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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

How far are sociologists justified in using positivist approach to understand social reality? Explain with suitable illustrations.

  • UPSC 2021
  • Sociology as a Science

Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim established the positivist claim that society is amenable to the same objective, law-seeking method as the natural sciences, treating social facts as external "things" to be observed and correlated.

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 Positivism Succeeds: Durkheim's Study of Suicide
  • Where Positivism Falls Short: The Meaning of a Ritual or Caste Practice
  • Weighing the Verdict

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