UPSC Mains 2018 Sociology Optional Paper I questions

27 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2018. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All Sociology Optional PYQs

1. The focal point of Sociology rests on interaction. How do you distinguish it from common sense?

   10 marks

2. Distinguish between fact and value in Weber's Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism.

3. Do you think 'T and 'Me' are central terms in Mead's work?

   10 marks

4. What is the difference between natural and social inequality? Give examples from caste and class dimensions.

   10 marks

5. What are the new forms of family in developed societies? Discuss.

6. Explain Durkheim's basic arguments on suicide. Can you analyse high; suicide rates of contemporary Indian society with Durkheim's theory?

   20 marks

7. Evaluate if social stratification is functional for society.

   10 marks

8. Does collapse of functionalism and bankruptcy of Marxism coincide with the rupture of modernity? Discuss.

   20 marks

9. Define patriarchy. How does patriarchy manifest in interpersonal relations?

   20 marks

10. What is the difference between anomie in Merton and Durkheim?

11. According to Marx, how are human beings alienated from their human potential and what does he suggest to change this?

    20 marks

12. Schooling does not ensure upward mobility of all members of the society. Discuss with reference to class societies.

    20 marks

13. Discuss the challenges thrown by religious revivalism to a secular nation-state.

14. Is the theory of cultural lag valid in present times? Discuss.

    10 marks

15. Are social movements primordial in means and progressive in agenda? Explain.

    10 marks

16. Does scientific method make Sociology a science? Dlustrate your answer with Durkheim's method.

    10 marks

17. Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative techniques of data collection with suitable examples from Indian society.

    10 marks

18. Is social mobility possible in closed systems of stratification 7 Ulustrate from research work.

    10 marks

19. Discuss the nature of social organisation of work in capitalist society with reference to the 'Limits of the working day'.

    20 marks

20. Distinguish between family and household with reference to the concept; of development of the household.

    20 marks

21. Explain with examples, the explanatory and exploratory designs of social research.

22. Hew can Parsons' AGIL framework be used to analyse key problems in a society? Discuss.

    20 marks

23. What is labour commitment? Discuss it with reference to studies of manufacturing industry.

    20 marks

24. What, according to Pareto, are the basic characteristics of elites?

25. "The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relationship between the two in a society." — C.W. Mills. Explain,

    20 marks

26. What are sects? Discuss their role in multi-religious societies with empirical examples.

    20 marks

27. In what way did Durkheim perceive religion as functional to society?