Sociology Test - 10

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• The Course of Positive Philosophy (Cours de Philosophie Positive) was a series of texts written by the French philosopher of science and founding sociologist, Auguste Comte, between 1830 and 1842. Hence, Option 3 is the correct answer.
• Within the work he unveiled the epistemological perspective of positivism.
• The works were translated into English by Harriet Martineau and condensed to form The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte (1853).
• Positivism is a philosophical movement, holds the view that social phenomena ought to be
  studied using only the methods of the natural sciences.

Additional Information

Course of Positive Philosophy:

• The first three volumes of the Course dealt chiefly with the physical sciences already in existence (mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology), whereas the latter two emphasised the inevitable coming of social science.
• It is in observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and classifying the sciences in this way, that Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.
• For him, the physical sciences, which were 'simple', had necessarily to arrive first, before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging and complex "queen science" of human society itself.
• Comte believed that social harmony is possible only when there is intellectual harmony, which is in turn possible only when all social sciences have entered the phase of positivism, with Sociology being the last to arrive. Then everybody should be taught modern science so that they can internalize the new scientific values in their lives.
• His A General View of Positivism (published in English in 1865) would therefore set out to define, in more detail, the empirical goals of sociology.

The correct answer is Option 1.

Key Points

• Kinship behaviour or usage refers to definite and comparatively stable patterns of behaviour of different members of a kin group. These behaviour patterns may be verbal and/or non-verbal.
• The kinship behaviour which assigns a special role to one's father's sister is called amitate.
  • In this kind of kinship, the children show special respect to their father's sister. Sometimes, the children are brought up in her house and inherit her property. She is also referred to as a 'female-father' in societies practising amitate.
  • This usage is more common among patrilineal people.

Additional Information

• Avunculate: It is the kind of kinship behaviour or usage which gives the maternal uncle an important status so far as his sister's children are concerned. The maternal uncle is considered more important than even the father.
  • It is common in matrilineal societies.
• Couvade:  It is the kind of kinship behaviour in which a husband imitates the behaviour of his wife during pregnancy and childbirth. The husband also leads the life of an invalid along with his wife whenever she gives birth to a child.
  • This practice is common among the Khasi tribe of Assam and Toda tribe of Nilgiri hills.
• Teknonymy: When the two kinsmen do not address each other directly but through a third person or a symbol, the usage is known as teknonymy.
  • The practice is common in rural India, where women generally do not utter the names if their husbands or elderly-in-laws. Women refer to their husbands as the father of their child.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Charles Wright Mills (August 28, 1916 – March 20, 1962) was an American sociologist, who coined the term social imagination in one of his notable works, 'The Sociological Imagination (1959)'.
• Sociological imagination refers to the ability to situate personal troubles and life trajectories within an informed framework of larger social processes.
• According to Wright Mills, social imagination provides a framework for understanding our social world that far surpasses any common sense notion we might derive from our limited social experiences. 
• The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.
  • The social imagination allows one to make more self-aware decisions rather than be swayed by social norms or factors that may otherwise dictate actions. A lack of sociological imagination can render people very apathetic. This apathy expresses itself as a lack of indignation in scenarios dealing with moral horror.
• The sociological imagination encompasses sociological concepts and information of the world as a society, how people interpret it and how they see it. One must understand the life of an individual and the life of society simultaneously, in order to make a connection. Thus, making a comparison of situations in one's life to the situations in the real world society.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Sentiments refers to the rules of expression defined by a given culture and subgroup influence how much the emotional state is expressed in self-description, behavior and bodily expression.
• Sentiments are more enduring than are emotions (e.g., hatred compared with a momentary explosion of anger) and are more cognitively structured.
• Sentiments may last seconds (embarrassment) or months (mourning) and may be more or less intense, conscious or unconscious, and controllable or outside one's control.
  • When an individual names a sentiment by using a certain terms he or she refers to different elements: affection, cognitive contents or structures of evaluation, awareness of the level of readiness for action, and awareness of the body.
• Sentiments pervade daily life and are found in several artistic forms: music, poetry, literature, and painting.
• Types of sentiments include “positive”, “negative” and “neutral” along with more intense emotions like angry, happy and sad or interest or not interested etc; while abstract sentiments provide a focus for allegiance.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, and an early advocate of the theory of evolution, who achieved an influential synthesis of knowledge, advocating the preeminence of the individual over society and science over religion.
• One of his notable works includes Principles of Biology (1864), in which he coined the expression "survival of the fittest" after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
  • The term, survival of the fittest, was made popular in the fifth edition (published in 1869) of On the Origin of Species by British naturalist Charles Darwin, which suggested that organisms best adjusted to their environment are the most successful in surviving and reproducing.

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• Institutions are humanly devised structures of complex rules, norms and procedures that shape and constrain individual behaviour. 
• Institutions are a principal object of study in social sciences such as political science, anthropology, economics, and sociology.
• While institutions tend to appear to people in society as part of the natural, unchanging landscape of their lives, the study of institutions by the social sciences tends to reveal the nature of institutions as social constructions, artefacts of a particular time, culture and society, produced by collective human choice, though not directly by individual intention.
• Sociology traditionally analyzed social institutions in terms of interlocking social roles and expectations. Social institutions were created and were composed of groups of roles or expected behaviours.
  • The social function of the institution was executed by the fulfilment of roles.
• Institutions can be seen as "naturally" arising from and conforming to, human nature—a fundamentally conservative view—or institutions can be seen as artificial, almost accidental, and in need of an architectural redesign, informed by expert social analysis, to better serve human needs—a fundamentally progressive view. 

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Land reform refers to redistribution of land by the government from landholders to landless people for agriculture or special purpose is known as Land Reform. These reforms are efforts to reform the ownership and regulation of land in India. 
• They are considered necessary not only to boost agricultural growth but also to eradicate poverty in rural areas and bring about social justice.
• The land reforms undertaken by the Government of India fall under the following six main categories:
  • Abolition of intermediaries (rent collectors under the pre-Independence land revenue system).
  • Tenancy regulation (to improve the contractual terms including the security of tenure).
  • A ceiling on landholdings (to redistributing surplus land to the landless).
  • Attempts to consolidate disparate landholdings.
  • Encouragement of cooperative joint farming.
  • Settlement and regulation of tenancy.
• Immediately after Independence a Committee, under the Chairmanship of the late Shri J. C. Kumarappa (a senior Congress leader), was appointed in 1949 to look into the problem of land.
  • The Kumarappa Committee's report recommended comprehensive agrarian reform measures. India's land policy in the decades immediately following its independence was dominated by legislative efforts to address the problems identified by the Kumarappa Committee (NCA, 1976; Joshi, 1987). 
• Similarly, central land reform committee was established in 1970.

The correct answer is Option 4.

Key Points

• A role is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation.
• In sociology, role refers to the the behaviour expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status. A role therefore, denotes the functional significance of the actor for the social system. It is vital to both functionalist and interactionist understandings of society. 
• Role expectations include both actions and qualities: a teacher may be expected not only to deliver lectures, assign homework, and prepare examinations but also to be dedicated, concerned, honest, and responsible.
• Individuals usually occupy several positions, which may or may not be compatible with one another: one person may be husband, father, artist, and patient, with each role entailing certain obligations, duties, privileges, and rights vis-à-vis other persons.
• The notion of the role can be and is examined in the social sciences, specifically economics, sociology and organizational theory.
• Roles may be achieved or ascribed or they can be accidental in different situations.
  • An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which reflects personal skills, abilities, and effort.
  • An ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or groups without regard for merit but because of certain traits beyond their control, and is usually forced upon a person.

The correct answer is Option 2.

Key Points

• Culture consists of both material culture and non-material culture.
• Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people. Metro passes and bus tokens are part of material culture, as are automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship.
• Nonmaterial culture, in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. In contrast to material culture, non-material culture refers to the intangible elements of culture that is, it  does not include any physical objects or artifacts.
  • Examples of non-material culture include any ideals, ideas, beliefs, values, norms that may help shape society.
• Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas.
  • A metro pass is a material object, but it represents a form of nonmaterial culture, namely, capitalism, and the acceptance of paying for transportation.

The correct answer is Option 3.

Key Points

• A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. It therefore, implies a value-judgement about the folkways.
  • Folkways refers to traditional customary ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Most people conform to folk ways out of habit. They are the lesser order of norms, as they are not as strictly enforced as mores or laws.
  • Tradition, habit, and religious sanctions tend to strengthen folkways as time passes, making them more and more arbitrary, positive, and compelling.
• Great Tradition comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are written and widely accepted by the elites of a society who are educated and learned.
• Little Tradition comprises of the cultural traits or traditions which are oral and operates at the village level.