Class 12 Sociology Official Sample Question Paper (2020-21) | Sociology for Class 12 - Grade 12 PDF Download

 Page 1


1 
 
 
SAMPLE PAPER 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
2020-21 
TIME: 3 HOURS                                                                                                                           M.M.: 80 MARKS 
 General Instructions  
1. The question paper is divided into four sections. 
2. There are 35 questions in all. All questions are compulsory. 
3. Section A includes question No. 1-16. These are objective type questions.  
4. Section B includes question No. 17-25. These are very short answer type questions carrying 2 marks 
each. Answer to each question should not exceed 30 words. 
5. Section C includes question No. 26-32. These are short answer type questions carrying 4 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. Question no. 26 and 27 are case based questions 
with 4 parts each carrying 1 mark, making the questions of 4 marks each. 
6. Section D includes question No. 33-35. They are long answer type questions carrying 6 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 200 words each. Question no 35 is to be answered with the 
help of the passage given. 
 
a.  SECTION-A 
 
1. Very few people who relax on their day off realise that this holiday is the outcome of a long struggle by 
workers. That the work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally 
for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension, has not come about 
automatically.(KNOW) 
_______________________ have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so. 
a) Social movements 
b) dialogue 
c) public conference 
d) confrontation 
1 
2. An average work day has 10-12 hours and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the 
office (known as a ‘night out’), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to 
the industry’s ‘work culture’. 
This phenomenon is referred to as __________________ in IT sector.(APP) 
1 
3. …Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take your birth in? Who carried 
the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint who made you the light in her eye, 
…(KNOW) 
_____________ wrote these lines. 
1 
4. A) The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were 
______________ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming 
their rent.(KNOW) 
a) Tenants 
b) Absentee landlords 
c) Dominant caste 
d) Political leaders 
1 
 OR  
4. B) Mark the statement as true or false. 
Indian independence in 1947 marked a big and complete break with the colonial past. 
1 
5. “The theory of Demographic Transition suggests that population growth is linked to overall levels of 
economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related 
population growth.” 
Choose the incorrect statement about Demographic Transition Theory.  (CREATE) 
 a)  The growth rate in phase I and phase II are high.  
 b)  The growth rate in phase II is high due to low death rate.  
 c)  The growth rate in phase I and phase III are low.  
1 
Page 2


1 
 
 
SAMPLE PAPER 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
2020-21 
TIME: 3 HOURS                                                                                                                           M.M.: 80 MARKS 
 General Instructions  
1. The question paper is divided into four sections. 
2. There are 35 questions in all. All questions are compulsory. 
3. Section A includes question No. 1-16. These are objective type questions.  
4. Section B includes question No. 17-25. These are very short answer type questions carrying 2 marks 
each. Answer to each question should not exceed 30 words. 
5. Section C includes question No. 26-32. These are short answer type questions carrying 4 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. Question no. 26 and 27 are case based questions 
with 4 parts each carrying 1 mark, making the questions of 4 marks each. 
6. Section D includes question No. 33-35. They are long answer type questions carrying 6 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 200 words each. Question no 35 is to be answered with the 
help of the passage given. 
 
a.  SECTION-A 
 
1. Very few people who relax on their day off realise that this holiday is the outcome of a long struggle by 
workers. That the work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally 
for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension, has not come about 
automatically.(KNOW) 
_______________________ have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so. 
a) Social movements 
b) dialogue 
c) public conference 
d) confrontation 
1 
2. An average work day has 10-12 hours and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the 
office (known as a ‘night out’), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to 
the industry’s ‘work culture’. 
This phenomenon is referred to as __________________ in IT sector.(APP) 
1 
3. …Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take your birth in? Who carried 
the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint who made you the light in her eye, 
…(KNOW) 
_____________ wrote these lines. 
1 
4. A) The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were 
______________ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming 
their rent.(KNOW) 
a) Tenants 
b) Absentee landlords 
c) Dominant caste 
d) Political leaders 
1 
 OR  
4. B) Mark the statement as true or false. 
Indian independence in 1947 marked a big and complete break with the colonial past. 
1 
5. “The theory of Demographic Transition suggests that population growth is linked to overall levels of 
economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related 
population growth.” 
Choose the incorrect statement about Demographic Transition Theory.  (CREATE) 
 a)  The growth rate in phase I and phase II are high.  
 b)  The growth rate in phase II is high due to low death rate.  
 c)  The growth rate in phase I and phase III are low.  
1 
2 
 
 d)  The growth rate in phase III is approximately same as in phase I.  
6. “The argument for a tribe-caste distinction was founded on an assumed cultural difference between 
Hindu castes, with their beliefs in purity and pollution and hierarchical integration, and ‘animist’ tribals 
with their more egalitarian and kinship-based modes of social organisation.” 
Which of the following is not a characteristic of tribal communities? (CREATE) 
        a)  Egalitarian organisation  
        b)  Kinship based mode of social organisation  
        c)  Animists  
        d)  Organised religion  
1 
7. “Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. Some of these 
issues under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence 
movement.” 
A nation-wide non-tax campaign that took place in Surat in 1928, as a part of the non-cooperative 
movement is referred to as_________________.(KNOW) 
1 
8. Mark the statement as true or false. 
Karl Marx propounded the convergence thesis? (KNOW) 
1 
9. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
The religious or cultural minorities are politically vulnerable, irrespective of their economic or social 
position. 
1 
10. Social inequality is not the outcome of _____________ differences between people, but is produced by 
the society in which they live. (APP) 
1 
11. A) The proportion of persons in different age groups relative to the total population is known as 
_________.(KNOW) 
1 
 OR 
 
11. B) The ______________ is the number of women who die in childbirth per 1000 live births. 
1 
12. “When we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are many different 
types of social groups and communities living here.” 
The term diversity stands for-(Appl) 
a) Inequalities rather than equalities 
b) Differences rather than inequalities 
c) Difference and inequality both 
d) Neither difference nor inequality 
1 
13. “‘Untouchability’ is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system that prescribes 
stringent social sanctions against members of casted located at the bottom of the purity-pollution scale.”  
Which of the following is not a gesture of deference for untouchable to follow? (Appl) 
a) Taking off headgear 
b) Wearing clean clothes 
c) Carrying footwear in hand  
d) Standing with bowed head 
1 
14. Correct the given statement.(APPL) 
There is no correlation between disability and poverty.  
1 
15. For many centuries until the third quarter of the 19
th
 century the Persian influence was the dominant 
one and not Sanskritic influence in Punjab. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
1 
16. The advent of the railways in Bengal saw the conversion of British forest policy in Assam from 
____________________ to active intervention.(App) 
1 
 SECTION-B  
17. A) A few work harder than those who are located at the lower ranks of society. As a South American 
proverb says-“If hard labour were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” 
Defend this proverb using an example. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
17. B) “Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain to differential economic 
resources alone. This however is only partially true.” 
Determine using two examples that social exclusion and discrimination do not pertain to differential 
economic resources alone. 
2 
18. Why were land reforms necessary to transform India’s agrarian structure? (Know) 2 
19. A) Identify the reasons why cultural diversity presents tough challenges. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR 
 
19. B) “The religious or cultural minorities-regardless of their economic or social position-are politically 
vulnerable.” Justify. 
2 
Page 3


1 
 
 
SAMPLE PAPER 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
2020-21 
TIME: 3 HOURS                                                                                                                           M.M.: 80 MARKS 
 General Instructions  
1. The question paper is divided into four sections. 
2. There are 35 questions in all. All questions are compulsory. 
3. Section A includes question No. 1-16. These are objective type questions.  
4. Section B includes question No. 17-25. These are very short answer type questions carrying 2 marks 
each. Answer to each question should not exceed 30 words. 
5. Section C includes question No. 26-32. These are short answer type questions carrying 4 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. Question no. 26 and 27 are case based questions 
with 4 parts each carrying 1 mark, making the questions of 4 marks each. 
6. Section D includes question No. 33-35. They are long answer type questions carrying 6 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 200 words each. Question no 35 is to be answered with the 
help of the passage given. 
 
a.  SECTION-A 
 
1. Very few people who relax on their day off realise that this holiday is the outcome of a long struggle by 
workers. That the work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally 
for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension, has not come about 
automatically.(KNOW) 
_______________________ have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so. 
a) Social movements 
b) dialogue 
c) public conference 
d) confrontation 
1 
2. An average work day has 10-12 hours and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the 
office (known as a ‘night out’), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to 
the industry’s ‘work culture’. 
This phenomenon is referred to as __________________ in IT sector.(APP) 
1 
3. …Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take your birth in? Who carried 
the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint who made you the light in her eye, 
…(KNOW) 
_____________ wrote these lines. 
1 
4. A) The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were 
______________ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming 
their rent.(KNOW) 
a) Tenants 
b) Absentee landlords 
c) Dominant caste 
d) Political leaders 
1 
 OR  
4. B) Mark the statement as true or false. 
Indian independence in 1947 marked a big and complete break with the colonial past. 
1 
5. “The theory of Demographic Transition suggests that population growth is linked to overall levels of 
economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related 
population growth.” 
Choose the incorrect statement about Demographic Transition Theory.  (CREATE) 
 a)  The growth rate in phase I and phase II are high.  
 b)  The growth rate in phase II is high due to low death rate.  
 c)  The growth rate in phase I and phase III are low.  
1 
2 
 
 d)  The growth rate in phase III is approximately same as in phase I.  
6. “The argument for a tribe-caste distinction was founded on an assumed cultural difference between 
Hindu castes, with their beliefs in purity and pollution and hierarchical integration, and ‘animist’ tribals 
with their more egalitarian and kinship-based modes of social organisation.” 
Which of the following is not a characteristic of tribal communities? (CREATE) 
        a)  Egalitarian organisation  
        b)  Kinship based mode of social organisation  
        c)  Animists  
        d)  Organised religion  
1 
7. “Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. Some of these 
issues under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence 
movement.” 
A nation-wide non-tax campaign that took place in Surat in 1928, as a part of the non-cooperative 
movement is referred to as_________________.(KNOW) 
1 
8. Mark the statement as true or false. 
Karl Marx propounded the convergence thesis? (KNOW) 
1 
9. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
The religious or cultural minorities are politically vulnerable, irrespective of their economic or social 
position. 
1 
10. Social inequality is not the outcome of _____________ differences between people, but is produced by 
the society in which they live. (APP) 
1 
11. A) The proportion of persons in different age groups relative to the total population is known as 
_________.(KNOW) 
1 
 OR 
 
11. B) The ______________ is the number of women who die in childbirth per 1000 live births. 
1 
12. “When we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are many different 
types of social groups and communities living here.” 
The term diversity stands for-(Appl) 
a) Inequalities rather than equalities 
b) Differences rather than inequalities 
c) Difference and inequality both 
d) Neither difference nor inequality 
1 
13. “‘Untouchability’ is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system that prescribes 
stringent social sanctions against members of casted located at the bottom of the purity-pollution scale.”  
Which of the following is not a gesture of deference for untouchable to follow? (Appl) 
a) Taking off headgear 
b) Wearing clean clothes 
c) Carrying footwear in hand  
d) Standing with bowed head 
1 
14. Correct the given statement.(APPL) 
There is no correlation between disability and poverty.  
1 
15. For many centuries until the third quarter of the 19
th
 century the Persian influence was the dominant 
one and not Sanskritic influence in Punjab. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
1 
16. The advent of the railways in Bengal saw the conversion of British forest policy in Assam from 
____________________ to active intervention.(App) 
1 
 SECTION-B  
17. A) A few work harder than those who are located at the lower ranks of society. As a South American 
proverb says-“If hard labour were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” 
Defend this proverb using an example. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
17. B) “Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain to differential economic 
resources alone. This however is only partially true.” 
Determine using two examples that social exclusion and discrimination do not pertain to differential 
economic resources alone. 
2 
18. Why were land reforms necessary to transform India’s agrarian structure? (Know) 2 
19. A) Identify the reasons why cultural diversity presents tough challenges. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR 
 
19. B) “The religious or cultural minorities-regardless of their economic or social position-are politically 
vulnerable.” Justify. 
2 
3 
 
20. Identify the markers that led to regionalism in the Indian context. (Know) 
2 
21. A) Evaluate the social implications of the small size of the organized sector compared to the presence of a 
large unorganized sector.(CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
21. B) Workers in textile mills often described themselves as extensions of the machine. Justify. 2 
22. Show the relation between stereotype, prejudice and discrimination.(APP) 
2 
23. What are the features of a social movement? (KNOW) 2 
24. What makes the OBCs a difficult political category to work with? (APP) 2 
25. Using Durkheim’s study of Suicide, state what is aggregate statistics. (APP) 2 
 SECTION-C  
26. A) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.       
                   
Rabindranath Tagore on the evils of exclusive nationalism 
…where the spirit of the Western nationalism prevails, the whole people is being taught from boyhood 
to foster hatreds and ambitions by all kinds of means -- by the manufacture of half-truths and untruths 
in history, by persistent misrepresentation of other races and the culture of unfavourable sentiments 
towards them…Never think for a moment that the hurt you inflict upon other races will not infect you, 
or that the enmities you sow around your homes will be a wall of protection to you for all time to come? 
To imbue the minds of a whole people with an abnormal vanity of its own superiority, to teach it to take 
pride in its moral callousness and ill-begotten wealth, to perpetuate humiliation of defeated nations by 
exhibiting trophies won from war, and using these schools in order to breed in children’s minds 
contempt for others, is imitating the West where she has a festering sore… 
 
4 
i) A state-nation allows for which of the following-(appl) 
a) Inclusion and democracy 
b) Assimilation 
c) Integration 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
ii) To be effective, the ideas of inclusive nationalism had to be built into_______________ 
a) Constitution 
b) Authoritarianism 
c) Communalism 
d) Social media 
 
1 
iii) In light of exclusive nationalism, which of the following ideas influenced Indian nationalists? 
a) Monarchy 
b) Humanism 
c) Individualism 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
iv) According to Tagore, exclusive nationalism created a sense of _______________for one’s own race and 
culture. 
a) Inferiority 
b) Superiority 
c) Equality 
d) inclusion 
1 
 OR 
 
26. B) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
We don’t have to do anything to be born into a community – in fact, no one has any choice about which 
family or community or country they are born into. These kinds of identities are called ‘ascriptive’ – that 
is, they are determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve any choice on the part of the 
individuals concerned. It is an odd fact of social life that people feel a deep sense of security and 
satisfaction in belonging to communities in which their membership is entirely accidental. We often 
identify so strongly with communities we have done nothing to ‘deserve’ – passed no exam, 
demonstrated no skill or competence… This is very unlike belonging to, say, a profession or team. 
Doctors or architects have to pass exams and demonstrate their competence. (app) 
 
4 
i) Most ascriptive identities are accidental and ________________. 
a) Conditional 
b) Unconditional 
c) Achieved 
1 
Page 4


1 
 
 
SAMPLE PAPER 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
2020-21 
TIME: 3 HOURS                                                                                                                           M.M.: 80 MARKS 
 General Instructions  
1. The question paper is divided into four sections. 
2. There are 35 questions in all. All questions are compulsory. 
3. Section A includes question No. 1-16. These are objective type questions.  
4. Section B includes question No. 17-25. These are very short answer type questions carrying 2 marks 
each. Answer to each question should not exceed 30 words. 
5. Section C includes question No. 26-32. These are short answer type questions carrying 4 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. Question no. 26 and 27 are case based questions 
with 4 parts each carrying 1 mark, making the questions of 4 marks each. 
6. Section D includes question No. 33-35. They are long answer type questions carrying 6 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 200 words each. Question no 35 is to be answered with the 
help of the passage given. 
 
a.  SECTION-A 
 
1. Very few people who relax on their day off realise that this holiday is the outcome of a long struggle by 
workers. That the work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally 
for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension, has not come about 
automatically.(KNOW) 
_______________________ have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so. 
a) Social movements 
b) dialogue 
c) public conference 
d) confrontation 
1 
2. An average work day has 10-12 hours and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the 
office (known as a ‘night out’), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to 
the industry’s ‘work culture’. 
This phenomenon is referred to as __________________ in IT sector.(APP) 
1 
3. …Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take your birth in? Who carried 
the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint who made you the light in her eye, 
…(KNOW) 
_____________ wrote these lines. 
1 
4. A) The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were 
______________ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming 
their rent.(KNOW) 
a) Tenants 
b) Absentee landlords 
c) Dominant caste 
d) Political leaders 
1 
 OR  
4. B) Mark the statement as true or false. 
Indian independence in 1947 marked a big and complete break with the colonial past. 
1 
5. “The theory of Demographic Transition suggests that population growth is linked to overall levels of 
economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related 
population growth.” 
Choose the incorrect statement about Demographic Transition Theory.  (CREATE) 
 a)  The growth rate in phase I and phase II are high.  
 b)  The growth rate in phase II is high due to low death rate.  
 c)  The growth rate in phase I and phase III are low.  
1 
2 
 
 d)  The growth rate in phase III is approximately same as in phase I.  
6. “The argument for a tribe-caste distinction was founded on an assumed cultural difference between 
Hindu castes, with their beliefs in purity and pollution and hierarchical integration, and ‘animist’ tribals 
with their more egalitarian and kinship-based modes of social organisation.” 
Which of the following is not a characteristic of tribal communities? (CREATE) 
        a)  Egalitarian organisation  
        b)  Kinship based mode of social organisation  
        c)  Animists  
        d)  Organised religion  
1 
7. “Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. Some of these 
issues under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence 
movement.” 
A nation-wide non-tax campaign that took place in Surat in 1928, as a part of the non-cooperative 
movement is referred to as_________________.(KNOW) 
1 
8. Mark the statement as true or false. 
Karl Marx propounded the convergence thesis? (KNOW) 
1 
9. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
The religious or cultural minorities are politically vulnerable, irrespective of their economic or social 
position. 
1 
10. Social inequality is not the outcome of _____________ differences between people, but is produced by 
the society in which they live. (APP) 
1 
11. A) The proportion of persons in different age groups relative to the total population is known as 
_________.(KNOW) 
1 
 OR 
 
11. B) The ______________ is the number of women who die in childbirth per 1000 live births. 
1 
12. “When we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are many different 
types of social groups and communities living here.” 
The term diversity stands for-(Appl) 
a) Inequalities rather than equalities 
b) Differences rather than inequalities 
c) Difference and inequality both 
d) Neither difference nor inequality 
1 
13. “‘Untouchability’ is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system that prescribes 
stringent social sanctions against members of casted located at the bottom of the purity-pollution scale.”  
Which of the following is not a gesture of deference for untouchable to follow? (Appl) 
a) Taking off headgear 
b) Wearing clean clothes 
c) Carrying footwear in hand  
d) Standing with bowed head 
1 
14. Correct the given statement.(APPL) 
There is no correlation between disability and poverty.  
1 
15. For many centuries until the third quarter of the 19
th
 century the Persian influence was the dominant 
one and not Sanskritic influence in Punjab. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
1 
16. The advent of the railways in Bengal saw the conversion of British forest policy in Assam from 
____________________ to active intervention.(App) 
1 
 SECTION-B  
17. A) A few work harder than those who are located at the lower ranks of society. As a South American 
proverb says-“If hard labour were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” 
Defend this proverb using an example. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
17. B) “Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain to differential economic 
resources alone. This however is only partially true.” 
Determine using two examples that social exclusion and discrimination do not pertain to differential 
economic resources alone. 
2 
18. Why were land reforms necessary to transform India’s agrarian structure? (Know) 2 
19. A) Identify the reasons why cultural diversity presents tough challenges. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR 
 
19. B) “The religious or cultural minorities-regardless of their economic or social position-are politically 
vulnerable.” Justify. 
2 
3 
 
20. Identify the markers that led to regionalism in the Indian context. (Know) 
2 
21. A) Evaluate the social implications of the small size of the organized sector compared to the presence of a 
large unorganized sector.(CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
21. B) Workers in textile mills often described themselves as extensions of the machine. Justify. 2 
22. Show the relation between stereotype, prejudice and discrimination.(APP) 
2 
23. What are the features of a social movement? (KNOW) 2 
24. What makes the OBCs a difficult political category to work with? (APP) 2 
25. Using Durkheim’s study of Suicide, state what is aggregate statistics. (APP) 2 
 SECTION-C  
26. A) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.       
                   
Rabindranath Tagore on the evils of exclusive nationalism 
…where the spirit of the Western nationalism prevails, the whole people is being taught from boyhood 
to foster hatreds and ambitions by all kinds of means -- by the manufacture of half-truths and untruths 
in history, by persistent misrepresentation of other races and the culture of unfavourable sentiments 
towards them…Never think for a moment that the hurt you inflict upon other races will not infect you, 
or that the enmities you sow around your homes will be a wall of protection to you for all time to come? 
To imbue the minds of a whole people with an abnormal vanity of its own superiority, to teach it to take 
pride in its moral callousness and ill-begotten wealth, to perpetuate humiliation of defeated nations by 
exhibiting trophies won from war, and using these schools in order to breed in children’s minds 
contempt for others, is imitating the West where she has a festering sore… 
 
4 
i) A state-nation allows for which of the following-(appl) 
a) Inclusion and democracy 
b) Assimilation 
c) Integration 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
ii) To be effective, the ideas of inclusive nationalism had to be built into_______________ 
a) Constitution 
b) Authoritarianism 
c) Communalism 
d) Social media 
 
1 
iii) In light of exclusive nationalism, which of the following ideas influenced Indian nationalists? 
a) Monarchy 
b) Humanism 
c) Individualism 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
iv) According to Tagore, exclusive nationalism created a sense of _______________for one’s own race and 
culture. 
a) Inferiority 
b) Superiority 
c) Equality 
d) inclusion 
1 
 OR 
 
26. B) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
We don’t have to do anything to be born into a community – in fact, no one has any choice about which 
family or community or country they are born into. These kinds of identities are called ‘ascriptive’ – that 
is, they are determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve any choice on the part of the 
individuals concerned. It is an odd fact of social life that people feel a deep sense of security and 
satisfaction in belonging to communities in which their membership is entirely accidental. We often 
identify so strongly with communities we have done nothing to ‘deserve’ – passed no exam, 
demonstrated no skill or competence… This is very unlike belonging to, say, a profession or team. 
Doctors or architects have to pass exams and demonstrate their competence. (app) 
 
4 
i) Most ascriptive identities are accidental and ________________. 
a) Conditional 
b) Unconditional 
c) Achieved 
1 
4 
 
d) Temporary 
 
ii) Everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family, a faith…This signifies another feature of 
community identity i.e. 
a) Achieved 
b) conditional 
c) universal 
d) localised 
 
1 
iii) Our community provides us various identities through the process of- 
a) socialisation 
b) separation 
c) exclusion 
d) discrimination 
 
1 
iv) In times of community conflict, communities become _______________ of each other. 
a) Opposite images 
b) Mirror images 
c) Friends 
d) Kin 
 
1 
27. A) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
How were labourers recruited? 
Tea industry began in India in 1851. Most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam. In 1903, the industry 
employed 4,79,000 permanent and 93,000 temporary employees. Since Assam was sparsely populated 
and the tea plantations were often located on uninhabited hillsides, bulk of the sorely needed labour had 
to be imported from other provinces. But to bring thousands of people every year from their far-off 
homes into strange lands, possessing an unhealthy climate and infected with strange fevers, required 
the provision of financial and other incentives, which the tea-planters of Assam were unwilling to offer. 
Instead, they had recourse to fraud and coercion; and they persuaded the government to aid and abet 
them in this unholy task by passing penal laws. …The recruitment of labourers for tea gardens of Assam 
was carried on for years mostly by contractors under the provisions of the Transport of Native Labourers 
Act (No. III) of 1863 of Bengal as amended in 1865, 1870 and 1873. 
 
4 
i) The planters were fully aware that the laws of a colonised country did not have to stick to the 
______________ norms that the British back home had to follow in Britain. 
a) Democratic 
b) Autocratic 
c) Exclusionary 
d) Discriminatory 
 
1 
ii) The Tea industry is an example of how _________________ did not happen in India the way it did in 
Britain. 
a) De-industrialisation 
b) gentrification 
c) Industrialisation 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
iii) The government helped the planters by providing for _________in case of non-fulfilment of the contract 
by the labourers. 
a) Penal sanction 
b) Reward 
c) Appreciation 
d) Incentive 
 
1 
iv) The life of the planter and that of the labourers in the Tea industry are ______________. 
a) Equal 
b) Contrasting 
c) Similar 
d) Cooperative 
1 
  OR  
Page 5


1 
 
 
SAMPLE PAPER 
SOCIOLOGY (039) 
2020-21 
TIME: 3 HOURS                                                                                                                           M.M.: 80 MARKS 
 General Instructions  
1. The question paper is divided into four sections. 
2. There are 35 questions in all. All questions are compulsory. 
3. Section A includes question No. 1-16. These are objective type questions.  
4. Section B includes question No. 17-25. These are very short answer type questions carrying 2 marks 
each. Answer to each question should not exceed 30 words. 
5. Section C includes question No. 26-32. These are short answer type questions carrying 4 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 80 words. Question no. 26 and 27 are case based questions 
with 4 parts each carrying 1 mark, making the questions of 4 marks each. 
6. Section D includes question No. 33-35. They are long answer type questions carrying 6 marks each. 
Answer to each question should not exceed 200 words each. Question no 35 is to be answered with the 
help of the passage given. 
 
a.  SECTION-A 
 
1. Very few people who relax on their day off realise that this holiday is the outcome of a long struggle by 
workers. That the work-day should not exceed eight hours, that men and women should be paid equally 
for doing the same work, that workers are entitled to social security and pension, has not come about 
automatically.(KNOW) 
_______________________ have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so. 
a) Social movements 
b) dialogue 
c) public conference 
d) confrontation 
1 
2. An average work day has 10-12 hours and it is not uncommon for employees to stay overnight in the 
office (known as a ‘night out’), when faced with a project deadline. Long working hours are central to 
the industry’s ‘work culture’. 
This phenomenon is referred to as __________________ in IT sector.(APP) 
1 
3. …Who are these women you give such names to? Whose womb did you take your birth in? Who carried 
the killing burden of you for nine months? Who was the saint who made you the light in her eye, 
…(KNOW) 
_____________ wrote these lines. 
1 
4. A) The land reforms took away rights from the erstwhile claimants, the upper castes who were 
______________ in the sense that they played no part in the agricultural economy other than claiming 
their rent.(KNOW) 
a) Tenants 
b) Absentee landlords 
c) Dominant caste 
d) Political leaders 
1 
 OR  
4. B) Mark the statement as true or false. 
Indian independence in 1947 marked a big and complete break with the colonial past. 
1 
5. “The theory of Demographic Transition suggests that population growth is linked to overall levels of 
economic development and that every society follows a typical pattern of development related 
population growth.” 
Choose the incorrect statement about Demographic Transition Theory.  (CREATE) 
 a)  The growth rate in phase I and phase II are high.  
 b)  The growth rate in phase II is high due to low death rate.  
 c)  The growth rate in phase I and phase III are low.  
1 
2 
 
 d)  The growth rate in phase III is approximately same as in phase I.  
6. “The argument for a tribe-caste distinction was founded on an assumed cultural difference between 
Hindu castes, with their beliefs in purity and pollution and hierarchical integration, and ‘animist’ tribals 
with their more egalitarian and kinship-based modes of social organisation.” 
Which of the following is not a characteristic of tribal communities? (CREATE) 
        a)  Egalitarian organisation  
        b)  Kinship based mode of social organisation  
        c)  Animists  
        d)  Organised religion  
1 
7. “Peasant movements or agrarian struggles have taken place from pre-colonial days. Some of these 
issues under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the Independence 
movement.” 
A nation-wide non-tax campaign that took place in Surat in 1928, as a part of the non-cooperative 
movement is referred to as_________________.(KNOW) 
1 
8. Mark the statement as true or false. 
Karl Marx propounded the convergence thesis? (KNOW) 
1 
9. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
The religious or cultural minorities are politically vulnerable, irrespective of their economic or social 
position. 
1 
10. Social inequality is not the outcome of _____________ differences between people, but is produced by 
the society in which they live. (APP) 
1 
11. A) The proportion of persons in different age groups relative to the total population is known as 
_________.(KNOW) 
1 
 OR 
 
11. B) The ______________ is the number of women who die in childbirth per 1000 live births. 
1 
12. “When we say that India is a nation of great cultural diversity, we mean that there are many different 
types of social groups and communities living here.” 
The term diversity stands for-(Appl) 
a) Inequalities rather than equalities 
b) Differences rather than inequalities 
c) Difference and inequality both 
d) Neither difference nor inequality 
1 
13. “‘Untouchability’ is an extreme and particularly vicious aspect of the caste system that prescribes 
stringent social sanctions against members of casted located at the bottom of the purity-pollution scale.”  
Which of the following is not a gesture of deference for untouchable to follow? (Appl) 
a) Taking off headgear 
b) Wearing clean clothes 
c) Carrying footwear in hand  
d) Standing with bowed head 
1 
14. Correct the given statement.(APPL) 
There is no correlation between disability and poverty.  
1 
15. For many centuries until the third quarter of the 19
th
 century the Persian influence was the dominant 
one and not Sanskritic influence in Punjab. Mark the statement as true or false.(App) 
1 
16. The advent of the railways in Bengal saw the conversion of British forest policy in Assam from 
____________________ to active intervention.(App) 
1 
 SECTION-B  
17. A) A few work harder than those who are located at the lower ranks of society. As a South American 
proverb says-“If hard labour were really such a good thing, the rich would keep it all for themselves!” 
Defend this proverb using an example. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
17. B) “Often we discuss social exclusion and discrimination as though they pertain to differential economic 
resources alone. This however is only partially true.” 
Determine using two examples that social exclusion and discrimination do not pertain to differential 
economic resources alone. 
2 
18. Why were land reforms necessary to transform India’s agrarian structure? (Know) 2 
19. A) Identify the reasons why cultural diversity presents tough challenges. (CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR 
 
19. B) “The religious or cultural minorities-regardless of their economic or social position-are politically 
vulnerable.” Justify. 
2 
3 
 
20. Identify the markers that led to regionalism in the Indian context. (Know) 
2 
21. A) Evaluate the social implications of the small size of the organized sector compared to the presence of a 
large unorganized sector.(CREATE) 
 
2 
 OR  
21. B) Workers in textile mills often described themselves as extensions of the machine. Justify. 2 
22. Show the relation between stereotype, prejudice and discrimination.(APP) 
2 
23. What are the features of a social movement? (KNOW) 2 
24. What makes the OBCs a difficult political category to work with? (APP) 2 
25. Using Durkheim’s study of Suicide, state what is aggregate statistics. (APP) 2 
 SECTION-C  
26. A) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.       
                   
Rabindranath Tagore on the evils of exclusive nationalism 
…where the spirit of the Western nationalism prevails, the whole people is being taught from boyhood 
to foster hatreds and ambitions by all kinds of means -- by the manufacture of half-truths and untruths 
in history, by persistent misrepresentation of other races and the culture of unfavourable sentiments 
towards them…Never think for a moment that the hurt you inflict upon other races will not infect you, 
or that the enmities you sow around your homes will be a wall of protection to you for all time to come? 
To imbue the minds of a whole people with an abnormal vanity of its own superiority, to teach it to take 
pride in its moral callousness and ill-begotten wealth, to perpetuate humiliation of defeated nations by 
exhibiting trophies won from war, and using these schools in order to breed in children’s minds 
contempt for others, is imitating the West where she has a festering sore… 
 
4 
i) A state-nation allows for which of the following-(appl) 
a) Inclusion and democracy 
b) Assimilation 
c) Integration 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
ii) To be effective, the ideas of inclusive nationalism had to be built into_______________ 
a) Constitution 
b) Authoritarianism 
c) Communalism 
d) Social media 
 
1 
iii) In light of exclusive nationalism, which of the following ideas influenced Indian nationalists? 
a) Monarchy 
b) Humanism 
c) Individualism 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
iv) According to Tagore, exclusive nationalism created a sense of _______________for one’s own race and 
culture. 
a) Inferiority 
b) Superiority 
c) Equality 
d) inclusion 
1 
 OR 
 
26. B) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
We don’t have to do anything to be born into a community – in fact, no one has any choice about which 
family or community or country they are born into. These kinds of identities are called ‘ascriptive’ – that 
is, they are determined by the accidents of birth and do not involve any choice on the part of the 
individuals concerned. It is an odd fact of social life that people feel a deep sense of security and 
satisfaction in belonging to communities in which their membership is entirely accidental. We often 
identify so strongly with communities we have done nothing to ‘deserve’ – passed no exam, 
demonstrated no skill or competence… This is very unlike belonging to, say, a profession or team. 
Doctors or architects have to pass exams and demonstrate their competence. (app) 
 
4 
i) Most ascriptive identities are accidental and ________________. 
a) Conditional 
b) Unconditional 
c) Achieved 
1 
4 
 
d) Temporary 
 
ii) Everyone has a motherland, a mother tongue, a family, a faith…This signifies another feature of 
community identity i.e. 
a) Achieved 
b) conditional 
c) universal 
d) localised 
 
1 
iii) Our community provides us various identities through the process of- 
a) socialisation 
b) separation 
c) exclusion 
d) discrimination 
 
1 
iv) In times of community conflict, communities become _______________ of each other. 
a) Opposite images 
b) Mirror images 
c) Friends 
d) Kin 
 
1 
27. A) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
How were labourers recruited? 
Tea industry began in India in 1851. Most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam. In 1903, the industry 
employed 4,79,000 permanent and 93,000 temporary employees. Since Assam was sparsely populated 
and the tea plantations were often located on uninhabited hillsides, bulk of the sorely needed labour had 
to be imported from other provinces. But to bring thousands of people every year from their far-off 
homes into strange lands, possessing an unhealthy climate and infected with strange fevers, required 
the provision of financial and other incentives, which the tea-planters of Assam were unwilling to offer. 
Instead, they had recourse to fraud and coercion; and they persuaded the government to aid and abet 
them in this unholy task by passing penal laws. …The recruitment of labourers for tea gardens of Assam 
was carried on for years mostly by contractors under the provisions of the Transport of Native Labourers 
Act (No. III) of 1863 of Bengal as amended in 1865, 1870 and 1873. 
 
4 
i) The planters were fully aware that the laws of a colonised country did not have to stick to the 
______________ norms that the British back home had to follow in Britain. 
a) Democratic 
b) Autocratic 
c) Exclusionary 
d) Discriminatory 
 
1 
ii) The Tea industry is an example of how _________________ did not happen in India the way it did in 
Britain. 
a) De-industrialisation 
b) gentrification 
c) Industrialisation 
d) Exclusion 
 
1 
iii) The government helped the planters by providing for _________in case of non-fulfilment of the contract 
by the labourers. 
a) Penal sanction 
b) Reward 
c) Appreciation 
d) Incentive 
 
1 
iv) The life of the planter and that of the labourers in the Tea industry are ______________. 
a) Equal 
b) Contrasting 
c) Similar 
d) Cooperative 
1 
  OR  
5 
 
27. B) Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow the passage.                         
 
Urban luxury manufactures like the high-quality silks and cottons of Dacca or Murshidabad must have 
been hit first by the almost simultaneous collapse of indigenous court demand and the external market 
on which these had largely depended. Village crafts in the interior, and particularly, in regions other 
than eastern India where British penetration was earliest and deepest, probably survived much longer, 
coming to be seriously affected only with the spread of railways. (Sarkar 1983: 29) 
 
4 
i) In India the impact of British industrialisation led to ________________ in some sectors. 
a) Progress 
b) De-industrialisation 
c) Urbanisation 
d) De-urbanisation 
1 
ii) As a result of British penetration, village artisans abandoned their hereditary craft in favour of 
________________. 
a) Agriculture 
b) Government service 
c) Education 
d) New crafts 
1 
iii) Traditional exports of cotton and silk manufactures from India declined in the face of 
___________competition. 
a) American 
b) Chinese 
c) Korean 
d) Manchester 
 
1 
iv) During colonial rule in India, cities like ____________________declined. 
a) Mumbai and Kolkata 
b) Kolkata and Chennai 
c) Chennai and Surat 
d) Surat and Masulipatnam 
 
1 
28. A) What are the reasons that can be attributed to caste system becoming invisible for the upper classes, in 
the contemporary period? (KNOW) 
4 
 OR 
 
28. B) How can we say that adivasis were not always the oppressed groups? 
 
4 
29. Express the correlation between agricultural productivity and agrarian structure.(Create) 4 
30. Critically examine the concept of Sanskritisation. (KNOWL) 4 
31. Highlight the sources of conflict between national development and tribal development.(Know) 
4 
32. How does circulation of labour lead to footloose labour?(App) 
4 
 SECTION-D  
33. A) 
 
What does the bulge in the above given population pyramid indicate? The bias towards younger age 
groups in the age structure is believed to be an advantage for India. Explain.(APP) 
6 
 OR