Which kind of society represents the periodic markets as a central feature of social and economic organization?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Peasant society
Option (1) Pre-Class society — Incorrect. A pre-class society is one from the stage of history before classes formed, when people produced little beyond their own needs and no group owned the means of production. With hardly any surplus, a regular system of markets could not be its central feature.
Option (2) Ancient society — Incorrect. ‘Ancient society’ only places a society in a period of history, the ancient times; it does not name the kind of agrarian economy in which weekly markets organise social and economic life.
Option (3) Hunting and gathering society — Incorrect. In hunting and gathering societies little was produced, so there was little surplus to bring to a market; food was hunted and gathered for use, not sold at periodic markets.
Option (4) Peasant society — Correct. In most agrarian or ‘peasant’ societies around the world, periodic markets are a central feature of social and economic organisation. Weekly markets bring together people from surrounding villages to sell their produce and buy goods not made in the village, and they link local economies to the wider regional and national economy.
Note: The concepts in Options (1) and (2), ‘Pre-Class society’ and ‘Ancient society’, are not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Sociological Perspectives on Markets … In most agrarian or ‘peasant’ societies around the world, periodic markets are a central feature of social and economic organisation. Weekly markets bring together people from surrounding villages, who come to sell their agricultural or other produce and to buy manufactured goods and other items that are not available in their villages. They attract traders from outside the local area, as well as moneylenders, entertainers, astrologers, and a host of other specialists offering their services and wares. In rural India there are also specialised markets that take place at less frequent intervals, for instance, cattle markets. These periodic markets link different regional and local economies together, and link them to the wider national economy and to towns and metropolitan centres.” |