Sociology: CUET Mock Test - 6 - CUET MCQ

Social exclusion refers to how individuals or groups are prevented from fully participating in societal opportunities and benefits, leading to isolation and marginalization.

The passage emphasizes essential needs such as education, health, and housing, but does not mention freedom from personal relationships as a requirement for a full life.

The passage states that social exclusion is not accidental, but a result of structural features in society that create barriers for individuals or groups.

For a full life, individuals need access to essential goods and services such as education, health, and transportation, as outlined in the passage.

Social exclusion is focused on how individuals or groups are prevented from accessing the opportunities and benefits available to the majority, impacting their ability to fully participate in society.

The passage highlights that the challenge of cultural diversity in India arises from the competition or conflict between diverse groups, especially when inequalities are present within these communities.

The passage defines cultural diversity as a celebration of differences, particularly among social groups based on language, religion, caste, and ethnicity.

The passage explains that cultural identities are powerful because they are deeply connected to people’s emotions, and any perceived threat to these identities can mobilize large groups.

Economic and social inequalities further complicate cultural diversity by intensifying divisions and competition between communities, making it harder to manage these differences.

Despite the challenges posed by cultural diversity, the passage suggests that India has managed to survive and continue as a nation-state, facing these issues while striving to maintain unity.

(A) Correct: Malthus argued that population grows faster than the production of subsistence resources, such as food.
(B) Incorrect: The theory of demographic transition suggests that birth rates and death rates initially rise and then both decline, not rise together.
(C) Correct: Demographic studies provide essential data for planning and policy formulation, especially for economic growth.
(D) Incorrect: India's population has seen substantial growth since independence, not stagnation.
(E) Correct: The reduction in death rates in India was significantly aided by improvements in controlling epidemics and famines starting around 1921.

Agricultural diversification is an important mechanism for economic growth. It depends, however, on there being opportunities for diversification and on farmers’ responsiveness to those opportunities. Agricultural diversification can be facilitated by technological breaks-through, by changes in consumer demand or in government policy or in trade arrangements, and by development of irrigation, roads, and other infrastructures.

V. P. Singh, the leader of the second largest party Janata Dal (which also headed the National Front) was invited by the President of India to form the government.The government was formed with outside support from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Left Front led by CPI (M).V. P. Singh was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of India on 2 December 1989.

(A) Incorrect: Colonialism significantly affected Indian society in both negative and positive ways.
(B) Correct: Nationalism emerged in response to colonial exploitation and domination.
(C) Correct: Western education under colonial rule helped rediscover Indian tradition and heritage.
(D) Incorrect: The middle class played a crucial role in India's struggle for independence, particularly in advocating for political rights.
(E) Correct: Colonialism led to the creation of new classes and communities that impacted India's future.

Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture (TANWA) was a project initiated in the late 1980s in Tamil Nadu to train women in latest agricultural techniques and in organic farming. It encouraged women to actively participate in raising agricultural productivity and family income.

A significant increase in horticulture production is called Golden Revolution in India. In India, the period between 1991-2003 is termed as ‘Golden Revolution’. This period witnessed a tremendous increase in the productivity in horticulture. As a result, during this period, there was a huge increase in the production of various fruits, vegetables, spices and other horticulture products.

Operation Flood is the program behind “the white revolution.” It created a national milk grid linking producers throughout India with consumers in over 700 towns and cities, it transformed India from a milk-deficient nation into the world’s largest milk producer.

(A) Incorrect: Sociology is not just concerned with large-scale structures but also with individual behaviors and relationships.
(B) Incorrect: Personal troubles and social issues are linked; sociology helps relate personal experiences to societal phenomena.
(C) Correct: Sociology helps individuals understand their position in society and their relationship to others.
(D) Correct: Caste, tribe, and family are indeed considered foundational elements of Indian society in sociology.
(E) Incorrect: Sociology acknowledges the significant role of economic class in shaping identities.

The farm sector grew at an average rate of 3.7 per cent as against 4 per cent targeted in the five year policy period. As against an annual average growth of 10-11 per cent envisaged for the industry during the period, the actual annual average growth stood at 7.2 per cent during the plan period.

Regional Rural Banks are government owned scheduled commercial banks of India that operate at regional level in different states of India. These banks are under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. They were created to serve rural areas with basic banking and financial services.

Like any Indian, you already know that caste is the name of an ancient social institution that has been part of Indian history and culture for thousands of years. But like any Indian living in the twenty-first century, you also know that something called caste is definitely a part of Indian society today. 

These divisions were not very elaborate or very rigid, and only four major divisions were not determined by birth.

Castes also involve sub-divisions within themselves, i.e., castes almost always have sub-castes, and sometimes sub-castes may also have sub-castes.

(A) Incorrect: Diversity does not inherently cause unrest, but it can create challenges that require attention.
(B) Correct: "Unity in diversity" reflects both strengths (rich diversity) and challenges (inequality and exclusion).
(C) Incorrect: India's social structure has evolved and changed over time due to historical, economic,
and political factors.
(D) Correct: India's unity has indeed been challenged by issues like inequality and exclusion, including caste, gender, and economic disparities.
(E) Correct: Sociology provides tools to understand and navigate the complexities of India's social fabri

Commodification refers to tagging something which is not attributed as a commodity for sale in markets. It can be any aspect of the society like values, beliefs, language, culture etc. It is an ethnocentric way of looking into other sub-cultures from a major cultural point of view.

‘Suicide’ is a book written by Emile Durkheim in the year 1897 which highlights the social causes of suicide. Thomas Robert Malthus wrote the book ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ published in the year 1798. Here he came up with concepts like arithmetic progression and geometric progression in terms of expansion of population.

The idea of ‘Failure of Entitlements’ was propounded by the famous Indian economist Amartya Sen. This idea was given as a part of contribution to the theory of poverty and famines.

The concept of ‘mass sterilisation’ is associated with Sanjay Gandhi. India had to enter into a phase of emergency in the year 1976 when people were forced to undergo sterilization as a population control measure during the tenure of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. 

Answer: C

Elaborated Explanation:

M.N. Srinivas, a prominent Indian sociologist, introduced the concept of Sanskritisation to explain how social mobility occurs within the rigid caste system of India. According to him, Sanskritisation is a process through which a lower caste or social group tries to elevate its social status by adopting the customs, rituals, and lifestyle of the upper castes, especially the Brahmins.

This process results in a change in the social status of that caste group, but importantly, it does not eliminate the caste system itself. Instead, Sanskritisation allows groups to improve their position within the existing caste hierarchy without challenging the system’s fundamental inequalities.

Option A is incorrect because Sanskritisation does not abolish or eliminate the caste system; the caste divisions and hierarchy remain intact. Option B is also not fully correct — while caste inequalities continue, Sanskritisation is more about upward mobility within those inequalities rather than strengthening them explicitly. Option D, adoption of modern education, is a separate process related to modernization and does not define Sanskritisation.

Hence, the correct answer is C: Sanskritisation leads to a change in social status by imitating upper caste practices.

In 1950s, the Indian agricultural sector contributed more than half of its share in the country’s GDP. But post 2018, the share has continued to decline with a sharp increase in the contribution of service sector towards the economy.

Alice Thorner’s Semi Feudalism or Capitalism (1982)
M.N Srinivas’s The Dominant Caste and Other Essays (1987)
Dipankar Gupta’s Social Stratification (1991)
Ruten Mario’s Farms and Factories (1995)

Caste groups are endogamous, i.e.marriage is restricted to members of the group.