Thinker

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss is central to 5 previous-year questions, spanning 2012 to 2024 across Paper I and Paper II. Everything below is drawn from the official papers — the questions themselves, the concepts they test, and where they sit in the syllabus.

5Questions

2012–24Years tested

I & IIPaper

3Syllabus topics

Concepts asked alongside Claude Lévi-Strauss

What the examiner actually wants you to know when this name appears.

descent 2unilineal descent 2affinal tiesalliancealliance and descentalliance as marriage relationsanimismcollective consciencecorporate groupcross-cousin marriagedescent as lineage membershipexogamy and endogamyindividualisation of marriageinheritance and successionintercaste and late marriagelineagemarriage as a social institutionprescriptive marriage

Where Claude Lévi-Strauss appears in the syllabus

9. Systems of Kinship2
Systems of Kinship in India2
8. Religion and Society1

Every question on Claude Lévi-Strauss

Each links to a full breakdown — how to approach it, a model answer, and the examiner’s perspective.

2024

Why is the study of marriage important in Sociology? Analyse the implications of changing marriage patterns for Indian society.Paper II · 20 marks · Systems of Kinship in India

2023

2015

How do the rules of descent and alliance in kinship differ from each other ? Illustrate.Paper I · 10 marks · 9. Systems of Kinship

2012

Describe the importance of lineage and descent in kinship and family.Paper I · 20 marks · 9. Systems of Kinship

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