(Syllabus) Himachal Pradesh PSC: State Eligibility Test (Sociology)

Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission

SET: Sociology (Code-16)

Paper-II
A: Sociological Concepts

1. Nature of Sociologys.
Definition
Sociological Perspective

2. Basic Concepts.
Community
Institution
Association
Culture
Norms and Values

3. Social Structure.
Status and role, their interrelationship
Multiple roles, Role set, Status set, Status sequence
Role conflict

4. Social Group.
Meaning
Types : Primary-Secondary, Formal-Informal, Ingroup-Outgroup,
Reference group.

5. Social Institutions.
Marriage
Famaily
Education
Economy
Polity
Religion

6. Socialization.
Socialization, Resocialization, Anticipatory socialization, Adult socialization
Agencies of socialization
Theories of socialization

7. Social Stratification.
Social differentiation, Hierarchy and Inequality
Forms of stratification : Caste, Class, Gender, Ethnic
Theories of social stratification
Social mobility

8. Social Change.
Concepts and Types : Evolution, Diffusion, Progress, Revolution, Transformation,
Change in structure and Change of structure
Theories : Dialectical and Cyclical.

B. Sociological Theory

9. Structural.
Nadel
Radcliffe Brown
Levi-Strauss

10. Functional.
Malinowski
Durkheim
Parsons
Merton

11. Interactionist.
Social action : Max Weber, Pareto
Symobolic interactionism : G.H. Mead, Blumer

12. Conflict.
Karl Marx
Dahrendorf
Coser
Collins
C : METHODOLOGY

13. Meaning and Nature of Social Research.
Nature of social phenomena
The scientific method
The problems in the study of social phenomena : Objectivity fact and value
quantitative Methods.
Survey

14. Research Design and its types
Hypothesis
Sampling
Techniques of data collection : Observation, Questionnaire, Schedule, Interview

15. Qualitative Methods.
Praticipant observation
Case study
Content analysis
Oral history
Life history

16. Statistics in Social Research.
Measures of Central Tendency : Mean, Median, Mode
Measures of dispersion
Correlational analysis
Test of significance
Reliability and Validity

Paper-III (A)
(Core Group)

Unit-I : Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology.
Alfred Shultz, Peter Berger and Luckmann
Carfinkel and Goffman.

Unit-II : Neo-functionalism and Neo-Marxism.
J. Alexander
Habermass, Althusser

Unit-III : Structuration and Post-Modernism.
Giddens
Derrida
Foucault

Unit-IV : Conceptualising Indian Society.
Peoples of India : Groups and Communities.
Unity in diversity
Cultural diversity : Regional linguistic, religions and tribal

Unit-V : Theoretical Perspectives
Indological/Textual Perspective : G.S. Ghurye, Louis Dumont
Structural-Functional Perspective : M.N. Srinivas, S.C. Dube
Marxian Perspective : D.P.Mukherjee, A.R. Desai
Civilisational Perspective ;: N.K. Bose, Surajit Sinha
Subaltern Perspective : B.R. Ambedhar, David Hardiman.

Unit-VI : Contemporary Issues : Socio-cultural.
Poverty
Inequality of caste and gender
Regional, ethnic and religious disharmonics
Family disharmonyh : (a) Domestic violence (b) Dowry (c) Divorce (d)
Intergenerational conflict.

Unit-VII : Contemporary Issues : Development.
Population
Regional disparity
Slums
Displacement
Ecological degradation and environmental pollution
Health problems.

Unit-VIII : Issues Pertaining to Deviance.
Deviance and its forms
Crime and delinquency
White collar crime and corruption
Changing profile of crime and criminals
Drug addiction
Suicide

Unit-IX : Current Debates.
Tradition and Modernity in India
Problems of Nation Building : Secularism, Pluralism and Nation building

Unit-X : The Challenges of Globalisation.
Indigenisation of Sociology
Privatisation of Education
Science and Technology Policy of India

Paper-III (B)
(Elective/Optional)

Elective-I :

Rural Sociology.
Approaches to the study of Rural Society :
Rural-Urban differences
Rurbanism
Peasant studies

Agrarian Institutions :
Land ownership and its types
Agrarian relations and Mode of production debate
Jajmani system and Jajmani relations
Agrarian class structure

Panchayati Raj Institution :
Panchayat before and after 73rd Amendment
Rural Leadership and Factionalism
Empowerment of people

Social Issues and Strategies for Rural Development
Bonded and Migrant labourers
Pauperization and Depeasantisation
Agrarian unrest and Peasant movements

Rural Development and Change :
Trends of changes in rural society
Processes of change : Migration-Rural to Urban and Rural to Rural Mobility:
Social/Economic
Factors of change

Elective-II :

Industry and Society.
Industrial Society in the Classical Sociological Tradition :
Division of labour
Bureaucracy
Rationality
Production relations
Surplus value
Alienation

Industry and Society :
Factory as a social system
Formal and informal organization
Impact of social structure on industry
Impact of industry on society

Industrial Relations :
Changing profile of labour
Changing labour-management relations
Conciliation, adjudication, arbitration
Collective bargaining
Trade unions
Worker's participation in management (Joint Managament Councils)
Quality circles

Industrialisation and Social Change in India :
Impact of industrialization on family, education and stratification.
Class and class confict in industrial society.
Obstacles to and limitations of industrialization.

Industrial Planning :
Industrial policy
Labour legislation.
Human relations in industry.

Elective-III : Sociology of Development.

Conceptual Perspectives on Development :
Economic growth
Human development
Social development
Sustainable development : Ecological and Social

Theories of Underdevelopment :
Liberal : Max Weber, Gunnar Myrdal
Dependency : Centre-periphery (Frank), Uneven development (Samir Amin), Worldsystam
(Wallerstein).

Paths of Development :
Modernisation, Globalisation
Socialist
Mixed
Gandhian

Social Structure and Development :
Social structure as a facilitator/inhibitor
Development and socio-economic disparitees
Gender and development

Culture and Development :
Culture as an aid/impediment.
Development and displacement of tradition.
Development and upsurge of ethnic movements.

Elective-IV : Population and Society.

Theories of Population growth :
Malthusian
Demographic transition

Population Growth and Distribution in India :
Growth of Indian population since 1901
Determinants of population

Concepts of Fertility, Mortality, Morbidity and Migration :
Age and Sex composition and its consequences
Determinants of fertility
Determinants of mortality, infant, child and maternal mortality.
Morbidity rates
Determinants and concequences of migration.

Population and Development :
Population as a constraint on and a resource for development
Socio-cultural factors affecting population growth.

Population Control :
Population policy : Problems and perspectives
Population education
Measures taken for population control.

Elective-V : Gender and Society.

Gender as a Social Construct :
Models of Gendered socialisation
Cultural symbolism and general roles
Social structure and Gender inequality
Patriarchy and Matriarchy
Division of labour-Production and reproduction.

Theories of Gender Relations :
Liberalist
Radical
Socialist
Post-modernist

Gender and Development :
Effect of development policies on gender relations
Perspectives on gender and development-Welfarist, developmentalist
Empowerment.

Women and Development in India :
Indicators of women’s status; Demographic, Social, Economic and Cultural.
Special schemes and strategies for women’s development Voluntary sector and women’s development Globalisation and women’s development Eco-feminism.

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