KSLU Solved Question Papers
Sociology I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2021 Mar Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Sociology I 2021 Mar 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 2021 Mar examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2021 Mar examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Mar 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
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
(a)Give two definitions of sociology and explain the importance of sociology.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: exactly two definitions, each with its author and a line on what it stresses; what the two have in common; the importance of sociology as a way of seeing (Mills's sociological imagination); its importance in practice, for planning, administration, law, the professions and citizenship; its special importance in India; one illustration; a conclusion.
Two definitions
First definition: MacIver and Page. Sociology is the study of social relationships, and the network of these relationships is what we call society.
This definition stresses that the unit of study is neither the lone individual nor "society" in the abstract. It is the relationship between people: parent and child, employer and worker, judge and litigant.
Second definition: Max Weber. Sociology is the science which seeks the interpretive understanding of social action. Its aim is a causal explanation of the course and effects of that action.
This definition stresses meaning. To explain what people do, we must first understand what their actions mean to them. A gift, a bribe and a dowry may all be the same sum of money; their meanings differ.
What they share. Both treat the social side of human life as the thing to be explained. Both promise more than common sense: a systematic study, open to checking.
Importance as a way of seeing
The American sociologist C. Wright Mills, in The Sociological Imagination (1959), described the quality sociology trains. It is the awareness of how personal experience is tied to the wider society and its history. This is the first reason the subject matters.
- It links private problems to public causes. One student's failure may be personal. When thousands of first-generation students fail the same paper, the cause is social, and so is the cure.
- It makes the familiar strange. Customs such as dowry or caste rules on marriage look natural from inside. Sociology shows them to be social arrangements that have a history and could be otherwise.
- It shows unintended results. A rule made for one purpose often has effects nobody planned. Sociology trains us to look for them.
- It replaces guesswork with evidence. Opinions about society are common; tested knowledge is rare. Sociology supplies the second.
Importance in practice
- Planning and welfare. Schemes for housing, health, nutrition and education succeed only when planners know the families, castes and habits of the people they serve. Sociology provides that knowledge.
- Administration. Officers who deal with villages, slums, tribes and migrants govern better when they understand the groups in front of them.
- Law. A law is obeyed or evaded according to the norms already in society. Sociology explains why a law against dowry or child marriage works slowly. It also shows judges and legislators the social facts behind a dispute.
- The professions. Social work, journalism, management, police work and medicine all deal with people in groups, and all draw on sociology.
- Citizenship and democracy. A citizen who understands caste, class, gender and religion as social forces can judge public questions with less prejudice.
Special importance in India
India holds many religions, languages, castes and tribes within one constitution. It is also changing quickly, through urbanisation, migration and new technology. Sociology helps to understand:
- why caste persists in marriage and politics though untouchability is abolished;
- how the joint family is changing and what that means for the old;
- why women's position improves unevenly across regions and classes;
- how communal tension arises, and how it can be reduced.
An illustration
Suppose a state passes a scheme giving bicycles to girls who join secondary school. An economist counts the cost. A lawyer drafts the rules. A sociologist asks different questions. Who decides in the family whether a girl continues school? How far is the school from the village? Do parents fear for her safety on the road? The answers decide whether the scheme succeeds. That is the importance of sociology in one example.
Why the two definitions matter for its importance
The two definitions explain where the subject's usefulness comes from. Because sociology studies relationships, it can trace how a change in one relation alters others. A woman's entry into paid work, for example, changes the whole family. Because it seeks the meaning of action, it can explain why people resist a reform that looks sensible on paper. Both are needed by anyone who wants to change society by law or policy.
A note of balance
Sociology does not tell us what we ought to value. It tells us what is happening and why. The choice of goals belongs to citizens and their representatives; sociology helps them reach those goals with open eyes.
Conclusion. MacIver and Page define sociology as the study of social relationships. Weber defines it as the interpretive understanding of social action. The first points to the web of relations; the second to the meanings people give their actions. Its importance lies first in a way of seeing that links personal lives to social causes. It lies next in its practical use for planning, administration, law, the professions and citizenship. In a diverse and changing country like India, that importance is greater still.
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