[noise] dear students [vocalised-noise] today is the

first lecture [vocalised-noise] of this course on science technology and society [vocalised-noise]

since the course involves three important components science technology and society

we need to spend some time trying to understand each of these components [vocalised-noise]

society to understand what is society you need to understand what is sociology as such

this is a science technology society or otherwise known as sociology of science is a sub branch

of sociology [vocalised-noise] since many of you may not be familiar with the basic

idea of what is sociology i in this lecture intend to begin by explaining the basics of

sociology what is sociology what is sociological perspective how do we make sense of the social

world that we live in [vocalised-noise] i will try to explain all these things very

briefly in couple of lectures then we will move on to different [noise] dimensions of

relationship of science technology and society [vocalised-noise]

now when we think of a subject like sociology the first thing that comes to our mind is

study of society study of human social relationships but society human social relationships [vocalised-noise]

the but broader [vocalised-noise] abstract ideas we cannot see society we cannot see

social relationships but we can always see the concrete manifestation of this society

in in different parts of our life in different domains of our life for instance we can take

classroom as an example because we are ah this is a course with online lectures but

there [vocalised-noise] can also be a sociological analysis of [noise] a virtual classroom [vocalised-noise]

so let us take an example of any classroom [vocalised-noise] and see how we can apply

sociology to it [vocalised-noise] now if you look at a classroom [vocalised-noise] every

classroom ah has a [vocalised-noise] designated space the students come to the class at a

particular time as per the schedule the teacher come to the class and teach there some ah

[vocalised-noise] chairs tables there is a blackboard there is a projector so all these

things that in any this is a physical structure of a classroom right [vocalised-noise]

now let us look at how people from different discipline would approach the classroom [vocalised-noise]

from their disciplinary perspective so if you look at ah if you take the example of

a um photographer a photographer would be interested in the classroom in what sense

the photographer would be interested in the arrangement of light and shadow right [noise]

photographer would be interested in looking at how colourful the clothes the students

are wearing would be interested in looking at the different poses assumed by us when

you are listening to the lecture by the professor [noise] that would be of interest of photographer

in the classroom now if you look at an architect how would

an architect ah understand the same classroom an architect would look at the classroom in

terms of spatial dimensions space the notion of space is is crucial to an architects understanding

of a classroom look at how the what is the arrangement of desk in relation to the entire

space of the classroom the design of the classroom [vocalised-noise] the the very positioning

of different objects in the classroom whether it serves the purpose of a classroom or not

that would be an interest of an architect let us take an example of a physician a doctor

[vocalised-noise] what would be his or her interest [vocalised-noise] a doctor or a physician

would be interested in in your physical health your physical wellbeing in the physical wellbeing

of the students of the classroom right what would be the interest of a psychiatrist

a mental doctor the same classroom [noise] the perspective changes what they want to

study what they look at what they ah intend to examine this changes from discipline to

discipline a mental doctor or a psychiatrist would be interested in your mental health

would not be interested in your physical health as much right [noise] a psychologist a psychologist

would be interested in [vocalised-noise] knowing the interest level of the students in the

classroom how interested they are listening to the lecture what is the ability to observe

the content of the lecture amongst the students what is the retentive capacity of the students

how much they can retain what has been taught what is the memory what is the motivation

of the students to sit through the class the leadership quality is shown by the students

in the classroom [noise] stress level [vocalised-noise] all these things will be of matter of ah will

be of interest to a psychologist [vocalised-noise] but the psychologist will be interested in

the things that i just mentioned like m [memory]-memory perception [vocalised-noise] retentive capacity

the common cognitive ability of the students [vocalised-noise] mental development of the

students of each individual students but a sociologist looking at the classroom would

arrive at three observations they are [noise] [vocalised-noise] [noise] [noise] [vocalised-noise]

[noise] so if you look at the blackboard [vocalised-noise] as i told you the sociologists would come

up with three observations as soon as they enter a classroom they are the power relationship

[vocalised-noise] the rules of conduct the class characteristics

now what is this power relationship every in every classroom there is a power relationship

that exists a power relationship that exists between the teachers and the students right

and who holds the power in a classroom the teachers [vocalised-noise] so it is teacher

who has more power than the students in the classroom [vocalised-noise] now this power

is not illegitimate this is legal power this is legitimate power this is authority so legitimate

power is authority technically speaking in sociology when we define authority we define

authority as legitimate power how the teacher has legitimate power the teacher has been

given this power bestowed with this power from the institute from the organization from

the college from the school wherever the ah teacher is located to exercise his or her

power [vocalised-noise] now how do the teacher exercise his or her

power in the classroom [vocalised-noise] it is by deciding what is to be taught in the

classroom it is a teacher who decides what is to be taught in the classroom not the students

it is a teacher who decides [vocalised-noise] how to teach teach the subject matter students

do not decide that it is a teacher who is going to evaluate the ability of the students

and the classroom regarding if the particular subjects that have been taught it is a teacher

who is going to our the final grade is the teacher who is going to ah our marks to the

students the ultimate source of power in any classroom right

so its teacher who decides who is going to speak and when its a teacher would ah tells

the student to [noise] leave the classroom if the student is found disturbing other students

or the class in itself [vocalised-noise] right so the teacher exercises this power through

various means through different ways now is this power absolute this power is not absolute

teacher does not enjoy absolute power in the classroom [vocalised-noise] the teacher can

[vocalised-noise] always be [noise] learned can always removed if there is complaints

among the students if the students complain to the headmaster how the headmistress or

the principal or the director of the institute of the dina academic affairs that that that

this particular faculty this particular professor or the teacher is not teaching properly this

is not discussing relevant things in the class is being very rude to the students the teacher

is misbehaving either with the students and if such complaints are taken into account

will be taken cognizance of then probably ah the teacher would be want or be removed

or be told to give an explanation so in that way the power of the teacher would also be

[vocalised-noise] the chances the power would be curtailed reduced

but overall if you look at the [vocalised-noise] power relationship in a classroom it is teacher

who is powerful and there are different ways in which the teacher exercises this power

now is it true of any one classroom it is not true of any one classroom it is this power

relationship is to be found in every classroom wherever there is a classroom there will be

power relationship and the power relationship would invariably tilted in favour of the teacher

whether it is d p s delhi whether it is d p s roorkee whether it is ah learner college

madras whether it is ah ah hispania college hyderabad or it is in a science it is college

delhi or the stanford university or i i t roorkee or or or cambridge university any

school any college any university wherever whether in india or outside india wherever

there is a classroom you will find a power relationship and that power relationship would

be in favour of the teacher so from this example of classroom from the

first observation we establish the fact that sociologists are interested in generalization

second the rules of conduct there are certain rules of conduct that are followed in ah any

classroom every classroom that students would come to the class on time [noise] not only

the students but also the teacher would come to the class on time the class will there

will be no disturbance done by the students in the classroom students are supposed to

listen to the lecture quietly make notes not make me sense they are not supposed to ah

open their mobile phones and start talking on the phone or start sending s m s these

are the rules of conduct unwritten rules [noise] implicit rules that are followed in any classroom

the teacher is supposed to talk about the matters which are relevant to the class to

the subject rather than something different all these things are not explicitly ah ah

told to the students these are unwritten rules which the students are expected to supposed

to follow [vocalised-noise] now this rules of conduct is not confined

to any particular classroom as i told you in the case of power relationship where ever

there is a classroom you will find certain rules of conduct and this rules of conduct

is not specific to any particular classroom or any particular student the power relationship

that exists between the teacher and the student is not the specific property of the teacher

and the students wherever there is a classroom there will be a power relationship if [noise]

i as a teacher has [noise] certain power in the class the next teacher who comes into

the class will have the same power [vocalised-noise] over the students

so students who attend a class will be subject to power from a particular teacher and also

be subject to power when another teacher comes in [vocalised-noise] so what i am ah getting

it is [noise] the concept of role and status i i am right now occupying the position of

a teacher hence i am supposed to act behave like a teacher need to conduct myself as a

teacher thats my role i am [vocalised-noise] right my status is my relative position that

is the position of the teacher why i use the word relative thats because at home i am father

to my daughter i am husband to my wife at sports ground i am i am team members to my

other team members of the cricket team at office i am cooling

so my position changes in different social context and since my position changes my role

also changes how i am supposed to act in in office situation is different from how i am

supposed to act in home environment right so coming back to this example of classroom

[vocalised-noise] the teacher whoever comes in my position will have the same power on

whoever that replaces the set of students were attending the class right so and this

is not a specific property of any particular individual this is a property of the entire

group rules of conduct is to be followed by the entire class which includes the teacher

as well as the students now let us look at the third example class characteristics [vocalised-noise]

every class has certain characteristics of its own it takes place at a designated place

it has a certain class size because certain class strengths now all these class characteristics

are the students who attend the class have have ah something common amongst them they

may be ah m a second year students of hyderabad university sociology department they can be

the [vocalised-noise] [noise] third year b tech students of i i t roorkee [noise] at

at lecture hall complex room number ah ah zero zero four

so this things are common characteristics this class characteristics is common to all

the individuals all the students in the classroom the sociologists are interested in common

characteristics group characteristics the train that appears from the group the train

that emerges from the group the pattern that emerges from the group we are not in [interested]-interested

in individual students we are interested in common property of the classroom the group

property of the classroom the group features which would be found more less everywhere

in case of example of classroom [vocalised-noise] if we say there is a power relationship we

can expect power relationship anywhere in the world irrespective of time and space in

past present future [vocalised-noise] and this is a group pattern this [noise] observations

about power relationship about rules of conduct or class characteristics these are group patterns

regularities regularly occurring patterns [noise] we can always expect such characteristics

to emerge wherever there is a classroom in past present or future right

so regularly occurring patterns this patterns would be observed wherever there is a classroom

[vocalised-noise] and this patterns a group patterns of the group as a whole the characteristics

are not specific to any particular individual the student in the classroom hence from this

example [noise] [noise] [vocalised-noise] [noise] [vocalised-noise] [noise] so from

this example of classroom we can establish a fact that sociology is the study of recurrent

group patterns regularly occurring group patterns groups can be of any type in society there

can be so many parameters of groups class that is the the income as as a parameter for

group upper class middle class lower class or caste in indian society caste as a parameter

of group your your religion your lang[language]-languages the linguistic groups there can be regional

groups region as a characteristics that can be ethnicity there can be ah engineering students

of the entire country or all the engineering students of i i ts all the doctors in the

country all the doctors who are working in aims all the ah ah i i p s officers

so the group characteristics [vocalised-noise] this group parameter can just vary there can

be innumerable possibilities of ah group formation hence the task of sociologists is that much

challenging and bigger to study the group patterns recurring group patterns so this

is the first example through which i try to explain that sociology is the study of recurring

group patterns let us take [noise] take some more examples to understand different aspects

of studying sociology [noise] now let us take the example of suicide suicide is supposed

to be a solitary act committed by a frustrated depressed individual when nobody is around

then where is sociology in it where is society [noise] its the first time [vocalised-noise]

the study was ah a study of suicide was [vocalised-noise] [noise] done by emile durkheim the first professor

of sociology he studied su[suicide]- suicide as a as a social fact for the first time somebody

suggested that suicide is not a linked to mental illness or suicide is not linked to

heredity it is not the result of genetic characteristics if that were the case emile durkheim the [vocalised-noise]

french sociologist and academic first academy professor of sociology he said if the if it

[vocalised-noise] argue that suicide is a is a consequence of heredity [vocalised-noise]

then suicide rates why the suicide rates are changing from [noise] one period to another

period in different periods of history there is different rates of suicide if it is a result

of mental illness [vocalised-noise] then both men and women would be committing nearly same

rate of suicide but the studies is european studies of that

time that is late ah nineteenth century it established the fact that men were committing

more suicide than women so definitely mental illness is not the reason because in europe

of that era ah most of the women who were in the mental hospital most of the women were

in the mental hospital compared to men so [vocalised-noise] if that were the case then

more women would have been committing suicide but the study european statistics on existing

statistics on suicide suggested that his men were committing more suicide hence he rejected

this theories of mental illness or genetic characteristics what he did he looked at he

tried to come up with some group patterns and he found three important group patterns

regarding ah suicide rate and they are [noise] [vocalised-noise] [noise] [vocalised-noise]

[noise] now if you look at this [noise] he came up

with three distinct group patterns that the single and divorced commit most suicide than

the married the old people come at most aside than the young people the protestants commit

more suicide than catholics now how do we connect all these three group patterns and

come up with certain uniform ah law of suicide can we establish a interrelationship between

all these three patterns [vocalised-noise] durkheim said yes we can and he [vocalised-noise]

said that the all these three patterns can be connected can be linked through a common

factor that is absence of meaningful social relationship [noise] that is ah lack of social

bonding it is society which plays on the minds of the individuals when they commit this act

solitary act it is social ah forces which determine individual behaviour which is the

case in this example [vocalised-noise] one can

understand why a single and divorce would commit more suicide than the young people

[vocalised-noise] the social relationship that is available to them is limited there

is social detachment in case of [noise] ah single and divorced same is the case with

the old people the old people are a detached lot after ah years of work after retirement

they society automatically side lines them the regular they are not in regular touch

with other human beings the children may or may not be in regular touch with them may

or may not be staying with them and to act wait they have this feeling of loneliness

they have to grapple with ah health issues they have to grapple with financial ah constraints

all these things can make them lonely absence of meaningful social they may or may not live

with their spouses the spouses may be dead or if if they are alive only the husband and

wife old couple must be staying alone without children

so all these things can be explained through this common factor that is absence of meaningful

social relationship or or social detachment [noise] [vocalised-noise] [noise] but what

about the protestants why would they commit most aside in the catholics what is how can

we bring in this explanation of social detachment in case of protestants emile durkheim says

yes we can protestant [vocalised-noise] protestantism emphasizes upon individual pursuit of god

one can ah reach out to god in his or her home the person does not have to come to the

church unlike the catholics we have to attend the sunday maus [vocalised-noise] catholic

religious rituals are much more elaborate that involves the entire group all the other

catholics in the town and the city or in the village they will have to be together when

they perform this religious rituals [vocalised-noise] but because of the fact that protestantism

emphasizes upon individualism that that ah regular social interaction is missing in the

case of protestantism so that can be one of the reasons if you ah pray to god at home

you dont come to the church you dont meet people on a regular basis so according to

durkheim that can be a reason the lack of regular social interaction can drive them

to loneliness or depression so whenever they are depressed they are not a [vocalised-noise]

around people who would give them suggestion who would counsel them hence that that can

lead to further ah ah desperation and they may commit suicide hence is the first time

somebody established a sociological reasoning for seemingly psychological ah ah act that

is committing of suicide so that is another example in which sociology

can explain a factor like [vocalised-noise] suicide now if you look at a examples around

us now in fact it was been found that that is a late nineteenth century study in the

book on suicide durkheim came out in eighteen ninety seven the suicide a love suicide now

ah there is some mountain states in u s alaska and nevada wyoming all the states have very

low density of population and this states report more [vocalised-noise] suicides than

rest of ah states of united states [vocalised-noise] though sociologists can always explain this

by the fact that since there are very less number of people in the mountains where seven

or eight months of the year ah you cannot venture out you are mostly confined to your

home there are very few people who get to interact with the climate is a very harsh

which stops you from regular social interaction there very few people as such in that region

that made me the reason why which drives people to commit suicide

so [vocalised-noise] its a sociological factors such as social relationship or absence of

that can have a determining influence on individual behaviour this is how sociologists would argue

right now ah another example that i would give here is that of love marriages now this

example given by anthony giddens anthony giddens who was considered as one of the top three

sociologist living sociologist in the world who was a former ah [vocalised-noise] political

adviser to the tony blair government and also the former director of of the london school

of economics he has written a very popular undergraduate book on sociology

so this material that i am ah [vocalised-noise] discussing has drawn from that now there he

gives an example of love marriages we think that love marriages natural it is universal

falling in love is a natural universal human experience [vocalised-noise] so getting married

after ah in love with somebody is [vocalised-noise] it comes naturally its a universal phenomenon

that is how we tend to believe anthony giddens says it was not natural it was not universal

till the late medieval ah ah period love marriages were conspicuous by their absence it is a

typical product of industrial revolution [vocalised-noise] it is a social construct which is only two

hundred years old or three hundred years old now this is very significant how can you bring

in sociological ah reasoning to explain why love marriages have ah grown in number in

the last two hundred three hundred years in the span of human history it was conspicuous

by his absence or absolutely no ah ah reporting of love marriages [vocalised-noise] only in

literature and sent in medieval literature you would find mention of love marriages he

would say not in actuality [noise] the reason how i love marriages became universal or common

after the industrial revolution financial independence of men and women [noise] industrial

revolution brought human beings individuals from villages to the factory towns [vocalised-noise]

so they were free from the [vocalised-noise] constraints of the parents the societal norms

societal rules the religious beliefs so they could decide whom they want to get

married this it became their choice they became financially independent because they were

not rooted to their ancestral occupation in the village or in the countryside they could

take up employment of their choice they could be dip [independent]-independent of their

family profession they could earn on their own they could leave on their own they did

not have to stay with their ah ah parents or the village or the countryside where they

were staying so and to add to it the the ah changes in

legislation one of the important laws that came into being in europe is for instance

the age of majority now once you reach a certain age you can take your own decision regarding

not only whom to marry but what job to take off where to stay this is completely your

decision [vocalised-noise] ah independence granted to women which empowered them women

could also take up jobs on their own they could be financially independent like they

co[could]- legislation helped them to take their own decisions for all these factors

organization moving from the village and countryside to the cities in terms in search of employment

a legislation ah ah financial independent of all these things can be explained as possible

reasons why love marriages have grown substantially in the last two hundred or three hundred years

i will giving a more examples in the next lecture regarding sociology to explain what

is sociology and how sociological approach tries to understand in the social world around

us we will stop here in the next lecture i will continue the discussion

thank you [noise]