NCERT Class 12 Sociology Glossary

Glossary

Arithmetic progression: See ‘progression - arithmetic’

Assimilation: A process of cultural unification and homogenisation by which newly entering or subordinate groups lose their distinctive culture and adopt the culture of the dominant majority. Assimilation may be forced or voluntary, and usually remains incomplete or blocked where the subordinate or entering group is not accorded full membership on equal terms. For example, if an immigrant community is discriminated against by the dominant majority, and is not allowed to intermarry.

Authoritarianism: A system of government that does not derive its legitimacy from thepeople. Not a democratic or republican form of government.

Birth Control: The use of techniques of contraception to prevent conception and birth.

BPO (Business Process Outsourcing): A practice whereby a particular part of the production process or component of a service industry is contracted out to be performed by a third party. For example, a telephone company that provides phone lines and services, may outsource its customer service division, i.e., get another smaller company to handle all calls and complaints by customers.

Capital: An accumulated fund of investible resources. Usually used for ‘active’ funds, i.e., funds that are not just being hoarded or saved, but are being held for investment. Capital seeks to grow, to add to itself – this is the process of accumulation.

Capitalism: A mode of production based on generalised commodity production, or a social system where (a) private property and the market have penetrated all sectors, converting everything including labour power into a saleable commodity; (b) two main classes exist – a mass of wage labourers who own nothing but their labour power (their capacity to perform labour), and a class of capitalists who, in order to survive as capitalists, must invest their capital and earn ever increasing profits in a competitive market economy.

Checks - positive: A term used by T.R. Malthus to refer to constraints on the rate of population growth that are imposed by nature regardless of the wishes of humanbeings. Examples of such checks include – famines, epidemics and other natural disasters.

Checks - preventive: A term used by T.R. Malthus to refer to constraints on the rate of population growth that are voluntarily imposed on themselves by human beings. Examples of such checks include – postponing marriage; and practicing celibacy or birth control.

Civil Society: The sphere of society that lies beyond the family but is not part of either state or market. The arena of voluntary associations and organisations formed for cultural, social, religious or other non-commercial and non-state collective pursuits.

Class: An economic grouping based on common or similar position in the social relations of production, levels of income and wealth, life style and political preferences.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 12 Socilology Glossary