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Recent Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2019 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Recent Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology 2019 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 2019 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2019 Dec 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 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 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 Questions. (2) One essay type and one short note question of each Unit have to be attempted, which is referred to as Part (a) and Part (b) in all the Units. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers 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)Explain the relationship between theory and research.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what theory and research mean; the five things theory does for research; the four things research does for theory, from Merton; the cycle that joins them; one worked example; the two dangers of keeping them apart; a conclusion.
Meaning of the two terms
Theory is a set of connected statements that explains why social facts happen as they do. Robert K. Merton called sociological theory "logically interconnected sets of propositions from which empirical uniformities can be derived". A theory tells us what to expect and why.
Research is the careful, planned collection and study of facts in order to answer a question. Social research uses surveys, interviews, observation, case studies and official records. It tells us what is actually there.
The two are not separate jobs. Theory without research is guesswork, and research without theory is a heap of facts. Merton wrote two famous essays on each side of this link. They appear in Social Theory and Social Structure (1949).
What theory does for research
W. J. Goode and P. K. Hatt, in Methods in Social Research (1952), listed the main services theory gives to research.
- It narrows the field. The world holds endless facts. Theory tells the researcher which facts matter. A study of crime guided by strain theory looks at goals and means, not at the weather.
- It supplies concepts. Words like role, status, anomie and class come from theory. They let researchers name and measure what they see.
- It summarises facts. Theory joins scattered findings into general statements. Many studies of family size become one statement about education and fertility.
- It predicts facts. A good theory says what should be found in a new place. This gives the researcher a hypothesis to test.
- It points to gaps. Theory shows where knowledge is missing. That tells research where to go next.
What research does for theory
In his essay "The Bearing of Empirical Research upon the Development of Sociological Theory", Merton showed that research is not a mere servant. It shapes theory in four ways.
- It starts new theory. Merton called this the serendipity pattern. A researcher meets an unexpected, odd and important fact. Trying to explain it produces a new theory.
- It recasts theory. New facts that an old theory ignored force it to be rebuilt in a wider form.
- It refocuses theory. New methods of research shift theoretical interest to new questions. Better survey tools, for example, turned attention to attitudes and opinion.
- It clarifies concepts. To measure a concept, the researcher must define it exactly. Vague words like "social cohesion" become clear indicators.
The cycle that joins them
Walter Wallace, in The Logic of Science in Sociology (1971), drew the link as a wheel. Theory gives rise to hypotheses. Hypotheses guide observation. Observations are summed up as empirical generalisations. These generalisations confirm, change or reject the theory. Then the wheel turns again.
Moving from theory to facts is deduction. Moving from facts to theory is induction. Sound sociology uses both.
| Direction | What happens | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Theory to research | Theory gives a hypothesis to test | Durkheim predicts suicide rates from social integration |
| Research to theory | Facts confirm, correct or start a theory | Hawthorne workers' output rises for social reasons |
A worked example
Emile Durkheim's Suicide (1897) shows the cycle at work. He began with a theory: people who are weakly bound into groups are more likely to kill themselves. From it he drew hypotheses. Protestants should show higher rates than Catholics, and unmarried people higher rates than married people. He tested these against official statistics from several European countries. The figures supported him, and the theory of integration grew stronger.
The Hawthorne studies (1924 to 1932) at the Western Electric works near Chicago show the reverse direction. Researchers changed the lighting to see its effect on output. Output rose whether the light was raised or lowered. This unexpected fact could not be explained by the old theory of the worker. It led Elton Mayo and his colleagues to stress the social group at work. That is the serendipity pattern in action.
M. N. Srinivas's fieldwork among the Coorgs gives an Indian case of research building theory. His book Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India appeared in 1952. In it he noticed lower castes taking up the customs, rituals and diet of higher castes. They did this to rise in standing. No existing theory named this. From his field data he formed the concept of Sanskritisation. Later studies of caste mobility across India tested and refined it. Here the facts came first, and the theory followed.
Two dangers of keeping them apart
C. Wright Mills, in The Sociological Imagination (1959), named the two failures.
- Grand theory builds huge schemes that never touch facts.
- Abstracted empiricism collects facts and figures with no idea of what they mean.
Each is what happens when theory and research stop talking to each other.
Conclusion. Theory and research depend on each other at every step. Theory chooses the questions, supplies the concepts and predicts the answers. Research tests those answers and, through serendipity, recasting, refocusing and clarifying, changes the theory itself. Sociology grows only when the two move together round Wallace's wheel.
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