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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

“Anomie is rooted in social structure.” Explain with reference to R. K. Merton’s contribution.

  • UPSC 2015
  • Sociological Thinkers

Before Robert K. Merton, deviance was widely traced to faulty individuals or unrestrained impulses. In "Social Structure and Anomie" (1938) Merton reversed the question. He asked how "social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in non-conforming rather than conforming conduct". Anomie, for him, is a property of the…

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • Two elements of structure and their imbalance
  • Why the source is structural
  • Institutional anomie: the argument extended
  • Indian illustrations
  • Limits
  • Conclusion

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