A guide for Sociology students
Vilfredo Pareto proposed the concept of ‘Circulation of elite’. It can be explained in atleast two ways. One of them is that the ‘circulation of elite’ is the process in which one elite replaces the another. The second reference is that the movement of people from non-elite groups to elite groups and vice-versa. Pareto explained … Read more
Emile Durkheim introduced the term ‘Anomie’ to define one of the abnormal type of society formed as a result of ‘division of labour’. He explained that though material life changes rapidly, standards and values are not changing as much as needed. For example, factory workers do boring and monotonous activities everyday. They do not feel … Read more
James Frazer, an eminent social anthropologist argued that as the civilization progresses, primitive magic is replaced by religion, in turn replaced by science. Civilized societies are looking at magic as superstition and science as truth, whereas magic is the root of science, according to Frazer. But many European Scholars criticized Frazer and argued that magic and science may … Read more
The term ‘soft state’ was introduced by Gunnar Myrdal, while comparing South Asian countries with European countries. According to him, South Asian countries follow the policy of soft state. The policy of ‘soft state’ means a lenient attitude of state towards social deviance. Soft states do not take hard decisions, even if the situation demands. This … Read more
[ Note :- In the subject ESO-15, The ‘Mukanda’ ritual was explained, but not ‘Mukunda’. So, there was a spelling mistake in the assignment question. It is ‘Mukanda’ not ‘Mukunda’. ] ‘Mukanda’ is an initiation ritual of ‘Ndembu tribe’ that resides in an African country, ‘Zambia’. In this ritual, young men are circumcised and taught morals … Read more
