UPSC 2021 Sociology · 15 marks · 250 words
Examine the relevance of Durkheim's theory of religion in understanding contemporary religious revivalism.
What “Examine” demands
investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.
The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.
What a top answer must contain
These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.
- Elementary Forms (1912): sacred/profane, collective effervescence, religion as society worshipping itself
- Application: mega-congregations, mediatised pilgrimage (Kumbh), online ritual communities as effervescence
- Limits: revivalism's political mobilisation exceeds integration function — Casanova's 'public religion', fundamentalism studies
- Contrast theorists: Weber (disenchantment reversed?), Berger's desecularisation retraction
- Indian ethnography anchor: e.g. Nandy/van der Veer on religious nationalism
The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.
Now write it, and find out what you actually scored
Attempt this question — typed or photographed — and it is marked against the standard above in under a minute: six parameter scores, a blunt verdict, and the points you missed. 50 free credits on signup, no card.