Chapter 1 Social Structure, Stratification And Social Processes In Society

I Introduction

Building upon the previous book's introduction to sociology and the link between personal problems and social issues, this chapter delves deeper into how individuals are positioned within society not as isolated entities, but as members of various overlapping collectivities (groups, classes, genders, castes, tribes).

Each individual occupies a specific location within the social structure and the social stratification system.

This location determines their access to social resources and shapes the choices available in life, such as the quality or availability of education, living standards (clothes, food), leisure opportunities, and healthcare.

A central concern in sociology is understanding the dialectical relationship between the individual and society – how individuals are constrained by social structures and stratification, yet also possess agency to influence and change them.

Recall C. Wright Mills' concept of the sociological imagination, which highlights the interplay between personal biography and societal history. This chapter focuses on understanding this relationship through three core concepts: social structure, social stratification, and social processes.

The chapter begins with a brief discussion of social structure and stratification (drawing on previous knowledge) and then focuses on three key social processes: cooperation, competition, and conflict. It will examine how social structure and stratification influence the ways individuals and groups engage in these processes.

Ii Social Structure And Stratification

The term social structure signifies that society is not a random collection of events but is organised or patterned in specific ways. It refers to the underlying regularities or patterns in human behaviour and relationships that persist over time and space.

While a building metaphor (walls, floor, roof giving shape) is partially useful, social structures are dynamic, made up of human actions and relationships that are constantly repeated.

The concepts of social reproduction (the perpetuation of social structures and relations across generations) and social structure are closely linked. Institutions like schools or families have established patterns of behaviour, rules, and expectations that are repeated over time, maintaining the structure even as individuals change.

However, social structures are not entirely rigid; human beings, through their actions and interactions, constantly reconstruct these structures, sometimes introducing changes while simultaneously reproducing them.

This highlights the ongoing process of adaptation and transformation within social structures.

A major theme in sociology is how societies exert social constraint over individuals. Emile Durkheim argued that society is greater than the sum of individual actions; it has a 'solidity' that limits what individuals can do, similar to how physical structures constrain movement.

Other thinkers like Karl Marx also emphasised structural constraints but highlighted human agency – the capacity to act and make choices that can both reproduce and change social structures, though within the possibilities and limitations of the historical context.

Social stratification refers to the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, based on unequal access to material or symbolic rewards (wealth, income, status, prestige, power).

It is a part of the broader social structure, characterised by a pattern of inequality that is not random but systematically linked to membership in specific social groups (class, caste, race, gender, etc.).

Stratification implies a hierarchy of unequal groups, typically with privileged groups enjoying advantages that they often seek to pass on across generations.

Privileged groups may benefit from three basic forms of advantage:

• (i) Life Chances: Material advantages that improve quality of life (wealth, income, health, job security, recreation).
• (ii) Social Status: Prestige or high standing in the eyes of others.
• (iii) Political Influence: The ability to dominate others, significantly influence decision-making, and benefit from policies.

Social structure and stratification constrain the opportunities and resources available to individuals and groups, influencing how they engage in social processes like cooperation, competition, and conflict. However, individuals and groups also act to modify the existing structures and systems of stratification.

Iii Cooperation And Division Of Labour

Cooperation is a fundamental social process, involving individuals and groups working together towards shared goals. It is often assumed to be a natural human tendency, essential for survival and societal functioning.

However, sociology seeks to understand cooperation not as an inherent biological trait, but as a social process shaped by social structure and context.

Both Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx, despite their different theoretical perspectives, recognised the necessity of human cooperation for meeting basic needs, production, and societal reproduction.

Durkheim's Perspective on Cooperation: Durkheim saw cooperation as based on social solidarity, the moral force binding members of society together. He argued that society exercises a moderating influence on individuals, tempering selfish impulses and fostering altruism.

He linked cooperation to the division of labour, the specialisation of tasks within society. Division of labour serves functional needs of society and acts as a moral rule guiding human conduct.

Durkheim distinguished between two types of solidarity:

• Mechanical Solidarity: Found in simpler, pre-industrial societies with low division of labour. Cohesion is based on the similarity of members' lives, shared beliefs, and collective consciousness.
• Organic Solidarity: Found in complex, industrial societies with high division of labour. Cohesion is based on the interdependence of members due to their specialised roles. People rely on each other for goods and services, creating social bonds through mutual dependency.

Both are forms of cooperation, but their basis differs with societal complexity.

Marx's Perspective on Cooperation: Marx also saw cooperation as distinguishing humans from animals, particularly in the process of producing their means of subsistence. Human cooperation involves not just adapting to the world but actively changing it.

However, for Marx, cooperation in societies divided by class is not always voluntary. In capitalist societies, cooperation driven by the division of labour appears as an external, alien force to the workers, who lose control over their labour and its products – a state Marx termed alienation.

Cooperation in such contexts is enforced by the structure of production relations, contrasting with the potentially fulfilling and creative work in traditional crafts.

This shows that while cooperation is necessary, its nature (voluntary vs. enforced) is shaped by the prevailing social and economic structure.

Iv Competition As An Idea And Practice

Competition is a social process involving rivalry between individuals or groups striving for a limited resource, goal, or reward. While often perceived as natural and universal, sociology views competition as a social phenomenon that becomes dominant at specific historical junctures.

In contemporary society, especially under capitalism, competition is a prevalent norm and practice. Classical thinkers like Durkheim and Marx noted the rise of individualism and competition in modern societies.

Competition is seen as intrinsic to capitalism, which emphasises efficiency, productivity, and profit maximisation through rivalry in the marketplace.

The ideology of competition suggests that it ensures the survival of the most efficient (firms, students with highest marks, etc.) by rewarding those who perform best in the struggle for resources.

However, this ideology often assumes that individuals compete on a level playing field, which is contradicted by sociological insights into social stratification.

Social stratification means individuals are placed unequally in society based on factors like class, caste, or gender. These structural inequalities significantly influence individuals' opportunities to even enter or effectively participate in competition (e.g., high school dropout rates among lower castes limiting access to educational competition).

Activity 6 encourages exploring debates around reservations (affirmative action) as a way to address unequal competition in education and jobs, and linking dropout rates to caste, prompting a sociological analysis of cooperation, competition, and conflict in this context.

Early thinkers like J.S. Mill debated the benefits and harms of competition, seeing it as potentially harmful but also driving efficiency and collective interests. Activity 7 suggests debating whether competition is inherently good and writing an essay on how it impacts different students, drawing on personal school experiences.

Activity 8 prompts identifying various occasions of competition in daily life, from school admissions onwards.

V Conflict And Cooperation

Conflict is a social process involving a clash of interests between individuals or groups. Conflict theorists argue that scarcity and unequal distribution of resources inherent in social structures lead to conflict, which can be based on class, caste, tribe, gender, ethnicity, or religion.

Conflicts exist at various scales, from interpersonal disputes to international wars (Activity 9 suggests listing and comparing different types of conflicts).

While a common perception sees conflict as negative or new, sociology highlights that conflicts have always been part of societies, though their nature and visibility change with social development (e.g., increased visibility of conflicts with greater assertion of democratic rights by marginalised groups).

A key sociological insight is that conflict is not always overtly expressed. It can be hidden or suppressed, leading to situations of involuntary cooperation or resistance rather than open confrontation.

For example, the absence of a peasant movement does not mean the absence of conflict over land resources; conflict may exist in less visible forms.

Conflict within Cooperation: Sociology challenges the assumption that institutions like the family are solely harmonious and based on altruistic cooperation. Feminist analysis and scholars like Amartya Sen have highlighted "cooperative conflicts" within households, where individuals may cooperate overtly despite significant underlying conflicts of interest, often shaped by gender and age hierarchies.

Subordinate groups (like women in patriarchal households) may develop strategies of covert resistance and seemingly cooperate to ensure their own security, especially if they lack alternatives outside the household. For instance, women might outwardly support son preference or adhere to discriminatory practices to secure alliances with sons for future support, or use clandestine strategies (secret lending, negotiations) to resist male power.

This shows that apparent cooperation can conceal deep-seated conflicts and power dynamics.

Land Conflicts: The example of land conflict between a Rajput and an Ahir (Patel) over mortgaged land illustrates how disputes are influenced by social stratification (caste), access to power (police influence), and economic arrangements (informal mortgages not in official records). Ganpat's use of both force and police influence highlights how conflict resolution is shaped by individuals' positions within the social structure and their ability to access resources and power.

The study on land relations and the Bhoodan-Gramdan movement further shows how technological changes (e.g., shift from Charas requiring many people to Rehat requiring fewer) can alter the need for cooperation in economic activities, linking social processes to technology and economic structures.

In conclusion, this chapter aims to show the intricate relationship between social structure, social stratification, and social processes (cooperation, competition, conflict).

These processes are interconnected, overlapping, and can sometimes be concealed, as in the case of forced cooperation.

By examining real-life examples through a sociological lens, we can understand how these processes operate and are shaped by the positions of social groups within the structure and stratification system.

Activity 11 and 12 prompt using sociological understanding to analyse real-life reports (e.g., teen marriages among migrant labourers, competition among young professionals) to identify social structure, stratification, and the interplay of cooperation, competition, and conflict within these contexts.