Exam-useful questions from this chapter, grouped by marks, each with a full model answer. Try writing the answer yourself first, then check it against this one.
1 1-Mark Questions
Q. What is the idea of equality based on?
Answer: On the equal worth and respect of all human beings because of their common humanity.
Q. What was the famous slogan of the French Revolution?
Answer: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
Q. According to the book, why are facts and figures about inequality given in this chapter?
Answer: Only to help us appreciate the nature of inequality; the book says they need not be memorised.
Q. Define patriarchy in one line.
Answer: A social, economic and cultural system that gives men greater importance and power than women.
Q. How many inequalities did Rammanohar Lohia identify?
Answer: Five, which became the Sapta Kranti (seven revolutions) after adding two more revolutions.
Q. According to Marx, what is at the root of entrenched inequality?
Answer: The private ownership of key economic resources.
Q. Which scientist does the chapter use as an example to show that technology can change “natural” limitations?
Answer: Stephen Hawking.
Q. On what five grounds does the Indian Constitution prohibit discrimination?
Answer: Religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth.
2 2-Mark Questions
Q. What is the difference between equality and identical treatment?
Answer: Equality means giving people equal respect and worth, it does not have to mean treating everyone identically. No society treats all its members exactly the same way under all conditions, for instance a Prime Minister receiving a special rank is not seen as unacceptable. But treating people differently on grounds of birth (religion, caste, gender) is unacceptable inequality.
Q. What does equality of opportunity mean?
Answer: Equality of opportunity means that all human beings are entitled to the same rights and opportunities to develop their skills and pursue their goals. Outcomes (success) need not be equal, what matters is that everyone has equal access to basic goods like education, health care and safe housing.
Q. What is the difference between natural and social inequality?
Answer: Natural inequality is assumed to arise from differences in people’s inborn capabilities and talents, and is treated as unalterable. Social inequality is created by society, for instance through unequal opportunity or the exploitation of one group by another. The line is not always clear, because social inequalities that have persisted a long time start to look natural.
Q. According to feminism, what is the difference between “sex” and “gender”?
Answer: Sex is the inborn, biological difference between men and women, for instance only a woman can bear a child. Gender is the role society assigns to men and women, for instance treating housework as a woman’s responsibility alone. Feminists point out that gender-based inequality is created by society, not by nature.
Q. Why is political equality alone not considered enough?
Answer: Political equality gives everyone equal citizenship, the right to vote and other legal rights, but these are only formal rights. Because access to social and economic resources differs, considerable inequality can still exist even in countries that grant equal rights, so political equality needs to be supplemented by social and economic equality.
Q. Why is entrenched inequality considered dangerous for society?
Answer: When one class keeps enjoying wealth and power generation after generation while another stays poor, society splits permanently into classes. Over time such a class divide can build up resentment and even violence, and the power of the wealthy classes makes such a society harder to reform.
Q. What is the main difference between Marxism and liberalism on inequality?
Answer: Marxism treats private ownership as the root of inequality and calls for public control of essential resources. Liberalism treats competition as the fairest way of distributing resources, and does not see political, social and economic inequalities as necessarily linked, insisting each be tackled on its own terms.
Q. Why is affirmative action meant to be a temporary measure?
Answer: Affirmative action aims to help disadvantaged communities overcome past inequalities so that they can later compete on equal terms with others. It is therefore treated as a temporary, time-bound measure, not a permanent privilege.
Q. When is differential treatment considered justified?
Answer: Differential treatment is justified only when it genuinely enables a group to enjoy equal rights, such as ramps for disabled people or safety measures for women working night shifts. Its justification must always be promoting equality, never preserving a dominant group’s privilege.
Q. What equal rights did the women’s movement demand in the 19th century?
Answer: In the 19th century, women demanded the right to vote, the right to a college degree and the right to work, that is, the same rights men already had. Once they entered the job market, they realised that actually exercising these rights required extra facilities too, such as maternity leave and crèches.
Q. What does the fact sheet on global inequalities show? Give two points.
Answer: (1) Income is extremely unequal: a handful of the richest individuals earn more than hundreds of millions of the poorest people, and the poorest part of the world’s population gets only a tiny share of global income. (2) The first world industrial countries, with a small share of the world’s population, own most of its industry, consume most of its energy and resources, and cause most of the harmful emissions. (The figures themselves need not be memorised.)
Q. What does the table on caste-community inequalities in higher education in urban India suggest?
Answer: The number of graduates differs sharply between castes and communities, with Scheduled Castes, Muslims and OBCs far behind upper castes and some other communities. The book asks whether such large differences could be chance; they point to the working of the caste system and other factors, so access to higher education is still unequal. (The figures need not be memorised.)
3 4-Mark Questions
Q. Explain the three dimensions of equality, political, social and economic, with examples.
Answer: Political equality means granting all citizens equal citizenship, such as the right to vote and freedom of expression, but this is only a formal legal right. Social equality supplements political equality with equality of opportunity, such as minimum guarantees of health care, education and adequate nourishment, so that people can compete on equal terms. Economic equality means narrowing large differences in wealth, property and income between individuals and classes, though absolute economic equality has never really been possible in practice. Genuine equality cannot exist in a society unless all three dimensions are addressed together, since equality in one dimension can coexist with inequality in another.
Q. According to feminism, how does patriarchy create inequality in society?
Answer: According to feminism, inequality between men and women results from patriarchy, a system that gives men greater importance and power than women. Patriarchy rests on the belief that men and women are different by nature, so feminists distinguish sex (biological difference) from gender (social role) to show that only childbearing is a biological fact, while giving women the entire burden of child-rearing is a social construction. Patriarchy confines women to “private”, domestic work and men to “public” work, yet most women also work outside the home while still carrying the whole burden of housework, what feminists call the “double burden”. Feminists argue this inequality was created by society, not nature, and so it can be undone.
Q. Compare the approaches of Marxism and socialism.
Answer: According to Marx, entrenched inequality is rooted in the private ownership of key economic resources (land, oil, forests), which gives owners political power along with wealth, power that can threaten democratic government, so Marxists demand public control of essential resources. Socialism emerged as a response to the inequalities produced by industrial capitalism and is not opposed to markets altogether, but favours government regulation in areas like education and health care. In India, the socialist thinker Rammanohar Lohia argued that his five inequalities (man-woman, colour, caste, colonial rule, economic) had separate roots and had to be fought together, whereas most socialists of his time treated only economic (class) inequality as the main issue.
Q. Discuss the arguments for and against affirmative action.
Answer: Arguments in favour: some groups have been victims of social prejudice, exclusion and discrimination in the past, so they cannot immediately compete on equal terms with others; a just society therefore needs to give them temporary special help (scholarships, reserved seats). Arguments against: critics say this arbitrarily denies other sections their right to equal treatment, making it itself a form of discrimination (“reverse discrimination”), and that distinctions based on caste or colour can reinforce caste and racial prejudice instead of removing it. To resolve this debate, the book suggests keeping both an individual’s equal right and equality as a guiding principle of state policy in view together.
Q. Explain the difference between “identical treatment” and “treating as equal”, with examples.
Answer: “Identical treatment” means giving everyone exactly the same thing, no matter how different their circumstances are. “Treating as equal” means the underlying goal is promoting equality, even if that requires treating some people differently. For example, building ramps for disabled people or giving special safety arrangements to women working night shifts are not identical treatment, but their purpose is to make these groups genuinely able to enjoy the same rights as the rest of society, so they are seen as promoting equality. Every instance of differential treatment must be checked carefully, so that it never becomes a way of re-establishing a dominant group’s privilege.
Q. Explain the ways of measuring economic inequality and India’s situation with regard to it.
Answer: Economic inequality exists in a society when there are significant differences in wealth, property or income between individuals or classes. It can be measured in two main ways, the relative gap between the richest and poorest groups, or the number of people living below the poverty line. Census of India, 2011, data on household amenities shows a large gap between rural and urban families in India. Absolute equality of wealth has probably never existed in any society, so most democracies instead try to provide equal opportunity, so that people with talent and determination at least get the chance to improve their condition, even where inequality is not fully eliminated.
4 6-Mark Questions
Q. Explain in detail, with examples, the three ways of promoting equality: formal equality, differential treatment and affirmative action.
Answer: The first step is establishing formal equality, ending the traditional system of inequality and privilege. Around the world, custom and law once denied the poor the vote, kept women out of many professions, and in India confined the “lower” castes to manual labour. The Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and abolishes untouchability, an example of formal equality.
The second step is equality through differential treatment. Formal equality is not enough, because sometimes people must be treated differently precisely so that they can actually enjoy equal rights, such as ramps for disabled people in public buildings, or special safety measures during travel for women working night shifts in call centres. These measures do not reduce equality, they enhance it.
The third step is affirmative action, which rests on the idea that positive steps (such as scholarships, or reservation in jobs and education) are needed to remove deeply entrenched inequalities, so that communities disadvantaged in the past can compete on equal terms after a period of temporary special help. India has adopted this policy, though it remains a subject of considerable debate. All three ways work together toward a genuinely egalitarian society, no single one is enough on its own.
5 Case Studies
(A) 1 mark According to the passage, where is equality embodied?
Answer: In the constitutions and laws of many countries.
(B) 2 marks What is the paradox described in the passage?
Answer: Almost every country accepts equality as an ideal, yet in society it is inequality that is more visible everywhere, such as luxury housing standing next to slums.
(C) 3 marks Based on the examples given in the passage (housing, schools, food), explain which dimension of inequality they represent and what measure would be suitable for reducing them.
Answer: These examples of housing, school facilities and food are mainly examples of social and economic inequality, since they involve unequal access to basic goods like education, health care, nutrition and housing. According to the chapter, reducing them requires the state to guarantee all citizens minimum conditions, such as adequate health care, the opportunity for a good education and a minimum wage, so that early disadvantage does not permanently limit a child’s future. Where this inequality is tied to historical disadvantage, such as a deprived community’s school facilities, special measures like affirmative action may also be appropriate.
(A) 1 mark What kind of system is patriarchy?
Answer: A social, economic and cultural system that gives men greater importance and power than women.
(B) 2 marks According to the passage, why do feminists distinguish between sex and gender?
Answer: Feminists distinguish between the two to show that biological difference (sex) is inborn, while the social roles of men and women (gender) are constructed by society, so inequality is not a gift of nature but a creation of society, and can therefore be changed.
(C) 3 marks With what argument do feminists challenge the belief behind patriarchy described in the passage, and explain in detail what effect this can have on society.
Answer: Patriarchy rests on the belief that men and women are different by nature, and that this difference justifies their unequal social position. Feminists challenge this by pointing out that a biological difference (sex), such as only women being able to bear children, is a natural fact, but it does not follow that housework, decision-making power or participation in public life should also be divided unequally between men and women, because these social roles (gender) are decided by society. The effect of this argument is that inequality can no longer be treated as “natural” or “unchangeable”, but must be recognised as a system created by society, and one that can be changed, for instance by increasing women’s participation in education, employment and public decision-making.