Sociology Optional Crash Course

Session

Syllabus

Session 1

Orientation session-Discussion of PYQs pattern

Session 2

1. Sociology - The Discipline:

(a) Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of Sociology.

(b) Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.

(c) Sociology and common sense.

Session 3

2. Sociology as Science:

(a) Science, scientific method and critique.

(b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology.

(c) Positivism and its critique.

(d) Fact value and objectivity.

(e) Non-positivist methodologies.

3. Research Methods and Analysis:

(a) Qualitative and quantitative methods.

(b) Techniques of data collection.

(c) Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity

Session 4

4. (a) Karl Marx - Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.

4 (b) Emile Durkheim - Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society.

Session 5

4 (c) Max Weber - Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism

Session 6

4.d. Talcott Parsons - Social system, pattern variables.

(e) Robert K. Merton - Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups.

(f) G H Mead

Session 7

5. Stratification and Mobility:

(a) Concepts - equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation.

(b) Theories of social stratification - Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.

(c) Dimensions - Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race.

(d) Social mobility - open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility.

Session 8

Chapter 5 and Chapter 6

6. Works and Economic Life:

(a) Social organization of work in different types of society - slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society.

(b) Formal and informal organization of work.

(c) Labour and society.

Session 9

7. Politics and Society:

(a) Sociological theories of power.

(b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties.

(c) Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.

(d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.

Session 10

8. Religion and Society:

(a) Sociological theories of religion.

(b) Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.

(c) Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.

Session 11

9. Systems of Kinship:

(a) Family, household, marriage.

(b) Types and forms of family.

(c) Lineage and descent.

(d) Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.

(e) Contemporary trends.

10. Social Change in Modern Society:

(a) Sociological theories of social change.

(b) Development and dependency.

(c) Agents of social change.

(d) Education and social change.

(e) Science, technology and social change.

Session 12

A. Introducing Indian Society:

(i) Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society:

(a) Indology (G.S. Ghurye).

(b) Structural functionalism (M. N. Srinivas).

(c) Marxist sociology (A. R. Desai).

(ii) Impact of colonial rule on Indian society:

(a) Social background of Indian nationalism.

(b) Modernization of Indian tradition.

Session 13

B. (i) Rural and Agrarian Social Structure:

(a) The idea of Indian village and village studies.

(b) Agrarian social structure— evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

C. (ii) Rural and Agrarian Transformation in India:

(a) Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.

(b) Green revolution and social change.

(c) Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture.

(d) Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.

B. (iv) Social Classes in India:

(a) Agrarian class structure.

Session 14

(ii) Caste System:

(a) Perspectives on the study of caste systems: G. S. Ghurye, M. N. Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.

(b) Features of caste system.

(c) Untouchability-forms and perspectives

Session 15

(iii)Tribal Communities in India:

(a) Definitional problems.

(b) Geographical spread.

(c) Colonial policies and tribes.

(d) Issues of integration and autonomy.

(v) Systems of Kinship in India:

(a) Lineage and descent in India.

(b) Types of kinship systems.

(c) Family and marriage in India.

(d) Household dimensions of the family.

(e) Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour.

Session 16

(vi) Religion and Society:

(a) Religious communities in India.

(b) Problems of religious minorities.

C. (vii) e. Communalism, religious revivalism

C. Social Changes in India:

(i) Visions of Social Change in India:

(a) Idea of development planning and mixed economy.

(b) Constitution, law and social change.

(c) Education and social change.

Session 17

(iii) Industrialization and Urbanisation in India:

(a) Evolution of modern industry in India.

(b) Growth of urban settlements in India.

(c) Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization.

(d) Informal sector, child labour.

(e) Slums and deprivation in urban areas.

B. (iv) Social Classes in India:

(b) Industrial class structure.

(c) Middle classes in India.

Session 18

A. (ii) (c) Protests and movements during the colonial period.

(d) Social reforms.

C. (iv) Politics and Society:

(a) Nation, democracy and citizenship.

(b) Political parties, pressure groups, social and political elite.

(c) Regionalism and decentralization of power.

(d) Secularization.

(v) Social Movements in Modern India:

(a) Peasants and farmers movements.

(b) Women’s movement.

(c) Backward classes & Dalit movements.

(d) Environmental movements.

(e) Ethnicity and Identity movements.

Session 19

(vii) Challenges of Social Transformation:

(a) Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems and sustainability.

(b) Poverty, deprivation and inequalities.

(c) Violence against women.

(d) Caste conflicts.

(e) Ethnic conflicts,

(f) Illiteracy and disparities in education

(vi) Population Dynamics:

(a) Population size, growth, composition and distribution.

(b) Components of population growth: birth, death, migration.

(c) Population Policy and family planning.

(d) Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

Session 20

Contemporary Issues + Revision

Session 21

Contemporary Issues + Revision