Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Key Difference in Power Relationship:

In proto-industrial Europe, supply merchants lived within weaving villages, shared close social ties with weavers, helped them in times of need, and allowed them to bargain and sell to the best buyer. The advance system there was largely cooperative.

In contrast, once the East India Company gained political power, it used advances to trap weavers. Weavers who accepted loans were forced to sell only to the Company at miserably low prices. The Company's gomasthas — outsiders backed by sepoys — punished and flogged weavers for delays, eliminating all bargaining power. Political monopoly turned the advance system into a mechanism of coercion, not support.

Source: Chapter 4, Section 3.2 — What Happened to Weavers?

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• The examiner wants a contrast, not just a description of one system.
• Key phrases to use: bargain, monopoly, gomastha, coercion, miserably low prices.
• The core point: European merchants competed for weavers → weavers had choice. The EIC used political power to eliminate competition → weavers had no choice.
• Don't over-describe the proto-industrial system (the passage says little about it directly); focus your contrast on what the passage does say about both merchant relationships.