Caste System

Sociology Optional PYQPs, Sociology Optional
0 Comments

Model answers for these questions. 88 UPSC questions from Caste System (1985–2026) are solved in Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions, with a full model answer for each. Use the View answer links in the table, or open the whole unit topic-wise, newest year first.

Get the solved answers
YearQuestionAnswer
2026How do Louis Dumont and André Beteille differ in their approaches in understanding caste system in India? Explain. (10 marks)View answer
2026Where would you locate the tribal community in the Varna system of India? Discuss. (10 marks)View answer
2025Which measures would you suggest for preventing caste conflicts in India? Justify your argument. (10 marks)View answer
2024What are the different formus untouchability still practised in India? Discuss with suitableillustrations.View answer
2024What, according to you, are the factors responsible for the continuance of caste system inIndia? Explain.View answer
2023Critically examine the concept of Sanskritization with suitable illustrations.View answer
2023Contextualize Louis Dumont's concept of ‘binary opposition’ with reference to caste systemin India.View answer
2023Are Tradition and Modernity antithetical to each other? Comment.View answer
2022In the context of the changing Indian society, how do you view Andre Beteille's conceptions of harmonic and disharmonic social structures?View answer
2022Explain different forms of untouchability in India.View answer
2021Caste System studies in India have been dominated by the “book -view” initially. How did the entry of “field- view” bring about a balance in the study of Indian caste system? Discuss.View answer
2021What does Dr. B.R Ambedkar mean by the concept of “Annihilation of Caste”?View answer
2021Caste-like formations are present in Non-Hindu religious communities as well. Discuss with examples.View answer
2021Is Indian society moving from “hierarchy” towards “differentiation”? Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.View answer
2021What are the various forms of untouchability in India? Critically examine.View answer
2020How do you justify Dumont's deliberate stress on ideology that produced intellectualized account of Indian society?View answer
2020How do you justify Dumont's deliberate stress on ideology that produced intellectualized account of Indian society?View answer
2020Discuss Whitehead's contention that caste has potential to displace clash and colonial contradiction.View answer
2019Write a note on Ghurye's conception of caste in India.View answer
2019Write a note on Ghurye's conception of caste in India.View answer
2018What do you understand by discrete castes and muddled hierarchies?View answer
2018Has caste system hindered democracy and adult franchise in India?  Discuss.View answer
2017Which is more significant, the principle of 'hierarchy' or the principle of 'difference', in intercaste relations in the present day?View answer
2017How have the struggles against untouchability changed their forms and perspectives from Gandhian to Ambedkarite positions?View answer
2017What are the changes in the cultural and structural aspects of the caste system since independence?View answer
2016How has B.R. Ambedkar identified the features of caste system? How is it different from the mainstream treatment of caste features?View answer
2016Discuss Andre Beteille's account of the relationship between caste, class and power as a change from symmetrical to asymmetrical One.View answer
2015Write short note with a sociological perspective: Louis Dumont’s perspective on Indian caste system.View answer
2015Write short note with a sociological perspective: How far Gandhi was trusted by the untouchables.View answer
2015Is caste system changing, weakening or disintegrating in India?View answer
2015Write short note with a sociological Perspective: How far Srinivas’s Sanskritization is modernizing force or traditionalizing force in understanding the changes in caste system?View answer
2015Discuss B.R. Ambedkar as a wise democrat.View answer
2014Write short notes with a sociological perspective on the following in about 150 words : Features of caste system.View answer
2014Write some of the important social reforms in India for the removal of untouchability.View answer
2014How do caste and class come together in creating the category of extreme poor?View answer
2013What are the main features of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s views on annihilation of caste?View answer
2013Critically evaluate Louis Dumont’s Homo Hierarchicus.View answer
2013What are the features of M.N. Srinivas’ concept of dominant caste ? How effective is it in understanding today’s reality?View answer
2011Write short note with a sociological perspective on the following in not more than 150 words : Perspectives on the study of caste by M.N. Srinivas and Andre Beteille.View answer
2011Analyze the term ‘dalit’ and the evolution of the related concept as a reflection of the changing consciousness and self – assertion of  the dalit community.View answer
2011‘Casteism is the modern edition of the caste system.’ Do you agree with this statement ? Discuss with arguments.View answer
2011Analyze the changing nexus between caste and tribe.View answer
2010Comment critically on Dumont’s concept of Homohierarchicus.View answer
2010Critically assess the forms in which untouchability continues to be practised.View answer
2010Discuss the inter – relationships between caste, class and power.View answer
2009In the context of the caste system, critically examine Louis Dumont’s concept of purity and pollution.View answer
2008Write short note : Concept of Hierarchy in Louis Dumont’s writingsView answer
2006Discuss the social factors responsible for the emergence of Dalit consciousness in India. What have been the social consequences of this phenomenon?View answer
2005Write short note : Racial Theories of origin of caste.View answer
2004Write short note : Caste mobilisation in North india.View answer
2004Write short note : Impact of Muslims on Indian Society.View answer
2003Write short note : Caste among Muslims.View answer
2003Describe the characteristics of dominant caste. Discuss its role in village politics in India.View answer
2002Discuss the Louis Dumont’s concept of purity and pollution. How far these concepts are relevant in explaining the Hindu Caste system.View answer
2002Write short note : Emergence of Dalit Consciousness.View answer
2001Write short note : Caste and Indian Polity.View answer
2000Which means of social mobility were available in the traditional caste system ? Describe the form of social mobility in contemporary Indian society.View answer
2000Write short note : Caste among Indian Christians.View answer
1999Write short note : Social Justice.View answer
1998Write short note : Modes of contents of expression of Dalit consciousness.View answer
1998Write short note : Role of caste associations.View answer
1997‘Caste is becoming weaker and stronger at the same time in present day India.’ Discuss the factors responsible for continuity and change.View answer
1996Do you think that caste and democracy are compatible with each other? Discuss with reference to some studies conducted on this issue in India.View answer
1996Write short note : Varna-asrama dharma.View answer
1996Write short note : Avenues of caste mobility in traditional Indian society.View answer
1995Write short note : Equality and social justice.View answer
1995Write short note : Cultural and structural aspect of caste.View answer
1994Write short note : Caste among Muslims in India.View answer
1994Write short note : Caste and occupational mobility.View answer
1991Write short note : Ritual purity and pollution in Hindu Society.View answer
1991Discuss the changes in the structure of power relationships of various castes at the regional levels.View answer
1991‘Institutionalized inequality in India has its cultural and economic coordinates’. Discuss.View answer
1990Discuss the process of mobility that has taken place in the caste structure in India. In this context, explain the convergence of caste and class.View answer
1990Write short note : Sociological perspectives of “Right to work” in India.View answer
1989Write short note : Purushartha.View answer
1989“The soil grows castes: the machines make classes’. Comment.View answer
1988The organic solidarity of caste has given way to competitive solidarity. Discuss this statement in the context of the processes of fission and fusion in the Caste System.View answer
1988Write short note : Industrialisation and Caste.View answer
1987Is the caste system immobile ? Bring out the factors promoting intra-caste and inter-caste mobility.View answer
1987Write short note : Convergence of class and caste.View answer
1986Write short note : The case for a uniform civil code.View answer
1986‘Despite all the fusion and fission that the caste system has undergone through the ages, it has binded to maintain the permanency of it form’. Comment.View answer
1985Write short note : Kula, Vansa and Gotra.View answer
1985Comment on the distinction between ‘hierarchy’ and ‘social stratification.’ Which of the two will be a more appropriate term to describe the caste system and why?View answer
1985Discuss the process of social mobility in the caste system commonly describe as sanskritisation and westernisation. Have they effected any structural change in the system?View answer
1984Write short note: Caste among the non-Hindu.View answer
1984Write short note: Scheduled caste elites.View answer
1984What is the structural perspective on the caste system? Is it not an oversimplification to describe the system as a hierarchy of statuses based on the opposition of the pure and impure?View answer
1984Describe the main characteristics of the Jajmani system. Do you agree with the view that it is basically an institution of politicoeconomic dominance and dependence?View answer
1984Discuss the social consequences of economic development in India. Do you share the view that it has increased economic inequality and failed to promote social justice?View answer
1984Examine the role of caste as a pressure-group in contemporary Indian politics.View answer

Solved PYQs for every Sociology topic

Notes tell you what a thinker said. Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions shows you how UPSC asks it and how a strong answer is written, on every question since 1985.

  • 1,500+ solved PYQs (1985–2026), Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across all 25 syllabus units, newest exam year first
  • A full model answer for each question, shaped to 10 or 20 marks
  • Online plus PDF download, 12 months access, one-time payment

₹1,499 ₹2,500 · instant access, no subscription

Get Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted