Social Structure Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure Class 11 Sociology Notes

Notes for Class 11

Please refer to Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure Class 11 Sociology Notes and important questions below. The Class 11 Sociology Chapter wise notes have been prepared based on the latest syllabus issued for the current academic year by CBSE. Students should revise these notes and go through important Class 11 Sociology examination questions given below to obtain better marks in exams

Social Structure Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure Class 11 Sociology Notes and Questions

The below Class 11 Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure notes have been designed by expert Sociology teachers. These will help you a lot to understand all the important topics given in your NCERT Class 11 Sociology textbook. Refer to Social Structure, Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure Notes below which have been designed as per the latest syllabus issued by CBSE and will be very useful for upcoming examinations to help clear your concepts and get better marks in examinations.

Social structures are made up of human actions and relationships. it repeats across periods of time and space. So the ideas of social structure is very closely related to social reproduction. Giddens compares social structure with that of a building.

Social stratification
Social stratification refers to the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. Stratification in modern societies involve class divisions, race and caste, region and community, tribe and gender The society is divided into a patterned structure of unequal groups, and this structure tends to persist across  generations.

Advantage of privileged groups
There are three basic forms of advantages which privileged groups may enjoy:

(i) Life Chances: All those material advantages which improve the quality of life of the recipient — this may include not only economic advantages of wealth and income, but also benefits such as health, job security and recreation.

(ii) Social Status: Prestige or high standing in the eyes of other members of the society.

(iii) Political Influence: The ability of one group to dominate others.

Social  Processes
i) Cooperation
Working together for common/mutual benefit. Both Karl Marx (conflict perspective) and Emile Durkheim(functionalist perspective) agree that human beings have to cooperate to meet their basic needs. There are two types of cooperation.
– Voluntary cooperation
– Enforced cooperation
When conflicts are not expressed openly the impression remains that there is no conflict, but only cooperation. A functionalist view often uses the term accommodation to explain this situations While Durkheim emphasised altruism and solidarity as distinctive of the human world , Marx emphasised consciousness.

ii) Competition
Competition is a social entity that emerges and becomes dominant in society at a particular historical point of time. Classical sociological thinkers such as Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx have noted the growth of individualism and competition respectively in modern capitalist societies. J.S Mill described modern competition as the fight of all against all.

iii) Conflict
– The term conflict implies clash of interests
– Conflict present in all societies
– Conflict appears as an overt clash only when it is openly expressed.
For example, the existence of a peasant movement is an overt expression of a deep rooted conflict over land resources.
But the absence of a movement does not means the absence of a conflict.

Social Structure Stratification and Social Processes in Societies Social Structure Class 11 Sociology Notes and Questions