Theory.

A set of ideas formulated (by reasoning from known facts) to explain

something. The main value of a theory is to promote new understanding. A theory
suggests patterns, connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new
research. In other words, a theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are
related.

Sociology. Sociology is the systematic study of society, including patterns of social

relationships, social interaction and culture. Sociology emphasizes that human actions
are socially patterned. Individuals have room to think and act but their actions are
shaped by social institutions.

Sociological Perspective. Peter Berger (1963) characterized the sociological

perspective as seeing the general in the particular. Sociology enables us to see general
patterns in the behavior of particular people.

Major sociological paradigms are structural functionalism, social-conflict and symbolic-

interactionism.

Structural-Functionalism. It is a framework for building theory that sees society as a

complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. All
social patterns-from a handshake to complex religious rituals function to keep the
society going.

Social-Conflict. It is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of

inequality that generates conflict and change. Unlike structural-functional emphasis on
solidarity, this approach emphasizes inequality. How are factors like class, gender, race,
caste, ethnicity, religion and age are linked to unequal distribution of money, power,
education and social prestige. Marxism and Feminist theories are examples of conflict
theories.

Symbolic Interactionism. It is a framework for building theory that sees society as the
product of everyday interactions of individuals. Society is nothing more than the reality
people construct for themselves as they interact. Unlike structural-functionalism and
conflict approaches, which emphasize the importance of social structures, it emphasizes
the importance of routine individual interactions for understanding society.

Endogamy. Rule or practice of marriage between people of the same social group. For
example caste endogamy means people don’t marry outside their caste.

Essentialism. Viewing identities that have developed historically as innate and

unchanging.

Ethnic group. Groups distinguished by cultural similarities (shared among members of

that group) and differences (between that group and others); ethnic-group members
share beliefs, customs, and norms and, often, a common language, religion, history,
geography, kinship and group consciousness. For examples, Bengalis, Gujaratis, Tamils,
Pashtuns, Sinhalese, Nagas, are different ethnic groups.
Social Facts. They comprise institutions, beliefs, practices, which limit the possible forms of
individuals' actions and forms of consciousness

Stereotypes. Fixed ideas or simplistic generalizations about what members of a group

are like. It may be referred to as prejudicial, exaggerated description applied to every
person in a category of people.

Culture. Culture may be defined as the set of learned behaviours and ideas (including
beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals) that are characteristic of a particular society or a
social group or in other words it is the shared, socially learned knowledge and patterns
of behaviour characteristic of some group of people.

Subculture. When values, norms and lifestyle of a group are distinct from those of the
majority within a wider society. We may talk of student subculture at JGU in terms of
how students’ lifestyle and everyday practices on campus differ from the larger Indian
mainstream culture. We may also consider “Corporate cultures” or “occupational
cultures” as subcultures. We can also think of a gay or a hijra subculture. Not just any
difference between groups can be treated as subcultural otherwise even families could
be subcultures.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one’s own culture as superior and to use one’s
own standards and values in judging outsiders. We witness ethnocentrism when people
consider their own cultural beliefs to be truer, more proper, or more moral than those
of other groups. However, fundamental to anthropology, as the study of human
diversity, is the fact that what is alien (even disgusting) to us may be normal, proper,
and prized elsewhere.

Cultural Relativism. It is a tendency to understand and evaluate a culture in the

context of its own special circumstances and without judging it from our own cultural
standards. It is rooted in the idea that understanding another culture requires full
understanding of its members’ beliefs and motivations.

Mode of Production. The way a society is organised to produce goods and services.

Sociological Imagination. American sociologist C Wright Mills described sociological

imagination simply as a "quality of mind" that allows one to grasp "history and
biography” and the relations between the two within society. “History” stands for the
history of social structures and “biography” stands for the history of the individual.
Sociological imagination helps us to distinguish between private troubles and public
issues.

Troubles. Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the range of
her or his immediate relations with others, be it relations with family, relatives, friends,
acquaintances, classmates ; they have to do with her or his self and with those limited
areas of social life of which he is directly and personally aware.

Issues. According to Mills, “Issues have to do with matters that transcend these local
environments of the individual and the range of his inner life. They have to do with the
organization of many such milieux into the institutions of a historical society as a whole,
with the ways in which various milieux overlap and interpenetrate to form the larger
structure of social and historical life. An issue is a public matter: some value cherished
by publics is felt to be threatened.” In other words Issues reflect a social crisis be it a
pattern of high unemployment or high divorce or separation rates, high crime etc.

Discourse. Discourse refers to how we think and communicate about people, things, the
social organization of society, and the relationships among and between all three.
Discourse typically emerges out of social institutions like media and politics (among
others), and by virtue of giving structure and order to language and thought, it
structures and orders our lives, relationships with others, and society. It thus shapes
what we are able to think and know any point in time. Sociologists see discourse as
embedded in and emerging out of relations of power, because those in control of
institutions—like media, politics, law, medicine, and education—control its formation.

Intersectionality. The ways in which divisions of ethnicity, ‘race’, class, disability,

gender or sexual orientation combine to produce complex forms of inequality is known
as intersectionality. For example, we can think of caste and class intersectionality in the
Indian context, where Dalits belong to the bottom of the caste hierarchy and also tend to
belong to lower class or most African Americans or Blacks form the underclass in the
U.S and as such experience acute marginalization both in terms of racism and class
marginality.

Habitus. It is the intimate social context in which individuals acquire certain skills,
demeanours, cultural competencies and dispositions. It may also be understood as
values, attitudes, dispositions or orientations developed during childhood at home,
which are embodied. Habitus may be altered at a later age but generally it reflects long
lasting embodied dispositions or orientations.

Cultural Capital. The collection of skills, tastes, posture, mannerisms, clothing, material
belongings, credentials etc that one acquires by virtue of being a member of a social
class represents cultural capital. Body language, a cultivated gaze, a poise, a gate, a
language accent represent embodied cultural capital.

Social Capital. Social capital (our social networks) is the aggregate of the actual or
potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less
institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition--or in other
words, to membership in a group. The volume of social capital thus depends on the size
of the network of connections a person can effectively mobilize and on the volume of
the capital (economic, cultural or symbolic) possessed in her or his own right by each of
those to whom one is connected.

Symbolic Capital. When economic capital, cultural capital or social capital provide a
source of prestige or legitimation to a person it is known as symbolic capital. Symbolic
capital includes possession of good reputation, which can serve as an advantage to a
person in any pursuit to gain power or wealth.
Postmodernity. Condition of a world in flux, with people on the move, in which
established groups, boundaries, identities, contrasts, and standards are reaching out
and breaking down.

Postmodernism. A style and movement in architecture that succeeded modernism.

Compared with modernism, postmodernism is less geometric, less functional, less
austere, more playful, and more willing to include elements from diverse times and
cultures; postmodern now describes comparable developments in music, literature,
visual art, anthropology or in social sciences.

Social Stratification. The structured inequalities between different groupings of people

on the basis of class, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or
age.

Caste Stratification. A stratification system based on rigid placement at birth into

unequal groups based on one’s parents’ status, with “restricted chances” of moving out
of these groups

Gender Stratification refers to a society’s unequal distribution of wealth, power and

privilege between the sexes. It may also be defined as an unequal distribution of
rewards (socially valued resources, power, prestige, human rights, and personal
freedom) between different genders reflecting their different positions in a social
hierarchy.

Sex and Gender. Sex is a biological distinction that develops prior to birth, whereas,
gender is the meaning that a society attaches to being female or male.

Gender Roles. Gender roles are the tasks and activities a culture assigns to the sexes.
Related to gender roles are gender stereotypes, which are oversimplified but strongly
held ideas about the characteristics of males and females.

Patriarchy. It is a form of social organisation in which men dominate, oppress and

exploit women. While some degree of patriarchy may be universal, there is significant
variation in the relative power and privilege of females and males around the world.

Sexism. Sexism is the belief that one sex (male sex) is innately superior to the
other(female sex). Presently, institutionalised sexism pervades the economy, with
women highly concentrated in low paying jobs. Similarly, the legal system has
historically ignored violence against women, especially violence committed by
boyfriends, husbands and fathers.

Feminism. It is the advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to
patriarchy and sexism. Feminists view the social experiences of men and women
through the lens of gender. There are three variants of feminist thinking. Liberal
feminism seeks equal opportunity for both sexes within current social arrangements by
generally relying on legal or political reforms; socialist feminism advocates abolishing
private property as the means to social equality; radical feminism aims to create a
gender-free society and advocate abolition of the institution of family, liberation of
women’s bodies from child bearing and care work.

Gender order. The ways in which societies shape notions of masculinity and femininity
into power relationships. When applied to smaller groups such as school classrooms,
families or bars, we can talk of the workings of a gender regime, the gender order as it
works through in smaller setting.

Masculinity. Masculinity” refers to the behaviours, social roles, and relations of men
within a given society as well as the meanings attributed to them. It may be understood
as individual and collective practices of men, which subordinate women and some men
(like gay men).

Hegemony. Italian neo-marxist, Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of hegemony

for a stratified social order in which subordinate classes comply with domination by
internalizing the dominant class values and accepting the “naturalness” of domination
(this is the way things were meant to be). It can also explain how women internalize
patriarchal values and understand patriarchy or male domination as natural social
order.
Hegemonic Masculinity. Sociologist Raewyn Connell refers hegemonic masculinity to
the main ways of being a man. There are multiple masculinities at work in many
societies but only some become dominant. Hegemonic Masculinity is dominant over all
masculinities and femininities. It is primarily associated with heterosexuality and
marriage but also with authority, paid work, strength and toughness.

Emphasized Femininity. The femininity oriented to accommodating the interests and

desires of men and characterized by compliance, nurturance and empathy.

Queer Theory. Queer theory is a stance in which the polarised splits between both the
heterosexual and the homosexual and the sex and gender are challenged. It sees identity
as no longer stable or fixed. For queer theorists all sexual categories are open and fluid
(which means modern lesbian, gay identities, bisexual and transgender identities are
fractured along with all heterosexual ones). Its most frequent interests include a variety
of sexual fetishes, drag kings and drag queens, gender and sexual playfulness,
cybersexualities, polyamory, sadomasochism and all the social worlds of the so called
radical sexual fringe.

Heteronormativity. The idea or assumption that heterosexuality is the norm whereas

other sexualities are abnormal or deviant is known as heteronormativity.

Sexual Harassment. Sexual harassment refers to comments, gestures or physical

contact of a sexual nature that are deliberate and unwelcome.