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The NCERT Class 11 Sociology Chapter 1, Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Society from Understanding Society, introduces the interplay between individuals and society through the concepts of social structure, stratification, and social processes like cooperation, competition, and conflict. These notes summarise key ideas, clarify sociological perspectives, and aid revision for Class 11 students.
Table of Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Social Structure and Stratification
- 3 Two Ways of Understanding Social Processes in Sociology
- 4 Cooperation and Division of Labour
- 5 Competition as an Idea and Practice
- 6 Conflict and Cooperation
- 7 Important Definitions in NCERT Class 11 Sociology Chapter 1: Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Society Notes
- 8 FAQs
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Introduction
This section discusses the relationship between individuals and society, emphasising how social structure and stratification shape individual choices and actions.
Definition: Social structure refers to the organised patterns of social relationships and behaviours, while social stratification denotes structured inequalities in access to resources among groups.
Characteristics:
- Individuals are located within collectivities (e.g., family, class, gender, caste), which determine their position in the social structure and stratification system.
- Social structure and stratification constrain individual actions, influencing choices like education, clothing, food, and lifestyle.
- The sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills) highlights the interplay between an individual’s biography and society’s history.
- Key question: To what extent is an individual constrained by, or free from, social structure and stratification?
Significance: Understanding this dialectical relationship helps analyse how social positions govern individual choices and interactions.
Example: A child’s access to school depends on their social stratum (e.g., class or caste), shaping their life opportunities.
This section explores the concepts of social structure and stratification, focusing on their patterned nature and impact on society.
Definition: Social structure is the organised pattern of social relationships and behaviours repeated over time and space, while social stratification refers to structured inequalities in access to material or symbolic rewards.
Characteristics:
- Social structure involves regularities in human behaviour, akin to a building’s walls and doors, but is dynamic, shaped by human actions (e.g., school admission procedures, family marriage practices).
- Social reproduction: Structures persist as individuals cooperate to maintain institutions, yet changes occur through human agency.
- Stratification creates unequal groups based on class, caste, gender, race, or region, with inequality persisting across generations.
- Privileged groups enjoy advantages like:
- Life Chances: Material benefits (e.g., wealth, health, job security).
- Social Status: Prestige or high standing.
- Political Influence: Ability to dominate or influence decisions.
- Emile Durkheim: Social structure exerts constraints, external to individuals, limiting actions like walls in a room.
- Karl Marx: Emphasises human agency to reproduce or change structures within historical and structural constraints.
Significance: Social structure and stratification shape opportunities and constraints, influencing social processes.
Example: A school’s code of conduct or a family’s marriage practices persist over time, but students or family members may introduce changes.
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This section contrasts functionalist and conflict perspectives on social processes (cooperation, competition, conflict).
Definition: Social processes (cooperation, competition, conflict) are sociologically explained through social structure, not as universal human nature.
Characteristics:
- Sociology rejects naturalistic explanations (e.g., competition as human nature) and examines processes in the context of social structure.
- Functionalist Perspective (Emile Durkheim):
- Focuses on system requirements (e.g., socialisation, communication, role assignment) for society’s survival.
- Views cooperation, competition, and conflict as universal, resolved to maintain social order.
- Norms and socialisation ensure the persistence of social order, even if skewed toward dominant groups.
- Conflict Perspective (Karl Marx):
- Emphasises unequal positioning in production relations (e.g., factory owner vs. worker).
- Cooperation in unequal societies (e.g., class, caste, patriarchy) involves potential conflict and competition.
- Dominant groups sustain inequality through norms, coercion, or violence.
- Cooperation may conceal conflict (e.g., women forgoing natal property rights to maintain family ties, seen as accommodation in functionalism).
Significance: These perspectives reveal how social structure and stratification shape social processes differently.
Example: Women’s reluctance to claim natal property reflects cooperation but masks conflict due to patriarchal norms.
Cooperation and Division of Labour
This section examines cooperation as a social process, focusing on Durkheim’s and Marx’s views on division of labour.
Definition: Cooperation is the collaborative effort among individuals or groups, essential for societal functioning, shaped by the division of labour.
Characteristics:
- Emile Durkheim:
- Cooperation stems from solidarity, a moral force tempering competition.
- Mechanical Solidarity: Pre-industrial societies with cohesion based on shared beliefs and minimal division of labour.
- Organic Solidarity: Industrial societies with interdependence due to specialised division of labour.
- Karl Marx:
- Cooperation is not always voluntary in class-based societies, leading to alienation (loss of control over labour and its products).
- Humans distinguish themselves by producing their means of subsistence, altering society and nature.
- Example: Hinglish emerged from cooperation with English under British colonialism, transforming the language.
- Division of labour fosters interdependence but can enforce cooperation in unequal systems.
Significance: Cooperation reflects social structure’s constraints and human agency to adapt or transform it.
Example: A garment factory worker depends on other specialised workers, illustrating organic solidarity, but may feel alienated if labour is repetitive.
Competition as an Idea and Practice
This section analyses competition as a socially constructed practice, dominant in capitalist societies.
Definition: Competition is a social process where individuals or groups strive for scarce resources, shaped by historical and structural contexts.
Characteristics:
- Sociology rejects competition as a natural trait, viewing it as emerging with capitalism.
- Capitalism promotes competition through:
- Expansion of trade.
- Division of labour.
- Specialisation.
- Profit maximisation.
- Ideology of competition assumes equal positioning, but stratification (e.g., class, caste) creates unequal starting points.
- Competition ensures efficiency (e.g., best firms survive, top students get elite college admissions) but may exclude disadvantaged groups.
- Historical growth of competition linked to 19th-century laissez-faire capitalism, though its impact on economic growth is debated.
Significance: Competition reflects social inequalities and capitalist ideology, not universal human nature.
Example: Children dropping out of school due to poverty are excluded from competitive opportunities like college admissions.
Also Read:
- NCERT Class 6 History Chapter 8 ‘Villages, Towns and Trades’: Notes and Solutions (Free PDF)
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Conflict and Cooperation
This section explores conflict as a clash of interests and its complex relationship with cooperation.
Definition: Conflict arises from competition over scarce resources (e.g., class, caste, gender), often masked by enforced cooperation.
Characteristics:
- Conflict is inherent in stratified societies but may not always be overt (e.g., the absence of a peasant movement doesn’t negate land conflicts).
- Family and Household:
- Traditionally seen as cooperative, but feminist analysis highlights enforced cooperation (e.g., women acquiescing to son-preference for security).
- Women use covert strategies (e.g., secret lending, alliances) to resist patriarchal control, balancing cooperation and conflict.
- Land-Based Conflict:
- Studies like the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement show cooperation tied to economic arrangements and technology.
- Conflicts over land resources may remain covert unless openly expressed through movements.
- Social change and democratic assertions make conflicts visible, but their causes predate visibility.
Significance: Conflict and cooperation are intertwined, with covert conflicts often sustaining unequal social orders.
Example: Women in northern India prioritise sons for long-term security, cooperating within patriarchal norms while covertly resisting male dominance.
This section lists key definitions for clarity and revision.
- Social Structure: Organised patterns of social relationships and behaviours repeated over time and space.
- Social Stratification: Structured inequalities in access to material or symbolic rewards among groups.
- Social Processes: Cooperation, competition, and conflict, shaped by social structure and stratification.
- Cooperation: Collaborative efforts to meet societal needs, influenced by division of labour and solidarity.
- Mechanical Solidarity: Cohesion in pre-industrial societies based on shared beliefs and minimal division of labour.
- Organic Solidarity: Cohesion in industrial societies based on interdependence from specialised division of labour.
- Competition: Striving for scarce resources, a dominant norm in capitalist societies.
- Conflict: Clash of interests over resources, often masked by enforced cooperation.
- Alienation: Loss of control over labour and its products in class-based societies.
- Sociological Imagination: Understanding the interplay between individual biography and societal history.
Explore Notes of Class 11: Understanding Society
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Related Reads
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| English | Sociology | Business Studies | Economics | History |
FAQs
Social structure sets patterns of behaviour and relationships (e.g., school codes, family norms), limiting choices like education or lifestyle based on one’s social position.
Functionalist perspective (Durkheim) views cooperation, competition, and conflict as universal, resolved for societal maintenance, while conflict perspective (Marx) sees them as shaped by unequal structures, with cooperation often masking conflict.
In stratified societies, cooperation may be enforced (e.g., workers in factories cooperate due to economic necessity), leading to alienation, as per Marx’s view.
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