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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Do you think that caste and democracy are compatible with each other? Discuss with reference to some studies conducted on this issue in India.

  • UPSC 1996
  • Caste System

In principle caste and democracy are opposites: one ascribes rank at birth and prescribes separation, the other counts every adult once. Indian political sociology settled the question empirically rather than logically, and its studies converge on a paradox — the two have proved not merely compatible but mutually transforming.

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

What the full answer covers

  • Rajni Kothari and the politicisation of caste
  • The Rudolphs: tradition as the vehicle of modernity
  • The sceptical evidence
  • The verdict of the later studies
  • Conclusion

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