Which among these is NOT a characteristic of market as a social institution?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Secularization
Option (1) Commodification — A characteristic of the market (Incorrect). Commodification occurs when things that were earlier not traded become commodities bought and sold, such as labour or skills. It is the market spreading into new areas of life.
Option (2) Liberalisation — A characteristic of the market (Incorrect). Liberalisation removes state controls and leaves more to the market; the globalisation of the Indian economy has come mainly from this policy, so it shapes how markets work today.
Option (3) Industrialization — A characteristic of the market (Incorrect). Industrial production is production for the market on a large scale; under colonial rule India became a market for the goods of industrialising England. Markets and industry grow together.
Option (4) Secularization — Not a characteristic of the market (Correct). Secularisation is the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as religion turns from an obligation into a personal practice. It concerns religion, not buying and selling.
NCERT (2025-26): “…We are used to thinking of the market as an economic institution, but this chapter will show you that the market is also a social institution. In its own way, the market is comparable to more obviously social institutions like caste, tribe or family discussed in Chapter 3.… Commoditisation and Consumption … Commodification occurs when things that were earlier not traded in the market become commodities. For instance, labour or skills become things that can be bought and sold.… Debate on Liberalisation – Market Versus State The globalisation of the Indian economy has been due primarily to the policy of liberalisation that was started in the late 1980s.… Indian Society — Chapter 6, Communalism, Secularism and the Nation-state: … This separation was related to the process of ‘secularisation’, or the progressive retreat of religion from public life, as it was converted from a mandatory obligation to a voluntary personal practice.…” |