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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Write short note: Collective representations.

  • UPSC 1987
  • Sociological Thinkers

Collective representations are, for Émile Durkheim, the shared ideas, symbols, concepts, myths and categories through which a group represents itself and its world to itself. Examples are a flag, a totem, a sacred text or the word for "mother's brother". They are states of the collective conscience, different in kind from any individual's sensations or…

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What the full answer covers

  • The argument of 1898
  • Features
  • Categories of thought: a sociology of knowledge
  • Later developments and critique
  • Indian illustration
  • Conclusion

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