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General Studies 2025 GS Paper I 10 marks 150 words Compulsory Justify

GS Paper I — Q10

Do you think that globalization results in only an aggressive consumer culture ? Justify your answer. (Answer in 150 words) 10

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

क्या आपको लगता है कि वैश्वीकरण का परिणाम केवल आक्रामक उपभोक्ता संस्कृति ही है ? अपने उत्तर की पुष्टि कीजिए । (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए) 10 marks

Q10 of the 2025 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper I, as printed
The question as printed in the 2025 General Studies paper
Evaluate your answer to this question → See all 2025 General Studies questions

Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

Globalization undoubtedly promotes an aggressive consumer culture. The penetration of multinational corporations and targeted advertising foster cultural homogenization or "McDonaldization," encouraging hyper-consumption. Economically, while expanding material choices, it also fuels debt-driven consumption and rural distress, seen in agrarian crises and farmer suicides linked to capital-intensive cash-crop dependency.

However, globalization does not result only in consumerism. It simultaneously facilitates rich two-way cultural exchange and diaspora networks, driving reverse flows where Indian traditions like Yoga, Ayurveda, and sustainable living gain global prominence.

Moreover, its impact is socio-economically differentiated. While the urban elite actively participate in global consumerist lifestyles, rural India faces a digital and economic divide that limits such integration, often preserving traditional, frugal consumption patterns.

Thus, aggressive consumerism is not an inevitable or deterministic outcome of globalization; rather, it is a contingent process continually mediated and reshaped by state policy, class structures, and resilient local cultural resistance.

What "Justify" is asking you to do

Defend a position with reasons that carry evidence, and show why the contrary view does not hold. Where the stem runs as a question and asks you to justify your answer, the position is yours to choose and the marks lie wholly in the defence.

Structure that answers it

Position stated plainly → reason 1 with evidence → reason 2 with evidence → strongest objection, met → position restated as qualified

Where marks are lost

Reasons stated and none of them evidenced. The other standard loss is fence-sitting — an answer that finds merit on both sides and commits to neither has justified nothing.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

justify: claim > 3-4 reasons > evidence > conclusion Full marks: Refutes 'only' premise with 3+ distinct cultural outcomes and evidence.

Key points expected

  • Explicitly reject the 'only' premise
  • 3-4 distinct non-consumer cultural outcomes
  • Evidence for each outcome
  • Balanced conclusion

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Refute the claim that globalization leads only to aggressive consumer culture. 10 marks · 150 words

    justify— claim → 3-4 reasons → evidence → conclusion

    Must cover

    • Explicitly reject the 'only' premise
    • 3-4 distinct non-consumer cultural outcomes
    • Evidence for each outcome
    • Balanced conclusion

    Loses marks

    • Narrating chronology of globalization
    • Emotive words without analysis
    • Ignoring the 'only' in the question

    Earns more

    • Mention of cultural homogenization
    • Reference to digital connectivity
    • Discussion of global citizenship
    • Mention of cross-cultural exchange

    Extra mark

    • Specific example of cultural fusion
    • Reference to a specific global movement

Practice this exact question

Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.

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