OAS SOCIOLOGY OPTIONAL SYLLABUS

Paper-I

Foundations of Sociology

1. Sociology-The Discipline: Sociology as a science and as an interpretative discipline; impact of Industrial and French Revolution on the emergence of sociology; sociology and its relationship with history, economics, political science, psychology, and anthropology.

2. Scientific Study of Social Phenomena: Problem of objectivity and value neutrality; issue of measurement in social science; elements of scientific method-concepts, theory and fact, hypothesis; research designs-descriptive, exploratory and experimental, content analysis.

3. Techniques of data collection and analysis: Participant and quasi-participant observation; interview, questionnaire and schedule case study, sampling-size, reliability and validity, scaling techniques-social distance and Likert scale.

4. Pioneering contributions to Sociology: a) Karl Marx: Historical materialism, alienation and class struggle. b) Emile Durkheim: Division of labor, social fact, religion and society, suicide. c) Max Weber: Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. d) Talcott Parsons: Social system, pattern variables. e) Robert K. Merton: Latent and manifest functions, anomie, conformity and deviance, reference groups.

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5. Marriage and Family: Types and forms of marriage; family-structure and function; personality and socialization; Social control; family, lineage, descent, and property; changing the structure of family and marriage in modern society; divorce and its implications; role conflicts.

6. Social Stratification: Concepts-hierarchy, inequality, and stratification; theories of stratification-Marx, Davis and Moore, and Melvin Tumin’s critique; forms and functions; class different conceptions of class; class-in-itself and class-for-itself; caste and class; caste as a class.

7. Social Mobility: Types of mobility-open and closed models; intra-and intergenerational mobility; vertical and horizontal mobility; social mobility and social change.

8. Economic System: Sociological dimensions of economic life; the impact of economic processes on the larger society; social aspects of the division of labor and types of exchange; features of the pre-industrial and industrial economic system; industrialization and social change; social determinants of economic development.

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9. Political System: The nature of power-personal power, community power, power of the elite, class power, organizational power, power of the unorganized masses; authority and legitimacy; pressure groups and political parties; voting behavior; modes of political participation-democratic and authoritarian forms.

10. Educational System: Education and Culture; equality of educational opportunity; social aspects of mass education; problems of universalization of primary education; role of community and state intervention in education; education as an instrument of social control and social change; education and modernization.

11. Religion: Origins of religious beliefs in pre-modern societies; the sacred and the profane; social functions and dysfunctions of religion; monistic and pluralistic religion; organized and unorganized religions; Semitism and antisemitism; religion, sect, and cults; magic, religion, and science.

12. Social Change and Gender Issues: Social construction of gender, Equality vs. Differences, the impact of globalization on women, the emergence of feminist thought, gender issues.

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Paper-II

Indian Society

1. Historical Moorings of the Indian Society : Traditional Hindu social organization; socio-cultural dynamics through the ages; impact of Buddhism, Islam, and the West, factors in continuity and change.

2. Caste System : Origin of the caste system; cultural and structural views about caste; mobility in caste; caste among Muslims and Christians; change and persistence of caste in modern India; issues of equality and social justice; views of Gandhi and Ambedkar on caste; caste on and Indian polity; Backward Classes Movement; Mandal Commission Report and issues of social backwardness and social justice; the emergence of Dalit consciousness, backward caste movement.

3. Class Structure : Class structure in India, agrarian and industrial class structure; the emergence of the middle class; the emergence of classes among tribes; elite formation in India.

4. Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Marriage among different religious and tribal groups, its changing trends and its future; family-its structural and functional aspects-its changing forms; regional variations in kinship systems and their socio-cultural correlates; impact of legislation and socioeconomic change on marriage and family; generation gap.

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5. Agrarian Social Structure : Peasant society and agrarian systems; land tenure systems-historical perspectives, social consequences of land reforms and green revolution; feudalism-semi-feudalism debates; emerging agrarian class structure; peasant movements.

6. Industry and Society : Path of industrialization, occupational diversification, trade unions, and human relations; market economy and its social consequences; economic reforms liberalization, privatization and globalization.

7. Political Processes : Working of the democratic political system in a traditional society; political parties and their social base; social structural origins of political elites and their orientations; regionalism, pluralism and national unity; decentralization of power; Panchayati raj and nagarpalikas and 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments.

8. Education : Directive Principles of State Policy and primary education; educational inequality and change; education and social mobility; the role of community and state intervention in education; universalization of primary education; Total Literacy Campaigns; educational problems of disadvantaged groups.

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9. Religion and Society: Size, growth, and regional distribution of different religious groups; educational levels of different groups; problems of religious minorities; communal tensions; secularism; conversions; religious fundamentalism, religious reform movements.

10. Tribal Societies: Distinctive features of tribal communities and their geographical spread; problems of tribal communities-land alienation, health, and nutrition, education; tribal development efforts after independence; tribal policy-isolation, assimilation, and integration; issues of tribal identity.

11. Social Change and Development: Endogenous and exogenous sources of change and resistance to change; processes of change-Sanskritisation and modernization; agents of change-mass media, education, and communication; problems of change and modernization; structural contradictions and breakdowns; Migration, Determinants, and consequences of population growth, population policy, and family welfare programs, child welfare programs.

12. Major Social Issues Poverty, indebtedness, bonded labor, unemployment, depletion of forests, development-related displacement, corruption, alcoholism, AIDS, drug addiction, violence against women, dowry. Child labor; Maternal and infant mortality rate in Odisha.

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