PAPER-I
PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology – Meaning, nature and scope, emergence of sociology, its relationship with other social sciences, importance of sociology.
Study of Social Phenomena – Social research, the scientific method, objectivity and subjectivity in social sciences.
Basic Concepts – Association, institution, community, social groups, culture.
Social Structure – Status, role, norms and values.
The Individual and Society - Individual and society, socialization; culture and personality; leadership, social control.
Institutions – Family, marriage and kinship-forms, functions and their changing dimension, education, religion, power and authority.
Social Stratification – Meaning, forms and functions; caste, class and their changing dimensions; future of caste.
Types of Societies – Rural, urban and tribal communities-distinctive characteristic, ruralurban continuum, problems of tribal people, tribal development.
The Pioneers in Sociology – Augste Comte- positivism; Karl Marx- materialist conception of history and class struggle; Max Weber- authority and power, the Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism ; and Durkheim- social solidarity, division of labour and its pathological forms.
Social Change – Meaning, factors and theories of social change; processes of social change – sanskritization, westernization, and modernization; globalization and socio-economic change; trends of change in Indian society.
Science, Technology and Society – Social responsibility of science and technology; human critique of science and technology, environmental issues- pollution of air, water and soil; energy crisis; social impact assessment, environmental awareness, people’s action.
Population and Society - Interface between population and social development, population problems, population policy, population controls.
PAPER-II
SOCIETY IN INDIA
Indian Society – Traditional bases - Varnashrama and dharma; unity and diversity; cultural pluralism and Unitarianism.
The Structure and Composition of Indian Society – villages, towns and cities; rural-urban linkages; tribes- problems, constitutional safeguards and development; weaker sections- dalits, women and minorities, population profile and related issues.
Basic Institutions – Family- forms and changing dimensions; marriage- forms, functions and changing dimensions; kinship- types and regional variations.
Indian Caste System – Origin of caste, its socio-economic and cultural dimensions, issues of equality and social justice; scheduled castes and backward classes -problems, safeguards and welfare.
Rural Class Structure – Classes in India, agrarian classes, peasant movements, land reforms, commercialization of agriculture and change in land use pattern, emerging agrarian unrest, leadership and its changing dimensions.
Social Change – Impact of reform movements, social movements and factors of planned change-Five Year Plans, legislative and executive measures; impact of liberalization, privatization and globalization; trends of change.
Power Structure – Working of the democratic political system in a traditional society; sociocultural basis of political parties; panchayati raj and urban local self-government.
Issues and Problems – Poverty, inequalities of caste and gender; dowry, domestic violence, intergenerational conflict, problems of elderly; regional disparities; ecological degradation and environmental pollution; white collar crime, corruption, drug addiction, suicide.
