SOCIOLOGY TEST SERIES (Test 1)

Paper- I

(Sociological Thinkers, Stratification and Mobility)

Model Answers
Q1(a). Reference Group (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Reference group refers to the group or the collective which one refers while evaluating
ones achievement, ambitions and aspiration. It serves as a yardstick for ones evaluation.

Reference group is a sociological entity help a person to undergo social mobility, facilitate
acculturation process, socialization thereby facilitating social dynamics.

The functionalist understanding of reference groups was given by Harold Kelley and further
elaborated by R.K. Merton. Kelleys concept points out that, when we take a group for frame of
reference, it is for two purposes i.e.

(a) Comparative Reference either for comparison or self-evaluation

(b) Normative Reference whose norms and values are emulated by individual
Merton extended the concept, according to him any of the in-group (membership) or out-group
(non-membership) which becomes points of reference for shaping ones attitude, evaluations and
behaviour, is his reference group. He substantiated his concept with Samuel Stauffers studies
The American Solider.

Indian functionalist scholar, M.N. Srinivas concept of Sanskritization was developed on the
basis of reference group behaviour. Here lower caste emulating dominant caste serves as the
reference group for anticipatory socialization.

This concept of reference group is also used by interactionists like Cooley and G.H. Mead. For
Mead, Reference groups play an important role in the formation of Self, from the play and
game stages to the generalized others.

Thus, reference group concept does not only explain stability but also changes in the society. It is
a useful tool for understanding a gamut of social phenomenon viz. fashion, conspicuous
consumption, sanskritization etc.

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Q1(b). Manifest and Latent Functions. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. R.K. Merton has to his credit the recodification of the functional approach by virtue of his
set of functional paradigms. An important element of his functional paradigm is the concept of
manifest and latent functions. Though the concept was touched by his predecessors like Francis
Bacon, Fried, Emile Durkheim, W.I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, but Merton gave them a
concrete stature in sociological theory.

In literal sense of terms, manifest function refers to those observed objective consequences
which facilitate integration of social system and are observed as well as recognised. On the other
hand, latent functions refer to those objective consequences which have integrative role but are
not recognized explicitly.

Thus, the thin line which demarcate latent from manifest is their explicit implicit dichotomy.
To explain the concept, he took example of machine politics of America. It include those rule
and law breaker individual which smuggle, pilfer to aid the racially down trodden. Though
explicitly, it seems to be an act of corruption but latently it serves as an eye-opener to
government. Another illustration is his famous Hopi Indians rain making ceremony.

According to Merton, while analysing the consequences of any action, the manifest and latent
outcomes both must be observed; this increases depth of knowledge and help preclude nave
moral judgement.

However, in doing so his approach has been criticized as being conservative and status-quoist.
Colin Campbell considers that latent function can be used as a tool to justify many wrongdoings
in the society which primarily signifies orthodoxy, evil customs etc.

Despite of some criticism, the concept of manifest and latent function have increased the horizon
of sociological inquiry and expanded the realm of sociological knowledge.

Q1(c). Social Fact (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Emile Durkheim is an attempt to delineate the subject matter of sociology gave the concept
of social facts. He defined sociology as essentially the study of social facts and explanation of
such facts in a sociological manner. Thus the subject-matter of sociology refers to attributes of
collectivity i.e. social facts.

According to Durkheim, social facts have three basic characteristics i.e. (a) Exteriority, (b)
Constraints, and (c) Generality or diffuseness.

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 - Exteriority, refers to those ways of acting, feeling, thinking which have a bearing on
social life and are external to individual
- Constraints externally regulates behaviour of individual
- Generality are diffused throughout the society; shared and deference feelings
By virtue of being independent and observable, they are a fact and by pertaining to the
collectivity they become social.

According to Durkheim, social fact emerges when certain individual share a morphological
setting. Their shared habits give rise to social currents. Those social currents which persist
become social fact.

He considered conscience collective to be the ultimate social fact i.e. those values held by the
average member of society.

Habermas criticized this approach at creating an empirical sociology as objective anarchism.

Weber believes that, it is not the objective and coercive nature of society, rather its moral and
binding nature produces conformity.

However, Emile Durkheim in an attempt to carve a separate niche for sociology gave the
discipline social facts and the discipline in turn added the epithet of neo-positivist to him.
(This was best illustrated by his study of suicide where he considered suicide to be a social fact
having social cuases.)

Q1(d). Alienation (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Alienation refers to the socio-psychological condition in which individual develops a sense
of estrangement, meaninglessness etc. from himself or social life.

The concept though ushered by Hegel and Engel, but they gave it metaphysical orientation and
the credit for giving it social orientation goes to Karl Marx.

Marx identified four stages of alienation in capitalist society:

(i) Alienation from the process of production (due to de-objectification of labour)

(ii) Alienation from the product (due to exploitation)
(iii) Alienation from the co-workers (due to competition)
(iv) Alienation from the self (due to cumulative reasons)
Alienation, as conceived by young Marx reflect to one of the necessary condition for revolution
and man to be the sole victim of it. But contemporary scholars like R.P. Dove, Max Weber,
Herbert Marcuse etc. bank upon the capacity of man to cut the threads of alienation and move
ahead with pace of time.
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Thus, alienation has been used as an efficient tool by the industrial sociologists to refer to both
the psyche and social attitude of man. Except Seeman, almost all scholars agreed that automation
or non-creativity of the job is responsible for alienation in the industrial society.

Q1(e). Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. In early 1900s, Max Weber published a book Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism,
which revolutionized the understanding of existing relationship between religion and economy.

It negated classical (Adam Smith) and neo-classical economists (Marx) assumption and put forth
a new assumption which consider the protestant ethics to be the generator and perpetrator of
capitalism.

According to Weber, Capitalism depends on two factors for its usherance (a) Value, and (b)
Infrastructure.

Value here, have been ascribed to those protestant ideals of ascetism (of Calvinism), good
character, economic prudency, self-discipline, concept of work calling, predestination concept
and this worldly orientation which according to Max Weber not only sowed the seeds of
capitalism but also nurtured it.

Post Weberian scholars, R.H. Tawney negated this hypothesis of Weber and turned it upside
down to emphasize on the fact that capitalism driven by rationalism gave way to protestant
ethics, Peter Sombart questioned Webers understanding of Calvinism.

Despite of this criticism, Protestant ethics marked a sea-change in the earlier conception of
relation between religion and economy and nurtured it for decades to come. (Weber did not
substitute Protestantism with Capitalism. He said that protestant ethos contributed to one element
of Capitalism, which is entrepreneurial capitalism, which is the spirit of capitalism.)

Q2(a). Critically evaluate the main features of Webers thesis on religion and economy.
(20 Marks)
Ans. A book named Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism reflects Webers understanding
of religion and economy coherence, shaked the very foundation of European scholarly society.
Its main features which deserve acknowledgement and analysis are as under:

1. It refuted the classical economist (Adam Smith) conception that utilitarian need of man
strived him toward mechanisation. Weber consider that the sole grounding for flourishing

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 of capitalism is birth of protestantism. Amilai finfai, a Russian scholar reflected on it in
his study wherein he found the presence of capitalism much before the protestantism in
Italian and Dutch traders.
2. Weber lays sole emphasis on value/spirit of capitalism and ignoring substance of
capitalism blatantly. Dickson, in his study of Blacks of USA reflects on the presence of
such valued spirit of capitalism in them but still no capitalism due to absence of
substance of capitalism i.e. infrastructure.
3. Weber emphasized on direct causal relationship between protestant ethics and capitalism
which is turned upside down by R.H. Tawney who prophesized that capitalism driven by
rationalism gave way to protestant ethics.
Weber put this criticism to rest by agreeing that Protestantism indeed did develop out of
capitalism, but then it became an independent cause for development of modern
capitalism. Similarly, criticism for not accounting for hedonism was countered by stating
that hedonism was only a character of advance capitalism.
4. Weber established weak linkage between Buddhism and Capitalism as well as Hinduism
and Capitalism which stand incorrect on having a view of Japanese entrepreneurship and
that of Gujrati Baniyas and Sindhis of India. Further, his study was a rare example of
social science experimentation. He took China and India as central group to compare with
Western Europe.
5. Values like ascetism, self-discipline, concept of work calling etc. have been thought to
give way to capitalism by Weber. Contemporarily, it has been found that capitalism
enters the economic structure of a nation, as per demand of globalization, and it later
pave way for re-orienting the value system.
Despite this, the relevance of Webers work cant be overlooked, respecting the time and
context in which it was put forth. By linking two seemingly disparate constellations of
religion and economy, Weber added greatly to sociological understanding of both subjects.

Q2(b). Analyse Marxs notion of religion and explain why he regarded it as an aspect of
superstructure. (20 Marks)

Ans. Marxs notion of religion is encapsulated in his description of religion as the opium of the
masses.

According to him, religion developed in societies marked by self-alienation. When alienated

from the self, as happens in the capitalist system, individual feels estranged and detached from
the society and himself. He finds life to be futile and meaningless. In such a situation he turns
towards religion, which offers temporary, symptomatic relief.

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Religion then becomes, according to Marx, a false conscious, offering false hope to the
individual. It holds out the promise of a better future, or at least freedom from the ills of life after
death.

It also offers a reason for the present status of the individual by claiming present ills to be a
result of past sins.

In doing so, Marx claims that religion legitimises the oppression being faced by the individual in
the capitalist society. This legitimization suits the interests of the upper (bourgeoisie) class who
also come to claim religious sanctions in becoming the ruling class. This perpetuates proletariat
exploitation.

Thus, Marx regarded religion to be a part of the superstructure which consists of the social,
political, religious systems. The superstructure of any society develops in such a manner to
complement and legitimize the economic substructure. As religion is doing the same here, Marx
considers it a part of the superstructure.

The caste system in India is an illustration of Marxs contention. It was projected as a social
structure created by God, thus legitimizing social inequalities as inevitable. Similarly, medieval
European kings considered it their divine right to rule.

Marxs notion on religion also contributed to the conflict view of stratification by considering
religion as part of ruling class ideology.

Q2(c). Define bureaucracy. Reason of corruption in Indian bureaucracy. (10 Marks)

Ans. Bureaucracy has been defined by Max Weber as a large-scale body organized rationally in
order to coordinate the actions of individuals to attain rationally defined goals. Some attributes of
bureaucracy are:

Strict adherence to rules and procedures

Recruitment based on skill and merit
Formalistic rationality in carrying out tasks
Clearly defined hierarchical structure with those on top issuing order to those on bottom
Strict distinction between official and private income
This attributes are also reflected in the Indian bureaucratic structure. Alongside, the drawbacks
of bureaucratic authority system as pointed out by Merton, Lipset, Gouldner etc. are also present.
In India bureaucracy is considered to be an officialdom emphasizing on letter of law and
maintaining status quoist approach.

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Bureaucratic corruption in India can be ascribed to various factors social, economic, political,
cultural, historical etc. Social factor, include absence of any strong disapproval for corruption,
emphasis on deliberately violating rule of law (bribing). This promotes rent seeking behaviour to
fast-track work and retail corruption.

Political factors reflect the non-commitment and non-transparent political master who
themselves vitiate the situation. Subservience of bureaucrats to political power leads them to
support crony capitalism and politician-corporate nexus. This is because their career-growth is
determined by political bosses.

Historical factors, like tradition continuing from the time of colonialism is yet another reason.
Cultural factors include absence of reverence for work and rules. Along with materialistic ethos
and culture of conspicuous consumption.

Last but not least, multiplicity of rules and lack of transparency and accountability to the public
make bribe extortion easy; especially as bureaucracy is the first interface between public and
government.

All these factors are responsible for cynical and corrupt bureaucratic machinery.

Q3(a). What are the major tenets of functionalism? Substantiate your answer with
examples from the approaches of Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton.
(20 Marks)

Ans. The functionalist perspective in sociology has been developed through the works of Comte,
Spencer, Durkheim, Parsons and Merton. The major tenets outlined in their works are:

(i) Society as a system: Functionalists view the society as a system consisting of

interconnected parts forming a whole. They refer to organismic analogy where the
society is compared to an organism. This was agreed to by both Parsons and Merton.

(ii) Identification of universal need: Just as an organism needs to fulfil certain basic needs
to survive, functionalist point to certain needs that need to be fulfilled for the society
to persist Parsons identifies universal needs that are common to all societies and
specific needs which are unique to a society.

Further, according to him, universal need is that of value consensus i.e. as long as
there is an agreement amongst the average member of society about values and norms
guiding social action, the society will persist. This is illustrated in his work on
stratification where he considers unequal rewards system as contributing to value
consensus in society that promotes a motivational device in society.

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 Merton in his modification of classical functional approach also agreed to functional
unity being a universal need for society.

(iii) Contribution of parts to the whole: Classical functionalists taking the consensus
view only accounted for parts contributing to unity in the system. They saw all parts
as functional and contributing to integration in society. Example, Parsons disregarded
negative side of family, focussing only on positives.
The functionalist perspective has made valuable contributions to sociology. However, it has
been criticized by Marxists, feminists and others as being status-quoist, conservationist. They
are also criticized for not acknowledging conflict in society, and hence presenting only a
partial view of reality.

Q3(b). Discuss Durkheims functionalist approach to the understanding of religion.

(20 Marks)
Ans. Durkheim in his study of Religion and Society adopted functionalist approach to establish
religion as a real force having real consequences. Based on his study of Totemism he
concluded that religion contributed to unity and solidarity in society.

He chose Totem worship, believing it to be religion in its most pristine form, not complicated by
priests and prophets. He observed that those belonging to a totem group considered each other as
family members and recognised their duties and obligations towards each other. For instance,
they participated as a group in mourning and celebrations, offering aid to each other. This helped
establish strong social relations.

Totemic beliefs also consisted of a system of taboos and prohibitions, making religion a causal
force. This helped regulate behaviour in society and help establish what was socially acceptable
behaviour. The rules laid out had to be followed by all otherwise it would invite the wrath of the
totem. Example, ill-health was caused when Totem was angry. This regulated conduct in society.

Durkheim concluded that religion was nothing but the worship of society itself. By worshipping
the sacred, we worship rules of society itself. Consequently, religion was functional for the
society.

This functionalist explanation was supported by the works of Malinowsky, Merton and others
who saw religion as contributing positively at the level of individuals as well.

However, Durkheim has been criticized for failing to account for religious conflict as that seen in
modern pluralistic societies. The ISIS crisis, ethno-religious strife in Indian subcontinent are live
examples of dysfunctions of religion.

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Marxists and feminists have also dismissed religion as false consciousness legitimizing
oppression.

Q3(c). Analyse the social and economic aspects of exclusion. (10 Marks)

Ans. Exclusion refers to imposition of a system of disabilities upon an individual or a group

which cuts off their participation in society. This exclusion may have social or economic causes
and consequences:

(i) Poverty: Lack of access to basic means of subsistence can have debilitating effects on
physical and social development of individuals. Lack of monetary means excludes
them from accessing health, education systems. According to Amartya Sen it may
also exclude them from society as their voices go unheard. According to Merton it
may cause retreatism.
(ii) Ascription: Social constructs like caste system, racial and ethnic profiling also impose
restrictions on individuals. Example, Dalits forbidden from entering high castes
houses and other forms of untouchabilities imposed. Blacks discriminated against in
US.
(iii) Occupation: Certain occupations like manual scavenging, sweeping deter access to
adequate social and economic rewards as they are looked down upon in society.
(iv) Deviance: Deviants like terrorists, criminals are excluded from society through
imprisonment, confinement.
(v) Self-exclusion: Certain groups or individuals may themselves retreat from society.
This is often the case with achievers like celebrities. They do this via special clubs,
gated communities etc. to which others arent allowed access. Ethnicity based groups
may also exclude others from their cultural and social groupings.

Q4(a). Explain the concept of Self, according to Mead. (20 Marks)

Ans. In his work Mind, Self and Society Mead introduced the concept of Self, defined as the
ability of an individual to take oneself as an object. By doing so, he gains the peculiar ability of
being both subject and object i.e. being able to put themselves in the position of others and view
oneself as others would.

By doing so, an individual comes to experience and examine himself.

Mead used the concepts of Cooleys primary and secondary group and William James concepts
of empirical self to formulate his stages of formation of Self. He states that this Self is a

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characteristic of adult humans only; it is missing in animals and children. The concept of self
develops through social activity. This genesis takes place in two stages via process of reflexive
role taking.

(i) Play stage, where children play at being someone else. Thus they understand others
perception of themselves. But this play is particularistic.
(ii) Game stage, as they grow up they learn imaginative learning and abstract thinking.
They are able to place themselves as generalized other.
In doing so they understand others expectation from them and determine their role in
social interaction.

Further, Mead perceives this Self to have two aspects I and Me the I here is the savage
self, unaffected by society. This is unpredictable and creative aspect of self, responsible for
innovation, uniqueness. The Me is the overtly socialized aspect of personality, completely
shaped by society.

Further, Mead conceived of Self as being a mental social process. It is impossible to separate it
from the mind. Thus, self develops only when mind develops.

This concept of Self has contributed immensely to Symbolic Interactionism. As the Self shapes
individual response, human interaction cant be patterned and static due to presence of I. Also,
it is through reflexive role taking that individuals improvise upon their response to different
situations and understand their role expectations.

Q4(b). Discuss the concept of Anomie. (20 Marks)

Ans. The concept of Anomie was introduced by Durkheim through his study of suicide and also
referred to it in his study of social division of labour.

According to him, anomie referred to a situation of normative deregulation i.e. where norms and
rules of society fail to underline the socially acceptable form of action/behaviour.

Durkheim outlined two cases when anomie would result:

(i) Normative vacuum: In this case, such an emergent situation occurs where rules of the
society fall silent. In such a situation, people do not know what is acceptable
behaviour as there is no authority guiding their actions.
This may arise in case of capitalistic society when hold of religion weakens as society
moves towards greater rationality, according to Durkheim. Thus, here action may
purely be guided by profit motive which may permit even unethical practices like
crime, drug trade etc.

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 (ii) Polynormation: This is the case where multiplicity of rules exists with the individual
not knowing which one to follow in the given context. Thus, in acting out their
behaviour the individual may flout the norms via one yardstick while adhering to
another. Example, in choosing a spouse, existent social norms may suggest caste
endogamy, while modernity may promote personal choice.
Durkheim postulated that in times of rapid change, anomic suicide may result.

The concept was expounded by Merton in his study of Conformity and Deviance. He
introduced anomie arising from social structure i.e. when socially approved goals do not
match institutional means with the individual. This lack of coordination may generate
pressure for social deviance depending on individuals position in social structure.

Thus, anomie is an important concept to understand and interpret social action.

Q4(c). Critically evaluate Parsons pattern variables. (10 Marks)

Ans. To make social system more clear Parsons deals with cultural variables or Pattern
Variables. He considers that there is a huge amount of diversity across social system, and so
there is need to arrive at a common set of variables by which they can be analyzed. Those
variables should be valid for all types of social systems. These are called pattern variables.

Further, Parsons says that culture is patterned and institutionalized, but culture is not patterned in
a monolithic way, rather it is dualistically patterned. This duality of cultural patterns offers us the
range of choice either this or that. This duality confronts the actors as dilemma, which the actor
has to resolve through a culture. According to Parsons this duality exists at multiple levels. He
identified five levels of this duality:

(i) Particularism Vs Universalism

(ii) Quality Vs Performance

(iii) Affectivity Vs Affective Neutrality

(iv) Diffuseness Vs Specificity

(v) Collective-orientation Vs Self-orientation

In an attempt to holistically arrest social reality, he tried to give such concepts which serve the
purpose. But it failed on certain accounts, Parsons is criticised for not taking in account clash of
interests across sections, clashes (role conflict) in a society. In modern society there is an
interchange of personnel between systems so there is great potential for conflicts in standardized
norms and values.
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C.W. Mills considers that Parsons fails to take into account the role of power in determining
social action. Devereux considers Parsons list of pattern variables inadequate.

Q5(a). Social Class and Social Status. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Social class refers to a social grouping on the basis of access to economic rewards. The
concept has been discussed in the works of Marx, Weber, other marxist sociologists.

Social status refers to the social grouping which is based on non-pecuniary rewards like prestige.
Members enjoy a common lifestyle. Both social class and social status are considered important
causes of stratification in society.

Marx defined social class as consisting of people with similar relation to mean of production. He
opined that in a capitalist system there would be two antagonistic classes Proletariat and
Bourgeoisie. For Marx all stratification was class based. Accordingly, future communist society
would be classless as private property will be destroyed.

Weber, differed in his definition of class he laid emphasis on equal economic rewards rather
than ownership as deciding class. Further, under his Trinitarian model, he considered Marxs
contention of all stratification being class based as faulty. He introduced the concept of status
and power along with class as being determinants.

He also allowed class groups to be dissected by status viz. nouveau riche and aristocratic rich etc.

In reality as well, as revealed by village studies in India, Weberian Trinitarian view is more close
to reality than Marxs economic determinism.

Q5(b). Social inequality and Social stratification. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. The concept of social inequality has shaped the human civilization from the times of Plato
till Amartya Sen. It has been the fulcrum of various revolution in various historical epochs.
Social inequality refers to the variations and differences and the resulting disability to which one
is entitled to by virtue of his social position.

Till, 18th century scholars have emphasised on assumption of natural inequality (Rousseau) to be
the founder of social inequality. But the 19th century scholars like Weber and Marx highlighted
the dichotomy between the two. And a leap forward came in 20 th century when the scholars
replaced value-loaded concept of social inequality with social stratification.

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Social stratification is defined as the system of ranking the individual into various positions
which are amendable and flexible and are based on principle of equality of opportunity. Social
stratification is the hallmark of open society and is the positions ascribed respect the principle of
merit and openness.

The concept of stratification has been criticised by Marxian on one hand while lauded by
functionalists like Davis and Moore on the other, and Melvin Tumin has laid emphasis on
balance of the two.

Q5(c). Poverty and Deprivation. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. The concept of poverty has in addition to economic connotations social, humanistic and
moral connotations as well. While economists over emphasize in mechanistic explanation, the
sociologists go for an all-inclusive explanation.

Peter Townsend defined poverty as relative deprivations, a multi-dimensional approach, due to

lack of resource available to meet minimum standard of life style. In other words, poverty is a
low standard of living which affects a persons health, status, moral in addition to sustenance.

Poverty as a concept has history from times immemorial, but now has turned from class poverty
to mass poverty. Deprivation is an attempt to extend the concept of poverty. Sociologists
respecting the all-inclusive character of poverty explain the deprivation attributes to it in three
ways:

(i) Social Deprivation: Poverty downgrades a person social status and mars his social
respect, prestige and opportunities.
(ii) Economic Deprivation: A poors access to basic requirements of life is restricted.
(iii) Political Deprivation: Access to political rights, playing on vote banking cards reflect
to the political dimension.
Thus, poverty is not only a concept but also a sociological tool to understand other
sociological realities, the one like deprivation.

Q5(d). Social Action. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Social action refers to the behaviour of the individual, driven by subjective meanings and
motives, also taking into account the behaviour of others. Various sociological theories attempt
to explain social actions in their own terms

(i) Idealistic theory It considers social action to be the product of values and ideas.
(ii) Utilitarian theory It considers social action to be the manifestation of rational
behaviour.

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 (iii) Positivistic theory For any social action, the actor depends on whole set of
information. So, the chances of error are negated.
(iv) Weberian theory Weber considering the vastness and dynamism of social action
constructed the ideal type of social action:
(a) Zweck Rational Social Action
(b) Wert Rational Social Action
(c) Affective Social Action
(d) Traditional Social Action
(v) Parsonian theory Parsons presented an analytical and an all-inclusive approach to
the study of social action by including both motivational as well as value orientation
and gave forth three types of action:
(a) Instrumental Action
(b) Expressive Action
(c) Moral Action
Thus, the concept of social action has influenced various generations of scholars cutting across
time and space.

Q5(e). Suicide. (150 words; 10 Marks)

Ans. Suicide is an act of killing oneself. It is a highly individualistic act which has been given a
sociological connotation by Emile Durkheim.

Our society is marked by two set of people stayers and goers. Goers are those who cant
withhold pressure of life and thus succumb to it by committing suicide.

Earlier scholars, psychologists, demographers have made an attempt to explain suicide as an

isolated event. But the credit of explaining the suicide and relating it to the organisational
character of society goes to Durkheim. According to Durkheim society has two types of role
Integrative and regulatory on an individuals life. Taking into account these, he divided suicide
into four types:

(a) Egoistic Suicide It manifest itself due to low integration with the society.
(b) Altruistic Suicide Over-integration of the self with the society results into altruistic type
of suicide as is seen in case of martyrdom and sati practice.
(c) Anomic Suicide It is the product of low regulation by society and can be acute or
chronic.
(d) Fatalistic Suicide It result due to high regulatory character of societal organisation and
is seen in case of suicide by love birds etc.
However, this study has come under severe criticism:

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 1. According to Douglas, individual meanings and motives were not accounted for, after all
it is the individual who takes the decision.
2. Jean Baechler also criticized the social realism
3. Genetic predispositions (Maris) and imitation suicide (Phillips) werent considered.
4. Durkheims use of positivistic methodology, use of official data were also criticized by
phenomenologists (Atkinson), interpretative methodologists (Steve Taylor)
Nonetheless, it established sociology as an independent social science by describing an
individualistic act in social terms.

Q6(a). Social inequality is the device by which societies ensure that the most important
positions are filled by the most qualified persons. Critically evaluate. (20 Marks)

Ans. The above contention was put forward by Davis and Moore in their functionalist study of
stratification.

According to them, every society has the universal need of effective role-allocation and
performance. They present a hierarchy of roles in terms of relative importance to society based
on the criteria of functional uniqueness and functional dependence.

Further, more talented people have to occupy the more important roles. For this, society devices
a system of unequal rewards which awards the more talented to motivate them to take up the role
and compensate them for sacrifices made to undergo training.

Consequently, as social stratification fulfills this social need, they consider it as desirable and
functional for society.

However, this contention has been criticised by M Tumin and others.

According to them, there is no objective criteria to determine which task is more important over
others. Despite differences in social status and prestige accorded to different occupations, there is
no way to determine functional importance. For example, a strike by support staff at any
hospital, or taxi union or trade unions brings the city to a standstill; never mind their status,
rewards and prestige associated with their work is low.

Further, there is no objective way of measuring the talent and ability of individuals. Criteria such
as exam scores, grades have been documented as being misleading of a persons abilities.

At the same time, there is no proof that exceptional talent is indeed required for the jobs
considered by Davis and Moore as important.

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Also, the underlying assumption behind high rewards may not hold the pool of talented boys be
large enough to keep rewards low.

The phenomenon of elite-self recruitment and barriers to mobility to prevent pure talent from
coming up are also not accounted for in the system of stratification. In this case social inequality
becomes a disintegrating force.

These criticisms are borne out by study by Brown & Gray which showed Blacks in USA being
discriminated against despite being equally competent as their white counterparts.

Q6(b). Define social mobility. Discuss its related problems and ways to overcome it.
(20 Marks)
Ans. Social mobility when a person changes his location such that his position in the
hierarchical structure of society changes (Sorokin).

This mobility may be of two types:

(i) Vertical when he moves up or down on the social hierarchy. For eg., A person from
working class family starting own business (upward mobility). This is a more
common form. A businessman becoming bankrupt and joining labour class
(downward mobility). This is considered undesirable.
(ii) Horizontal when a person moves such as his class position remains same. Example,
A farm worker moving to urban area to join informal labour force.
Further, mobility may be intergenerational (which is more common) or intra-generational (rare)
[Lipset].

Social mobility depends upon many factors:

(a) Societal structure whether society permits or prohibits mobility. Every society has some
degree of openness and closeness to mobility/
(b) Individual talents having education or skill that is valued in society.
(c) Ethic of hard work.
(d) Social welfare support to help marginalized achieve mobility. Example, affirmative
action in India.
Accordingly, barriers may be faced in mobility in a closed society. These may be on account of :

1. Individual traits lack of education, poverty, unsound work ethics, disabilities, gender
and other ascriptive criteria.
2. Socially created the elite building barriers through professional organization unions etc.
and preventing others entry. Example, discrimination against Dalits in schools.

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 - Poverty and lack of cultural capital (Boudon) which hold poor children back who inherit
culture of poverty (Lewis)
- Discrimination against minorities are based on ascriptive criteria gender bias limiting
women to part time, contract jobs 5Cs (Sylvia Walby); caste system
The process of overcoming these disabilities lie in transitioning to an open society. This can be
done via:

- Improving social support systems

- Prohibition of all forms of discrimination on ascriptive criteria as mentioned in the
Constitution
- Spread of education and modernisation, skill enhancement
Effective implementation of Constitutional mandates will help more from disharmonic to
harmonic system (Beteille).

Q6(c). Analyse gender inequality. (10 Marks)

Ans. Gender inequality refers to social inequality between the sexes. It takes the form of
patriarchy i.e. where men exercise control and dominate over women. Gender inequality is a
universal phenomenon., and the most enduring forms of stratification according to feminists.

According to sociologists like Gray & Buffery and Fox & Tiger, and functionalists like Parsons,
Murdock etc., patriarchy is rooted in biological differences and is not only inevitable but also
desirable.

However, feminists like Oakley dispute this through their studies, they assert that gender
inequality is purely a social creation.

This gender based stratification has important implications for the female gender. It impacts all
spheres of their lives from birth to death.

Socially:

- Male preference leads to female foeticide.

- Discrimination against girl child in entitlements like education, health, nutrition.
- Their dependent position makes them vulnerable to physical, mental and sexual violence.
- Norms of purity and pollution deter full participation in social life. Example,
menstruating women barred from temple.
- Social evils like Sati, widowhood imposed.
Politically: Voices of women go unheard as they dont form a unified vote bank. Womens issues
are rarely taken up.

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Economically: Women are restricted to low paying, part-time jobs i.e. secondary labour market
and 5Cs (caring, cooking, cashiering, cleaning, clerk) jobs according to Sylvia Walby.

Recent IMF recommendation states that gender equality can boost GDP by 27% of developing
countries.

Accordingly, radical feminists like Firestone call for liberation from womanhood.

Q7(a). Examine the nature and application to Ideal Types with suitable examples.
(20 Marks)
Ans. The concept of Ideal Types was introduced by Weber while delineating the methodology to
be followed by sociology.

According to him, social reality is infinitely complex. It cant be understood by the human mind
in its entirety. Thus, selectivity becomes unavoidable.

Ideal types is then a way of exercising selectivity. Through ideal types we can explore reality
from a particular perspective, considering those elements which are relevant from that
perspective, while ignoring others. It is a mental construct that may not mirror reality. Weber
considered Marxs model of social change as an Ideal type it was not a faithful description of
reality, as it hasnt been replicated anywhere.

It also serves as a classificatory device. Weber himself delineated four ideal types of actions
(Goal rational; value rational; affective action; traditional action) and three ideal types of
authority structure (charismatic; traditional; bureaucracy). Thus, ideal types allow for a
systematic study of reality by building classifications of social phenomena.

Ideal types also help in building logical correlations, even amongst disparate phenomena, like
religion and economy. He illustrated this in his study of Protestant Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism.

Ideal types serve as a mental experiment. It helps develop a closed system which is necessary for
experimentation. Example, he studied rise of modern capitalism in Europe by constructing
historical ideal types. He took China and India as control group and compared western Europe.

Ideal types also stimulates research. By comparing ideal types to reality can try to find why
reality differs from ideal type representation. Example, studying trajectory of social change,
Weber identified causes for the lack of rise of communist society as postulated by Marx.

Also, his ideal type of inner-worldly ascetic religion contributed to the understanding of social,
real consequences of religion. He created Calvinism as an ideal type.

According to Weber, it is the ideal type that is explored through the verstehen approach.

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Q7(b). The ruling ideas of each age have been the ideas of its ruling class. Analyse.
(20 Marks)
Ans. The ruling ideas of each age refer to the dominant ideology of the epoch.

Ideology has been defined as the set of ideas which define the world view, and provide
legitimization to goals and values.

Marx, in The German Ideology contended that the ruling ideas of each age are the ideas of the
ruling class. He was of the view that in a society marked by class divisions, ideology refers to the
system of ideas of the ruling class only.

As ideology is a part of the Super-structure of society, it is necessarily shaped by the economic

substructure. Thus ideology provides a legitimization for the interests and goals of the upper
class.

Consequently, values of profit motive, deferred gratification come to be accepted and

admired by the society, even though they stand to benefit only the bourgeoisie.

Gramsci also concurred with Marx, according to him, ideology is a way of developing hegemony
in favour of the ruling class, so that those on whom it is exercised voluntary agree to it.

As ideology forms a closed system of thought, it has a totalizing character and is intolerant of
opposing ideas (Popper). Hence, they demand total subordination.

However, the Marxist view doesnt accord equal importance to utopian ideology (Karl
Mannheim) i.e. ideology that provides an idealized representation of the future and calls for
radical social change. Such revolutionary ideology serves the interests of the oppressed and not
the dominant class.

Further, Marxs contention that in future classless communist society there will be no ideology
has been dismissed. Critics of the communist system consider communism to be a radical
ideology.

Q7(c). Discuss the sources and causes of mobility. (10 Marks)

Ans. Social mobility has been defined by Sorokin as the process of changing ones position in
the social hierarchy. It may be horizontal or vertical; intergenerational or intra-generational.

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Societies have been defined as open or closed depending upon whether they prescribe or
proscribe mobility respectively. However, their classification is more of an ideal type, and every
society has some degree of openness and closedness.

The sources of mobility are:

(i) Structural sources i.e. those which lie in the structure of society.
(a) Society based on merit and not ascriptive criteria.
(b) Welfare state that promotes equality of opportunity. Example, affirmative action.
(c) Culture of poverty that leads to vicious circle of poverty (Oscar Lewis) prohibits
mobility.
(d) Checks on creation of elite barriers in certain jobs, providing open competition
for all
(ii) Individual traits:
(a) Ethic of hard work and differed gratification.
(b) Talent that is valued by society.
The aforementioned also become the cause for upward mobility in society.

Additionally, downward mobility, which is considered unfavourable may result from fortuitous
happenings, personal tragedies or environmental, social or economic disasters.

Q8(a). Define ethnicity and race. Analyse it according to Marxist perspective. (20 Marks)

Ans. Ethnicity and race are considered to be determinants of social stratification.

Race refers to a group of people sharing common biological features which are passed on from
one generation to another example, skin colour, body structure, physical strength etc. Usually
there are four accepted races Caucasoid, Negrito, Mongoloid, Proto-Australoid.

However, UNESCO contends that there are no pure races anymore as intermixing has been
taking place for thousands of years. Hence, race cant be a reason for stratification.

Sociologists like Milton Yinger place greater importance on ethnicity. According to him,
ethnicity consists of a group of people sharing such common cultural features as religion,
language, ancestral homeland, tribe etc., and they participate in shared activities around the
common culture.

Other scholars, like Paul Bras argue that subjective feature i.e. people belonging to an ethnic
group should see themselves as a group distinct from other ethnic groups or mainstream society,
is also important.

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Ethnicity may form the basis of social inequality when it is associated with unequal sharing of
economic rewards. This may arise on account of discrimination against migrant ethnic group by
the majority. Example, discrimination against people of North-East in other parts of India.

It may also result when a significant minority controlling economic and political power includes
the ethnic majority. Example, Apartheid in South Africa.

Moreover, Marxist view of stratification is predicated upon class as being the sole basis of
discrimination. Thus, Marxists consider ethnicity and race to only be secondary determinants.

Class differences lead to some group being dominant, and these groups may exploit racial/ethnic
identity to discriminate against others. But economic determinisms gets primacy, with racial
discrimination being a product of class difference. This was depicted in Marxist interpretation of
Jajmani system.

Further, in his theory of polarization and homogenization Marx didnt allow for ethnic/racial
criteria to cut across class. However, sociological enquires dispute this stand viz. Black
consciousness that transcends class divide.

Q8(b). Examine the role of bureaucracy as an organizational apparatus of the modern

state. (20 Marks)
Ans. Bureaucracy refers to a large scale organization, organized rationally, to coordinate the
actions of many individuals towards rationally determines goals of society.

According to Weber, bureaucracy is the authority structure corresponding to society where legal-
rational action dominates. He contended that by virtue of being guided by formalistic
impersonality and composed on the basis of merit and technical competence, bureaucracy is the
most efficient system of organization in modern state.

In a bureaucracy, work is organized in terms of offices arranged in a hierarchical manner. Here

information flows from below to above and decision making takes place at the higher echelons.

This strict chain of command forms the basis of authority and exercise of control.

Rational system of rewards and separation of personal and work sphere is strictly
maintained. This ensures fairness and helps avoid conflict of interest and ethical dilemma
in discharging duties.
Adoption of formalistic impersonality helps reduce subjectivity in discharging duties.
Merit-based recruitment enhances efficiency of the system.
However, the experience with functioning bureaucracies have been a mixed bag:

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 Strict conformity to rules leads to lack of creativity and a metaphysical pathos emerges
(Boxter) leading to meaningless.
Rules bound bureaucracy becomes hamstrung in coping with emergent situations in times
of social change (R.K. Merton) and crisis.
Bureaucracy has been too preoccupied with order and avoided change, even for the better
(Lipset, Selznik). Example, reluctance to adopt computerization.
Bureaucracy has tended to support vested interests like Capitalists as brought to light by
various scams (2G, Commonwealth Games, Coal Allocation, etc.)
Thus, bureaucracy has also shown sign of dysfunction. Reforms in bureaucratic systems world
over are towards the infusion of both formal and informal structures (Gouldner) and mechanistic
and organic types (Burns & Stalker) to enhance bureaucratic efficiency.

Q8(c). Stratification and hierarchy are interrelated. Comment. (10 Marks)

Ans. Stratification can be defined as a form of inequality in which different groups are arranged
vertically on the basis of some objective or subjective characteristics in which those who are on
the top of the ladder gets privileges whereas the group at the bottom suffers from disadvantages.
In terms of wealth, power and prestige.

Hierarchy refers to the chain of command that exists in a formal organization on the basis of
which work is organized. Usually this is structured such that authority and decision making are
exercised by those at the top, while information is collected from below.

This hierarchical structure leads to unequal rewards both pecuniary (those at the top- top
executives, managers enjoy bigger pay packages) and non-pecuniary (access to elite social
groups, better status, enjoy prestige, greater political power).

Consequently, hierarchy becomes the basis of social stratification, especially class-based

stratification.

Further, when hierarchy is dominated by groups also sharing some ascriptive characteristics viz.
ethnicity, it leads to ethnic stratification. Example, Blacks in America Vs Whites. Louis Dumont
in his book Homo Hierarchicus called the Hindu caste system as the hierarchy because he
believed that Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudras are not a group or community, rather it is
a post based on purity and pollution. But except Louis Dumont other sociologist believed that
caste system is the form of social stratification and not hierarchy

Certain sociologists are also of the view that there is now a move towards hierarchy of individual
rather than that of social groups in industrial societies like the US, with the proliferation of
occupational statuses.

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