Page 266 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 12: Processes of Change

should Have a disposition to form or hold opinions over a large number of the problems and issues Notes
that arise not only in his immediate environment but also outside it. The more educated the individual,
the greater is the readiness to offer opinions in response to this challenge. Contrary to this, a traditional
man takes no interest in issues that surround and touch him. Even if he has an opinion, he feels shy
of expressing it. The modern man shows more awareness of the diversity of opinions and attitudes.
(3) A modern man is oriented more to the present and the future than to the past. He is also more
regular, orderly and systematic in organizing his affairs. (4) A modern man is more oriented to
planning and believes in it as a way of handling life. (5) A modern man believes in efficacy and is
open to learning so that he can dominate the environment in order to advance his own purposes and
goals, rather than being dominated entirely by that environment. (6) A modern man is great calculator
and believes in a reasonably lawful world under human control. (7) A modern man shows more
respect and dignity in his dealings with others. (8) A modern man has more faith in science and
technology. (9) A modern man believes in democracy and distributive justice.
This list of attributes of a modern man could be extended but it is sufficient enough to serve the idea
how modernization may be perceived at an individual level besides perceiving it at group and society
levels.
12.4 Secularization

BRITISH rule brought with it a process of secularization of Indian social life and culture, a tendency
that gradually became stronger with the development of communications, growth of towns and
cities, increased spatial mobility, and the spread of education. The two World Wars, and Mahatma
Gandhi’s civil disobedience campaigns, both of which socially and politically mobilized the masses,
also contributed to increased secularization. And with Independence there began a deepening as
well as a broadening of the secularization process as witnessed in such measures as the declaration of
India as a secular state, the Constitutional recognition of the equality of all citizens before the law, the
introduction of universal adult suffrage, and the undertaking of a program of planned development.
We have seen earlier that Sanskritization is also spreading, and it may seem paradoxical that both it
and secularization are simultaneously gaining ground in modern India. Of the two, secularization is
the more general process, affecting all Indians, while Sanskritization affects only Hindus and tribal
groups. Broadly, it would be true to say that secularization is more marked among the urban and
educated groups, and Sanskritization among the lower Hindu castes and tribes. It is necessary,
however, to reiterate that one of the results of a century of Westernization—secularization is subsumed
under Westernization—is a reinterpreted Hinduism in which Sanskritic elements are predominant.
The term “secularization” implies that what was previously regarded as religious is now ceasing to
be such, and it also implies a process of differentiation which results in the various aspects of society,
economic, political, legal and moral, becoming increasingly discrete in relation to each other. The
distinction between Church and State, and the Indian concept of a secular state, both assume the
existence of such differentiation.
Another essential element in secularization is rationalism, a “comprehensive expression applied to
various theoretical and practical tendencies which aim to interpret the universe purely in terms of
thought, or which aim to regulate individual and social life in accordance with the principles of
reason and to eliminate as far as possible or to relegate to the background everything irrational.”
Rationalism involves, among other things, the replacement of traditional beliefs and ideas by modern
knowledge.
It would probably be safe to assume that Hindus were more affected by the secularization process
than any other religious group in India as, first, the concepts of pollution and purity which are central
as well as pervasive in Hinduism were greatly weakened as a result of the operation of a variety of
factors already mentioned. Moreover, the fact that Hinduism lacks a central and nation-wide
organization with a single head, and that it is largely dependent for its perpetuation on such social
institutions as caste, joint family and village community—institutions which are changing in important
respects—renders it peculiarly vulnerable to the forces of secularization. Different sections among
Hindus are affected in different degrees by it, and generally speaking, the new elite are probably

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 261