UGC NET Sociology Sociological Theory Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Sociological Theory deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What are Erving Goffman's concepts of 'total institution' and 'stigma'?

   Total institution: a place (e.g., asylum, prison, monastery) where a large number of people lead an enclosed, formally administered life cut off from wider society, undergoing 'mortification of the self'. Stigma: a deeply discrediting attribute that spoils social identity, reducing the bearer 'from a whole person to a tainted one'.

2. What does Clifford Geertz mean by 'thick description' and his view of culture?

   Culture is a system of shared symbols and meanings; the sociologist/anthropologist must interpret it via 'thick description'—detailed accounts that uncover the layers of meaning behind behaviour (e.g., the wink vs. the twitch). This is interpretive/symbolic anthropology, illustrated by his essay on the Balinese cockfight.

3. What is the central argument of Edward Said's 'Orientalism' (1978)?

   Orientalism is a Western discourse and style of thought that constructs the 'Orient' as an exotic, irrational, backward 'Other' against a rational, superior West. This knowledge is bound up with power and served to justify colonial domination; Said drew on Foucault's power/knowledge and Gramsci's hegemony.

4. Define Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of 'habitus', 'field', and 'capital'.

   Habitus: durable, internalized dispositions shaped by social position that generate practices. Field: a structured social arena of struggle with its own rules. Capital exists as economic, cultural, social, and symbolic forms; position depends on the volume/composition of capital. Practice = (habitus x capital) + field.

5. What is Pierre Bourdieu's concept of 'cultural capital' and its forms?

   Non-economic resources that enable social mobility, existing in three forms: embodied (durable dispositions, taste, language), objectified (cultural goods like books/art), and institutionalized (educational credentials/qualifications). It is reproduced largely through the family and education system.

6. Explain Michel Foucault's concept of 'power/knowledge' and 'disciplinary power'.

   Power and knowledge are mutually constituting—knowledge produces power and power produces knowledge. Disciplinary power operates through surveillance, normalization, and examination in institutions (prisons, schools, clinics), producing 'docile bodies'. Power is not merely repressive but productive and capillary, dispersed throughout society.

7. What is Foucault's concept of the 'Panopticon' and 'governmentality'?

   Panopticon (from Bentham, in Discipline and Punish, 1975): an architectural design enabling constant possible surveillance, leading inmates to self-discipline; a metaphor for modern disciplinary society. Governmentality: the 'conduct of conduct'—the rationalities and techniques through which populations are governed, including 'biopower' over life/populations.

8. Summarize Jurgen Habermas's theory of 'communicative action'.

   Communicative action is action oriented toward mutual understanding through rational debate, contrasted with instrumental/strategic action oriented to success. Habermas envisioned an 'ideal speech situation' free of domination, and warned of the 'colonization of the lifeworld' by the systems of money and power.

9. What is Habermas's concept of the 'public sphere'?

   A domain of social life (emerging with the bourgeoisie in coffee houses, salons, the press in 18th-century Europe) where private individuals come together to engage in rational-critical debate on matters of common/public concern, mediating between civil society and the state; he argued it later declined ('refeudalization') under mass media and commercialization.

10. Explain Anthony Giddens's theory of 'structuration' and the 'duality of structure'.

    Structuration overcomes the agency/structure dualism: structure is both the medium and the outcome of the social practices it recursively organizes (the 'duality of structure'). Agents are knowledgeable and reflexive; structures consist of rules and resources that both constrain and enable action.

11. What is the central thesis of Manuel Castells's 'network society'?

    In the Information Age, the dominant social structure is organized around networks powered by information/communication technologies. Castells contrasts the 'space of flows' (networked, real-time global flows) with the 'space of places', and analyzes 'informational capitalism' (The Information Age trilogy, 1996-98).

12. What are the core ideas of M.K. Gandhi's social thought: Sarvodaya and Trusteeship?

    Sarvodaya means the 'welfare/uplift of all', a non-exploitative, decentralized society of self-reliant village communities (Gram Swaraj). Trusteeship holds that the wealthy should regard their wealth as held in trust for society and use it for the common good, reconciling class interests non-violently.

13. What were Gandhi's key concepts of Satyagraha and his view on caste/untouchability?

    Satyagraha: 'truth-force' or non-violent resistance based on truth and ahimsa (non-violence). Gandhi condemned untouchability and called untouchables 'Harijans' (children of God), seeking reform of the caste system from within rather than its total abolition (a point of difference with Ambedkar).

14. What is the central argument of B.R. Ambedkar's 'Annihilation of Caste' (1936)?

    Caste cannot be reformed but must be annihilated; it is rooted in the religious sanction of the Hindu shastras, so its destruction requires destroying the belief in their sanctity. Caste is an 'enclosed class' based on endogamy and a 'graded inequality' that prevents social endosmosis and fraternity.

15. What were B.R. Ambedkar's key sociological views on caste origins and inter-caste marriage?

    Ambedkar argued caste arose through endogamy super-imposed on an originally homogeneous society (mechanisms of sati, enforced widowhood, and child marriage maintained surplus men/women within the caste). He saw inter-caste marriage as the real remedy for fusing castes and dissolving caste consciousness.

16. What is Radhakamal Mukerjee's contribution to Indian sociology (social ecology and values)?

    He pioneered 'social ecology', emphasizing the interrelation of human society with its regional/physical environment, and stressed the role of 'social values' in social structure and economics. He advocated an interdisciplinary, value-oriented sociology and studied the Gangetic plains and regional balance.

17. What are G.S. Ghurye's six features (characteristics) of the caste system?

    In 'Caste and Race in India' (1932): (1) Segmental division of society, (2) Hierarchy, (3) Restrictions on feeding and social intercourse, (4) Civil and religious disabilities/privileges of different sections, (5) Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation, and (6) Restrictions on marriage (endogamy).

18. What approach to Indian society is G.S. Ghurye associated with, and what is his view on tribes?

    Ghurye took an 'Indological'/historical and diffusionist approach, using textual (Sanskritic) sources. On tribes he held the assimilationist view that tribals are 'backward Hindus' already in the process of being absorbed into Hindu society, opposing the isolationist 'national park' view of Verrier Elwin.

19. Define M.N. Srinivas's concept of 'Sanskritization'.

    The process by which a 'low' Hindu caste, tribe, or group changes its customs, rituals, ideology, and way of life in the direction of a higher, often 'twice-born' (dwija) caste, to claim higher status. It is a process of positional change within the system, not structural change. Srinivas first developed it studying the Coorgs.

20. What are M.N. Srinivas's concepts of 'Westernization' and the 'dominant caste'?

    Westernization: changes in technology, institutions, ideology, and values resulting from over 150 years of British rule. Dominant caste: a caste that wields preponderant economic and political power and numerical strength in a village, decisively influencing local affairs (criteria include landownership, numbers, ritual status, education/jobs).

21. What is Irawati Karve's major contribution to the study of Indian kinship?

    In 'Kinship Organization in India' (1953) she mapped India into kinship zones—Northern, Southern, Central, and Eastern—analyzing kinship terminology, marriage rules, and family across linguistic regions. She showed the Dravidian South permits cross-cousin and (some) uncle-niece marriage, while the North prohibits marriage within the gotra/sapinda.

22. Compare the views of Durkheim and Merton on the function of social phenomena.

    Durkheim assumed institutions are functional for society as a whole (functional unity/universality). Merton critiqued these as 'postulates of functional analysis', arguing functional unity, universal functionalism, and indispensability cannot be assumed; he introduced dysfunctions, latent functions, and 'functional alternatives' to make functionalism empirically testable.

23. Compare Marx's and Weber's theories of social stratification.

    Marx saw stratification as one-dimensional and economic—class defined by ownership of the means of production, with polarization and class conflict. Weber saw it as multidimensional: class (economic/market position), status (social honour/prestige), and party (power), which can vary independently.

24. How does symbolic interactionism (Mead/Blumer) differ from structural functionalism (Parsons)?

    Symbolic interactionism is a micro, interpretive perspective focusing on how individuals create meaning and the self through symbolic interaction (Blumer's three premises: people act on meanings, meanings arise in interaction, meanings are modified through interpretation). Structural functionalism is a macro perspective treating society as a system of interrelated parts maintaining order and equilibrium.

What this deck covers

Sociological Theory flashcards FAQ