B.A. Social Notes

Types of Status- Linton 1936 has noted two types of status: 1- Ascribed Status- Status which are given to us at birth (age,sex,kinship,race,caste )are known as ascribed status. These are 'assigned' to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.Such ascribed characteristics cannot be changed by individual efforts.These are more or less determined by the cultural situation over which he has no control initially, For example,position or status of a boy or girl in a family is ascribed status in term both of sex and age.Likewise Negro and Harijan are ascribed status. Generally,ascribed statuses are determined on four bases- 1-Sex dichotomy (male-female) 2-Age difference (child,youth,adult) 3-Kinship (son,brother,sister) 4-Social factors (divorce,widow etc) In traditional societies most statuses are ascribed,with one's occupation and general social standing determined at birth. 2- Achieved Status- "Any social position

                                    Status and Role S ince the influential writing of Ralph Linton 1936, status and role  have become the key concepts of sociology. By status , Linton meant a position in a social system involving designated rights and obligation , where as by role he meant the behaviour oriented to the patterned expectations of others. Social status and role are analytic terms; they have a more general quality than the concrete descriptive terms to choose such analytic terms rather than descriptive terms like bus conductor , customer , father or mother etc.After Linton, these two terms have become the basic feature of structural-functional theory. According to Merton, each social involves not a single associated role, but an array of roles to which he calls 'role set'. The concept of status and role are basic building blocks of social structure or social systems.According to Parsons,'status-roles'are the sub-units of society. Participation by an a

                      Origin and Development of Sociology Sociology is the newest of the social sciences to establish itself in the western universities of the English-speaking world (in 1876 Yale University , US in 1889 France and England).In Asia the formal teaching of sociology began in 1893 in Tokyo University and in India in 1919 in Bombay University. Men have always reflected upon the societies in which they lived, yet sociology as a modern science developed only in 19th century. Historically, the word sociology  was invented by Auguste Comte, although a concern with the nature of society can be found throughout the western and eastern thoughts. However , it was not until the middle of the 19th century , in the aftermath of industrial revolution and the consequent upheavals , that we find a concern with society and thus the need for a "science of society" was recognized. These conditions gave impetus to French Philosopher Saint Simon and his secretary-colleague Co

                                    What is Sociology At the time of the World Congress of Sociology 1976,the Mayoress of Uppsala (Sweden) while welcoming the delegates commented on the printed programme that "Sociology is everything and everything is Sociology".Common man understands sociology right in this way. Generally , sociology is defined as the study of society (more specifically,human society or societies ).But this definition does not tell us much about sociology.We learn about man and society or about human behaviour in psychology ,anthropology ,economics ,political science and many other disciplines.Then why we study sociology?We study sociology because the perspective of all social sciences that study society is different from one another.For instance ,poverty a problem of society,is a cultural ,political,economic,psychological ,historical as well as a sociological problem. Sociology may claim to have a broader perspective of of social problems or society th