(Download) UPSC Topper Study Notes - Sociology Optional - Neha Bhosle (AIR-15)

Sociology Optional Study Notes :

Content :

Sociology Optional Notes Paper-1

1.SOCIOLOGY - THE DISCIPLINE

• Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of
• Sociology 1
• Scope of the subject 12
• Sociology and common sense 28

2. SOCIOLOGY AS SCIENCE

• Science, scientific method and critique 32
• Major theoretical strands of research methodology 39
• Positivism and its critique 43
• Fact value and objectivity 47
• Non - positivist methodologies 51

3. RESEARCH METHODS AND ANALYSIS

• Qualitative and quantitative methods 57
• Techniques of data collection 69
• Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity 85

4. SOCIOLOGICAL THINKERS

• Karl Marx - Historical materialism, mode of production,alienation, class struggle 97
• Emile Durkheim - Division of labour, social fact, suicide,religion and society 103
• Max Weber - Social action, ideal type, authority,bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism 115
• Talcot Parsons - Social system, pattern variables 129
• Robert K. Merton - Latent and manifest functions,conformity and deviance, reference groups 140
• Mead - Self and identity 146

5. STRATIFICATION AND MOBILITY

• Concepts - equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion,poverty and deprivation 155
• Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory 164
• Dimensions - class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race 172
• Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility 184

6 WORK AND ECONOMIC LIFE

• Social organization of work in different types of society -slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society 192
• Formal and informal organization of work 200
• Labour and society 207

7 POLITICS AND SOCIETY

• Sociological theories of power 209
• Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties 223
• Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society,ideology 232
• Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action,revolution 260

8 RELIGION AND SOCIETY

• Sociological theories of religion 272
• Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism,sects, cults 283
• Religion in modern society: religion and science,secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism 294

9 SYSTEMS OF KINSHIP

• Family, household, marriage 307
• Types and forms of family 320
• Lineage and descent 322
• Patriarchy and sexual division of labour 325
• Contemporary trends 329

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Sociology Optional Notes Paper-2

Content :

INTRODUCING INDIAN SOCIETY

A1 PERSPECTIVES ON THE STUDY OF INDIAN SOCIETY

• Indology (G.S. Ghurye) 1
• Structural functionalism (M.N. Srinivas) 11
• Marxist sociology (A.R. Desai) 29

A2 IMPACT OF COLONIAL RULE ON INDIAN SOCIETY

• Social background of Indian nationalism 34
• Modernization of Indian Tradition 39
• Protests and movements during the colonial period 55
• Social reforms 58

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

B1 RURAL AND AGRARIAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• The idea of Indian village and village studies 59
• Agrarian social structure - evolution of land tenure system,land reforms 65

B2 CASTE SYSTEM

• Perspectives on the study of caste systems: GS Ghurye, M N Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille 73
• Features of caste system 96
• Untouchability - forms and perspectives 101

B3 TRIBAL COMMUNITIES IN INDIA

• Definitional problems 107
• Geographical spread 111
• Colonial policies and tribes 117
• Issues of integration and autonomy 142

B4 SOCIAL CLASSES IN INDIA

• Agrarian class structure 149
• Industrial class structure 152
• Middle classes in India 154

B5 SYSTEMS OF KINSHIP IN INDIA

• Lineage and descent in India 158
• Types of kinship systems 161
• Family and marriage in India 163
• Household dimensions of the family 166
• Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour 168

B6 RELIGION AND SOCIETY

• Religious communities in India 174
• Problems of religious minorities 176

SOCIAL CHANGES IN INDIA

C1 VISIONS OF SOCIAL CHANGE IN INDIA

• Idea of development planning and mixed economy 182
• Constitution, law and social change 185
• Education and social change 188

C2 RURAL AND AGRARIAN TRANSFORMATION IN INDIA

• Programmes of rural development, Community
• Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty
• alleviation schemes190
• Green revolution and social change 196
• Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture 198
• Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration 200

C3 INDUSTRIALIZATION AND URBANIZATION IN INDIA

• Evolution of modern industry in India 202
• Growth of urban settlements in India 204
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization 207
• Informal sector, child labour 210
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas 212

C4 POLITICS AND SOCIETY

• Nation, democracy and citizenship 214
• Political parties, pressure groups, social and political elite 219
• Regionalism and decentralization of power 224
• Secularization 230

C5 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA

• Peasants and farmers movements 232
• Women’s movement 236
• Backward classes and Dalit movement 239
• Environmental movements 242
• Ethnicity and identity movements 247

C6 POPULATION DYNAMICS

• Population size, growth, composition and distribution 251
• Components of population growth: birth, death, migration 254
• Population policy and family planning 258
• Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant
• mortality, reproductive health 261

C7 CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

• Crisis of development: displacement, environmental
• problems and sustainability 269
• Poverty, deprivation and inequalities 272
• Violence against women 275
• Caste conflicts 278
• Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism 282
• Illiteracy and disparities in education 287

Miscellaneous 290

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Courtesy: Neha Bhosle