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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

‘Why does the individual, while becoming more autonomous, depend more upon society?’ (Durkheim). How has the author tried to answer this question?

  • UPSC 1991
  • Sociological Thinkers

Émile Durkheim put this apparent paradox in the Preface to the first edition of The Division of Labour in Society (1893) and called it the starting point of the whole work. Modern people seem more individual and at the same time more bound to one another. How can personality and solidarity grow together? His answer…

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

What the full answer covers

  • Step 1: Two forms of solidarity
  • Step 2: Specialisation makes autonomy and dependence two sides of one process
  • Step 3: Autonomy is itself a social product
  • An Indian illustration
  • Limits of the answer
  • Conclusion

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