Sociology Optional Syllabus – UPSC

Sociology Optional Syllabus: Paper-1

Fundamentals of Sociology

Sociology: The Discipline

• Modernity and social changes in Europe and the emergence of Sociology.
• Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.
• Sociology and common sense.

Sociology as a Science

• Science, scientific method and critique.
• Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
• Positivism and its critique.
• Fact value and objectivity.
•  Non-positivist methodologies

Research Methods and Analysis

• Qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Techniques of data collection.
• Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity.

Sociological Thinkers

• Karl Marx – Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
• Emile Durkhteim – Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society.
• Max Weber – Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
• Talcolt Parsons – Social system, pattern variables.
• Robert K. Merton – Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups.
• Mead – Self and identity.

Stratification and Mobility

• Concepts – equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation.
• Theories of social stratification – Structural func tionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.
• Dimensions – Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race.
• Social mobility – open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility.

Works and Economic Life

• Social organization of work in different types of society – slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society.
• Formal and informal organization of work.
• Labour and society.

Politics and Society

• Sociological theories of power.
• Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties.
• Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.
• Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.

Religion and Society

• Sociological theories of religion.
• Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.
• Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.

Systems of Kinship

• Family, household, marriage.
• Types and forms of family.
• Lineage and descent.
• Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.
• Contemporary trends.

Social Change in Modern Society

• Sociological theories of social change.
• Development and dependency.
• Agents of social change.
• Education and social change.
• Science, technology and social change.

Sociology Optional Syllabus: Paper-2

1. Introducing Indian Society:

Perspectives on the study of Indian society,

• Indology (GS. Ghurye).
• Structural functionalism (M N Srinivas).
• Marxist sociology (A R Desai).

Impact of colonial rule on Indian society

• The social background of Indian nationalism.
• Modernization of Indian tradition.
• Protests and movements during the colonial period.
• Social reforms.

2. Social Structure

Rural and Agrarian Social Structure

• The idea of Indian village and village studies.
• Agrarian social structure – evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

Caste System

• Perspectives on the study of caste systems: GS Ghurye, M N Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.
• Features of the caste system.
• Untouchability – forms and perspectives.

Tribal communities in India

• Definitional problems.
• Geographical spread.
• Colonial policies and tribes.
• Issues of integration and autonomy.

Social Classes in India

• Agrarian class structure.
• Industrial class structure.
• Middle classes in India.

Systems of Kinship in India

• Lineage and descent in India.
• Types of kinship systems.
• Family and marriage in India.
• Household dimensions of the family.

Religion and Society

• Religious communities in India.
• Problems of religious minorities.
• Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour

3. Social Changes in India

Visions of Social Change in India

• The idea of development planning and mixed economy.
• Constitution, law and social change.
• Education and social change.

Rural and Agrarian transformation in India

• Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.
• Green revolution and social change.
• Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture.
• Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.

Industrialization and Urbanisation in India

• Evolution of modern industry in India.
• Growth of urban settlements in India.
• Working-class: structure, growth, class mobilization.
• The informal sector, child labour.
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas.

Politics and Society

• Nation, democracy and citizenship.
• Political parties, pressure groups , social and political elite.
• Regionalism and decentralization of power.
• Secularization

Social Movements in Modern India

• Peasants and farmers movements.
• Women’s movement.
• Backward classes & Dalit movement.
• Environmental movements.
• Ethnicity and Identity movements.

Population Dynamics

• Population size, growth, composition and distribution.
• Components of population growth: birth, death, migration.
• Population policy and family planning.
• Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

Challenges of Social Transformation

• Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems, and sustainability.
• Poverty, deprivation and inequalities.
• Violence against women.
• Caste conflicts.
• Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.
• Illiteracy and disparities in education.