SOCIOLOGY NOTES for jkpsc jail superintendent exam

 

SOCIOLOGY NOTES

🔹 1. Social Structure

• Definition: The organized pattern of social relationships and institutions that make up society.

• Key Institutions:

  • Family: Primary agent of socialization.

  • Education: Transmits knowledge, values, and culture.

  • Religion: Provides moral guidance and social cohesion.

  • Economy: Regulates production and distribution of resources.

  • Politics: Maintains order and enforces laws.

• Importance: Influences individual behavior and societal stability.

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🔹 2. Social Control

• Definition: Mechanisms a society uses to ensure conformity to norms.

• Types:

  • Formal Control:

    • Enforced by institutions like police, courts, and laws.

    • Examples: Arrests, fines, imprisonment.

  • Informal Control:

    • Based on norms, traditions, values.

    • Enforced by family, peers, and community.

    • Examples: Praise, gossip, ostracism.

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🔹 3. Deviance

• Definition: Behavior that violates social norms.

• Types:

  • Positive deviance: Acts like whistleblowing or social reform.

  • Negative deviance: Crime, substance abuse, etc.

• Theories:

  • Functionalist (Durkheim): Deviance is necessary to define norms.

  • Strain Theory (Merton): Deviance arises when means are lacking to achieve goals.

  • Labeling Theory: Deviance is the result of society labeling behavior as such.

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✅ MCQ QUESTIONS

🧠 Social Structure

1. Which of the following is not a primary institution of social structure?
   a) Family
   b) Education
   c) Media
   d) Religion
   ✅ Answer: c) Media

2. The primary agent of socialization is:
   a) School
   b) Government
   c) Family
   d) Religion
   ✅ Answer: c) Family

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🧠 Social Control

3. Informal social control is mainly exercised by:
   a) Police
   b) Judiciary
   c) Family and peers
   d) Parliament
   ✅ Answer: c) Family and peers

4. A court imposing a fine on a citizen is an example of:
   a) Informal sanction
   b) Formal social control
   c) Deviance
   d) Community justice
   ✅ Answer: b) Formal social control

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🧠 Deviance

5. According to Emile Durkheim, deviance is:
   a) Abnormal and must be eliminated
   b) Useful and helps define moral boundaries
   c) Rare in modern society
   d) A result of capitalism
   ✅ Answer: b) Useful and helps define moral boundaries

6. The theory which explains deviance as a result of blocked goals is:
   a) Conflict theory
   b) Labeling theory
   c) Strain theory
   d) Structural-functionalism
   ✅ Answer: c) Strain theory

7. Labelling theory is associated with which sociological perspective?
   a) Conflict
   b) Functionalist
   c) Symbolic Interactionist
   d) Feminist
   ✅ Answer: c) Symbolic Interactionist

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