Home » Languages » English (Sr. Secondary) » Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “The System of Social and Political Life in Democracies” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “The System of Social and Political Life in Democracies” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

The System of Social and Political Life in Democracies

There are a number of social sciences. These social sciences cover different aspects of man’s activity. The mother science of all these activities is called ‘Sociology’ which is the science of human society as a whole Society is made up of all social beings and their variegated groupings. A social being performs numerous activities to survive and flourish or to help other social beings to survive and flourish. These activities may be economic or political. These may also be related to his moral actions.

The knowledge which relates to any of the activities of human beings is known as a social science. The activities relating to statecraft are known as political activities. The knowledge which covers various aspects—theoretical or practical—of political activities is known as Political Science which is a science because, like all other sciences, it has its broad rules and regulations, general laws and general principles. These rules, laws and principles are like the guidelines of certain definite activities or actions.

Man is a Social Being: Since the earliest times, man is known to have lived in society. Even when he was not so civilised, lived in the company of his fellow beings whether his society started with his family, tribe, group or a combination of them.

Plato said that society is essential for life while Aristotle Improved on this expression by saying that society is essential for good life. Without society, it is impossible for humans to have the basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter. Society was needed even by the primitive people. Their dependence on society went on gradually increasing with time so that. in due course, they gave up their nomadic life and started living a family life.

Human Groups: Once mar learned to live in social groups he became superior to all beasts, but his dependence on the uncontrolled bounty of nature limited his chances of survival hunting wild animals and gathering wild vegetable foods could support about one human being per 10 square miles of territory, and even this small population was often threatened by droughts and other natural disasters. The situation changed abruptly when groups of men living in favored parts of the earth entered a stage of communal living. They made certain plants and animals, part of the human groups, establishing a symbiotic relationship, i.e. these people became farmers and herdsmen.

Symbiosis with plants and animals gave social man a large and dependable food supply and started him towards developing his higher civilisation; but it placed new demands on cooperative effort and required communities to be more highly organised than those of hunters. The result was a diversity of human groupings. People began to live in several different kinds of associations, each characterised by behaviour patterns related to its size, to meet the varied needs imposed by agriculture and, later, by industry. The types of human communities now so familiar around the world quickly evolved.

Human Settlements: Preparing fields planting crops and harvesting, called for a lot of heavy labour. While the crops were growing they demanded protection and weeding, and after harvesting they had to be kept safe from thieves and pests. These requirements led most farmers to live in settled groups in villages, and their sedentary life raised a host of social problems. Various kinds of property became important and with property came inevitable quarrels about ownership and inheritance. The village itself was a tangle of difficulties. Who should be permitted to build his house and where? And what to do about outsiders who wanted to move in? All such problems had to be solved reasonably well or the village would be afflicted by strife and instability. With time villages developed into towns. New township and larger cities were also established.

The knowledge relating to politics makes up one of the social sciences like that of other social sciences—economics, philosophy, psychology, etc. It is, however, not an exact science because no science which deals with the behaviour of human beings can he declared exact. A human being and his mind are vast vistas of differing thought. A human mind seldom has a single track to follow. It is full of all complexities. No general line or graph can be drawn to express its ideas. That, however, does not mean that the knowledge relating to political science should not be classified as a science. It has all the logic, system and other characteristics of the scientific study of specialised branch of human knowledge and fully deserves the title of science.

Individual and Society: An individual and his/her society are interdependent and essential for each’ other’s existence. The problem that has haunted philosophers is whether the society has any right to regulate an individual’s conduct and behaviour, or allow the individual to have free expression and action. It has been rightly observed that man is a social animal not only by nature but also by sheer necessity, right from the day he sees the light of this world till his death. Even before his birth an individual needs a society to facilitate his healthy arrival and cordial welcome to the fold of humanity.

Individual and the State: State is the most important political institution of society that looks after the material and spiritual interests of its individuals. Each nation-State today adopts what is called a ‘Constitution’ to regulate the behaviour and activity of most of its nationals. Sometimes called the ‘basic law of society”, the Constitution describes the fundamental responsibilities of the State in regard to the functioning of the society as a whole. It establishes the form of government at the centre, in the regions, districts and villages in the country for its governance. It also prescribes the outlines of powers and privileges of different wings executive, legislature and judiciary of the government together with the mutual relationships among them. It enumerates the basic objectives which govern the formulation of policies and programmes of the State for the good of its individual citizens. The Constitution also lays down the basic rules to regulate the behaviour of individuals among themselves and towards the State and society.

Obligations and Facilities of Citizenship: The basic law of a society very often puts limitations on the liberty of the citizens of the State and prevents them from harming the interests of other individuals for selfish gain, either by exploitation, economic or social or by material or physical injury.

In return for this restraint on his liberty the State gives to the individual numerous facilities of citizenship. These facilities include the right to vote and elect political leaders at different levels, enjoy the social benefits of corporate living like the amenities of cheap drinking water, street sanitation, electricity, roads, public transport, security of life, medical care, etc. as well as the right to individual belongings and working opportunity based on merit and capability. In recent decades the State has further expanded its role in society with a view to serving its citizens with more and more material and spiritual benefits arising from mutual cooperation. This has made the life of individuals, and thereby of societies, more comfortable, interesting and purposeful.

Social Atomism: In recent societies, the idea of social atomism has come up. According to atomists, a social atom is an indivisible unit of society and the whole society is made up of such social atoms or living units. The social atom is essential for the whole society and the society is essential for the very existence of its social atoms.

Political science is fundamentally linked to the stage of social evolution or revolution of a community, or a nation-State. It is also linked to a territorial region and/or how it fits in the world as a whole. What activities of a man constitute political action’? In what way and to what extent does the political action exercise its influence on the life of a person or a body of persons in an area or a region? The answers to these questions depend upon the state of socio-economic progress the community has reached, its cultural background and current social objectives. Taking the example of India the scope of political activity and political institutions in the country prior to attainment of Independence was absolutely different from what it is today. If we were to make a survey of the constitutional and political march of events from the days of the East India Company, via the Regulating Act of 1773, up to the passage of the Indian Independence Act in 1947, we will find how the political activities of a country or a State change with time and circumstances. A new chapter in the political advancement of the country began with the advent of Independence. It led to the formulation and growth of the Constitution of the country as it obtains today.

Thus, it may be observed, that political institutions of a community or a State derive their origin and source of development from its historical or traditional background. They are based on the forces of change—social, economic, and political—that functioned in the past, functioning today, or will function in the future.

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