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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

“Power is not a zero-sum game”. Discuss with reference to Weber’s and Parsons’s views.

  • UPSC 2014
  • Politics and Society

In a zero-sum (constant-sum) conception, the total amount of power in a relationship is fixed, so one party's gain is another's loss. The statement expresses Talcott Parsons's position against the tradition running from Max Weber to C. Wright Mills. Each view captures a different aspect of power.

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

What the full answer covers

  • Weber: power as distributive
  • Parsons: power as a collective, variable-sum capacity
  • The two views compared
  • Indian illustration
  • Assessment
  • Conclusion

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