Market as a Social Institution Class 12 Sociology PYQ 2026-27

The Market as a Social Institution argues that a market is never just a neutral space of buying and selling, real markets are shaped by caste, community and culture, with the jajmani system standing as the clearest contrast case of exchange running on fixed, hereditary ties rather than open trade. This PYQ set brings together 5 CBSE board questions from 2017 to 2024 on the chapter, and every one comes with a full step-by-step solution, so you can check your own answer against a complete worked explanation.

• 5 questions, CBSE 2017-2024: 1 MCQ (1 mark), 1 Very Short Answer (2 marks), 3 long-answer questions (4 marks each). This is one of the shorter chapters in the Class 12 Sociology syllabus, so the PYQ count stays small, but every question is answered in full.
• Full solutions included: each of the 5 questions has a worked, step-by-step answer, not just the bare question paper.
• Topics covered: capitalism as an economic system, commodification under capitalism, the impact of liberalisation on Indian markets, marketisation, and the social significance of the market.

Every question in this Class 12 Sociology Chapter 4 PYQ set is lifted from an actual CBSE board paper (2017-2024) and answered in full by Collegedunia's Sociology experts, according to the 2026-27 NCERT syllabus.

What Class 12 Sociology Chapter 4 PYQs Test: Market as a Social Institution

Chapter 4 asks a simple question with a complicated answer: is the market purely an economic space, or is it shaped by the society around it? CBSE board papers on this chapter test whether you can explain that a market is a social institution, not a neutral zone of buying and selling, and whether you can back that claim with real examples from Indian economic history.

• Capitalism as an economic system: how private ownership, wage labour and profit define capitalism, and how it differs from earlier economic arrangements.
• Commodification under capitalism: how capitalism turns labour, land and even relationships into things that can be bought and sold.
• Impact of liberalisation on Indian markets: how the 1991 reforms expanded consumer markets, advertising and brand culture in India.
• Marketisation: the process by which more and more areas of social life get organised through market exchange.
• Social significance of the market: why markets carry caste, community and cultural meaning, using the jajmani system as the key non-market contrast case.

Marks-wise Distribution of Market as a Social Institution PYQs

The 5 questions are spread across three CBSE mark bands. Section C's long-answer questions carry the most weight (3 questions, 4 marks each), while a single MCQ and a single VSA make up the rest of the set.

The MCQ and VSA check whether you can define terms like marketisation and commodification correctly. The three 4-mark questions ask you to build a full argument, usually contrasting the market with the jajmani system or explaining liberalisation's social effects.

Year-wise Spread of Market as a Social Institution PYQs: 2017 to 2024

The bank covers three CBSE board papers spread across seven years. 2017 and 2019 each contributed 2 questions, while 2024 added a single question to round out the set.

Because this is a small chapter, CBSE does not set a question on it every year. When it does appear, it tends to lean on the same handful of core ideas rather than introducing new angles.

Which Topics Repeat Most in Market as a Social Institution PYQs

With only 5 questions across 5 sub-topics, this chapter does not have a long tail of repeated themes the way larger chapters do. Even so, two ideas surface more often because they anchor both the shorter and the longer questions: marketisation and commodification under capitalism are the concepts examiners return to, since together they carry the chapter's central argument that markets absorb more of social life over time.

• Most frequent: marketisation, commodification under capitalism.
• Also tested: the impact of liberalisation on Indian markets.
• Appeared at least once: capitalism as an economic system, social significance of the market (usually via the jajmani-system contrast).

How to Attempt Market as a Social Institution PYQs

Because this chapter is short, examiners expect precision rather than length. A vague answer about "markets and society" without naming the right concept loses marks quickly.

• Always call the market a SOCIAL institution first, not just an economic one, before you explain any concept from the chapter.
• Ground your answer in the jajmani-system contrast whenever a question asks why markets are socially embedded, since it is the chapter's clearest non-market example.
• Separate marketisation from liberalisation in your own head before you write. Liberalisation is the policy change of 1991; marketisation is the broader social process it accelerated.
• Use the term "commodification" correctly: it means turning something, labour, land, even relationships, into a good that can be bought and sold, not simply "making things expensive."

Sample Question and Answer Approach for Market as a Social Institution

Here is how to structure two typical question types from this chapter's PYQs. The pattern below is the same one the PDF's step-by-step solutions follow.

This habit, state the social argument first, then support it with the jajmani contrast and a modern example, is what turns a partial 2-mark answer into a full 4-mark one.

Common Mistakes Students Make in Market as a Social Institution Questions

• Treating "market" as a purely economic-textbook term. This chapter's entire point is that markets are social institutions shaped by caste, community and culture, not neutral spaces of exchange.
• Confusing marketisation with liberalisation. Liberalisation is the specific 1991 policy shift; marketisation is the wider social process of more life being organised through market exchange, and the two are not interchangeable terms.
• Forgetting the jajmani system as the key contrast case. Answers that explain the market's social character without mentioning fixed, hereditary caste-based exchange miss the chapter's clearest supporting example.
• Writing "commodification" without defining it. A full answer needs to state that commodification means turning something, labour, land, a relationship, into an object that can be bought and sold.

Student Feedback: Market as a Social Institution Difficulty Rating

How These PYQs Pair with Other Class 12 Sociology Chapter 4 Resources

This PYQ set works best alongside the other Chapter 4 resources already live on Collegedunia. Read the notes first, revise from the handwritten notes, solve these PYQs, then cross-check tricky answers against the full NCERT solutions.

Two other chapters from this same Class 12 Sociology PYQ series are already live: Structural Change PYQs and Cultural Change PYQs. The remaining chapters are being added to this series and will link here once live.

How to Use the Market as a Social Institution PYQ PDF Effectively

Don't jump to the solution on the first read. Try to sketch an answer yourself, naming the right concept, then check it against the step-by-step solution in the PDF.

1. First pass: attempt all 5 questions without looking at the solutions, section by section.
2. Second pass: compare each answer against the solution and mark where a key term, such as marketisation, commodification or the jajmani system, was missing.
3. Third pass: redo only the questions you got wrong, a day or two later, from memory.

Downloading and Using the PYQ PDF

The PDF is 10 pages and free to download. It opens with the question paper sorted by mark band, closes with a self-check answer key, and links every question to its full solution.