Syllabus note
Note: This chapter is not part of the CBSE Class 12 Sociology syllabus for 2026-27 (CBSE has deleted it). Students of other boards should check their board’s latest syllabus.
20 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markIn the general sociological sense, ‘the market’ is almost equivalent to:
(A) the government(B) a single shop(C) the economy(D) the stock exchange only - 1 markWho wrote ‘The Wealth of Nations’?
(A) Max Weber(B) Karl Polanyi(C) Karl Marx(D) Adam Smith - 1 markThe idea that economies are socially ’embedded’ means that:
(A) markets exist only in cities(B) markets always favour the rich(C) markets run entirely on their own fixed laws(D) markets are shaped by culture and social groups - 1 markWhich village is used as the example of a weekly tribal market in the chapter?
(A) Dhorai(B) Chanderi(C) Dilli Haat(D) Pushkar - 1 markThe Nakarattars, described in Box 4.2, are known for their:
(A) handloom weaving(B) spice trade with Europe(C) caste-based banking system(D) role in the freedom movement - 1 markThe Marwaris rose to prominence chiefly during:
(A) the Mughal period(B) the colonial period(C) ancient India(D) only after 1991 liberalisation - 1 markLiberalisation in India began in:
(A) immediately after Independence(B) the late 1980s(C) the 1950s(D) 2000s
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Sociologists say the market is ’embedded’ in society.
Reason (R): Markets are constructed in culturally specific ways and are connected to other social institutions.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, R is false(D) A is false, R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Under capitalism, workers own the means of production.
Reason (R): Workers sell their labour power to capitalists for a wage.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A(B) Both A and R are true, but R does not explain A(C) A is true, R is false(D) A is false, R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch the community/term in Column A with what it is known for in Column B.
(i) Nakarattars (ii) Marwaris (iii) Banjaras (iv) Vaisyas
(1) One of the four varnas (2) Caste-based banking in Tamil Nadu (3) Long-distance salt trade despite marginal status (4) Rose to prominence in the colonial period, strong in Calcutta
(A) (i)-4, (ii)-1, (iii)-2, (iv)-3(B) (i)-2, (ii)-4, (iii)-3, (iv)-1(C) (i)-3, (ii)-2, (iii)-1, (iv)-4(D) (i)-1, (ii)-2, (iii)-4, (iv)-3 - 1 markMatch the thinker or scholar in Column A with the idea or study associated with them in Column B.
(i) Adam Smith (ii) Karl Marx (iii) Max Weber (iv) Alfred Gell
(1) Status symbol (2) Study of the weekly tribal market at Dhorai, Bastar (Box 4.1) (3) The market as a self-running system of individual exchanges (4) Commodity production and surplus value
(A) (i)-1, (ii)-2, (iii)-3, (iv)-4(B) (i)-2, (ii)-1, (iii)-4, (iv)-3(C) (i)-3, (ii)-4, (iii)-1, (iv)-2(D) (i)-4, (ii)-3, (iii)-2, (iv)-1
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements about the market as a social institution:
(i) Sociologists view markets as being ’embedded’ in society.
(ii) Economics and sociology ask exactly the same questions about markets.
Which is/are correct?
(A) Both (i) and (ii)(B) Neither (i) nor (ii)(C) Only (ii)(D) Only (i) - 1 markConsider the following statements about the Dhorai market:
(i) Buyers at the Bastar market are mostly adivasis.
(ii) Sellers at the Bastar market are mainly caste-Hindu traders.
Which is/are correct?
(A) Only (i)(B) Both (i) and (ii)(C) Only (ii)(D) Neither (i) nor (ii)
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange these in the order in which they happened, according to the chapter’s account of India’s economic history:
(i) The Indian government adopts a policy of liberalisation
(ii) Indigenous merchant groups, trading networks and banking systems help make India a major exporter of handloom cloth
(iii) India’s software and BPO industries connect it to the global economy
(iv) The Indian handloom industry declines as British manufactured cloth floods the market
(A) (iii), (i), (iv), (ii)(B) (i), (ii), (iv), (iii)(C) (iv), (ii), (iii), (i)(D) (ii), (iv), (i), (iii) - 1 markArrange these from the smallest to the largest scale, as the chapter describes the links between markets:
(i) The wider national economy
(ii) A global trading network such as the Nasdaq
(iii) A local village market (haat)
(iv) A regional economy
(A) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)(B) (iii), (iv), (i), (ii)(C) (iv), (iii), (ii), (i)(D) (iii), (i), (iv), (ii)
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markThe book ______ by Adam Smith attempted to explain the emerging market economy of 18th-century England.
(A) The Great Transformation(B) The Division of Labour in Society(C) The Wealth of Nations(D) Das Kapital - 1 markA periodic, usually weekly, rural market is called a ______.
(A) bazaar committee(B) gram sabha(C) mandi(D) haat
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markWhich one of these is NOT a traditional business community named in the chapter?
(A) Rajputs(B) Parsis(C) Sindhis(D) Bohras
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
Dhorai is the name of a market village located deep in the hinterland of North Bastar district, Chattisgarh … On non-market days Dhorai is a sleepy, tree-shaded hamlet straddling an unscaled road which winds it’s way through the forest … Dhorai on non-market days, every day except Friday, that is, hardly exists at all; but Dhorai on a market day might be a totally different place. … While the officials hold court in the Rest House, files of tribals continue to pour in from all directions, laden with the produce of the forest, of their fields, and of their own manufacture. … The marketplace is a roughly quadrangular patch of ground, about 100 yards square, at the centre of which there grows a magnificent banyan tree. (Box 4.1)
- 1 markAccording to the passage, what grows at the centre of the Dhorai marketplace?
(A) A banyan tree(B) A peepal tree(C) An open well(D) A neem tree
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 markState whether True or False:
(i) The book names Karl Polanyi in its running text as the source of ’embeddedness’.
(ii) The book uses the word ’embedded’ without naming any sociologist in the body text.
(A) Both true(B) Both false(C) (i) true, (ii) false(D) (i) false, (ii) true
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (C) The chapter says that in its broadest sense, ‘the market’ includes the entire spectrum of economic activities and institutions, almost equal to ‘the economy’.
- (D) Adam Smith (1723-90) wrote ‘The Wealth of Nations’, explaining the emerging market economy of his time.
- (D) ‘Embedded’ means the economy is not separate from society. It is constructed in culturally specific ways and connected to social groups and structures.
- (A) Dhorai, a market village in North Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, is the chapter’s tribal-market example (Box 4.1).
- (C) The Nakarattars of Tamil Nadu ran a caste-based banking and moneylending system.
- (B) The Marwaris became a successful business community specifically during the colonial period, especially in cities like Calcutta.
- (B) The chapter states India entered its new economic era, shifting to liberalisation, since the late 1980s.
Assertion-Reason
- (A) Both statements are true and R directly explains why sociologists call the economy ’embedded’.
- (D) A is false: it is capitalists, not workers, who own the means of production (such as factories). R is true: workers must sell their labour power in the market to earn a wage, and they sell it to the capitalists. So the combination is ‘A is false, R is true’.
Match the Following
- (B) Nakarattars = caste-based banking (2); Marwaris = rose during colonial period, strong in Calcutta (4); Banjaras = salt trade despite marginal status (3); Vaisyas = one of the four varnas (1).
- (C) Adam Smith = market as a self-running system of exchanges (3); Marx = commodity production and surplus value (4); Weber = status symbol (1); Alfred Gell = the Dhorai market study quoted in Box 4.1 (Gell 1982) (2).
Statement-Based Questions
- (D) Statement (i) is the chapter’s own claim. Statement (ii) is false as sociology asks a different question from economics, about the social context of markets.
- (B) Both statements are directly stated in the chapter’s account of the Bastar market study.
Chronological Ordering
- (D) The monetised economy, trading networks and handloom exports of pre-colonial India (ii) came first, then the decline of handloom under colonial rule (iv), then liberalisation from the late 1980s (i), which ushered in the era of globalisation in which software and BPO industries connect India to the global economy (iii). So the order is (ii), (iv), (i), (iii).
- (B) The chapter says periodic markets link local and regional economies together and link them to the wider national economy, and it describes circulation ‘from the local market in a village or town right up to a global trading network such as the Nasdaq’. So the order is (iii), (iv), (i), (ii).
Fill in the Blanks
- (C) Adam Smith’s book is named directly in the chapter as ‘The Wealth of Nations’.
- (D) The chapter’s own term for a periodic rural market is ‘haat’.
Odd One Out
- (A) The chapter names Parsis, Sindhis, Bohras and Jains as traditional business communities alongside Vaisyas. Rajputs are not mentioned in this context.
Passage-Based Questions
- (A) The passage states a magnificent banyan tree grows at the centre of the marketplace.
True / False
- (D) Statement (i) is false: Polanyi appears only in the References list. Statement (ii) is true: the body text uses ’embedded’ without naming him.
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