Sociology Optional Syllabus

UPSC, IAS Civil Service (Mains) Exam Syllabus

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:: PAPER - I:: 

FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIOLOGY 

1. Sociology - The Discipline:

(a) Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of Sociology.
 (b) Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences. 
(c) Sociology and common sense.

 2. Sociology as Science:-

 (a) Science, scientific method, and critique. 
(b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology. 
(c) Positivism and its critique. 
(d) Fact value and objectivity. 
(e) Non-positivist methodologies. 

3. Research Methods and Analysis:-

 (a) Qualitative and quantitative methods.
 (b) Techniques of data collection. 
(c) Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability, and validity. 

4. Sociological Thinkers:-

 (a) Karl Marx - Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
 (b) Emile Durkheim - Division of labor, social fact, suicide, religion, and society. 
(c) Max Weber - Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, the protestant ethic, and the spirit of capitalism.
 (d) Talcott Parsons - Social system, pattern variables. 
(e) Robert K. Merton - Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups. 
(f) Mead - Self and identity. 

5. Stratification and Mobility:-

 (a) Concepts - equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty, and deprivation. 
(b) Theories of social stratification - Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.
 (c) Dimensions - Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity, and race. 
(d) Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources, and causes of mobility. 

6. Works and Economic Life:-

 (a) Social organization of work in different types of society - slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society. 
(b) Formal and informal organization of work.
 (c) Labour and society.

Politics and Society:-

(a) Sociological theories of power. 

(b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties. 

(c) Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.

 (d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.

 8. Religion and Society:-

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

9. Systems of Kinship:-

 (a) Family, household, marriage.
 (b) Types and forms of family. 
(c) Lineage and descent. 
(d) Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.
 (e) Contemporary trends. 

10. Social Change in Modern Society:-

 (a) Sociological theories of social change.
 (b) Development and dependency.
 (c) Agents of social change. 
(d) Education and social change.
 (e) Science, technology, and social change

:: PAPER - II:: 

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INDIAN SOCIETY: STRUCTURE AND CHANGE A.

 A. Introducing Indian Society :

 (i) Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society:-

 (a) Indology (G.S. Ghure). 
(b) Structural functionalism (M. N. Srinivas). 
(c) Marxist sociology (A. R. Desai). 

(ii) Impact of colonial rule on Indian society:-

 (a) Social background of Indian nationalism.
 (b) Modernization of Indian tradition. 
(c) Protests and movements during the colonial period. 
(d) Social reforms. 

B. Social Structure:- 

(i) Rural and Agrarian Social Structure:-
 (a) The idea of Indian village and village studies. 
(b) Agrarian social structure—an evolution of land tenure system, land reforms. 

(ii) Caste System:-

 (a) Perspectives on the study of caste systems:-
 G. S. Ghurye, M. N. Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.
 (b) Features of the caste system. 
(c) Untouchability-forms and perspectives 

(iii) Tribal Communities in India:-

 (a) Definitional problems. 
(b) Geographical spread. 
(c) Colonial policies and tribes.
 (d) Issues of integration and autonomy. 

(iv) Social Classes in India:-

 (a) Agrarian class structure. 
(b) Industrial class structure. 
(c) Middle classes in India. 

(v) Systems of Kinship in India:- 

(a) Lineage and descent in India. 
(b) Types of kinship systems. 
(c) Family and marriage in India.

(vi) Population Dynamics :-

 (a) Population size, growth, composition, and distribution.

 (b) Components of population growth: birth, death, migration.

(c) Population Policy and family planning. 

(d) Emerging issues: aging, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

 (vii) Challenges of Social Transformation:-

 (a) Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems, and sustainability.

 (b) Poverty, deprivation, and inequalities. 

(c) Violence against women. 

(d) Caste conflicts. 

(e) Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism. 

(f) Illiteracy and disparities in education