Question

Match statements (P), (Q), (R), (S) to names (1), (2), (3), (4):
(P) ``The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.''
(Q) The state is ``an institutional association of rule, which within a given territory has succeeded in gaining a monopoly of legitimate physical force as a means of ruling.''
(R) ``It is only through the State that individualism is possible, although it cannot be the means of making it a reality, except in certain precise conditions. We might say that in the State we have the prime mover. It is the State that has rescued the child from patriarchal domination and from family tyranny; it is the State that has freed the citizen from feudal groups and later from communal groups; it is the State that has liberated the craftsman and his master from guild tyranny.” ''
(S) “The family is indeed a fiction, a social artefact, an illusion in the most ordinary sense of the word, but a ‘well-founded illusion’, because, being produced and reproduced with the guarantee of the state, it receives from the state at every moment the means to exist and persist.”
(1) Pierre Bourdieu
(2) Emile Durkheim
(3) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
(4) Max Weber

• A. (P)-(3), (Q)-(4), (R)-(2), (S)-(1)
• B. (P)-(3), (Q)-(4), (R)-(1), (S)-(2)
• C. (P)-(3), (Q)-(1), (R)-(2), (S)-(4)
• D. (P)-(4), (Q)-(2), (R)-(3), (S)-(1)

Hint:

Key thinkers can often be identified by their signature concepts: Marx with class and the bourgeois state, Weber with legitimate force, Durkheim with moral integration, and Bourdieu with social constructions and symbolic power.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Identifying statement (P).
The statement describing the state as an instrument managing the common affairs of the bourgeoisie directly comes from Marxist theory. Hence, (P) corresponds to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (3).
Step 2: Identifying statement (Q).
The definition of the state as holding a monopoly over the legitimate use of physical force is the classic definition given by Max Weber. Therefore, (Q) matches with Max Weber (4).
Step 3: Identifying statement (R).
The emphasis on the state enabling individualism and liberating individuals from traditional forms of domination reflects Emile Durkheim’s understanding of the moral and integrative role of the state. Thus, (R) corresponds to Emile Durkheim (2).
Step 4: Identifying statement (S).
The idea of the family as a social artefact and a well-founded illusion produced and reproduced through the state is associated with Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological analysis. Hence, (S) matches with Pierre Bourdieu (1).
Step 5: Final matching.
Combining all correct pairings gives:
(P)-(3), (Q)-(4), (R)-(2), (S)-(1).
Final Answer: (A)