Paper I
General Sociology/Foundations of Sociology/Fundamentals of Sociology
Sociology, the Discipline: Sociology as a science and as an interpretative discipline; impact of industrial and French Revolution on the emergence of sociology; sociology and its relationship with history, economics, political science, psychology and anthropology.
Scientific Study of Social Phenomena: Problem of objectivity and value neutrality; issue of measurement in social science; elements of scientific method-concepts, theory and fact, hypothesis; research designs-descriptive, exploratory and experimental
Techniques of data collection and analysis: Participant and quasi-participant observation; interview, questionnaire and schedule case study, sampling-size, reliability and validity, scaling techniques-social distance and Likert scale.
Pioneering contributions to Sociology
Karl Marx: Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation and class struggle.
Emile Durkheim: Division of labour, social fact, religion and society.
Max Weber: Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
Talcott Parsons: Social system, pattern variables.
Robert K. Merton: Latent and manifest functions, anomie, conformity and deviance, reference groups.
Marriage and Family: Types and forms of marriage; family-structure and function; personality and socialization; Social control; family, lineage, descent and property; changing structure of family marriage and sex roles in modern society; divorce and its implications; gender issues; role conflicts.
Social Stratification: Concepts-hierarchy, inequality and stratification; theories of stratification-Marx, Davis and Moore and Melvin Tumin’s critique; forms and functions; class-different conceptions of class; class-in-itself and class-for-itself; caste and class; caste as a class.
Social Mobility: Types of mobility-open and closed models; intra-and inter-generational mobility; vertical and horizontal mobility; social mobility and social change.
Economic System: Sociological dimensions of economic life; the impact of economic processes on the larger society; social aspects of division of labour and types of exchange; features of pre-industrial and industrial economic system; industrialisation and social change; social determinants of economic development.
Political System: The nature of power-personal power, community power, power of the elite, class power, organisational power, power of the un-organised masses; authority and legitimacy; pressure groups and political parties; voting behaviour; modes of political participation-democratic and authoritarian forms.
Educational System: Education and Culture; equality of educational opportunity; social aspects of mass education; problems of universalisation of primary education; role of community and state intervention in education; education as an instrument of social control and social change; education and modernisation.
Religion: Origins of religious beliefs in pre-modern societies; the sacred and the profane; social functions and dysfunctions of religion; monistic and pluralistic religion; organised and unorganised religions; Semitism and anti-Semitism; religion, sect and cults; magic, religion and science.
Science & Technology: Ethos of science; social responsibility of science; social control of science; social consequences of science and technology; technology and social change.
Social Movements: Concepts of social movements; genesis of social movements; ideology and social movement; social movement and social change; types of social movements.
Social change and Development: Continuity and change as fact and as value; theories of social change-Marx, Parsons and Sorokin; directed social change; social policy and social development.
Paper II
Study of Indian Society
Historical Moorings of the Indian Society: Traditional Hindu social organisation; socio-cultural dynamics through the ages; impact of Buddhism, Islam, and the West, factors in continuity and change.
Caste System: Origin of the caste system; cultural and structural views about caste; mobility in caste; caste among Muslims and Christians; change and persistence of caste in modern India; issues of equality and social justice; views of Gandhi and Ambedkar on caste; caste on and Indian polity; Backward Classes Movement; Mandal Commission Report and issues of social backwardness and social justice; emergence of Dalit consciousness.
Class Structure: Class structure in India, agrarian and industrial class structure; emergence of middle class; emergence of classes among tribes; elite formation in India.
Marriage, Family and Kinship: Marriage among different ethnic groups, its changing trends and its future; family-its structural and functional aspects-its changing forms; regional variations in kinship systems and its socio-cultural correlates; impact of legislation and socio-economic change on marriage and family; generation gap.
Agrarian Social Structure: Peasant society and agrarian systems; land tenure systems-historical perspectives, social consequences of land reforms and green revolution; feudalism-semi-feudalism debates; emerging agrarian class structure; agrarian unrest.
Industry and Society: Path of industrialisation, occupational diversification, trade unions and human relations; market economy and its social consequences; economic reforms liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.
Political Processes: Working of the democratic political system in a traditional society; political parties and their social base; social structural origins of political elites and their orientations; regionalism, pluralism and national unity; decentralisation of power; panchayati raj and nagarpalikas and 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments.
Education: Directive Principles of State Policy and primary education; education; educational inequality and change; education and social mobility; the role of community and state intervention in education; universalisation of primary education; Total Literacy Campaigns; educational problems of disadvantages groups.
Religion and Society: Size, growth and regional distribution of different religious groups; educational levels of different groups; problems of religious minorities; communal tensions; secularism; conversions; religious fundamentalism.
Tribal Societies: Distinctive features of tribal communities and their geographical spread; problems of tribal communities-land alienation, poverty, indebtedness, health and nutrition, education; tribal development efforts after independence; tribal policy-isolation, assimilation and integration; issues of tribal identity.
Population Dynamics: Population size, growth, composition and distribution; components of population growth; birth rate, death rate and migration; determinants and consequences of population growth; issues of age at marriage, sex ratio, infant mortality rate; population policy and family welfare programmes.
Dimensions of Development: Strategy and ideology of planning; poverty, indebtedness and bonded labour; strategies of rural development-poverty alleviation programmes; environment, housing, slums, and unemployment; programmes for urban development.
Social Change: Endogenous and exogenous sources of change and resistance to change; processes of change-sanskritisation and modernisation; agents of change-mass media, education and communication; problems of change and modernisation; structural contradictions and breakdowns.
Social Movements
Reform Movements: Arya Samaj, Satya Sadhak Samaj, Sri Narayanguru Dharma Paripalana Sabha, and Ram Krishna Mission.
Peasant movements: Kisan Sabha, Telengana, Naxalbari.
Backward Castes Movement: Self-respect Movement, backward castes mobilisation in North India.
Women and society: Demographic profile of women; special problems-dowry, atrocities, discrimination; existing programmes for women and their impact. Situational analysis of children; child welfare programmes.
Social Problems: Prostitution, AIDS, alcoholism, drug addiction, corruption.
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