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Vibhu Goel
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Sociology : Study Material

25

FridayMAY 2012

POSTED BY VIBHUGOEL IN UPSC PREPARATION

58 COMMENTS

I am listing the study material that I referred, for UPSC Sociology Paper I and
Paper II, through this post.
Heres my recommended booklist for Sociology (I strictly followed what Mr
Upendra Gaur told our batch to read with some modifications which fortunately
worked for me)
Paper-I
1) Haralambos (V th edition, the large book not the earlier orange covered one)
(In my opinion, the most important book for conceptual clarity not only for paper
I, but also for paper II).
Here are the page numbers that I read from the book: Page 1 to 21, 23 to 49,
69 to 104, 136 to 141, 145 to 156, 222 to 236, 282 to 286, 291 to 305, 334 to

346, 353 to 362, 372 to 378, 386 to 390, 431 to 439, 446 to 492, 504 to 551,
966 to 990, 991 to 1030 and 1032 to 1079 (Please understand that I am not
saying that read only these page numbers and leave the rest, I am merely
saying that I read only these pages from the book considering the time that I
had).
2) UIES (Upendra Gaur Sirs notes): Entire paper I notes.
3) Sociological Theory by George Ritzer and Douglas J. Goodman (VI edition)
(for chapter 4 only, to be read only if you have finished the above two) I referred
only those topics which I was not comfortable at.
4) Sindhuri Madams notes (UPSC 2008 AIR 43), available at book shops in Delhi
(especially for Chapters 1,2 and 3).
Paper-II
Please note that there are standard text books available for Paper I but the
study material for Paper-II is not found easily. Hence it becomes mandatory to
refer to multiple sources.
1)

Primarily I relied on Sindhuri Madams notes (UPSC 2008 AIR 43) which I

got through the xerox shops in Rajendra Nagar (She has very meticulously
collected material from various sources and prepared her own analyses as well)
2)

UIES class notes (Upendra Gaur Sirs class notes for Paper II)

3)

Newspapers (The Hindu and The Indian Express, select articles)

4)

Yojana (the monthly magazine)

5)

IGNOU MA Material (MSO Series, selective pages, details I have

mentioned below)
6)

Contemporary Sociology by M Francis Abraham (Oxford Publications):

Chapters 11,14,15 and 17)

7) Society in India by Ram Ahuja (Selective pages from Chapters 1, 2, 4, 8, 9

and 16)
8)

Handbook of Indian Sociology by Veena Das (very very selective, only

those topics which are not covered in the above)

Here is the list of some of the articles I referred for selective topics in paper II
(again told to us by Mr Upendra Gaur), (they are available at any book store in
Delhi or can be taken from any of your friend who has attended sessions of Mr
Gaur, alternatively they can be accessed from the xerox shop near Mr Gaurs
residence in Safdurjung Enclave, New Delhi). I would advise the non Delhi
aspirants to ask their friends from Delhi to parcel this material. On a cursory
glance this looks mammoth but I believe that many of this have
significant overlaps and can be covered in 4 months along with the
other optional and GS.
1)

Indological Perspective by Ghurye (Lesson 8)

2)

Structural Functional Perspective by M N Srinivas (Lesson 10)

3)

Marxian Perspective by A R Desai (Lesson 14)

(I dont know the name of the book from which the above three chapters are
taken, apologies, but all three articles are available at any standard book store in
Delhi)
4)

Modernization of Indian tradition by Yogendra Singh (page 85 to 160, page

208 to 213)
5)

Caste its 20th Century Avatar by M N Panini

6)

The Political Economy of Caste by M N Panini (pp 28 to 63)

7)

Tribal India by Nadeem Husnain (selective pages)

8)

Indias Population Policy by Bhende and Kanitkar (selective pages)

9)

Principle of Polulation Studies by Bhende and Kanitkar (Appendix C)

10)

Indian tribals and search for an indigenous identity by Walter Fernandes

11)

Slum problem in India: Magnitude, Genesis and Possible Solution by B K

Chakraborty
12)

Sixty Years of Development induced Displacement in India by Walter

Fernandes
IGNOU booklets that I referred:
MSO 001 Book 1: Block 2, 3 and 4
MSO 001 Book 2: Block 5, 6, 7 and 8
MSO 003 Book 1: block 1 (all the 4 units), block 2 (unit 5), block 3 (unit 9 and
10)
MSO 003 Book 2: block 6 (all the 4 units), block 7 (unit 24, 25), block 8 (unit 27
and 28)
MSO 004 Book 1: Entire booklet
MSO 004 Book 2: Block 5 (Unit 17, 19 and 20), block 6, 7 and 8
MSOE 004 Book 2: Blocks 5, 6 and 7
MPSE 007
Very briefly, I also referred to some of the reference books for the areas which I
thought were not covered extensively through the notes. Two of them were
Changing India by Robert Stern, and India: Development and Participation by
Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze. (I referred very very selectively and I wouldnt

advise the serious aspirants to go for them if you have only 3 months for the
exam and you havent read them earlier).
Especially for paper II, stick very strictly to the syllabus and prepare your own
pointers/ notes(from the above material coupled with newspaper articles) so that
you can revise the syllabus just before the examination.
I think that the understanding of key concepts of Paper-I and ability to apply
them to the contemporary scenario comes in handy for scoring good marks in
both the papers. Also Paper I and II shouldnt be studied in isolation. Application
of relevant examples from Indian Society and your own family/ personal
experiences in Paper I and International studies in Paper II,depending on the
demand of the question should fetch good marks.
Besides, I was a regular reader of:
1) Rajiv Ranjan Singhs blog on Sociology (AIR 191, CSE
2009):

http://intellection-rajiv.blogspot.in

2) Tanvi Sundriyals (AIR 6, CSE 2009)

blog: http://thecivilservicesdream.blogspot.in/
3) Anay Dwivedis (AIR 5, CSE 2009) blog:
http://anaydwivedi.wordpress.com/