B.A. Social Notes

                                     Social Class.                                                          Social Class- A social class is made of people of similar social status who regard one another as social equals.Each class has a set of values,attitudes,beliefs and behaviour norms which differ from those of other classes. According to Giddens (2000) ,"a class is a large scale grouping of people who share common economic resources,which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead ". Ogburn and Nimkoff, "A social class is the aggregate of persons having essentially the same social status in a given society. Max Weber defined, " a class is a number of people sharing one or more causes of life chances." Mac Iver a...

                         Institution & Association Institution- When association are formed,they evolve certain rules, regulations and laws and also certain ways of behavior, which keep them together. Associations viewed in this way, are called Institution. The term Institution is sometimes used to refer to organisations or associations and sometimes to desinate a normal principle that defines clusters of important behavior, such as marriage or property. An Institution , however, in not an actual group or association. It is a system of beliefs , norms, values, positions and activities that develop around a societal needs. It is abstract and is used to refer to a fundamental form of social organisation that meets a broad social goals. W.G.Sumner (Folkways,1906) defined it as:"An Institution consists of a concept (ideas,nation,doctrine and interest) and a structure (a framework or apparatus)".  ...

               The Decline of the Catholic Church The popularity of the church began to decline from the 12th century. Anti-Church movements began in this time,the most noteworthy being the revolt of Albigenses and Waldenses in France. These movements directed their attacks on the church sacraments and priesthood. The Lollard movement in England which was led by John Wycliffe, a priest and professor, leveled its criticism on the worldliness of the church and its superstitious practices. He advocated a property less Church and a return to the Bible as the sole guide for finding the true path of salvation. For this purpose Wycliffe (1328-84) translated the Holy Bible into English. The Church ordered his expulsion from Oxford University where he was teaching ,and after his body was exhumed and desecrated. A follower of John Wycliffe was a Bohemian, John Huss who criticized the pope for the sale of Indulgences and urged people to follow ...

                           Religious Reformation The split that developed in the Christian church is most significant developments in the sixteenth century Europe.The Roman Catholic church became corrupt, lost much of its credibility with the intellectuals in the 16th century.It also failed to fulfill the purpose for which it was founded by Jesus Christ and his successor, St.Peter, who became the first bishop of Rome. It was set up to propagate the teachings of Christ, give proper guidance which enabled them to attain salvation without difficulty.   After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Christian church played an important role in saving the Christians from the perils of barbaric invasions.The papacy was highly respected and every pope was considered to possess divinity and regarded infallible. The catholic church served the spiritual and other religious needs in various ways and became so popular th...

                     Contribution of Jainism The contribution of Jainism in the field of art and literature is unique. It has not only affected the day-to-day life of a man, but has its own philosophy. The principle of simple living and high thinking can easily be applicable to the monks and the followers of Jainism. Jain Literature: Jain literature is quite  extensive,their contribution  to the development of language and literature is considerable. The  whole of Jain literature was written in Prakrit,Magadhi and Apabhransha languages so that the people well versed in these languages could understand it well. Hemachandra , Haribhadra, Siddha Sena etc. are the famous writers of Jain literature. The chief subjects of Jain writers are religion,philosophy,grammar and mathematics.It is very fast and full of knowledge. The vernaculars also flourished due to composition of Jain literature in the dialec...

                                      Theory of Syadvada Jainism seems to be closely linked with the philosophy of 'Sankhya'. It also developed a kind of logic which cut at the root of all stable knowledge.It was technically named Syadvada or the theory of 'May be'. No absolute answer can be given for any question.There are seven modes of answering a question in Jainism. If the question is, 'Is there a soul'?, this logic of the Jains would admit of seven answer to it,viz, (i) is; (ii) is not ; (iii) is and is not ; (iv) is unpredictable ; (v) is and is unpredictable ; (vi) is not and is  unpredictable; (vii) is, is not and is unpredictable . First sense is that there is a soul exist , second sense is there is no soul exist and third sense is not inconceivable in which we must admit that we cannot describe it,and so on. This is equivalent to saying that knowledge is only probab...

            Teachings of Mahavira Swami  The 'Agamas' the scared writings ,are compilation of the teachings of Jain Tirthankaras. Besides 12 'Agamas',the older parts of the 'Acharanga', 'Sutrakitanga' and 'Bhagavati Sutra' also contain the original matter on religion. The main teachings of Jainism are described below in the light of the above mentioned Jain literature.  No Faith in the Vedas and the Supremacy of Brahmin : Mahavira Swami had no faith in the authority of the Vedas and rejected the Vedic rituals and the supremacy of the Brahmins. He recommended very high moral code and ascetic way of life.He was favor of the severe self-mortification for the attainment of Nirvana. The Bahmin supremacy was not accepted by Mahavira. No Belief in the existence of God : Mahavira had no faith in the existence of.He did not regard him as the creator of the Universe. God, according to Mahavira Swami, is only the highest, the noblest and the ...