KSLU Solved Question Papers
Sociology I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2019 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Sociology I 2019 Jun Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2019 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2019 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2019 Jun examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 Units. (2) One essay type question and short note is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Define and discuss the nature of sociology.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: a definition with its key words explained; why the nature of sociology must be "discussed" rather than merely listed; five debates about its nature (science or not, explaining or understanding, value-free or not, pure or applied, general or special), each with the settled view; the standard list of its features in summary; a conclusion.
Definition
Sociology is the scientific study of society, that is, of social relationships, groups, institutions and the processes by which people live together and change.
Three words in the definition matter. Scientific means it relies on evidence that others can check. Society means it studies the group and the pattern, not the single person. Processes means it studies how social life moves, not only how it is arranged.
Two classic definitions support this. Emile Durkheim described sociology as the science of social institutions, their origin and working. Max Weber described it as the science that seeks the interpretive understanding of social action, in order to explain its course and effects.
Why the nature must be discussed
Textbooks give a neat list of features. But each feature was argued over by the founders, and the argument explains the feature. The nature of sociology is best seen through five debates.
Debate 1: Is sociology a science?
Yes, said Auguste Comte. His positivism held that society should be studied like nature, by observing facts and finding laws among them. Science, he said, gives foresight, and foresight makes action possible. Durkheim agreed and told sociologists to treat social facts "as things".
Not quite, say critics. People cannot be put into laboratories. The observer is part of the society observed. Prediction is weak, and key terms are disputed.
Settled view. Sociology is a science in its method: it observes, measures, compares and tests. It is a social science, with limits that come from studying human beings.
Debate 2: Does it explain or understand?
Positivists wanted causal explanation from outside, as in physics. Weber insisted on verstehen, the interpretive understanding of what an action means to the person doing it. A wink and a twitch look the same from outside; only meaning separates them.
Settled view. Sociology needs both: understanding of meaning and explanation of causes. This is why Weber's definition joins the two.
Debate 3: Is it value-free?
Weber argued for value-freedom. Researchers should become aware of their own values and keep them from distorting findings. Critics reply that the choice of topic is never free of values.
Settled view. Sociology is categorical, not normative. It states what is, not what ought to be. Values may guide the choice of subject, but they must not bend the evidence.
Debate 4: Is it pure or applied?
Sociology's own aim is knowledge of society, so it is a pure science. But its findings are used in planning, welfare, police work and law reform. Those uses belong to applied fields that draw on it.
Settled view. Pure in aim, widely useful in practice.
Debate 5: Is it a general or a special science?
The formal school of Georg Simmel wanted sociology to study only the forms of relationship, such as conflict and cooperation. The synthetic school of Durkheim wanted it to study society as a whole.
Settled view. It is a general social science that also studies specific forms. It is abstract, studying patterns rather than single events, and generalising, seeking statements true of many cases.
The nature at work: a study of dowry
Suppose a sociologist studies dowry in a Karnataka district. The study is scientific: it uses a sample survey, court records and interviews that others can repeat. It seeks understanding: what do parents say dowry means to them, gift, duty or insurance? It seeks explanation: does dowry rise with the groom's education or salary? It is categorical: it reports how dowry works without first declaring it wicked. Its findings may later be applied by lawmakers. And it generalises: it asks what is true of dowry as a pattern, not of one wedding.
The features in summary
From these debates comes the standard list, usually traced to Robert Bierstedt's The Social Order (1957). Sociology is an independent, social, categorical, pure, abstract and generalising science. It is both rational and empirical.
Conclusion. Sociology is the scientific study of society, defined by Durkheim through institutions and by Weber through the understanding of social action. Its nature is best grasped through the debates behind it. It is a science in method, joins understanding with explanation, and keeps values apart from findings. It is pure in aim but useful in practice, general in scope and abstract in method.
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