Sociology Optional Syllabus For UPSC Download PDF 2022

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Sociology Optional Syllabus For UPSC

UPSC Aspirants can download latest Sociology Optional Syllabus For UPSC. This is the complete UPSC Pre. and Main Syllabus.

SECTION I: PLAN OF EXAMINATION

The Civil Services Examination comprises two successive stages:

(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Civil Services (Main) Examination; and Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview/Personality Test) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts.

2- The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks in the subjects set out in sub-section (A) of Section

1- This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this Examination. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

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Note I: The Commission will draw a list of candidates to be qualified for Civil Services (Main) Examination based on the criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies

Paper-II of Civil Services

(Preliminary) Examination and total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as may be determined by the Commission.

Note II: There will be negative marking for incorrect answers as detailed below :

(i) There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.

(ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be the same penalty as above for that question.

(iii) If a question is left blank i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question.

The Civil Services (Main) Examination will consist of a Written Examination and an Interview/Personality Test. The Written Examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects set out in sub-section (B) of Section-II out of which two papers will be of qualifying in nature. [Also see Note (ii) under Para-I of Section II-(B)]. Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper-I to Paper-VII) and Marks obtained in Interview/Personality Test will be counted for ranking.

4.1 Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Civil Services (Main) Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an Interview/Personality Test, vide sub-section (C) of Section-II. The number of candidates to be summoned for the Interview/Personality Test will be about twice of the number of vacancies to be filled. The Interview/Personality Test will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).

4.2 Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written part as well as Interview/Personality Test) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.

SECTION II: Scheme and Subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examination

1- PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION:

The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.

Note:

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(i) Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions) and each will be of two hours duration.

(ii) The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

(iii) The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

(iv) Details of the syllabi are indicated in Part A of Section III.

2- MAIN EXAMINATION:

The Written Examination will consist of the following papers:-

Qualifying Papers:

Paper – A (One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution).	300 Marks
Paper-B English	300 Marks
Papers to be counted for merit : Paper-I Essay	250 Marks
Paper-II General Studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)	250 Marks
Paper-III General Studies -II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)	250 Marks
Paper-IV General Studies -III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)	250 Marks
Paper-V General Studies -IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)	250 Marks
Paper-VI Optional Subject – Paper 1	250 Marks
Paper-VII Optional Subject – Paper 2	250 Marks
Sub Total (Written test)	1750 Marks
Personality Test	275 Marks
Grand Total	2025 Marks

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Candidates may choose any one of the optional subjects from amongst the list of subjects given in para 2 below:-

Note :

(i) The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

(ii) Evaluation of the papers, namely, ‘Essay’, ‘General Studies’ and Optional Subject of all the candidates would be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on Indian Languages’ and ‘English’ but the papers on Éssay’, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates will be taken cognizance who attain 25% marks in Indian Language’ and 25% in English as minimum qualifying standards in these qualifying papers.

(iii) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

(iv) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for Candidates belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disability (only Hearing Impairment sub-category) provided that they have been granted such exemption from 2nd or 3rd language courses by the concerned education Board/University. The candidate needs to provide an undertaking/self declaration in this regard in order to claim such an exemption to the Commission.

(v) Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper I-VII only will be counted for merit ranking. However, the Commission will have the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.

(vi) For the Language medium/literature of languages, the scripts to be used by the candidates will be as under:-

Language Script

Assamese	Assamese
Bengali	Bengali
Gujarati	Gujarati
Hindi	Devanagari
Kannada	Kannada
Kashmiri	Persian
Konkani	Devanagari
Malayalam	Malayalam
Manipuri	Bengali
Marathi	Devanagari
Nepali	Devanagari
Odia	Odia
Punjabi	Gurumukhi
Sanskrit	Devanagari
Sindhi	Devanagari or Arabic
Tamil	Tamil
Telugu	Telugu
Urdu	Persian
Bodo	Devanagari
Dogri	Devanagari
Maithilli	Devanagari
Santhali	Devanagari

List of optional subjects for Main Examination:

(i) Agriculture

(ii) Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

(iii) Anthropology

(iv) Botany

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(v) Chemistry

(vi) Civil Engineering

(vii) Commerce and Accountancy

(viii) Economics

(ix) Electrical Engineering

(x) Geography

(xi) Geology

(xii) History

(xiii) Law

(xiv) Management

(xv) Mathematics

(xvi) Mechanical Engineering

(xvii) Medical Science

(xviii) Philosophy

(xix) Physics

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(xx) Political Science and International Relations.

(xxi) Psychology

(xxii) Public Administration

(xxiii) Sociology

(xxiv) Statistics

(xxv) Zoology

(xxvi) Literature of any one of the following languages:

Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English.

Note :

(i) The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.

(ii) Each paper will be of three hours duration.

(iii) Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying Language

Papers, Paper-A and Paper-B, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India or in English. Notwithstanding this, the Candidate will have the choice to write the Optional Papers in English also if candidates opt to write Paper I-V except the Qualifying Language Papers, Paper-A and Paper-B, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

(iv) Candidates exercising the option to answer Papers in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India mentioned above may, if they so desire, give English version within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version in the language opted by them. Candidates should, however, note that if they misuse the above rule, a deduction

SECTION III: SYLLABI FOR THE EXAMINATION

Note: Candidates are advised to go through the Syllabus published in this Section for the Preliminary Examination and the Main Examination, as periodic revision of syllabus has been done in several subjects.

Paper I – (200 marks) Duration: Two hours

Current events of national and international importance.
History of India and Indian National Movement.
Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
General Science.

Paper II-(200 marks) Duration: Two hours

Comprehension;
Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
Logical reasoning and analytical ability;
Decision making and problem solving;
General mental ability;
Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level);

Note 1:

Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

Note 2:

The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Note 3:

It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

Part B-Main Examination

The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of

understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.

The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers (Paper II to Paper V) will be such that a well-educated person will be able to answer them without any specialized study. The questions will be such as to test a candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects, which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services. The questions are likely to test the candidate’s basic understanding of all relevant issues, and ability to analyze, and take a view on conflicting socio-economic goals, objectives and demands. The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.

The scope of the syllabus for optional subject papers (Paper VI and Paper VII) for the examination is broadly of the honors degree level i.e. a level higher than the bachelors’ degree and lower than the masters’ degree. In the case of Engineering, Medical Science and law, the level corresponds to the bachelors’ degree.

Syllabi of the papers included in the scheme of Civil Services (Main) Examination are given as follows :-

QUALIFYING PAPERS ON INDIAN LANGUAGES AND ENGLISH

The aim of the paper is to test the candidates’ ability to read and understand serious discursive

prose, and to express ideas clearly and correctly, in English and Indian language.

The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows:

(i) Comprehension of given passages.

(ii) Precis Writing.

(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.

(iv) Short Essays.

Indian Languages :-

(i) comprehension of given passages.

(ii) Precis Writing.

(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.

(iv) Short Essays.

(v) Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa.

Note 1: The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

Note 2: The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language (except where translation is involved).

PAPER-I

Essay: Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

PAPER-II

General Studies-I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.

Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on society.
Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Effects of globalization on Indian society.
Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
Salient features of the world’s physical geography.
Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Paper-III

General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

Indian Constitution-historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.
Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary-Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply.
Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Development processes and the development industry -the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Role of civil services in a democracy.
India and its neighborhood- relations.
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

PAPER-IV

General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management

Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
Government Budgeting.
Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security;
Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply. Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
Land reforms in India.
Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
Investment models.
Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Disaster and disaster management.
Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking
sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

PAPER-V

General Studies- IV: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered :
Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.

Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply.

Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world.
Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
Case Studies on above issues.

UPSC SOCIOLOGY Optional Syllabus

PAPER- I

FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIOLOGY

Sociology – The Discipline:

(a) Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of Sociology.

(b) Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.

Sociology as Science:

(a) Science, scientific method and critique.

(b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology.

(d) Fact value and objectivity.

(e) Non-positivist methodologies.

Research Methods and Analysis:

(a) Qualitative and quantitative methods.

(b) Techniques of data collection.

Sociological Thinkers:

(a) Karl Marx – Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.

(b) Emile Durkhteim – Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society.

(d) Talcolt Parsons – Social system, pattern variables.

(e) Robert K. Merton – Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups.

(f) Mead – Self and identity.

Stratification and Mobility :

(a) Concepts – equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation.

(b) Theories of social stratification – Structural func tionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.

(d) Social mobility – open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility.

Works and Economic Life :

(a) Social organization of work in different types of society – slave society, feudal society, industrial capitalist society.

(b) Formal and informal organization of work.

Politics and Society:

(a) Sociological theories of power.

(b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups and political parties.

(d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.

Religion and Society:

(a) Sociological theories of religion.

(b) Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.

Systems of Kinship:

(a) Family, household, marriage.

(b) Types and forms of family.

(d) Patriarchy and sexual division of labour.

(e) Contemporary trends.

Social Change in Modern Society:

(a) Sociological theories of social change.

(b) Development and dependency.

(d) Education and social change.

(e) Science, technology and social change.

PAPER-II

INDIAN SOCIETY: STRUCTURE AND CHANGE

Introducing Indian Society :

(i) Perspectives on the Study of Indian Society:

(a) Indology (G.S. Ghure).

(b) Structural functionalism (M. N. Srinivas).

(ii) Impact of colonial rule on Indian society:

(a) Social background of Indian nationalism.

(b) Modernization of Indian tradition.

(d) Social reforms.

Social Structure:

(i) Rural and Agrarian Social Structure:

(a) The idea of Indian village and village studies.

(b) Agrarian social structure- evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

(ii) Caste System:

(a) Perspectives on the study of caste systems: G. S. Ghurye, M. N. Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.

(b) Features of caste system.

(iii) Tribal Communities in India:

(a) Definitional problems.

(b) Geographical spread.

(d) Issues of integration and autonomy.

(iv) Social Classes in India:

(a) Agrarian class structure.

(b) Industrial class structure.

(v) Systems of Kinship in India:

(a) Lineage and descent in India.

(b) Types of kinship systems.

(d) Household dimensions of the family.

(e) Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division oflabour.

(vi) Religion and Society:

(a) Religious communities in India.

(b) Problems of religious minorities.

Social Changes in India:

(i) Visions of Social Change in India:

(a) Idea of development planning and mixed economy.

(b) Constitution, law and social change.

(ii) Rural and Agrarian Transformation in India:

(a) Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.

(b) Green revolution and social change.

(d) Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.

(iii) Industrialization and Urbanisation in India:

(a) Evolution of modern industry in India.

(b) Growth of urban settlements in India.

(d) Informal sector, child labour.

(e) Slums and deprivation in urban areas.

(iv) Politics and Society:

(a) Nation, democracy and citizenship.

(b) Political parties, pressure groups, social and political elite.

(d) Secularization.

(v) Social Movements in Modern India :

(a) Peasants and farmers movements.

(b) Women’s movement.

(d) Environmental movements.

(e) Ethnicity and Identity movements.

(vi) Population Dynamics :

(a) Population size, growth, composition and distribution.

(b) Components of population growth: birth, death, migration.

(d) Emerging issues: ageing, sex ratios, child and infant mortality, reproductive health.

(vii) Challenges of Social Transformation :

(a) Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems and sustainability.

(b) Poverty, deprivation and inequalities.

(d) Caste conflicts.

(e) Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.

(f) Illiteracy and disparities in education.

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Sociology Optional Syllabus For UPSC

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