This page reproduces both papers of the UPSC Sociology Optional 2016 in full, section by section, with marks where the paper prints them. A solved model answer is linked beneath almost every question, so you can read the question as it was set and then check how it can be answered. For every other year, see the complete set of Sociology Optional question papers.
Quick Answer
The 2016 Sociology Optional exam had two papers of 250 marks each, with eight questions per paper in two sections and Q1 and Q5 compulsory as five 10-mark short answers. Paper-1 leaned on research methods and objectivity and on classical theory, naming Karl Marx, Kingsley Davis, Talcott Parsons, Robert K. Merton, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim. Paper-2 was India-centric and policy-linked: B.R. Ambedkar, A.R. Desai, André Béteille, land reforms, MGNREGS, the Right to Education, the Green Revolution, slums and ageing.
Model answers for this paper. 54 of the 56 questions in the 2016 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 2016: 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) |
| Questions to attempt | 5: Q1, Q5 and three more, at least one from each section | 5: Q1, Q5 and three more, at least one from each section |
| Compulsory | Q1 and Q5 | Q1 and Q5 |
| Short answers | Q1 and Q5: 5 parts each, 10 marks, about 150 words | Q1 and Q5: 5 parts each, 10 marks, about 150 words |
| Long answers | Q2–Q4 and Q6–Q8: three parts each, 50 marks per question | Q2–Q4 and Q6–Q8: three parts each, 50 marks per question |
| Total parts | 28 | 28 |
Sociology Optional Question Paper-1 (2016)
Section A
Q1. Write short answers of the following questions in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) “Sociology is pre-eminently study of modern societies.” Discuss. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) What is ‘value-free sociology’? Clarify. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Analyze the importance of qualitative methods in social research. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Evaluate Marx’s ideas on mode of production. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) “Vertical mobility brings structural change even in a closed social system.” Comment. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q2.
- (a) Elucidate the basic premises of Davis’ structural-functional theory of social stratification. How far is it relevant in understanding contemporary Indian society?
Solved answer → - (b) Describe the functional prerequisites of social system as given by Talcott Parsons. Examine in the context of a university as a social system.
Solved answer → - (c) Is sociology common sense? Give reasons in support of your argument.
Solved answer →
Q3.
- (a) Analyze the manifest and latent functions of ‘security of the tenure of bureaucrats’ in the light of Merton’s theory.
Solved answer → - (b) Describe the basic postulates of scientific method. How far are these followed in sociological research?
Solved answer → - (c) “Hypothesis is a statement of the relationship between two or more variables.” Elucidate by giving example of poverty and illiteracy.
Solved answer →
Q4.
- (a) Examine Max Weber’s method of maintaining objectivity in social research.
Solved answer → - (b) “Participant observation is the most effective tool for collecting facts.” Comment.
Solved answer → - (c) Discuss the relationship between poverty and social exclusion.
Solved answer →
Section B
Q5. Write short answers to the following questions in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Describe the nature of social organization of work in industrial society. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the importance of ‘power elite’ in democracy. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Is religion playing an important role in increasing fundamentalism? Give reasons for your answer. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) To what extent is patriarchy a cause for the problems of women? Discuss. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) “Social conflict is both a cause and a consequence of social change.” Explain. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q6.
- (a) “Globalization has pushed the labour into informal organization of work.” Substantiate your answer with suitable examples.
Solved answer → - (b) “Social change can be brought about through development.” Illustrate from the contemporary situation of India.
Solved answer → - (c) Examine the role of protest movements in changing the status of Dalits in India.
Solved answer →
Q7.
- (a) “Religious pluralism is the order of present-day societies.” Explain by giving suitable examples.
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the contemporary trends in family as a response to social change in modern society.
Solved answer → - (c) To what extent revolution replaces the existing order of society? Discuss.
Solved answer →
Q8.
- (a) “Education is a major source of social mobility in contemporary society.” Explain.
Solved answer → - (b) How is Durkheim’s theory of religion different from Max Weber’s theory of religion?
Solved answer → - (c) Distinguish between family and household as sociological concepts.
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 (2016)
Section A
Q1. Write short notes with a sociological perspective on the following, in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Salient features of A.R. Desai’s Marxist Sociology. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (b) Significance of Village Studies in Indian Sociology. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) ‘Isolationism’ as a dominant feature of colonial tribal policy. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Anti-Brahmanical movements during the colonial period. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (e) Patriarchy as a form of dominance. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q2.
- (a) How has B.R. Ambedkar identified the features of caste system? How is it different from the mainstream treatment of caste features?
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss André Béteille’s account of the relationship between caste, class and power as a change from symmetrical to asymmetrical one.
Solved answer → - (c) Analyse the major components of Land Reform Acts. Show their effectiveness in curbing rural inequality.
Solved answer →
Q3.
- (a) Bring out the significance of the difference between family and household.
Solved answer → - (b) Elucidate the concepts of ‘majoritarianism’ and ‘minoritarianism’ in accentuating communal tensions in India.
Solved answer → - (c) Comment on the increasing significance of caste in politics.
Solved answer →
Q4.
- (a) How is the tribal question related with the issues of integration and autonomy in modern India?
Solved answer → - (b) Comment on the factors behind the changing status of women in urban India.
Solved answer → - (c) What accounts for the growth and consolidation of the middle classes in modern India?
Solved answer →
Section B
Q5. Write short answers to the following questions in about 150 words each: 10×5=50
- (a) Privatization of education and increasing inequalities. (10 marks)
- (b) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for rural development. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (c) Different forms of Dalit assertion. (10 marks)
Solved answer → - (d) Empowerment through ‘Right to Education’. (10 marks)
- (e) Differential sex-ratio and its implications. (10 marks)
Solved answer →
Q6.
- (a) Write a note on the uneven impact of ‘Green Revolution’ on rural society.
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the emerging forms of ‘inequalities’ and ‘acute poverty’ as major challenges of social transformation in India.
Solved answer → - (c) Discuss the various forms of environmental movements waged in India.
Solved answer →
Q7.
- (a) Write a detailed note on the effects of growing slums in urban areas.
Solved answer → - (b) Discuss the changing nature of the problems of working class in the informal sector of the economy.
Solved answer → - (c) What are the factors accounting for the resurgence of ethnic identity movements in India?
Solved answer →
Q8.
- (a) Bring out the impact of the declining significance of the agrarian economy.
Solved answer → - (b) Examine the impact of industrialization and urbanization on family structure.
Solved answer → - (c) How is ageing becoming an emerging issue in Indian society?
Solved answer →
What the 2016 Sociology Optional papers tested
The 2016 papers were direct and largely conventional in wording. Paper-1 tested methodological grounding and the application of classical theory, while Paper-2 asked candidates to connect Indian thinkers with land, education, work and welfare policy.
Syllabus units in the 2016 papers
| Paper | Syllabus unit | Parts asked |
|---|---|---|
| Paper-1 | Sociological Thinkers | 4 |
| Paper-1 | Research Methods and Analysis | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Stratification and Mobility | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Politics and Society | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Religion and Society | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Systems of Kinship | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Social Change in Modern Society | 3 |
| Paper-1 | Sociology: The Discipline | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Sociology as a Science | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Works and Economic Life | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Social Movements | 2 |
| Paper-1 | Education System and Social Change | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Challenges of Social Transformation | 3 |
| Paper-2 | Rural and Agrarian Transformation in India | 3 |
| Paper-2 | Industrialization and Urbanisation in India | 3 |
| Paper-2 | Rural and Agrarian Social Structure | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Tribal Communities in India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Systems of Kinship in India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Caste System | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Social Movements in Modern India | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Population Dynamics | 2 |
| Paper-2 | Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Impact of Colonial Rule on Indian Society | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Religion and Society in India | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Politics and Society in India | 1 |
| Paper-2 | Social Classes in India | 1 |
Counts are based on the 54 questions with a linked model answer; a question filed under two units is counted in both.
Methods and objectivity filled Section A
Six of the fourteen Section A parts in Paper-1 came from sociology as science and research methods: value-free sociology, qualitative methods, the scientific method, hypothesis, Weber’s objectivity and participant observation. Q2(c) added the old question of sociology versus common sense.
Theory asked through application
Classical thinkers were rarely asked in the abstract. Talcott Parsons’ functional prerequisites had to be applied to a university, Robert K. Merton’s manifest and latent functions to bureaucrats’ security of tenure, and Kingsley Davis’ theory of stratification to contemporary Indian society.
Family and household asked twice
The distinction between family and household appeared in Paper-1 Q8(c) and again in Paper-2 Q3(a). Patriarchy also featured in both papers, in Paper-1 Q5(d) on the problems of women and Paper-2 Q1(e) as a form of dominance.
Caste and Dalit questions across papers
Paper-1 asked about protest movements and the status of Dalits, while Paper-2 took up B.R. Ambedkar on caste, André Béteille on caste, class and power, caste in politics, anti-Brahmanical movements and forms of Dalit assertion.
Policy hooks in Paper-2
Paper-2 tied its questions to specific interventions: Land Reform Acts, MGNREGS, the Right to Education, privatisation of education and the Green Revolution. Answers needed evidence on outcomes and inequality, not just descriptions of the schemes.
Mild directive words
Neither paper used “critically” in any question. The directives were “discuss”, “examine”, “explain”, “comment”, “elucidate” and “bring out”, which rewards balanced, well-illustrated answers over sharp critique.
Practise the 2016 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 2016 paper under timed conditions, then open the linked answers and compare structure, not just content.
Sociology Optional Question Paper 2016: FAQs
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