Indian Society Chapter 1 Introducing Indian Society

(c) Japan – US Bloc (d) Nigeria-NAM

(e) North Korea-Soviet Bloc (f) Sri Lanka – NAM

(i) Miscalculation of the number of weapons in the possession of the other camp.

(ii) Misunderstanding the intentions of the otherside.

(iii) A nuclear accident by mistake or by a soldier mischievously to start a war.Thus, both the powers - the US and the Soviet Union - decided to limit or eliminate certain kinds ofnuclear and non-nuclear weapons to maintain a stable balance of weapons. Starting in the 1960s, three treatieswere signed. These were Limited Test Ban Treaty, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Anti-BallisticMissile Treaty.

Society is a group of people who share a common culture, occupy a particular territorial area and feel themselves a unified and distinct entity. In short, we can define society as, society is a web of relationship.

Indians residing in other countries e.g. Britain or America, very often say that they belongs to Indian society. It is because they share our common norms and traditions. At the same time, we find that the people of Tamil Nadu or Kerala or Assam or Kashmir though have their different language and life style; identify themselves as members of a Indian society as well. It is because they belong to a common history and share so many common traditions and customs.

Groups are the essence of life in society. This term refers to such diverse collectivities as the family, the crowd or the social class, informal cliqes or vast communities. It also refers to the member of races or religions or occupations or to this or that division of sex or age or intelligence or temperament. As per the meaning given to this term in Webster's dictionary—' Group consists of a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship.' Each group has unique wholeness qualities that become patterned by the way of members' thinking, feeling and communicating into structural sub-systems.

These are : (i) family (ii) Caste (iii) Tribe (iv) Social class (e.g. rich and poor), (v) Associations and unions etc.

The term of “Culture” reflects the symbolic and learned aspects of society that  is included by language, customs, traditions which are passed from one generation to another.

Social structure is bnasicaly It refers to the way of different parts of society (viz. relationship between husband and wife, between parent's and children and between various groups) are organised and follow stable patterns of collective rules, roles and activities.

It is an inertia within individuals that makes them to feel a deep sense of security and satisfaction in belonging to communities in which their membership is entirely accidental and based on their birth.

It is community identity based on birth and belonging rather than on some form of acquired qualifications or accomplishment. It is an identity with one's present and has nothing to bear with the future. These are determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve any choice on the part of the individual concerned.

These questions are:(i) who am I? viz. What is my name, caste, sir-name, the community I belong to? (ii) How am I different from others? viz. which rituals, mores, customs, rites etc. differ me from an individual of other community (iii) How do others understand and comprehend me? viz. the particular, acts performed by one's community good or bad, illustrous or infamous, one's particular class, family, race, caste etc. and (iv) What goals and aspirations should I have ? viz. the acts expected on the basis of one's caste, religion etc.

It is the formed of community-ties known as family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region or religion based ties. It gives meaning to our world and gives us a sense of identity of who we are. This is the reason people often react emotionally or even violently whenever there is a perceived threat to their community identity.

It’s a sort of community easy to describe but hard to define. Easy to describe because many specific nations are founded on the basis of common cultural, historical and political institutions like a shared religion, language, ethnicity, history or regional culture. It is hard to define because there are a number of nations that do not share a single common language, religion, ethnicity etc. A number of languages, religions or ethnicities are shared in such nations. Eg. India, Alaska and the USA, Malvinas/Falkland islands and the U.K., Austria and Germany, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE. These show the difference between formation of nation. In recent times, there has been a one-to-one bond between nation and state. This is the reason, the term nation joins the state with a hyphen (-) i.e. Nation-state. Soviet union in the past was a state of (union of) different i.e. more than one hundred nations. A general tendency is being found in nations to work towards forming a state and that of representing a nation in the states.

The problems of India are that linguistic identity, regionalism, demand for separate states and terrorism etc. which create hinderances in the way of national integration. Due to these problems, usually strikes, arsons, riots and mutual fights take place, which have posed a severe threat to national unity and integration.

All citizens of this country require understanding sustainable development and peaceful co-existence and it can be attained only when a spirit of universal brotherhood beyond reach of disparity on the basis of language, region, caste, creed, race starts cooling their hearts and make them cosmopolitan or member to global society free from inner seethe, enmity and futile vanity. They should always think, plan and act for national interest point of view and give up their narrow politics of votes' bank.

It is so because social map comprises age boundaries (young and old), regional boundaries, economic boundaries, religious boundaries and caste boundaries. Thus, an individual may work out his place, status and calibre in the society to which he belongs.

Sociology is a subject in which everyone already knows something about society. Other subjects are learnt at home, school or elsewhere through instructions but much of our knowledge about society is acquired without explicit teaching. It is such an integral part with growth in years as it appears to be acquired naturally or automatically.

It becomes advantage when socialisation process at home is perfect or wholesome with cosmos-consciousness. This subject becomes easy for the students and they start taking keen interest ab-initio because of their learning through socialisation at the levels of home, peer groups, neighbourhood, colony as also the community and the institutions like school, hospital, health centre, post office etc. where they visit frequently with their parents, siblings and other children of the same age group. The disadvantage is that this prior knowledge can be a problem in order to learn sociology. We have to erase the state of our mind if prior learning is acquired from a particular view point or if it is below or self-centered. The beliefs and expectations about society and social relations being specific may delude us if is sallow or self-centered unsound and they are unscientific. In case, we not erase them, there is danger of being ours partial which will act as deterrent in understanding sociology.

Progress is an effort to attain the goal which is defined and which has support from social values.

It is a process of social interaction among individuals in a society by which they try to adjust themselves within society or the group of people.

This term is used in two meanings or senses in context to sociology. Its former meaning is that of incomplete viz. in fraction or the opposite of whole or an inchoate. Its second meaning is that of biased or prejudicial viz a perceivable belief without contemplation or analysis. When we develop faith on things merely by seeing them or hearing about them, it falls in the category of unlearnt knowledge or common sense. Such knowledge of society is always unreal or unscientific.

It’s age boundary in social map as credulous tendency or accepting things merely through perception is seen in the young and old age In youngesters, it is pre and post adolescence in which they accept the things easily as told about them by their parents, elders and the teachers. It is the flaw in the process of socialisation deeply imprinted in the sub-conscious of adolescents.

It is an ability to reflect upon oneself or do introspection in depth. A scholar of sociology learns to touch, feel and practice with the things in their abstract form inside or in other words, we can state this ability as application of inner-conscience which is always wholesome and exclusive. Thus, a sociologist attains to the power of intuition.

It is a generalised process of thinking about oneself in context to geography. As the geographical locations are diverse, every individual is unique and diverse in the social map. Age boundary tells him what is his age? Who are his fellows? In which institutions (i.e. family, neighbourhood, community, peer group) he is related to, what is the economic status of his family? Calibre and quality that have given him identity with society? His religion and its scope, caste and its influence etc. These quaries will enable him to locate himself in the society and only then he can make the best use of his reflexivity or introspection which will finally lead him to the fair selection of his career and mode of living in an ideal manner adapted or accommodated to the society.

Sociologists and social anthropologists have adopted the term function from biological sciences where it has been used for certain organic processes necessary for the maintenance of the organisms. Basic functions necessary for continuity and survival of any society are:(i) Recruitment of members (ii) Socialization (iii) Production and distribution of goods and services and (iv) preservation of order.

It takes place when both of them are trying to achieve certain goals and in doing so, are obliged to take into account, one another's conduct. Depending on the action of the second one, the first has to modify his or her conduct and action, as both of them have mutual expectations from each-other.

It is the way to fulfil some basic needs like hunger, shelter, protection and other biological urges. The structure of a human society is similar to the structure of a building, which has generally three components : (i) building material such as bricks, mortars, beams and pillars (ii) Arrangement of material in a definits order and (iii) unification of building material and that of definite order to make a building one unit, or wholesome structure. Likewise a building, a society consists of (i) males and females, adults and children, various occupational and religious groups and so on (ii) the interrelationship between various parts (viz. relation between husband and wife, that of parents and children and between various groups and finally (iii) all the parts of the society are put together to work as a unit. Thus, structure, function and system are interrelated and complementary concepts.

It informs age group, place of that age group in the total population of a country, the place of living (viz village, town, city, mega-city, plains, plateau, desert, hill, mountains), economic status or class (Lower, middle or upper class), religion (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Buddhism, Christianity), a caste or tribe (Brahman, Ksatriya, Vaisya, Sudra) or other social group (Bengali, Gujrati, Marathi, Pahari, tribal, Jat, lodh, munda, Kayastha, Yadav etc.), language (any one out of 22 languages scheduled and countless dialects). After this information one can work out the social relationships.

Thus, sociology tells about what kinds of groups or groupings there are in society, what their relationships are to each-other and what this might mean in terms of one's own life.

Personal troubles comprise the kinds of individual worries, problems or concerns that everyone whosoever has born in this blue planet has always in mind and temperament both. It is because of worldly living has direct nexus with passions, urges and temptations that raise tremulations till the last breath. For an instance, you may be unhappy about the way elders in your family treat you or your brothers, sisters or friends treat you. Sources of pride, tension, confidence or embarrassment in different ways may also be kept in the list of personal troubles.

Social issues may arise in large groups of individuals like staff, council, institutions, concerns, firms etc. These are manifested in riots, procession, strikes, disputes, controversies etc. Generation gap or friction between older and younger generations is also a social issue. Some other social issues are unemployment problem, communalism, casteism and gender-bias.

It is because that version of social map, we are provided by our parent, siblings, relatives and neighbour. It is of specific and varied nature or in other words, partial. It provides us only with common sense or unlearnt or perceivable knowledge which may or may not be real when we weigh it up after attainment of an ability of reflexivity or introspection. A proper use and application of reflexivity is essential for drawing other kinds of maps. It is sociological perspective that teaches us the procedure of drawing social maps, wholesome and exclusive.

History of Europe tells us that Italy was the first country where the wave of renaissance were felt. It further tells us that Greeks had to suffer extermination and carnage in the hands of Turks in 145 BCE. These people fled from greece to seek refuge in Italy and they lit the torch of their knowledge there. By referring the European background, we want to explain that Enlightenment or wisdom receives resplendence only when troubles of complex nature are faced by mankind. Much or less the same has happened in India during colonial rule. They were insulted, suffered coercion, extortion and merciless killing during British regime but in, the lap of that gross darkness, they could understand importance of living a life in cooperation, harmony, tolerance and maintaining unity all over the country. Thus, we can say that it was colonialism which gave birth to nationalism viz. a sheer allegiance to a nation or patriotism. The shared experience of colonial domination helped in understanding the value of unity and energised different sections of the community. The emerging middle classes begem, with the help of western style education to challenge colonialism on its own ground. The interferences created by colonialism in the public and private life of Indian people had crystallised religious and caste based communities.

Economics as a subject or discipline educates us only the system in which markets work in modern economics. For an instance, it explains price mechanism, the probable impact of specific kinds of investment or the factors that influence people to save or spend. It has nothing to bear with the cascading effects of all these factors on the society, hence, sociology in these perspectives goes beyond the reach of economics.

We will first discuss about the political economy as it was called during eighteenth century in England. Adam Smith is known as the father of economics and his “The Wealth Of Nations” is an attempt to understand the market economy which he says made up of a series of individual exchanges or transactions that create a functioning and ordered system in an automatic ways. The unseen force at work that converts individual welfare or good into good for society. As per Smith, the capitalist economy works best in the circumstance when individual buyers and sellers make rational decisions that serve their own interests. For this reason idea of a free market or laissez-faire (viz leave alone or let it be) economic philosophy has been supported by Smith.

Sociologists see markets as social institutions—In their opinion, economics are society embedded. This is because, markets are controlled or organised by particular social groups or classes and they have specific links to other institutions, social processes and structures.

Every humanbeing needs a sense of stable identity to operate in this world. It is the process of socialisation that gives this identity to each individual. The socialisation process involves a continuous dialogue, negotiation and even struggle against our parents, family, kin group and our community viz a giant form, of varied groups of people. It is therefore, our community that provides us the language and cultural values through which we comprehend the world. It is based on birth and belongings and never on some form of acquired qualifications or accomplishment. Birth based identity is called ascriptive because this does not involve any choice on the part of tbe individuals concerned. It is actually worthless and discriminating. However, these ascriptive identifies are very hard to shake off because irrespective of our efforts to disown them, others may continue to identify us by those very markers of belonging.

Such ascriptive identity is the most deterrant to self-realisation. However, expanding and overlapping circles of community ties i.e. family, kinship, caste, ethnicity, language, region or religion give meaning to our world and give us sense of identity, of who we are.

These are universal because everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family and a faith. The communities distinct on the basis of nation, language, religion, caste or region, we see alway in war for no vital reason at all. Each side in the conflict thinks of the other side as a hatred enemy, and there is a tendency to exaggerate the virtues of one's own side as well as the vices of the other side. Some nations of mutually agreed upon truth is very hard to establish in situations of identity conflict; it usually takes decades, sometimes centuries for one side to accept that it was wrong.

Reason for conflict : Ascriptive identity is nothing else but mere ignorance or 'partial' process of socialisation which is the main disadvantage of knowing an automatic way about society i.e. the subject-matter of sociology. One should therefore, do away with such ascriptive identity in order to avail all-round development of his personality.

However it is a common practice that the losing side in a war is forced to apologise for the bad things, assumed so, at the fancy of the winners, but there are some people and nationals who still are exception of the same viz they apologise even for the past wrongs committed by their ancestors.

Presently, majority of the population ruling in Australia is of white European origin. The native people (Aboriginals) who are in minority were once sujected to coercion and atrocity. When this fact was realised by the ruling race, it passed some variant of the following apology resolution.

“ We, the peoples of Australia, of many origins as we are, make a commitment to go on together in a spirit of reconciliation. We value the unique status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original owners and custodians of lands and waters.........Our nation must have the courage to own the truth, to heal the wounds of its past so that we can move on together at peace with ourselves.....we pledge ourselves to stop injustice, overcome disadvantage and respect that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands peoples have the right to self determination within the life of the nation.'

Similarly, USA is pending with debate about apologies to the native American community viz aborigines driven out by war and to the black community (brought as slaves from Africa). Japan has also apologised for the atrocities of war and colonisation when East Asia and Korea as also parts of China were occupied. Prime Minister Junichro Koizumis’s following speech delivered on 15th August, 2005 exhibits the tone of apology as under :

“In the past, Japan through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous demage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian Nations. Sincerely facing these facts of history, I once again express my feelings of deep remorse and heart felt apology, and also express the feelings of mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, in the war. I am determined not to allow the lessons of that horrible war to erode, and to contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world without ever again waging a war.”

Conclusion : These are good signals on part of nations as I have referred to above. It is phenomena of cosmos- consciousness which is attained to, when impartial introspection or ascriptive identity or community identity is taken for analysis and self-reflexivity sieves out the reality. In case, self-realisation in the same manner is obtained by each individual, all conflicts based on false identity between man to man and slavery imposed by a man on man shall abolish from this whole world. May such all-round development attain to by each individual.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently given a combined name as Affluenza to the diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and disbetes. It has been stated that these are the biggest causes of death in the South-East Asia region today. These are the 'lifestyle diseases' or diseases of affluence'—Say WHO. These are rapidly reaching epidemic proportions in India—a country with a booming economy that has suddenly given an entire middle class the opportunity to become seriously wealthy. The flood of this ailment is seen rising since decade of 2000's i.e. economic liberalisation and globalisation adopted by India and MNCs' have opened their offices in all the nooks and corners of mega-cities here.

This life style ailment or affluenza are prevalent in the backdrop of an urban environment where “achievement” is the motto where healthy food, sleep, exercise, relaxation and interests other than the pursuit of wealth are all sacrificed on the altar of achievement.

A british psychologist Oliver James defines this disease as—'A contagious middle class virus causing depression, anxiety, addiction and ennui affluenza is the placing of a high value on money, possessions, appearances (Physical and social which our youngchaps say impression) and fame. It's hunger for materialistic gain which has even kicked off ideal socialisation process behind-say some scholars, parents and sociologists when they observe the trend of future India. These passions for money and material possession are the root causes of affluenza ?

Sociological factor : A giant cross of globalisation with messed up culture and hike in I.T. sector alongwith entrance of MNCs have brought certain drastic change in Indian society particularly that of middle class addressed as bourgeoisie in the history of Europe and that of world—the most Vulnerable to likewise changes. History is evident that it receives upperhands of others and thus, brings slavery to the country as a whole. The youth of this class are soon misdirected because of their's being the most passionate for money and material possession. Most Member States to globalisation in the region are undergoing significant social and demographic changes marked by rapid urbanisation, expanding industrialisation, rising income and improved health care. This all is resulting in high prevalence of common risk factors namely, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet, obesity and physical inactivity.

An analysis or reflexivity on the scenario : Indian society should take precautions of the situation formed or resulted since last decade and our adolescents should be taught on past glory of India in terms of ethics, morals, self-restraint, continence so that they could be saved from deluding by jingling of rise in income. We need more jobs and more structures in place that help more and more people across classes get healthy opportunities to earn their livelihood because such blind race is being run due to the fact that there are still fewer jobs than qualified people available in our country. Affluenza is knocking down our young India because there is a great gap between what one knows and what he does. One should keep in mind that money is a good servant but a cruel master. It's a means not accomplishment—says a sociologist.