Learnsociology.blogspot.com

KANIKKAR TRIBALS Kanikkar is traditionally known as Kani, are bring into being in extreme south India , around the Agasthyakulam and Mahendragri peaks of the Western Ghats in the Thiruvanathapuram , Kollam district of Kerala, as well as in the adjesent areas of TamilNadu . In Kerala, their main concentrations are in the Nedumangadu Thaluk. Non-tribal population at different times has penetrated their region, and now, they are mostly confined to the reserve forest area and their margins. The reservoir off the Neyyar irrigation project cuts through their homeland; those on the eastern side are more isolated and alive in thicker forest than the others. Kanis are generally known for their straight forwardness, honestly and truthfulness. According to Bourdillon, “those who live in the interior are called Kanikkars while those who living in the outer portion are known as Velma’s (Malevolent). Legend was that they were called Kanikkar by the puranic sages Agastya, signifying “hereditary...

TRIBES IN KERALA Tribes in Kerala are known as Advises locally meaning early inhabitants of the area and are distributed mostly in the Western Ghats and low – lying hills. In Kerala tribes are mostly seen in Waynad, Idukki, Palakkad and Kasarkode. In other districts tribal population either around 5% of the total population or below. Kanikkars are a group of hill tribes inhabiting the mountains of south Travancore (Trivandrum district) being chiefly found in the Taluks of Nedumangad and Neyyattinkara. Table 1:1 District – wise Distributions of Tribal in Kerala Districts Males Females Total DT.ST Population as state’s ST population Thiruvananthapuram 7860 8321 16181 5.04 Kollam 1943 1941 3884 1.21 Pathanamthitha 3459 3463 6922 2.16 Kottayam 8902 9094 17996 5.62 Alappuza 1407 1394 2801 0.87 Ernakulam 2551 2390 4941 1.54 Idukki 25512 24757 50269 15.66 Thrissur 1990 2061 4051 1.26 Palakkad 17927 17538 35465 11.05 Malappuram 5213 5342 10555 3.29 Kozhikode 2654 2753 5407 1.69 Wayanad...

TRIBAL UPLIFT AND THE RULE OF LAW The judicial system has become more sensitized to social justice. Constitutional amendment, minimal though may be resided, but tribal credibility will be causality if the current litigate justice were to be continued as the rule of law. In 1989 Indian parliament passed the Atrocities act for protecting Scheduled tribes and scheduled castes from offence and injustice against them by others. Under this law 3(1) those who made violence and mayhem against tribes shall imprison to minimum 6 months to 5-year. (Pattika Varga Vikasana Padhathikal-Paripadikal, Scheduled Tribe Development Department, Kerala Government.) The Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Lands and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act1975 was passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly on 1…04…1975 but brought in to force with effect from 1…1…1982 .this Act was for the restoration of lands alienated by members of tribal community . The Government has amended this Act in 199...

INDIAN TRIBES IN TRANSITION The tribal in India put on view an assortment of customs and traditions typical of their own life styles. Modernization as well as Urbanization has their own role in the process of transformation in life and culture of tribes. Because of these transformations in the traditional tribal culture of various communities, the uniformity in their socio cultural milieu had been disrupted. According to RS Mann (1980: 1-2) there are three stages in tribal living karkedin most of the tribal communities. Some tribal are sufficiently changed, some are in the transitional stage and others remain bogged down within the frame of traditionality. The creation of such stages of living can be attributed to the plan as well as the non-planned efforts of non-tribal. While the planned efforts are of recent origin, the no-planned forces, of quite long standing, have had more influence. Such a trend is obviously the result of the great persistence of tribal problems, including th...

TRIBALS IN INDIA Tribal in India live in the forests, hills and naturally isolated regions. They are known by different names such as Vanyajathi, Vanavasi, Pahari, Adimajati, Adivasi, and Janjati etc. Nearly all the tribal of India have been in continuous contact with their neighbors who live by farming and a large number of specialized manual industries and yet they have retained their customs and ethnic identity. This is because they usually marry with in their own communities and the clan elders or chiefs keep their cultural practices alive there. Barring a very small fraction, there is little difference between their economic status and that of the neighboring rural folk. Yet as the tribes have, more or less, retained their separate social identity and on the whole can be regarded as comparatively isolated and economically backward, they have been placed under the category of scheduled tribes. The first and foremost characteristics of the tribal economy are its close relation s...

DEFINITION OF TRIBES The term tribe by and large is a sign of a group speaking a common language, observing standardized rules of social organization and working together for common purpose. (The new Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.X P-115) The other typical characteristics of tribe include a common name, a contiguous, territory a relatively uniform culture or way of life and a tradition of common descent. According to another contention tribe is generally, used to denote a group of primitive or barbarous clans under recognized chiefs. The term tribe was taken over by the anthropologist from ordinary uses and like all such terms it had a variety of meaning. In general, it was applied to people who were considered primitive, lived in backward areas, and did not know the use of writing. Sometimes, it was considered synonymous with the term race, which in scientific uses has an entirely different meaning. In the beginning, nobody bothered to give a précis meaning to the term tribe. They...

TRIBALS One observable fact innate in the nature of the plural society of the Indian subcontinent is the co-existence habitually in a tapered space of populations varying greatly in the level of material and intellectual development. Confrontation and eventual harmonization are the two possible upshot of such a state of affairs. A bursting realization of the disruption caused by this crash with in the whole fabric of tribal life cannot be gained from sweeping statement embracing the totality of the forty millions of Indian tribal populations. A tribe has by and large been defined as a more or less homogeneous community having common government, a common dialect and common culture. In the Indian milieu the term tribe has never been defined precisely and adequately. It was used, at one time, to denote a bewildering verity of social categories that were neither analogues nor comparable. The Rajput and the Jat as well as the aboriginals, for e.g., were categorized as tribes. In later u...

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in ...

Current Population of India 1,065,070,607 (July 2004 est.) Population Density of India 324 persons per square kilometer Age structure 0 to 14 years 31.7% (male 173,869,856; female 164,003,915) 15 to 64 years 63.5% (male 349,785,804; female 326,289,402) 65 years and over 4.8% (male 25,885,725; female 25,235,905) (2004 estimate) Median age Total 24.4 years Male 24.4 years Female 24.4 years (2004 est.) Population growth rate 1.44% (2004 est.) Birth rate 22.8 births/1,000 population (2004 est.) Death rate 8.38 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.) Net migration rate -0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.) Infant mortality rate Total 57.92 deaths/1,000 live births Female 57.29 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.) Male 58.52 deaths/1,000 live births Life expectancy at birth Total population 63.99 years Male 63.25 years Female 64.77 years (2004 est.) Total fertility rate 2.85 children born/woman (2004 est.) HIV / AIDS Adult prevalence rate 0.8% (2001 est.) ...

DEVELOPMENT AND MODERNIZATION THEORIES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH Walt Whitman Rostow, 1916- Economic historian and popularize of linear stages theory of economic development with his 1960 booklet, Stages of Economic Growth. Later was involved in foreign policy and political affairs, and became one of the leading advisors to McNamara during the Vietnam War. Major Works of Walt Whitman Rostow "Investment and the Great Depression", 1938, Econ History Review Essays on the British Economy of the Nineteenth Century, 1948. "The Terms of Trade in Theory and Practice", 1950, Econ History Review "The Historical Anlysis of Terms of Trade", 1951, Econ History Review The Process of Economic Growth, 1952. "Trends in the Allocation of Resources in Secular Growth", 1955, in Dupriez, editor, Economic Progress An American Policy in Asia, with R.W. Hatch, 1955. "The Take-Off into Self-Sustained Growth", 1956, EJ A Proposal: Key to an effective foreign ...

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY The term ethnomethodology is Greek terms, literally means the methods people use on a daily basis. The central concern of ethnomethodology “is to demonstrate how society is the ongoing practical accomplishment of rational individuals”. Ethnomethodology, can be traced back to Harold Garfinkel, otherwise we can say that ethnomethodology was “invented” by Harold Garfinkel in the 1940s. Since that time it has expanded enormously and moved in a number of different directions. This has led Don Zimmerman to conclude that there is no longer one ethnomethodology, but several. The heart of ethnomethodology lies in these specific studies and not in general theoretical or programmatic statements. To ethnomethodologists “research and theorizing are to be done in conjunction, such that the theorizing is tied to the materials generated by the research. Ethnomethodology is the study of “the body of commonsense knowledge and the range of procedures and considerations by means of whi...

Informal Means of Social Control Control by the public opinion: Public opinion is happened only in democratic country. It is also an important agency of social control. Public opinion can be defined as the collection of ideas and attitudes shared by members of a particular public. This is more possible in simple societies than in complex societies. In a village people are known to one another personally. It is difficult for a man from rural/village area to act contrary to the public opinion from his village. When we talk about “the public”, we usually mean the population at large. In sociology, however, public also has a different, more limited meaning. It is a dispersed collection of people who share some interest or concern, such as an interest in environmental issues, or in civil rights, or in outlawing pornography. In other way we can define it as a dispersed collection of people who share some interest or concern. Whenever a public comes in to being it forms an opinion. Publi...

The Ideas of Edmund Husserl Husserl’s phenomenology is so difficult to translate into usable sociological concepts. Husserl’s general orientation to the social world can be used as a starting point (Freeman 1980). In general, people view the world in a highly ordered way. Actors are always engaged in the active and highly complex process of ordering the world. However, they are most often unaware that they are ordering the social world; hence they do not ques­tion it. To Husserl, this is the general thesis of the “natural standpoint.” To actors, the social world is naturally ordered, not ordered by them. However, phenomenologists are acutely aware that ordering is being done, and it becomes for them an important subject of phenomenological investigation. The natural standpoint, or “natural attitude,” was conceived by Husserl as an obstacle to the discovery of phenomenological process. These basic components are hidden to actors and remain hidden to phenomenologists if they are ...

EDMUND HUSSERL Husserl’s highly complicated philosophy is not easily translated in to sociological concepts and, indeed, a good portion of it is not directly relevant to sociology. We discuss here a few of his main ideas that have proven useful to sociological Phenomenologists. The term phenomenology was used by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) in his most famous philosophical treatise, Ideas: introduction to Pure Phenomenology (1913) that includes the principle of philosophical and scientific method. Husserl challenged the method usually used by natural science. The usual method of natural science proceeds from a body of accepted truth and seeks to extend its conquest of the unknown by putting questions to nature and compelling it to answer. The phenomenological methods adopt a softer approach. Setting aside all presuppositions and suppressing hypothesis, it seeks to devise techniques of observation, description, and classification, which permit it to disclose structures and connections i...

THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL SCHOOL At the broadest level, phenomenological sociology is that sociology which operates on the basis of philosophical phenomenology. It tries, without doing too much damage to its original sources, to apply the principles of philosophical phenomenology to sociological questions. The work of philosophers such as Husserl, as well as Henri Bergson, Franz Brentano, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, provide its ultimate source, and the work of Schultz, its closest source. Phenomenologists assign primacy to human consciousness. So its objective is the description of the universal structure of subjective orientations. Derived from this approach is the view held by phenomenological sociology that the objective features of society rest on this universal subjective base. Like phenomenological philosophy, phenomenological sociology is a science because of its rigorous, systematic, and critical attempt to uncover the basic realities of social life. Phenomenological school reflect...

HINDU VIEW OF LIFE ASHRAMA SYSTEM Ashrama vyavastha is one of the fundamentals of our social organisation. According to this system, life is to be divided onto four ashramas. Brahmacharya Grahasthashrama Vanaprastha Sanyasa Each ashrama is considered very important for the development of a person and his faculties. It is also believed that each one will live in each ashrama for the period of at least 25 years. The word ashrama is derived from Sanskrit term, “s-rama” meaning there by exert itself. In the words of P.H. Prabhu, “the word therefore signifies a halt, a stoppage, on a stage in the journey of life just for the sake of rest in a sense, inorder to prepare oneself for further journey”. He further says “ashramas then are to be regarded as resting place during once journey on the way to final liberation, which is the final aim of life. The ashramas are considered steps towards moksha, which is ultimate end of human life. According to Hindu philosophy ashramas are considered es...

Women Education in India The Indian government has ex-pressed a strong commitment to-wards education for all, however, India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. In 1991, less than 40 percent of the 330 million women aged 7 and over were literate, which means today there are over 200 million illiterate women in India. This low level of literacy not only has a negative impact on women’s lives but also on their families’ lives and on their country’s economic development. Numerous studies show that illiterate women have high levels of fertility and mortality, poor nutritional status, low earning potential, and little autonomy within the household. A woman’s lack of education also has a negative impact on the health and well being of her children. For instance, a re-cent survey in India found that infant mortality was inversely related to mother’s educational level. Additionally, the lack of an educated population can be an impediment to the country’s economic devel...