Sociology: Society, Institutions and Social Change
Sociology in the PSEB Social Science paper tests how Indian and Punjabi society is organised, how institutions shape behaviour, and how social change is explained. Questions often ask you to define a concept, distinguish it from a near-neighbour, and apply it to a family, caste, village or school example.
Core rules and concepts
- Society is a web of relationships; community is based on belonging; association is deliberately formed for a purpose. Do not use them interchangeably.
- Social groups: primary groups are small, personal and lasting (family, close friends); secondary groups are larger, formal and goal-directed (a school class, a bank).
- Norms are shared expectations; values are ideals; sanctions enforce norms. Folkways are everyday customs; mores are morally serious; laws are codified and state-backed.
- Institutions are settled patterns of roles and norms organised around basic social needs - family, kinship, education, religion, economy and polity.
- Social stratification ranks people by caste, class and gender. Caste is hereditary, endogamous and traditionally linked to occupation; class is achieved and economic. Gender stratification refers to unequal power and resources between men and women.
- Social change: Sanskritisation (lower castes adopting upper-caste practices), modernisation, secularisation, urbanisation and migration. In Punjab, Green Revolution, NRI migration and urban growth are common examples.
Worked example
A question asks: “A Dalit family in a Punjab village begins using an upper-caste surname and celebrating their festivals. Which concept fits?” Reasoning: the family is not changing its economic class or converting; it is adopting symbols and practices of a higher caste for status. That is Sanskritisation. If the family had moved to a city and gained income through a factory job, class mobility would be the better answer.
Traps
- Caste and class are not synonyms: caste is ascribed, class achieved.
- Sanskritisation is not the same as secularisation.
- Primary group ≠ primary school; learn definitions, not labels.
- Do not give only a definition; add one Indian/Punjabi illustration.