Short Answer TypeExplain the politics of assimilation and integration used to establish a national identity.
Differentiate the sociological and economic perspective of the market.
Difference between sociological and economic perspective on markets:
(i) The economic approach is aimed at understanding and explaining how markets work in modern capitalist economies while the sociological approach is based on the phenomenon of adherence of interests of society or all people to the looking after the judicious way of an individual interest. Father of economics viz. Adam Smith himself has called this phenomenon or force as 'invisible hand'. He has argued that society overall benefits when individuals pursue their own self-interest in the market because it stimulates the economy and creates more wealth. Thus, sociological perspective observed markets as a social institution.
(ii) Economic perspective assumes economies/economy as a separate part of society because it has its own laws to guide. However, sociologists have attempted to develop an alternative way of studying economic institutions and processes within the larger social framework.
(iii) Economic prospects do a study on individual buyers and sellers and support economic philosophy or laissez-faire (i.e. noninterference of government in private enterprises) or free market while sociologists view markets specific cultural formation of social institutions. According to them, markets are often controlled by particular social groups or classes and they have specific connections to other institutions, social processes and structures. They say economies composing markets are socially embedded.
Encouraging cultural diversity is good policy from both the practical and the principled point of view. Justify the statement using India’s case as a Nation-State.
Read the passage given below and answer the following question:
Data from the National Sample Survey studies of 1999-2000 and from the 2001 Census of India reveal a sharp fall in the rate of employment generation (creation of new jobs) across both rural and urban areas. This is true for the young as well. The rate of growth of employment in the 15-30 age group, which stood at around 2.4 percent a year between 1987 and 1994 for both rural and urban men, fell to 0.7 for rural men and 0.3 percent for urban men during 1994 to 2004. This suggests that the advantage offered by a young labour force is not being exploited.
Strategies exist to exploit the demographic window of opportunity that India has today. But India’s recent experience suggests that market forces by themselves do not ensure that such strategies would be implemented. Unless a way forward is found, we may miss out on the potential benefits that the country’s changing age structure temporarily offers.
a) What is the demographic dividend?
b) Do you think that India is indeed facing a window of opportunity created by demographic dividend?
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