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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Write short note: The idea of functional indispensability.

  • UPSC 1996
  • Sociological Thinkers

Functional indispensability is the assumption that certain institutions are so vital that no society could survive without them. Although this question sits in the Parsons block, the concept as examined today comes from Robert K. Merton's critique of classical functionalism in "Manifest and Latent Functions", in Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; revised 1957).

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

What the full answer covers

  • Origins of the postulate
  • Merton's critique
  • Indian illustration
  • Assessment
  • Conclusion

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