Sociology for Business (old course)

Ethnicity is a shared cultural identity of a group based on common ancestry, language, religion, customs and history, which distinguishes it from other groups. Members believe in, and are recognised by others for, this common origin.

Mass media (newspapers, radio, television, films, the internet and social media) are among the strongest agents of social change.

Roles of media in social change

• Spreading information and awareness: about health, sanitation, rights, elections, disasters and development, which changes attitudes and practices.
• Education: radio and TV educational programmes, e-learning and online resources reach remote areas.
• Changing values and attitudes: media challenge superstition, untouchability, child marriage, dowry and gender discrimination.
• Political change: media informed people during the 1990 and 2006 movements, support democracy, expose corruption and act as a watchdog.
• Economic change: advertising spreads new products and consumption habits, and creates jobs and markets.
• Cultural change: they spread new fashions, languages and lifestyles; this helps cultural exchange but may also cause westernisation and weaken local culture.
• Social integration: national and community radio and TV link distant groups and give voice to marginalised communities.
• Social movements: social media help mobilise people quickly (for example campaigns for relief and rights).

Negative effects. Misinformation, violence, consumerism, loss of tradition and the gap between those with and without access (digital divide).

In conclusion, media are a powerful and double-edged force for social change; their responsible use speeds up modernisation and development.

Concept of gender relationship. Sex is the biological difference between male and female, whereas gender is the socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours and expectations attached to being a man or a woman. Gender relationship means the way in which men and women interact, share power, resources, work and decision-making in the family and society. In most societies it has been unequal, with male dominance (patriarchy) giving women lower status. Gender roles are learned through socialization in family, school, religion and media, and so they can change.

Position of women in society (Nepal)

Traditional position

• Patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal society; sons preferred, daughters seen as "paraya dhan."
• Limited property rights, early marriage, dowry, polygamy, chhaupadi, witchcraft accusations, and domestic violence.
• Lower literacy and school enrolment, heavy workload at home and farm, little say in decisions.

Changing position

• Legal reforms: equal property right (Muluki Ain amendment 2002, Eleventh Amendment), abortion legalised (2002), ban on dowry and chhaupadi, laws against domestic violence and trafficking.
• Constitution of 2015 guarantees women's rights and at least 33% representation in the federal parliament; Nepal has had a woman President and Speaker.
• Rise in female education, employment, foreign employment, and participation in civil service, police, army and business.
• NGOs, women's groups, micro-credit and community forestry groups have empowered women.

Persisting problems: gender-based violence, wage gaps, lack of control over land, low participation in decision-making in many rural and marginalised communities, especially Dalit and Madhesi women.

Greater education, awareness and the effective enforcement of laws are needed to ensure gender equality.

Media (print, radio, TV, film, internet and social media) and information technology are major forces in social change.

Roles

• Awareness and education: informing people about health, hygiene, rights, farming and government services; distance and online learning.
• Attitudinal change: campaigns against caste discrimination, dowry, child marriage and gender inequality change values and behaviour.
• Political change: media informed and mobilised the public during the 1990 and 2006 movements and in elections, and expose corruption.
• Economic change: ICT promotes e-commerce, banking, mobile money, remittance transfer, new jobs and market information for farmers.
• Cultural change: global exposure introduces new lifestyles, dress, language and music; this may lead to cultural exchange and westernisation, though it can erode traditions.
• Social integration and voice: community radio and online platforms give a voice to marginalised and remote groups.
• Disaster response: quick information and relief mobilisation (as after the 2015 earthquake).

Problems: fake news, privacy loss, cyber crime, commercialisation, violence and the digital divide between urban and rural, rich and poor.

In summary, media and information accelerate modernisation, democracy and development, and should be used responsibly.

Gender relationship. Gender refers to the social and cultural roles, expectations and relative status given to men and women, as distinct from biological sex. Gender relationship is how the two interact and share power, work, resources and decisions in family and society. In patriarchal societies it is unequal in favour of men.

Position of women in Nepali society

Traditional position

• Patriarchal and patrilocal society; sons preferred; women dependent on father, husband and son.
• Child marriage, dowry, polygamy, chhaupadi, and witchcraft (boksi) accusations.
• Low literacy, heavy household and farm work, little property and decision-making power.
• Trafficking and domestic violence.

Present trends

• Legal rights: equal property rights (2002 amendment), legal abortion, laws on domestic violence, dowry and trafficking.
• The Constitution of 2015 guarantees equal rights and a minimum of 33% representation of women in parliament; Nepal elected a woman President (Bidya Devi Bhandari) and a woman Chief Justice.
• Growing female literacy, employment, and participation in politics, civil service, security forces and business.
• Women's organisations, micro-finance and community forestry groups empower them.

Problems that remain: gender violence, unequal wages, lack of land ownership, low status of Dalit, Madhesi and rural women, and son preference.

Further education, effective law enforcement and attitudinal change are needed to achieve gender equality.

Definition. Sociology is the scientific study of society, social relationships, social institutions and human behaviour in groups. The term was coined by Auguste Comte (1839) from the Latin socius (companion) and the Greek logos (study). Giddings: "Sociology is the scientific study of social phenomena." Ginsberg: "Sociology is the study of society, that is, of the web of social relationships."

Scope of sociology

There are two main views.

(a) Specialistic or formalistic school (Simmel, Tonnies, Weber, Vierkandt). Sociology is a pure and independent science that studies only the forms of social relationships (co-operation, conflict, competition, domination), not their content. This keeps it distinct from other social sciences.

(b) Synthetic school (Durkheim, Hobhouse, Sorokin). Sociology is a general science that synthesises the findings of all social sciences into a whole, because all parts of social life are interconnected.

Main areas of study

• Social structure: groups, institutions, status, role, norms and values.
• Social processes: co-operation, competition, conflict, accommodation, assimilation.
• Social institutions: family, marriage, religion, economy, polity, education.
• Culture and socialization: how the individual learns and takes part in society.
• Social stratification and mobility: class, caste, inequality.
• Social change, social problems (poverty, crime, population) and social research.

Thus sociology studies society in its entirety and in its parts, and its scope keeps widening with new fields such as urban, rural, industrial and environmental sociology.

Meaning. Assimilation is a social process in which individuals or groups with different cultures gradually give up their separate identities and merge into a common culture by sharing attitudes, values and practices. Park and Burgess: it is "a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments and attitudes of other persons or groups and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life."

Characteristics

• It is slow and gradual, and usually unconscious.
• It is a two-way process, though the weaker group usually changes more.
• It needs close, continuous contact, tolerance and similarity of some traits.
• Intermarriage, common language and shared institutions speed it up.

In the Nepalese context

• Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country (over 120 caste and ethnic groups). Over centuries hill Brahmin-Chhetri culture, the Nepali language and Hindu practices spread to other groups, and many Janajati groups adopted Nepali as a common language.
• Hindus and Buddhists share festivals and temples (for example Swayambhu, Pashupati, Lumbini), and Newar, Gurung, Tamang and other communities share each other's festivals such as Dashain and Tihar.
• Intermarriage, migration to Kathmandu and the Tarai, the education system, mass media and national symbols (flag, anthem, monarchy in the past) encouraged national integration.
• However, assimilation has also been resisted: many ethnic groups feel their language and culture were suppressed and demand identity, language rights and federalism. So Nepal shows both assimilation and cultural pluralism.

Assimilation thus helped build a national identity, but it works best when it is voluntary and respects diversity.

Caste system. Caste is a hereditary, endogamous social group with a fixed rank in a hierarchy, a traditional occupation, and rules of food, touch and marriage. Membership is by birth. Cooley: "When a class is somewhat strictly hereditary, we may call it a caste." In Nepal the Muluki Ain (1854) legally organised castes into a hierarchy (Tagadhari, Matwali, Pani nachalne chhoi chhito halnu parne, Pani nachalne chhoi chhito halnu napar ne).

Features of caste: birth-based membership, hierarchy, endogamy, hereditary occupation, restrictions on food and social contact (purity and pollution), and a rigid, closed system.

Differences between caste and class

Family. The family is a primary social group of persons related by marriage, blood or adoption, who usually live together, share economic resources and raise children. MacIver: "The family is a group defined by a sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the procreation and upbringing of children."

Types of family

On the basis of structure

• Nuclear family: husband, wife and unmarried children.
• Joint (extended) family: several generations or married brothers with their families live together with a common kitchen and property.

On the basis of marriage

• Monogamous: one husband and one wife.
• Polygamous: polygyny (one husband, many wives) or polyandry (one wife, many husbands).

On the basis of authority

• Patriarchal: father holds authority.
• Matriarchal: mother holds authority.

On the basis of residence and descent

• Patrilocal, matrilocal, neolocal; patrilineal and matrilineal.

On the basis of blood

• Conjugal (marriage-based) and consanguineal (blood-based) families.

Functions of family

• Biological: satisfies sexual needs and gives legitimate procreation, continuing society.
• Socialization: teaches language, values and norms to children; it is the first agent of socialization.
• Economic: production, consumption, inheritance of property and division of labour.
• Protection and care: of children, old, sick and disabled.
• Educational and cultural: transmits culture, religion and traditions.
• Emotional: love, affection and security.
• Status giving: gives the child its caste, religion and social position.
• Social control: regulates the behaviour of members.

Today some functions (education, recreation, economic production) have been taken over by schools, markets and the state, but the family remains the basic social unit.

(a) Society

Society is a web of social relationships among people who share a territory and a culture. MacIver and Page: "Society is a system of usages and procedures, of authority and mutual aid, of many groupings and divisions, of controls of human behaviour and of liberties." Its basic components are people, social relationships, a common territory, culture, and interdependence and likeness. It is abstract, dynamic, and involves both co-operation and conflict. Examples include Nepali society and rural society.

(b) Norms

Norms are the rules and expectations that guide how people should behave in a society. They are of two main types: folkways (customs and everyday conventions, mild punishment for breaking, such as ridicule) and mores (strong norms of morality, severe punishment, such as taboos). When norms are written and enforced by the state they become laws. Norms make behaviour predictable, maintain order and social control, and are learned through socialization. They differ from place to place and change over time.

Or, Ethnicity

Ethnicity is the sense of belonging to a group that shares a common ancestry, language, religion, customs and history. An ethnic group is aware of its separate identity. Nepal has many ethnic groups (Tharu, Gurung, Magar, Newar, Rai, Limbu, Tamang and others), each with its own language and culture. Ethnicity gives identity and solidarity, but may also lead to conflict, discrimination and demands for rights and autonomy.

Definition. Sociology is the scientific study of society, social relationships, institutions and group behaviour. The word was coined by Auguste Comte in 1839 (Latin socius, Greek logos).

Historical development

1. Early social thought. Ideas about society appear in ancient thinkers: Plato and Aristotle in Greece, Kautilya's Arthashastra and Manu's code in India, and Ibn Khaldun (14th century) who studied the rise and fall of societies.

2. Background to emergence. Three revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries gave rise to sociology: the Enlightenment (reason and science applied to society), the French Revolution (social upheaval and change of order) and the Industrial Revolution (urbanisation, factories, class conflict, poverty). Thinkers sought a scientific explanation of these changes.

3. Founders

• Auguste Comte (1798-1857): "father of sociology"; proposed the law of three stages (theological, metaphysical, positive), and social statics and dynamics.
• Herbert Spencer: evolution of society, organic analogy, "survival of the fittest."
• Karl Marx: class struggle and economic base of society.
• Emile Durkheim: social facts, division of labour, study of suicide; made sociology an academic discipline.
• Max Weber: social action, verstehen, Protestant ethic and bureaucracy.

4. 20th century. Sociology spread to the USA (Chicago School, Parsons' functionalism, Merton), and developed theories of conflict, symbolic interactionism, feminism and others. In India, scholars such as G. S. Ghurye, M. N. Srinivas and A. R. Desai, and in Nepal scholars such as Dor Bahadur Bista, developed the study of local society.

Today sociology is a diverse discipline with many fields and research methods.

Definition. Religion is a system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, the supernatural or ultimate reality, which unites believers into a moral community. Durkheim: "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things... which unite into one single moral community called a church all those who adhere to them."

Role (functions) of religion in social life

• Social cohesion: shared beliefs and rituals bring people together and strengthen group solidarity.
• Social control: religion supports norms and morality through fear of sin and hope of reward.
• Meaning and comfort: explains birth, suffering and death, and gives psychological support in crisis.
• Socialization: teaches values such as honesty, charity and non-violence.
• Social change: may encourage change (Weber's Protestant ethic) but also resist it.
• Dysfunctions: can cause conflict, communalism, superstition and discrimination (for example caste based on religion).

With reference to Nepal

• Nepal is a secular state (since 2006/2007) with Hindus forming the majority (about 81%), followed by Buddhists, Muslims, Kirats, Christians and others.
• Festivals such as Dashain, Tihar, Buddha Jayanti, Eid, Christmas and Chhath are national events and promote social unity and harmony.
• Temples like Pashupatinath and sites like Lumbini attract pilgrims and tourists, and support the economy.
• Religion shapes life-cycle rituals (birth, marriage, death), the family and the caste system.
• Religious harmony is a feature, though conversion issues and discrimination sometimes cause tension.

Religion therefore continues to have a strong influence on Nepalese social, cultural and political life.

Sanskritisation. Coined by M. N. Srinivas, it is the process by which a lower caste or tribe changes its customs, rituals, beliefs and way of life in the direction of a higher caste, usually the twice-born (Brahmin or Kshatriya) castes, in the hope of a higher status.

Westernisation. Also used by Srinivas, it means the changes brought about in a society through contact with Western culture: technology, institutions, ideas, dress, education, language and values.

Differences

In Nepalese society

• Sanskritisation: the Muluki Ain and the state's Hindu orientation encouraged many Janajati and Dalit groups to adopt Hindu rituals, wear the sacred thread (janai), give up beef or pork, adopt Sanskrit names and celebrate Dashain. Magar, Tharu and Newar groups have all been affected.
• Westernisation: after the 1950 opening of the country, Western education, English-medium schools, media, tourism, foreign employment and the internet spread Western dress, music, food, nuclear families, individualism and more liberal attitudes, mainly in urban areas such as Kathmandu.
• Both processes operate at the same time. Together they cause cultural change, but also raise concerns about the loss of indigenous ethnic cultures, which has led to revival movements.

Social research. Social research is the systematic, scientific investigation of social phenomena to discover new facts or test existing ideas about society. Young: "Social research is a scientific undertaking which by means of logical and systematised techniques aims to discover new facts or verify old facts, analyse their sequences, interrelationships and causal explanations."

Steps: selecting and defining the problem, review of literature, formulating hypotheses, research design, sampling, data collection, data analysis, interpretation and report writing.

Sampling as a method

Sampling is the process of selecting a small, representative part (sample) of the whole population (universe) for study, and generalising the results to the whole. It saves time, money and labour, and is used when the population is large.

Basic terms: population/universe, sampling unit, sampling frame, sample size.

Types

• Probability (random) sampling – every unit has a known chance of selection:
• Simple random sampling (lottery or random numbers)
• Systematic sampling (every $k$-th unit)
• Stratified sampling (population divided into strata, then random samples from each)
• Cluster sampling (random selection of groups)
• Non-probability sampling – selection is by judgement or convenience:
• Purposive (judgement), quota, convenience and snowball sampling

Merits: economical, faster, wide scope, and often more accurate because fewer errors in data handling.

Limitations: possibility of sampling error and bias, a biased sample may mislead, and a representative sample is difficult for small or very varied populations.

A good sample must be representative, adequate in size and free of bias.

(a) Culture and its universal features

Culture is the complex whole of knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and other habits acquired by man as a member of society (E. B. Tylor). Universal features:

• It is learned, not inherited biologically.
• It is shared by members of a society.
• It is transmitted from generation to generation, through language and symbols.
• It is cumulative and changes over time.
• It satisfies human needs and is integrated, with its parts connected.
• It varies from society to society, while every society has some culture, language, family, religion and norms.

(b) Agents of socialization

Socialization is the process of learning the norms, values and skills needed for social life. The agents are:

• Family: the first and most important agent; teaches language, habits and values.
• Peer group: teaches equality, co-operation and group norms.
• School: formal education, discipline, and national values.
• Religion: morality and rituals.
• Mass media: information, attitudes and lifestyles.
• Others: workplace, state, political parties.

(c) Mass media and social change

Mass media (press, radio, TV, film, internet) spread information and new ideas rapidly. They raise awareness on health, education and rights, challenge harmful traditions, help political participation, promote modernisation and consumption, and link communities. They can also spread misinformation, violence and foreign culture, weakening local traditions.

Meaning. Sociology is the scientific study of human society, social relationships, institutions and group behaviour. It was named by Auguste Comte (1839). Durkheim defined it as the science of social facts, and Giddings as the scientific study of social phenomena.

Nature of sociology

1. It is a science (empirical): It uses observation, interviews, surveys and experiments, and bases conclusions on evidence, not speculation. It is objective, and builds theories that can be tested, although human behaviour limits exact prediction.
2. It is a social science, not a natural science: it studies human beings and society, not physical objects.
3. It is a pure rather than applied science: its aim is to gain knowledge of society. The knowledge may be applied, but it does not itself prescribe what ought to be done.
4. It is abstract rather than concrete: it deals with general types of social relationships (for example conflict, co-operation) and not with a particular event.
5. It is a generalising, not particularising, science: it seeks general laws of social behaviour, not unique events (unlike history).
6. It is a categorical, not normative, science: it states what is, not what ought to be; it does not judge morality.
7. It is a theoretical and rational science: it relies on reason and logic and develops theories.
8. It is a general science: it studies society as a whole and is the basis for specialised social sciences, such as economics and political science.
9. It is a relatively young and interdisciplinary science, closely linked with anthropology, psychology, history, economics and political science.

Thus, sociology is an empirical, theoretical, abstract and generalising social science.

Socialization. Socialization is the lifelong process through which an individual learns the language, norms, values, roles and skills of his or her society and becomes a social being. Ogburn: "Socialization is the process by which the individual learns to conform to the norms of the group."

Agencies of socialization

1. Family: The most important and first agent. Through parental love, care and example, the child learns language, habits, manners, religion and basic values. Early personality is formed here.

2. Peer group: Friends of similar age give equality, co-operation, and independence from adults. They teach norms of dress, speech and behaviour.

3. School: Formal agency, teaching knowledge, discipline, punctuality, citizenship and national culture; the "hidden curriculum" teaches obedience and competition.

4. Religion: Teaches moral values, rituals and the difference between right and wrong, and strengthens social control.

5. Mass media: Newspapers, radio, TV, films and the internet shape attitudes, tastes, gender roles and political views.

6. Occupational group or workplace: Teaches work discipline and professional norms (anticipatory and adult socialization).

7. Other agencies: State and laws, political parties, community, clubs, neighbours and relatives.

Socialization by these agencies helps transmit culture, develop the self and personality, and prepare the individual for social roles. Conflict among agencies (for example family versus media) may cause confusion for the young.

Class system. A social class is a group of people having a similar economic position, standard of living, education, occupation and life chances, and who are aware of their position. Class is based mainly on achievement (wealth, income, occupation) rather than birth. Marx divided society into the bourgeoisie (owners) and proletariat (workers); Weber added status and power. The usual three-fold division is upper, middle and lower class.

Features of class: economic basis, open mobility, achieved status, class consciousness, and a sense of superiority or inferiority.

Differences between caste and class

Social research. Social research is the systematic, scientific study of social phenomena in order to discover new facts or verify existing ones, using logical and organised methods. It follows steps such as problem selection, hypothesis, design, sampling, data collection, analysis and reporting.

Interview as a tool of social research

An interview is a face-to-face (or telephone or online) conversation between the researcher (interviewer) and the respondent, in which the researcher asks questions to collect information.

Types

• Structured interview: fixed questions in fixed order (schedule).
• Unstructured interview: open and flexible; the conversation goes freely.
• Semi-structured interview: a guide with some flexibility.
• Focus group and in-depth interviews.

Procedure: preparing the schedule, selecting respondents, building rapport, asking questions, recording answers, and checking the data.

Merits

• Useful for illiterate people, since no writing is required.
• Higher response rate than a mailed questionnaire.
• Allows probing, clarifying questions and observing expressions and behaviour.
• Flexible, and gives depth of information.

Limitations

• Expensive and time-consuming.
• Interviewer bias and respondents' reluctance on sensitive subjects.
• Difficult with widely scattered samples.
• Needs trained interviewers.

A good interviewer should be neutral, patient and well prepared, and should keep information confidential.

(a) Social groups

A social group is a collection of two or more people who interact regularly, share common interests or goals, and are aware of belonging together. Features: mutual awareness, common interest, group norms, "we-feeling". Types: primary groups (family, friends; close, face-to-face; Cooley) and secondary groups (political party, company; formal, impersonal); also in-groups and out-groups (Sumner), and reference groups. Groups socialize the individual and meet needs.

(b) Economic system

An economic system is the way a society organises the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. The main types are:

• Traditional (subsistence, custom-based),
• Capitalist (private property, market, profit),
• Socialist (state ownership and planning),
• Mixed (private and public sectors together). Nepal has a mixed economy, with agriculture as its base and remittance as an important source of income. The economic system affects the family, class structure and values.

(c) Westernisation

Westernisation is the change in a society due to contact with Western culture: technology, education, dress, language, institutions and values (term used by M. N. Srinivas). It brings rationalism, secularism, individualism, science and modern lifestyle; it may also weaken traditional culture and promote consumerism. In Nepal it spreads through English education, media, tourism and foreign employment.

Three arguments:

1. Sociology uses the scientific method: observation, hypothesis, data collection and testing.
2. Its conclusions are based on empirical evidence, such as surveys and case studies, and not on belief.
3. It is objective and aims at finding general patterns and causal relations in social behaviour, which can be verified by other researchers.

Four features of culture:

1. It is learned, not biologically inherited.
2. It is shared by members of a society.
3. It is transmitted from one generation to the next.
4. It is cumulative and changes with time (it is also varied from society to society).

The basic components of society are: a group of people (population), social relationships and interaction among them, a common territory, a shared culture (norms, values, customs), and interdependence with a sense of belonging (we-feeling).

Social mobility is the movement of individuals or groups from one social position to another. Its main types are:

• Vertical mobility: movement up (upward) or down (downward) in status, for example a clerk becoming an officer.
• Horizontal mobility: movement from one position to another of the same level, such as changing jobs of equal rank.
• Intergenerational mobility: change of status between parents and children.
• Intragenerational mobility: change during one person's lifetime.

The two fundamental elements of a community are:

1. Community sentiment (we-feeling): the sense of belonging and common interests.
2. Locality (a definite territory): the geographical area in which the people live.

The three basic units of a sample are: the population (universe) from which it is drawn, the sampling unit (the individual element or group selected), and the sampling frame (the list of all units from which the sample is chosen), all of which determine the sample size.

Poverty is a condition in which a person or family lacks the income and resources needed for basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, health care and education. In Nepal it is measured against a national poverty line, and in international terms as living on less than a fixed daily amount of income per person (for example USD 2.15 per day).

The term "Sanskritisation" was coined by the Indian sociologist M. N. Srinivas. It replaced the term "Brahmanisation" used earlier.

Westernisation is the process of change in a society resulting from contact with Western culture, in which people adopt Western technology, education, dress, language, institutions and values such as rationalism, individualism and secularism. The term was used by M. N. Srinivas for British influence in India.

1. In assimilation the groups fuse completely and the minority loses its separate cultural identity, whereas in acculturation the groups exchange cultural traits but each retains its own identity.
2. Assimilation is a final, long-term stage and is mostly complete, while acculturation is a process of cultural borrowing that may stop at any stage and is faster and partial.

Sociology. Sociology is the scientific study of society, social relationships, institutions and human group behaviour. The word was coined by Auguste Comte in 1839.

Brief history

• Early thought: Plato, Aristotle, Kautilya, Manu and Ibn Khaldun discussed social order and society.
• Comte (1798-1857): gave sociology its name and its positivist method, with the law of three stages and social statics and dynamics.
• Spencer: social evolution and the organic analogy.
• Marx: class conflict and the economic basis of society.
• Durkheim: social facts, division of labour, suicide study; made sociology an academic discipline (first chair at Bordeaux, 1887).
• Weber: social action, verstehen, bureaucracy and religion.
• 20th century: the Chicago School and Parsons, Merton in the USA, new theories (conflict, interactionism, feminism) and expansion to Asia, including India and Nepal.

Factors contributing to its emergence

1. Enlightenment: faith in reason and the application of the scientific method to society.
2. French Revolution (1789): social and political upheaval that raised questions about social order and change.
3. Industrial Revolution: factories, urbanisation, migration, poverty, slums and class conflict needed a scientific study.
4. Growth of natural sciences: success of science encouraged similar study of society.
5. Rise of capitalism and colonial contact: exposed thinkers to varied cultures, and created interest in comparing societies.
6. Growth of social surveys and reform movements, which supplied facts about social problems.

Sampling. Sampling is the process of selecting a small but representative portion (sample) of a population (universe) for study and drawing conclusions about the whole. It saves cost and time. Main methods: probability sampling (simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster) and non-probability sampling (purposive, quota, convenience, snowball). Its basic units are the population, the sampling unit and the sampling frame.

Interview and questionnaire

An interview is an oral, usually face-to-face, exchange in which the researcher asks questions and records the replies. A questionnaire is a written set of questions sent to or handed to respondents, who fill in answers themselves.

Mass media include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, films, the internet and social media. They reach large audiences quickly and strongly affect society and culture.

In social change

• Spread awareness on education, health, rights and democracy.
• Challenge superstition, caste and gender discrimination, dowry and child marriage.
• Play a watchdog role, expose corruption and mobilise people for political change (1990 and 2006 movements).
• Provide a platform for marginalised groups through community radio and online media.
• Help development by spreading new technology, farming methods and market information.

In cultural change

• Spread new fashions, music, language, food and lifestyles; encourage cultural exchange and globalisation.
• Preserve and promote local culture and languages through programmes, films and festivals.
• Cause westernisation, consumerism and the weakening of traditional values, particularly among youth.
• Create a shared national culture and sense of identity.

Negative effects: fake news, violence, commercialisation, loss of privacy and the digital divide.

Mass media are thus powerful agents of both social and cultural change, with positive and negative effects, and need responsible regulation and use.

Social stratification. Social stratification is the division of society into a hierarchy of layers (strata) of unequal rank, power, wealth and prestige, which persists across generations. Sorokin: it is "the differentiation of a given population into hierarchically superposed classes." Its main forms are caste, class, estate and slavery. It is universal, social, ancient, diverse in form, and consequential (affects life chances).

Caste system of Nepal

• Caste in Nepal is a hereditary, endogamous, hierarchical order based on Hindu ideas of purity and pollution, with traditional occupations.
• Muluki Ain of 1854 (Jung Bahadur Rana) gave it legal form, dividing the population into four main groups:

1. Tagadhari (wearers of the sacred thread): Brahmin, Chhetri, and some Newars and Madhesi castes.
2. Matwali (liquor-drinking): Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Tamang and others.
3. Pani nachalne, chhoi chhito halnu naparne: touchable "impure" castes such as Muslims and Europeans.
4. Pani nachalne, chhoi chhito halnu parne: untouchables (Kami, Damai, Sarki and others, now called Dalits).

• Each caste had its own occupation, marriage rules, and rules of food and touch.
• The system also exists among Newars (e.g., Shrestha, Jyapu) and Madhesi groups.

Present situation: The Muluki Ain of 1963 abolished legal caste discrimination, and the Constitution of 2015 and the 2011 Caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability Act made untouchability a crime. However, discrimination persists in practice in rural areas, in access to temples, water and jobs. Education, urbanisation, reservations and movements for Dalit and Janajati rights are slowly reducing it.

(a) Culture

Culture is the total way of life of a society, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and skills acquired by members (Tylor). It has material culture (tools, buildings) and non-material culture (values, norms, language). It is learned, shared, transmitted, cumulative, and adaptive, and it varies among societies. It gives identity and guides behaviour.

(b) Nuclear and joint family

A nuclear family consists of husband, wife and their unmarried children. It is small, independent and common in urban and industrial areas. Merits: privacy, freedom, quick decisions; demerits: less security for the old and sick, and heavy burden on the couple.

A joint family includes several generations or married brothers with their wives and children who live together, share a kitchen and property, and are under the authority of the eldest male. It is common in rural Nepal and India. Merits: economic security, care of the elderly, shared work; demerits: conflicts, lack of privacy, dominance of elders and discouragement of individual initiative. Industrialisation, migration and education are shifting society towards nuclear families.

(c) Economic system

An economic system is how a society organises the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Types: traditional, capitalist (private ownership, market), socialist (state ownership and planning) and mixed. Nepal has a mixed economy based mainly on agriculture, remittance and services. It shapes the class structure, employment, family and social relations.

Four points supporting sociology as a science:

1. It uses the scientific method: observation, hypothesis, data collection and testing.
2. Its conclusions are based on empirical (verifiable) evidence.
3. It is objective and aims at cause-and-effect relations and general laws of social behaviour.
4. Its findings can be tested, repeated and revised by other researchers (it is cumulative and theory-building).

Competition is a peaceful, impersonal struggle for scarce goals that follows rules, while conflict is a hostile struggle aimed at harming the opponent, and competition may turn into conflict when rules are broken or rivals become personal enemies.

The steps of social research are:

1. Selection and formulation of the problem
2. Review of literature
3. Formulation of hypothesis
4. Research design
5. Sampling
6. Data collection
7. Data processing and analysis
8. Interpretation and testing of hypothesis
9. Report writing

Natures of a community:

• A group of people living in a definite territory (locality).
• Community sentiment or "we-feeling", a sense of belonging.
• Common life, with shared customs and culture.
• It is natural, spontaneous and not deliberately created.
• It has a permanent character and general ends (not a single specific purpose).
• It is concrete and can be of any size, from a village to a nation.

Three reasons why norms are not always obeyed:

1. Weak socialization: some people have not fully learned or accepted the norms.
2. Conflict of norms or roles: norms of different groups (family, peer, religion) may contradict one another, so following one means breaking another.
3. Weak social control and personal motives: where punishment is weak or absent, or when self-interest, deprivation or social change makes norms seem unfair, people deviate.

Gender refers to the socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours, expectations and identities that a society assigns to men and women, as distinct from biological sex.

Assimilation is the process by which a minority or immigrant group gradually adopts the culture of the dominant group and loses its own distinct identity.

Acculturation is the process of cultural change that occurs when two cultures come into continuous contact, so that one or both borrow traits from the other while still retaining much of their own culture.

Social change is the alteration over time in the patterns of social relationships, institutions, norms, values and structure of a society, for example the change from joint to nuclear families or from agrarian to industrial life.

• It converts raw data into meaningful information that answers the research questions.
• It helps in testing hypotheses and drawing valid conclusions and generalizations.
• It supports decision-making, planning and policy formulation by revealing patterns, trends and relationships.

Cultural diversity is the existence of many different cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, each with its own customs, values and ways of life, within one society or country, as in Nepal.

Meaning of sociology

Sociology is the systematic and scientific study of human society, social relationships, social groups, institutions and social behaviour. The term was coined by Auguste Comte in 1838 from the Latin socius (companion) and the Greek logos (study). Giddings defines it as the scientific study of society; Durkheim called it the study of social facts; Max Weber described it as the science of interpretive understanding of social action.

Nature of sociology

1. Sociology is a science. It follows scientific methods such as observation, survey, interview and comparison, collects empirical data, and tests its generalizations. For example, a survey of unemployment among youth gives verifiable findings. However, since human behaviour is complex, its precision is less than that of natural sciences.

2. Sociology is a social science, not a natural science. It studies human beings in society, not physical objects. It is concerned with social relationships, not with matter.

3. Sociology is an abstract, not a concrete, science. It deals with abstract concepts such as role, status, norms, culture and social control rather than concrete individuals or specific events.

4. Sociology is a pure science rather than an applied science. Its primary aim is to build knowledge about society and develop theory, not to give ready solutions, although its findings are used in planning, management and social work.

5. Sociology is a generalizing, not a particularizing, science. It tries to draw general laws about social behaviour, such as the general effect of urbanization on family size, instead of describing one unique event.

6. Sociology is an empirical and theoretical science. It relies on observed facts but also builds theories, such as functionalism and conflict theory, to explain them.

7. Sociology is a categorical, not a normative, discipline. It tells what is, not what ought to be. It does not judge things as good or bad; it studies, for example, caste discrimination as it exists and why.

8. Sociology is objective. A sociologist should keep personal bias aside and study society with value-neutrality.

Conclusion: Sociology is thus an objective, empirical, generalizing and pure social science that studies society scientifically.

Both interview and observation are primary methods of data collection, but they differ in the way information is obtained.

Interview is a method in which the researcher asks questions face to face (or by phone) and the respondent answers orally. Observation is a method in which the researcher watches and records behaviour, events or situations as they occur, without necessarily asking questions.

Conclusion: Interview is best for learning views and reasons, observation for actual behaviour. Good research often combines the two to cross-check data.

Meaning of social stratification

Social stratification is the division of society into hierarchically ranked layers or strata, in which people are unequally placed in terms of power, prestige, wealth and opportunities. Sorokin described it as the differentiation of a population into hierarchically superposed classes. Its main forms are caste, class, estate and slavery. Its features are that it is universal, social, ancient, found in diverse forms, and has consequences for life chances.

Caste-based stratification in Nepalese society

Caste is a closed system of stratification where status is ascribed by birth and cannot be changed. In Nepal, the Hindu caste hierarchy was legally codified by the Muluki Ain of 1854 under Jung Bahadur Rana, which divided people into four main groups:

1. Tagadhari (wearers of the sacred thread): Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri and some others, at the top.
2. Matwali (alcohol drinkers, non-enslavable): Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Sherpa, Tamang and others.
3. Pani nachalne chhoi chhito halnu naparne (water-unacceptable but touchable): Newar sub-groups, Muslims, Europeans and others.
4. Pani nachalne chhoi chhito halnu parne (water-unacceptable and untouchable): the so-called Dalits such as Kami, Damai, Sarki, Gaine, Badi, Chyame.

Main characteristics in Nepal

• Hereditary status and occupation, such as Kami as blacksmiths, Damai as tailors and musicians, Sarki as leather workers.
• Endogamy: marriage restricted within the caste or sub-caste.
• Restrictions on food, water and physical contact; purity and pollution rules.
• Hierarchy with the Brahmin and Chhetri at the top, historically holding political and religious power.
• Economic and social disadvantage for Dalits: low land ownership, low literacy, poor access to services.

Present situation

Caste-based discrimination and untouchability were made a punishable crime by the Caste-Based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2068 BS, and the Constitution of Nepal 2072 guarantees the right against untouchability and provides for inclusion and reservation. Urbanization, education, migration and economic change are weakening rigid caste rules, but discrimination persists, especially in rural areas.

Conclusion: Caste in Nepal is a rigid, ascriptive form of stratification that has shaped access to resources and power, and is only slowly being reduced through law and social change.

Meaning of family

A family is a primary social group of persons related by marriage, blood or adoption, who usually live together, share economic resources and take responsibility for rearing children. MacIver defines it as a group defined by a sex relationship sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the procreation and upbringing of children. It is the most basic and universal social institution, performing functions of reproduction, socialization, economic support, emotional security and status giving.

Nuclear family consists of a married couple and their unmarried children. Joint family consists of several generations or married brothers with their wives and children living together under one roof, sharing a common kitchen and property under the authority of the eldest member.

Differences

Critical evaluation

The joint family gives economic security, emotional support and cultural continuity, but may suppress individual initiative, burden earning members and subordinate women. The nuclear family allows independence, privacy, equality and mobility, which suit industrial and urban life, but it can cause loneliness, weak care for the elderly and heavier stress on the couple. In Nepal, urbanization, migration and foreign employment are moving society from joint towards nuclear families, though many modified or extended forms remain.

Introduction

Functionalism (structural functionalism) is a macro-level sociological perspective which views society as a system of interrelated parts, such as family, education, economy, religion and polity, that work together to maintain stability and order. Its main thinkers are Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer (early), Emile Durkheim, and later Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton.

Basic assumptions

1. Society is like a living organism (organic analogy, Spencer): each part has a function for the survival of the whole.
2. Parts of society are interdependent; change in one affects the others.
3. Society tends toward equilibrium, order and stability.
4. Social order rests on consensus about shared norms and values.
5. Every social institution persists because it performs a function for society.

Contributions of key thinkers

• Durkheim: social facts, collective conscience, division of labour producing mechanical and organic solidarity; he held that even crime and religion have social functions.
• Parsons: the AGIL scheme, according to which every social system must solve four problems: Adaptation (economy), Goal attainment (polity), Integration (law, community) and Latency or pattern maintenance (family, school, religion).
• Merton: distinguished manifest functions (intended and recognized, such as schools giving education) from latent functions (unintended, such as schools providing friendships), and introduced dysfunctions (harmful consequences) and the idea of functional alternatives.

Application to human society

• Family reproduces and socializes new members.
• Education transmits knowledge, skills and values and selects people for roles.
• Economy produces and distributes goods and services.
• Religion gives meaning and strengthens social solidarity.
• State maintains law, order and defence.

Criticisms

• It overemphasizes order and consensus and neglects conflict, power and inequality.
• It is conservative and defends the status quo.
• It explains social change poorly.
• It is often teleological and treats everything as functional.
• It ignores individual agency and meanings.

Conclusion: Functionalism helps us understand how institutions contribute to social stability, but it must be balanced with conflict and interactionist perspectives for a complete understanding of society.

(a) Group dynamics

Group dynamics refers to the interacting forces, processes and patterns of behaviour that arise within a group and affect its members and its performance. The term was introduced by Kurt Lewin. It studies how groups form, how members influence one another, and how leadership, communication, norms, roles, cohesion and conflict shape outcomes.

• Stages of group formation (Tuckman): forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
• Important elements: group norms, roles, status, cohesiveness, leadership, communication and decision-making.
• Importance: in organizations it helps in building teams, improving productivity and morale, managing conflict and improving decisions. Example: a bank's project team that agrees on shared norms and roles works more effectively than one with unresolved rivalry.

(b) Urbanization

Urbanization is the process by which a growing share of a population lives in towns and cities, along with the spread of urban ways of life. It results from rural-to-urban migration, natural increase in towns, industrialization, expansion of trade, services and education, and reclassification of rural areas as urban.

• Characteristics: large population, high density, heterogeneity, impersonal relations, specialized occupations and division of labour.
• Effects: new employment and services, but also housing shortage, slums, pollution, traffic, crime and weakening of kinship ties, and a shift from joint to nuclear families.
• Example: rapid growth of Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, Biratnagar and Butwal in Nepal since the 1950s.

(c) Kinship system

Kinship is a system of social relationships based on blood (consanguineal), marriage (affinal) or adoption, which gives rise to rights, duties and obligations among the related persons.

• Types: consanguineal (parents, siblings) and affinal (spouse, in-laws).
• Degrees: primary, secondary and tertiary kin.
• Kinship terms and rules of descent (patrilineal, matrilineal), marriage and inheritance are governed by it.
• Functions: regulates marriage and descent, provides social and economic security, socialization and a sense of identity. In Nepal, relations such as mama (maternal uncle) and phupu (paternal aunt) carry defined ritual roles.

• Sociology is a social science, not a natural science.
• Sociology is an empirical and scientific discipline that uses systematic methods.
• Sociology is a pure, abstract and generalizing science rather than an applied, concrete or particularizing one.

Society is a system of social relationships among people living in a particular territory who share a common culture and a sense of belonging.

• It is universal; found in every society.
• It is based on marital relationship and kinship (blood, marriage or adoption).
• It is the primary agency of socialization and provides emotional security and care for children.

• There is no single absolute truth or grand theory (metanarrative) that explains society; knowledge is plural and relative.
• Reality is socially constructed through language, discourse, signs and media, so images and symbols matter more than objective facts.
• Society has moved from industrial to a fragmented, consumer-, media- and information-based order in which identities are fluid and diverse.

• Technological factors, such as the mobile phone, internet and machines.
• Economic factors, such as industrialization, trade and changes in the mode of production.
• Demographic factors, such as population growth, migration and urbanization.
• Cultural and educational factors, including new ideas, values, education, religion and political movements.

Material culture consists of the tangible, physical objects created by humans, such as tools, buildings, clothes, machines, vehicles and books. Non-material culture consists of the intangible products of society such as beliefs, values, norms, customs, language, religion and knowledge.

Material culture can be seen and touched and changes faster, whereas non-material culture cannot be touched and changes slowly, often lagging behind material change (cultural lag, Ogburn).

• It involves belief in a supernatural, sacred or divine power.
• It has rituals, worship, prayers and ceremonies through which the sacred is expressed.
• It creates a moral code and a community of believers, and gives social solidarity and meaning to life.

Socialization is the lifelong process by which an individual learns the language, values, norms, skills and behaviour patterns of society and becomes a functioning member of it.

Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling human and other resources to achieve the goals of an organization efficiently and effectively.

Informal social control is exercised without written rules or formal authority. Its means include:

• Folkways, mores, customs and traditions
• Values, morality and religion
• Public opinion, gossip, ridicule and social disapproval
• Praise, rewards and approval, and social boycott or ostracism
• Family, peer group, neighbourhood and community pressure

Sociology and anthropology are closely related social sciences, sometimes called sister disciplines.

Meaning: Sociology studies human society, social relationships and institutions, mainly in modern, complex societies. Anthropology studies humans in their physical, cultural and social aspects, especially primitive, tribal and small-scale societies and the origin and evolution of humankind and culture.

Relationship (similarities)

• Both study human beings, social groups, culture, kinship, family, religion and institutions.
• Both use similar methods such as observation, interviews, case studies and comparison.
• Sociology draws data and concepts from anthropology, such as culture, kinship and rituals, while anthropology uses sociological theories of social structure and change.
• Social anthropology and sociology overlap so much that Radcliffe-Brown considered social anthropology as comparative sociology.

Differences

Conclusion: The two disciplines complement each other, and cooperation between them gives a fuller understanding of human society and culture.

Social inequality is the unequal distribution of power, wealth, prestige, opportunities and resources among individuals or groups in a society on the basis of caste, class, gender, ethnicity, religion or region. It results in unequal life chances.

Caste-based stratification in Nepal

Caste is a hereditary, closed system where status is fixed by birth. In Nepal it was legally formalized by the Muluki Ain of 1854, which ranked groups into:

1. Tagadhari (sacred thread wearers): Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri at the top.
2. Matwali (alcohol-drinking): Magar, Gurung, Rai, Limbu, Tamang and others.
3. Water-unacceptable but touchable groups.
4. Water-unacceptable and untouchable groups, the Dalits (Kami, Damai, Sarki and others).

Features: ascribed status; hereditary occupation; endogamy; restrictions on food, water and touch based on purity and pollution; unequal access to land, education, jobs and power, with Dalits the most disadvantaged.

Present situation: Untouchability was abolished by law (the Caste-Based Discrimination and Untouchability Act 2068 and the Constitution of Nepal 2072), and reservation and inclusion policies exist. Education and urbanization are reducing caste rigidity, but discrimination still persists in practice.

Conflict theory is a macro-level sociological perspective which sees society as an arena of struggle between groups with competing interests over scarce resources, power and status. Social order is maintained by the domination of powerful groups, not by consensus. It originated with Karl Marx, who saw class struggle between the bourgeoisie (owners) and the proletariat (workers) as the engine of history, and was developed by Max Weber, Ralf Dahrendorf, C. Wright Mills and Lewis Coser.

Assumptions

1. Society is characterized by inequality in the distribution of wealth, power and prestige.
2. Conflict between groups with opposed interests is natural, universal and constant.
3. Social institutions such as law, education and religion mostly serve the interests of the dominant group.
4. Social order is maintained by coercion, power and ideology rather than by shared values.
5. Social change is brought about by conflict and is often rapid and revolutionary, leading to a new social order.
6. Resources are scarce, so groups compete for them.

Criticism: It overlooks stability and cooperation, overemphasizes economic factors and conflict, and is less able to explain order and consensus.

Definition

Education is the social process of transmitting knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and culture from one generation to another and developing the capacities of individuals so that they can participate in society. Durkheim defined it as the influence exercised by adult generations on those not yet ready for social life. It includes formal, informal and non-formal education.

Features

1. Social institution: it is an organized system with rules, roles and structure, such as schools and universities.
2. Lifelong process: learning continues from birth to death, through family, school, peers and work.
3. Transmission of culture: it passes language, customs, values and skills to new generations; for example, children learn Nepali and national values in school.
4. Socialization: it prepares individuals for social roles, discipline, cooperation and citizenship.
5. Social selection and mobility: it sorts people by ability and provides a channel for upward mobility, as when a poor student becomes a doctor.
6. Agent of social change: it spreads new ideas and technology and reduces superstition and discrimination.
7. Dynamic and universal: it changes with society's needs and exists in every society.
8. Formal and informal: it includes schools with curriculum as well as learning at home and in the community.

Conclusion: Education is essential for individual development, social integration and national progress.

Competition is a social process in which individuals or groups strive for the same limited goal, such as customers, profit, market share or resources, each trying to excel over the others, without necessarily harming rivals. It is impersonal, continuous and governed by norms.

Link with the business environment

• Market structure: in a free market, many firms compete for the same customers, which shapes prices and output.
• Quality and innovation: competition forces firms to improve products, adopt new technology and reduce cost. Example: Nepali telecom companies such as Ncell and Nepal Telecom compete through data packages and network quality.
• Consumer benefit: it gives consumers more choice, lower prices and better service.
• Efficiency: it encourages efficient use of resources, rewards the capable and eliminates inefficient firms.
• Employment and human resources: firms compete to attract skilled workers, raising pay and training standards.
• Marketing and branding: advertising, branding and customer service develop as tools of competition.
• Negative side: unhealthy competition may lead to price wars, monopoly after weaker firms exit, unethical practices and stress; so laws such as the Competition Promotion and Market Protection Act of Nepal regulate it.

Conclusion: Competition is a driving force of the business environment, promoting efficiency and innovation when it is fair and regulated.

Sociology of organizations

It is a branch of sociology that studies organizations, meaning formally structured groups of people created to achieve specific goals, along with their structure, culture, authority, roles, power, relationships and interaction with the environment. It applies sociological concepts such as bureaucracy, groups, roles, norms and stratification to understand organizational behaviour and management.

Group dynamics in organizational management

Group dynamics means the forces and processes that operate within a group as members interact. In an organization, work is mostly done through formal groups (departments, committees, teams) and informal groups (friendship cliques).

• Group formation: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
• Norms and roles: shared rules and expected behaviour guide members, such as punctuality and output norms.
• Cohesion: a cohesive group has higher morale and lower turnover, and productivity rises if the group's norms support the organization's goals.
• Leadership and communication: the leader's style and the flow of information shape group effectiveness.
• Decision-making and conflict: groups can make better decisions but may suffer from groupthink and conflict.
• Informal groups: the Hawthorne studies of Elton Mayo showed that informal group norms strongly influence productivity.

Managers can use this knowledge to build teams, motivate members, resolve conflict and use informal groups for organizational goals.

Intergroup relations

These are the interactions among different groups, such as production and marketing departments, or management and union.

• Cooperation: shared goals and interdependence improve coordination.
• Competition: healthy rivalry can raise performance, but excessive competition causes hostility, stereotypes and poor communication ("us versus them").
• Conflict: arises from limited resources, differing goals, status differences and poor communication.
• Management of relations: set superordinate (common) goals, encourage job rotation and joint committees, communicate openly, use fair reward systems and negotiate and mediate.

Conclusion: Understanding group dynamics and intergroup relations helps managers create cooperation, reduce conflict and raise organizational effectiveness.

(a) Definition of gender based on the researcher's concept

According to the researcher, gender is the socially structured roles, behaviours and expectations associated with being female or male. It is a social category, like race, ethnicity and class, that shapes a person's participation in society and the economy and therefore their life chances. Gender is therefore not merely a biological category but a social construct: women and men are made, not only born.

(b) Suggestions to increase women's representation in commercial banks

• Adopt gender-sensitive and inclusive recruitment policies, with a quota or targets for women, and advertise vacancies widely and formally.
• Ensure transparent promotion and equal pay for equal work.
• Provide training, mentoring and leadership development for women employees.
• Create a safe workplace with policies against sexual harassment, and provide flexible hours, maternity leave and child care facilities.
• Encourage girls' education in business and finance, and run scholarships and internships.
• Include women from diverse castes and ethnic groups, since the study found Newar women to be in the majority and other groups under-represented.
• Change social attitudes through awareness programmes that support working women in their family and community.

(c) Main reasons for choosing a job in commercial banks

According to the study, 45 percent of the respondents chose this sector because of good working conditions, and 20 percent because of its promising future prospects. Other factors that can be inferred are job security, status and a good pay and career structure. The study also found that family members' positive perception was associated with satisfaction, with 65 percent of respondents satisfied.

(d) Linking the findings to women's access to assets in Nepalese society

In the study 72.5 percent of working women owned fixed assets, and 70 percent reported no interference from others in their earnings, showing that paid employment strengthens women's economic control and decision-making. This stands in contrast to the general situation in Nepal, where patriarchal norms and patrilineal inheritance have meant that land and house are mostly registered in men's names, and women have traditionally had weak ownership and control over property. The finding that women without assets came mainly from male-earning households suggests that women who depend on men's income have less access to assets. Reforms such as equal inheritance rights, the tax rebate for registering land in a woman's name and the Constitution of Nepal 2072 help, but the case shows that employment, education and income are the most effective ways to improve women's access to assets. One should note that the bank employees are an urban, educated group, so the result cannot be generalized to all Nepalese women.

Sociology of organizations is the branch of sociology that studies the structure, processes, culture, groups and behaviour of formal organizations and their relationship with society and environment.

• Family
• Peer group
• School and educational institutions
• Mass media (and religion, workplace)

Work is paid or unpaid activity involving mental or physical effort, done to earn a living or produce goods and services, and it is usually compulsory and regulated by time and duty. Leisure is free time outside work and obligations, used by choice for rest, recreation, hobbies and enjoyment.

Work is obligatory and aimed at income or output; leisure is voluntary and aimed at satisfaction and relaxation.

Material culture is the tangible, physical objects and artefacts created by human beings, such as tools, buildings, clothing, machines, furniture and technology.

Cooperation is a social process in which people work together toward a common goal for mutual benefit, for example members of a team completing a project. Conflict is a social process in which individuals or groups oppose or struggle against one another to achieve their own interests, often by trying to harm or defeat the other, as in a strike between workers and management.

Cooperation unites and builds harmony; conflict divides and may cause tension, though it can also lead to change.

• It is universal; found in all societies.
• It is based on marriage, blood relations or adoption.
• It has a common residence and shared economic arrangements.
• It is the primary agency of reproduction and socialization of children (and gives emotional security).

Status is a position in society and role is the behaviour expected of that position. Role is the dynamic or behavioural aspect of status.

Example: the status of a teacher carries the role of teaching students, evaluating their work and guiding them; a person holds the status of a teacher but plays the role when performing these duties.

Polity is the political organization or system of governance of a society, including the state, government, laws, institutions and the distribution and use of power to maintain order and make collective decisions.

• Theft or embezzlement of organizational funds
• Corruption, bribery and favouritism
• Absenteeism, lateness and misuse of working time
• Sexual harassment, bullying or breaking confidentiality

Gender is the set of socially and culturally constructed roles, behaviours, attributes and expectations that a society considers appropriate for men and women, as distinct from their biological sex.

The subject matter of sociology is the scientific study of society, social relationships and social behaviour. There are two main views about its scope.

Schools of thought

• Specialistic (formal) school (Simmel, Tonnies, Weber): sociology is a pure and independent science that studies only the forms of social relationships, such as cooperation, conflict, competition and domination, and not their content.
• Synthetic school (Durkheim, Hobhouse, Sorokin): sociology is a general science that synthesizes the findings of all social sciences and studies society as a whole.

Major areas of study

1. Social relationships and interaction: processes such as cooperation, conflict, competition, accommodation and assimilation.
2. Social groups: primary and secondary groups, reference groups and organizations.
3. Social institutions: family, marriage, religion, education, economy and polity.
4. Culture and socialization: norms, values, customs, language and the process by which individuals learn them.
5. Social stratification and inequality: caste, class, gender and ethnicity.
6. Social control and deviance: how conformity is maintained and how crime and deviance arise.
7. Social change and social problems: population, urbanization, poverty, unemployment and development.
8. Social structure: status, role and their organization in society.
9. Applied areas: sociology of organizations, education, health, rural and urban sociology.

Conclusion: Sociology studies society in its totality and in its parts, analyzing both order and change, and applies its findings to solve social problems.

Meaning

Kinship is a system of social relationships based on blood (consanguineal), marriage (affinal) or adoption, which gives rise to mutual rights, obligations and a specific terminology.

Features

1. Universal: found in every society, though its forms differ.
2. Based on three ties: blood (parents, siblings), marriage (spouse, in-laws) and adoption (adopted child).
3. Kinship terminology: every society names relatives, for example mama, phupu, kaka, didi, bhinaju in Nepali, showing the kind of relation and the expected behaviour.
4. Degrees of kin: primary (parents, children, siblings, spouse), secondary (relatives of primary kin such as grandparents, uncles, in-laws) and tertiary kin (cousins' spouses and so on).
5. Rights and obligations: kin are expected to support one another in rituals, ceremonies, crises and inheritance. Example: the maternal uncle gives tika and gifts in rituals.
6. Rules of descent: patrilineal (through the father, as in most Nepali groups), matrilineal (through the mother, as among Khasi of India) or bilateral.
7. Rules of marriage and residence: regulates endogamy and exogamy, and patrilocal or matrilocal residence; incest taboos limit marriage among close kin.
8. Social security and identity: gives economic help, emotional support and identity through surname, clan (thar) and lineage.
9. Varied in strength: strong in rural, traditional societies, weakening in urban, industrial societies.

Conclusion: Kinship organizes marriage, descent, inheritance and social support, and so forms the basis of social structure, especially in traditional societies like Nepal.

Caste is a closed, hereditary form of social stratification in which a person's status, occupation, marriage and social contacts are fixed by birth into a ranked group. In Nepal it has been shaped by Hindu ideas of purity and pollution and was given legal force by the Muluki Ain of 1854, which arranged all groups into a hierarchy.

Structure of the Nepali caste system

• Tagadhari (twice-born) groups such as Bahun and Chhetri sit at the top and held ritual, political and land-owning power.
• Matwali (alcohol-drinking) groups, including many Janajati communities, were placed in the middle.
• Pani nachalne choi chhito halnu parne groups were the touchable but low-ranked groups, such as Muslims and foreigners.
• Pani nachalne choi chhito halnu naparne groups and the "untouchables", now called Dalits (Kami, Damai, Sarki, Badi, Chamar, Musahar and others), were at the bottom.

Features of caste in Nepal

1. Membership is ascribed by birth and cannot be changed.
2. Occupations were traditionally hereditary, for example blacksmithing for Kami, tailoring and music for Damai, and leatherwork for Sarki.
3. Endogamy is the norm, and inter-caste marriage is discouraged.
4. Commensality rules restrict who may share food, water and space.
5. Purity and pollution beliefs lead to untouchability.

Consequences

• Dalits face discrimination in access to temples, water sources, housing, schools and jobs.
• They have lower literacy, income and land ownership, and are poorly represented in politics and the civil service.
• Caste produces social exclusion and poverty that are passed from one generation to the next.

Change and response

Caste-based discrimination was legally abolished in 1963, and the Constitution of Nepal 2015 and the Caste-Based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act 2011 make it a punishable offence. Reservation policies, scholarships and the National Dalit Commission aim to improve inclusion. Education, migration, urbanisation and the market economy are weakening the occupational and ritual basis of caste, but discrimination persists, especially in rural areas.

Postmodernism is a perspective that emerged in the late twentieth century (Lyotard, Foucault, Baudrillard, Derrida) in reaction to the claims of modernity and the grand theories of the Enlightenment, Marxism and functionalism.

Basic assumptions

1. Rejection of grand narratives. No single theory, such as progress, reason or class struggle, can explain all of society. Lyotard described postmodernity as "incredulity towards metanarratives".
2. Knowledge is relative and plural. There is no single objective truth. Knowledge is constructed, local and linked to power (Foucault's power/knowledge).
3. Society is fragmented and diverse. Identities are fluid and multiple rather than fixed by class, gender or nation, and difference is celebrated.
4. Importance of language, signs and discourse. Reality is shaped through language and images, and the boundary between real and representation is blurred. Baudrillard calls this hyperreality and simulation.
5. Consumption and media. Culture, lifestyle and media images matter more than production in defining social life.
6. Science and reason are questioned. Modernity's faith in science, rationality and linear progress is treated as one more discourse rather than neutral truth.
7. Globalisation and information technology produce time-space compression and a mixing of cultures.

Criticism. Critics say postmodernism is too relativist, offers little basis for social action or empirical research, and ignores continuing material inequalities.

Meaning. Social change is an alteration in social relationships, structures, institutions and patterns of interaction over time, such as changes in family structure, class relations or political organisation. Cultural change is an alteration in the shared ideas, values, beliefs, norms, language, technology and material and non-material products of a society.

Similarities

• Both are continuous and universal processes.
• Both are influenced by technology, contact between societies, economic change and ideas.
• They are closely linked, and a change in one usually leads to a change in the other.

Differences

Relationship. Ogburn's cultural lag shows that material culture (technology) changes faster than non-material culture (norms), which in turn produces social change. For example, mobile phones and the internet in Nepal have altered communication habits (cultural change) and also changed family ties and work relations (social change).

Social capital refers to the resources that individuals and groups gain from networks of relationships, trust, shared norms and reciprocity. The idea is associated with Pierre Bourdieu (resources linked to durable networks), James Coleman (social structure that facilitates action) and Robert Putnam (networks, norms and trust that enable cooperation).

Dynamics of social capital

1. Formation. It is built through repeated interaction in family, kin, neighbourhood, community groups, cooperatives, religious bodies and associations. Shared language, ethnicity and religion help build it, and it grows with use rather than being used up.
2. Components. These are networks (who is connected), norms of reciprocity (favours are returned) and trust (confidence in others' behaviour).
3. Types.
   • Bonding capital ties similar people together, such as a family or caste group.
   • Bridging capital links different groups, such as across ethnic or class lines.
   • Linking capital connects people to those with power and institutions.
4. Functions. It reduces transaction costs, supports mutual help and informal credit (dhikuti, parma, guthi), shares information and job contacts, and enables collective action in community forestry and water user groups.
5. Conversion. According to Bourdieu, social capital can be converted into economic or cultural capital, for example a connection that leads to a job or a loan.
6. Decline and erosion. Migration, individualism, mistrust, conflict and weak institutions can erode it.
7. Dark side. It can exclude outsiders, support nepotism and corruption, and enforce conformity, as in caste or kin cliques.

Social capital therefore changes over time, needs maintenance, and can benefit or harm depending on how it is used.

(a) Why the socio-economic framework is agrarian

Most South-Asian countries have fertile river plains, a monsoon climate, and a long history of settled farming. A large share of the population lives in rural areas and depends on farming for food, income and employment, while industry and services have not grown enough to absorb the labour force. Land, family labour and traditional knowledge are the main assets of most households, and agriculture supplies raw materials, exports and national income. Social institutions such as the family, caste, village and festivals are also organised around the agricultural cycle.

(b) Data analysis problems and other factors

The Christian Aid report used figures taken randomly from various official suicide statistics without proper analysis. It did not check whether the sources used the same definitions or were reliable, it drew a causal link from a mere correlation between reforms and the rise in deaths, it did not control for population change or improved reporting, and it did not compare farmers with other groups or with other states.

Other factors that could raise death rates include:

• indebtedness to private moneylenders at high interest
• crop failure and erratic monsoon
• family and social pressure, such as dowry or marriage costs
• health problems, alcoholism and depression
• lack of crop insurance and weak support services
• better recording of suicides in later years

These factors may work together with or independently of the reforms, so a deeper study is needed.

(c) Sociological explanation

• Conflict perspective. The reforms, supported by powerful institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, served the interests of capital and the state, while small farmers were left without subsidies and bore the risk. Inequality in power between global markets and poor farmers deepened their exploitation.
• Functionalist view. The reforms disturbed the balance of the agrarian system. Farmers were not prepared for the new roles of cash-crop growing and market competition, so the change caused strain and dysfunction (anomie).
• Interactionist view. Debt and failure brought shame and loss of status in the community, which shaped how farmers saw themselves and their options.

The budget cuts removed fertiliser support and extension services, farmers moved to costly cash crops with borrowed money, and no safety net existed when the monsoon failed, so the situation worsened.

(d) Loan waiver scheme

It will give short-term relief by cancelling debt and reducing immediate distress for small and marginal farmers. However, it will not solve the root problems of low productivity, dependence on the monsoon, lack of irrigation, insurance and fair prices, and rural credit. It may also encourage borrowers to expect future waivers, and farmers who borrowed from private moneylenders may not benefit. For lasting improvement it should be accompanied by irrigation, crop insurance, market access, extension services and formal credit.

Sociological imagination, a term coined by C. Wright Mills, is the ability to see the link between personal troubles of individuals and wider public issues of social structure and history.

Main features of an economy are production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services; scarcity of resources and the need to choose; division of labour; use of money and markets; and the presence of property rights and economic institutions.

• The Enlightenment and the growth of scientific thinking
• The French Revolution and the political upheaval of the time
• The Industrial Revolution and the growth of factories
• Rapid urbanisation and its social problems
• The growth of capitalism and class conflict
• Colonial contact with other societies and cultures
• The influence of natural science methods on the study of society

1. It is an institution of exchange where buyers and sellers meet, directly or through other means, to trade goods and services.
2. It is governed by rules, norms and laws about price, contracts and property.
3. Price is determined mainly by demand and supply.
4. It rests on competition between sellers and between buyers.
5. It involves money as the medium of exchange.

Postmodernism is the view that modern, rational and scientific grand theories cannot explain society fully. It holds that truth is relative, society is fragmented and plural, and that language, media, images and consumption shape reality.

Values are general ideas of what is good and desirable, while norms are specific rules of conduct that put values into practice. For example, respect for elders is a value, and touching the feet of elders and greeting them with "Namaste" is the norm that expresses it.

Disorder is a state of breakdown or disruption in the normal, orderly functioning of society, where norms, rules and institutions fail to regulate behaviour, leading to confusion, conflict or instability.

A social group is a set of people who interact regularly, share a sense of belonging ("we-feeling") and common goals, and have defined roles, as in a family or a club. A network is a web of connections between individuals or groups, often loose and without a shared identity or boundary; members may not know each other directly. A group has boundaries and unity, whereas a network is open and based on links, such as friends of friends.

Functional prerequisites are the basic needs or conditions that a society must meet in order to survive and continue, such as reproduction of members, socialisation, production and distribution of goods, maintenance of order and shared values (communication and goal attainment).

Sociology is the systematic and scientific study of human society, social relationships and social behaviour. As a discipline it has the following characteristics.

1. A social science. It studies human beings in groups and society rather than the natural world. It uses systematic observation, surveys, interviews and statistics to produce evidence-based knowledge, though with less exactness than natural sciences.
2. A pure rather than applied science. Its main aim is to build knowledge and theory about society, although its findings are applied in planning, policy and social work.
3. An abstract and generalising discipline. It studies patterns, types and structures (such as the family or class) rather than particular persons, and it seeks general principles.
4. Empirical and rational. Conclusions rest on observed facts and logical reasoning rather than on belief or speculation.
5. A categorical science. It states what is, not what ought to be, and does not make moral judgments about social phenomena.
6. Generalising and comparative. It compares societies, cultures and periods to find similarities and differences.
7. Interdisciplinary. It is closely linked to anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and history, and borrows from them.
8. A discipline with multiple perspectives. Functionalism, conflict theory, interactionism and postmodernism offer different ways of understanding society.

Sociology is thus a scientific, theoretical and critical discipline that explains social life and also helps solve social problems.

Functionalism, associated with Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Parsons and Merton, views society as a system whose parts work together for stability.

Basic assumptions

1. Society is a system. It is made up of interrelated parts (family, education, economy, religion, polity) that depend on each other.
2. Each part has a function. Every institution contributes to the survival and stability of the whole.
3. Equilibrium and order. Society tends towards balance, and a change in one part leads other parts to adjust.
4. Consensus on values. Shared norms and values hold society together and integrate its members.
5. Functional prerequisites. Society has basic needs, such as socialisation, adaptation, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance (Parsons' AGIL), that must be met.
6. Social evolution. Change is gradual and adaptive, not revolutionary.
7. Organic analogy. Society is compared to a living organism in which organs perform tasks for the whole body.
8. Dysfunction. Anything that disturbs the balance is dysfunctional and is corrected by social control. Merton added manifest and latent functions.

Criticism. It is said to overlook conflict, power and inequality, and to be conservative and unable to explain change.

Meaning. The family is a social institution made up of people related by marriage, blood or adoption who usually live together, share resources and care for children. Kinship is a wider web of relationships based on blood (consanguinity), marriage (affinity) and sometimes adoption, which extends beyond the household.

Similarities

• Both are based on blood and marriage ties.
• Both are universal and provide identity, support and social security.
• Both regulate behaviour, inheritance and marriage rules.

Differences

Conclusion. The family is the basic unit and kinship is the larger network created from it. In Nepal, kin groups such as clans (thar), maternal and in-law relatives play important roles in rituals, marriage and mutual help beyond the household.

Definition. Social research is the systematic, scientific investigation of social phenomena using planned methods to collect, analyse and interpret data in order to describe, explain or predict social behaviour and to solve social problems.

Steps of a research work

1. Selecting and defining the problem. Choose a topic and state it clearly.
2. Review of literature. Read earlier studies to find gaps and build a framework.
3. Formulating objectives and hypotheses. State what the study will find out and what relationships will be tested.
4. Research design. Decide whether the study will be exploratory, descriptive, explanatory or experimental.
5. Sampling. Define the population, the sample size and the sampling method.
6. Preparing tools and collecting data. Prepare questionnaires, interview schedules or observation guides, pretest them, and gather primary and secondary data.
7. Processing and analysis of data. Edit, code, tabulate and analyse the data using statistical or qualitative methods.
8. Interpretation and testing of hypotheses. Draw meaning from the results and relate them to theory.
9. Report writing. Present the findings, conclusions, limitations and recommendations in a structured report with references.

Gender stratification is the unequal distribution of power, resources, prestige and opportunities between men and women. In Nepal it is rooted in patriarchy, in which men hold authority in the family, the community and the state.

Dimensions in Nepali society

• Family and property. Descent is patrilineal and residence patrilocal. Sons are preferred, daughters are seen as "paraya dhan" (someone else's property), and land and house are mostly owned by men. Women's decisions are often controlled by male family members.
• Education. Women's literacy and school completion are lower than men's, especially in rural areas and among Dalit and Madhesi communities, because of early marriage and the burden of household work.
• Economy. Women do much unpaid household and agricultural work, receive lower wages, and have less access to credit and formal jobs. Many are in the informal sector.
• Politics. Women have historically been under-represented, although quotas (33 percent in the Constitution of Nepal 2015) have improved their presence.
• Health. Women face higher maternal mortality, malnutrition and limited control over reproductive decisions.
• Social practices. Dowry, child marriage, chhaupadi, witchcraft accusations and domestic violence reflect and reinforce women's lower status.
• Intersection. Caste, ethnicity, class and region intensify exclusion, so Dalit women and rural women are the most disadvantaged.

Change. Legal reforms (equal inheritance rights in the 2002 Eleventh Amendment of the Country Code, anti-domestic violence law, ban on chhaupadi), women's movements, education, foreign employment and reservations are slowly narrowing the gap, but social attitudes change more slowly than laws.

An organization, such as a bureaucracy, is a purposive social group created to achieve specific goals. It operates within society and cannot be separated from the expectations of that society.

How goals and expectations depend on each other

1. Organizations derive their goals from society. Schools, hospitals, banks and government offices exist because society needs education, health, finance and public service. Their legitimacy depends on meeting those needs.
2. Society provides resources. Funds, personnel, laws and legitimacy come from society, and the organization must respond to public needs to continue to receive them.
3. Society judges performance. Citizens expect efficiency, honesty, fairness, accountability and responsiveness. Failure leads to criticism, loss of trust or reform.
4. Organizations shape society. Bureaucracies deliver services, enforce rules, create employment, train people and spread norms such as punctuality and impersonality.
5. Environment and adaptation. Changes in technology, politics and culture force organizations to modify their goals and structure. For example, demand for e-governance has led Nepali offices to digitise services.
6. Goal displacement. When rules become ends in themselves (red tape), as Merton noted, organizational goals drift from public needs, and public dissatisfaction rises.
7. Culture and values. Organizational practices in Nepal are influenced by local values such as kinship, favouritism (afno manche) and hierarchy, which can conflict with formal bureaucratic ideals of merit and neutrality.

Conclusion. Organizational goals and societal expectations are mutually dependent. Effective organizations align their goals with social needs, while society supports and monitors them, creating a continuing exchange.

(a) Definition and features of globalization

Globalization is the process by which the world becomes increasingly interconnected through the flow of capital, goods, people, information and culture across national borders, so that events in one place affect people far away.

Main features:

• Economic integration. Global trade, multinational companies and financial markets, as when a mobile phone is designed in one country, assembled in another and sold worldwide.
• Technological and communication revolution. The internet, social media and mobile phones let people communicate instantly.
• Time-space compression. Distance matters less, and travel and communication are faster.
• Cultural exchange. Spread of fashion, food, music and languages, such as Nepali youth following Korean or Western culture.
• Political interdependence. International organizations such as the UN and WTO and cross-border agreements influence state policy.
• Mobility of people. Migration and foreign employment, and Nepali remittance as an example.
• Shared global concerns, such as climate change, human rights and pandemics.

(b) ICT and other factors

ICT is a key driver of globalization. The internet and satellites let information, money and ideas move instantly, make global markets and outsourcing possible, and let distant people share awareness and respond together to crises such as earthquakes. Other factors include liberalisation and free trade policy, the growth of multinational corporations, improved transport, international organizations and agreements, migration, the end of the Cold War and the spread of capitalism, and global media and education.

(c) Perspective linked to "Globalization integrates the world"

This links most with functionalism, which sees society as an interdependent system in which parts work together and cooperation creates unity. Globalization links economies, cultures and people into one system of mutual dependence, shared values (human rights, environmental concern) and cooperation in crisis, which promotes integration and stability.

(d) Other perspectives

• Conflict perspective. Globalization benefits powerful capitalist countries and corporations while exploiting poorer countries and workers, and reproduces inequality through dependency. The "digital divide" in the case is a new form of class inequality.
• Postmodern perspective. Globalization creates hybrid, fragmented identities, a world of images, consumption and media, and weakens the authority of the nation-state.
• Symbolic interactionism. Focuses on how people give new meanings to global symbols and form identities in online interaction.
• Feminist/cultural views also note the erosion of local culture and the uneven effects on women.

1. The Enlightenment and the rise of scientific, rational thinking
2. The French Revolution and the political and social upheaval that followed
3. The Industrial Revolution and the growth of capitalism and factories
4. Rapid urbanisation and the new social problems of cities

A social status is a position in society, and a social role is the behaviour expected of the person who holds that position; for example, a teacher (status) is expected to teach, guide and evaluate students (role).

The Latin word "educare" literally means "to bring up", "to nourish" or "to rear". Related "educere" means "to lead out" or "to draw out" the inner abilities of a person.

1. Personal (direct) competition, in which rivals know each other, as in a race
2. Impersonal (indirect) competition, in which rivals do not meet, as in an entrance examination
3. Economic competition, such as between firms for customers
4. Political competition, such as between parties in elections
5. Social/cultural competition, for status, prestige or recognition

Social differences are the variations among people in a society based on characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, religion, language, caste, class, occupation and region, which may or may not be ranked as unequal.

Social deviance is behaviour of an individual or group that violates the accepted norms of a society, such as theft or drug use. Social disorder is a wider breakdown or disruption of the social system and its order, such as riots, widespread lawlessness or institutional failure. Deviance concerns individual acts and norm violation, while disorder concerns the condition of the whole social system.

1. The state and government (laws and policies)
2. Social movements and civil society organizations
3. Political parties and leaders
4. Educational institutions and the media
5. Technology and economic institutions such as business firms

Sociological imagination, a concept of C. Wright Mills, is the ability to see how an individual's personal troubles, such as unemployment, are connected to larger social, historical and structural issues.

1. Title of the study
2. Introduction and background
3. Statement of the problem
4. Objectives of the study
5. Research questions or hypotheses
6. Significance and limitations of the study
7. Review of literature and theoretical framework
8. Research methodology (design, sample, data collection and analysis)
9. Time schedule and budget
10. References

Social capital facilitates cooperation and collective action, builds trust and reciprocity, shares information, provides mutual help and informal credit, supports access to jobs and resources, reduces transaction costs and strengthens social cohesion and community development.

Science is a systematic body of knowledge obtained through observation, classification, testing and logical reasoning. Sociology is considered scientific on the following grounds.

1. Scientific method. It uses systematic observation, surveys, interviews, case studies, comparison and statistical analysis to collect data.
2. Empirical basis. Its conclusions rest on observed facts rather than speculation, as in Durkheim's study of suicide using statistics.
3. Objectivity. Sociologists try to keep personal bias out and treat facts as "social facts" (Durkheim), with value neutrality (Weber).
4. Cause and effect. It looks for causal relations, such as the relation between poverty and crime or between education and fertility.
5. Theory building and generalisation. It forms theories and generalisations that can be tested and revised.
6. Verifiability and cumulative knowledge. Findings can be checked by others and new studies build on old ones.
7. Predictability to a degree. It can predict broad social trends, such as population growth or migration patterns.

Limitations. Human behaviour is complex and meaningful, controlled laboratory experiments are rarely possible, subjects are aware of being studied, values enter research, and predictions are less exact than in natural science. For this reason sociology is regarded as a social science whose methods are scientific but whose precision is lower than that of the natural sciences.

Meaning. Class is a stratum of people who share a similar economic position, such as income, wealth and occupation. Caste is a closed hereditary group, ranked by ritual purity, into which a person is born.

Similarities. Both are forms of social stratification, create a hierarchy with unequal rewards and power, and influence life chances, lifestyle and social contacts.

Differences

Conclusion. In modern Nepal the two overlap, since low caste groups are often also poor, but caste is based on ascribed status while class is based on achieved economic position.

Adaptation is the process by which an organism or system adjusts to its environment to survive and function effectively. In Parsons' AGIL scheme, adaptation is the first functional need of any social system, and an organization is a social system that must adapt to the demands and changes of its environment.

Linking adaptation to management

1. Scanning the environment. Managers monitor changes in technology, market, law, politics and culture so that the organization can adjust. For example, banks in Nepal adopted mobile banking and online payment.
2. Resource acquisition. Adaptation includes obtaining funds, skilled staff, materials and information from the environment.
3. Strategic and structural change. Management changes goals, structure, products and procedures when conditions change, such as shifting from paper files to digital systems.
4. Training and learning. Employees are trained in new skills to meet new demands, creating a learning organization.
5. Managing change and resistance. Managers prepare staff for change through communication and participation, to reduce resistance.
6. Innovation and flexibility. Flexible rules, decentralisation and creativity help the organization adapt faster.
7. Cultural adaptation. Management adjusts to local values, language and customs (and indigenous practices) to be accepted by the community.
8. Survival and growth. An organization that fails to adapt becomes obsolete, while one that adapts maintains efficiency and legitimacy.

Thus adaptation is a continuing part of management: it links the organization to its environment and keeps it effective.

Social stratification is the structured ranking of individuals and groups into a hierarchy of strata (higher and lower) based on differences in wealth, power, prestige and opportunities. It is a feature of society, not simply a reflection of individual differences, and it persists across generations. Its main forms are class, caste, estate, gender and ethnicity.

Causes of gender-based stratification in Nepal

1. Patriarchal values. Male dominance in family and community, with sons preferred and women seen as dependents.
2. Patrilineal inheritance and patrilocal marriage. Property passes through sons, and daughters move to husbands' homes, so women have less ownership and control.
3. Religious and cultural beliefs. Practices like chhaupadi, dowry, and notions of purity and honour place women in lower roles.
4. Gendered socialisation. Girls are trained for household roles and boys for public roles.
5. Unequal access to education and resources. Early marriage and household burden limit girls' schooling, jobs and income.
6. Discriminatory laws and weak enforcement. Past laws were biased, and current laws are poorly implemented.
7. Poverty and weak political representation.

Measures to solve it

1. Education for girls, with scholarships and free schooling, and gender-sensitive curricula.
2. Legal reform and strict enforcement against domestic violence, dowry, child marriage and chhaupadi, and equal property rights.
3. Economic empowerment through employment, microcredit, skills training, women's cooperatives and equal pay.
4. Political inclusion through quotas and leadership training.
5. Awareness campaigns through media, schools and community groups, changing attitudes of men as well as women.
6. Improved health services and reproductive rights.
7. Support for women's organizations and social security for single and vulnerable women.

Functionalism is a sociological theory that views society as a system of interrelated parts (institutions such as family, education, economy, religion and the state), each of which performs functions that contribute to the stability and survival of the whole. Its main thinkers are Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Parsons and Merton.

Assumptions

1. Society is a system of interdependent parts, comparable to an organism.
2. Each part has a function that helps maintain the whole. For example, the family reproduces and socialises members, and education transmits skills and values.
3. Order and equilibrium. Society tends to be stable and self-regulating; when one part changes, others adjust to restore balance.
4. Value consensus. Shared norms and values integrate members and produce solidarity (Durkheim).
5. Functional prerequisites. Basic needs of society must be met for survival; Parsons gave the four needs of adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency (pattern maintenance).
6. Gradual, evolutionary change. Change is slow and adaptive, not revolutionary.
7. Dysfunction. Elements that disturb stability are dysfunctional and are handled by social control. Merton distinguished manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions.

Criticism. It overstresses harmony and order, neglects conflict, power and inequality, is conservative, and explains change poorly.

Sociology of organization is the branch of sociology that studies organizations (bureaucracies, firms, schools, hospitals, NGOs) as social systems: their structure, goals, authority, roles, informal relations, culture, relation to the environment, and their effect on individuals and society. Weber's bureaucracy, Merton's dysfunctions and Parsons' system approach are important sources.

Indigenous management

Indigenous management refers to the traditional, locally developed ways of organizing, deciding and managing resources and people, rooted in the culture of a community. Nepali examples include:

• Guthi of the Newars, which manages land, rituals and temples
• Parma and dhikuti, which are labour-exchange and rotating credit systems
• Kipat and community norms among Limbus
• Kamaiya/Bhalmansa village headmen in Tharu communities
• the Rai-Limbu Khal and Gurung Rodi and Ghedung youth institutions
• the Dhikur and community forest and irrigation user committees (e.g. farmer-managed irrigation systems)

Features are collective decision making, reciprocity, trust, shared responsibility, and respect for elders and customs.

Management of indigenous knowledge in organizational management

Indigenous knowledge is the accumulated local knowledge about agriculture, medicine, forests, crafts, governance and social relations held by communities. It can be used in organizations by:

1. recognising and documenting it (records, databases, cultural archives);
2. involving local people and elders in planning and decisions, which gives participation and local ownership;
3. combining it with modern practice, such as ayurvedic and herbal medicine with health services, and local forest practices with forestry management;
4. protecting it through intellectual property rights and preventing biopiracy;
5. transmitting it through training, schools and community learning;
6. adapting organizational culture, rules and incentives to local values to reduce resistance and make programmes sustainable.

Organizations that respect indigenous institutions and knowledge gain legitimacy, lower costs and better outcomes, while ignoring them can lead to failure and conflict.

(a) Education and its functions from the functionalist perspective

Education is the social process by which knowledge, skills, values and norms are transmitted from one generation to the next, preparing individuals for life in society. Functionalists identify these functions:

• Transmission of society's norms and values, creating consensus and social solidarity (Durkheim).
• Preparation for adult roles, by teaching discipline, cooperation and the universal standards of achievement (Parsons).
• Selection and role allocation, sorting people by talent and ability into suitable occupations, a meritocratic function.
• Provision of knowledge, skills and training needed for the labour force.
• Social integration and social control, uniting people of different backgrounds under a common culture.

(b) Are most occupational skills learned on the job?

I largely agree, for the following reasons. Firms usually provide their own apprenticeship and training because skills are specific to the job and the machines used. Practical skills such as handling clients, tools and procedures are learned by doing, and experience, mentoring and trial and error teach more than classrooms do. Studies show that after mass literacy is achieved, extra schooling has little direct effect on job skills. However, formal education supplies the general literacy, numeracy and base knowledge that make on-the-job learning possible, and professions such as medicine, engineering and law do require formal training. So both are needed, but much occupational skill comes from work.

(c) Why mass formal education began in industrial societies

Industrial production needed a literate and numerate workforce able to read instructions, use machines and keep records. Industrial processes were becoming complex, and the demand for technical skills grew. Work moved out of the home and family, so the family could no longer train workers, and society needed a specialised institution for this. Factories also needed discipline, punctuality and obedience, and the state wanted common values and citizenship. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 in Britain is an example.

(d) Education system for economic development

An education system suitable for development should:

• provide universal basic education and literacy;
• emphasise technical and vocational education linked to the needs of the labour market and industries such as agriculture, tourism and IT;
• link schools, universities and industry through internships and apprenticeships;
• promote science, research, creativity and entrepreneurship;
• offer quality higher education with equal access for girls, poor and marginalised groups;
• develop values such as discipline, honesty and a work ethic;
• be flexible, with lifelong learning and regular curriculum revision.

1. Sociology is a social science that studies society and social relationships.
2. It is empirical and uses scientific methods.
3. It is a pure, theoretical and generalising science.
4. It is an abstract, rational and categorical discipline (it studies what is, not what ought to be).

Social capital is the value people gain from their social networks, relationships and shared norms of trust and reciprocity. It is the resource of cooperation that lets individuals and groups achieve goals, find jobs, get help and act collectively. Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman and Robert Putnam are the main thinkers associated with the concept.

Formal social control is exercised through officially established agencies with written rules and sanctions. Its main agents are:

• The police
• Courts and the judiciary
• Prisons and correctional institutions
• The government, legislature and law itself
• The army and other security forces
• Regulatory bodies and bureaucratic offices (for example the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority)

Deviance is any behaviour that violates the norms or expectations of a society or group, whether or not it is illegal (for example, dressing very unconventionally or breaking etiquette). It is punished mainly by informal sanctions such as ridicule or exclusion.

Crime is deviance that breaks a formal law enacted by the state (for example theft or murder). It is punished by formal sanctions such as fines or imprisonment.

So all crimes are deviance, but not all deviance is crime.

An economic institution is the organised system through which a society produces, distributes and consumes goods and services. Its main features are:

• Production, distribution and consumption: it organises how goods and services are made, exchanged and used.
• Division of labour and specialisation: work is divided into occupations and roles.
• Property and ownership rules: it defines who owns and controls resources.
• Exchange and money: markets, trade and currency regulate transactions.
• Norms and regulations: laws and customs (contracts, wages, taxes) govern economic behaviour.
• Interdependence with other institutions: it is closely linked with family, polity and education.
• Dynamic character: it changes with technology and systems (agrarian, industrial, post-industrial).

A research proposal is a written plan prepared before a study begins. It states what the researcher intends to study and why, and how it will be done. It normally contains the title, background and statement of the problem, objectives, research questions or hypotheses, literature review, methodology (design, sampling, data collection and analysis), a work plan and budget, and references. It is submitted for approval or funding.

Leisure is the free time left after the obligations of work, and it is defined in relation to work. For example, an office worker who works from 10 am to 5 pm in a bank spends the evening playing football, watching a film or visiting relatives. These activities are called leisure because they are free from paid work duties. They also help the worker recover energy and return to work refreshed, so leisure and work depend on each other.

Four major forms of interview in social science research:

1. Structured interview: fixed questions asked in a fixed order.
2. Unstructured interview: open and flexible conversation with no fixed schedule of questions.
3. Semi-structured interview: a guide of main questions with freedom to probe further.
4. Focus group interview: a moderated group discussion on a topic.

Other forms include in-depth, telephone and key-informant interviews.

Main factors of cultural change:

• Invention and discovery: new tools, technology and ideas alter ways of life.
• Diffusion and cultural contact: borrowing of traits through trade, migration, colonisation, media and globalisation.
• Acculturation and cultural exchange between societies.
• Natural and environmental change: climate, disasters, resource shortage.
• Population change: migration, growth and urbanisation.
• Economic factors: industrialisation, market and occupational change.
• Political and legal change: new laws, wars, revolutions and policies.
• Education, religion and social movements that change values and beliefs.
• Mass media and ICT.

Three ways of analysing work organisations:

1. Functionalist approach: sees the organisation as a system of interdependent parts (departments, roles) working together for efficiency, stability and goal attainment.
2. Conflict approach: sees it as an arena of unequal power and competing interests between management and workers, owners and employees, producing struggle and change.
3. Interactionist (symbolic interactionist) approach: studies how members create meaning and informal relations through everyday interaction, communication and shared symbols.

Other possible approaches are bureaucratic (Weber) and network or postmodern perspectives.

Definition

Sociology is the systematic and scientific study of human society, social relationships, social institutions and social behaviour. The word comes from the Latin socius (companion) and the Greek logos (study). Auguste Comte coined the term in 1838. Durkheim defined it as the science of social facts, and Max Weber as the interpretive understanding of social action.

Emergence

Sociology emerged in 19th-century Europe as a response to profound social change. Several developments contributed:

• Enlightenment: it promoted reason and scientific inquiry into human affairs, encouraging the idea that society could be studied like nature.
• French Revolution (1789): it overthrew the old order and raised questions about social order and stability.
• Industrial Revolution: factories, wage labour, urbanisation, poverty and class conflict created new social problems that needed explanation.
• Growth of natural science: its methods inspired a "science of society".
• Colonial expansion: contact with other cultures raised comparative questions about society.

Comte called it the "queen of the sciences". The founding figures are Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Durkheim's Suicide (1897) set up sociology as an empirical discipline, and the first university departments appeared in the late 19th century (for example Chicago, 1892). In Nepal it developed formally at Tribhuvan University from the 1980s.

Social research is a systematic, step-by-step inquiry into social phenomena. The main steps, illustrated with a study of "causes of school dropout among girls in rural Nepal", are:

1. Selecting and defining the problem: choose a topic and state it clearly, for example why girls drop out after grade 8.
2. Review of literature: read earlier studies and theories to avoid duplication and sharpen focus.
3. Formulating objectives and hypotheses: for example "household poverty is positively related to dropout".
4. Research design: choose descriptive, exploratory or explanatory design, and decide units of analysis.
5. Sampling: select a representative group, for example 200 households by random sampling from three villages.
6. Data collection: use survey, interview, observation or documents, with a questionnaire for parents and girls.
7. Data processing and analysis: code, tabulate and analyse the data using percentages, cross-tabulation or statistics.
8. Interpretation and testing hypotheses: relate findings to the objectives and theory.
9. Report writing: present findings, conclusions and recommendations, with references.

Sociology of organizations

The sociology of organizations is the branch of sociology that studies organizations (firms, offices, NGOs, schools, hospitals) as social structures. It examines their structure, power, authority, culture, informal groups, relations with the environment, and how members behave and interact within them. It treats an organization as a social system, not just a technical arrangement for producing goods. Main perspectives are Weber's bureaucracy, the functionalist, conflict and interactionist views, and the network approach.

Managing inter-group relations

Groups in an organization (departments, unions and management, professions, ethnic or gender groups) often compete over resources, power and status, which can cause conflict. Relations can be managed by:

• Common goals: set superordinate goals that need cooperation (Sherif's finding that shared goals reduce rivalry).
• Clear communication: open channels, regular meetings and feedback to reduce misunderstanding.
• Fair rules and procedures: transparent allocation of resources, promotion and rewards.
• Cross-functional teams and job rotation: to build contact and mutual understanding.
• Conflict resolution mechanisms: negotiation, mediation, grievance handling and collective bargaining.
• Leadership and participation: involve groups in decisions and avoid favouritism.
• Diversity and inclusion policies: respect for caste, ethnic, gender and cultural differences.
• Integrating roles: liaison persons or committees coordinate interdependent units.

Sociological imagination

C. Wright Mills (1959) used the term for the ability to see the relationship between individual experience ("personal troubles of milieu") and wider social forces ("public issues of social structure"). For example, one person's unemployment is a personal trouble, but when millions are jobless it is a public issue caused by the economy. It lets us see our lives in their historical and social context.

Assumptions of the postmodern perspective

• Rejection of grand narratives: no single theory (Marxism, functionalism, progress through science) can explain society (Lyotard).
• Reality is socially constructed: knowledge, truth and identity are shaped by language, discourse and power (Foucault).
• Fragmentation and diversity: society is plural, with many identities and cultures, not a unified whole.
• Media and consumption dominate: images and signs (simulacra) shape reality (Baudrillard).
• Knowledge is linked with power, so claims to objective truth should be questioned.
• Uncertainty and change: identities are fluid and societies are unstable and globalised.

Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious society, and ethnicity has been one important basis of stratification. The 2021 census recorded over 140 caste and ethnic groups and more than 120 languages.

• Historical hierarchy: the Muluki Ain of 1854 ranked all groups into a hierarchy: the "wearers of the sacred thread" (Tagadhari), non-enslavable alcohol drinkers (Matwali), enslavable alcohol drinkers, and "impure but touchable" and "untouchable" groups. Hill high castes (Bahun-Chhetri) dominated the top.
• Unequal access to resources and power: historically, hill high-caste groups held a disproportionate share of state offices, land, education and politics, while Janajati (indigenous nationalities), Madhesi, Dalit and Muslim groups were under-represented.
• Indigenous nationalities (Janajati): groups such as Tharu, Magar, Gurung, Newar, Rai and Limbu faced loss of land and language and cultural marginalisation. Some groups like Bankariya and Raute are highly marginalised.
• Social indicators: poverty, literacy and health outcomes differ by ethnicity; Dalits and some Janajati groups fare worst.
• Response: the movements after 1990 and 2006, the 2015 Constitution (federalism, inclusion, reservation, secularism and recognition of languages) and the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities address these inequalities, though disparities persist.

Ethnicity therefore interacts with caste, class and region to form a layered system of stratification in Nepal.

Socialization is the lifelong process by which an individual learns the language, norms, values and roles of society. The family is the primary agent of socialization because the child's earliest and most lasting experiences occur there. It helps in these ways:

• Basic care and personality: the infant learns trust, emotional security and a sense of self through affection from parents (Cooley's looking-glass self, Freud's early childhood).
• Language and communication: the mother tongue and ways of expression are learned at home.
• Norms and values: honesty, respect for elders, cleanliness, religion and customs are transmitted.
• Social roles: children learn gender roles and kin roles (son, sister, elder) by observing and imitating adults.
• Discipline and control: rewards and punishment teach acceptable behaviour.
• Cultural transmission: festivals such as Dashain and traditions pass to the next generation.
• Social placement: the family gives the child caste, class and ethnic identity and shapes education and occupational aspirations.
• Foundation for later socialization: family prepares the child for school, peers and work.

Functionalists regard this as the family's essential contribution to social order and continuity.

(a) Indigenous knowledge and its importance

Indigenous knowledge is the accumulated, locally rooted knowledge, skills, beliefs and practices of a community developed over generations through close interaction with its environment, and passed on orally and by practice (for example Bankariya knowledge of wild foods, herbs and conservation). It matters for the sociology of organizations because:

• Organizations (NGOs, government, development agencies) work with communities and succeed only if they understand local social organization, beliefs and norms.
• It provides low-cost, sustainable and culturally appropriate solutions to development and resource management.
• It builds trust and participation, and it is a form of social and cultural capital.
• It shapes informal organization, leadership and cooperation within communities.
• Ignoring it causes resistance and failure of projects.

(b) Bankariya social life and relations with villagers

The Bankariya are a small, marginalised forest-dwelling group (13 households, 63 people) who live on forest products, herbs and craft. Their religious beliefs protect the Bar, Pipal and Sal trees and water sources. Their relation with neighbouring villagers is mainly economic: they exchange crafts for food grains and sell herbs for cash.

• Functionalist view: the exchange is interdependent; each group fulfils needs of the other, and Bankariya customs serve environmental conservation and solidarity.
• Conflict view: the Bankariya are dependent, poor and powerless; they were evicted by the Rana ruler and have lost land and forest to dominant groups, so the relation is unequal and exploitative.
• Interactionist view: the label "uneducated" and low status shape their interactions and identity.

(c) Recent changes

The Bankariya have started farming and sending children to school; three children have completed grade five.

• Positive: more secure food supply, education, awareness, openings for jobs and integration with the wider society.
• Negative: loss of forest, traditional knowledge and language; erosion of customs that conserved nature; dependency on markets; risk of exploitation and cultural extinction as globalisation and resource over-use continue.

(d) Managing indigenous knowledge

• Document it through community-led research, records, audio-visual and digital archives.
• Protect it legally through intellectual property rights and benefit-sharing so that outsiders cannot take it without consent.
• Involve elders and community members in conservation and development decisions.
• Pass it on through schools, apprenticeship and cultural programmes.
• Secure their land and forest rights and promote sustainable livelihoods (herb cultivation, handicraft markets).
• Integrate it with modern science in health and environment programmes.

Culture is the complex whole of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, language and all other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society (E. B. Tylor, 1871). It is the learned, shared and socially transmitted way of life of a group.

Factors that led to the emergence of sociology as a discipline:

• The Enlightenment and its emphasis on reason and science.
• The French Revolution (1789) and the resulting social disorder.
• The Industrial Revolution, with factory work, urbanisation, poverty and class conflict.
• The growth of natural science and the wish to apply its methods to society.
• Colonial expansion and contact with different cultures.
• The rise of capitalism and the decline of feudalism and traditional religion.
• The work of early thinkers: Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim and Weber.

Four types of interviews used in social research:

1. Structured interview
2. Unstructured interview
3. Semi-structured interview
4. Focus group interview

(In-depth, telephone and key-informant interviews are also common.)

Market and politics are closely linked. The state, through laws, property rights, contracts, taxes, tariffs and regulation, creates the conditions in which markets operate. In turn, business groups and economic interests influence politics through party funding, lobbying and policy pressure. Government policy (budget, subsidies, trade policy) affects prices, employment and growth, while economic performance affects election results and the stability of governments. For example, Nepal's liberalisation after 1990 was a political decision that opened markets, and the private sector now lobbies on taxes and trade.

Main factors of social change:

• Technology and invention (for example ICT, mobile phones)
• Economic factors (industrialisation, markets, globalisation)
• Demographic factors (population growth, migration, urbanisation)
• Cultural factors (diffusion, new ideas, values and beliefs)
• Political factors (laws, reforms, wars, revolutions)
• Physical environment (climate, disasters)
• Education and mass media
• Social movements and leadership

The conflict perspective, associated mainly with Karl Marx, sees society as an arena of inequality and struggle between groups competing for scarce resources, wealth and power. Dominant groups (the bourgeoisie, upper classes, ruling castes) use institutions such as law, education and religion to protect their interests, while subordinate groups resist. Social order rests on coercion and domination rather than consensus, and conflict is the main source of social change.

A political system is the set of institutions, rules and processes (state, government, parties, laws, courts, elections) through which a society makes and enforces binding decisions, allocates power and authority, and maintains order. Examples are democracy, monarchy and authoritarian rule.

Social values are shared ideas of what is good and desirable, while roles are the behaviours expected from a person in a particular status. Values guide the content of roles, and roles put values into practice. For example, the value of "respect for elders" shapes the role of a son or daughter, who is expected to obey and care for parents, and the value of honesty shapes the role of a teacher, who is expected to grade fairly. When roles are performed, values are reinforced and passed on.

Social differentiation is the division of society into different positions, roles or groups based on function, age, sex, occupation and so on, without necessarily ranking them (for example doctor, farmer, teacher). It is neutral.

Social stratification is the ranking of people and groups into a hierarchy of unequal power, wealth and prestige, such as caste, class and estates. It involves inequality and is persistent across generations.

Differentiation is horizontal and stratification is vertical.

Subject matter of sociology

Sociology studies human society and social behaviour. Its main areas are:

• Social relationships and interaction: how individuals and groups relate and communicate.
• Social groups and organizations: family, peer groups, bureaucracies, communities.
• Social institutions: family, education, religion, economy, polity.
• Culture and socialization: norms, values, roles, and how they are learned.
• Social stratification and inequality: class, caste, ethnicity, gender.
• Social change and social control: causes of change; deviance, crime and control.
• Population, urbanisation and environment.
• Research methods for gathering evidence about society.

Implications for management of organizations

1. Understanding informal groups and culture: sociology shows that employees are influenced by informal groups and norms, as in the Hawthorne studies, where social bonds raised productivity more than physical conditions. A manager who uses teamwork, recognition and participation gets better performance.
2. Managing diversity: knowledge of caste, ethnicity, gender and cultural differences helps managers in Nepal design fair recruitment, avoid discrimination and reduce conflict among a diverse workforce, while understanding customer culture helps marketing.

Other implications are better leadership, communication and conflict management.

Sociological perspective

A sociological perspective is a particular theoretical way of looking at and explaining society. It lets us see the general patterns in individual lives and the influence of social forces on behaviour. The major perspectives are functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism and postmodernism.

Major assumptions of the postmodern perspective

• End of grand narratives: modern theories such as Marxism, functionalism or belief in progress through science can no longer explain society (Lyotard).
• Knowledge, truth and power are linked: what counts as truth is produced by discourse and power (Foucault), so no knowledge is neutral.
• Reality is constructed through media and signs: society is dominated by images and consumption; the image may replace the real (Baudrillard's hyperreality).
• Fragmented, plural identities: class and nation no longer fully define identity; people have many fluid identities based on lifestyle, gender, ethnicity.
• Globalisation and information technology have transformed time and space and created a consumer society.
• Scepticism towards any single objective or universal truth and welcome of diversity.

Critics say it is relativist and offers no basis for action.

Globalization has changed the economic institution, which organises production, distribution and consumption, in the following ways:

• Global market integration: goods, capital, services and labour flow across borders, supported by trade liberalisation and the WTO. Nepal's economy depends on imports and on remittances from workers abroad.
• Multinational corporations (MNCs): large companies control production and distribution across countries and shape local markets.
• International division of labour: products are designed in one country, manufactured in another and sold in a third (global supply chains, outsourcing).
• Technology and ICT: e-commerce, digital payments and online work have changed how business operates; the "knowledge economy" has grown.
• Flexible and informal work: contract jobs, migrant labour and self-employment grow, and job security declines.
• Consumerism: global brands and consumer culture spread (McDonaldisation).
• Financial globalisation: global financial markets and institutions (IMF, World Bank) influence national policy.
• Inequality and dependence: benefits are uneven; rich countries and elites gain, while poor countries face competition, a digital divide and exploitation.
• Privatisation and reduced state role in the economy.
• Cultural impact: erosion of traditional occupations and local economies.

Definition

Social research is the systematic, scientific investigation of social phenomena (human behaviour, relationships, groups and institutions) using accepted methods to collect and analyse data in order to describe, explain or predict social reality and to add to knowledge or solve social problems.

Steps of research

1. Choosing and defining the problem: identify the topic and state the research problem.
2. Review of literature: study previous works and theories.
3. Setting objectives and formulating hypotheses or research questions.
4. Research design: decide the type of study (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory), the units of analysis and variables.
5. Sampling: select the population and sample.
6. Data collection: use survey, interview, observation, case study or documents; decide tools such as questionnaires.
7. Data processing and analysis: edit, code, tabulate and analyse the data.
8. Interpretation and testing of hypotheses.
9. Report writing: present findings, conclusions, recommendations and references.

Socialization is the lifelong process through which individuals learn the language, values, norms, skills and roles needed to become members of society, and through which they develop a self and personality. It transmits culture from one generation to the next.

Stages and processes

• Primary socialization: in infancy and early childhood, mainly in the family. The child learns language, basic norms and emotional attachment.
• Secondary socialization: in school, peer groups, the workplace and religious institutions, where the person learns specific roles and wider rules.
• Anticipatory socialization: learning the expectations of a future role (a student preparing for a job).
• Resocialization: unlearning old behaviour and learning new ones, as in prisons, the army or migration.
• Adult socialization: learning new roles such as spouse, parent or employee.

Agents

Family, peer group, school, mass media, religion, workplace and the state.

Theories

• Cooley's looking-glass self: we see ourselves as others see us.
• G. H. Mead: the self develops by taking the role of others, through the play stage, game stage and the generalised other.
• Freud: personality develops through id, ego and superego.
• Piaget: cognitive stages of child development.

Mechanisms

Imitation, instruction, reward and punishment, and identification with role models. Socialization ensures social order and continuity of culture and develops the individual's personality.

Sociology of organization

The sociology of organization is the study of organizations (formal groups established to achieve specific goals, such as companies, schools, NGOs and government offices) as social systems. It studies their structure, hierarchy, authority, roles, culture, informal relations, power and conflict, and their interaction with the environment. It applies the functionalist, conflict, interactionist and network perspectives, and draws on Weber's theory of bureaucracy.

Importance of networks in organizations

A network is a pattern of ties and relationships among individuals, groups or organizations. Networks are important because:

• Information flow: they spread information, ideas and knowledge faster than the formal hierarchy.
• Social capital and trust: they build trust and cooperation, which lowers the cost of coordination.
• Access to resources: contacts give access to funds, jobs, partners, markets and support.
• Innovation and learning: the exchange of ideas between units and organizations promotes innovation.
• Coordination and flexibility: they allow quick cooperation across departments and organizations, supplementing rigid bureaucracy.
• Power and influence: a well-connected person or unit holds influence.
• Adaptation to the environment: inter-organizational networks (alliances, partnerships, supply chains) help organizations cope with uncertainty.
• Employee motivation and support: informal ties give emotional support and a sense of belonging.

(a) Type of organization and its features

WeHelp Nepal is a non-government, non-profit, voluntary (service or "normative") organization, set up to serve a public cause (education of underprivileged children), not to make profit. In the sociology of organizations it is a formal organization with the following features:

• Specific goals: a general objective (raising the education status of poor children) and specific objectives (sponsorship, teacher training, IT centres).
• Formal structure: a board of directors, staff, defined roles and rules, and a division of labour.
• Open system: it depends on donors, communities, schools and local partners and adjusts its policy to feedback (the policy change after evaluation).
• Resource dependence: it relies on donor funds and user charges (NPR 15-20 per day), and now on community contributions.
• Networks and partnership: it works with local agencies, schools, communities and donors.
• Voluntary participation and normative commitment among members rather than coercion.
• Accountability and evaluation to stakeholders.

(b) Functional perspective

Functionalism views an organization as a system of interdependent parts that work together to meet needs and maintain stability. WeHelp Nepal can be analysed this way:

• Its board, staff, donors, partner agencies, schools and users are interdependent parts, and each performs a function: donors provide funds, the board sets policy, local partners manage centres and children use them.
• Its manifest functions are education, skill formation and IT access; latent functions include community networking and employment.
• It helps adaptation (raising resources), goal attainment (opening IT centres), integration (partnership) and latency (training and motivation) in Parsons's AGIL scheme.
• The change in policy is adaptation to sustainability problems, and use of the centres as a "cyber-cafe" is a dysfunction.

(c) Conflict

Yes, there is chance of conflict. From the conflict perspective, stakeholders have different interests and unequal power:

• Donors and the board hold power over decisions, while poor communities and schools must raise 30 per cent plus 10 per cent of the cost and pay NPR 2000 a year. Poor communities may feel excluded, so some oppose the new policy.
• Conflict between the goals of sustainability (profit-like charges) and the equity goal of serving the poor.
• Disputes between local partners, schools and the community over ownership and control.
• Disagreement on use: educators and the organization want learning, while some users want games and entertainment, hence "cyber-cafe" criticism.
• Competition for the limited number of centres among communities.

Such conflict may also produce positive change, as the revised policy shows.

(d) Making the centres effective and sustainable

• Involve communities and schools in ownership and management through user committees, so that they feel responsible.
• Set user-friendly fees and income generation (training, printing, internet services) to cover costs, with fee waivers for poor children.
• Provide trained staff, structured digital literacy and educational content, and monitor use to prevent misuse as a cyber-cafe.
• Maintain equipment and arrange technical support.
• Build partnerships with local governments, private companies and donors for funding.
• Do regular monitoring, evaluation and feedback.
• Make the contribution scheme flexible and fair, with graded contributions by community capacity.
• Keep transparent accounting and share success stories to build trust.