Odisha Civil Services Examination
OPSC Optional Paper - Sociology
Paper-I
Foundations of Sociology
a) Karl Marx : Historical materialism, alienation and class struggle.
b) Emile Durkheim : Division of labour, social fact, religion and society, suicide.
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 and marriage in modern society; divorce and its implications; 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; classdifferent 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 intergenerational 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. Social Change and Gender Issues: Social construction of gender, Equality vrs. Differences, impact of globalization on women, emergence of feminist thought, gender issues.
Paper-II
Traditional Hindu social organisation; socio-cultural dynamics through the ages; impact of Buddhism, Islam, and the West, factors in continuity and change.
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, backward caste movement.
Class structure in India, agrarian and industrial class structure; emergence of middle class; emergence of classes among tribes; elite formation in India.
Marriage among different religious and tribal 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 socioeconomic change on marriage and family; generation gap.
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; peasant movements.
Path of industrialisation, occupational diversification, trade unions and human relations; market economy and its social consequences; economic reforms liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.
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.
Directive Principles of State Policy and primary 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 disadvantaged groups.
Size, growth and regional distribution of different religious groups; educational levels of different groups; problems of religious minorities; communal tensions; secularism; conversions; religious fundamentalism, religious reform movements.
Distinctive features of tribal communities and their geographical spread; problems of tribal communities-land alienation, health and nutrition, education; tribal development efforts after independence; tribal policy-isolation, assimilation and integration; issues of tribal identity.
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; Migration, Determinants and consequences of population growth, population policy and family welfare programmes, child welfare programmes.
Poverty, indebtedness, bonded labour, unemployment, depletion of forests, development related displacement, corruption, alcoholism, AIDS, drug addiction, violence against women, dowry. Child labour; Maternal and infant mortality rate in Odisha.