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the legal system,
economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more
complex system of categories involving the views: who should have authority, how religious questions should be
handled, and what the governments influence on its people and economy should be. A political system is a complete
set of institutions, interest groups (such as political parties, trade unions, lobby groups), the relationships between
those institutions and the political norms and rules that govern their functions (constitution, election law).

Every society must adapt to its natural environment. The major institution by which a society adapts to available
resources is called an economy. An economic system, also called a mode of production, can be simple or very
complex. The simplest mode of production, found among tribal societies, is hunting and gathering. For example, the
Utes and Shoshone of the North American Great Basin made a living by hunting, fishing, and by gathering everything
edible thing they could find, from wild berries to locusts. By contrast, a modern capitalist economy features a
complex division of labor, intensive use of resources, and mass production.
All political orders are unique as products of history and creations of the peculiar forces and conditions of their
environment. A second problem that confronts comparative analysis is the difficulty of devising measures of political
development. The definition of what is modern or what constitutes an advanced or developed political system has
troubled many writers. Clearly, the older notions of development toward the goals of constitutionalism or democracy
must now be seriously questioned, and to judge the maturity of a political system in terms of the extent to which it
adopts any particular set of institutions or techniques of rule is an equally doubtful procedure. Another difficulty is
that political change is not simply a reaction to objective factors such as economic forces but also the product of
conscious manipulation. In explaining the growth and development of political systems it is impossible to ignore the
fact that men, having considered the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of government, often decide to
adopt one form rather than another.
The Indian experience is different on all three counts. India adopted universal suffrage at the time of independence,
long before the transition to a modern industrialized economy began. The country does not have an extensive welfare
system, although it has made a greater effort to create one of late. And, defying democratic theory, a great participatory
upsurge has marked Indian politics, a phenomenon that is only beginning to be understood by scholars and observers:
since the early 1990s, Indias plebeian orders have participated noticeably more in elections than its upper and middle
classes. In fact, the recent wisdom about Indian elections turns standard democratic theory on its head: the lower the
caste, income, and education of an Indian, the greater the odds that he will vote. The ruling United Progressive Alliance
(UPA), a coalition with the Indian National Congress at its core, counts on the lower social orders as its most important
voting bloc.
Indias development experience is also likely to be distinct from East Asias. South Korea and Taiwan embraced
universal-franchise democracy only in the late 1980s and the mid-1990s, two decades after their economic upturn

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began. Other economically successful countries in the region, such as China and Singapore, have yet to become
liberal democracies. Periodic renewals of mass mandates through the ballot box are not necessary in authoritarian
countries, but they are in India. Democratic politics partly explains why, for example, privatization has gone so
slowly in India compared to in China. In India, workers have unions and political parties to protect their interests.
Section-II
Answer the following questions in about 250 words each.
Q. 3. Discuss the major ideas of Emile Durkheim.
Ans. Durkheim had an evolutionary approach, considered society to be like an organism, and distinguished
structure and function. While he recognized that society was composed of individuals, for Durkheim, society was
not just the sum of individual behaviours, actions, and thoughts. That is, society had an existence of its own, apart
from the individuals in it. Further, societies influence individuals through norms, social facts, sentiments, and social
currents. These emerge from human action, but stand apart from the individual and affect the individual.
Durkheim was especially concerned with the question of social order, how does modern society hold together
given the individualism and autonomy of each person. Adams and Sydie note that he focused on problems of
"reconciling freedom and morality, or individualism and social cohesion in modern society" (p. 90). His bookThe
Division of Labour in Society was an exploration and explanation of these issues, and he finds the answer in the
concept of social solidarity, common consciousness, and systems of law. Because such forces are not always effective
at producing solidarity and because of social changes, there can be disruptions in the solidarity and consciousness.
Durkheim connects these to what he calls the forced division of labour (eg. slavery) and to periods of confusion,
what he callsanomie. In Suicide, the latter is also connected to his analysis of suicide, an exploration of different
suicide rates at different places and times in Europe, and an attempt to explain why they differ.

As Hadden notes (p. 85), one of Durkheim's major contributions was to help define and establish the field of
sociology as an academic discipline. Durkheim distinguished sociology from philosophy, psychology, economics,
and other social science disciplines by arguing that sociologists should study particular features of collective or
group life. This is the study of social facts, things which are external to, and coercive of, individuals. These social
facts are features of the group, and cannot be studied apart from the collective, nor can they be derived from the
study of individuals. Some examples are religion, urban structures, legal systems, and moral values such as family
values. Durkheim argued that these are "features of collective existence which are not reducible to features of the
atoms, individuals, which make it up" (Hadden, p. 87).
Durkheim considers the beliefs, practices, and consciousness of the collective to be coercive on individuals as
actors. In this sense, Durkheim has a structuralist approach, considering the social structures to exert a strong influence
on social action. Of course, it is individuals who act, but they do not act on a purely individual basis. Rather, they
have obligations and duties, and generally act in ways that are strongly influenced by the structures of which they are
part. Sociology can be distinguished from psychology in this way - noting that psychologists study individuals and
their mental processes, whereas sociologists are concerned with the structures that influence action.
Q. 4. Distinguish between status and role with suitable examples.
Ans. The term has two sociological uses:

1. R. Linton defined status simply as a position in a social system, such as child or parent. Status refers to what
a person is, whereas the closely linked notion of role refers to the behaviour expected of people in a status.
2. Status is also used as a synonym for honour or prestige, when social status denotes the relative position of a
person on a publicly recognized scale or hierarchy of social worth. (See Social Stratification).
It is the first meaning of the term status, status as position, which we are going to refer to in the following
paragraphs. Status as honour or prestige is a part of the study of social stratification.

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A status is simply a rank or position that one holds in a group. One occupies the status of son or daughter,
playmate, pupil, radical, militant and so on. Eventually one occupies the statuses of husband, mother bread-winner,
cricket fan, and so on, one has as many statuses as there are groups of which one is a member. For analytical
purposes, statuses are divided into two basic types:

Ascribed and

Achieved.

Man is a social animal and as a member of the society, he has a number of roles that he performs. Beginning
from his family, he performs the roles of a son and a brother, and later on the roles of husband and father. He also has
the role of a responsible citizen in the society. Every role has a status in the society which is the set of behaviours
expected with that role.
Let us begin with the family. A father is a role that carries the status of a provider and protector in the family. In
the simplest of words, status is the position in the system (society in this instance). Status sometimes is used as a
synonym for honor and prestige that are associated with certain posts. In a social system, status is the rank a person
holds in a social hierarchy. It is this status that defines the behaviour of others towards the person.
There are two types of status' namely ascribed and achieved status. Ascribed status is one that a person gets by
virtue of taking birth in a family (or caste as in India). On the other hand, achieved status is what a person earns with
a lot of effort and endeavour.

Q. 5. Describe some of the major functions of family.

Ans. Famous Sociologist Maclver has divided functions into essential and non-essential functions. Under nonessential or secondary functions he includes economic, religious, educational, health and recreational functions.
Along with the essential functions family also performs these non-essential functions. These functions are nonessential or secondary in the sense that these are also performed simultaneously by other social institutions in family.
These functions are as follows:
(1) Economic functions: Since ancient times family has been performing several economic functions. It is an
important economic unit. In ancient time family was both a production and consumption unit. It used to fulfill almost
all the economic needs of it's members such as food, clothing, housing etc. In the then days family was self- sufficient.
But now a days almost all the economic functions of family is performed by other agencies and family only remain
as a consumption unit. It do not produce anything. All the members of family now working outside the home.
But in spite of all family still performing some economic functions of purchasing, protecting and maintaining
property. It also equally distribute property among it's members.
(2) Educational functions: Family performs many educational functions for it's members. As an primary
educational institution family used to teach letters, knowledge, skill and trade secret to all it's members. It looks after
the primary education of it's members and moulds their career and character. Mother act as the first and best teacher
of a child. Besides he learns all sorts of informal education such as discipline, obedience, manners etc. from family.
Of course at present many of the educational functions of family are taken over by school, college and universities
sill family continues to play an important role in providing the first lessons and primary education to its members.
(3) Religious functions: Family is the centre of all religious activities. All the family members offer their
prayers together and observe different religious rites, rituals and practices jointly. All the members believe in a
particular religion and observe religious ceremonies at home. Children learn different religious values from their
parents. Living in a spiritual atmosphere spirituality develops among the children. Family transmits religious beliefs
and practices from one generation to another. But at present family became more secular in their outlook. Common
family worship became very rare and absolute. Still family continues to play an important role in shaping religious
attitude of its members.

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(4) Health related functions: Family as a primary social group performs several health related functions for its
members. It look after the health and vigor of its members. It takes care of the sick old and aged persons of the
family. By providing necessary nutritive food to its members family takes care of the health of all.
Q. 6. What is anticipatory socialization? Discuss with example.
Ans. Anticipatory socialization occurs when we start learning new norms and values in anticipation of a role
well occupy in the future. Making necessary adjustments in advance makes the actual transition into the new role
easier. Also, by adopting some of the norms and values of a future role, we can evaluate whether that role will be
right for us when the time comes to assume it.
Example: A police officer who is about to begin working the night shift adjusts his sleeping habits several
weeks before his start date. He goes to bed an hour later each evening, anticipating his new schedule of staying
awake all night and sleeping during the day. Likewise, some couples live together before getting married to see
whether they feel comfortable in that future role. They test the role of spouse before committing to it legally.
Anticipatory socialization is often studied in relation to preparing for new jobs and seeking advancement in
professional life. A college student, for instance, often engages in anticipatory socialization when transferring from
the often-informal life of a student to a new professional existence. This might involve dressing or acting in a highly
professional manner even before finding employment. Also, some employees seeking better jobs choose to dress and
act as though they already hold such positions. This serves both to prepare them for the elevated positions and to
communicate to others that they are socially and professionally compatible with their desired jobs. It is not uncommon
for people to engage in anticipatory socialization in their day-to-day social existence. Meeting with one's close
friends may not necessitate any particular thought or rehearsal, but the expectation of meeting new people often
results in anticipatory socialization. One may, for instance, rehearse conversation topics and behaviors before meeting
a spouse's parents or other people distant from one's normal social group.

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Section-III

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.

Q. 7. Define consumption.

Ans. Consumption, in economics, the use of goods and services by households. Consumption is distinct from
consumption expenditure, which is the purchase of goods and services for use by households. Consumption differs
from consumption expenditure primarily because durable goods, such as automobiles, generate an expenditure mainly
in the period when they are purchased, but they generate consumption services (for example, an automobile
provides transportation services) until they are replaced or scrapped. According to mainstream economists, only the
final purchase of goods and services by individuals constitutes consumption, while other types of expenditure - in
particular, fixed investment, intermediate consumption, and government spending - are placed in separate categories.
Other economists define consumption much more broadly, as the aggregate of all economic activity that does not
entail the design, production and marketing of goods and services.
Q. 8. Write short notes on any two:
(a) Social structure

Ans. In the social sciences, social structure is the patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent
from and determinant of the actions of the individuals. On the macro scale, social structure is the system of socioeconomic stratification (e.g., the class structure), social institutions, or, other patterned relations between large
social groups. On the meso scale, it is the structure of social network ties between individuals or organizations. On
the micro scale, it can be the way norms shape the behaviour of actors within the social system. These scales are not
always kept separate. For example, recent scholarship by John Levi Martin has theorized that certain macro-scale
structures are the emergent properties of micro-scale cultural institutions (this meaning of structure resembles that
used by anthropologist Claude Lvi-Strauss). Marxist sociology also has a history of mixing different meanings of

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social structure, though it has done so by simply treating the cultural aspects of social structure as epiphenomena of
its economic ones. Since the 1930s, the term has been in general use in social science, especially as a variable whose
sub-components needed to be distinguished in relationship to other sociological variables.
(c) Social deviance
Ans. Social deviance is a phenomenon that has existed in all societies where there have been norms. There are
two possibilities for how an individual will act in the face of social norms; conform or violate. There are implicit
social norms and explicit social norms. Explicit social norms are not necessarily laws (such as a sign at a computer
lab that says food and drink are prohibited). In reality, there is often a blend of conformity and deviance in the ways
people behave. Rarely if ever does a person deviate from or conform to all norms. Furthermore, some behaviours in
themselves reflect both conformity and deviance at once. Consider breaking the speed limit, which is technically a
legal violation, but which is also conformist, particularly on freeways where motorists go with the flow. That is a
critical feature of deviance, conformity, and norms. There are forms of deviance (and certain norms) that are about
as universal as anything in the social sciences can be, such as when one maliciously harms a child.

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