My advice to readers
would be to mark your answers first and then refer the answers. Comprehension
passages in the competitive exams will be of these types.
English Comprehension –
1
Read
the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow in
accordance with the context of the passage.
The
eighteenth century saw the emergence of a number of radically different types
of social theories which had one feature in common, an emphasis on spontaneous
forms of social organization and a corresponding stress on the autonomy of the
social sphere from political direction. Within this broad assumption, three
distinct modes of theorizing developed. The first, embodied largely in contract,
utilitarian and classical economic theories, sought to explain society in terms
of individual intentions and w social coherence as emerging from the
willingness of individuals to serve the needs of the others in order to satisfy
their own. The second, taking shape in what might be called cultural sociology,
derived social coherence from the shared values of a society, varying from
community to community but in all constituting severe limits to political
action. The third, expressed in various historicist philosophies, asserted the
patterning of social development over time and the possibility of predicting as
well as retrofitting this patterning, thus again setting bounds to political
possibilities. The political uses f these varieties of social analysis have
been complex, but again, broadly, the first has been identified with classical
laissez faire liberalism, the second has been developed by and supported
conservative thought of one kind or another, while the third has been
peculiarly although not exclusively associated with Marxist socialism. Whatever
their political applications, these theories have in common, served the purpose of underlining the limited
efficacy or even the positive disutility of political intervention in social
arrangements, the marginal use of politics.
I
am concerned here with the first of these modes of theorizing, exchange theory.
The central assumptions of exchange theory, necessarily postulates about
individual psychology or motivation, have been egoism, the self-interest axiom
and rationality – the capacity and inclination of men to choose appropriate
means for the ends they have in mind. The central assertion of the theory has
been that social cohesion may be achieved through (if men are egoistic and can
be taught to be rational) or, is based on (if men are both egoistic and
rational) the adaptation of individual actions to the needs of others and to general social ends in the course of
their pursuit of their own interests, and without any appeal to cohesive values
other than those involved in the acceptance of common media of exchange. The
central intellectual construct of the theory has been the notion of the
market(or, as Hayek has called it, in order to free the term of its narrowly
economic implications, a catallaxy), the notion of a spontaneous and self-adjusting
order which emerges from the mutual exchange of benefits between
self-interested individuals.
The
political requirement seen as necessary to sustain, such a catallaxy were minimal.
One arose from the need to enforce agreements. Rational egoists in a world of
rational egoists had to have some insurance against the excesses of egoism and
some assurance therefore that promises and bargains would be enforced. The
other problem demanding a political solution was the need to prevent monopoly and
perhaps to stimulate competition, so as to maintain sufficient alternatives for
the individual, either as supplier or demander meaningfully to measure
opportunity costs. Another political problem that might seem to present itself –
that different individuals carry different resources into the market – was ignored,
or rather, it was ignored as a moral problem requiring perhaps a political
solution, while it was explained as a social fact in exchange terms through the
division of labour, inequality of capacities, demand differentials and thus
exchange inequalities. The moral problem of inequality was avoided by insisting
on the moral neutrality of the market and also on the claim that inequalities
in the distribution of resources derived from exchange inequalities.
There
have thus been two analytical thrusts in catallactics or exchange theory: firstly
and primarily to explain and predict the behaviour of individuals or groups
engaged in exchange within a given distribution of resources; secondly and
secondarily to describe how differentials emerge, are maintained and may
change, primarily through division of labour explanations. Used ideologically,
as a justification of a particular type of political system or programme, the
theory has claimed some moral superiority for the spontaneous order of a
catallaxy over an order decided on politically and maintained by political
power. One basis for such a claim has been utilitarian form, but most of the
weight of justification has rested ion the supposed voluntary character of
entry into and agreement within exchange relationships in contrast for example
with the coercive character of power relationships. Bargains are freely arrived
at, political obedience is essentially unfree; and thus the prima facie
prferabiliy of the first is obvious.
1. Utilitarian theory has been associated
with
a)
Conservative
thought b) Marxist socialism
c)
Historicist
philosophies d) Laissez faire philosophy
2. The central assumption of exchange
theory is
a)
Social
cohesion b)
predicted patterning c) Self-interest
axiom
d)
positive
disutility
3. One of the most important assumptions
of the exchange theory has been
a)
Rational
egocentrism b) self-adjusting order c)
laissez faire
d)
moral
non-neutrality
4. Cultural sociology is associated with
a)
Willingness
of individuals to serve the needs of others
b)
Patterning
of social development
c)
Capacity
of men to achieve their ends
d)
None
of the above
5. Under laissez faire, political
interference was considered necessary in all the following cases except in case
of
a)
Enforcing
agreements b) correcting exchange
inequalities c) preventing
monopolies d) maintaining
competition
6. The supposed superiority of the
exchange theory primarily rested on the fact that
a)
It
helped to predict individual behaviour fairly accurately
b)
The
division of labour explanations offered by the theory were correct to a point
c)
The
exchange relationships were entered into voluntarily
d)
It
required minimal political interference
7. The term “positive disutility” in the
context (last sentence, para 1) means
a)
Violation
of the principles of utilitarianism
b)
Dangerous
inadequacy
c)
Abnormal
excess
d)
Clearly
harmful potential
8. Which of the following statements is
true?
a)
Exchange
theory is clearly morally superior, just and fair
b)
All
social arrangements other than laissez faire leaned heavily on governmental intervention
c)
The
marked similarity among the social theories emerging in the 18th
century was their aversion to the moral problem of inequality.
d)
Along
with Marxism, there are other schools of thought which are associated with
historicist thinking
9. Which of the following is not necessarily one
of the psychological assumptions of the classical economic theory?
a)
Men
are basically egoistic
b)
Men
are motivated by self-interest
c)
Cohesive
social values can be attained without any conscious effort to attain them
d)
Only
egoistic men who are motivated by self-interest can act rationally.
Answers:
1.
(d)
2. (c) 3.
(b) 4. (d) 5.
(b) 6. (c) 7.
(d) 8.
(d) 9. (d)
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