IMPORTANT TOPICS – SOCIOLOGY OPTIONAL (BASED ON PREVIOUS YEAR UPSC QUESTIONS)

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PAPER 1 – RELEVANT & RECURRING TOPICS 

 

Sociology – The Discipline

  1. Emergence of sociology in Europe.
  2. Compare Sociology with other Sciences.
  3. Sociology and modernisation of Europe.
  4. Comparative Method

Sociology as Science

  1. Methods of Scientific Investigation
  2. Design of Sociological Research
  3. Value-free Sociology
  4. Value neutrality
  5. Positivist approach
  6. Interpretivist approach

Research Methods and Analysis

  1. Participant Observation 
  2. Questionnaire
  3. Reliability and Validity 
  4. Sampling
  5. Quantitative methods
  6. Qualitative Methods

Sociological Thinkers

  1. Alienation
  2. Class Struggle
  3. Functionalism
  4. Mode of Production
  5. Marx’s Theory of Social Change
  6. Compare Marx and Durkheim
  7. Ideal Type
  8. Verstehen
  9. Pattern Variables
  10. Sacred and Profane
  11. Concept of Social Structure
  12. Social Fact
  13. Anomie
  14. Division of Labour
  15. Theory on Religion
  16. Protestant Ethic
  17. Bureaucracy
  18. Theory of Social Action
  19. Parson’s Theory of Social System
  20. Moving Equilibrium
  21. Conformity and Deviance
  22. Manifest and Latent functions
  23. Middle-range theories

Stratification and Mobility

  1. Functional theory of social stratification
  2. Social Class
  3. Social Status
  4. Vertical and horizontal mobility
  5. Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore’s theory of stratification.

Work and Economic Life

  1. Social consequences of Economic Development
  2. Feudal Society
  3. Capitalist Society
  4. Formal and Informal Organisation of Work
  5. World System Theory

Politics and Society

  1. Social movements
  2. Revolution
  3. Pressure Groups
  4. Power and legitimacy
  5. Ideology
  6. Bureaucracy
  7. C W Mill’s Power Elite
  8. Civil Society
  9. Collective Action
  10. Nation- State

Religion and Society

  1. Fundamentals of Religion
  2. Religious Pluralism
  3. Religion and Science
  4. Religion in Premodern Societies
  5. Secularisation
  6. Sociological theories of religion

System of Kinship

  1. Traditional family
  2. Household
  3. Alternative types of marriage
  4. Socialisation
  5. Lineage and Descent
  6. Role of family in Social control

Social Change in Modern Society

  1. Science and Social behaviour
  2. Modernisation
  3. Theories of Social Change
  4. Social impact of new technologies
  5. Education as an agent of social change.

 

 

PAPER 2 – RELEVANT & RECURRING TOPICS

 

Introducing Indian Society

  1. Traditional Hindu Social Organisation
  2. Ethnic diversity
  3. Impact of Religion on Indian Society
  4. Multiculturalism
  5. Sanskritisation
  6. Social background of Indian Nationalism
  7. Ghurye, Beteille, A R Desai, M N Srinivas

Rural and Agrarian Social Structure

  1. Feudalism
  2. Peasant society
  3. Neo-rich agrarian class
  4. Village studies
  5. Untouchability
  6. Changing rural power structure

Caste System

  1. Institutionalised inequality
  2. Caste mobility
  3. Social justice
  4. Dalit Consciousness
  5. Louis Dumont’s concept of Purity and Pollution
  6. Dominant Caste 

Tribal Communities in India

  1. Integration of tribes
  2. Tribal unrest
  3. Isolation approach in tribal policy
  4. Tribe and Caste

Social Classes in India

  1. Urban Social Organisation
  2. Middle Class
  3. Industrial class structure

System of Kinship in India

  1. Inter-caste marriages
  2. Hindu-joint family
  3. Crisis of family n modern society
  4. Patriarchy
  5. Family Planning
  6. Challenges to institution of marriage

Religion and Society

  1. Secularism
  2. Minority status
  3. Religious fundamentalism
  4. Communal tensions

Visions of Social Change in India

  1. Mass media
  2. Urban development
  3. Education in modern context
  4. Adult illiteracy
  5. Protective discrimination
  6. Law and Social Change
  7. Tradition and modernity

Rural and Agrarian transformation in India

  1. Green revolution
  2. Bonded labour
  3. Poverty alleviation programmes
  4. Slum reform
  5. Agrarian development

Industrialisation and Urbanisation

  1. Occupational diversification
  2. Globalisation
  3. Market economy
  4. Economic reforms
  5. Industrial modernisation

Politics and Society

  1. Electoral reforms
  2. Panchayati Raj
  3. Decentralisation of power
  4. Regionalism
  5. Separatist tendencies

Social movements in Modern India

  1. Peasant movements
  2. Revivalist social movements
  3. Naxalbari movement
  4. Backward classes Movement
  5. Women empowerment
  6. Ethnic movements

Population Dynamics

  1. Checks on population
  2. Sex-ratio
  3. Demographic dividend
  4. Changing age-structure of India’s population
  5. Reproductive health

Challenges of Social Transformation

  1. Uniform Civil Code
  2. Social dimensions of corruption
  3. Constitution as a living document
  4. Child labour
  5. Sustainable development
  6. Violence against women
  7. Structural inequality