Kerala Plus Two Sociology (DHSE) cheat sheet

Sociology is the systematic, scientific study of human society, social groups, and social interaction; Auguste Comte coined the term in 1838 and is called the father of sociology.

Nature: empirical (based on observation and evidence), theoretical, cumulative, and value-referential rather than purely value-free in practice; it is a social science, not a natural science.

Scope spans social institutions, social structure, stratification, social change, culture, and social research methods; it is a generalising science (studies forms of social relationships) rather than an individualising one.

Sociology vs. psychology: psychology focuses on individual mental processes; sociology focuses on group and societal patterns.

Sociology vs. anthropology: anthropology traditionally studied small, preliterate societies with ethnographic fieldwork; sociology studies complex, modern, industrial societies.

Sociology vs. political science: political science studies state, government, and power; sociology studies power as one dimension of social structure, including informal power.

Sociology vs. economics: economics studies production, distribution, and consumption of goods; sociology studies economic behaviour as socially embedded (e.g., caste and occupation).

Sociology vs. history: history reconstructs unique past events; sociology seeks general patterns and uses historical data comparatively.

Emergence: Industrial Revolution, French Revolution, and Enlightenment rationalism created the conditions for sociology as a discipline.

Society: the largest and most inclusive web of social relationships; a community is a territorial, face-to-face grouping with shared life (e.g., village), while an association is a deliberately formed organisation with a specific purpose (e.g., a trade union).

Institution: an established, normative pattern of behaviour organised around a basic social need (family, education, religion); institutions are enduring, not buildings.

Social group: two or more people in interaction with shared expectations; primary groups (family, close friends) are small, intimate, and face-to-face; secondary groups (office, university) are large, formal, and impersonal.

In-group vs. out-group: membership and identification define the in-group; the out-group is defined by contrast and can generate ethnocentrism.

Reference group: a group individuals use as a standard for evaluating their own attitudes and behaviour, even without membership.

Status: a position in a social structure, either ascribed (assigned at birth, e.g., caste, sex) or achieved (earned, e.g., occupation, education).

Role: the dynamic, behavioural expectation attached to a status; role conflict occurs when the demands of two or more roles clash (e.g., work vs. family).

Status set: all statuses an individual holds at one time; a master status overrides others in shaping identity and treatment.

Family functions: reproduction, socialisation, economic support, emotional security, and status ascription; types include nuclear/extended, patrilocal/matrilocal, patrilineal/matrilineal, and patriarchal/egalitarian.

Hindu marriage is traditionally a sacrament (samskara) with sacred rites such as kanyadaan and saptapadi; the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, governs validity, monogamy, and divorce.

Forms of marriage: monogamy (one spouse), polygyny (one husband, several wives), polyandry (one wife, several husbands, e.g., Nair and some Himalayan communities historically).

Kinship: relationships through blood (consanguineal) or marriage (affinal); kinship terms classify relatives and regulate marriage rules such as exogamy (marrying outside the group) and endogamy (marrying within).

Religion: a unified system of beliefs and practices relating to sacred things (Durkheim); functions include social cohesion, social control, meaning, and emotional support; dysfunctions include communal conflict and legitimising inequality.

Education: manifest functions are transmission of knowledge and skills; latent functions include socialisation, social control, and matchmaking; it also reproduces social inequality (hidden curriculum, credentialism).

Economy: institutions of production, distribution, and consumption; division of labour (Durkheim: mechanical vs. organic solidarity) and types of exchange (reciprocity, redistribution, market).

Polity: the institution that allocates power and authority; Weber's types of legitimate authority are traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational (bureaucratic).

Culture: the shared, learned, transmitted way of life of a society; material culture (tools, objects) vs. non-material culture (beliefs, values, norms), plus symbols, language, and technology.

Norms: shared expectations of behaviour; folkways (customary, mild sanctions), mores (strong moral significance), and laws (formal, codified, state-enforced).

Values: general, abstract standards of what is good and desirable (e.g., honesty, equality); they guide norms and vary across cultures.

Ethnocentrism: judging another culture by one's own standards; cultural relativism: understanding a culture in its own terms; cultural lag (Ogburn): non-material culture adapts more slowly than material culture.

Socialisation: the lifelong process of learning culture and becoming a social being; primary socialisation occurs in childhood within the family; secondary socialisation occurs later through school, peers, and workplace.

Agents of socialisation: family (first and most intense), school (formal, universalistic standards), peer group (equal status, age-based), mass media, workplace, and religion.

Theories: Freud's id, ego, and superego; Mead's 'I' and 'Me' and role-taking; Cooley's looking-glass self (we see ourselves as we imagine others see us).

Sanskritisation (Srinivas): lower castes adopting upper-caste rituals and practices to raise status; Westernisation: adoption of Western cultural patterns.

Social structure: relatively stable patterns of social relationships and institutions (roles, groups, institutions) that constrain and enable individual action.

Stratification: hierarchical ranking of categories of people with unequal access to valued resources; three classic forms are slavery, caste, and class.

Caste: hereditary, endogamous, hierarchically ranked groups linked to traditional occupations and ritual purity/pollution; caste is ascribed, class is achieved and relatively open.

Class: a stratum defined by economic position (Marx: relation to means of production; Weber: class, status, and party as three dimensions of stratification).

Gender: socially constructed roles and expectations attached to being male or female, distinct from biological sex; gender stratification produces unequal power and resources.

Social mobility: movement between social positions; vertical (up or down), horizontal (lateral), intergenerational (across generations), and intragenerational (within a lifetime).

Cooperation: working together for shared goals; forms include spontaneous, traditional, contractual, and directed cooperation; it is a basic condition of social life.

Conflict: struggle over scarce resources or values; Marx's class conflict, Dahrendorf's authority relations, and Coser's view that conflict can strengthen group boundaries and integration.

Competition, accommodation, assimilation, and accommodation are other basic social processes alongside cooperation and conflict.

Social change: alteration in social structure, institutions, and cultural patterns over time; factors include technology, ideology, demography, and social movements.

Modernisation: adoption of modern values and institutions (rationality, achievement, universalism, secularism, democracy); in India it is associated with constitutional law, education, and industrialisation.

Globalisation: increasing interconnectedness of economies and cultures through trade, investment, telecommunications, and migration; liberalisation of 1991 accelerated it in India.

Effects of globalisation in India: growth of IT and service sectors, rise of consumer culture, outsourcing and BPO, and increased inequality between skilled and unskilled workers.

Social movement: sustained, organised collective action to promote or resist change; types include reform, revolutionary, redemptive, and alternative movements; old (labour, peasant) vs. new (environment, women, identity) movements.

Peasant movements: Tebhaga (Bengal, 1946) and Telangana (1946–51) demanded better tenancy terms; the Naxalite movement began in Naxalbari, 1967.

Dalit movement: Jyotirao Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj (1873), Ambedkar's Mahad satyagraha (1927), and the Dalit Panthers (1972).

Environmental movements: Chipko movement (1973, Uttarakhand) against tree felling; Narmada Bachao Andolan against large dams; Silent Valley protests in Kerala.

Women's movements: 19th-century reform (Sati abolition 1829, Widow Remarriage Act 1856) and the contemporary movement around law reform, workplace equality, and political representation.

Diversity in India: linguistic (22 scheduled languages), religious, regional, caste, and ethnic; diversity is expressed in food, dress, festivals, kinship, and family patterns.

Unity in diversity: constitutional guarantees of equality and minority rights, a common civil and political framework, and shared symbols and market integration hold the plural society together.

Regionalism: identification with and loyalty to one's region; positive forms include cultural pride and autonomy demands; negative forms include secessionism and hostility to outsiders.

Regional movements: the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, the Telangana statehood movement (achieved 2014), and movements in the North-East for autonomy or statehood.

Communalism: politicisation of religion, treating religious communities as homogeneous, mutually hostile political blocs; it is an ideology, not the same as personal religiosity.

Secularism in India: the state has no official religion, guarantees freedom of religion (Articles 25–28), and may intervene to reform religion (e.g., temple entry, Article 17 abolishing untouchability); this differs from strict Western separation.

Casteism and linguism are parallel forms of identity politics; the Mandal Commission (1980) recommended 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes.

National integration is promoted by the Constitution, education, the mass media, and inter-regional economic exchange, but is strained by communal and regional conflict.

Social inequality: unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and status; social exclusion: the process by which groups are pushed to the margins and denied full participation.

Caste inequality: untouchability (Article 17 abolished it), caste-based occupational restrictions, and violence; protective measures include the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Tribe: communities with distinct culture, territory, language, and often community ownership of resources; Scheduled Tribes are notified under Article 342; the Fifth and Sixth Schedules govern tribal areas and autonomy.

Tribal displacement: development projects, mining, and dams have displaced tribal communities disproportionately; the Forest Rights Act, 2006, recognises individual and community forest rights.

Gender inequality: unequal sex ratio, wage gaps, female foeticide, domestic violence, and unequal division of household labour; the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, are legal safeguards.

Disability: physical, sensory, or cognitive impairment interacting with social barriers; the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, recognises 21 disabilities and mandates accessibility and reservation.

Marginalisation: denial of access to decision-making and resources; affected groups include Dalits, Adivasis, women, persons with disabilities, and minorities.

Affirmative action: reservation in education and public employment for SCs, STs, and OBCs; the debate concerns merit, efficiency, and substantive equality.

Observation: systematic, purposeful watching and recording of behaviour; participant observation (researcher joins the group) vs. non-participant observation; strengths include natural setting, limits include observer bias and the Hawthorne effect.

Survey: collection of data from a sample using a structured schedule or questionnaire; suited to large populations and attitudes; requires sampling, pretesting, and attention to response rates.

Interview: verbal interaction for data collection; structured (fixed questions), unstructured (open-ended), and semi-structured; strengths include depth and clarification, limits include interviewer bias and cost.

Case study: intensive, in-depth study of a single case (person, group, or institution) using multiple methods; strong on context and process, weak on generalisation.

Sampling: probability methods (simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster) allow generalisation; non-probability methods (purposive, quota, snowball, convenience) do not.

Variables: independent (the presumed cause), dependent (the presumed effect), and control; operationalisation converts concepts into measurable indicators.

Ethics in research: informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, no harm to participants, voluntary participation, and honest reporting of findings.

Project report structure: title, introduction and statement of problem, objectives, methodology, findings and analysis, conclusion, references, and appendices (questionnaire, schedule).

Reliability: consistency of a measure on repetition; validity: the extent to which a measure captures the concept it claims to measure.

A project report must state a clear research problem and justify why it is worth studying; the objectives should be specific and answerable with the chosen methods.

The methodology section must name the method (observation, survey, interview, or case study), the sampling technique, the sample size, and the tools used (questionnaire, schedule, interview guide).

Data analysis should be organised around the stated objectives; simple tabulation and percentages are acceptable in a school-level sociological project.

Every factual claim must be cited; direct quotations require attribution, and the reference list must be consistent (author, year, title, publisher).

Field notes and raw data should be retained as appendices; anonymity of respondents must be preserved in the written report.

Limitations (small sample, access constraints, time) must be stated honestly; they do not invalidate the study if acknowledged.

Conclusion should answer the objectives and may suggest further research; it should not introduce new data.

Plagiarism is a serious academic offence; all borrowed text must be paraphrased and cited.

Informed consent requires that participants understand the purpose, procedures, and risks before agreeing to take part.

Confidentiality means data are not disclosed; anonymity means identities cannot be linked to responses.

Vulnerable groups (children, persons with disabilities, marginalised communities) require extra safeguards and, where applicable, guardian consent.

Simple random sampling gives every member of the population an equal chance of selection; stratified sampling ensures representation of subgroups.

Snowball sampling is useful for hidden or hard-to-reach populations but cannot support statistical generalisation.

Pilot testing a questionnaire on a small group identifies ambiguous questions and improves validity before the main study.

Falsification or fabrication of data is the most serious research misconduct and invalidates the entire project.

Primary data are collected first-hand by the researcher; secondary data are drawn from censuses, government reports, and prior studies.

A questionnaire is self-administered; a schedule is filled in by the interviewer; both use closed or open-ended items.

Closed-ended items ease coding and comparison; open-ended items capture richer, unanticipated responses.

Likert-type items measure attitudes on an ordered scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree).

Triangulation uses multiple methods or sources to cross-check findings and strengthen validity.

A codebook records how responses are converted into categories for analysis; it makes the analysis reproducible.

Official statistics (Census of India, NSSO, NFHS) are valuable secondary sources but must be checked for definitions and coverage.

The introduction should situate the study in existing literature and state the research gap briefly.

A hypothesis is a testable statement of relationship between variables; it may be stated or left implicit in exploratory studies.

Findings should be presented before interpretation; interpretation links findings back to the objectives and to prior studies.

Tables and figures must be numbered, titled, and referred to in the text; units and sources must be stated.

The reference list includes only works cited in the text; a bibliography may include wider reading.

The abstract or executive summary should state the problem, method, key findings, and conclusion in a short paragraph.

The report should be written in the third person and past tense for procedures; clarity and precision matter more than length.