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Recent Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2015 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Recent Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology 2015 Dec 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 2015 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2015 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2015 Dec 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.
Q1Explain Sociological theories.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what sociological theories are and why there are many; the classical foundations (Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel); the modern theories grouped by the question each answers: order (functionalism), inequality and power (conflict and feminist theory), meaning and action (symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodology, exchange theory), synthesis (Giddens, Bourdieu, Habermas) and the critique of theory itself (post modernism); a summary table; how each theory sees law; an evaluation; a conclusion.
What sociological theories are
A sociological theory is an organised explanation of social life. It explains why people behave as they do in groups, why institutions take the forms they do, and why societies change. Robert K. Merton described it as a set of logically connected propositions from which regularities in social life can be derived.
Sociology has many theories, not one, because society can be approached through different questions. How is order possible? Why is there inequality? How do people create meaning? Each great theory begins from one of these questions, and so each lights up a different side of the same social world.
The classical foundations
- Auguste Comte (1798 to 1857) named the subject and called for a positive science of society. His law of three stages described human thought moving from the theological to the metaphysical to the scientific.
- Herbert Spencer (1820 to 1903) saw society as an organism that evolves from simple to complex, from militant to industrial forms.
- Karl Marx (1818 to 1883) explained society by its mode of production and history by class struggle.
- Emile Durkheim (1858 to 1917) studied social facts as things, external to individuals and constraining them, and showed how solidarity holds societies together.
- Max Weber (1864 to 1920) defined sociology as the interpretive understanding of social action and traced the rationalisation of modern life.
- Georg Simmel (1858 to 1918) studied the recurring forms of interaction, from conflict to sociability, and the life of the modern city.
Every modern theory draws on one or more of these founders.
Question 1: How is social order possible?
Structural functionalism. Associated with Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton, it treats society as a system of interdependent parts. Each part performs a function that helps the whole survive, and order rests on shared values learnt through socialisation. Parsons stated four functional prerequisites, adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency, and Merton added manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions. In the 1980s Jeffrey Alexander led a revival called neo-functionalism.
Question 2: Why is there inequality and who holds power?
Conflict theory. Its line runs from Marx, Weber and Simmel to C. Wright Mills, Ralf Dahrendorf and Lewis Coser. It sees society as an arena of groups competing for scarce wealth, power and status. Order is kept largely by the dominant, and conflict drives change. Dahrendorf placed the root of conflict in authority; Coser showed that conflict can also bind groups together.
Feminist theory. It places gender at the centre. Its schools differ. Liberal feminists seek equal rights. Marxist feminists link women's oppression to capitalism. Radical feminists see patriarchy as a system. Black feminists stress the intersection of race, class and gender. Eco-feminists join gender to nature, and postmodern feminists question the category of "woman" itself.
Question 3: How do people create meaning and act?
Symbolic interactionism. It draws on George Herbert Mead and was named by Herbert Blumer. It holds that people act on the meanings things have for them. Those meanings arise in interaction and are handled through interpretation. Charles Horton Cooley's looking-glass self and Erving Goffman's dramaturgy belong here.
Phenomenology and ethnomethodology. Alfred Schutz studied the taken-for-granted knowledge of everyday life. Harold Garfinkel's ethnomethodology studied the methods people use to make sense of ordinary situations.
Exchange and rational choice theory. George Homans, Peter Blau and Richard Emerson treated interaction as an exchange of rewards and costs. Relationships continue while both sides find them worthwhile, and power comes from dependence.
Question 4: How are structure and action joined?
Later theorists tried to overcome the split between macro and micro theories.
- Anthony Giddens's structuration theory treats structure as both the medium and the outcome of human action.
- Pierre Bourdieu explained action through habitus, the deep dispositions learnt in a social position, working within fields of competition for different forms of capital.
- Jurgen Habermas developed a theory of communicative action and a critique of the colonisation of everyday life by markets and bureaucracy.
Question 5: Can any general theory be trusted?
Post modern theory. Jean-Francois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard questioned the very project of grand theory. They argued that the great stories of progress have lost credibility, that knowledge is bound up with power, and that meaning is unstable. Their influence is strongest in the study of discourse, identity and power.
Summary
| Theory | Question | Key thinkers | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structural functionalism | How is order kept? | Parsons, Merton, Alexander | Macro |
| Conflict theory | Who has power? | Marx, Mills, Dahrendorf, Coser | Macro |
| Feminist theory | How is gender built? | De Beauvoir, Friedan, hooks, Butler | Both |
| Symbolic interactionism | How is meaning made? | Mead, Blumer, Cooley, Goffman | Micro |
| Ethnomethodology | How do people make sense? | Schutz, Garfinkel | Micro |
| Exchange theory | What do people gain? | Homans, Blau, Emerson | Micro |
| Theory | Question | Key thinkers | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structuration and synthesis | How do structure and action meet? | Giddens, Bourdieu, Habermas | Both |
| Post modernism | Can theory be trusted? | Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida | Sceptical |
How each theory sees law
- Functionalism: law integrates a complex society, settles disputes and expresses shared values.
- Conflict theory: law often reflects the interests of the powerful, though subordinate groups also win rights through it.
- Feminist theory: law has long treated men as the norm and must be reformed to protect women in public and private life.
- Symbolic interactionism: labelling by courts and police can turn a person into a "criminal"; legal meaning is made in interaction.
- Exchange theory: contract and bargaining power reflect exchange and dependence.
- Post modernism: legal categories are discourses that classify and govern people.
One problem, many theories: migrant workers in Indian cities
Every year millions of workers move from villages in Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh to cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Surat.
- A functionalist sees migration filling the city's need for labour and sending money back to support village families.
- A conflict theorist sees cheap, insecure labour serving builders and factory owners, with little legal protection.
- A feminist asks who cares for children and the old in the village when men leave, and what happens to women who migrate alone.
- An interactionist studies how migrants build new identities and networks in the city and how city people label them.
- An exchange theorist looks at the calculation of wages, risks and remittances.
- Giddens would note that migrants, by moving, also reproduce the structures that pull them.
- A post modern writer examines how media and politics construct the image of "the migrant".
The 2020 lockdown, when many walked home on foot, made all these sides visible at once.
Choosing among theories
A student can judge theories by four tests:
- scope: how much they explain;
- testability: whether evidence can check them;
- fit: how well they match the facts of a particular society;
- usefulness: how far they guide action and policy.
A theory that scores well on one test may score poorly on another, which is why sociologists use several.
Evaluation
No single theory explains everything. Macro theories explain the framework of society but lose sight of individuals; micro theories capture daily life but neglect structure and power. Consensus and conflict theories describe two real faces of society. The best sociological work, like the best legal analysis, uses several theories together and is clear about what each can and cannot show.
Conclusion. Sociological theories are organised explanations of social life, built on the work of Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Simmel. Modern theories answer different questions. Functionalism asks how order is kept. Conflict and feminist theories ask who holds power. Interactionist, phenomenological and exchange theories ask how people make meaning and choices. Giddens, Bourdieu and Habermas try to join structure and action. Post modernism questions whether any general theory can be trusted. Together they make up the toolkit of sociology.
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