UNIT- VI SOCIOLOGY AND EDUCATION

UNIT- VI SOCIOLOGY AND EDUCATION

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION: CONCEPT AND ORIGIN

The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcome. Education is concerned with all forms of education i.e. formal and informal education systems of modern industrial societies. It is relatively a new branch and two great sociologists Émile Durkheim and Max Weber were the father of sociology of education. Émile Durkheim's work on moral education as a basis for social solidarity is considered the beginning of sociology of education.

After the Second World War it gained entity as separate subject of knowledge.
Technological   advancement   and   engagement   of   human   capital (work   force)   in

industrialization America and Europe gave rise to the social mobility .Now it is easier to move up to the upper strata of society gaining technical skills, knowledge. People who were farmer earlier became worker in factories. In that period social mobility was at top gear. And sociologist began to think that education promotes social mobility and undermines the class stratification.

It gained interest and lot of sociological studies done on the subject. Statistical and
field research across numerous societies showed a persistent link between an individual's
social class and achievement, and suggested that education could only achieve limited social
mobility.  Sociological  studies  showed  how  schooling  patterns  reflected,  rather  than
challenged,  class  stratification  and  racial  and  sexual  discrimination.  But  sociology  of
education is a branch of study and very helpful in finding the relation between sociology and
education.

The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and forces affect
educational processes and outcomes, and vice versa. By many, education is understood to
be a means of overcoming handicaps, achieving greater equality and acquiring wealth and
status for all (Sargent 1994). Learners may be motivated by aspirations for progress and
betterment. Education is perceived as a place where children can develop according to their
unique needs and potentialities. The purpose of education is to develop every individual to
their full potential.

What is Sociology?

We all have studied sociology little bit in bachelor programme in Education. Here we will  refresh  our  knowledge.  The  word  Sociology  originates  from  Latin  Prefix:  socius, "companion"; and the suffix -ology, "the study of", from Greek logos, "knowledge”.
Sociology is the systematic study of society. Sociology encompasses all the elements of society i.e. social relation, social stratification, social interaction, culture .Scope of sociology is wide and it ranges from the analysis of interaction of two anonymous persons to the global social interaction in global institution like UNESCO, UN etc.

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Sociology can perhaps be best regarded as an attempt to name that which secretly keeps society going (Whitty and Young, 1976).

What is education?

We all have studied Education in details in bachelor programme in Education. Here we will refresh our knowledge. Education is a broad concept, referring to all the experiences in which learners can learn something. It is a social endeavor designed to get the maximum from the ability of each of the member of the society .Education is covers both the teaching and  learning  of  knowledge,  values.  It  thus  focuses  on  the  cultivation  of  skills (communication, intellectual, specialized skills), advancement of knowledge and spreading of secular view (values).

Education consists of systematic instruction, teaching and training by professional teachers. This consists of the application of pedagogy. Teachers depend on many different disciplines for their lessons like psychology, philosophy, information technology, linguistics, biology, and sociology.

So far we have learned about the Education and Sociology and the concept of Sociology of education. Before we proceed further let us work out the following exercise.

Social Reproduction

We  know  that  every  living  entity  has  a  reproduction  system.  The  same  way, according to social reproduction theory the society has also a reproduction system. Society wants to reproduce itself as it is.

Society  has  its  institutions  through  which  it reproduces  itself  Family, Economy, Government, Religion, and Education. All institutions are meant to socialize its member. This means  these  institutions  trains  (socialize)  the  members  Education  is  one  of  the most powerful social institution as it has access to the children. Right from the beginning in their life  education  institutions  has  great  control.  Education  institutions  decide  the  future perspective of the children.

Structural Function and Social Reproduction

Structural functionalism is a sociological paradigm which addresses the issue of social functions, various elements of the society is meant to play. This is based on the view of Durkheim according to which society tends to maintain equilibrium through moral values. The prime function of educational institutions is to maintain the status-quo of the society.
It is the general moral values (consensus) which keeps the society intact, and according to social  structuralism  all  social  institutions  particularly  educational  institutions  plays important role to maintain the state of equilibrium in society. Other social institutions like government, religion and economy also helps in maintaining this equilibrium and keeps the society healthy. Society is called healthy when every member of the society accepts the general moral values and obeys them.

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Structural functionist believe that role of educational institutions is to incorporate common  consensus  among  the  new  member  (children)  of  the  society.  According  to Durkheim in educational institutions the behaviour is regulated to accept the general moral values through curriculum and hidden curriculum. Educational institutions also sort out learners for future market. It plays the role of grading learners out come to fit them to different future jobs. High achievers will be trained for higher jobs and low achievers will be fitted in less important jobs. The behaviour of member of society is regulated in such a way that they accept their roles in society according to their social status. Thus structural functionalism opposes social mobility.

The weakness of this perspective lies in inability to answer the question why would
the working class wish to stay working class? And this debate has given birth to another
perspective theory that is conflict theory. We will study conflict theory in next sub section.

Conflict theory and Social Reproduction

The  perspective  of  conflict  theory,  contrary  to  the  structural  functionalist perspective, believes that society is full of vying social groups with different aspirations, different access to life chances and gain different social rewards. Relations in society, in this view, are mainly based on exploitation, domination, subordination and conflict. This is the opposite view of society than the previous idea (structural functionalism) that most people accept continuing inequality. Some conflict theorists believe education is controlled by the nation which is controlled by the powerful social group, and its purpose is to reproduce existing  inequalities,  as  well  as  legitimize  acceptable  common  ideas  which  actually  as reinforcement to the privileged positions of the dominant group.

Education is one of the most powerful social institutions as it has access to the children. Right from the beginning in their life education institutions has great control. Education institutions decide the future perspective of the children. But the question arises that what is the dominant force behind Educational institution. Who decides the way educational  institutions  should  run.  As  we  read  society  has  many  social  groups  with different social aims and aspirations, different status and life chances. As the aspiration of different group are varied and may be conflicting. So there is conflict for becoming the dominant force of Educational institutions. And obviously the dominant group will be the force behind educational institutions.

And educational institutions follows the directions of dominant group to maintain
the status -quo of society i.e. the lower, middle and upper class children become lower,
middle and upper class adults respectively. This is a cyclic process as the dominant group
roots the values, and aims favouring themselves in educational institutions.Dominant group
also promote the myth through other institution like government, economy that education
is for all and provide a means of achieving wealth and status. Anyone who fails to achieve

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this  goal, according  to the  myth, has  to blame  himself; not  the  social inequality  and unfavourable educational opportunities.

Conflict theorists believe this social reproduction is a cyclic process because the whole  education  system  is  flooded  with  ideologies  provided  by  the  dominant  group. According to this theory people always tries to go up in level of society. Thus this theory promotes social mobility.

Concept of Cultural Capital

Before we proceed further let us first discuss what cultural capital is. Cultural capital denotes the accumulation of knowledge, experience, skills one has had through the course of their life that enables him to succeed more so than someone from a less experienced background.

Pierre Bourdieu a sociologist has further elaborated the social reproduction theory
and  developed  the  relation  between  the  structure (educational  institutions)  and  the

learners. Bourdieu has built his theoretical framework around the important concepts of cultural capital.  This  concepts  is  based  on  the  idea  that  social structures  (educational institutions particularly) determine individuals'  chances, through the mechanism of the cultural capital. Bourdieu used the idea of cultural capital to explore the differences in outcomes  for  students  from  different  classes.  He  explored  the  conflict  between  the orthodox reproduction and the innovative production of knowledge and experience. He found that this conflict is intensified by considerations of which particular cultural capital is to be conserved and reproduced in schools. Bourdieu argues that it is the culture of the dominant groups, and therefore their cultural capital, which is embodied in schools, and that this leads to social reproduction.

The cultural capital of the dominant group, in the form of practices and relation to
culture, is assumed by the school to be the natural and only proper type of cultural capital
and is therefore legitimated. Students who possess this legitimate cultural capital gain
educational capital in the form of qualifications. Learners having cultural capital different
from accepted cultural capital are therefore disadvantaged. To gain qualifications they must
acquire legitimate cultural capital, by exchanging their own (lower-class) cultural capital.
This exchange is not straight forward and easy. Learner of lower class find success harder in
school due to the fact that they must learn a new way of ‘being’, or relating to the world,
and especially, a new way of relating to and specially using language. They have to act also
against their instincts and expectations. Their expectations and instinct influenced by the
cultural capital found in the school, also helps in social reproduction by encouraging less-
privileged students to eliminate themselves from the system as drop outs. That is why still,
only a small number of less-privileged students achieve success. And majority of these
students who get success at education had to incorporate the values of the dominant
classes and use them as their own. The process of social reproduction is not perfect and

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very few learners get success to overcome the barrier of cultural capital; but most of them fails to do so.

Therefore Bourdieu's perspective reveals how structures play an important role in determining individual achievement in school. This also allows for an individual to overcome these  barriers.  We  can  say  Bourdieu's  has  combined  the  structural  functionalism  and conflict theory in his cultural capital concept. Both functionalism and conflict theories have meaning and place in Education.

Issues in Sociology of Education

Educational institution is a good sample of society. It is a miniature form of society.
You can find various groups like group of learners (boys and girls), group of teacher (male
and female), and group of non teaching staff. Various roles are played in educational
institutions  like Evaluation (peer evaluation, tutor evaluation, evaluation of teacher by

learner etc).

Teacher   play   role   of   Judge(evaluation),helper       (help   learner   in   achieving

objectives ),detective(find out the law breaker),Idol(promoting values).The environment of educational institution is a complex one and various issues like gender, Social background, language  technology,  ideology  interplay  in  a  complex  social  milieu  at  micro(within institution) and macro (broad perspective) level. Let us go through these issues in brief. This will be useful in arranging effective learning experience.

Language

A  language  is  a  set  of  visual,  auditory,  symbols          (gesture  and  posture)  of

communication. We know that learning is a process resulting from the communication
(interaction)  between  learner  and  teacher.  So  you  can  understand  what  importance
language have in education. In a single language society where one language is used there is
no concern of language of education at local level. But in a bigger social sphere (global)
again language issue comes. But in a multilingual society the issue of language selection
comes at both local and global level. We can see hues and cry over the language issue in
schools. In India we opt to put our children in English medium schools though our mother
tongue is not English. On English speaking student need extra effort to get the better
results.

Gender

Let us understand what gender is. Gender differs from sex. Sex is a biological state that defines being male or female. Gender is the social difference a person face due to his sex. Did you notice the gender issue; I have used his not her. Ours is a male dominated society and this reflects in educational institutions also. We have some of the indexes which indicate the social biases in all sphere of education like language and literature of texts, male female ratio of learners, teachers.

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You can find the status of gender issue in your institution by calculating these
indexes. As well you can decide these indexes by including these issues at policy making
stage.

Ideologies

The term ideology of education is a complex one. This can be defined as the set of common agreed ideas and beliefs based on which the formal arrangement for education is made. Ideology is deciding factor at every level of educational activities. Ideology affects curriculum, flow of order in institution, teaching methods.

Curriculum  has  the  strong  impression  of  Idealism,  Pragmatism,  Essentialism, Reconstructionism, Existentialism.Generally no single philosophy guides curriculum but the mixture of philosophies guides the curriculum. Any educational institution can have any Teaching learning strategies or the mixture of them.

Teacher centered strategy (word of mouth, demonstration)

Learner centered strategy (open school/university, Computer assisted learning, individual project, Blended learning, flexi-study)

Group learning strategy ( group project, Tutorial, seminar)

Experiential learning strategy  (play and learn, discovery learning, role  play, simulation method).

Technology

The question arises what is technology? Technology is the use of science. We read in
the earlier subsection that learning is a process resulting from interaction between learner
and teacher. This means communication plays a vital role in education. Various teaching
strategies need electronics gadgets, electricity. Print material, educational CDs, audio and
video learning materials are used for teaching. Libraries in institutions are getting digital
having access to web. Evaluation of learners can be done in Computers. But what is the
sociological aspect of technology. The access to these technologies is not equal in the
society.  Very  few  percentages  of  people  in  India  have  access  to  this  technological
advancement. In India most of the government primary schools even do not have electricity.
According to the Electricity connections (%) in upper primary is as follow

States

Andhra Pradesh

Assam

Electricity

connections(%)

52.68

10.36

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Bihar                        5.8

Chattisgarh              18.54

Gujarat                     94.08

Himanchal Pradesh 42.22

Jharkhand                20.97

Karnatka                  64.58

(Source: DISE analytical report 2004)

So you can easily understand children having education in these institutions are far from
getting the fruit of technological advancement. How can we expect children of these schools
to move ahead at par with the children of schools having all technological advancements?

Family Structure

The  concept  of  nuclear  Family  is  prevalent  now  days  in  India.  The  concept  of combined family is losing its identity. The percent of family having both parents working is getting higher. They also work in shifts. Parents have very little time for their children. In this case the self study at home is not done well. As a teacher you can identify the family structure of the learner and plan learning activities accordingly.

Cultural Diversity

India is a multicultural society and as a teacher and administrator you must think for
your action with these perspectives. Recently we have seen lot of turmoil on the issue of
text books having matters hurting some section of society. I am not judging the issue. What I
want to say that you must think every action for its social consequences. Dress code (veil,
skirts, saaries), ornaments (bindi, ear rings, nose rings, mehndi) etc may be the concerns of
cultural  diversity  in  educational  institutions.  Best  practice  should  be  to  hurt  no  one.

Education in the Present Period

Education today is oriented to promoting values of an urban, competitive consumer
society. Through the existing education system, India has produced in the last five decades
number of scientists, professionals and technocrats who have excelled in their fields and

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made a mark at the national and international levels. The top scientists, doctors, engineers, researchers, professors, etc. not those who were educated abroad but had got their entire education in India.

It is not a question of the extent to which education provides or fails to provide employment to people but it is a question of education providing modern technology for the benefit of the poor and deprived people. It is a question of the quality of education.
Instead of merely viewing the growing population as a liability, we should change the population into an asset and strength along with trying to control its growth. This can be done only by education and human development.

The three main deficiencies in the present education system may be described as follows:

(1) The present education does not generate or fortify the type of knowledge that is relevant to our changed society.

(2) Technology associated with a particular body of knowledge is inappropriate to
our stage of development in terms of its employment potential or investment demands.

(3) Education has failed to provide value framework which may prepare committed
politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and professionals on whom our nation can depend for
sophisticated system of support services to be useful in taking the country to the highest
level.

Though education does not guarantee high status and higher positions to all people, yet without education, an individual is unlikely to achieve social mobility. Gore avers that education plays a role in equalizing opportunities in three ways.

(1) By making it possible for all those who have the desire to be educated and the ability to benefit by that facility;

(2) By developing a content of education which will promote the development of a scientific and objective outlook.

(3) By creating a social environment of mutual tolerance based on religion, language, caste, class, etc. for providing equal opportunities of social mobility to all individuals in society, and for providing equal opportunity to secure good education is crucial.

How is education related to equality of opportunity can be perceived on the basis of

the  findings  of  one  empirical  study  conducted  in  eight  states  in  1967  on  the  social background  of  students  (age,  sex,  caste,  father’s  occupation,  father’s  education,  etc.) studying  at  various  levels  high  school,  college  and  professional  colleges.  This  study presented two posse-groups, propositions:

(1) Education is priority with those in the white-collar group, and children in this group use educational facilities more than other groups, and children in this group use educational facilities more than other groups;

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(2) Education is differentially available to those who do not belong to white-collar group  (see Gore,  1994:33). If the first proposition is correct, it probably underlines the irrelevance of education to non-white-collar groups in our society.

Education, Social Change and Modernization:-

Education has been accepted as one major agency of socialization, and teachers and educational institutions as socializing agents. In describing education as an instrument of social change, three things are important: the agents of change, the content of change, and the social background of those who are sought to be changed, i.e. students. Educational institutions under the control of different cultural groups reflect the values of those groups which support and control education. In this situation, teachers Impart specific values, aspirations to the children.

Social reformers, who were  educated, emphasized  values  like  removal of  caste restrictions, equality of women, doing away with social evil, social customs and practices, voice in the governance of the country, establishing democratic institutions and so on. They, thus, wanted to teach liberal philosophy through education for changing society. In other words  they  regarded  education  as  a  flame  or  light  of  knowledge  which  dispelled  the darkness of ignorance.

The  use  of  education  for  spreading  the  values  of  modernization  came  to  be emphasized from the 1960s and 1970s onwards. Highly productive economies, distributive justice, people’s participation in decision-making bodies, adoption of scientific technology in industry, agriculture and other occupations and professions were accepted as goals for modernizing  the  Indian  society.  And  these  goals  were  to  be  achieved  through  liberal education. Thus, modernization was not accepted as a philosophy or a movement based on rational values system but as a process that was to be confined only to economic field but was to be achieved in social, political, cultural and religious fields too. Education was sought to be utilized as channel for the spread of modernity

According to the sociological perspective, education does not arise in response of
the individual needs of the individual, but it arises out of the needs of the society of which
the individual is a member1. The educational system of any society is related to its total
social system. It is a sub system performing certain functions for the on-going social system.
The goals and needs of the total social system get reflected in the functions it lays down for
educational system and the form in which it structures it to fulfill those functions.

In a static society, the main function of the educational system is to transmit the
cultural heritage to the new generations. But in a changing society, these keep on changing
from generation to generation and the educational system in such a society must not only
transmit the cultural heritage, but also aid in preparing the young for adjustment to any
changes in them that may have occurred or are likely to occur in future. In contemporary
societies, “The proportion of change that is either planned or issues from the secondary

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consequences of deliberate innovations is much higher than in former times.” This is more so  in  societies  that  has  newly  become  independent  and  are  in  a  developing  stage. Consequently, in such modern complex societies, education is called upon to perform an additional function of becoming

Thus, the relationship between educational system and society is mutual; sometimes the society influences changes in educational system and at other times the educational system influences changes in the society.

Education of Women:-

The  National Policy  on  Education,  1986 also laid  emphasis  on  education  for attaining women’s equality which will foster the development of new values. The strategies proposed are: encouraging educational institutions to take up active programmes to further women’s development removal of women’s illiteracy, removing obstacles inhibiting their access to elementary  education,  and  pursuing  policy  of  non-discrimination  to  eliminate  sex stereotyping in vocational, technical and professional courses.

Education of SCs, STs, and OBCs

Education is directly related to the development of an individual and the community. It  is  the  most  important  single  factor  for  economic  development  as  well  as  social emancipation.  For the  weaker sections  of  society, education  has  a special significance because for a number of centuries, their illiteracy and social backwardness have been used for their harassment, humiliation and economic exploitation.

Nature of Social Change and Its Impact on Education Change in Wider Social Environment:-

The change may be in the total social environment surrounding the society. It may
be  due  to  some  internal  forces  or  external  forces  arising  in  other  societies.  Social
phenomena occurring in neighboring or distant societies have very widespread impact now.
English, for example, is now became a world language for dissemination of knowledge and
consequently India feels the necessity to emphasis the need for retaining and strengthening
the knowledge of English in order to continue to be benefited by new knowledge developing
all over the world.

Change in Social Goals, Objectives and Values:-

The social change may be in social goals, objectives and values. The changes may be in social values that directly affect the content of social roles and social interaction. For example, the adoption of equality as a value may ultimately lead to compulsory and free primary education, to expansion of primary educational facilities to all children up to the age of fourteen and to providing financial and other aid to backward classes for enabling them to avail of the expanded educational facilities.

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Institutional Social Changes

The social change may be „institutional‟ which includes change in more definite structures such as form of organization, roles and role content. The adoption of democracy and adult franchise in India has made training in responsible and responsive citizenship absolutely necessary for the electorate. This may ultimately affect the content and the method of teaching in educational institutions as well as the teacher-taught relationships.

Changes in Knowledge and Technology

The changes may be in the existing knowledge and technology. Space exploration,
industrialization, agricultural and domestic technology, development of transportation, and
mass media of communication, new understanding of the human organism, individual and
social behavior are some of the scientific and technological areas in which knowledge has
expanded  a  great  deal  and  will  still  continue  to  expand.  Thus,  the  development  of
knowledge and technology may bring changes in syllabus, teaching and evaluating methods
and role of teacher.

Change in Size and Composition of Population

The change may be in the size and composition of population. The explosion of population  with  differential  rates  of  increase  in  different  regions, communities, socioeconomic groups and age groups may necessitate many changes in the educational system. Students  with different  levels  of  intelligence  and  educational aspirations, belonging  to different socio-economic classes, different castes and religious groups have begun to come in the same type of educational institution and are huddled in same classroom. All these changes also necessitate change in the educational system. Thus, different types of social changes occurring in society make the existing educational system dysfunctional to a certain extent and in course of time pressurize to bring changes in it.

Social Change and Lags in Indian Educational System

In response to social change educational system must also change. The change may be in consonance with the social change and meet the new goals and demands of various social groups adequately. Otherwise a lag is created between the goals and demands of the society and the goals and demands of the educational system. A number of such lags have occurred in the Indian educational system after independence and in many ways perform a day’s functional role in Indian society. This has been accepted by the Kothari Commission very clearly. It reported:

“As is well known, the existing system of education is largely unrelated to life and
there  is  a  wide  gulf  between  its  content  and  purposes  and  the  concerns  of  national
development Instead of promoting social and national integration and making an active
effort  to  promote  national  consciousness,  several  features  of  the  educational  system
promote  divisive  tendencies;  caste  loyalties  are  encouraged  in  a  number  of  private
educational institutions; the rich and poor are segregated, the former attending the better

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type of private schools which charge fees while the latter are forced, out of circumstances, to attend free government or local authority” .

Modernization of Education in India: Problems

The modernization of education in India becomes a special problem in several ways.
India has adopted the path of economic development within the framework of a free
society and therefore it cannot adopt authoritarian means to modernize education. The
centre has to get the willing consent of the states and each state has to get the willing
consent of its elected representatives in their legislative assemblies before introducing any
major change in the allocation of resources to education or in the educational system itself.

Secondly, India has no colonies to depend on for resources to meet the expenditure on modernizing its educational system. It has to depend on its own self and find out its own resources which are bound to be very limited. But, it can avail assistance from advanced countries and international agencies like UNESCO which have developed programmes to assist educational development in developing countries. However, the fact that this aid will also be limited has to be taken into account

Thirdly, India has lots of diversities. It economy is mixed, including modern factories along with traditional agriculture. Its tribal, rural and urban groups show very wide contrasts in their physical and social conditions of living. The different levels of development at which the various sections of society stand differentiate their educational needs and complicate the problem of educational development. The aims, methods and organization of education which may be functional for one group may be dysfunctional for the other.

Lastly, in western societies, economic modernization preceded political and social modernization. Consequently, in their educational thinking, they could lay more emphasis on the needs of the individual than on the economic needs of the country. But India, being largely agricultural and poor has to think of the economic needs of the country before it thinks  of  the  needs  of  individuals.  It  cannot  initially  afford  to waste  its  resources  on educational programmes that are not productive in economic terms.

Thus  the  Indian  education  system  needs  a  complete  overhaul  through  proper legislation and its effective implementation. Legislations should be made taking into account the regional diversities of each state. The masses should be made  aware of the new developments.

Conclusion

Education has become one of the influential instruments of social change in India. It
has led to the mobilization of people’s aspirations for development and change. Thus in
modern complex national societies, education can neither be regarded as a controlling force
conserving cultural heritage, nor could it be viewed as an agent of social change. It can only
be regarded as a cooperative force in bringing about social changes decided by the forces
possessing more pervasive power in society. Thus the Indian education system needs a

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complete overhaul through proper legislation and its effective implementation. Legislations should be made taking into account the regional diversities of each state. The masses should be made aware of the new developments.

CONCEPT OF CULTURE - SALIENT FEATURES OF INDIAN CULTURE

The blessed Ganges, the sun kissed Thar, the  brooking      Himalayas, those lush
rainforests, the colorful peacocks, the   fiery Royal Bengal tiger, India, is an union of all these
and even much more. India, the land of color, verve, spirit and tradition is as diverse as its
people. Since the remote past,   a collage of tradition, a medley of faith and culture and
indeed that mosaic of languages, mores and heritage have ideally unified to form a fused
totality, a perfect India, one   of the world`s oldest civilizations. Unity in Diversity is the basic
crux of Indian civilization, which further drops its     image on Indian culture while making it
vibrant.

Difference between civilization and culture

`There are some differences between a cultured society and a civilized society. The
cultured society is one, which emphasizes the ideals, conduct, relationships, aesthetic and
other values, which are cherished in the society. On the other hand the civilized society is
that, which is organized under conditions ministering to the welfare of the community.
Culture, therefore may be defined as the complex of  ideas,      conceptions, developed
qualities and organized relationships and courtesies that exist generally in a society.

Roots of Indian culture

There is a close relationship between religion and culture. Religion emphasizes certain values of life and according to these values of life a man in a society acts. These actions of man result in the formation of the culture of that society. T.S. Elliot in his Observation on Culture observes that the basis of culture is religious beliefs. There is no doubt that    Christianity forms the basis of European culture. Similarly it is Hinduism in India, which gives to Indian culture its special characteristics.

India has a long and continuous history extended over 5,000    years. It has a way of
life and culture but as a matter of fact it is modified continuously by outside contacts. These
contacts should essentially be Indian, based on doctrines and ideas developed indigenously.
This way of life has found expression in classical and modern literature, in architecture and
art, which display an exuberant creative energy and have had lasting influence on most
Asian countries, in philosophies and religious systems which continue to be vital forces even
in the world of today.    Spiritual unity: In the Upanishads it is stated that man is    not merely
an infinitesimal part of part less infinite. He himself is the infinite, Tattvamasi, `That thou
art`.  Thus  the  idea  of  spiritual unity  had  been  grasped  as  early  as  the  period  of  the
Upanishads.   The concept of karma and rebirth: One life is too short time for all to achieve
supreme spiritual knowledge. So men must be born again and again, progressing through
many lives, from lower to higher forms. They experience the fruits of their past actions, both
good and bad and continue to create fresh     Karma for themselves by new actions until at

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last  the  blot  out  of  ignorance  drops,  and  they  become  aware  of  their  divine
nature. Then they are freed from further rounds of birth and death.  Ever-recurring cycles of
time: Life moves in an endless      stream. Creation is the name of the first phase; growth of
the middle phase and dissolution is the last phase of the eternal process. The worlds
themselves are swinging in vast immeasurable cycles. There is an apparent beginning and
also end.

Varna dharma: The Aryan society was divided into Brahamanas, Ksatriyas and the
Vaisyas. The fourth class of Sudras consisted of large number of original inhabitants who
had become aryanized and had been absorbed into the society on a somewhat inferior
footing. Men were considered born to a particular caste as a result of their past Karma. They
were expected to follow the occupation of the caste in which they were born. The caste
system  produced  a  remarkably  integrated  economy  in  which  chaotic  competition  was
eliminated.

The Institution of the Indian village: In an Indian village     everyone was given his chance to earn a living by contributing to the essential needs of the village. There was no unemployment. Carpenters, ironsmiths, washer men, barbers and potters were paid in village grain. Weavers, dyers, metalworkers and others exchanged their wares for the grain they needed. A Panchayat, chosen by the people from among themselves, ran the overall affairs of the village and saw to     the enforcement of customary laws. The village was thus both self-contained and can also be called as democratic.

The concept of dharma: The world was accepted as real and each individual had a
definite place in it and definite duties to perform. This also varied according to time and
circumstances. Caste work was to be properly performed. A king was expected to rule
properly, protect the people, and promote their prosperity. Dharma required a man to live
in society as a civilized human being, checking his selfish urges in the interests of others. The
stability of Indian life has rested on the firm foundations of Dharma from past centuries. So
has the integrated Hindu family. A child owed its parents loving obedience. The chaste wife
owed her selfless devotion to her husband and family. The husband owed support and
protection to his wife and children, and hospitality to who so ever might seek it. Through
the inculcation of the spirit of Dharma, high standards of ethics, clear-cut codes of behavior,
and  a  widespread  acceptance  of  non-material  virtues  had  higher  importance  than
possessions. These have come to be the expression in ordinary society of true Indian
culture.