SOCIOLOGY- PAPER - I

Sociology is something which matched with my temperament and sometime it becomes difficult for me to differentiate between sociological thought process with  my own sphere of thought  which may be called as  “common-sense” in sociological dictionary but  seems very sociologically relevant.

           Coming straight to the references which I used in civil services preparation in my mains exam, let me update that I was a graduate in economics and political science so many topics like those of Marx, political sociology, research methods topics of paper-II were those with which I was aware of and only needed sociological perspective. This myth which I stated in above line was broken once I got hold of HARALOMBOS & HOLBORN  (as per advice of Upendra sir during Mains 2011) as it presented seemingly aware topics in entirely new perspective ie sociological.

Secondly it matters less  what you referred during preparation, and more is concerned about how you have utilized your knowledge and how much of it you retain during 3 hrs, as most of us curse our-self outside exam or our poor memory and complexity of questions but the real fact is that it relates to our no. of revisions prior to exam, our answer writing practice and re-writing it again I we are not satisfied or expect some better of ourself. it may sound weird to re-write an answer again in a mock-test-paper, but believe me it helps even if you do it or few 5-6 questions. There will be an increase in retention capacity and crispness in presentation.

As mentioned above  “THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY” by HARALOMBOS & HOLBORN (H&H) is a basic text book for sociology paper-1,but it is voluminous and costly one ,so best option is to get relevant pages of it Xeroxed. The list of relevant pages along with Xerox is available in  Xerox shop in Delhi.(thankfully copyright act is not enforced as of yet, so get benefited for lax enforcement). And PLEASE don’t get confused with Haralombos and Michael, which is an undergraduate book with orange cover as UPSC is far above of its catchment area.

you can skip few case studies if they are on same topics or with similar findings. Since the book is mainly for UK so authors have cited plenty of studies and analysis of Britain which can be skipped like in chapter on Politics and society.

George Ritzer – the core of which deals with core of sociology i.e. Marx,Weber ,Durkheim and Mead.

No matter from where you have read above , it is still advisable to go through it as you can come across some best explanations and co-relations. Secondly chapters have dealt with thinkers completely from their genesis and covers even those interests which are outside syllabus of UPSC but have potential to appear anytime in future.each thinker/chapter can take atmost 2 days@3 hrs per day but its worth investing. The chapter on functionalism which covers Merton,Parson,neo-functionalism is a good read and presents a good overview of conflict and functional theories.

Major drawback of the book is that the critic is not comprehensively dealt of various studies of thinkers in a separate manner and only combined evaluation is given.

Goode and Hatte – for research methodology. There is no need to refer it if you are serious with H&H as it covers methodology in comprehensive manner.

EPW- I had purchased only 1 issue in last 3 yrs and few articles still lie unread, so am not in a position to write about it,but yes it is a good journal with deep insightful articles. But the problem is that they are very lengthy and sometimes we lose sight about the issue dealt by article and becomes boring . This year I read few Xeroxed articles compiled in a very thoughtful manner by my friend Vibhu, and thankfully I read all which were  helpful  in essay 2012(3. working women-domestic work)

1. Sociology - The Discipline:- 

1. Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of sociology.- GEORGE RITZER
2. Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.-UIAS printed notes VOLUME-1 (best among all,only few pages) - this chapter carries issues concerning status of sociology and debate so far w.r.t natural,social or special science.
3. Sociology and common sense. - UIAS class notes.

22.    Sociology as Science:

                        Only referred UIAS class notes,and HARALOMBOS

1. Science, scientific method and critique.
2. Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
3. Positivism and its critique.
4. Fact value and objectivity.
5. Non- positivist methodologies.

33.    Research Methods and Analysis:

HARALOMBOS Chapter –“METHODOLOGY” is sufficient along with UIAS  class notes.

1. Qualitative and quantitative methods.( also refer to INTERNET)
2. Techniques of data collection.
3. Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity. - Only UIAS  class notes

4. Sociological Thinkers:

4. Karl Marx- Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle. - GEORGE RITZER,UIAS class notes
5. Emile Durkheim- Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society. GEORGE RITZER,UIAS class notes
6. Max Weber- Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. GEORGE RITZER,UIAS
7. Talcolt Parsons- Social system, pattern variables. UIAS,HARALAMBOS
8. Robert K. Merton- Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups. UIAS,HARALAMBOS
9. Mead - Self and identity. GEORGE RITZER

5. Stratification and Mobility: HARALOMBOS and UIAS class notes

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.

6. Works and Economic Life- (most open-ended topic)

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

b.Formal and informal organization of work.- HARALOMBOS

c.Labour and society.- HARALOMBOS

7. Politics and Society:

17. Sociological theories of power.- HARALOMBOS
18. Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties.- HARALOMBOS
19. Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology. HARALOMBOS & UIAS class notes
20. Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.- HARALOMBOS & UIAS class notes (best covered)

8. Religion and Society:

21. Sociological theories of religion. HARALOMBOS and RITZER (Durkheim, Marx, Weber)
22. Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults. HARALOMBOS and internet
23. Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism. HARALOMBOS & UIAS class notes (best covered)

9. Systems of Kinship:

HARALOMBOS & UIAS class notes (best covered) along with newspaper for current updation and recent legislations.

1. Family, household, marriage.
2. Types and forms of family.
3. Lineage and descent.(UIAS is best for this)
4. Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.
5. Contemporary trends.(Important)

10. Social Change in Modern Society - (NCERT can also be referred for better u/s)

6. Sociological theories of social change.- UIAS class notes and internet
7. Development and dependency. - UIAS class notes and internet
8. Agents of social change.- UIAS class notes and internet
9. Education and social change.-UIAS PRINTED and CLASS NOTES,
10. Science, technology and social change.- UIAS class notes and internet

bird's eye view

for any topic in which need is for greater depth or understanding,reference can be made  to books.google.com