NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Sociology Introducing Sociology Chapter 4: Culture and Socialisation

Chapter at a glance

Exercise Questions

Answer

• Everyday use: “culture” usually refers to refined arts and taste — classical music, dance, painting, literature, good manners — and people are described as “cultured” or “uncultured”. It suggests that some people or groups have more culture than others.
• Social science use: culture means the whole way of life of a group of people — their beliefs, values, norms, language, customs, knowledge, technology and material objects — that is learnt and shared as members of society. Every society and every person has culture; no culture is superior. It includes both “high” and popular culture, and everyday practices like food habits, greetings and dress.

In everyday speech culture means refined arts and manners possessed by some; in social science it is the whole learnt, shared way of life of any group — beliefs, values, norms and material objects — which everyone has.

Answer

Culture has three dimensions that are interlinked:

1. Cognitive — how we understand and give meaning to the world (beliefs, knowledge, language, symbols).
2. Normative — rules of conduct: folkways, mores, customs, conventions, laws.
3. Material — tools, technology, objects, buildings.

Demonstration through examples

• Food: the cognitive belief about what is pure/healthy, norms about who cooks and eats with whom, and material objects (utensils, kitchens) work together.
• A wedding: beliefs about marriage (cognitive), rituals and rules of conduct (normative), and dress, decorations and gifts (material).
• Mobile phones: a material object, but it comes with norms (phone etiquette) and changes how we think and communicate (cognitive).

A change in one dimension affects the others — e.g. new technology changes norms and ideas. Thus the dimensions are parts of one integrated whole.

Cognitive (beliefs), normative (rules) and material (objects) dimensions operate together — as in food, weddings or mobile phones — and a change in one affects the others, showing culture is an integrated whole.

Answer

Example: urban culture of a metro city vs rural culture of a north Indian village

Is it difficult not to be ethnocentric? Yes, it often is. We are socialised into our own culture from childhood, so its values seem “natural” and “right”. City people may call villagers “backward”, and villagers may consider city life “immoral”. Overcoming ethnocentrism requires conscious effort: learning about other cultures, understanding them in their own context (cultural relativism), travelling and interacting with people of different backgrounds.

Comparing, e.g., urban and rural cultures shows differences in family, work, dress and relations; it is difficult not to be ethnocentric because our own culture seems natural, but awareness and cultural relativism can help.

Answer

1. Evolutionary change — culture changes slowly and gradually over a long time, through internal processes (innovation, adaptation to environment) or external contact (diffusion). For example, changes in dress, food habits and family structure over generations; natural changes such as droughts may also lead to new practices.
2. Revolutionary change — culture changes rapidly and fundamentally, often due to political upheavals, technological breakthroughs or contact with powerful cultures. For example, the French Revolution transformed values of liberty and equality; the spread of mobile phones and the internet rapidly changed communication; colonialism transformed many societies.

Other approaches distinguish internal sources (inventions, reform movements) and external sources (conquest, migration, media). Cultural lag (Ogburn) occurs when material culture changes faster than non-material culture.

Evolutionary (slow, gradual change through adaptation and diffusion) and revolutionary (rapid, fundamental change through political or technological upheavals); change can also come from internal or external sources.

Answer

Yes, largely. Cosmopolitanism means openness to and appreciation of other cultures, without considering one’s own superior. Modernity — with urbanisation, education, migration, global communication and trade — exposes people to diverse cultures: in modern cities people enjoy food, music, festivals and languages from many cultures (e.g. celebrating Diwali, Eid and Christmas together, eating pizza and idli). However, modernity also brings nationalism and new forms of ethnocentrism, and some traditional societies were cosmopolitan too (port cities, trade routes).

Examples of ethnocentrism

1. Calling the food or dress of another region “strange” or “dirty”.
2. Considering English speakers more “civilised” than speakers of regional languages.
3. Stereotyping people from the north-east, or migrants, as outsiders.
4. Colonial rulers describing Indian customs as “barbaric”.
5. Believing one’s own religion or caste is superior.

Largely yes — modern urban life encourages openness to diverse cultures — though modernity also breeds new ethnocentrism. Examples of ethnocentrism: mocking other regions’ food or dress, stereotyping north-easterners or migrants, colonial views of Indian customs as barbaric.

Answer

For my generation, the mass media and digital media — smartphones, social media (Instagram, YouTube), online games and streaming platforms — together with the peer group are the most effective agents. They shape our language, fashion, opinions, aspirations and even our values; we learn about the world faster and from many sources. The family and school remain important, but young people spend many hours online.

Earlier generations: the family and kin, religion and the local community were the main agents; children learnt values from elders, stories and customs. Later, school, radio, newspapers and cinema became important. Information came from fewer sources and was more controlled by elders and authorities.

Thus socialisation has shifted from local, family-based influences to global, technology-based ones, increasing exposure but also bringing problems like misinformation and screen addiction.

For today’s generation, digital and social media plus peer groups are the most powerful agents; earlier, family, kin, religion and community dominated, with fewer and more controlled sources.

Topic checklist

• Meaning of culture in social science
• Dimensions of culture: cognitive, normative, material
• Ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism
• Cultural change: evolutionary and revolutionary; cultural lag
• Socialisation and its agents

Total questions answered: 6 of 6