Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Write short note: Concept of Hierarchy in Louis Dumont’s writings

  • UPSC 2008
  • Caste System

For Louis Dumont, hierarchy is not a polite word for inequality. In Homo Hierarchicus (1966) it is a principle of order — the ranking of elements by reference to the whole — and it is the value by which a holistic society understands itself. Recovering that sense is his chief theoretical contribution to Indian sociology.

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

What the full answer covers

  • Hierarchy is not stratification
  • Gradation by purity, not power
  • The encompassing of the contrary
  • Holism against individualism
  • Limits of the concept
  • Conclusion

Unlock this answer and 1,500+ more

  • 1,500+ solved UPSC Sociology PYQs from 1985 to 2026, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across all 25 syllabus units, newest exam year first
  • A full model answer for every question, shaped to 10 or 20 marks, with thinkers and Indian examples
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · 12 months of access · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Caste System question (92 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in