caste in Indian

The English word ‘caste’ is actually a borrowing from the Portuguese casta, meaning pure breed.

The word refers to a broad institutional arrangement that in Indian languages (beginning with the ancient Sanskrit) is referred to by two distinct terms, varna and jati. Varna, literally ‘colour’, is the name given to a four-fold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishyaand shudra, though this excludes a significant section of the population composed of the ‘outcastes’, foreigners, slaves, conquered peoples and others, sometimes  refered to as the panchamas or fifth category.

scientific socialism

•         Marx was not saying that capitalism would collapse because it was immoral or because it was inefficient.

•         He was saying that capitalism would collapse because of the unalterable rules of social change that invariably destroy economic systems marked by class inequality.

•         This is why another name for dialectical materialism is scientific socialism.

capitalism by karl marx

•         Marx argued that a new form of class inequality, called capitalism, characterized the society at the time of his writing.

•         His theory implied that there would have to be a revolution that would destroy capitalism.

•         The eventual replacement would be communism.

•         Communism would create a classless society and, therefore, it would be the final and permanent state of society.

National Assembly in 1789

The National Assembly was created on the 17th of June in 1789. The Third Estate of the Estate-general  declared itself to be the body most truly representative of the nation. This development became permanent when the King was forced to return to Paris from Versailles in October of 1789. He then became a prisoner of the Assembly and the people of Paris. The Assembly called itself the Constituent Assembly from the 9th of July, 1789, onwards.

   The Church was the Catholic Church in France. This was decreed by King Henry IV in 1598. In certain areas of northern France, whole villages sat upon Church land and were indebted to the clergy for the land's use. Taxes collected for the use of such land amounted to more then 150 million livre per year. The converstion factor is one livre to $4.50 current American dollars.

   Besides having such enormous wealth at its disposal, the Church controlled all schools in France and held an absolute right of censorship of all printed material. The church's records of births, burials, and marriages were the most esteemed official documents in the nation, the highest authority when inheritance and titles of nobility had to be validated.

characteristics of social change

1. social change is a universal phenomenon.
2. social change is community change. 
3. social change is uniform
4. social change is affected by and related to time factor.
5. social change is chain reaction 
6. social change results from interaction with number of factors.
7. social change is chiefly modification or replacement. 

Sociology of Religion

 The external courses of religious behavior are so diverse that an understanding of this behavior can only be achieved from the viewpoint of the subjective experiences, notion, and purposes of the individuals concerned--in short, from the viewpoint of the religious behavior's "meaning."

A power thought by analogy to human possessed by a soul may be coerced into the service of human, just as the naturalistic "power" of a spirit could be coerced. Whoever possesses charisma for employing the proper means is stronger even than the god, whom he can coerce to do his desire. In these cases, religious behavior is not "worshipping the god" but rather "coercing the god," and invocation is not prayer but magical formulae. Such is one ineradicable basis of popular religion, particularly in India. Indeed, such magical coercion is universally diffused, and even the Catholic priest continues to practice something of this magical power in executing the miracle of the mass and in exercising the power of the keys. By and large this is the origin, though not exclusive, of the orgiastic and imitative components of the religious cult especially of song, dance, drama, and the typical fixed formulae of prayer.
Humanization of the god, by analogy of the human behavior, may also take the form of a mighty terrestrial lord, whose discretionary favor can be obtained by entreaty, gifts, service, tributes, adulation, and bribes. Or god's favor may be earned as a consequence of the obedient attitude conformed with the his will. In these ways, the gods are conceived by analogy to earthly rulers: mighty beings whose power differs only in degree, at least at first. As this type of god develops, the concept of "worship" comes to be necessary.

Ways of acquiring mates

According to Majumdar and Madan there are 8 different ways of acquiring mates

Probationary marriage

•In this type of marriage, the prospective spouse  meet each other before their marriage. The boy stays at the sweetheart’s house and they are allowed to stay together. During this period, if the girl conceives, responsibility is to be borne by the man. However, if they are not compatible with each other and the marriage is not solemnized, then the boy have to pay a compensation to the girl’s parents