Read the passage and answer the following questions.
Social change is a continuous and ongoing process. The broad historical processes of social change are the sum total of countless individual and collective actions gathered across time and space. While social movements are directed towards some specific goals, it involves long and continuous social effort and action by people. The social movements can be classified as redemptive or transformatory, reformist and revolutionary. A redemptive social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. Reformist social movements strive to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. Revolutionary social movements attempt to radically transform social relations often by capturing state power.
Many members of Dalit community, under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar changed their social practices to leave alcohol drinking and eating dead animals. This kind of movement can be termed as.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Redemptive or transformative
Option (1) Redemptive or transformative — Correct. A redemptive or transformatory social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. The Dalit members in the question did not try to capture the state or change a law first; they changed their own social practices by giving up alcohol and the eating of dead animals. People of the Ezhava community in Kerala did the same when they were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices.
Option (2) Reformist — Incorrect. Reformist movements strive to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps, like the movement for linguistic states or the Right to Information campaign. Here the change sought was in the members’ own conduct, not in the arrangements of society or the state.
Option (3) Revolutionary — Incorrect. Revolutionary movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power, as the Bolshevik revolution did in Russia. Giving up certain habits is a change in personal practice, not a seizure of power.
Option (4) New social movement — Incorrect. New social movements, such as the women’s movement and environmental groups, are not just about ‘old’ issues of economic inequality, nor organised along class lines alone; identity, cultural anxieties and aspirations drive them. The term separates newer movements from older class-based ones; it does not name the aim of changing members’ own conduct, which is what the question describes.
Note: The passage of this question is built from the chapter ‘Social Movements’ of NCERT: its lines on social change and social movements and on the three types of movements come from the book. When NTA builds a passage from the book, a careful reading of the chapter answers most of the questions, so read every section of the chapter, not only its headings.
NCERT (2025-26): “8.3 Types of Social Movements … There are different kinds of social movements. They can be classified as: (i) redemptive or transformatory; (ii) reformist; and (iii) revolutionary. A redemptive social movement aims to bring about a change in the personal consciousness and actions of its individual members. For instance, people in the Ezhava community in Kerala were led by Narayana Guru to change their social practices. Reformist social movements strive to change the existing social and political arrangements through gradual, incremental steps. The 1960s movement for the reorganisation of Indian states on the basis of language and the recent Right to Information campaign are examples of reformist movements. Revolutionary social movements attempt to radically transform social relations, often by capturing state power. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia that deposed the Tsar to create a communist state and the Naxalite movement in India that seeks to remove oppressive landlords and state officials can be described as revolutionary movements.…” |