This PSEB 11th Class Sociology Notes Chapter 8 Polity, Religion, Economy and Education will help you in revision during exams.
PSEB 11th Class Sociology Notes Chapter 8 Polity, Religion, Economy and Education
→ There exist many institutions in our society. In social institutions, we can include marriage, family, and kinship.
→ Except for social institutions, there are many other institutions such as political, religious, economic, educational, etc.
→ Political System is a sub-system of society. It fixes such human roles which are necessary to maintain law and order in society. There is a great relationship between polity and society.
→ In Sociology, information on political institutions is used to understand many concepts such as power, leadership, authority, etc. Such political institutions help us in maintaining peace and security in society.
→ Power is the ability of individuals or groups to carry out their will even when opposed by others.
→ A definite and fixed amount of power exists in society.
→ Few groups have more power and they exercise their power over the group which is having less power.
→ Power is applied with the help of an authority. Authority is a form of power that is considered just and legitimate.
→ Those who have authority, use power because they consider it justified.
→ Different societies have different states. In a few societies, there is no concept of state and they are considered stateless societies.
→ Such states existed in ancient societies. In modern societies, authority is included in the concept of state and it is obtained from the people.
→ Max Weber gave three types of authority-traditional, legal and charismatic.
→ Father’s authority is traditional, Government’s authority is legal, and accepting any leader’s will is called charismatic authority.
→ The state is the basic institution of the political system. It has four essential elements and these are population, geographical area, sovereignty, and government.
→ There are three organs of government and these are-Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
→ To maintain State and government, a proper balance between these three organs is necessary.
→ The present-day political system runs with democracy. It is of two types—direct and indirect.
→ In a direct democracy, people decide on their own and in indirect democracy, people’s elected representatives make all the decisions.
→ The government in our country has adopted the decentralized system and govts, are made till local level.
→ In rural areas, Panchayat is established at the village level, Block Samiti at the block level, and Zila Parished at the district level and they are responsible for doing development in their respective areas.
→ In a democracy, political parties keep a very important place.
→ A political party is a group of people whose main objective is to attain power by contesting elections.
→ Few parties are national parties and few are regional parties.
→ Interest groups keep a very important place in a democracy.
→ They are attached to any particular group and they work to achieve the interests of their group.
→ Religion has existed in society since the time when human society started.
→ Religion is nothing but faith in super-natural power that is beyond our existence and reach.
→ Many religions exist in our country India such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism (Parsi), etc.
→ India is a multi-religious country where people of many religions live in peace and harmony with each other.
→ Every person needs money to buy food, cloth, house, health services, etc. and all these are important parts of our economy. Economic institutions take care of our income and expenditure.
→ Different societies have different economies. Few societies have collective economies, few are pastoral economies, rural economies, industrial economies, and capitalist economies. Karl Marx also gave a new economy called socialist economy.
→ The concept of division of labor is not new to our society.
→ When people start to do specific work and are unable to do all the works, it is called specialisation and division of labour.
→ The caste system and Jajmani system in India are one such type of division of labour.
→ If we observe our society, we can say that nothing in our society, is possible without education.
→ Education changes an uncivilized person into a civilized individual.
→ Education is of two types – formal and informal.
→ Formal education is that which we get in school, college, etc. and informal education is that which we get from our daily life experiences.
→ Authority: Power established by the political system in its geographical area.
→ Division of Labour: The system in which occupations are divided into different parts and every occupation is given to an individual or group.
→ Economy: System of production, distribution, and consumption.
→ Globalisation: The process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, ideas, products, and other aspects of culture.
→ Totem: Considering any tree, plant, stone, or any other thing as sacred.
→ State Society: The society in which formal organisation of government exists.
→ Stateless society: The society in which there is no formal organisation of government.
→ Pressure groups: Such groups in a democratic system work for the interests of a particular group.
→ State: State is a group with four essential features – population, geographical area, sovereignty, and government.