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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Contextualize Louis Dumont’s concept of ‘binary opposition’ with reference to caste system in India.

  • UPSC 2023
  • Caste System

Louis Dumont built Homo Hierarchicus (1966) on one analytical device taken from structural anthropology: the binary opposition of the pure and the impure. His claim is not that Indians think in pairs, but that this single pair generates the whole caste order.

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

What the full answer covers

  • Where the device comes from
  • One relation, not two categories
  • Encompassing of the contrary
  • The second binary: status and power
  • Where the binary breaks down
  • Conclusion

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