Question

Find out a name that is relevant under each heading.

Caste An anti – caste movement A caste based political party

Class A class based movement A class based political party

Women A women’s movement A women’s organisation

Tribe A tribal movement A tribe/tribes based political party

Villagers An environmental movement An environmental organisation

Discuss whether they were all social groups to start with and if some were not, then at what point can one apply the term ‘social group’ to them, using the term as sociologically understood.

Answer 1

Heading	Movement	Political Party / Organisation
Caste	Self-Respect Movement (or Dalit Panther Movement)	Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
Class	Tebhaga Movement (or recent Farmers' Protests)	Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M)
Women	Anti-Arrack Movement	Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Tribe	Santhal Rebellion (or Niyamgiri Movement)	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)
Villagers	Chipko Movement	Tarun Bharat Sangh

Sociologically, they were not all ‘social group’ to begin with. Initially, broad classifications like ‘women,’ ‘villagers,’ or people of a certain income bracket are merely social categories or aggregates. A social category is simply a collection of people who share a common characteristic (like class or gender) but do not interact with one another or possess a shared sense of identity.

One can apply the term ‘social group’ to them only when there is sustained social interaction, a recognition of mutual goals, and a shared sense of identity or belonging (a ‘we-feeling’). For example, while working-class individuals form a statistical social category, they only become a sociological social group when they organize into a trade union or a class-based political party (like the CPI) with structured interactions, defined leadership, and collective socio-political objectives.