Introduction to Sociology (SOC101)

SEMESTER SPRING 2013
Introduction to Sociology (SOC101)
Assignment No. 02
Due Date: June 27, 
2013 Marks: 20

Determinants of Social Class in Pakistan
Leaning Objective:
• To familiarize students with the class structure of Pakistani society.
• To enable students to critically analyze the latent determinants of existing social class in
Pakistani society.
Assignment 02
What places one in a particular social class? It is birth, money, education, occupation or what? The
answer to each question is yes, for all these attributes are involved. The number of social classes,
therefore, varies from place to place; it may also vary with the observer’s appraisal of the number of
social strata whose members have the same general status. When we speak of, for example, the
middle class, we don’t refer to a group of people who are clearly set off from other be definite status
interval; we refer to a group of people who cluster around a midpoint in a status scale and who view
and treat one another as social equals. Social class is significant social reality not just a theoretical
construct, for people do classify others as equals, superiors and inferiors. Whenever people define
certain others as social equals and treat them differently from those who are not so defined, their
behavior creates social classes.
Keeping in mind this variation, this activity has been assigned to you to determine the existence of
social class in Pakistan on the basis of occupation and income and education.
Following is a list of occupations which determine the prestige of a particular person on the basis of
particular profession. Your task is to get ranked these professions from 10 persons (belongs to any
walk of life) of age group of 25-40. After getting ranking from 1-10 prepare a cumulative table
showing ranked order of all occupations.
Occupation Title Prestige score (10
persons)
Occupation Title Prestige score (10
persons)
TV host Fireman
Social Worker Dentists
School teacher Physician
Army personnel Ambassador
Carpenter Computer technician
Policeman Stenographer
Restaurant owner Lawyer
Member of Senate or
National Assembly
Airline Pilot
Veterinarian Electrician
Journalist University Professor
The second activity is to estimate social class on the basis of family income. In this regard, you are
supposed to ask the same respondents (10) to specify their current family income and further to rank
the range of family income for upper, middle, lower middle and poor class on following pattern.
Social Class Money range
This activity is to prepare a list of level of education of respondents and present them in form of
frequency table and percentage.
Level of education Frequency Percentage
Now, you will write a report comprising of following sections:
• Introduction (Purpose of activity) 2
• Ranking (Numerical calculations) 6
• Discussion (How the occupational structure, income and education determine the class
structure of Pakistani society?) 7
• Reasons of association with certain class and occupations on the basis of analysis. 5
Learning Outcomes:
• Students will be able to understand the existing class structure of Pakistani society
• Students will also be able to analyze the social class determinants from different angles
which ultimately help them to assess the basis of social stratification in our system
Note:
Only in the case of Assignment, 24 hours extra / grace period after the due date is
usually available to overcome uploading difficulties which may be faced by the
students on last date. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and
above mentioned due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any
inconvenience.
Important Instructions:
Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment solution.
Deadline:
• Make sure that you upload the solution file before the due date. No assignment will be
accepted through e-mail once the solution has been uploaded by the instructor.
Formatting guidelines:
• Use the font style “Times New Roman”/ “Arial” and font size “12”.
• It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word 2003.
• Use black and blue font colors only.
Solution guidelines:
• Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an analytical
assignment.
• Give the answer according to question.
• For acquiring the relevant knowledge don’t rely only on handouts but watch the video
lectures and use other reference books also.
Rules for Marking
Please note that your assignment will not be graded or graded as Zero (0) if:
• It has been submitted after due date
• The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt
• It is in any format other than doc (MS. Word)
• It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc…
Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive
Dear students!
As you know that semester activities have started and load shedding
problem is also prevailing in our country now a days. Keeping in view the
fact, It is requested to all of you to manage to post your activities as early as
possible and don’t wait for the due date. For your convenience activity
schedule has already been uploaded on VULMS for the current semester,
therefore no excuse will be entertained after due date of assignments,
quizzes or GDBs.