Society: An introduction
"Effort is important but knowing where to make effort makes all the differences"
Why to read Society? And how to prepare society and social justice for UPSC.
Why to read?
- To develop a thought process/perspective
- To know about the nuances of Indian society
- To prescribe solutions to eradicate the social problems
For example - Migration to Urban Areas (a Problem)
- Perspective 1 - All the problems in the Urban areas are caused because of the migration.
- Perspective 2 - Migration is very organic phenomena that is bound to be happened because no two areas are equally developed. Also, Article 19 provides migration as a Fundamental Right.
So, on the basis of the perspectives, solutions are devised.
For example -
- In case of Perspective 1, Solution may be that the Migration need to be stopped.
- But in case of Perspective 2 where it is perceived that the migration is caused due to governance problem, infrastructure backwardness, etc. So, accordingly there will be the solutions like infrastructure development, better opportunity, etc.
So, from the above discussion it is clear that the study of Society is necessary -
- To develop the perspective on Indian social system
- To sensitise the government/public officials on discourses of society
- To apply best practices of governance in the eradication of social problems
So, the next question that arises will be - What to Study? (How to Prepare Society for UPSC Mains)
Syllabus of Society
- Salient features of Indian society, diversity of India.
- Role of women and women's organisation.
- Effect of globalisation on Indian society.
- Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism and secularism.
- Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanisation, their problems and their remedies.
Salient features of Indian society -
- Patriarchy
- Caste System
- Secularism
- Diversity (linguistic, regional, religion, ethnic, racial, etc)
- Unity in diversity
- Multi-culturalism
- Joint family
- Collectivism
Though India is characterised by Unity in diversity, there are many issues related with the diversity of India -
- Linguistic diversity → Linguistic nationalism
- Religion diversity → Communalism
- Regional diversity → Regionalism
- Ethnic diversity → Ethno-naturalism
- Racial diversity → Racism & Racial intolerance
Social empowernment -
- It refers to the autonomy with respect to decision making and the ability to bring about the changes in the structures of society which has kept you marginalised over a period of time.
- In the absence of social empowerment none of them (political empowerment & economical empowerment) will give us the desired result.
Multi Culturalism -
- Co-existing of diverse culture together is known as Multi Culturalism.
- Different school of thought with respect to Multi Culturalism -
- Melting Pot
- Salad Bowl
- India is defined as a Multi cultural society, i.e., there exists co-existence of multi cultural diversity (diverse culture). Indian multi culturalism is defined as the Salad Bowl.
Melting Pot - Assimilation (where many individual cultures mix to form a new culture) The identity of the individual culture got lost.
Salad Bowl - Integration (where the individual culture's identity is not got lost, they are just mixed with their respective identities)
Sources of Indian Multi Culturalism
Constitution → integration of cultures as well as respecting and protecting each culture through various provisions.
Panchsheel policy (wrt tribals) → tribals need to progress but they need to progress in their own way (i.e., bringing tribals into the larger Indian society but respecting their individual cultural identity)
Hindu code bill → (Assimilation) it is applicable to Hindus as well as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, though they all are different religion with different ideology.
After independence → Assam was created which includes Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Assamese state assembly passed official language act and declared 'Assamese' as their official language. → other linguistic groups revolted as their culture got lost (assimilated) → So, separate states were formed to protect their individual culture.
Cultural lag - The difference in pace at which technological changes take place vis-à-vis changes in value system results into cultural lag.
For example -
Industrialisation → creates opportunities even for women
Patriarchy → women were confined only to do household chores
Thus, it creates cultural lag.
Effects of globalisation on Indian Society - Globalisation will have a effect/change the Structure as well as culture of any Society.
.png "effect of globalisation on society")
Homogenization - means uniformity in culture
For example - Mcdonaldization of food habit, Obsession with English language, Walmartization (Super Market & Mall culture), Jeans culture, etc.
Hybridization - Global + local → Glocalisation
For example - Remix music culture, Veg burger, etc
Revival of local culture - Localization → asserting local culture at global level.
For example - International Yoga day, Revival of Aayush, Religious revivalism, Vocal for local
Ambanization - corporatization of media
Westoxification - infatuation with the western culture which resulted into undermining our own traditional culture (i.e., infatuation + infection of culture)
Modernisation - Progressive transformation of socio-political economic and attitudinal aspect of our life is termed as modernization.
How to study -
- Constitutional provisions related
- Statutory conventions
- International conventions
- Schemes
- Case laws
Next Article - Features of Indian Society
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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