KSLU Solved Question Papers
Sociology I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2025 Feb (100 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Sociology I 2025 Feb (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Feb (100 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Feb (100 marks) 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 100 · 13 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.
Q1Define sociology and explain the importance of sociology.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of the word and four definitions; why the importance of sociology is a fair question; its importance for understanding society, for social planning and welfare, for solving social problems, for democracy and citizenship, for India in particular, for the professions, and above all for law and the legal profession; its importance for the individual; its limits; a conclusion.
Meaning of sociology
The word sociology was coined by Auguste Comte in 1838, in the fourth volume of his Cours de philosophie positive. It joins the Latin socius, meaning companion, with the Greek logos, meaning study. Sociology is the scientific study of society: of social relationships, groups, institutions and the processes through which people live together.
Definitions
- Auguste Comte treated sociology as the science of society as a whole, to be studied by observation like the natural sciences.
- MacIver and Page said that sociology is about social relationships, the network of which is what we call society.
- Max Weber defined sociology as the science which seeks the interpretive understanding of social action, in order to explain its course and effects.
- Emile Durkheim described sociology as the science of social institutions, their origin and functioning.
All four definitions agree that sociology studies the social, the patterns people form together, rather than the single individual.
Why its importance is a fair question
Sociology is a young subject compared with history, politics or philosophy. People sometimes ask whether it only states the obvious. The answer is that common sense is often wrong about society. A modern, complex society cannot be governed, reformed or even understood without systematic knowledge of how it works. That is the importance of sociology.
1. It gives a scientific understanding of society
Sociology replaces guesswork and prejudice with evidence. It shows how institutions such as the family, caste, religion and the economy actually work. Durkheim's study of suicide is the classic example. He showed that even an act that seems wholly personal follows social patterns, varying with how closely people are bound into groups.
2. It helps in social planning and welfare
A government that wants to reduce poverty, improve health or spread education must know the society it is planning for. Who is poor, why, and what would help? Sociological surveys and studies supply this knowledge. India's Five-Year Plans, its anti-poverty schemes and its programmes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes all relied on such knowledge.
3. It helps to understand and solve social problems
Crime, juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, dowry, child labour, communal violence, slums and unemployment are social problems. Sociology studies their causes, not only their symptoms. It shows, for example, that dowry persists because of caste endogamy and hypergamy, not because of individual greed alone. Solutions built on such understanding work better.
4. It strengthens democracy and citizenship
A democracy needs citizens who understand their society, respect differences and take part in public life. Sociology teaches tolerance by showing that other customs make sense in their own setting. It helps citizens see the effects of caste, class and gender inequality and the need for social justice.
5. It is especially important for India
India is a vast, plural society of many castes, religions, languages, tribes and regions. Sociology helps to understand caste and its changes, the problems of tribal communities, rural poverty, the position of women and the effects of rapid urbanisation. M. N. Srinivas, studying the Coorgs of Karnataka, gave the concept of Sanskritisation to explain how castes rise in status. Indian planners, judges and administrators have drawn on such work.
6. It is useful for many professions
Administrators, police officers, social workers, teachers, doctors, journalists and managers all deal with people in groups. Industrial sociology helps managers understand workers. Rural sociology guides agricultural extension. Medical sociology helps doctors understand illness in its social setting.
7. It is essential for law and the legal profession
For a law student, sociology is not optional. Its importance for law is shown in several ways.
- Law is one instrument of social control among many. Family, religion, custom and public opinion do most of the work. Law is the last and smallest layer. A lawyer must know the others to know what law can and cannot do.
- Law is a social product. It is made, interpreted and enforced by people from particular backgrounds, and it reflects the values of its time.
- The effectiveness of law depends on society. Whether a law is obeyed is a question of fact, not of drafting. The long failure of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 shows a law running against social norms.
- Legal categories borrow social meanings. Words such as "family", "cruelty", "reasonable" and "public order" take their meaning from society.
- Law reform needs a picture of society. A reformer must first understand the practices he wants to change.
Eugen Ehrlich used the phrase living law for the rules that actually govern social life, which may differ from the rules in the statute book. Roscoe Pound saw law as a tool of social engineering, balancing competing interests in society. Both ideas bring sociology into the heart of legal thinking.
A worked example: why a law failed
Suppose a state passes a law requiring every marriage to be registered within sixty days. Years later, most rural marriages are still unregistered. A lawyer reading only the statute is puzzled. A sociologist asks different questions. Does the community already treat the ceremony as proof of marriage? Is the registration office far away, or does it demand fees and documents families lack? Do families fear that registration will expose an under-age bride? The answers explain the failure and suggest remedies: mobile registration, simpler forms and awareness drives. This is the practical value of sociology to the law.
8. It is important for the individual
Sociology helps a person understand his own life in its social setting. It explains how family, caste, class and culture have shaped his choices. It widens his outlook, reduces prejudice and helps him adjust to a changing world.
9. It helps to understand social change
Indian society is changing fast: families are becoming smaller, women are entering paid work, villages are linked to cities, and technology is reshaping daily life. Sociology studies these changes and their side effects. William F. Ogburn's idea of cultural lag is the delay between new technology and the norms needed to govern it. It explains why so much new law is about catching up with change.
10. It promotes understanding between groups and nations
By studying other cultures without contempt, sociology reduces ethnocentrism, the habit of judging others by one's own standards. This matters in a country of many communities and in a world linked by trade and migration.
The limits of sociology
Sociology cannot tell us what is right or wrong. It is a categorical, not a normative, science. It can show what a law will cost and who will bear the cost, but the choice remains moral and political. Its predictions are also less precise than those of the natural sciences, because people can change their behaviour.
Conclusion. Sociology, named by Comte in 1838 and defined by MacIver and Page, Weber and Durkheim, is the scientific study of society. Its importance lies in giving a scientific understanding of society, guiding planning and welfare, helping to solve social problems and strengthening democracy. It matters especially in a plural society like India. Above all it matters to the lawyer, since law works only through the society it seeks to govern.
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