Cultural Change Notes in English Class 12 Sociology chapter-2 Book-Social Change and Development in India

 

Introduction

1. Colonialism, industrialization and urbanization brought about structural changes in Indian society. The Indian masses were greatly influenced by this. Some started working in factories, some started moving to cities and people started making changes in their working structures.

2. What does it mean that some changes are being seen in culture, lifestyle, values, fashion and expressions?

3. Structural change If changes start coming in the rules of the institutions of society then it is called structural change

Social Change 

1. Social reform movement

1. Sanskruttan (Sanskritisation)

2. Modernisation

3. Lokalisation/Secularisation

4. Westernisation


2. Struggle against social discrimination  

1. Indian society was badly suffering from social evils.

2. Sati practice, child marriage, prohibition of widow remarriage and caste discrimination

3. There were struggles against these social discriminations in India before colonialism.

4. The conflict started   with Buddhism,  Bhakti and Sufi movements,  Jainism 

Social Change in Colonialism

• From the 19th century onwards, social movements started in the form of modernism.  These movements  were started by those people in the society who were highly influenced by western education  and had some mixed ideas.

• They were the product of a fusion of India and the West

• These ideas combined modern thoughts and ancient Indian thoughts.

Example

1. Rammohan Roy

• Opposed the practice of Sati and cited modern principles and Hindu scriptures.

2. Kandukiri Veeraslingam

• The arguments of New Justice can be seen in the book 'The Source of Knowledge'.

• He also translated texts written by Julius Huxley.

3. गोविन्द महादेव रानाडे

• Wrote 'The Text of the Hindu Law' taking help from scriptures in support of widow-remarriage

• He said that remarriage of widows is as per the rules.

• He interpreted the Vedas to allow widow remarriage and followed it accordingly.

Causes of social change 

• The new system of education had a modern and liberal tendency 

• The literature arising from the Renaissance and the Reformation movement in Europe was included in social sciences and language literature.

• This new type of knowledge had humanistic, secular and liberal tendencies.  Modern changes began in colonial India  which brought some changes in the society.

• Some changes suggested by Satish Sabharwal 

1. Forms of organisations

2. Media

3. Nature of ideas

• New technology gave impetus to different forms of communication.

• This was made possible by the advent of the printing press, the telegraph and the microphone, the movement of people and water ships and railways.

• Helped accelerate the pace of innovative ideas in the movement of goods by rail

• There was also an exchange of ideas

• The social reformers of Punjab and Bengal started exchanging ideas with the social reformers of Madras and Maharashtra.

• Keshub Chandra Sen from Bengal visited Madras in 1864.

• Pandita Ramabai visited many places in the country and abroad.

• Christian missionaries went to Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya

Establishment of new organisations

• Brahmo Samaj was established in Bengal and Arya Samaj in Punjab.

• In 1914 AD, Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam was established.

• It was a national level organization of Muslim women in India.

• Debate on social issues also continued through newspapers, magazines etc.

• The thoughts written by social reformers were also translated into many languages.

The matter of women's education

• It is important for the nation to become modern but it is also important to preserve the ancient heritage.

• Social reformer Jyotiba Phule opened the first school for women in Pune.

• The reformers unanimously agreed that education of women was essential for the upliftment of society.

• Women in India were educated even before the rise of modernity.

• Women's education was limited to certain privileged groups.

• Thus the ideas justifying women's education were supported by both modern and traditional ideologies.

• The reforms of the 19th century created a period of questioning and reinterpretation of intellectual and social advancement.

• Jothiba Phule considered the period before the arrival of the Aryans to be good while Bal Gangadhar Tilak considered the era of the Aryans to be dignified.

What is the cause of problems in society?

• Dilution of the true ideas of true Hinduism

• Caste and gender exploitation was inherent in religion

• Muslim social reformers actively debated the practice of polygamy and purdah.

• Jahanara Shah Nawas presented a resolution against polygamy at the All India Muslim Women's Conference

• A debate started regarding these proposals in newspapers, magazines etc.

• Tahsib-e-Niswan, a magazine from Punjab, supported the anti-polygamy resolution while  other magazines opposed it

• Brahmo Samaj opposed the practice of Sati.

• Orthodox Hindus claimed that the reformers had no right to interpret the scriptures.

Sanskritisation

• Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas  coined the term Sanskritisation 

• The process by which lower castes or tribes adopt the life styles, rituals, values, ideals, ideologies of higher castes.

Effects of Sanskritization

1. Language

2. Literature

3. Ideology

4. Music

5. Dance

6. Drama

7. Rituals and

8. Way of life



Criticism of Sanskritization

1. Some people, in a social structure based on inequality, improve their position but this does not end inequality and discrimination in the society

2. Lifestyle of upper caste The lifestyle of upper caste people is low and the lifestyle of lower caste people is low. Therefore, the desire to imitate the lifestyle of upper caste people is considered natural.

3.  Sanskritisation justifies a model which is based on inequality. Society gives importance to purity and impurity.  Caste aspects of purity and impurity will be considered appropriate.  Discrimination by the upper caste towards the lower caste is a kind of privilege.

4. Women have suffered the most from inequality due to the acceptance of rituals, customs and behaviour of the upper castes due to Sanskritisation.  This has led to the rise of dowry system and caste discrimination against other groups etc.

5. The basic aspects of Dalit culture and Dalit society are also considered backward.  The labour done by the people of lower castes is also considered inferior.  Crafts, technical skills, knowledge of various medicines, knowledge of environment, knowledge related to agriculture or animal husbandry etc.



Westernization

• These are the changes in Indian society and culture as a result of 150 years of British rule

• Westernization refers to the adoption of Western cultural patterns by the small group of Indians who come into contact with Western culture for the first time.

• He accepted the types, forms and lifestyle of Western paradigm of thinking and also supported and expanded it.

• There were very few people who had adopted the western lifestyle 

There was an increasing use of Western cultural elements, such as

• Dress,  food items,  habits of common people,   television in families,  refrigerator,  sofa set,  dining table  ,  chair in living room

• Indian art and literature were also influenced by Western culture.

• The style, technique and artistic themes were shaped by Western culture and indigenous traditions.

Modernization

• Ability to bring about change in society

• Limited narrow-local approaches fall short

• A universal and cosmopolitan approach is more effective

• Importance is given to utility and truth of science

• The individual is given priority at the social and political level

• Behaviour and thoughts are not determined by family or tribe or caste or community.

• You have the freedom to choose your profession as per your choice  and not forced to do the same profession as your parents.

• The choice of work is based on your desire and not on your birth.

• We also have a scientific tradition.

• We have an active secular political system.  But along with this, there is also mobility within castes and communities.

• Socio-cultural behaviour is said to be a complex mixture of tradition and modernity.

Traditions are identified by two characteristics:

1. Tradition of multiplicity  of arguments.

2. There have been continuous changes in Indian traditions
    

• The effort to redefine them has never stopped.  An example can be seen in the social reformers and their movements of the 19th century.  These processes are still alive today.

Secularisation

• Secularism means reduction in the influence of religion 
• Modern society is becoming more and more secular.
• Example-  The growing distance between religious institutions and people in modern society

Secularization of caste  continues to be a debate

• In traditional Indian society, the caste system was more active.  The belief system related to the sacred and the profane was the center of this activity.

Caste

• It is functioning more as a political pressure group.

• Caste organisations and caste based political parties have emerged in India.

• These caste organizations exert pressure to get their demands met

This changed role has been termed as secularisation of caste.

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