CSS 2013 Solved Precis

• Ideological (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Relating to the system of ideas, beliefs, and values underlying a social or political outlook
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage identifies an "inner, ideological aspect" of culture, the underlying body of ideas and beliefs of which the visible social and artistic forms are merely the organized outward expression.
• Subjugation (Noun)
  • Meaning: The act of bringing a people or nation under complete domination and control
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage states that development was frozen at the point of "political subjugation," meaning the moment colonized peoples were forcibly brought under imperial control and lost the freedom to develop on their own terms.
• Feudal (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Relating to a hierarchical social system in which land and power are concentrated among a ruling elite while the masses labour beneath them
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage describes "advanced feudal societies" whose refined culture, however accomplished, was restricted to a small privileged class and remained separate from the ordinary culture of the general population.
• Bequeathed (Verb)
  • Meaning: Handed down or passed on as a legacy from one party to another
  • Contextual Explanation: The fractured social and cultural order is described as "bequeathed" to the newly liberated countries by their former colonial rulers, meaning it was left to them as an unwanted inheritance from imperial domination.
• Arrested (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Stopped or checked in progress; prevented from developing further
  • Contextual Explanation: The developing nations' problems are described as those of "arrested growth," meaning their natural social and cultural development was halted and held in place rather than being allowed to progress.

The passage explains the relationship between culture and social structure to argue that cultural problems cannot be studied or solved apart from a society's political and economic conditions. It applies this principle to the developing nations and traces their cultural difficulties to the stunted growth left by prolonged colonial domination and an outdated social order, showing how colonialism deepened existing divisions to bequeath these nations a fractured social and cultural inheritance.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Culture as inseparable from social structure and the cultural problems of developing nations as products of colonial-era arrested growth
  • Culture is inseparable from the political and economic structure of the society it belongs to, so the cultural problems of the developing nations, being rooted in the arrested growth left by colonial domination and an outdated social order, can only be understood and solved as part of their wider social problems.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Culture comprising an outer form and an inner ideology, the first expressing the second
  • Culture consists of an outer, formal aspect and an inner, ideological one; the former is merely the organized expression of the latter, with both bound integrally into a society's structure.
• Culture and social structure organically linked, each driving change in the other
  • Because culture and social structure are organically linked, culture changes when that structure changes and, in turn, helps drive those very changes.
• Cultural problems therefore inseparable from political and economic conditions
  • It follows that cultural problems cannot be studied or solved in isolation from social problems, that is, from the political and economic relationships of a society.
• Developing nations' problems as arrested growth rooted in colonialism and an outdated order
  • The cultural problems of the developing nations must therefore be understood within this wider social context, since they are essentially problems of arrested growth caused by long colonial domination and the remnants of an outdated social order.
• European imperialism freezing the development of all colonized societies until independence
  • When European imperialism subjugated Asia, Africa, and Latin America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, it froze the social and cultural development of all these societies, whether advanced feudal or primitive tribal, until they regained political independence.
• Feudal culture confined to an elite, apart from masses; tribal culture appealing but intellectually thin
  • In these societies, refined feudal culture remained confined to a small privileged class and stayed apart from the culture of the masses, while tribal culture, though appealing, was intellectually thin.
• Colonial rule deepening group and class divisions into a fractured national inheritance
  • Colonial domination deepened this dual fragmentation: dividing rival tribal and national groups from one another and separating classes within each group, leaving the newly liberated nations a fractured social and cultural inheritance.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

If you are still struggling to identify the main idea and supporting ideas of a precis passage, please make sure to revise all Precis Writing lectures that I have already delivered. These lectures were designed to build your understanding from the very basics to the advanced techniques required in CSS and PMS examinations.

• What a precis is and why examiners ask it.
• How to read and analyse a precis passage effectively.
• How to identify the main idea of a passage.
• How to distinguish supporting ideas from examples, illustrations, and minor details.
• What a Precis Map is and how to build it before writing.
• How to coordinate the main idea and supporting ideas logically.
• Etc. 

Moreover, please revise the 20 to 30 solved examples shared in the WhatsApp groups during your English Essay and Precis Course. These examples clearly demonstrate the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing and show how the concepts discussed in the lectures are applied in actual passages.

Precis 1

Culture has two sides. Its outward form merely expresses an inner belief system. Both belong to a society's structure, changing with it and shaping its change. Cultural difficulties, therefore, cannot be solved apart from economic and political conditions. In developing nations, such difficulties come mainly from stunted progress, the result of colonial rule and an obsolete order. European conquest reached advanced feudal societies and simple herding tribes alike and suspended their growth until freedom returned. Feudal culture, though refined, served a narrow elite and seldom touched popular tradition; tribal culture, though charming, held little thought. Colonial rule deepened old rivalries, splitting communities from one another and classes within them. Thus, the freed nations inherited this fractured order.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 357
• Precis Word Count: 117
• Title: Culture, Colonial Legacy, and the Developing World

Precis 2

Every culture comprises two linked dimensions: an outward form merely expressing an underlying belief system. Because both are woven into a society's structure, they shift with it and steer its transformation. So cultural difficulties are inseparable from economic and political realities. Among developing nations, these arise principally from stunted progress rooted in colonial conquest and an outdated order. European expansion froze the development of every subject land, whether a mature feudal society or one scarcely beyond herding tribes, until independence. Feudal culture, for all its refinement, remained confined to a favoured minority apart from popular tradition; tribal culture, though appealing, lacked depth. Also, conquest intensified old rivalries, dividing communities and classes alike, and this fractured order became the freed nations' inheritance.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 357
• Precis Word Count: 121
• Title: The Colonial Roots of Cultural Problems

Precis 3

Culture operates on two interdependent levels: an outward form and the belief system it expresses, both embedded in a society's structure, transforming with it and steering its change. Cultural difficulties are consequently inseparable from economic and political conditions, especially in the developing world, where they trace primarily to stunted growth left by colonial rule and an obsolete order. European expansion, absorbing refined feudal civilizations and simple herding tribes alike, halted their progress until independence. Feudal culture, however accomplished, served a small elite remote from popular tradition while tribal culture, for all its charm, offered little thought. Colonial rule sharpened old rivalries into a double fracture, dividing communities externally and classes internally, and left the newly freed nations this fragmented inheritance.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 357
• Precis Word Count: 120
• Title: Arrested Growth and the Colonial Cultural Inheritance