Top 100 UGC NET Sociology MCQs 2025: Postmodern & Contemporary Theories

UGC NET Sociology MCQs: Contemporary Theories & Thinkers

Enhance your UGC NET Sociology exam preparation with these multiple-choice questions focusing on contemporary sociological theories and influential thinkers. Click on "Show Answer" to reveal the correct option!

1. Who among the following has made use of the concepts, 'indexicality' and 'reflexivity' in his theory?

• (1) Harold Garfinkel
• (2) Thomas Luckmann
• (3) Alfred Schutz
• (4) Erving Goffman

Answer: (1) Harold Garfinkel

2. Which of the following can be described as "a method in philosophy that begins with the individual and his own conscious experience and tries to avoid prior assumptions, prejudices and philosophical dogmas"?

• (1) Ecology
• (2) Phenomenology
• (3) Ethnomethodology
• (4) Dramaturgy

Answer: (2) Phenomenology

3. Which of the following methods is not used by Garfinkel in his work on ethnomethodology?

• (1) Accounting Practices
• (2) Et Cetera Principle
• (3) Documentary Method
• (4) Collecting Narratives

Answer: (4) Collecting Narratives

4. Match the following Lists:

List - I (Authors)
(a) Alfred Schutz
(b) Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann
(c) Harold Garfinkel
(d) Erving Goffman

List - II (Books)
(i) Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
(ii) The Phenomenology of the Social World
(iii) The Social Construction of Reality
(iv) Studies in Ethnomethodology

Options:

• 1. (ii) (i) (ii) (iv)
• 2. (iv) (iii) (ii) (i)
• 3. (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)
• 4. (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Answer: (3) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)

5. An approach to social analysis in which the theatre is the basis of an analogy with everyday life is known as:

• (1) Teleology
• (2) Dramaturgy
• (3) Theology
• (4) Gerontology

Answer: (2) Dramaturgy

6. The key concepts of Berger and Luckmann's theory described as moments of a dialectical process are:

• (1) Externalization, Objectivation, Internalization
• (2) Objectivation, Internalization, Subjectivity
• (3) Internalization, Subjectivity, Externalization
• (4) Externalization, Incorporation, Internalization

Answer: (1) Externalization, Objectivation, Internalization

7. Which of the following notions Louis Althusser has opposed?

• (1) Humanist movements within Marxism
• (2) Humanist and Hegelian movements within Marxism
• (3) Humanist - Labour movements within Marxism
• (4) Labour - Hegelian movements within Marxism

Answer: (2) Humanist and Hegelian movements within Marxism

8. According to Habermas's view in modern societies science and technical rationality function as:

• (1) Raising fundamental questions about human ends
• (2) Ideologies
• (3) Reason against ignorance
• (4) Reason against oppression

Answer: (2) Ideologies

9. What are the three forms of scientific knowledge that Habermas seeks to identify?
(a) Empirical - analytical
(b) Ethical - philosophical
(c) Hermeneutic inquiry
(d) Critical and emancipatory

Options:

• (1) (a), (b), (c)
• (2) (b), (c), (d)
• (3) (a), (b), (d)
• (4) (a), (c), (d)

Answer: (4) (a), (c), (d)

10. According to L. Althusser the mode of production involves complex articulation of:

• (1) only economic practices
• (2) only political practices
• (3) economic, political and ideological practices
• (4) economic and political practices

Answer: (3) economic, political and ideological practices

11. Who has considered 'modernity as an unfinished project'?

• (1) J. Derrida
• (2) A. Giddens
• (3) L. Althusser
• (4) J. Habermass

Answer: (4) J. Habermass

12. Who popularised the conception of an 'epistemological break' between young Marx and the mature Marx?

• (1) L. Althusser
• (2) J. Habermass
• (3) J.C. Alexander
• (4) R. Dahrendorf

Answer: (1) L. Althusser

13. Which among the following is not the work of Michel Foucault?

• (1) Forms of Talk
• (2) History of Sexuality
• (3) Madness and Civilization
• (4) Discipline and Punish

Answer: (1) Forms of Talk

14. Which one of the following concepts is not given by Derrida?

• (1) Cultural Capital
• (2) Logocentrism
• (3) Deconstruction
• (4) Difference

Answer: (1) Cultural Capital

15. Match the following Lists:

List - I (Author)
(a) Anthony Giddens
(b) Michel Foucault
(c) Jacques Derrida
(d) Louis Althusser

List - II (Books)
(i) For Marx
(ii) The Constitution of Society
(iii) The Order of Things
(iv) Writing and Difference

Options:

• (1) (i) (iv) (iii) (ii)
• (2) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)
• (3) (iv) (ii) (i) (iii)
• (4) (ii) (i) (iv) (iii)

Answer: (2) (ii) (iii) (iv) (i)