AREEBA AMIR

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Introduction to Sociology

QUESTION NO -1

ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism is defined as

“To think that one's own group's ways are superior to others". It results from judging other groups as
inferior to one's own. "Ethnic" refers to cultural heritage, and "centrism" refers to the central starting
point so "ethnocentrism" basically refers to judging other groups from our own cultural point of view.

Culture can be defined as a way of living and a way the people do their worships, their language, their
mode of marriages and many other routine life matters. Culture has an impact due to the social values,
moral values and most important the religion. We can say that culture is developed or modified based
on these entities. Different nations have different cultures. Sometimes they seem very odd, varied and
even ridiculous but even then, they are following it as a part of their life without any hesitation.

For Example, if we see some cultures in Africa or Latin America or some Indian territories etc, the
cultures are so varied and ambiguous that a normal person may not find any reason to follow them. But
they are following them with full confidence, energy and as a part of their values and religion.

We can also put an example of ethnocentrism in some Asian countries where the people use chopsticks
for eating with every meal but in other societies like American society, they use forks and spoons.

The basic belief of ethnocentrism is the superiority of your own culture by judging it with other cultures.
The concept of ethnocentrism in Pakistan emerges from kits religious, social, and moral values. We
differentiate ourselves from other cultures based on our religious values and consider our culture as one
of the best cultures.

Ethnocentrism maybe good or may be bad in some ways. Pakistan become a separate country based on
its language, religion, cultures, and traditions so we can say ethnocentrism was started from the day of
its inception. But on the other hand, our east part had totally different culture which resulted in its
separation.

But in the eyes of Islam “the most honored in the sight of God is he who is the most righteous of us”
With this Islam declares an equality among the people. Islam respects a human for being a human not
for any other reasons. Islam does not differentiate human beings based on language, traditions, and
races.

We can say that Islam does not allow anyone to involve in ethnocentrism other than taqwa but we can
say our culture superior than the western culture on the basis of our religion and the values which are
built on the basis of the teachings of Islam.

A very good example of ethnocentrism in Pakistan is the observance of “Pardah” by the women. By
which we differentiate ourselves from the western cultures. As compared to the American cultures,
Pakistani culture, being a Muslim culture strictly observes the binding of Nikah for living together as a
married life. Similarly drinking alcohol is prohibited and so on.

So, we can conclude that ethnocentrism in Pakistan is mainly driven by our social and moral values
taught by our religion Islam.

QUESTION NO - 2

SOCAIL STRATIFICATION
Social stratification can be defined as categorization of the society into groups of people based on the
wealth, the standard of education, income, occupation, or the social status. This stratification
unfortunately divides the society into different segments where some are empowered, and others are
deprived.

The four basic principles of social stratification are slavery, estates, caste system and social class.

Slavery means that a man by law is a property of another man. Slaves are put in lower condition and
they have no political or legal rights. The concept of slave differs between different societies. Slavery is
an extreme form of inequality against the values of Islam.

Estates are created politically by the man-made laws rather than the moral, social, or religious values.
Each estate has its own code of behavior.

Caste system is prevailing in India. This is a strange social stratification where a caste maybe defined as a
lower class and the other class as a superior class based on their ancestral or religious background.

Social class is a new set of social stratification which is developed in the modern industrial societies
where machines are the basic source of production.

The social stratification greatly impacts our educational system. Actually, it affects every lifestyle. It
creates emotional stress and depression among the people who belong to lower social status because
they have an unequal access to the resources like wealth, power, and prestige. Social stratification
divides the people into upper, middle, and lower class.

The educational system in our society has greatly changed. It has shifted from the public sector to the
private sector who have put a lot of glamour in the educational system. Moreover, the private sector
has made the education very costly. There are a lot of institutions who have become a symbol of social
status. The lower and middle class are not able to approach such costly and glamourous educational
institutions. They have to rely on the system which is provided by the government where the standards
of education can never match with those of the private sector. So as a result, the students who belong
to the higher class usually approach such costly institutions where they get the best environment,
teachers, and the standard of education. It definitely has a great impact on child’s development and the
achievements shown by the students.

It is a well-documented child development research that there is a significant achievement gap between
the children who are economically stable belong to the higher social status and study from the
modern/glamourous educational institutions. As compared to those students who belong to the lower
social economic status and are economically unstable.

This difference in educational status greatly affects the skills and abilities of the students and the final
achievement. Thus, this educational stratification greatly restricts the vertical mobility and divides the
students into segments where the privileged ones rise and shine with greater achievements and putting
the other non-privileged segment into emotional stress and suppressing the skills, abilities, and
outcomes.