Class 7 - Social Science - Social and Political Life II - Markets Around Us - Questions and Answers (#class7SocialScience)(#MarketsAroundUs)(#eduvictors)

 Class 7 - Social Science - Social and Political Life II - Markets Around Us - Questions and Answers 

Q1: Define market.

Answer: A market is where buyer and seller are involved in the sale and purchase of goods. It establishes a link between the producer and the consumer.

Q2: Name different types of markets.

Answer: There are different kinds of markets namely; weekly market, shops, shopping complex or mall. In present times, goods are also sold by online marketing and home delivery

Q3: In what ways is a hawker different from a shop owner?

Answer: 

① A hawker provides door to door service. He sells his goods by calling out the names of his items. 

② He generally owns a shop which we may call a movable shop and keeps in it different items of our everyday use. He sells his goods at a minimum profit. 

③ A shop owner runs his shop at one fixed place. Whenever we need anything we go there and purchase it. Here, we get things at a somewhat costlier rate.

Q4: What is a weekly market?

Answer: A weekly market is held on a specific day of the week. There are no permanent shops in weekly markets. Traders set up a shop for the day and then they close it. They set up the shops in another location the next day. In India, there are thousands of such shops. These cater to the everyday requirements of the people.

Q5: What are the salient features of weekly markets?

Answer: 

∙ Cheaper Rates: Many items are available in the weekly markets at cheaper rates. This is because since these shops are not permanent, they save on expenses such as rent, electricity and fees to the government.

∙ Family run: The shop owners store the items they sell at home. Mostly, they are helped by the family members and do not employ outside people and hence also save the money spent on wages to workers.

∙ High Competition: Since these markets have many shops selling the same item, there is high competition among them. Hence, if a seller charges a higher amount for an item, buyers will buy from another seller who either charges a lower rate or allows the buyer to bargain to some extent.

Q6: What are the demerits of weekly markets?

Answer: 

⑴ No permanent shops.

⑵ Do not have quality or branded materials

⑶ Defective products and No guarantee of products.

⑷ Cases of cheating the consumers, fake products.

⑸ Bargaining

Q5: Explain how a chain of markets is formed. What purpose does it serve?

Answer: 

⑴  Goods are produced in factories; Goods are also produced in farms and in homes. But we are not required to go to factories or farms to buy goods of our need, because the producers are not interested in selling us small quantities. 

⑵  The wholesale traders do this job. They are the people who come in between the producer and the final consumer. 

⑶  They first buy goods in bulk. Then they sell these goods to the retailers, who finally sell this to the consumers. 

⑷ From the above instance we come to the conclusion that from factories to final consumers a chain is formed, which we may call a chain of markets.

⑸ It serves a great purpose. It maintains the flow of money. It makes easy availability of various items of our daily use. It also promotes coordination in society.

Q6: What are shops in neighbourhood? Give examples.

Answer: Many shops sell goods and services in our neighborhood. These are a mix of permanent shops and roadside stalls. Roadside stalls are that of eateries, vegetable hawkers, mechanic, etc. These shops are useful as they are near our home and we can go there on any day of the week.

For example-

∙ The dairy- selling milk and related products

∙ Departmental stores- selling groceries, stationery, eatables, etc.

∙ Pharmacies- selling medicines 

Q7: What are the advantages of shops in the neighborhood?

Answer: Advantages of shops in the neighborhood:

∙ Proximity: As the name suggests these shops are in our neighborhood and hence close to our homes.

∙ Open all days: These shops, unlike weekly markets, operate on all days. Hence, we can go for our purchases on any day of the week at our convenience.

∙ Flexibility: Since the buyer and seller know each other these shops give goods on credit also. Hence payment can be made later also. In other words, there is flexibility regarding payment.

∙ Personal touch: Since the buyer and seller know each other, the transaction has a personal touch to it. It is not a purely commercial transaction. These shops also provide goods on credit.

Q8: What are shopping complexes and malls?

Answer: 

∙ Markets in urban areas are mostly shopping complexes or malls. Malls are multi-storied air-conditioned buildings with shops at different levels.

∙ They sell both branded and non-branded products. Owners invest a huge amount of money in their shops.

∙ The branded goods available here are of high quality and are promoted by advertisement. These markets appeal mostly to the rich people and they are the ones that these brands cater to.

Q9: All persons have equal rights to visit any shop in a marketplace.’ Explain with examples.

Answer: It is true that all persons have equal rights to visit any shop in the marketplace. But this is not true of shops with expensive products. It is because of the following:

ⅰ People with high incomes can buy expensive products. Hence, these people go to the shops with expensive products and not the poor or people with low income. 

ⅱ The low-income group people visit the shops or weekly markets to buy goods as these goods are available at cheaper rates. 

ⅲ People with high income buy green vegetables from multiplexes or malls while poor people purchase green vegetables from small vegetable sellers or from hawkers.

Q10: What are the disadvantages of shopping malls?

Answer: 

① Shopping complexes and malls are usually found in urban areas. Economically such malls are not viable in rural or semi-urban areas.

② Fewer people visit malls because they sell costly items. Only well-to-do people can afford to buy these items.

③ Bargaining is not possible since these shops have fixed rates.

Q11: How are shop owners in a weekly market and those in a shopping complex very different people? 

Answer: 

①  The shop owners in a weekly market are small traders who run their shop with little money. On the other hand, the shop owners of a shopping complex are big parties. They have a lot of money to spend on their shops. 

② What these two types of shop owners earn is also not equal. The weekly market trader earns little compared to the profit of a regular shop owner in a shopping complex.

Q12: What is the job of a wholesale trader?

Answer: 

i) A wholesale trader buys goods from the producer in large quantities. He then sells them to other traders, say small traders.

ii) These small traders sell different items to the final consumer.

iii) Thus, the wholesale trader establishes link between the producer and the consumer. It is through these links of traders that goods reach faraway places.

Q13: Write in brief on ‘market and equality’.

Answer: 

⑴ We do not see equality in the market. Big and powerful businesspersons earn huge profits while small traders earn very little.

⑵ One is a small trader who has little money to run the shop. Whereas the other has a lot of money to spend on the shop.

⑶ The earning of these two people is also unequal. The weekly market trader earns little profit whereas the shopping complex owner gains huge income.

⑷ Not only the shop owners are different people, but also the buyers. In the market we see different types of buyers.

⑸ There are several buyers who are not able to afford even the cheapest of goods while others are busy shopping for different luxurious items in malls. Thus, we see no equality in the marketplace.

Q14: What are hidden markets? Give example.

Answer: Market exists also for goods that are not directly used by the consumer. For example, the fertilizers used by the farmers are purchased by him from a shop in the city. The shopkeeper in turn buys them from factories. The products used in manufacturing and assembling a car; like the engine, axles, petrol tanks, etc. are also bought and sold in different markets. Hence a chain of markets exists for all the goods whether directly used by the consumer or not.

Q15: Are goods sold in shops only? Justify your answer.

OR

“Buying and selling can take place without going to a marketplace.” Explain the statement with the help of an example.

Answer: In general traditional markets exist in a specific location and have a specific manner and time of working. However, these days it is not necessary for the consumers to go to the market to buy things. He can do so at the convenience of his home. He can either order goods on phone or use the internet and buy things online. 

Now-a-days, number of users who access internet through mobile phones is on the rise. The use of applications commonly known as ‘apps’ for buying groceries, hiring taxi services, education etc. has become an everyday affair.

👉See Also:

Ch 6 (Social & Political Life - Understanding Media) 
Understanding Media   
Understanding Media (Worksheet)
Ch7 Understanding Advertisement (Q & A)
Ch 8 Markets Around Us (Assignment)
Know Types of Governments