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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

With suitable examples, explain how conformity and deviance coexist in a society as propounded by R. K. Merton.

  • UPSC 2021
  • Sociological Thinkers

For Robert K. Merton, conformity and deviance do not come from two different kinds of people. They are two outcomes of one social structure. In "Social Structure and Anomie" (1938), expanded in Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; 1957), he showed that the values which win most people's conformity also push some people into deviance.

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

What the full answer covers

  • One set of goals, many responses
  • Deviance built out of conformity
  • Why the two need each other
  • Limits
  • Conclusion

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