The Public Service Commission, West Bengal or PSCWB is the state agency authorized to conduct the Civil Services Examination for entry-level appointments to the various Civil Services of state of West Bengal in India. Here is a Detailed Syllabus for WBPSC Mains Optional Paper - Sociology.
West Bengal PSC Syllabus
WBPSC Optional Paper - Sociology
Paper – I:
Fundamentals of Sociology:
- Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of Sociology.
- Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.
- Sociology and common sense.
Pathfinders of Sociology:
- Karl Marx – Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
- Emile Durkheim, Social fact, collective consciousness and social solidarity, suicide, religion and society.
- Max Weber - Social action, ideal types, types of authority and bureaucracy. Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
- Simmel: Formal Sociology : Forms & Types; Subjective & Objective Culture, Money;
- Contemporary interpretations of Modern Sociology: Talcolt Parsons - Social system and its four major problems, pattern variables.
- Robert K. Merton – Latent and manifest function and dysfunction, conformity and deviance, reference groups.
- Social System: Equilibrium, status, role, culture, heredity and environment, social control, conformity & deviance, forms of interaction, social interaction and everyday life. Types of human groups. Personality and socialization. Power, authority, legitimacy, sociology of political life. Religion in relation to solidarity and social conflict, magic, science and morality. Social aspects of production, distribution, exchange and consumption.
- Individual & groups : Personality & Socialization, classification of groups & their contemporary significance. Inequality,
Stratification & Mobility:
- Concepts - equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation.
- Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and consequences of mobility.
Economy & Society :
- Social aspects of production, distribution, exchange & consumption, Social organization of work in different types of Society - slave society, feudal society, industrial / capitalist society, post – industrial society.
- Formal and informal organization of work.
- Labour & Society.
Politics and Society:
- Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties.
- Nation - state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.
- Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.
Religion & Society:
- Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism, pluralism.
- Magic, religion & morality and science.
Science & Technology:
- Ethos of science;
- Scientific temper;
- Social responsibility of science;
- Social control of science;
- Social consequences of science and technology;
- Technology and social change.
Social research and methods of enquiry:
- Importance of social research.
- Survey Method - Questionnaires and interviews as technique.
- Field Method – Observation (participant and non-participant) as technique.
- Experimentation in Sociology.
Social & cultural change in modern society :
- Development and dependency,
- Agents of social change,
- Education & social change,
- Science, Technology & social change,
- Dominant Culture,
- Celebrity Culture.
Paper – II:
Society & Culture in India: Unity & diversity, modernity and tradition, contestation.
Approaches to the study of Indian Society: Indological (Ghurye); Structural-functional (Srinivas); Marxist / Dialectical (Desai) ; Dalit (Ambedkar).
Major Social Groups: Religious groups, linguistic and regional groups, castes & tribes.
Some Major Institutions: Marriage, family, kinship patterns and changes affecting those; gender socialization; division of labour and economic interdependence, decision-making, centres of power and political participation; religion and society; Education, inequality, social change, contemporary trends. Social Inequality:
Nature and types; traditional concepts of hierarchy, caste and class; the Backward Classes; concepts of equality and social justice in relation to traditional hierarchies; education, occupation; changing patterns of stratification.
Social change in modern India: Westernization, Sanskritisation and secularization; directed and undirected change; legislative and executive measures; social reforms; social movements; industrialization & urbanization; associations and pressure groups.
Women & children: Demographic profile of women; special problems - dowry, atrocities, discrimination; existing programmes for women and their impact. Situational analysis of children; child welfare programmes.
Globalisation & ecological crisis in India: Ecological and Environmental movements in India.
Social problems in India:
- Poverty in rural and urban areas,
- Child labour,
- Problem of youth,
- Drug addiction,
- Juvenile delinquency,
- Problems relating to old age,
- Population problem,
- Mass illiteracy,
- Problem of violence.
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