CBSE Class 12 Sample Paper 2025 Solution for Sociology

Central Board of Secondary Education

SAMPLE PAPER
Class 12
2025

Solutions

SAMPLE QUESTION PAPER
SOCIOLOGY (039)
MARKING SCHEME
2024-25
Time: 3 hours Maximum Marks: 80

SECTION-A

1. Assertion(A): The modern state had begun to take an active interest in the 1
development of early forms of public health management, policing and
maintenance of law and order.
Reason (R): This new and constantly expanding sphere of state activity required
the systematic science of economics.

a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.

2. Assertion(A): For most of us who are born and live in India, social inequality and 1
exclusion no longer are facts of our lives.
Reason(R): The everydayness of social inequality and exclusion often make them
appear inevitable, almost natural.

a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.
3. While population rises in geometric progression, agricultural production can 1
only grow in arithmetic progression.
Which of the following appropriately explains the progressions?

I. 2,4,8,16 and 2,4,6,8 respectively
II. 2,4,6,8 and 2,4,8,16 respectively
III. 3,6,12,24 and 3,6,9,12 respectively
IV. 3,6,9,12 and 3,6,12,24 respectively

a) I., II.
b) II., IV.
c) I. and III.
d) I. and IV.
4. Assertion(A): It was in the cultural and domestic spheres that caste has proved 1
strongest.
Reason(R): While some boundaries may have become more flexible or porous, the
borders between groups of castes of similar socio-economic status are still heavily
patrolled.

a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.

5. Which of the following statements is not true with regard to colonialism and 1
caste?

a) All major social institutions and specially the institution of caste underwent
major changes during the colonial period.
b) All of the changes brought about by colonialism were intended or
deliberate.
c) Initially, the British administrators began by trying to understand the
complexities of caste in an effort to learn how to govern the country
efficiently.
d) The 1901 Census under the direction of Herbert Risley was particularly
important as it sought to collect information on the social hierarchy of caste.

“There is no necessary relationship between any specific form of community and 1
the modern form of the state. Any of the many bases of community identity (like
language, religion, ethnicity and so on) may or may not lead to nation formation
– there are no guarantees.”

Based on the given passage, answer Q6 and 7.

6. Cultural diversity can often be perceived as a source of threat to states because- 1

I. states see all forms of community identity as dangerous rivals.
II. control is difficult in case of heterogenous identities.
III. Suppressing cultural diversity can be very costly in terms of the subdued
community.
IV. community identities cannot act as the basis of nation-formation.
a) I. and IV. only
b) III. and IV. only
c) I., II., III. only
d) I., II., III., IV.

7. Which of the following is not true for a community conflict? 1

a) Communities become reversed mirror images of each other in a community
conflict.
b) People often react emotionally in case of any perceived threat to their
community identity.
c) Community identities provide a sense of security and satisfaction to its
members.
d) Community conflicts can be resolved easily.

8. Assertion(A): Today, barring the North-Eastern states, there are no areas of the 1
country that are inhabited exclusively by tribal people.

Reason (R): Since the middle of the nineteenth century, non-tribals have moved
into the tribal districts of central India, while tribal people from the same districts
have migrated to plantations, mines, factories and other places of employment.

a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.
A great many students and office-workers around the world go to work only for
five or six days and rest on the weekends. Yet, 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 — these and many other rights were gained through social movements.
Social movements have shaped the world we live in and continue to do so.
Based on the given passage, answer Q9 and 10.
9. Which of the following statements is incorrect? 1

a) The rights we enjoy just happened to exist.
b) Social movements not only change societies; they also inspire other social
movements.
c) Movements are directed against the state and takes the form of demanding
changes in state policy or practice.
d) A social movement requires sustained collective action over time.

10. Social Movements is an important subject matter of Sociology because- 1
(Choose the correct option)
I. These protests were perceived by elites as a major threat to the established
order of society.
II. ‘crowd’ and the ‘mob’ were not made up of anarchic hooligans out to destroy
society. Instead, they too had a ‘moral economy’.
III. Public resorted to protest because they had no other way of expressing their
anger and resentment against deprivation.
IV. There was an anxiety among people to maintain the prevailing social order.
a) I. and IV.
b) III. and IV.
c) II., IV. and III.
d) I., II., and III.

Which of the following statements is true for the Indian government’s policy of
11. 1
liberalisation?

a) Private companies, especially foreign firms, are encouraged to invest in
sectors earlier reserved for the government.
b) Foreign products are now easily available in Indian shops.
c) Indian companies have ensured that they work within national
boundaries.
d) Licenses are no longer required to open industries.

12. Which of the following is not true for stereotypes? 1

a) In a country such as India, many of these stereotypes are partly colonial
creations.
b) They are flexible characterisations of a group of people.
c) Stereotypes are often applied to ethnic and racial groups and to women.
d) Prejudices are often grounded in stereotypes.

13. Assertion (A): Sanskritisation normally presupposes either an improvement in the 1
economic or political position of the group concerned or a higher group self-
consciousness resulting from its contact with a source of the ‘Great Tradition’.
Reason (R): In a highly unequal society such as India there were and still are
obstacles to any easy taking over of the customs of the higher castes by the lower.
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.
14. Assertion (A): No social group howsoever weak or oppressed is only a victim. 1
Reason (R): Human beings are always capable of organising and acting on their
own – often against very heavy odds–to struggle for justice and dignity
a) A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false and R is true.

15. Which of the following statements is true for the tea plantations established by 1
the British in India?

a) The colonial administrators were clear that the measures taken on the
plantation for labourers was different vis-à-vis the planters.
b) Coolies lived a comfortable life on the tea plantations.
c) Planters and coolies had a cordial relationship.
d) Colonial administration stuck to democratic norms.

16. Put the following statements in the correct order. 1

I. The worker works without wages until the loan is repaid.
II. He will loan them some money.
III. The contractor goes to villages and asks if people want work.
IV. They can break the contract and find another employer.
a) III., II., I., IV.
b) I., II., III., IV.
c) IV., III., II., I.
d) I., II., IV., III.

SECTION-B

17. The dependency ratio is equal to the population below 15 or above 64, divided by 2
population in the 15-64 age group. This is usually expressed as a percentage.
In 2020, the average Indian was only 29 years old, compared with an average age
of 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe, and 48 in Japan. What
inference can you draw from this statement?

 Demographic window of opportunity available to India if harnessed
appropriately;
 Slowly growing ageing population in rest of the countries as compared to
India
18. Prejudice can be either positive or negative. Support the statement with suitable 2
examples.

For example, a person may be prejudiced in favour of members of his/her own
caste or group and – without any evidence – believe them to be superior to
members of other castes or groups.

Prejudice against female car drivers.

Any other relevant example

OR

Discrimination can be very hard to prove because it may not be open or explicitly
stated. Support the statement with suitable examples.

For example, the person who is refused a job because of his or her caste may be
told that he or she was less qualified than others, and that the selection was done
purely on merit.

19. State how communalism is all about politics, not about religion. 2
 A communalist may or may not be a devout person, and devout believers
may or may not be communalists.
 However, all communalists do believe in a political identity based on
religion.
 The key factor is the attitude towards those who believe in other kinds of
identities, including other religion-based identities.
Give an example of an anomalous instance with regard to minority groups.
20. 2
Religious minorities like the Parsis or Sikhs may be relatively well-off
economically. But they may still be disadvantaged in a cultural sense because of
their small numbers relative to the overwhelming majority of Hindus.
OR
People constituting a nation may actually be citizens or residents of different
states.

 There are more Jamaicans living outside Jamaica than in Jamaica – that is,
the population of ‘non-resident’ Jamaicans exceeds that of ‘resident’
Jamaicans.

 A different example is provided by ‘dual citizenship’ laws. These laws
allow citizens of a particular state to also – simultaneously – be citizens of
another state. Thus, to cite one instance, Jewish Americans may be citizens
of Israel as well as the USA; they can even serve in the armed forces of one
country without losing their citizenship in the other country.

21. Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was born in a well-to-do Bengali Muslim 2
family, and was lucky to have a husband who was very liberal in outlook and
encouraged her education first in Urdu and later in Bengali and English. She was
already a successful author in Urdu and Bengali when she wrote Sultana’s Dream
to test her abilities in English.
Why was Sultana’s Dream considered a remarkable short story, in context of
struggle for women’s equality and rights?

This remarkable short story is probably the earliest example of science fiction
writing in India, and among the first by a woman author anywhere in the world.
In her dream, Sultana visits a magical country where the gender roles are
reversed. Men are confined to the home and observe ‘purdah’ while women are
busy scientists vying with each other at inventing devices that will control the
clouds and regulate rain, and machines that fly or ‘air-cars’.

22. Agrarian society can be understood in terms of its class structure. But we must 2
also remember the structure is itself through the caste system. In rural areas, there
is a complex relationship between caste and class. This relationship is not always
straightforward.
Give two examples to prove that the relationship is not straightforward.

 in most areas the highest caste, the Brahmins, are not major landowners,
and so they fall outside the agrarian structure although they are a part of
rural society
 In most regions of India, the major landowning groups belong to the upper
castes. In each region, there are usually just one or two major landowning
castes

In the old social movements, the role of political parties was central. Political
23. 2
scientist Rajni Kothari attributes the surge of social movements in India in the
1970s to people’s growing dissatisfaction with parliamentary democracy. As a
result of this people joined social movements or non-political party formations.
What were the reasons for this growing dissatisfaction?

 Kothari argues that the institutions of the state have been captured by
elites.
 Due to this, electoral representation by political parties is no longer an
effective way for the poor to get their voices heard.
 People left out by the formal political system join social movements or
non-party political formations in order to put pressure on the state from
outside

24. “You need energy. The eyes move, the neck, the legs and the hands, each part 2
moves. Weaving is done under a continuous gaze - one cannot go anywhere, the
focus must be on the machine. When four machines run all four must move
together, they must not stop.” (Joshi 2003)
The more mechanised an industry gets, the fewer people are employed.” What
are the reasons for this?

 Outsourcing
 Most of them are exhausted by the age of 40 and take voluntary retirement.

25. “Someone may be endowed with exceptional intelligence or talent, or may have 2
worked very hard to achieve their wealth and status.”
Does this statement reflect social stratification? Give reasons for your answer.

 No.
 Social inequality is not the outcome of innate or ‘natural’ differences
between people, but is produced by the society in which they live.
 Sociologists use the term social stratification to refer to a system by which
categories of people in a society are ranked in a hierarchy. This hierarchy
then shapes people’s identity and experiences, their relations with others,
as well as their access to resources and opportunities.

SECTION-C

26. “An alternative to the nation-state, then, is the “state nation”, where various 4
“nations”— be they ethnic, religious, linguistic or indigenous identities— can co-
exist peacefully and cooperatively in a single state polity.”
What factors are required to build enduring state-nations?
 Explicit efforts are required to end the cultural exclusion of diverse groups
and to build multiple and complementary identities.
 Such responsive policies provide incentives to build a feeling of unity in
diversity.
 Citizens can find the institutional and political space to identify with both
their country and their other cultural identities.
 Citizens can find the opportunity to build their trust in common
institutions and to participate in and support democratic politics.

27. “The present form of caste as a social institution has been shaped very strongly 4
by both the colonial period as well as the rapid changes that have come about in
independent India. The development activity of the state and the growth of
private industry affected caste indirectly through the speeding up and
intensification of economic change.”
How has economic change affected caste?
 Modern industry created all kinds of new jobs for which there were no
caste rules.
 Urbanisation and the conditions of collective living in the cities made it
difficult for the caste-segregated patterns of social interaction to survive.

 Modern educated Indians attracted to the liberal ideas of individualism
and meritocracy, began to abandon the more extreme caste practices.
 Recruitment to industrial jobs, whether in the textile mills of Mumbai, the
jute mills of Kolkata, or elsewhere, continued to be organised along caste
and kinship-based lines.
 The middle men who recruited labour for factories tended to recruit them
from their own caste and region so that particular departments or shop
floors were often dominated by specific castes.
(Any 4)
28. “In traditional India caste system operated within a religious framework. Belief 4
systems of purity and pollution were central to its practice. Today it often
functions as political pressure groups.”
Illustrate the process of secularisation of caste.
 Politics is a competitive enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power
for the realisation of certain goals, and its process is one of identifying and
manipulating existing and emerging allegiances in order to mobilise and
consolidate positions.
 The important thing is organisation and articulation of support, and where
politics is mass-based, the point is to articulate support through the
organisations in which the masses are to be found.
 It follows that where the caste structure provides one of the principal
organisational clusters along which the bulk of the population is found to
live, politics must strive to organise through such a structure.
 Politicians mobilise caste groupings and identities in order to organise
their power.
OR
“The term modernisation has a long history. From the 19th and more so the 20th
century, the term began to be associated with positive and desirable values.
People and societies wanted to be modern. In the early years, modernisation
referred to improvement in technology and production processes. Increasingly,
however, the term had a wider usage.”
What, according to sociologists, constitutes the modernisation process?
 ‘Modernity’ assumes that local ties and parochial perspectives give way to
universal commitments and cosmopolitan attitudes;
 that the truths of utility, calculation, and science take precedence over
those of the emotions, the sacred, and the non-rational;
 that the individual rather than the group be the primary unit of society
and politics;
 that the associations in which men live and work be based on choice not
birth;
 that mastery rather than fatalism orient their attitude toward the material
and human environment;
 that identity be chosen and achieved, not ascribed and affirmed;
 that work be separated from family, residence, and community in
bureaucratic organisation.
(Any 4 points)

29. “A significant change in rural society that is linked to the commercialisation of 4
agriculture has been the growth of migrant agricultural labour. As ‘traditional’
bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and landlords broke down, and
as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour increased in prosperous Green
Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a pattern of seasonal migration emerged.”
Elaborate on this pattern of migration.
 As ‘traditional’ bonds of patronage between labourers or tenants and
landlords broke down, and as the seasonal demand for agricultural labour
increased in prosperous Green Revolution regions such as the Punjab, a
pattern of seasonal migration emerged in which thousands of workers
circulate between their home villages and more prosperous areas where
there is more demand for labour and higher wages.
 Labourers migrate also due to the increasing inequalities in rural areas
from the mid-1990s, which have forced many households to combine
multiple occupations to sustain themselves.
 As a livelihood strategy, men migrate out periodically in search of work
and better wages, while women and children are often left behind in their
villages with elderly grandparents.
 Migrant workers come mainly from drought-prone and less productive
regions, and they go to work for part of the year on farms in Punjab and
Haryana, or on brick kilns in U.P., or construction sites in cities such as
New Delhi or Bangalore. These migrant workers have been termed
‘footloose labour’ by Jan Breman.
30. Enumerate the indicators of the process of globalisation of agriculture. 4
 Contract farming
 Entry of MNCs
 Participation in WTO
 Circulation of labour
31. Industrialisation in the west is associated with the growth of a middle class. 4
Discuss the Indian experience of the growth of this middle class.
 The substitutes offered by the East India Company and subsequently by
the British government were land ownership and facilities for education
in English.
 The facts that the first remained unconnected with agricultural
productivity and the second with the mainstream of Indian cultural
traditions amply show that the alternatives were not sufficient in the sense
that they could not create any genuine middle class.
 We know only too well that the zamindars become parasites in land and
the graduates job hunters.
 Industrialisation is, thus, about the growth of new social groups in society
and new social relationships.
32. “The argument for a tribe-caste distinction was founded on an assumed cultural 4
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.”

Is this distinction between tribes and caste viable? Give reasons for your answer.
No.
 It was pointed out that the tribe-peasantry distinction did not hold in
terms of any of the commonly advanced criteria: size, isolation, religion,
and means of livelihood.
 Some Indian “tribes” like Santhal, Gonds, and Bhils are very large and
spread over extensive territory.
 Certain tribes like Munda, Hos and others have long since turned to
settled agriculture.
 Even hunting gathering tribes, like the Birhors of Bihar employ specialised
households to make baskets, press oil etc.
 It has also been pointed out in a number of cases, that in the absence of
other alternatives, “castes” (or non-tribals) have turned to hunting and
gathering.
(any 4)
SECTION-D

33. 6

Based on the reading of the above data, please answer the following questions.
a) What are the different factors which determine in literacy rates in our country? 2
 Gender
 Region
 Social groups

b) How do inequalities in literacy rate lead to inequality across generation? 4
 Literacy rates also vary by social group – historically disadvantaged
communities like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower
rates of literacy, and rates of female literacy within these groups are even
lower.
 Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching
universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind.
 The inequalities in the literacy rate are specially important because they
tend to reproduce inequality across generations.
 Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their
children are well educated, thus perpetuating existing inequalities.

(Q 33. FOR CANDIDATES WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT)

The literacy rate for women is 16.3% less than the literacy rate for men. However,
female literacy has been rising faster than male literacy, partly because it started
from relatively low levels. Female literacy rose by about 10.4 per cent between
2001 and 2011 compared to the rise in male literacy of 7.6 per cent in the same
period. Literacy increased approximately 8% in total. Male literacy rose about 5%
whereas female literacy rose about 10%.

What are the different factors which determine in literacy rates in our country?
a) 2
 Gender
 Region
 Social groups

b) How do inequalities in literacy rate lead to inequality across generation? 4

 Literacy rates also vary by social group – historically disadvantaged
communities like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have lower
rates of literacy, and rates of female literacy within these groups are even
lower.
 Regional variations are still very wide, with states like Kerala approaching
universal literacy, while states like Bihar are lagging far behind.
 The inequalities in the literacy rate are specially important because they
tend to reproduce inequality across generations.
 Illiterate parents are at a severe disadvantage in ensuring that their
children are well educated, thus perpetuating existing inequalities.

‘Job recruitment as factory worker takes a different pattern’. Discuss.
34. 6
 In the past, many workers got their jobs through contractors or jobbers. In
the Kanpur textile mills, these jobbers were known as mistris, and were
themselves workers.
 They came from the same regions and communities as the workers, but
because they had the owner’s backing they bossed over the workers.

 On the other hand, the mistri also put community-related pressures on the
worker.
 Nowadays, the importance of the jobber has come down, and both
management and unions play a role in recruiting their own people.
 Many workers also expect that they can pass on their jobs to their children.
 Many factories employ badli workers who substitute for regular
permanent workers who are on leave.
 Many of these badli workers have actually worked for many years for the
same company but are not given the same status and security. This is what
is called contract work in the organised sector.

How did peasant movements evolve from pre-colonial days to post-colonial
35. 6
times?

 The movements in the period between 1858 and 1914 tended to remain
localised, disjointed and confined to particular grievances.
 Well-known are the Bengal revolt of 1859-62 against the indigo plantation
system and the ‘Deccan riots’ of 1857 against moneylenders.
 Some of these issues continued into the following period, and under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi became partially linked to the
Independence movement. For instance, the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928,
Surat District) a ‘non-tax’ campaign as part of the nationwide non-
cooperation movement.
 In the 1920s, protest movements against the forest policies of the British
government and local rulers arose in certain regions
 Between 1920 and 1940 peasant organisations arose. The first organisation
to be founded was the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929), and in 1936 the
All India Kisan Sabha.
 The peasants organised by the Sabhas demanded freedom from economic
exploitation for peasants, workers and all other exploited classes.
 At the time of Independence, we had the two most classical cases of
peasant movements, namely the Tebhaga movement (1946–47) and the
Telangana movement (1946–51). The first was a struggle of sharecroppers
in Bengal in North Bihar for two thirds share of their produce instead of
the customary half.
 New farmer’s movements began in the 1970s in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
 These movements were regionally oganised, were non-party, and
involved farmers rather than peasants (farmers are said to be market-
involved as both commodity producers and purchasers).
 The basic ideology of the movement was strongly anti-state and anti-
urban. The focus of demand were ‘price and related issues’ (for example,
price procurement, remunerative prices, prices for agricultural inputs,
taxation, non-repayment of loans).
 Novel methods of agitation were used: blocking of roads and railways,
refusing politicians’, and so on.

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