Class XII – Sociology – Paper – 2

Ans. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

Ans. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

Ans. (a) I. and III.

Ans. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)

Ans. (b) Anti-touchability programmes became a big part of the Congress agenda.

Ans. (a) I., II., and III. only

Ans. (c) British industrial policies promoted the growth of Indian village industries.

Ans. (b) Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)

Ans. (a) I. and II. only

Ans. (a) Formal demography focuses on measurements, while social demography studies causes and consequences of population changes.

Ans. (d) No inherited educational or economic capital.

Ans. (d) All of the above

Ans. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

Ans. (a) Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

Ans. (c) adivasis were concentrated in contiguous areas and could demand statehood.

Ans. (a) III., II., I., IV.

Ans. Modernisation is a conceptual tool which social scientists have widely used in analysing the process as well as the quality of social change.

The two main characteristics of modernisation are as follows

(i) Modemisation assumes that local ties and narrow thinking give way to universal values and commitments.

(ii) The principles of rationality and science are favoured over emotions and religious tendencies.

Ans. The term ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ are expressions of values which helps us in observing the process of social and cultural transformation in societies as they pass from the ‘primitive’ to ‘pre-industrial’ to ‘industrial’ and ‘post-industrial’ phases of social development. The passage from traditional to modern stage of society initiates major social and cultural transformation.

Ans. There are two examples of Dalits experience forms of exclusion that are unique and not practiced against other groups are as follows

(i) Being prohibited from sharing drinking water sources or participating in collective religious worship, social ceremonies and festivals.

(ii) Untouchability may also involve forced *inclusion’ in a subordinated role, such as beating the drum at a religious event.

Ans. The basic reason for the rise of old social movements in India in the 1970s is to people’s growing dissatisfaction with parliamentary democracy. The institutions of the state have been captured by elites. Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an effective way for the poor to get their voices heard. People left out by the formal political system join social movements or non-party political formations in order to put pressure on the state from outside.

Ans. Civil society is the non-state and non-market part of the public domain in which individuals get together voluntarily to create institutions and organisations. The role of civil society includes

(i) advocate/campaignes or lobbying government or business on issues including indigenous rights or the environment.

(ii) building active citizenship; participating in global governance processes.

Ans. The term ‘Redemptive’ or transformatory in context of social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. For example, people in the Ezhava community in Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices.

Ans. The ecological movement is a diverse scientific, social and a political movement for addressing environmental issues.

The Chipko Movement is an example of the ecological movement in the Himalayan foothills. It not only raised the issue of social inequality between the villagers and government, but also raised the issue of ecological sustainability.

Ans. Castes are traditionally linked to occupation because a person born into a caste would have to practice prescribed occupation. Thus, occupations became hereditary as a result of which occupation could only be pursued by one caste. Members of other caste could not enter the occupation.

24. Rites and secularisation are key concepts in understanding the changing relationship between religion and modern society. These shifts highlight the evolving role of rituals and beliefs in contemporary life. Write a short note on Rites and Secularisation.

Ans. The customs and the activities associated with a religion are categorised as rites or rituals whereas securalism means a process of decline in the influence of religion. A considerable part of ritual in India has direct reference to the pursuit of secular ends. Rituals have secular dimensions i.e. they provide men and women occasions for socialising with their peers and superiors.

Ans. Measures taken by government to protect the rights of landless agricultural labourers and migrant workers are

(i) Abolition of bonded labour legally

(ii) Abolition of zamindari system

(iii) Abolition and Regulation Act for Tenancy

(iv) Imposition of Land Ceiling Act

(v) Consolidation of Land

Ans. There is direct linkage between the agriculture workers and upward socio-economic mobility as

(i) Indian rural society has patrilineal kinship system.

(ii) Most of the people in villages are landless and for their livelihood they become agriculture workers.

(iii) The tenants also have lower income because they have to pay a large amount of production to the landowner.

Ans. The two major sets of principles of caste system in India are as follows

(1) Based on Difference and Separation Each caste

is different and is strictly separated from every other caste. Many scriptural rules prevent the mixing of castes. These rules include marriage, food sharing social interaction, occupation, etc.

(ii) Based on Wholism and Hierarchy The different and separated castes do not have an individual existence. In other words, they do not exist in isolation, but can only exist in relation to the whole society that is comprised of all other castes. Further, the caste-based society is not based on equality. It is essentially hierarchical wherein each individual caste occupies a distinct place in the ordered rank.

Ans. Tribals have faced difficulties and discrimination during the British rule. During the Pre-independence period, tribal societies faced incursion of moneylenders. They also lost their land to non- tribal immigrant settlers. Their access to forests was restricted because of the British govemment’s policy of reservation of forests and the introduction of mining operations. In this way, their source of livelihood was snatched by the British government.

Post-independent era, involved the building of large dams, factories and mines. The tribal areas were located in mineral rich and forest covered parts of the country. Thus, their places of dwelling was either destroyed or snatched away in the name of development. This kind of development has benefitted the mainstream at the expense of the tribes.

Ans. Gandhiji’s viewpoint on the growing relevance of machinery included the following points

(i) He was deeply critical of the modern age in which machines enslaved human beings and displaced workers.

(ii) He argued that the growing importance of machinery would lead to mechanisation and mechanisation possess a threat to the labourers by substituting them for the machines.

(iii) He also pointed out how the craze of mechanisation and machinery took exploitative profit. These exploitative measures impacted the workers directly.

(iv) He believed that modern machinery would lead to a concentration of wealth in a few hands.

Ans. The early 20th century saw the growth of women’s organisations at a national and local level. For example, the Women’s India Association (WIA) (1917), All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) (1926) and National Council for Women in India (NCWI) (1925).

Women participated along with men in struggles and revolts originating in tribal and rural areas in the colonial period. The AIWC began with the idea that women’s welfare and politics were mutually exclusive. Over the years, there have been numerous campaigns that have been taken up towards violence against women. Important legal changes have taken place because of the women’s movement. In the mid 1970s, there was growth of autonomous women’s movements. Apart from organisational changes, there were new issues that were focused upon by women’s movements. For example, violence against women, issues of land rights, employment for women and rights against sexual harassment and dowry.

Ans. Social stratification persists over generations because it is closely linked to the family and the inheritance of social resources from one generation to another. A person’s social position is ascribed. It means children assume the social positions of their parents.

Within the caste system, birth dictates occupational opportunities. A dalit is likely to be confined to traditional occupations such as agricultural labour, scavenging or leather work, with little chance of being able to get high-paying white collar or professional work.

The ascribed aspect of social inequality is reinforced by the practice of endogamy. In this system, marriage is usually restricted to members of the same caste, ruling out the potential for blurring caste lines through inter-marriage.

Ans. The two common features of ‘ascriptive’ identity are as follows

(i) Expanding and overlapping circles of communities (family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region or religion) give meaning to our world and give us a sense of identity. That is the reason why people often react emotionally or even violently whenever there is a perceived threat to their community identity.

(ii) Ascriptive identity is universal. Everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family or faith. This may not necessarily be strictly true of every individual, but it is true in a general sense and we are all equally committed and loyal to our respective identities. This may not necessarily be strictly true of every individual, but it is true in a general sense and we are all equally committed and loyal to our respective identities.

Ans. The term agrarian structure refers to the structure or distribution of land holdings. Indian rural society is marked by different social and agrarian structures. Here in, agricultural land is the single most important resource and form of property, but it is not equally distributed.

In some parts of India, some people hold majority of land and some people own a small plot, there are also people who don’t own any land at all. As the rural society is based on the agrarian structure, access to land shapes, the rural class structure. It determines the roles that an individual plays in the agricultural production.

Ans. In context of agricultural structure of Indian rural society, major types of land holdings are as follows

(i) Medium and Large Landowners They own a sufficient amount of land from which they get large incomes by virtue of cultivation.

(ii) Agricultural Labourers They have no land of their own and they work for others. They are more often than not paid below the statutory minimum wages and earn very little. Their employment is also insecure and they do not work for most of the days of the year.

(iii) Tenants They are the cultivators who lease their land from landowners. They have lower incomes than owner cultivators as they have to pay the landowner a share of their profit, often as much as 50 to 75 per cent as rent.

(iv) Women They are usually excluded from ownership of land in most regions of India because of the patrilineal kinship systems and the mode of inheritance.

Ans. Social reform movements initiated towards women’s equality and rights in the 19th century, saw the growth of women’s organisation at a national and local level. The organisations including the Women’s India Association (WIA) was started in 1917, All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1926, National Council for Women in India in 1925 started for women. The AIWC began with the idea that women’s welfare and politics were mutually exclusive. Over the years, there have been numerous campaigns that have been taken up towards violence against women.

Important legal changes have taken place because of the women’s movement such as issues of land rights, employment have been fought alongside, rights against sexual harassment and dowry. The reformers of India used to revere the glorious past of India considering the woman’s presence as significant belonging. They safeguarded the western influence in society. The Purdah system extended the distancing between opposite sexes, social isolation and mental numbness.

Ans. (a) In the year 2011, the male-female gap in literacy rate is 16.3%. However, female literacy has been rising faster than male literacy, partly because it started from relatively low levels.

Ans. (b) Female literacy rate rose by about 10.4 per cent between 2001 and 2011 compared to the rise in male literacy of 7.6 per cent in the same period.

Ans. (c) Literacy as a pre-requisite to education is an instrument of empowerment. If there would be more literate population, it would increase the consciousness of career options and participation in knowledge economy. Literacy can lead to health awareness and fuller participation in the cultural and economic well-being of the community.

The differences of male and female literacy rates are 53.7% and 55.7% respectively between 1951 and 2011.

Ans. Urbanisation is a process in which more and more people opt for urban life and live in cities. In this phenomenon, the villages or small towns are gradually transformed into bigger towns or cities.

Sociologist MSA Rao describes three situations under which a village experiences the urban impact in India, which are as follows

(i) Firstly, lot of people migrates from villages to far off cities or overseas towns for employment apportunities. They send money to their native villages. Besides, they invest money on land and industry and donate for educational institutions. They build fashionable houses at their villages and have invested on land and industry.

(ii) Secondly, some villages are situated near the industrial town (for example, Bhilai). Demand for houses and the market inside the village increases but at times it lead to hatred between immigrants and native population.

(iii) Thirdly, growth of metropolitan cities does have influence over the rural areas or villages. Some villages are completely absorbed in the process of expansion of these cities. On the other hand, some villagers lose their uninhabited land for urban development.

Ans. Machinery creates a problem for workers: For example, an automatic printing machine prints books automatically with the help of two or three persons. Without the use of big automatic printing machine nearly two hundred labourers are required to do the same work or produce the same volume of production. It means due to use of big automatic machine unemployment is generated.

Gandhi ji was opposed of all types of exploitation. He opposed exploitation of the poor people by the rich people. Gandhi ji had alternative in his mind that India should be labour intensive modern industrial unit or firms. Adopting spinning wheel as tool to solve the problem of unemployment by providing employment to thousand villagers, poor urban people, farmers and labourers.

Ans. (b) Industrial society refers to society that is driven by the use of technology to enable mass production. It generally supports a large population with a high capacity for division of labour.

Views of theorists on industrial society are as follows Social theorists like Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim associated a number of features with industrialisation such as urbanisation, loss of face to face relationships in rural areas and their substitution by anonymous professional relationships in modern work places. According to them, industrialisation involves a detailed division of labour and their work is often exhaustive and repetitive but it was much better from being unemployed.

Marx specifically emphasised upon his concept of alienation of labour, whereby he illustrated how a labour or worker is disconnected with the product he is producing and working only for survival and to meet his needs.There were eventually mixed views of the theorists on the effects of industrialisation. But eventually, they agreed upon the positive impact of industrialisation on modernisation and the benefit that industrialisation led to modernisation.