CBSE Class 10 Social Science Democracy and Diversity Assignment Set B

Question. How had these US athletes represented Black Power in the medal ceremony?
Answer. The black gloved and raised clenched fists were meant to symbolise Black Power.

Question. Give one example of overlapping social differences.
Answer. In Northern Ireland, class and religion overlap with each other. Here Catholics are more likely to be poor, they may have suffered a history of discrimination.

Question. How were Protestants represented by the political parties?
Answer. The Protestants were represented by Unionists, who wanted to remain with the UK which is predominantly Protestants.

Question. Is it dangerous to have social divisions and politics mix together?
Answer. The politics and social divisions must not be allowed to mix because these divisions are reflected in the politics and they are dangerous.

Question. How does social division affect voting in a state?
Answer. Social division affects voting in most countries. People from one community tend to prefer sure party more than others.

Question. What problem was raised by Smith and Carlos of USA? With what gesture did they bring international attention to the social problems in USA?
Answer. Receiving their gold and bronze medals, respectively; the American athletes wore black socks and no shoes to represent Black poverty. With this gesture, they tried to draw international attention to the prevailing racial discrimination in the United States. The black-gloved and raised clenched fists were meant to symbolise Black Power.

Question. What do you know about ‘Civil Rights Movement’ in the USA?
Answer. It refers to a set of events and reform movements aimed at abolishing legal racial discrimination against Afro-AmericAnswer. It was led by Martin Luther King Jr. This movement practised non-violent methods of civil disobedience against racial discriminatory laws and practices. In the Mexico Olympics of 1968, US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos tried to draw international attention to racial discrimination in the US by wearing black gloves to represent black power.

Question. Give examples to prove that social differences cross-cut each other.
Answer. (i) If social differences cross-cut one another, it is difficult to put one group of people against the other.
(ii) It means the groups that share a common interest on one issue are likely to be on different sides on a different issue.
(iii) In northern Ireland, class and religion overlap each other. A Catholic is more likely to be poor and they suffer discrimination.
(iv) In Netherlands, class and religion tend to cross-cut each other. Catholics and Protestants are both likely to be poor or rich. The result is that Catholics and protestants have had conflicts in northern Ireland, while they do not do so in the Netherlands.
That’s why cross-cutting social differences are easier to accommodate.

Question. ‘But a positive attitude towards diversity and willingness to accommodate it do not come about easily.’ Elucidate.
Answer. It is not easy to maintain positive attitude towards diversity and willingness to accommodate it because People who feel marginalised, deprived and discriminated have to fight against the injustices. Such a fight often takes the democratic path, voicing their demands in a peaceful and constitutional manner and seeking a fair position through elections. Sometimes social differences can take the form of unacceptable level of social inequality and injustice. The struggle against such inequalities sometimes takes the path of violence and defiance of state power.

Question. ‘Social diversity can take different forms in different societies.’ Explain.
Answer. l Racial discrimination was practised in US and it ultimately led to Civil Rights Movement.
There were protests in the streets and US black athletes had protested against their racism in the open in the medal ceremony of Olympics.
- In Sri Lanka, the differences could be seen in the form of various religions followed in the country and the languages like Sinhala and Tamil. There was a civil war in the country due to importance being given to Sinhalas only.
- In Belgium, people speak different languages like Dutch, French and German. But that country opted for accommodation by giving due importance to all the languages.
- Most of the social differences are based on the accident of birth but some of them are based on choices also like some people choose to follow a religion which is different from the one in which they were born.

CBSE Class 10 Social Science Chapter 3 Democracy and Diversity Long Answer Questions

Question. How do overlapping and cross cutting of differences create social division? Explain.
Answer. Overlapping:
- Under this, a social difference overlaps with another difference.
- People start feeling that they belong to different communities.
- They create possibilities of deep social divisions.
- For example, difference between African Americans and Whites in the US is an overlapping difference because the African Americans tend to be poor and homeless.
Cross-cutting:
- Under this, a social difference cross-cuts another difference.
- The group can share a common interest on one issue but are likely to be on different sides on different issues.
- These are easier to accommodate.
- For example, in Netherlands, class and religion tend to cross-cut each other as Catholics and Protestants are both likely to be poor or rich.

Question. “In a democracy, political expression of social division is very normal and can be healthy.” Justify this statement with suitable argument.
Answer. (i) In a democracy, political expression of social division is very normal and can be healthy.
In such democracies, they allow all the marginalised social groups to express their opinion and attend to their opinions too.
(ii) If there are conflicts among various social group of a country, they often cross cut each other and its intensity gets reduced. It further leads to the strengthening of democracy.
(iii) Conflicts in social divisions sometimes became violent also. It led to the division of countries too like Yugoslavia, but in democratic countries, these diversities are accommodated easily.

Question. What are civil rights? Do you think that the movement started in the USA and led by Martin Luther king was right? Write in short about the movement.
Answer. Civil rights are the rights of individuals to receive equal treatment (and to be free from discrimination) in a number of settings of education, housing, employment and more. Yes the movement started was indeed a positive step towards treating human beings with an honour. Civil Rights Movements in the USA (1954–1968): It refers to a set of events and reform movements aimed at abolishing legal racial discrimination against African-AmericAnswer. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., this movement practised non-violent methods of civil disobedience against racially discriminatory laws and practices.

Question. Why isn’t Iran a homogeneous country?
Answer. The vast majority of countries in the world are not homogenous, because people migrate all the time. Truly homogenous countries are either islands (Iceland, Japan etc.,) geography, isolated (Scandinavia) or politically isolated (N. Korea). The rest are artificially formed to become nation states (Germany, Italy, Armenia). Precisely, Iran sits in the crossroads of different cultures and civilizations, in the middle of Asia and Europe and it has been a major trading outpost for millenia. Further Persian culture was still firmly rooted in the region and different cultures were accommodated in the Persian culture.