Page 2 :
CONTENTS, Foreword, ii, How to use this textbook, 1 - 8, Chapter 1, Introducing Indian Society, Chapter 2, The Demographic Structure of the Indian Society, 9-40, Chapter 3, Social Institutions: Continuity and Change, 41-60, Chapter 4, 61-80, The Market as a Social Institution, Chapter 5, Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion, 81-112, 113-140, Chapter 6, The Challenges of Cultural Diversity, Chapter 7, Suggestions for Project Work, 141-152, Glossary, 153-160

Page 3 :
Chapter 1, Introducing, Indian Society

Page 4 :
Indian Society, one important sense, Sociology is unlike any other subject that you may have, studied. It is a subject in which no one starts from zero - everyone already, knows something about society. Other subjects are learnt because they are taught, (at school, at home, or elsewhere); but much of our knowledge about society is, acquired without explicit teaching. Because it is such an integral part of the, process of growing up, knowledge about society seems to be acquired "naturally", or "automatically". No child is expected to already know something about History,, Geography, Psychology or Economics when they come to school. But even a six, year old already knows something about society and social relationships. It is all, the more true then, that, as young eighteen year old adults, you know a lot about, the society you live in without ever having studied it., This prior knowledge or familiarity with society is both an advantage and a, disadvantage for sociology, the discipline that studies society. The advantage, is that students are generally not afraid of Sociology - they feel that it can't be, a very hard subject to learn. The disadvantage is that this prior knowledge can, be a problem – in order to learn Sociology, we need to "unlearn" what we already, know about society. In fact, the initial stage of learning Sociology consists, mainly of such unlearning. This is necessary because our prior knowledge, about society - our common sense - is acquired from a particular viewpoint., This is the viewpoint of the social group and the social environment that we are, socialised into. Our social context shapes our opinions, beliefs and expectations, about society and social relations. These beliefs are not necessarily wrong,, though they can be. The problem is that they are 'partial. The word partial is, being used here in two different senses - incomplete (the opposite of whole),, and biased (the opposite of impartial). So our 'unlearnt knowledge or common, sense usually allows us to see only a part of social reality; moreover, it is liable, to be tilted towards the viewpoints and interests of our own social group., Sociology does not offer a solution to this problem in the form of a perspective, that can show us the whole of reality in a completely unbiased way. Indeed, sociologists believe that such an ideal vantage point does not exist. We can, only see by standing somewhere; and every 'somewhere' offers only a partial, view of the world. What sociology offers is to teach us how to see the world, from many vantage points, ourselves. Each vantage point provides only a partial view, but by comparing, what the world looks like from the eyes of different kinds of people we get some, sense of what the whole might look like, and what is hidden from view in each, - not just our own, but also that of others unlike, specific standpoint., What may be of even more interest to you is that sociology can show you, what you look like to others; it can teach you how to look at yourself 'from the, outside', so, speak. This is called 'self-reflexivity', or sometimes just reflexivity., This is the ability to reflect upon yourself, to turn back your gaze (which is, usually directed outward) back towards yourself. But this self-inspection must, be critical – i.e., it should be quick to criticise and slow to praise oneself., 2

Page 5 :
Introducing Indian Society, At the simplest level, you could say that understanding Indian society and, its structure provides a sort of social map on which you could locate yourself., Like with a geographical map, locating oneself on a social map can be useful in, the sense that you know where you are in relation to others in society. For, example, suppose you live in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. If you look at a, geographical map of India, you know that your state is in the North-eastern, corner of India. You also know that your state is small compared to many large, states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra or Rajasthan,, but that it is larger than many others such as Manipur, Goa, Haryana or Punjab., If you look at a physical features map, it could tell you what kind of terrain, Arunachal has (hilly, forested) compared to other states and regions of India,, and what natural resources it is rich in, and so on., A comparable social map would tell you where you are located in society., For example, as a seventeen or eighteen year old, you belong to the social group, called "young people". People your age or younger account for about forty per, cent of India's population. You might belong to a particular regional or linguistic, community, such as a Gujarati speaker from Gujarat or a Telugu speaker from, Andhra Pradesh. Depending on your parent's occupation and your family, income, you would also be a member of an economic class, such as lower, middle class or upper class. You could be a member of a particular religious, community, a caste or tribe, or other such social group. Each of these identities, would locate you on a social map, and among a web of social relationships., Sociology tells you about what kinds of groups or groupings there are in society,, what their relationships are to each other, and what this might mean in terms, of your own life., But sociology can do more than simply help to locate you or others in this, simple sense of describing the places of different social groups. As C.Wright, Mills, a well-known American sociologist has written, sociology can help you to, map the links and connections between "personal troubles" and "social issues"., By personal troubles Mills means the kinds of individual worries, problems or, concerns that everyone has. So, for example, you may be unhappy about the, way elders in your family treat you or how your brothers, sisters or friends treat, you. You may be worried about your future and what sort of job you might get., Other aspects of your individual identity may be sources of pride, tension,, confidence or embarrassment in different ways. But all of these are about one, person and derive meaning from this personalised perspective. A social issue,, on the other hand, is about large groups and not about the individuals who, make them up., Thus, the "generation gap" or friction between older and younger generations, is a social phenomenon, common to many societies and many time periods., Unemployment or the effects of a changing occupational structure is also a, societal issue, that concerns millions of different kinds of people. It includes,, 3, for example, the sudden increase in job prospects for information technology