Sociology Optional

FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIOLOGY

Chapters

Topics

 Sociology – The Discipline

• Modernity and social changes in Europe and the emergence of Sociology.
• Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.
• Sociology and common sense

Sociology as Science

• Science, scientific method, and critique.
• Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
• Positivism and its critique.
• Fact value and objectivity.
• Non-positivist methodologies.

Research Methods and Analysis

• Qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Techniques of data collection.
• Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability, and validity.

Sociological Thinkers

• Karl Marx – Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
• Emile Durkheim – Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion, and society.
• Max Weber – Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethics, and the spirit of capitalism.
• Talcolt Parsons – Social system, pattern variables.
• Robert K. Merton – Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups.
• Mead – Self and identity.

Stratification and Mobility

• Concepts – equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty, and deprivation.
• Theories of social stratification – Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.
• Dimensions – Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity, and race.
• Social mobility – open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources, and causes of mobility.

Works and Economic Life

• Social organisation of work in different types of society – slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society.
• Formal and informal organisation of work.
• Labour and society.

Politics and Society

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

Religion and Society

• Sociological theories of religion.
• Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.
• Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularisation, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.

Systems of Kinship

• Family, household, and marriage.
• Types and forms of family.
• Lineage and descent.
• Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.
• Contemporary trends.

Social Change in Modern Society

• Sociological theories of social change.
• Development and dependency.
• Agents of social change.
• Education and social change.
• Science, technology, and social change.

INDIAN SOCIETY: STRUCTURE AND CHANGE

Chapters

Topics

Introducing Indian Society

• Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society:  Indology (G.S. Ghure); Structural functionalism (M. N. Srinivas); Marxist sociology (A. R. Desai).

• Impact of colonial rule on Indian society:  Social background of Indian nationalism; Modernization of Indian tradition; Protests and movements during the colonial period;  Social reforms.

Social Structure

 Rural and Agrarian Social Structure

• The idea of Indian village and village studies.
• Agrarian social structure—evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

Caste System

• Perspectives on the study of caste systems: G. S. Ghurye, M. N. Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.
• Features of caste system.
• Untouchability- forms and perspectives.

Tribal Communities in India

• Definitional problems.
• Geographical spread.
• Colonial policies and tribes.
• Issues of integration and autonomy.

Social Classes in India

• Agrarian class structure.
• Industrial class structure.
• Middle classes in India.

Systems of Kinship in India

• Lineage and descent in India.
• Types of kinship systems.
• Family and marriage in India.
• Household dimensions of the family.
• Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour.

Religion and Society

• Religious communities in India.
• Problems of religious minorities.

Social Changes in India

Visions of Social Change in India

• Idea of development planning and mixed economy.
• Constitution, law and social change.
• Education and social change.

Rural and Agrarian Transformation in India

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

Industrialization and Urbanisation in India

• Evolution of modern industry in India.
• Growth of urban settlements in India.
• Working class: structure, growth, class mobilisation.
• Informal sector, child labour.
• Slums and deprivation in urban areas.

Politics and Society

• Nation, democracy, and citizenship.
• Political parties, pressure groups, social and political elite.
• Regionalism and decentralisation of power.
• Secularization.

Social Movements in Modern India

• Peasants and farmers’ movements.
• Women’s movement.
• Backward classes & Dalit movements.
• Environmental movements.
• Ethnicity and Identity movements.

Population Dynamics

• Population size, growth, composition, and distribution.
• Components of population growth: birth, death, migration.
• Population Policy and family planning.
• Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

Challenges of Social Transformation

• Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems, and sustainability.
• Poverty, deprivation, and inequalities.
• Violence against women.
• Caste conflicts.
• Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.
• Illiteracy and disparities in education.