Banc 102 Unit 4

Front 1

Who stated culture is ‘uniquely human’?

Back 1

Bronislaw Malinowski said that ‘culture is uniquely human’.

Front 2

“What culture is to anthropology is what the concept of zero is to the discipline of mathematics” which anthropologist made this comment?

Back 2

Robert Lowie

Front 3

Which British anthropologist was influenced by the work of the French sociologists Émile Durkheim?

Back 3

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown

Front 4

What is ‘social morphology’?

Back 4

The study of the various forms of social structure and the changes that govern or take place in them.

Front 5

Where and in which year was the Chair of Social Anthropology founded?

Back 5

Liverpool in 1905.

Front 6

Who first occupied the Chair of Social Anthropology, what was the name of his famous text?

Back 6

Sir James Frazer, the author of the famous text, The Golden Bough.

Front 7

The word society is derived from which Latin word?

Back 7

The word ‘society’ comes from the Latin word socius, which means ‘sharing’.

Front 8

Who stated ‘man is a political animal’?

Back 8

Aristotle

Front 9

What is society? Explain in your own words.

Back 9

Society may be defined as a congregation of individuals.

However, not all congregations constitute society; for example, a crowd (or mob) is also an aggregation of individuals, but it disperses as soon as the stimulus which brought its constituents together disappears.

In comparison, society as a collectively of human beings endures over time, creating a sense of solidarity among its members.

The members of a society have some kind of an attachment to their territory, which tetrytol defend collectively.

They also have division of labour among them, with each unit entrusted with a different task and activity.

Each society is divided into smaller entities which are called groups.

Front 10

What is organic analogy?

Back 10

The concept of society is further developed by comparing it with an organism.

This is known as organic analogy, which means that the model of an organism is used for understanding society.

As an organism is divided into organs, which are in turn divided into tissues, which are further divided into cells, in the same way society is divided into communities which are divided into groups, and groups into individuals.

Front 11

Who defined group as ‘social brick’?

Back 11

A group has been called a ‘social brick’ by George Homans, since a community results from a collection of groups.

Front 12

Who gave the concept of primary group?

Back 12

C.S. Cooley.

Front 13

Give examples of primary groups.

Back 13

The examples of primary group are family, peer group, and neighbourhood.

Front 14

Define a secondary group.'

Back 14

By comparison to a primary group, sociologist have spoken of a kind of group which is known as secondary group, in which there are a large number of individuals and the interaction among them is not face-to-face; it is rather a means to ends type.

This means that such groups involve exploitation of the other, and once the goals are met with, the group comes to an end. It does not have the kind of continuity that is ascribed to primary groups, which abound in traditional societies, such as tribal and rural, whereas secondary relations are large in number in urban society.

Front 15

Define an association

Back 15

Closely related to the concept of group is the concept of association.

The associations are created by individuals for attaining particular purposes; that is why the associations are also known as ‘special purpose groups’.

Front 16

State the difference between voluntary and non-voluntary associations.

Back 16

The voluntary association is called so because the individual is free to join it, whereas in case of non-voluntary association, such freedom is not permitted.

For example, as the case in Singapore, every male has to be a member of the army. Here the individual cannot exercise his discretion.

In a voluntary association, the freedom to join or not is given to the individual.

Front 17

Associations are also known as ‘sodality groups’. State whether the following statement is true or false.

Back 17

True

Front 18

Who made a distinction between ‘community’ (gemeinschaft) and ‘society’ (gesellschaft).

Back 18

Ferdinand Tönnies

Front 19

Define a community.

Back 19

A community is defined with respect to a collectively of individuals who share common sentiments; they all feel that they are a part of a closely related body. In other words, they share a sense of belongingness.

Front 20

Who suggested that members of a community share a common territory?

Back 20

MacIver and Page think that the members of a community share a common territory.

Front 21

What are ‘borderline communities’?

Back 21

Some social formations are regarded as ‘borderline communities’ – they share many characteristics of communities in common but are not ‘true communities’.

Here one may cite the examples of boarding school, monastery and nunnery, prison, etc.

These communities do not reproduce by a biological process as is the case with ‘true communities’; their members may leave, retire, die, or are freed, and their place is taken over by others.

Thus, these communities have mechanisms for their continuity, but they need to be distinguished from villages, tribal settlements, and urban neighbourhoods.

Front 22

Define Tribe.

Back 22

The tribe is understood as a community comprising groups of family which live together, or have lived together, sharing the same territory and has a common language, culture, religion, and life styles.

Such a community is politically autonomous, which means that each tribal community has its own political leader and all the matters of dispute are resolved internally.

According to this conception, a tribal community is largely isolated from the outside world, and for its understanding, the knowledge of other societies is not needed.

It was because of this a tribal community has come to be regarded as a ‘cultural isolate’, which means that it has its own distinct culture, which makes its bearers proud, and they are prepared to defend it against any kind of onslaught or criticisms from the external forces.

Front 23

Are tribal communities isolated?

Back 23

In reality, however, the tribal communities are rarely isolated.

They have relations with their neighbours, although the quality and intensity of such relations varies from one context to the other.

There are cases of tribal communities which are closely interdependent, supplying their produce to the others and receiving their produce in return.

David Mandelbaum described one such situation from his study of the tribal communities in Nilgiri Hills.

Other cases of the same type can be identified from the cases of the tribal peoples in North-East India.

Even when a tribal community has relations with the other communities, and in the process becomes a part of the common culture that all of them share, it continues to have and further its own separate culture, which, as noted earlier, is steadfastly adhered to, since it gives the members of a community a sense of identity.

Front 24

Define Scheduled Tribes.

Back 24

In India, in addition to the term tribe, the term Scheduled Tribe is also used.

The communities which have been identified for the benefits of reservation and the other developmental measures are known as Scheduled Tribes, which according to the Draft of the National Tribal Policy number around seven hundred

Front 25

Who regarded caste as ‘structural principle of Hinduism’?

Back 25

M.N. Srinivas

Front 26

What is caste endogamy?

Back 26

The Tenth Section (mandala) of Rig Veda submits that different castes have emerged from different parts of god’s body.

Each caste is assigned different functions and is not expected to change its occupation.

The members of a caste marry within their caste, the principle is known as caste endogamy

Front 27

What is meant by tribe-caste continuum?

Back 27

Though tribe and caste constitute polar categories of a continuum, with tribe being egalitarian and caste being hierarchal, there have been cases of the tribes becoming castes and also some cases of castes becoming tribes. This is known as the tribe-caste continuum.

Front 28

Who introduced the concepts of status and roles?

Back 28

Ralph Linton introduced two concepts, status and role.

Front 29

What is ascribed status?

Back 29

Linton also divided statuses into two categories – those which are given by virtue of birth and those for which the individuals compete and acquire.

Statuses which are given by birth are known as ascribed statuses, like birthing a caste group or a totemic clan or in a particular gender category.In a traditional society, ascribed statuses are far more important.

Although ascribed and achieved statuses are analytically separate, the ascribed status affects the achievement of a status.

If I am born in an affluent family, my chances of studying abroad are far more than when I am born in a poor family.

Front 30

What is achieved status?

Back 30

Linton also divided statuses into two categories – those which are given by virtue of birth and those for which the individuals compete and acquire.

The positions which are left open to be filled by competition are known as achieved statuses.

In a complex society the achieved statuses are more in number.

Front 31

What is social stratification?

Back 31

The term social stratification implies the division of society into different layers (strata), one placed above the other.

The term ‘stratification’ reminds one of the term ‘stratum’ (and its plural, ‘strata’) that is used in the earth science (that is geology).

By comparison to its meaning in geology, in society, those which are placed above are far more privileged and advantaged than those which are lowly placed.

In other words, social stratification deals with social inequality.

However, not all inequalities are included under the title of social stratification.

For example, societies are divided in accordance with age and gender, but these are not the aspects of social stratification.

In fact, for inequalities of age and gender, the term used is social differentiation.

Tribal societies have age and gender inequalities, but they do not have the inequalities of social stratification.

Front 32

What are the three principles of social stratification?

Back 32

There are three principles of social stratification.

The first is where the strata are divided according to the life styles the people lead. Certain life styles are regarded as superior to the others.

For example, the life style of Brahmins is considered as superior to that of the other castes.

This principle is called status. Caste is an example of a status group.

The second principle is the category called class. It deals with the aspects of production. It is concerned with the control over resources.

According to Karl Marx, primarily there are two classes – those who own property (the ‘owners’), and those who do not (the ‘non-owners’).

The difference between status and class is that if the first is defined in terms of the modes of living – the modes of consumption – the second is defined with respect to its place in the system of production.

In other words, status is understood as the ‘way of living’; class, as the role it plays in production processes.

The third principle is of political power. In every society there are some who wield power over the others making the others do what they want. Thus, those who have control over economic resources also exercise political power.

These three principles of stratification may overlap, in the sense that those who occupy the highest position in status hierarchy also control economy and exercise political power.

Such a situation of ‘cumulative inequality’, but when these principles do not overlap, it is ‘dispersed inequality’.

Front 33

Who discussed class in terms of power over resources?

Back 33

For Karl Marx, power was incumbent upon the control over resources. Thus, those who have control over economic resources also exercise political power.

Front 34

Who stated culture is the ‘man made part of the environment’?

Back 34

M.J. Herskovits