sociology.du.ac.in M.A. Admission Test Sample Question Paper : Delhi School of Economics
Name of the University : Delhi School of Economics Department of Sociology
Exam : M.A. Admission Test
Department : Sociology
Document Type : Sample Question Papers
Website : http://sociology.du.ac.in/
Download Model/Sample Question Paper :
2016 : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/24832-m.a2016.pdf
2015 : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/24832-MA2015.pdf
2014 : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/24832-MA2014.pdf
2013 : https://www.pdfquestion.in/uploads/24832-M.A2013.pdf
DU M.A. Sociology Admission Test Question Paper
** The Admission Test for MA programme will be conducted by the University of Delhi at a number of centres all over India (Dates and other detailed information will be provided by the University of Delhi website).
Related / Similar Question Paper : SAU M.Phil./Ph.D. Sociology Question Paper
** The format of the question paper for this year’s Admission test will be similar to 2016-17 pattern. The 50 multiple choice questions will test general knowledge, logical and analytical abilities, data interpretation, sociological understanding and comprehension
Instructions
Time: 2 hours (10-12 a.m.)
Note :
Attempt any three questions.
All questions carry equal marks.
Max. Marks 75
Sample Question
MA Sociology Entrance Exam
Part I
1. “The camera defines reality in two ways essential to the workings of an advanced industrial society: as a spectacle (for the masses) and as an object of surveillance (for the rulers)” (John Berger 2013). Discuss.
2. Examine the different perspectives from which historical monuments like the Taj Mahal may be viewed.
3. Do you think India’s new policy of ‘skill development’ augers well for higher education in this country?
4. Discuss how private space is negotiated and contested in public transport.
5. Examine the view that India has a culture that is uniquely indigenous?
6. Does cultural diversity produce social harmony in India or is it the root cause of all her problems?
Write essays on any two of the following (30 marks each) :
1. It is often assumed that the people of Telengana and the people of Seemandhra each have a homogenous view of statehood. How would you describe the role of different stakeholders within these regions?
2. Discuss the publics that a public space like India Gate relates to.
3. What are the ways in which a sociologist’s understanding of elections might differ from that of a psephologist?
Part II
All questions are compulsory. (12 marks each passage) :
Please read the following passages and answer the questions at the bottom
Passage I : (12 marks; 3 marks each question)
“Disability has historically been conceptualised overwhelmingly in terms of biological abnormality or dysfunction necessitating medical intervention and rehabilitation. The medical model looks at the impairment as a personal tragedy, and at the individual through the lens of patienthood.
Through self-advocacy by persons with disabilities, the concept of disability was redefined not as an individual affliction necessitating therapy, but as a form of social oppression necessitating political action. The social model of disabilitylocates disability, which is viewed as an important dimension of inequality, in the social and economic structure and culture of the society in which it is found, rather than in the bodies of individuals with disabilities.” (RenuAddlakha)
1. Describe the different models of disability in your own words.
2. Show how disability is a dimension of inequality.
3. Is physical impairment the same as social dysfunctionality? Discuss.
4. Examine the nature of political action that disability activists have engaged in.
Passage II : (12 marks; 3 marks each question)
“It’s a commonplace by now that the expansion of markets that has accompanied economic globalisation fundamentally relies on an adaptation to cultural, political and commercial processes at various levels of localness. This has been particularly noted in the case of South Asian broadcasting, with its strong consumer preference for local programme content in the vernaculars.
The celebrated early instances here are those of MTV, which was taken off the air and had to undergo a ‘localising’ makeover before being reintroduced to South Asian audiences in 1996, and, by contrast, the Hindi-language broadcaster Zee TV, whose ratings confirmed the popularity of vernacular programming over Hong Kong based network STAR TV’s imports, forcing STAR to improve its Hindi content (and indeed from 2000-2009 STAR Plus was the highest-rating Hindi-language cable channel).
Advertisers, marketing organisations and broadcasters in the region quickly learned to shape their strategies to this vernacular imperative. In India from the mid-1990s onwards there was a new appreciation of vernacular consumers and ‘local’ cultural idioms on the part of a corporate service sector that until then was dominated by an English-educated elite, whose messages, as ArvindRajagopal has pointed out, had largely been aimed at people like themselves (Rajagopal 1999).
At the same time, in the literature on globalisation and broadcasting in South Asia there has also been some concern that ‘the working of the satellite market, particularly in the northern subcontinent, has reinforced the national at the expense of the sub-national or regional’ (Page and Crawley 2001: 302). The reference here is primarily to the dominance of Hindi over other regional languages, and the vulnerability of smaller, local communities and cultures to ‘homogenisation’ through the consolidation of large centralised delivery systems.
Based on the passage above, please answer the following questions :
1. What is the debate over the media, culture and globalization?
2. In what contexts is the local democratic or undemocratic?
3. What is the sense of the local that the author puts forward?
4. How has broadcasting related to vernacular language and culture?
Part III
This section is compulsory (16 marks)
Carefully examine the photos below and answer the questions at the bottom.
1. Discuss the different ways in which Dr. BR Ambedkar is being represented in these 2 photos. (5 marks)
2. Discuss the representation of conjugality in the two photos. (5 marks)
3. How did Dr. Ambedkar’s life influence his ideas? (6 marks)