Sociology - Optional of Part A - Preliminary Examination of Civil Services Exam 2002
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Unit I : Basic Concepts :
Society, community, association, institution. Culture-culture
change, diffusion, Cultural-tag, Cultural relativism, ethnocentrism,
acculturation.
Social Groups-primary, secondary and reference groups.
Social structure, social system, social action.
Status and role, role conflict, role set.
Norms and values-conformity and deviance.
Law and customs.
Socio-cultural processes :
socialisation, assimilation, integration, cooperation,
competition, conflict, accommodation, Social distance, relative
deprivation.
Unit II : Marriage, Family and
Kinship :
Marriage : types and norms, marriage as contract, and as a
sacrament.
Family : types, functions and changes.
Kinships : terms and usages, rules of residence, descent,
inheritance.
Unit III : Social Stratification
:
Forms and functions; Caste and Class. Jajmani system, purity
and pollution, dominant caste, sanskritisation.
Unit IV : Types of Society :
Tribal, agrarian, industrial and post-industrial.
Unit V : Economy and Society
:
Man, nature and social production, economic systems of simple
and complex societies, non-economic determinants of economic behaviour, market
(free) economy and controlled (planned) economy.
Unit VI : Industrial and Urban
Society :
Rural-Urban Continuum, urban growth and urbanisation-town, city
and metropolis; basic features of industrial society; impact of automation on
society; industrialisation and environment.
Unit VII : Social Demography
:
Population size, growth, composition, and distribution in
India; components of population growth-births, deaths and migration; causes and
consequences of population growth; population and social development; population
policy.
Unit VIII : Political Processes
:
Power, authority and legitimacy; political socialisation;
political modernisation, pressure groups; caste and politics.
Unit IX : Weaker Section-and Minorities
:
Social justice-equal opportunity and special opportunity;
protective discrimination; constitutional safeguards.
Unit X : Social Change :
Theories of change; factors of change; science, technology and
change. Social movements-Peasant Movement, Women's Movement, Backward Caste
Movement, Dalit Movement.
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Sociology - Optional
of Part B - Main Examination of Civil Services Exam 2002 |
Paper-I
General Sociology/Foundations of Sociology/Fundamentals of
Sociology
1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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.
4. Pioneering contributions to Sociology:
a) Karl Marx : Historical materialism, mode of production,
alienation and class struggle.
b) Emile Durkheim : Division of labour, social fact,
religion and society.
c) Max Weber : Social action, ideal types, authority,
bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
d) Talcott Parsons : Social system, pattern variables.
e) Robert K. Merton : Latent and manifest functions,
anomie, conformity and deviance, reference
groups.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Social Mobility :
Types of mobility-open and closed models; intra-and
inter-generational mobility; vertical and horizontal mobility; social mobility
and social change.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Religion :
Origins of religious beliefs in pre-modern socieites; the
sacred and the profane; social functions and dysfunctions of religion; monistic
and pluralistic religion; organised and unorganised religions; semitism and
antisemitism; religion, sect and cults; magic, religion and science.
12. Science & Technology :
Ethos of science; social responsibility of science; social
control of science; social consequences of science and technology; technology
and social change.
13. Social Movements :
Concepts of social movements; genesis of social movements;
ideology and social movement; social movement and social change; types of social
movements.
14. Social change and Development :
Continuity and change as fact and as value; theories of social
change-Marx, Parsons and Sorokin; direted social change; social policy and
social development.
Paper-II
Study of Indian Society
1. Historical Moorings of the Indian Society :
Traditional Hindu social organisation; socio-cultural dynymics
through the ages; impact of Buddhism, Islam, and the West, factors in continuity
and change.
2. 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.
3. Class Structure :
Class structure in India, agrarian and industrial class
structure; emergence ofmiddle class; emergence of classes among tribes; elite
formation in India.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Tribal Societies :
Distinctive features of tribal communities and their
geographical spread; problems of tribal communities-land alienation, poverty,
indebetedness, health and nutrition, education; tribal development efforts after
independence; tribal policy-isolation, assimilation and integration; issues of
tribal identity.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Social Change :
Endogenous and exogenous sources of change and resistance toc
hange; processes of change-sanskritisation and modernisation; agents of
change-mass media, education and communication; problems of change and
modernisation; structural contradictions and breakdowns.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Social Problems :
Prostitution, AIDS, alcoholism, drug addiction, corruption.