The socio-historical and intellectual background of Sociology; August Comte (Sociology ? Positivism ? social evolution); Karl Marx (historical and dialectical materialism ? class conflict ? capital ? base and super
structure); Emile Durkheim (social Fact ? methodology ? social solidarity ? social change ? religion and society); Max Weber (social Action? methodology? authority ? class, status and power ? religion and economy)
Modern Sociological Theory
Conflict Theory and Neo-Marxism (Lewis Coser ? Ralf Dahrendorf ? Antonio Gramsci ? Louis Althusser ? Habermas) Functionalism and Neo-Functionalism (Talcott Parsons? Robert Merton ?Jefferey Alexander)
Interpretative Sociology (G.H. Mead ? Harold Garfinkel ? Erving Goffman ? Alfred Schutz ? Peter Berger ? Luckmann)
Social Research Method
Meaning and nature (social phenomena ? scientific enquiry ? objectivity and subjectivity ? fact and value); Quantitative methods (survey ? research design ? hypothesis ? sampling , techniques of data
collection: observation, questionnaire and interview); Qualitative methods (participant observation ? case study ? content analysis ? oral history ? life history); Statistical tools (measures of
central tendency? measures of dispersion ? correlation ? test of significance ? reliability and validity).
Sociology of India
Approaches to the Study of Indian Society (Indology ? Civilizational ? Functional ? Marxist ? Subaltern); People of India (groups and communities? unity and diversity ? pluralism); Caste
structure and change (Tribe and Caste? forms of caste ? caste and social institutions ? changes in caste system); Rural social structure (village community ? change in village community);
Family, kinship and marriage; Religion in India (ideology ? organization ? religious movement)
Social Stratification
Theories of social stratification (social class ? class, status, and party ? cultural stratification); Issues in stratification (difference ? hierarchy ? equality and inequality);
Forms of stratification (caste ? class ? gender ? ethnic); Stratification and social mobility in India.
Economy and Society
Theories on economic social relationship; Features of industrial society (factory system ? division of labor? bureaucracy ? rationality? production relations ? surplus value ?
alienation); Relationships (labor ? management ? conciliation ? adjudication ? arbitration? collective bargaining ? trade unions ? Joint management councils ? quality circles);
Agriculture, Industry and service sectors; Industrialization and social change in India; Industrial planning.
Political Sociology
Approaches to the study of politics; Concepts (power and authority ? consensus and conflict? elites and masses? state and stateless societies); Local, everyday power
and wider political system; State and society under capitalism; Citizenship and the welfare state; sovereignty and institutional autonomy; state and society in India;
Civil society and social mobilization.
Sociology of Development
Conceptual perspectives (economic? human ? social ? sustainable ? ecological notions of development); Theories of underdevelopment (Max Weber ? Gunnar Myrdal ?
Frank ? Samir Amin ? Wallerstein); Paths of development (modernization ? globalization Socialist ? Mixed ? Gandhian); Social structure and development; Culture
and development
Family, Kinship and Marriage
Theories; family (types ? characteristics) kinship (incest taboo ? honor ? descent, residence and inheritance); Marriage patterns (exchange ? alliance ?
bride-wealth ? dowry ? social reproduction ? monogamy ? plural marriages); Culture,law and economy; Indian case.
