The 2015 Sociology Optional papers kept the 250-mark scheme, with eight questions per paper and Q1 and Q5 compulsory. Both papers are reproduced below in full, section by section, with marks, and a solved model answer is linked beneath almost every question. For every other year, see the complete set of Sociology Optional question papers.
Quick Answer
The 2015 Sociology Optional papers each carried 250 marks across eight questions, with Q1 and Q5 compulsory sets of five 150-word answers. Paper-1 was conventional and syllabus-close, with a heavy dose of methods (science, historical method, variables, sampling, objectivity, non-positivism) and classical thinkers such as Max Weber, G.H. Mead, Talcott Parsons and Robert K. Merton. Paper-2 named many Indian figures, including Verrier Elwin, Jyotirao Phule, Louis Dumont, M.N. Srinivas, B.R. Ambedkar and Gandhi, alongside caste, kinship, gender and policy questions.
Model answers for this paper. 55 of the 56 questions in the 2015 papers have a full model answer in Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions. Look for the Solved answer link under each question. The course files 1,500+ solved PYQs from 1985 to 2026 topic-wise, across every syllabus unit of Paper-1 and Paper-2.
Sociology Optional 2015: paper pattern at a glance
| Feature | Paper-1 | Paper-2 |
|---|---|---|
| Total marks | 250 | 250 |
| Questions | 8 in two sections (A and B) | 8 in two sections (A and B) |
| Compulsory | Q1 and Q5, plus three more (at least one from each section) | Q1 and Q5, plus three more (at least one from each section) |
| Short answers | Q1 and Q5: 5 × 10 marks, about 150 words each | Q1 and Q5: 5 short notes × 10 marks, about 150 words each |
| Long answers | Q2–Q4, Q6–Q8: three parts each, 50 marks per question | Q2–Q4, Q6–Q8: three parts each, 50 marks per question |
Sociology Optional Question Paper-1 (2015)
Section A
Q1. Write short answers of the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Is sociology a science? Give reasons for your answer. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the relevance of historical method in the study of society. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) What are variables? Discuss their role in experimental research. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Which concepts did Weber use to analyse the forms of legitimate domination? (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) “No society can either be completely open or completely closed.” Comment. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q2.
- (a) Discuss the role of Calvinist ethic in the development of Capitalism.
Solved answer → - (b) Examine the problems of maintaining objectivity and value neutrality in social science research.
Solved answer → - (c) “Self and society are twin-born.” Examine the statement of Mead.
Solved answer →
Q3.
- (a) Why is random sampling said to have more reliability and validity in research?
Solved answer → - (b) Differentiate between Marxian and Weberian theories of Social stratification.
Solved answer → - (c) How had Enlightenment contributed to the emergence of sociology?
Solved answer →
Q4.
- (a) “Non-positivist methodology is essential for understanding human behaviour.” Discuss.
Solved answer → - (b) How is social equilibrium maintained in Parsonian framework?
Solved answer → - (c) “Anomie is rooted in social structure.” Explain with reference to R.K. Merton’s contribution.
Solved answer →
Section B
Q5. Write short answers of the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Distinguish between the social organization of work in feudal society and in capitalist society. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) “Ideology is crucial for social transformation in a democracy.” Discuss. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Distinguish between sects and cults with illustrations. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Is male authority absent in matrilineal society? Discuss. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) Explain the relevance of the idea of ‘cultural lag’ in understanding social change. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q6.
- (a) “Education helps in perpetuating social and economic inequalities.” Critically examine the statement.
Solved answer → - (b) Explain the conditions under which a collective action transforms into a social movement.
Solved answer → - (c) How do the rules of descent and alliance in kinship differ from each other? Illustrate.
Solved answer →
Q7.
- (a) Define Secularisation. What are its major dimensions in the modern world?
Solved answer → - (b) The increasing importance of the tertiary sector has weakened the formal organization of work in recent times. Examine the statement.
Solved answer → - (c) Caste ideology appears to have strengthened democracy. Comment.
Solved answer →
Q8.
- (a) “Globalization involves deterritorialization.” Examine with reference to the nation-state.
Solved answer → - (b) Examine the dialectical relation between tradition and modernity in the study of social change.
Solved answer → - (c) Elaborate the views of Durkheim on “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life”.
Solved answer →
Checked your Paper-1 answers yet? In Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions each of these questions sits inside its syllabus unit, next to every earlier UPSC question on the same theme, newest year first. You see how the examiner keeps returning to a topic, and a written model answer for each one.
Sociology Optional Question Paper-2 (2015)
Section A
Q1. Write short notes with a sociological perspective on the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Verrier Elwin’s views on freedom for the tribals. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) Jyotirao Phule as an agrarian radical. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Louis Dumont’s perspective on Indian caste system. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) How far Gandhiji was trusted by the untouchables. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) Feminization of poverty. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q2.
- (a) Is caste system changing, weakening or disintegrating in India?
Solved answer → - (b) Give some of the important studies relating to the structural changes in the Indian family system.
Solved answer → - (c) Broadly compare the kinship system of North and South India.
Solved answer →
Q3.
- (a) Discuss the paradigm of modernization of Indian tradition in analyzing social change in India.
Solved answer → - (b) What is patriarchy? How does it affect the child socialization pattern in India?
Solved answer → - (c) Discuss the problems of elderly in India. What are the different perspectives to solve their problems?
Solved answer →
Q4.
- (a) Discuss Marxist approach to the analysis of Indian nationalism.
Solved answer → - (b) What are the basic tenets of Hindu religion? Is Hinduism based on monotheism or polytheism?
Solved answer → - (c) Why is it necessary to implement PCPNDT Act in India?
Solved answer →
Section B
Q5. Write short notes with a sociological perspective on the following in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Important components of National Education Policy in India. (10 marks)
- (b) Main objective of Tribal sub plan (TSP). (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Effect of displacement through development on the rural landless and marginal farmers. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Issues relating to the informal labour market in urban India. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) How far Srinivas’s Sanskritization is modernizing force or traditionalizing force in understanding the changes in caste system? (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q6.
- (a) Discuss the impact of post-1970 feminist movement on Indian middle class.
Solved answer → - (b) What are the major concerns of ethnic identity and religious identity in India?
Solved answer → - (c) How serious is the problem of trafficking against women and children in India?
Solved answer →
Q7.
- (a) Discuss B.R. Ambedkar as a wise democrat.
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the main features of farmers’ movements in independent India.
Solved answer → - (c) To what extent the Muslim Personal Law Board is in agreement with Islamic feminist agenda?
Solved answer →
Q8.
- (a) Analyze Gandhi as a moralist, ascetic and man of action through his Hind Swaraj.
Solved answer → - (b) Human development approach affirms that education and health-care growth are more important than economic growth. Discuss this issue in the light of post-liberalized Indian society.
Solved answer → - (c) Write a brief note on the Freedom of the Press.
Solved answer →
What the 2015 Sociology Optional papers tested
2015 returned to direct, syllabus-worded questions: Paper-1 tested core concepts and methods head-on, while Paper-2 was built around named Indian thinkers and leaders.
Syllabus units in the 2015 papers
| Paper | Syllabus unit | Parts asked |
|---|---|---|
| Paper-1 | Sociological Thinkers | 6 |
| Paper-1 | Politics and Society | 4 |
| Paper-1 | Sociology as a Science | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Research Methods and Analysis | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Social Change in Modern Society | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Stratification and Mobility | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Works and Economic Life | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Religion and Society | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Systems of Kinship | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Sociology: The Discipline | 1 |
| Paper-1 | Education System and Social Change | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Caste System | 5 |
| Paper-2 | Challenges of Social Transformation | 4 |
| Paper-2 | Systems of Kinship in India | 3 |
| Paper-2 | Tribal Communities in India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Impact of Colonial Rule on Indian Society | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Population Dynamics | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Religion and Society in India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Industrialization and Urbanisation in India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Social Movements in Modern India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Rural and Agrarian Social Structure | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Visions of Social Change in India | 1 |
Counts are based on the 55 questions with a linked model answer; a question filed under two units is counted in both.
Methods carried Section A of Paper-1
Sociology as a science, the historical method, variables in experimental research, objectivity and value neutrality, random sampling and non-positivist methodology were all asked. That is six parts from the science and methods units in Section A alone.
Classical thinkers asked directly
Max Weber appears through legitimate domination, the Calvinist ethic and stratification, and Émile Durkheim through The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. G.H. Mead on self and society, Parsonian equilibrium and Robert K. Merton on anomie completed a thinker-heavy paper.
Paper-2 was a paper of names
Short notes on Verrier Elwin, Jyotirao Phule, Louis Dumont and Gandhi’s standing with the untouchables, plus longer questions on B.R. Ambedkar as a democrat, Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and M.N. Srinivas’s Sanskritization, meant biographical and conceptual detail on Indian figures paid off.
Gender and policy hooks
Paper-2 asked about the feminization of poverty, patriarchy and child socialization, the post-1970 feminist movement, trafficking, the PCPNDT Act and the Muslim Personal Law Board’s stance on an Islamic feminist agenda. Education policy, the Tribal Sub Plan and the human development approach added a policy layer.
Old themes repeated
Several questions revisit earlier years: Marxian versus Weberian stratification (asked in 2013), objectivity and value neutrality (2014), social organisation of work across societies (2014), and modernization of Indian tradition (2014). Revising previous papers clearly paid off.
Practise the 2015 paper with a model answer beside every question
Reading a question paper tells you what UPSC asked. It does not show you how a 10-mark or 20-mark answer should be built. Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions does, question by question:
- 1,500+ solved PYQs from 1985 to 2026, covering every unit of Paper-1 and Paper-2
- Filed topic-wise, newest exam year first, so every question on a theme sits together
- A full model answer for each question: introduction, argument and conclusion, shaped to 10 or 20 marks
- Thinkers applied, not name-dropped, with Indian examples and current data where the question needs them
- Online access on lotusarise.com plus PDF download, 12 months from the day you enrol, one-time payment
Attempt the 2015 paper under timed conditions, then open the linked answers and compare structure, not just content.
Sociology Optional Question Paper 2015: FAQs
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