Maharashtra HSC Sociology 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.

Comte's law of three stages: theological (explanation by gods/spirits), metaphysical (abstract forces), and positive (scientific observation) - the intellectual basis for sociology's emergence.

Founding figures and contributions: Emile Durkheim (social facts, suicide study, collective conscience), Max Weber (verstehen, ideal types, rationalisation), Karl Marx (class conflict, historical materialism), Herbert Spencer (social Darwinism, organic analogy).

Indian sociology pioneers: G. S. Ghurye (caste and race, Bombay school), Radhakamal Mukerjee (Lucknow school), D. P. Mukerji, A. R. Desai (Marxist approach), M. N. Srinivas (Sanskritisation, dominant caste).

Sociology vs. common sense: sociology uses systematic method, evidence, and theory; common sense is anecdotal, unverified, and often contradictory.

Sociology vs. anthropology: anthropology traditionally studies small, preliterate communities holistically; sociology studies complex, modern, industrial societies with specialisation.

Sociology vs. psychology: psychology focuses on individual mental processes; sociology focuses on social structure, groups, and patterned interaction.

Sociology and social work/social welfare: sociology supplies theory and diagnosis; applied fields use it for intervention - the basis of applied sociology.

Society: a web of social relationships; types include pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial, and in India tribal, rural, and urban societies.

Community vs. society: community is locality-based with face-to-face relations (village, neighbourhood); society is a wider, abstract network of relationships.

Association vs. institution: an association is a deliberately formed group with an objective (club, trade union); an institution is an established, normative pattern of behaviour (family, marriage, education).

Status is a position in society (ascribed by birth, achieved by effort); role is the dynamic aspect of status - the expected behaviour attached to it. Role conflict arises when expectations of two roles clash.

Norms are shared expectations of behaviour; folkways are customary, mild norms; mores are strong moral norms; laws are formally codified and enforced norms.

Values are broad ideals about what is desirable (honesty, equality); they guide norms and are more general than norms.

Social group types: primary (small, intimate, face-to-face, e.g., family) vs. secondary (large, impersonal, goal-oriented, e.g., a factory); in-group vs. out-group; reference group.

Social control: informal (gossip, ridicule, customs, religion) and formal (law, police, courts); agencies include family, school, peer group, and mass media.

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

Hindu marriage as a sacrament (samskara) traditionally permits polygyny historically but monogamy is legally enforced by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; divorce is permitted under that Act.

Changes in the Indian family: nuclearisation in urban areas, rise of dual-earner households, declining fertility, and legal recognition of live-in relationships by courts.

Kinship: consanguineal (blood) vs. affinal (marriage) relatives; descent systems are patrilineal or matrilineal (e.g., Nayar and Khasi are matrilineal).

Education institutions perform socialisation, transmission of culture, social mobility, and latent functions such as child care and mate selection.

Religion as an institution: Durkheim distinguished the sacred from the profane; functions include integration, legitimation of norms, and emotional support; dysfunctions include communalism.

Economic institutions: production, distribution, and consumption; the shift from subsistence to market economy altered family and caste occupations.

Political institutions: state, government, and citizenship; functions include order maintenance, welfare, and conflict resolution through legitimate authority (Weber's traditional, charismatic, legal-rational types).

Culture: the total way of life of a society - material culture (tools, technology) and non-material culture (ideas, beliefs, values, norms).

Cultural traits vs. complexes vs. patterns: a trait is a single element; a complex is an interrelated cluster; a pattern is the characteristic arrangement of a culture.

Ethnocentrism judges other cultures by one's own standards; cultural relativism evaluates a culture in its own terms; xenocentrism overvalues others' cultures.

Cultural lag (Ogburn): the gap when non-material culture (beliefs, norms) fails to keep pace with material/technological change.

Socialisation is the process of learning culture and becoming a social being; stages include infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, with re-socialisation in new settings.

Agents of socialisation: primary - family and peers; secondary - school, workplace, mass media, religion; each transmits norms, skills, and identities.

Mead's theory: the self develops through imitation, play, and game stages; the 'I' is spontaneous, the 'me' is the internalised social expectations; the 'generalised other' is the wider community's expectations.

Cooley's looking-glass self: we imagine how others see us, imagine their judgement, and develop self-feeling (pride or mortification) accordingly.

Stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social groups by unequal access to scarce resources; main forms are slavery, estate, caste, and class.

Caste features: hereditary, endogamous, hierarchically ranked, traditionally linked to occupation and purity-pollution; caste is ascribed, class is achieved and relatively open.

Varna is the fourfold textual classification (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra); jati is the actual, numerous local endogamous group - varna is pan-Indian, jati is local.

M. N. Srinivas's Sanskritisation: lower castes adopt upper-caste rituals and practices to raise status; dominant caste refers to a caste numerically strong and economically/politically powerful locally.

Mobility: vertical (movement up or down the hierarchy) vs. horizontal (change of group at the same level); intra-generational vs. inter-generational mobility.

Class theories: Marx's two classes based on ownership of means of production; Weber's three dimensions of stratification - class, status, and party (power).

Forms of inequality in India: caste, class, gender, and regional; indicators include poverty lines, literacy gaps, and gender wage gaps.

Protective legislation: Article 15 and 17 of the Constitution abolish untouchability; reservation policy, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Mandal Commission (OBC reservations, 1990) are key measures.

Social change: alteration in social structure, institutions, and behaviour over time; factors include technology, ideology, economy, education, and social movements.

Evolutionary vs. revolutionary change: evolutionary is gradual and cumulative; revolutionary is rapid and structural (e.g., industrial revolution, abolition of zamindari).

Sanskritisation (Srinivas) is change within the caste system by imitation; Westernisation refers to adoption of Western institutions, technology, and values during and after colonial rule.

Modernisation: adoption of rational, scientific, achievement-oriented values; indicators include education, urbanisation, and occupational mobility.

Industrialisation and urbanisation: shift from agrarian to industrial economy and rural to urban residence; consequences include nuclear families, slums, and anomie.

Globalisation since 1991 liberalisation: economic integration, MNCs, IT and outsourcing growth, consumerism; critiques include inequality, job insecurity, and cultural homogenisation.

Social movements in India: peasant, tribal, dalit (Ambedkar, Mahad satyagraha), women's, environmental (Chipko, Narmada Bachao), and farmers' movements.

Planned change: Five-Year Plans, land reforms, Panchayati Raj (73rd Amendment, 1992), and the Right to Education Act, 2009 as state-led instruments of change.

Poverty: absolute (below subsistence) vs. relative (inequality); measurement via the Tendulkar and Rangarajan committees; causes include unemployment, low productivity, and inequality.

Unemployment types: structural, cyclical, seasonal, frictional, and disguised (common in Indian agriculture); underemployment is common in the informal sector.

Caste-based problems: untouchability, caste atrocities, and casteism in politics; legal responses include Article 17, the SC/ST (PoA) Act, 1989, and reservation policies.

Gender problems: dowry (Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961), domestic violence (Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005), female foeticide (PCPNDT Act, 1994), and sexual harassment (POSH Act, 2013).

Communalism: politicisation of religion leading to riots and polarisation; contributing factors include colonial divide-and-rule, electoral politics, and economic competition.

Corruption: abuse of public office for private gain; types include bribery, nepotism, and embezzlement; the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 are key laws.

Juvenile delinquency and crime: causes include broken families, poverty, and peer influence; the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 governs.

Other problems: alcoholism and drug abuse, child labour (Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016), population growth, and illiteracy.

Scientific method steps: identify the problem, review literature, formulate hypotheses, design the study, collect data, analyse, and report.

Hypothesis: a testable, tentative statement of relationship between variables; variables are independent (cause) and dependent (effect).

Research designs: exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory (causal); cross-sectional vs. longitudinal.

Sampling: probability methods - simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster; non-probability - convenience, purposive, quota, snowball; sample size and representativeness affect generalisability.

Data collection tools: questionnaire (structured, self-administered), interview schedule, observation (participant/non-participant), case study, and secondary sources (census, NFHS, NSSO).

Reliability is consistency of measurement; validity is whether the instrument measures what it claims; triangulation uses multiple methods to strengthen findings.

Ethics in research: informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, and avoiding harm to participants.

Applied sociology: uses sociological theory and methods in policy, social work, health, education, and industry - e.g., evaluation research, action research, and social impact assessment.

Digital society: social media's role in identity, activism, and misinformation; cybercrime types include phishing, identity theft, and cyberbullying; IT Act, 2000 governs.

Demographic change: India's falling total fertility rate (below replacement level per NFHS-5) and rising elderly population raise questions of ageing, care, and pension.

Migration: rural-to-urban and inter-state labour migration; issues include informal employment, remittances, and urban housing stress.

Environment and society: climate change, air pollution, and resource conflicts; environmental sociology links ecological crisis to industrialism and inequality.

Gender justice: legal gains such as criminalisation of triple talaq (2019), decriminalisation of adultery (2018), and recognition of transgender identity (Transgender Persons Act, 2019).

Communal and identity politics: debates over citizenship, secularism, and minority rights; sociological analysis focuses on polarisation and social distance.

Public health and society: COVID-19 exposed inequalities in access, digital divide in education, and migrant labour vulnerability.

Globalisation's social effects: gig economy and platform work, consumer culture, and cultural hybridisation; debates over labour rights and regulation.