Society
"Laws determine the directions in which the society should move however it is the culture which determines the direction in which the society actually moves"
🟒 Society - Concept
🟒 Basic attributes of society
- Definite territory
- Source of membership - Progeny, adoption, immigration, etc
- Common culture
- Independence existence
🟒 Impact of British rule on Indian Society
🟒 Salient features of the Indian Society
- Joint family
- Caste system
- Patriarchy
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Society
- It is a network of social relationship based on pattern of interaction among its members.
- Every society has a definite territory.
- Source of membership of society is by means of progeny (reproduction). Other sources may include adoption, immigration, etc.
- Every society has a common culture, i.e., common way of life.
- Every society has its own independent existence.
- Indian Society is an amalgamation of multiple societies, since India has a composite culture (not a single common culture).
- India is an example of 'State Nation' not a nation state. State Nation means 1 state with multiple nation (here the nation means sense of belongingness, sense of oneness and sense of identity).
Impact of British rule on Indian Society
Features of traditional Indian Society (before the British rule)
- Ascriptive status (i.e., status based on birth)
- Hierarchy of caste
- Strong religious orientation
- Collectivism
- Particularism
After the British rule got consolidated in India, various forces of changes brought about a significant change in Indian Society.
Forces of Change
⚈ Harbinger of new social change
- English Language
- Secular education
- Printing technology
- Transportation & Communication
- All these led to dissemination of ideas.
⚈ Harbinger of new social order
- Industrialisation
- Urbanisation
- New indicators of social status
- All these led to the emergence of new elite class.
Features of Modern Indian Society
- Achievement status (i.e., status based on merits)
- Egalitarianism
- Rationality
- Individualism
- Universalism
Key terms -
⚈ Traditional Society
- Ascriptive Status -
- The status you have in the society based on factors acquired by Birth is termed as Ascriptive status.
- Status by birth like status enjoyed because of being male or belonging to upper caste, etc. (i.e., gender, caste, race, etc)
- Hierarchy -
- The traditional Indian society follows Ritual Hierarchy, i.e., when the basis of hierarchy is drawn from the religious scriptures.
- Strong religious orientation -
- There exists a strong religious orientation, i.e., religion was all encompassing.
- It was not only the matter of faith but also the way of life (Social life, Political life & Economical life all was governed by religion)
- Collectivism -
- Pursuing the collective interest as against the vested individual interest is termed as collectivism.
- Particularism -
- It is the belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied (i.e., there is no universal idea/rule/law for all, there is always an exception and is based on particular circumstance)
⚈ Modern Society
- Achievement status -
- The status enjoyed by an individual is based on 'Secular' criteria (i.e., socio, politico & economic criteria)
- The modern society is one in which the status that we enjoy is based on our merit (education, economic cloud or political power). It is not based on some ascriptive criteria.
- Egalitarianism -
- Egalitarianism tends to achieve Equality in the society.
- Rationality -
- It means that the modern society is based on logic, scientific temper, empirical validation, critical inquiry, etc.
- Individualism -
- Pursuing vested interest as against the collective interest is termed as individualism.
- Universalism -
- It believes that the laws, restrictions, etc would be equally applicable to all without any exception.
- Universalism is the belief that ideas and practices can be applied every where without any modification.
Forces of change
1. English language
- It led us to the exposure towards western thought like liberty, equality, universal brotherhood, etc.
2. Secular Education
- The emergence of secular education has two components -
- Exoteric (i.e., open to all)
- The content was secular (i.e., the knowledge imparted was scientific, rational and was based on empirical knowledge)
- Earlier, the education was religious and esoteric (i.e., open to few like upper caste only) but with the development of education under British rule, the education became secular and exoteric.
3. Printing technology and Transport & Communication
- They help in disseminating ideas from one place to another.
4. Industralisation
- It led to the emergence of caste neutral job opportunities.
5. Urbanisation
- Urbanisation led to -
- Secular pattern of living
- Heterogeneity - people belonging to different caste, religion, race are living together in the same society.
- Anonymity - people does not care much about the caste, religion, race of the nearby people.
- Individualism
- Better status of women, etc.
6. New indicators of social status
- Merit
- Money
- Education, etc.
It was assumed that because of all these the traditional Indian society would transform from traditional society to modern Indian society.
Modernisation vs Westernisation
In India. instead of Modernisation what happened is Westernisation, i.e., 'Mistaken Modernity', a concept given by Deepankar Gupta.
Westernization vs modernization -
- Westernization refers to blind imitation of culture of west however Modernization is a wider concept and it refers to progressive transformation of social, political, economic and attitudinal aspect of life.
- Westernization is restricted to speech, clothing, food habits, music preference, etc whereas Modernization is a fundamental concept which brings changes in attitude, action, behaviour, infrastructure, etc. For example - Industrialisation, Urbanisation, Modern Education system, etc.
- Westernization is an elite concept as it is restricted to middle class and above. However, Modernization is a mass affairs and it penetrates to all level of society.
- The process of Modernisation can co-exist with the traditional values. Such as Japan which is a perfect example of Modernisation with Traditional value.
- Westernisation par se is not wrong however restricting only to westernisation in the name of modernisation is wrong.
Question
Explain the paradox of increasing sex ration and decreasing child sex ratio with reference to India.
Sex ratio - 927 (in 2001) & 943 (in 2011)
Child Sex ratio - 927 (2001) & 919 (in 2011)
So, this indicates that the sex ratio had been improved over a decade whereas the child sex ratio declined.
The increasing Sex ratio indicates -
- Better access to health infrastructure.
- Delay in marriageable age.
- Family planning.
- Success of government schemes like PMSMA (which provides pre-natal care), JSV (which provides peri-natal care) and JSSK (which provides post-natal care).
- All these factors will led to decline in mortality rate.
- Awareness among women with respect to their rights and entitlement.
- Success of various women movements which results in women empowerment.
- Feminisation of old age.
- Increase in female literacy.
The declining child sex ratio indicates -
- Increase in female foeticide/infanticide.
- Girl child desirability is less
Reason for this -
- Girl is considered as economic liability (because of practice of dowry).
- Existing Patrilineal & Patrilocal system - Economic survey 2017 mentioned Patrilineality and Patrilocality as the most important factors for declining CSR.
- Patrilineality - Tracing lineage from Father's side. So, to carry out the lineage, Boy child desirability is high as compared to girl child.
- Patrilocality - (Doctrine of Paraya Dhan) Women need to go to the husband's house after marriage.
- Hindu succession act gave equal inheritance right to both son and daughter. So, there exists a fear of fragmentation of property.
- Male preference of child because of ritual practices.
- Also, Male child is considered to act as a social support in later age of life.
- Son meta preference - Keep on having children until and unless the desired number of male child is born. This result in unwanted girl child who was denied proper care and nutrition which results in the female infanticide (or increase in female child mortality rate).
- Cultural lag - Cultural lag which is created mainly among the educated middle class (access to technology like abortion, family planning, etc but their core value remain almost unchanged, i.e., desire of male child)s
- Lack of proper implementation of PCPNDT (Pre-conception, Pre-Natal Diagnosis Test) Act which made sex determination and sex selective abortion illegal.
- Lack of safety and security with respect to girl.
- Also the girl is associated with the prestige of family. That's why people do not prefer girl child.
- Failure of government schemes.
Decrease in CSR would later result into decrease in overall Sex ration.
Way forward
- Strict implementation of PCPNDT Act and MTP Act.
- Women need to be introduced as an agency of change not as an economic liability.
- Education system should be gender inclusive.
- Gender sensitization of society needs to be done.
- There has to be attitudinal change.
- Status of women needs to be improved.
- Internalisation of laws (i.e., accepting laws as domestic practice)
- Hindu Succession Act - provides equal right to inheritance to women also but if the women demanded property from her father, she was boycotted/socially ostracised.
- "Laws determine the directions in which the society should move however it is the culture which determines the direction in which the society actually moves".
- Thus, just by having laws will not serve the desired purpose. Laws must be internalised, accepted and there needs to be a change in the value system of the society. Only then the status of women can be improved.
- Increase female education
- Ensure safety and security of women
- Cultivate gender equality norms
- Reach out to young people for reproductive health education and services.
- Different agencies of socialisation (induction of child with respect to value of society) need to give gender inclusive values rather than patriarchal values.
Previous Article - An introduction to Society
Next Article - Indian Family
Notes on other subjects
Optional Notes
Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
Hope! It will help you to achieve your dream of getting selected in Civil Services Examination 👍
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