Master of Arts in Sociology

First Year

Indian Social Institutions

1. __________ is also know as reincarnation

a) Dharma
b) Kharma
c) Samsara
d) Moksha

2. __________ is also know as reincarnation

a) Dharma
b) Kharma
c) Samsara
d) Moksha

3. What is the source of all of human suffering

a) Gods predestination of your life
b) The fact that you cannot move in society
c) Desires of life are infinite but life is finite

4. From age 20-50 a Brahmin is supposed to be worried about retiring and beginning to detach
themself from society
a) True
b) False

5. _________is the state of changless bliss

a) Dharma
b) Kharma
c) Samsara
d) Moksha

6. Hinduism is also know as _____ _____, commonly by its follwers

a) Uncommon Orthodxy
b) Sanatana Dharma
c) Sanatana Kharma
d) Diesm

7. _______ is ones duty in life or moral balance of all things

a) Dharma
b) Kharma
c) Samsara
d) Moksha

8. Most scholars accept the belief that Hinduism came to Inda from
a) A group teaching them their religion from Northern Asia
b) The religion was indigenous
c) From the combination of religious groups arriving to the area, with the adaptations of those
from India

9. The four social classes in the caste system are...

a) Brahmin
b) Sinnyasin
c) Kshatriya
d) Vaishya
e) Sundra

10. The term Hinduism uses to describe their belief in (a) Supreme(s)
a) Polytheism
b) Monotheism
c) Monothestic Polytheism
d) Polythestic Monotheism

11. Which one of the following social reformers fought against caste inequalities.
a) Periyar Ramaswami Naiker
b) Swami Dayanand Saraswati
c) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
d) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

12. Which one of the following was the view of Mahatma Gandhi about religion ?
a) He was in favour of Hinduism.
b) He was an ardent supporter of Muslim Religion.
c) By religion, Gandhi meant for moral values that inform all religions.
d) He said that India should adopt Christianity.

13. Name any two political leaders who fought against caste inequalities.
a) Dr. Manmohan Singh and Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil.
b) Mr. Nitesh Kumar and Mr. Narendra Modi.
c) Dr.S. Radhakrishnan and Shri Morarji Desai
d) Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar

14. What is the average child sex ratio in India ?

a) 923
b) 926
c) 935
d) 933

15. Which one of the following refers to gender division ?

a) The hierarchical unequal roles assigned to man and woman by the society.
b) Biological difference between man and woman.
c) The ratio of male child and female child.
d) The division between male labourers and female labourers.

16. Which one of the following is the basis of communal politics?

a) People of different religions may have the same interests.
b) People of different religions have different interests that involve conflicts.
c) People of different religions live in mutual co-operation.
d) People who follow different religions belong to the same social community.

17. Name any two countries where womens participation in public life is very high.
a) Sri Lanka and Nepal
b) Pakistan and Bhutan
c) Sweden and Finland
d) South Africa and Maldives

18. What is the literacy rate among women and men respectively in India?
a) 54% and 76%
b) 46% and 51%
c) 76% and 85%
d) 37% and 54%

19. Which one of the following is a form of communalism?

a) Communal Unity and integrity.
b) Communal fraternity.
c) Communal violence, riots and massacre.
d) Communal harmony.

20. Which one of the following refers to a feminist?

a) The female labourers
b) The employer who employs female workers
c) A woman who does not believe in equal rights for women.
d) A woman or a man who believes in equal rights and opportunities for Woman and Man

21. According to Hindu Marriage Act marriage is termed as

a) a contract
b) a sacrament
c) both [a] and [b]
d) only [a]

22. How to become a Hindu?

a) By conversion
b) By re-conversion
c) Both [a] and [b]
d) Only [a]
23. Section 26 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides
a) custody of minor children
b) maintenance of minor children
c) education of minor children
d) all these above

24. Under which section of Hindu Marriage Act included prohibited relationships ?
a) Section 2(d)
b) Section 2(e)
c) Section 2(f)
d) Section 2(g)

25. The marriage may be solemnized between two Hindus if

a) bride completes the age of 18 years and bridegroom completes the age of 21 years
b) bride completes the age of 21 years and bridegroom completes the age of 18 years
c) bride completes the age of 14 years and bridegroom completes the age of 18 years
d) bride completes the age of 18 years and bridegroom completes the age of 18 years

26. Degrees of prohibited relationships is applicable between two persons if they are related by
a) full blood
b) half or uterine blood
c) adoption
d) all the above

27. Bigamy under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 includes

a) Polygamy i.e. having more than one wife
b) Polyandry i.e. havng more than one husband
c) Both [a] and [b]
d) Only [b]

28. Bigamy laws are not applicable to

a) Hindus
b) Muslims
c) Sikhs
d) Jains

29. The Hindu succession Act, 1956, abolishes

a) the doctrine of acquisition of right by birth
b) the doctrine of the right survivorship
c) both [a] and [b]
d) none of these

30. Desertion is a
a) total repudiation of obligation of marriage
b) partial repudiation of the obligation of marriage
c) both [a] and [b]
d) only [a]

31. The least important challenge to Indian education today is presented by the
a) Poverty of the masses.
b) Expanding population.
c) High cost of education.
d) Low return on education.

32. Culture is
a) The characteristics and products of the learned behaviour of a group of people.
b) The sum total of feelings of the people of a group.
c) The totality of the inter-relationships of the people of a group.
d) The totality of mutual understandings of the people of a group.

33. To which type of culture belong attitudes, religious beliefs, moral beliefs and etiquettes?
a) Material culture
b) Intellectual culture
c) Non-material culture
d) Industrial culture.

34. Social classes and their sub-cultures are most interesting and most important to a student of
education because
a) Social classes differ from one another in many ways which are important for education.
b) Teachers also come from different social classes.
c) Students belong to different social classes.
d) Schools may belong to different social classes.

35. High degree of inter-dependence between education and the rest of the society is very much
emphasised, not because of
a) Increasing number of students, requiring increasing financial support.
b) Dramatic changes in the role of government in educational matters.
c) Mans social nature.
d) Social nature of education.

36. It is implied in the Social nature of education that it

a) Ensures desirable socialisation of the child.
b) Ensures the development of childs potentialities.
c) Educates the child for citizenship.
d) Enables the individual to find a job for himself.

37. Which of the following does not influence the process of education?
a) The culture of the society and its social institutions
b) Social class structures
c) The upper middle class of the society
d) Political organization of the society.
38. Which one of the following social institutions of India does not have a profound effect on
education?
a) The family
b) The government
c) The business class organisation
d) The religion.

39. Which of the following statements is not true about the family?
a) It is the only socially recognized relationship for child bearing
b) It is the only institution of society which caters to the development of childs personality
c) It is an essential agency for socializing and rearing the child
d) It is the only important agency that introduces the child to the culture of the society.

40. What type of education the family imparts to the child?

a) Formal
b) Informal
c) Deliberate
d) Regular.

41. Education provided to the child by the schools is

a) Formal.
b) Informal.
c) Highly standardized,
d) Traditional.

42. Value conflicts in the minds of school children are often created by
a) Maladjusted teachers.
b) Unruly students.
c) Conflicting value systems of the home and the school.
d) Conflicting laws of the country.

43. Resolving childrens conflicts caused by contradictory value systems of the home and the
schools is
a) Impossible.
b) Difficult but not impossible.
c) Easy.
d) Very easy.

44. Communities do not exert pressures on educational systems in the following way
a) Through agitations.
b) Through legislation.
c) Through revolts.
d) Debates and discussions.

45. Control of the Government over education is unavoidable because

a) Education costs money; and money can be provided by the government only.
b) The government is all powerful.
c) The government is empowered to exercise control by the people themselves.
d) The very term govern means control.

46. Which of the following is not correct about the role of government in schooling?
a) It will swell if schooling affects larger domains of the public interest and welfare
b) It will diminish if schooling affects smaller domains of the public interest and welfare
c) It will swell if the institutional arrangements in the society become more and more inter-
dependent
d) It will be affected by neither of the foregoing conditions.

47. As a social institution, the essential function of the family is

a) Producing children.
b) Rearing of children during their immaturity.
c) Imparting formal education at the initial stages of life.
d) Increasing communitys population.

48. Which of the following is not a correct statement about childrens education in the family?
a) The rearing of children by the family is a form of education.
b) Parents inevitably modify the behaviour of their children in one direction or another.
c) Criminality is taught to children by their parents.
d) The parents willy-nilly produce.

49. Caring for the cultivation of emotional health of children is as important for the schools as
caring for the cultivation of their intellect, not because
a) The family is not competent enough to do that.
b) The family, being ignorant of the principles of emotional health, can do nothing about it.
c) There cannot be any other social institution which can be entrusted with this job.
d) Rearing of children in most families is defective.

50. Religion has an indispensable place in the good life and the good society. This is not
supported by the argument that religion
a) Can teach values to the community which are essential for good life and good society.
b) Can provide for common worship and religious orientation to the universe as a whole bringing
unity and peace.
c) Alone can make people more spiritual, more devoted, more loving and more perfect.
d) Alone can prevent wars in the world and bring peace as a consequence.

51. Religious education in some forms is essential because it

a) Develops essential values in children.
b) Provides children with desirable knowledge.
c) Makes good life in a good society.
d) Is the foundation stone on which rests the success of a democratic society.

52. Which is incorrect about the school as a social institution?

a) It has to teach about the social order and its institutions in its instructional activities.
b) As it stands for the good life in general, it is the critic of society and all its institutions.
c) It stands for the professional ideals of the community rather than the ideals it practices and
tolerates.
d) It stands for the satisfaction of the needs of the pupils who come for schooling.

53. Which of the following type of economy places higher value on education?
a) Agricultural economy
b) Industrial economy
c) Commercial economy
d) Mixed economy.

54. Earlier educational values were lower and less wide-spread in an agrarian than in an
industrial society. This was not because
a) Education served no purpose for them as they needed no knowledge.
b) The agrarian society was always in need of hard physical labour and long hours of work
instead of education.
c) The agrarian society would get little time to take off to attend school.
d) The agrarian society needed no employment for their members outside agriculture for which
education is necessary.

55. Today agrarian society calls for considerably more schooling than formerly because
a) The farmers have become wiser now.
b) The farmers have greater interaction with the people in the cities who motivate them to go to
schools.
c) Agriculture has become a science which together with its mechanization calls for scientific
knowledge.
d) Agriculture is now considered by farmers more dignified a calling.

56. It is industrial rather than other types of economy which most enhances the regard for
education, because
a) Each country has had tremendous development of industry.
b) Industrialization has led to the production of a huge wealth.
c) Modern industry has become extremely technical, science-based, knowledge- based; and
scientific and technical knowledge is gained only through education.
d) The industrialists belong to the upper class of the society.

57. A social institution is defined as

a) An institution established by the government.
b) An institution which serves the society.
c) The totality of relationships processes and facilities which people develop to meet a specific
social interest or need.
d) An institution established for achieving social purposes.

58. Our social institutions are frequently in conflict with one another. Which is not the possible
reason?
a) They are so complex that they are only partially understood by many people.
b) Different individuals and groups with different needs are associated with them for quite
different reasons.
c) They are established by people for meeting their needs.
d) Peoples points of view with regard to their functioning or value may vary greatly.

59. The social institution that men create should be the best because
a) Poor schools, poor churches, weak and indecisive government will have a negative effect on
the society which brings them into being.
b) Poor institutions will make people still poorer.
c) Poor institutions are always ineffective and corrupt.
d) Best institutions are liked by all in the society.

60. A level in society made up of people similar in certain respect is known as

a) Social order.
b) Social class,
c) Social hierarchy,
d) Social system.

61. Indian society can be divided into various levels of people. Which of the following is not one
of those?
a) Upper class
b) Hindus
c) Middle class
d) Lower class.

62. If in a social set up people are working against others in order to obtain possession, they are
said to have
a) Conflict.
b) Cooperation,
c) Competition.
d) Accommodation.

63. The act of adopting oneself, and ones behaviour, to the conditions and requirement of the
community in which one lives is called social
a) Adaptation.
b) Adjustment,
c) Behaviour.
d) dynamic.

64. Which of the following can serve as the suitable example of the primary group?
a) School
b) Church
c) Community
d) Family.
65. Any collection of human beings who are brought into social relationship with one another, is
called a/an
a) Family.
b) Office,
c) Institution.
d) Group.

66. Group defined by a sex relationship, sufficiently precise and enduring to provide for the
procreation and up-bringing of children this definition given by Maclver refers to
a) Community.
b) Primary Group.
c) Family.
d) Nursery Schools.

67. The difference between the social groups, in the degree of cultural development; or the
degree of antipathy manifested by individuals belonging to one group towards individuals
belonging to the other is known as social
a) Apathy.
b) Disorder.
c) Distance.
d) Selection.

68. Out of the following four branches of psychology, with which sociology has got maximum
linkage?
a) Child Psychology
b) Industrial Psychology
c) Social Psychology
d) General Psychology.

69. The maximum contribution to the process of socialization, in general comes from
a) Teacher.
b) Home,
c) School.
d) Community.

70. In which of the following respect, a group and crowd differ from each other?
a) Size
b) Intimacy
c) Organisation
d) Suggestibility.

71. Cooleys face-to-face group refers to

a) An in group.
b) A primary group,
c) A formal group,
d) An out group.
72. The role that an individual plays in the development of social phenomenon is studied by
a) Social psychology.
b) Sociology.
c) Anthropology.
d) Political sociology.

73. Which of the following is a norm?

a) Eat ice cream with a spoon
b) I like to eat ice cream
c) Honesty is the best policy
d) Simple living and high thinking is a great virtue.

74. Which of the following does not describe a norm?

a) It is based on one or more of societys values.
b) It is behaviour that is most often followed.
c) It describes a value held by society.
d) It is societys expectation for right and proper behaviour.

75. The concept of role involves

a) Taking a role voluntarily.
b) Being appointed to a role.
c) Thinking, reflecting and deciding.
d) Performing rights and duties which derive from the function to be performed.

76. A group in which one has a we feeling is called a

a) Nationality group.
b) Primary group.
c) Inherited group.
d) Secondary group.

77. An individual who tends to withdraw from association with others is called
a) Very suggestible.
b) Well socialised.
c) Poorly socialised.
d) Hysterical.

78. The notion of the I: me: Generalised other was developed by

a) Mead GH.
b) Cooley Charles.
c) Thomas William.
d) Morton Robert.

79. The notion of in group and out group was first used by
a) Sumner.
b) Freud,
c) Maclver.
d) Mead.

80. The rewards and ensure conformity called

a) Ostracism.
b) Laws.
c) Deviations.
d) Sanctions.

81. The essence of secondary group experience is

a) Intimate relationships.
b) Consciousness of kind.
c) Face-to-face contacts.
d) Casualness of contact.

82. Which of the following is normative integration in a group?

a) Co-ordination of individual efforts
b) Choosing good leaders for projects
c) Directing individual efforts
d) Socialisation.

83. Which of the following is the best example of what Cooley referred to as a quasi-primary
group?
a) A mother and her child
b) A spontaneous play group
c) Columbia university
d) A boy-scout-troupe.

84. A child develops a self-concept when he is able to see himself as an object. He develops a
concept of himself as he
a) Thinks about himself and his own behaviour.
b) Responds to the behaviour of his parents.
c) Reflects on objects that are not present.
d) Thinks as others do.

85. Which of the following statements is not true about the members of a social group?
a) They are aware of shared memberships
b) They are a casual collection of people
c) They are involved in close interaction
d) They have distinct relations with one another.

86. The process of acting in awareness of others and adjusting responses to the way others
respond is called
a) Role awareness.
b) Social awareness.
c) Social organisation.
d) Social interaction.

87. Which of the following is an example of an aggregate?

a) A Rotary Club gathering
b) Individuals at meetings
c) Tax payers meeting
d) Air-line passengers.

88. Which of the following is inevitably involved in the exercise of competent authority in any
social group?
a) Superior knowledge
b) The right to exact obedience
c) Superior skill
d) Superior memory.

89. Which of the following characteristics is essential in a primary group?

a) Its members must be of the same age
b) It should have large membership
c) Its members must have a high rate of interaction with one another
d) Its membership usually must be limited to one sex.

90. Of the following, the definition of personality is most appropriate, according to the text
would be
a) Qualities of a person.
b) The sum total of observed or observable characteristics of an individual.
c) Popularity with ones peers.
d) The personal qualities which tend to emphasize how different people really are.

91. When we try to explain the behaviour of an individual, we find that his social environment is
a) A sufficient total explanation.
b) A necessary but not sufficient total explanation.
c) Both a necessary and sufficient total explanation.
d) Neither a necessary nor sufficient explanation.

92. Socialisation is a process of converting a biological organism into

a) Human being.
b) Super human being.
c) Modern man.
d) Social man.

93. The study of society is nothing but study of

a) Mores.
b) Conventions,
c) Laws.
d) Folkways.
94. The term oral dependency means
a) Depending on words.
b) Unwritten promise.
c) A stage of childs dependency on mother.
d) Depending on eating.

95. A role conflict occurs when

a) The roles of two persons different with each other.
b) The ego occupies two conflicting roles.
c) There is a mental conflict over the choice from a set of roles.
d) The role being played is questioned.

96. George Simmel classified human aggregates units

a) Societies.
b) Communities,
c) Groups.
d) Institutions.

97. The essence of secondary group experience is

a) Intimate relationships.
b) Face-to-face contacts.
c) Casualness of contacts.
d) Consciousness of kind

98. The preferential feeling which individual have for their own group is called
a) Egoism.
b) Ethnocentrism.
c) Primary.
d) Fraternal.

99. A group of individuals having essentially the same social status in a given society is called a
a) Social group.
b) Social class.
c) Struggle.
d) Secondary group.

100. Which one of the following is not strictly speaking, one of Freuds stages of psycho sexual
development?
a) Genital
b) Oral
c) Oedipal
d) Phallic.
Answer Keys:
1. c 2. a 3. c 4. b 5. d 6. b 7. a 8. c 9. acd 10. c
11. a 12. b 13. c 14. b 15. a 16. a 17. d 18. b 19. b 20. d
21. b 22. c 23. d 24. d 25. a 26. d 27. c 28. b 29. d 30. d
31. a 32. a 33. c 34. a 35. c 36. a 37. c 38. c 39. b 40. b
41. a 42. c 43. b 44. c 45. a 46. d 47. b 48. c 49. c 50. d
51. a 52. c 53. b 54. a 55. c 56. c 57. c 58. c 59. a 60. b
61. b 62. a 63. a 64. d 65. d 66. c 67. a 68. c 69. b 70. c
71. c 72. b 73. d 74. b 75. d 76. b 77. a 78. d 79. a 80. d
81. d 82. d 83. a 84. a 85. b 86. d 87. d 88. b 89. c 90. d
91. c 92. d 93. d 94. c 95. b 96. c 97. c 98. b 99. b 100. c