Quick-revision summary of Chapter 3: Understanding Social Institutions (Introducing Sociology, Class 11). For full explanations, read the complete notes.
1 Key definitions
Key definitions
InstitutionWorks by rules established or at least acknowledged by law or custom
FamilyPersons directly linked by kin connections; adults care for children
MarriageSocially acknowledged and approved sexual union between two adult individuals
WorkPaid or unpaid tasks of mental and physical effort producing goods and services
PowerCarrying out one’s will even when opposed by others
AuthorityPower accepted as legitimate (right and just)
SovereigntyUndisputed political rule of a state over a territorial area
NationalismSymbols and beliefs giving a sense of one political community
2 Institutions and the two views
- Institutions constrain and control, punish and reward; they also give opportunities; can be an end in itself. Macro (state), micro (family).
- Functionalist: norms, beliefs, values, role relationships meeting society’s needs; informal (family, religion) and formal (law, formal education).
- Conflict: institutions serve dominant sections (class, caste, tribe, gender); ruling class ideas become ruling ideas.
3 Family, marriage and kinship
- Functionalist family: husband ‘instrumental’ breadwinner, wife ‘affective’ (Giddens 2001); gender unjust and empirically untrue; Indian families need not become nuclear (Singh 1993).
- Female headed households: migration, widowhood, remarriage; accepted norm among the Kolams.
- A.M. Shah: joint family increased after independence; life expectancy men 32.5 to 55.4, women 31.7 to 55.7 (1941-50 to 1981-85).
- Matrilocal (woman’s parents) / patrilocal (man’s parents); patriarchy / matriarchy; matrilineal societies exist, matriarchal cannot be claimed.
- German unification (1990s): welfare withdrawn, marriages fell. Change and continuity co-exist.
- Sons favoured; female infant mortality higher. Child sex ratio 934 (1991) to 919 (2011); Punjab 846; some Haryana districts below 800.
- Monogamy; serial monogamy; polygamy = polygyny / polyandry (harsh economic conditions). Widows: 10% of all women, 55% over fifty (Chen 2000).
- Endogamy (within caste) / exogamy (outside group); village exogamy in north India, folk songs of departure.
- Family of orientation (birth) / procreation (married into); consanguineous kin (blood) / affines (marriage).
4 Work and economic life
- Work is not only paid employment; informal economy outside regular employment, often direct exchange (Tiny’s Granny, Chugtai).
- Complex division of labour; craft and apprenticeship replaced by specialised factory work for a wage; work separated from home.
- Economic interdependence; India still mostly rural occupations; service sector expanding.
- Simple timed operations, mass production, moving assembly line, surveillance; now flexible production and decentralisation (Bangalore garments: only 15 operations with the manufacturer).
5 Politics
- Power held at the cost of others, a fixed amount, in relation to others; authority is institutionalised legitimate power; ideologies help legitimation.
- Stateless societies: balanced opposition, cross-cutting alliances (kinship, marriage, residence), rites with friends and foes.
- State: government apparatus over a territory, legal system, military force. Functionalist: all sections; conflict: dominant sections.
- Rights: civil, political, social; welfare state since the Second World War; social rights now attacked as liabilities.
- Sociology studies power broadly: parties, classes, castes, schools, banks, village factions.
6 Religion
- Sociological study: empirical (non-judgemental), comparative (without bias), related to other aspects of society.
- Shared features: symbols of reverence or awe; rituals; community of believers.
- Sacred vs profane (Durkheim); early Buddhism and Confucianism had no supernatural but revered the sacred.
- Secularisation expected; religion’s role persists. Public character; anti-caste movements.
- Weber: Calvinism, predestination, frugality, investment as holy creed → capitalism. Nasik: priests’ children at school, craftsmen into industry.
7 Education
- Transmission of group heritage; simple societies learn informally, complex ones need formal education; universalistic vs particularistic values; uniform dress.
- Durkheim: a ‘common base’ for all children; functionalists: selection and allocation by ability.
- Stratifying agent: different schools, different privileges (Pathak); SC/ST children and girls out of school (Pratichi); kindergarten study (Apple).
More for this chapter