QUESTION 6
GS4
10 marks
What factors affect the formation of a person's attitude towards social problems? Contrasting attitudes are prevalent about many social problems. What contrasting attitudes do you notice about the caste system in our society, and how do you explain their existence?
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Explain factors shaping attitudes to social problems and the contrasting attitudes on caste, with reasons.
ExplainMake clear how and why it happens: causes, process, and an example for each point.
Demand-wise check
- 1Factors: family socialisation, education, religion, peer group, media, personal experience, economic interests, group identity≈30 words
- 2Contrasting attitudes on caste: caste as obsolete vs caste as reality; support vs opposition to reservation; endogamy vs inter-caste marriage; urban 'caste blindness' vs rural practice≈30 words
- 3Explaining contrasts: position in hierarchy (privileged vs oppressed), urban-rural divide, education, political mobilisation, cognitive dissonance≈30 words
- 4Moving forward: contact, education, constitutional morality≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Factors forming attitudesContrasting attitudes on casteExplanationConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Only listing factors without applying them to caste
- Taking sides on reservation rather than explaining attitudes
Draw this
- Table: attitude → who holds it → reason
Value addition
- ThinkerAmbedkar's 'Annihilation of Caste' (1936) argued caste is a notion, a state of mind, and needs destroying of its religious sanctity.Ambedkar, 1936
- ThinkerLeon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory (1957) explains people professing equality while practising caste.Festinger, 1957
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Vidushi Singh · AIR 13 · Page 5 ↗Same syllabus reference
- G Sanjana · AIR 55 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 23 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
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