NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Sociology Understanding Society Chapter 2: Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society

Chapter at a glance

Exercise Questions

Answer

Yes, I agree.

• Human beings have existed for about half a million years, but settled agriculture began only about 10,000 years ago, industry about 200–250 years ago, and computers and the internet only in the last few decades.
• For most of history, people lived as hunter-gatherers or farmers in small communities, and change was very slow, spread over many generations.
• Since the Industrial Revolution, change has accelerated dramatically: technology, transport, communication, urbanisation and globalisation have transformed social life within a single lifetime.
• Today, social change is so rapid that grandparents and grandchildren live in very different worlds.

So the speed and scale of social change is a recent phenomenon.

Yes; for most of human history change was very slow, but since the Industrial Revolution (and especially with modern technology) change has become extremely rapid and far-reaching.

Answer

Not every change is social change. Social change refers to changes that are:

1. Significant — they transform the underlying structure of an object or situation over a period of time, not just superficial changes (e.g. a new fashion or a change in prices).
2. Wide-ranging — affecting a large part of society, not just a few individuals.
3. Lasting — persisting over time, not temporary.

For example, the shift from joint to nuclear families, the abolition of untouchability, or industrialisation are social changes; a change of a person’s hairstyle or a one-day strike is not.

Social change is significant, structural, widespread and lasting change in society, unlike minor, individual or temporary changes.

Answer

Structural change refers to transformation in the structure of society — its institutions, or the rules by which they are run, and the patterns of relationships between people.

Examples

1. Introduction of digital payments (UPI) — changed how money transactions, banking and small businesses operate; reduced dependence on cash.
2. Panchayati Raj with reservation for women (73rd Amendment) — changed the structure of rural political power, bringing women and Dalits into leadership.
3. Growth of the IT industry — created a new urban middle class, new work patterns (night shifts, work-from-home) and new consumption patterns.
4. Right to Education Act — changed the relationship between the state, schools and families.
5. Online education after COVID-19 — changed how schools function.

Structural change is transformation of society’s institutions and relationship patterns — e.g. UPI changing money and banking, women’s reservation in panchayats, the IT industry creating a new middle class, or the RTE Act.

Answer

1. Natural disasters — earthquakes, floods, droughts, cyclones and tsunamis can destroy whole communities, force migration and transform livelihoods (e.g. the 2004 tsunami changed coastal fishing communities; the 2001 Kutch earthquake led to new construction norms).
2. Ecological conditions shaping society — societies in deserts, mountains or river plains develop different occupations, settlements and cultures (nomadic pastoralism in deserts).
3. Discovery of natural resources — oil in West Asia transformed societies there from nomadic to highly urbanised, wealthy states.
4. Climate change — rising sea levels, melting glaciers and erratic monsoons are causing migration, farming crises and new policies.
5. Environmental degradation — deforestation and pollution affect health and livelihoods and give rise to environmental movements (Chipko, Narmada Bachao Andolan).

Disasters (tsunami, earthquakes) uprooting communities; geography shaping ways of life; resource discoveries like oil transforming societies; climate change causing migration and farm crises; degradation sparking environmental movements.

Answer

1. Industrialisation (steam engine, factories) moved people from villages to cities, created the working class and new family patterns.
2. Transport and communication — railways, cars, telephones, the internet — shrank distances, enabled migration and globalisation.
3. Green Revolution technology changed agriculture, created prosperous farmers, and also increased inequality between regions and classes.
4. Information technology created new jobs (IT, call centres), new lifestyles, online shopping, social media and work-from-home.
5. Economic changes — liberalisation (1991) increased private enterprise, consumerism and foreign investment; plantation economies (e.g. tea) changed labour patterns.
6. Women’s employment in new sectors changed gender roles.

Technology and economy also produce new problems — unemployment through automation, environmental damage and a digital divide.

Industrialisation and urbanisation, transport and communication revolutions, the Green Revolution, the IT boom, liberalisation and consumerism, and new roles for women — along with automation job loss and the digital divide.

Answer

Social order refers to a stable, predictable pattern of social relations, values and norms that persists over time. It means that people’s behaviour follows regular patterns and society functions smoothly; it often implies resistance to change.

How it is maintained

1. Spontaneous consent: people internalise shared values and norms through socialisation (family, school, religion) and follow them willingly.
2. Coercion: people are made to obey through power, authority and laws, backed by sanctions and force (police, courts).
3. In practice, both work together — most people follow norms voluntarily, while law and punishment deal with those who do not.
4. Dominant groups also maintain order by controlling resources and through ideology that justifies the existing system.

Social order is a stable, predictable pattern of social relations; it is maintained by consent (internalised values through socialisation) and coercion (power, authority, law and sanctions).

Answer

Authority is power that is accepted as legitimate — just and proper — by those over whom it is exercised (Max Weber). For example, the authority of a teacher in class or a police officer on duty.

Relation to domination: domination refers to the exercise of power by one group over others. When domination is accepted as legitimate it becomes authority; when it is not accepted, it depends on force. Weber described three types of legitimate authority — traditional, charismatic and legal-rational.

Relation to law: law is an explicitly codified set of rules made by a recognised authority (the state) and enforced by its agencies. Modern authority is mostly legal-rational: people obey officials because their power is based on laws. Law thus gives domination a legitimate, formal basis, and its enforcement maintains social order.

Authority is legitimate power; domination becomes authority when accepted as legitimate; law is codified rules made and enforced by authority, giving modern domination a legal-rational basis.

Answer

Villages arose with settled agriculture; towns and cities grew with trade, administration and industry.

By size and density, occupations (agricultural vs non-agricultural), nature of social relations (personal vs impersonal) and administrative status (panchayat, municipality, corporation).

Answer

1. Small, close-knit communities with face-to-face relations, so informal controls (customs, gossip, panchayats) are strong.
2. Traditional social structure — caste, kinship and religion strongly influence life; hierarchy is pronounced.
3. Dominant castes (M.N. Srinivas) — numerically large, landowning castes control economic and political power.
4. Land is the main source of livelihood and power; landlords dominate landless labourers.
5. Slower change — tradition and established power structures resist change, though modern influences (education, media, migration, panchayati raj) are bringing change.
6. Less exposure to anonymity and diversity than cities.

Close-knit, face-to-face communities with strong informal controls, traditional caste and kinship hierarchy, dominance of landowning castes, land as the basis of power, and slower change.

Answer

1. Overcrowding and housing shortage — growth of slums with poor sanitation.
2. Transport and traffic congestion; pollution.
3. Anonymity and individualism, weakening informal social control; rise in crime.
4. Diversity of migrants with different languages, religions and cultures — can lead to tensions.
5. Segregation: ghettoisation (communities concentrating in particular areas), gated communities of the rich, and gentrification pushing the poor out.
6. Inequality between rich and poor; informal sector workers lacking security.
7. Strain on water, electricity, waste management and public services.

Overcrowding and slums, traffic and pollution, anonymity and crime, ethnic/religious tensions, ghettoisation, gated communities and gentrification, sharp inequality, and strained civic services.

Topic checklist

• Meaning, types and causes of social change
• Social order: consent and coercion; authority and law
• Villages, towns and cities
• Social order and change in rural areas
• Urban order and its challenges

Total questions answered: 10 of 10