BANC 108 key facts: June 2026
- Course code: BANC-108
- Subject: Theories of Culture and Society
- Programme: Bachelor of Science (Honours) Anthropology (BSCANH), Semester IV
- Credits: 6
- Blocks and units: 4 blocks, 13 units and a Practical Manual
- Maximum marks: 100 (term-end exam 70 per cent, assignments 30 per cent)
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the June 2026 paper: 9 numbered questions, 14 answerable parts
- Word limits: 400 words per 20-mark answer, 200 words per 10-mark note
- Sample answers on this page: 2 (Q1 and Q2); all 14 parts in the paid file
BANC 108 Solved Question Paper for the June 2026 term-end exam gives you complete, examiner-style answers to the Theories of Culture and Society paper, from the American school of diffusion to Victor Turner and contemporary critical feminism. Two answers are open below; the rest come in the full file on WhatsApp 9899436384.
1. What the June 2026 Paper Covers
BANC 108 Theories of Culture and Society is a six-credit core course in IGNOU's Bachelor of Science (Honours) Anthropology (BSCANH), studied in Semester IV, that follows how anthropologists have explained culture from evolutionism to feminism and new ethnography.
The June 2026 paper keeps the familiar shape: nine numbered questions across Sections A, B and C, with short-note questions that let you pick two of three. Counting every sub-part there are 14 answerable questions, and our file answers all 14, so you can revise every option and pick the ones you know best.
Two things stand out in this paper. Victor Turner is named for the first time in the eight official papers we checked, and Cultural Ethnocentrism appears as a short note where earlier papers only asked about cultural relativism. Q2 on Franz Boas, by contrast, returns almost word for word from June 2025.
Section A draws on Blocks 1 to 3, from evolutionism and diffusion to Durkheim and structuralism. Section B leans on Blocks 3 and 4, with Radcliffe-Brown, Marxian theory, feminism and new ethnography. Section C is compulsory and asks you to choose a theory for a fieldwork topic on rituals, the kind of thinking the course Practical Manual trains.
You can match every unit named on this page against the official BANC-108 course page on eGyanKosh, which lists the four blocks, 13 units and the Practical Manual.
2. Two Answers Solved in Full, Twelve Held Back
Q1 on diffusion and the American school and Q2 on Franz Boas are solved in full below; the other 12 questions are listed exactly as printed and answered only in the full file.
Both samples are 20-mark Section A questions, so each answer is written close to the 400-word limit printed on the paper. Read them as a check on depth, structure and accuracy before you ask for the full file.
Diffusion and the American School of Diffusionism
Question 1: What is diffusion? Discuss the American School of Diffusionism. (20)
What is diffusion?
Diffusion is the process by which cultural traits such as tools, techniques, ideas, beliefs and customs spread from one society to another through contact, migration, trade, war or intermarriage. Diffusionism, the theory built on it, held that cultures grow mainly by borrowing, not by independent invention. It rose in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a reaction against unilinear evolutionism.
Three schools developed. The British school of G. Elliot Smith and W.J. Perry traced civilisation to a single cradle in Egypt. The German-Austrian school of Friedrich Ratzel, Fritz Graebner and Wilhelm Schmidt spoke of several culture circles (Kulturkreise). The American school was the most cautious of the three.
The American School of Diffusionism
The American school grew around Franz Boas and his students, chiefly Clark Wissler and Alfred L. Kroeber. Rather than tracing world history to one or a few centres, it studied how traits spread within a limited, well-documented region, mainly Native North America, using field data and museum collections. For this reason it is often called limited or moderate diffusionism.
- Culture area. Wissler grouped Native American tribes into culture areas, geographical zones where neighbouring groups share a similar set of traits. His The American Indian (1917) popularised the idea. The Plains area, for example, was marked by bison hunting, use of the horse, the tipi and the Sun Dance.
- Culture centre and margin. Within each area, traits are most typical at the centre and fade towards the margins, where they blend with traits of neighbouring areas.
- Age-area concept. Wissler argued that traits spread outwards from the centre like ripples, so a trait found over a wider area is likely to be older than one with a narrow spread. This gave a way to estimate the relative age of traits without written records.
- Culture climax. Kroeber refined the idea in Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America (1939). He linked culture areas to natural environment and introduced the culture climax, the point where a culture reaches its greatest intensity and richness.
- Trait and trait complex. The school broke culture into single traits and trait complexes, that is, related clusters of tools, rituals and practices, and mapped their distribution to reconstruct regional history.
Criticism
The age-area idea assumes traits spread at an even speed in all directions, ignoring barriers, conquest and local choice. Culture areas describe regions well but explain little about why a trait is accepted or rejected, and area borders are often arbitrary.
Conclusion
Diffusion explains cultural similarity through contact. The American school turned that idea into a regional, evidence-based method through culture area, age-area and culture climax, giving anthropology careful distribution maps built on field data.
Franz Boas and his influence on anthropological research
Question 2: Discuss Franz Boas's influence on anthropological research. (20)
Introduction
Franz Boas (1858 to 1942), a German-born scholar who settled in the United States, is called the father of American anthropology. Trained in physics and geography, he turned to anthropology after fieldwork among the Inuit of Baffin Island in 1883 and 1884. At Columbia University he trained a generation of anthropologists and changed how research in the discipline is done.
Boas's influence on anthropological research
- Critique of the comparative method. In his 1896 paper The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology, Boas argued that similar traits in different societies need not have the same cause. Evolutionists ranked cultures on one ladder using scattered data; Boas insisted that each trait be studied in its own historical context first.
- Historical particularism. From this came his approach, later named historical particularism by Marvin Harris. Every culture is the product of its own unique history, shaped by environment, diffusion and internal change. General laws, if any, can come only after detailed regional histories are built.
- Cultural relativism. Boas held that a culture must be understood through its own values, not judged by European standards. This challenged the ethnocentrism and racial ranking of his time and became a core ethic of anthropological research.
- Intensive fieldwork and native texts. He stressed long fieldwork, learning the local language and recording myths and texts in the people's own words. His long study of the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) of British Columbia, with local collaborator George Hunt, set a model for data-rich ethnography.
- Race, language and culture kept separate. His measurements of immigrants' children born in America showed that even head form changed with environment, weakening the idea of fixed racial types. In The Mind of Primitive Man (1911) he argued that no race is mentally superior.
- The four-field approach. Boas linked cultural anthropology, linguistics, physical anthropology and archaeology, a structure that American anthropology departments still follow.
- His students. Alfred Kroeber, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Edward Sapir and Robert Lowie carried his ideas into culture area studies, the culture and personality school and linguistic anthropology.
Criticism
Critics such as Leslie White and Marvin Harris said his inductive method piled up facts while avoiding theory, which slowed the search for general explanations.
Conclusion
Boas moved anthropology from armchair speculation to careful fieldwork, historical context and cultural relativism. Almost every modern ethnographic study still follows the research habits he set.
3. Questions Answered Only in the Full File
The questions below are reproduced exactly as they appear in the June 2026 paper. Their answers are not shown on this page.
Question 3 (Section A): What is evolutionism? Discuss the contributions of the early thinkers. (20)
(a) Herbert Spencer
(b) E.B. TylorQuestion 4 (Section A): Write short notes on any two of the following. (10 + 10)
(a) Neo-Evolutionism
(b) Structuralism
(c) Emile Durkheim
Question 5 (Section B): Discuss the structural-functional approach of Radcliffe-Brown. (20)
Question 6 (Section B): Write a note on Marxian theory and Social Anthropology. (20)
Question 7 (Section B): What is feminism? Discuss the salient features of contemporary critical feminism. (20)
Question 8 (Section B): Write short notes on any two of the following. (10 + 10)
(a) Autoethnography
(b) Victor Turner
(c) Cultural Ethnocentrism
Question 9 (Section C, compulsory): (10 + 10)
(a) What is theory? Why do we need theories? Discuss.
(b) For a fieldwork based research on the topic "Rituals and the Changing Dynamics in a Society", suggest which anthropological theory can be looked at. Give an example.
4. Blocks and Units
BANC 108 is organised into four blocks with 13 units and a Practical Manual, moving from classical evolutionism to contemporary theory.
Block 1 covers the classical theories, Block 2 the rise of the fieldwork tradition, Block 3 theories of social structure and function, and Block 4 contemporary theories. If you want the unit-wise notes behind this table, see our BANC 108 Study Material.
| Block | Unit | Key topics in this unit |
|---|---|---|
| Block 1: Classical Theories | Unit 1: Evolutionism | Herbert Spencer, E.B. Tylor and L.H. Morgan's stages; basic premises and their criticism |
| Block 1: Classical Theories | Unit 2: Diffusionism | British heliocentric school, German-Austrian Kulturkreise, American limited diffusion |
| Block 1: Classical Theories | Unit 3: Culture Area Theories | Wissler's culture area and age-area concept; Kroeber's culture climax |
| Block 2: Emergence of Fieldwork Tradition | Unit 4: Historical Particularism and Critique of Comparative Method | Boas's 1896 critique, cultural relativism, fieldwork-based data |
| Block 2: Emergence of Fieldwork Tradition | Unit 5: American Cultural Tradition | Culture and personality school; Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead |
| Block 2: Emergence of Fieldwork Tradition | Unit 6: Cultural Materialism | Neo-evolutionists Leslie White and Julian Steward; cultural ecology; Marvin Harris |
| Block 3: Theories of Social Structure and Function | Unit 7: Social Integration | Auguste Comte, Spencer's organismic analogy, Emile Durkheim |
| Block 3: Theories of Social Structure and Function | Unit 8: Functionalism and Structural-functionalism | Malinowski's Trobriand fieldwork and needs; Radcliffe-Brown's social structure |
| Block 3: Theories of Social Structure and Function | Unit 9: Structuralism | Claude Levi-Strauss, binary oppositions, neo-structuralism |
| Block 3: Theories of Social Structure and Function | Unit 10: Conflict Theories | Manchester School, Max Gluckman, Marxian theory in social anthropology |
| Block 4: Contemporary Theories | Unit 11: Symbolic and Interpretive Approach | Origin of symbolic behaviour, classification of symbols, Victor Turner |
| Block 4: Contemporary Theories | Unit 12: Feminism | Early feminist theory, contemporary critical feminism |
| Block 4: Contemporary Theories | Unit 13: New Ethnography and Contemporary Changes | Autoethnography, team ethnography, dialogical ethnography |
| Practical Manual | After Unit 13 | Applying a theory to a fieldwork topic, as tested in Section C |
5. Paper Pattern and Marks Split
The June 2026 BANC 108 paper carries 100 marks over 3 hours: two 20-mark questions each from Sections A and B, plus a compulsory 20-mark Section C.
| Section | Questions | Choice | Marks per question | Section total | Word limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section A | Q1 to Q4 (Q4 short notes, any two) | Attempt any 2 | 20 each | 40 | 400 words (Q4 notes 200 each) |
| Section B | Q5 to Q8 (Q8 short notes, any two) | Attempt any 2 | 20 each | 40 | 400 words (Q8 notes 200 each) |
| Section C | Q9(a) and Q9(b) | Compulsory | 10 + 10 | 20 | 200 words per part |
The course's assignment booklet notes that the term-end exam carries 70 per cent weightage in the final result and assignments carry 30 per cent. So the paper decides most of your grade, and Section C, which cannot be skipped, is worth a fifth of it.
The same three-section layout has held in every paper from December 2021 onwards. To compare it with other courses in your programme, browse our BSCANH Question Paper collection.
6. Topics IGNOU Keeps Repeating in BANC 108
Diffusionism and the Section C theory questions appeared in all 8 official BANC 108 papers we checked, making them the safest topics to prepare.
We used eight official papers from IGNOU: December 2021, June 2022, June 2023, December 2023, June 2024, December 2024, June 2025 and December 2025. The December 2022 paper could not be found on IGNOU websites, so it is not counted. Older papers are on our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper page.
| Topic | Unit | Papers (of 8) | Sessions | In June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diffusionism and its schools | Unit 2 | 8 | Every session checked | Yes, Q1 (Sample 1) |
| Why theory matters (Section C part a) | Course introduction | 8 | Every session checked | Yes, Q9(a) |
| Applying a theory to a project (Section C part b) | Practical Manual | 8 (rituals in 4) | Rituals: Dec 2021, Jun 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | Yes, Q9(b) on rituals |
| Evolutionism: premises and criticism | Unit 1 | 7 | All except Jun 2022 | Yes, Q3 |
| Symbolic and interpretive approach | Unit 11 | 7 | All except Jun 2022 | Yes, Q8(b) Victor Turner, first time by name |
| Culture and personality (Benedict, Mead) | Unit 5 | 7 | All except Dec 2021 | — |
| Malinowski and functionalism | Unit 8 | 7 | All except Dec 2021 | — (not by name) |
| Radcliffe-Brown and structural-functionalism | Unit 8 | 6 | Dec 2021, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | Yes, Q5 |
| Neo-evolutionism | Unit 6 | 6 | Dec 2021, Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Dec 2024, Dec 2025 | Yes, Q4(a) |
| Social integration (Comte, Spencer, Durkheim) | Unit 7 | 6 | Dec 2021, Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | Yes, Q4(c) Durkheim |
| Feminism | Unit 12 | 5 | Dec 2021, Jun 2022, Dec 2024, Jun 2025, Dec 2025 | Yes, Q7 |
| Manchester School | Unit 10 | 5 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2024, Jun 2025 | — |
| Franz Boas and historical particularism | Unit 4 | 4 | Dec 2021, Jun 2023, Dec 2023, Jun 2025 | Yes, Q2 (Sample 2) |
| American school and culture area | Units 2 and 3 | 4 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Jun 2024, Dec 2024 | Yes, Q1 (Sample 1) |
| E.B. Tylor by name | Unit 1 | 3 | Jun 2022, Jun 2023, Dec 2025 | Yes, Q3(b) |
| Structuralism and Levi-Strauss | Unit 9 | 3 | Jun 2022, Jun 2024, Jun 2025 | Yes, Q4(b) |
| Autoethnography | Unit 13 | 3 | Dec 2021, Dec 2024, Jun 2025 | Yes, Q8(a) |
| Marxian theory and Social Anthropology | Unit 10 | 2 | Dec 2021, Dec 2025 (same wording) | Yes, Q6, same wording again |
| Herbert Spencer (organismic analogy) | Units 1 and 7 | 2 | Dec 2021, Dec 2023 | Yes, Q3(a) |
| Cultural relativism or ethnocentrism | Units 1 and 4 | 2 | Dec 2021, Jun 2023 (relativism only) | Yes, Q8(c) ethnocentrism, first time |
Two patterns matter here. Q6 on Marxian theory has now used the exact same wording in December 2021, December 2025 and June 2026. Q2 on Franz Boas repeats the June 2025 question almost word for word, so recent papers are a strong guide.
The gaps are just as useful. Culture and personality and Malinowski came up in 7 of 8 papers yet were skipped in June 2026, which makes them strong candidates for December 2026. Keep both on your revision list if you are appearing again in December 2026.
7. How Our Answers Are Written and Checked
Every answer in our file is written to IGNOU word limits and reviewed against the BANC 108 units on eGyanKosh.
We start with the official June 2026 paper and map each question to its unit, so every answer uses the names, dates and terms from the IGNOU material. Thinkers such as Spencer, Tylor, Radcliffe-Brown and Turner are then checked against their own published works before the answer is finalised.
Twenty-mark answers follow an introduction, numbered points and a short conclusion within about 400 words. Ten-mark notes stay near 200 words. Where a question has two parts, marks are shared between them so neither part looks thin to the examiner.
The file then goes for a review of accuracy and language. The same checking process is used across our IGNOU Solved Guess Paper range.
8. Solved File Index and the Practical Manual Link
The full file answers all 14 parts of the BANC 108 June 2026 paper; only Q1 and Q2 are open on this page.
BANC 108 is a six-credit course, and its study material ends with a Practical Manual after the four theory blocks. The paper has no lab-style exercise, but Section C always asks you to link a theory with a field topic, so the index shows where each question sits in the course.
| Question | Topic | Unit | Where the answer is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Diffusion and the American School of Diffusionism | Units 2 and 3 | Sample 1 above |
| Q2 | Franz Boas and anthropological research | Unit 4 | Sample 2 above |
| Q3 | Evolutionism: Herbert Spencer and E.B. Tylor | Units 1 and 7 | Full file |
| Q4(a) | Short note: Neo-Evolutionism | Unit 6 | Full file |
| Q4(b) | Short note: Structuralism | Unit 9 | Full file |
| Q4(c) | Short note: Emile Durkheim | Unit 7 | Full file |
| Q5 | Radcliffe-Brown's structural-functional approach | Unit 8 | Full file |
| Q6 | Marxian theory and Social Anthropology | Unit 10 | Full file |
| Q7 | Feminism and contemporary critical feminism | Unit 12 | Full file |
| Q8(a) | Short note: Autoethnography | Unit 13 | Full file |
| Q8(b) | Short note: Victor Turner | Unit 11 | Full file |
| Q8(c) | Short note: Cultural Ethnocentrism | Units 1 and 4 | Full file |
| Q9(a) | What theory is and why we need it | Course introduction and Block 1 | Full file |
| Q9(b) | Theory for fieldwork on rituals and changing dynamics | Practical Manual and Unit 11 | Full file |
9. Programmes That Study BANC 108
BANC 108 Theories of Culture and Society is a Semester IV core course of IGNOU's B.Sc. (Honours) Anthropology, listed on eGyanKosh under BSCANH.
If you are enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (Honours) Anthropology programme (BSCANH), this course follows your earlier core papers on social and cultural anthropology and sits in the same semester as BANC-110 Research Methods. The theories you learn here are the base for later fieldwork and dissertation work.
10. How to Get the Full Solved Question Paper
Send "BANC 108 June 2026" on WhatsApp 9899436384 to get the full solved paper with all 14 answers.
The file holds the 2 answers you read above plus the 12 answers not shown here: Herbert Spencer and E.B. Tylor, all three Q4 notes, Radcliffe-Brown, Marxian theory, critical feminism, all three Q8 notes and both Section C parts. It comes as a PDF you can read on your phone.
Our team replies on WhatsApp with the file details. If you are sitting BANC-108 again in December 2026, mention that too, so we can point you to the repeat topics that matter most for your attempt.
11. BANC 108 Theories of Culture and Society FAQs
These answers cover the questions BANC 108 students ask us most about the June 2026 solved paper.
What is in the Solved Question Paper June 2026?
It contains complete answers to all 14 answerable parts of the Theories of Culture and Society paper, including every short-note option in Q4 and Q8. Twenty-mark answers run close to 400 words and ten-mark notes close to 200 words, matching the limits printed on the paper. Two answers are open on this page as a quality sample.
How do I get the full solved file on WhatsApp?
Send the message BANC 108 June 2026 to WhatsApp 9899436384 and our team will reply with the full solved file and its details. It holds 14 answers in total: the 2 you can read on this page (Q1 and Q2) plus the 12 answers that are not shown here, covering Sections A, B and C of the paper.
Which BANC 108 questions are solved on this page?
Two questions are solved in full on this page: Q1 on diffusion and the American School of Diffusionism, and Q2 on Franz Boas and his influence on anthropological research. Both are 20-mark Section A questions written to the 400-word limit. The other 12 questions are listed exactly as printed, but their answers are kept for the full file on WhatsApp.
How many questions are in the June 2026 question paper?
The BANC 108 June 2026 paper prints 9 numbered questions. Because Q3 has two thinkers and Q4, Q8 and Q9 have sub-parts, there are 14 answerable parts in all. Students attempt two questions each from Sections A and B and the whole of Section C, but our file answers all 14 so you can revise every option before the next term-end exam.
Which BANC 108 topics repeat most often?
In the 8 official BANC 108 papers we checked, from December 2021 to December 2025, diffusionism and the Section C question on why theory matters appeared every time. Evolutionism, culture and personality, functionalism and the symbolic approach each appeared in 7 papers. Radcliffe-Brown, neo-evolutionism and social integration each came up in 6. The December 2022 paper could not be found.
Is BANC 108 a practical course?
BANC 108 Theories of Culture and Society is a six-credit core course, and its study material includes a Practical Manual after the four theory blocks. The term-end paper itself is written, but Section C always asks you to apply a theory to a fieldwork topic. In June 2026 that topic was rituals and changing social dynamics, which the full file answers with an example.
How long should BANC 108 answers be in the exam?
The BANC 108 paper sets the limits itself: about 400 words for each 20-mark question and about 200 words for each 10-mark question. Short notes in Q4 and Q8 carry 10 marks each, and Section C splits into two 10-mark parts. Our answers follow these limits, so you can copy the length and structure in your own exam.
Who wrote and checked the BANC 108 answers?
The BANC 108 answers were written by Prateek Talwar, founder of Unnati Educations, and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola before release. Every thinker, date and book title was checked against the BANC-108 units on eGyanKosh and against 8 official IGNOU papers. If you spot anything that needs fixing, message WhatsApp 9899436384 and we will review it.
12. Who Wrote and Checked the BANC 108 Answers
The BANC 108 answers were written by Prateek Talwar and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola.
Prateek Talwar, founder of Unnati Educations, prepares IGNOU solved papers from the course blocks and the official term-end paper. Sheetal Kirola, Academic Head (M.Ed.), checks every thinker, date and book title against the course units and reviews each answer for accuracy and language.