What is Sociology?

Sociology is the detailed study of people, their cultures, and how they live in today’s society. We observe people of different cultures, of different races, of different interests come together and live in harmony. At the same time, we also look at people causing harm to each other because of the exact differences. And that’s what the subject’s (sociology) primary focus is on, and that’s what students sign up to study. It explains how the consciousness and action of a person affect the way they live and how the life of the surrounding people and their culture affect someone else.

Today, many inequalities are rising, and at the same time, some people can manage to keep those differences aside and live in a democracy. So what aspect of today’s world is responsible for that change? The science of sociology talks about everything from human psychology to crime rates in a particular location. It helps us get a deeper insight into the good and evil in people and society.

The UPSC exam today has sociology optional coaching for people considering the subject. The sociology optional syllabus focuses on society’s core problems and gives the students more profound insights into the concept. There are online sociology optional test series that will help you learn the concepts faster.

Sociology optional syllabus

In UPSC, the sociology exam has two papers (paper one and paper 2). The sociology optional syllabus has core sociology concepts along with major Indian strategies and culture included. Here is the division of the syllabus.

Paper 1

Paper 1 focuses on the fundamentals (or the ‘must know’) concepts and ideologies in sociology.

Chapter 1: The discipline

We know that the concept of sociology first came into focus in England, and that’s what the chapter talks about by touching upon the modern and social variances. Sociology is a science, but it is also common sense, and that’s what the students learn here. How sociology makes and breaks societal discipline is the problem statement here.

Chapter 2: Sociology as a science

The critique system is a science where various strategies are experimented on, and people use different scientific methods. So this chapter focuses on the details of those methodologies. It talks about Fact-vale, objectivity, the theoretical concept behind the technique and many more.

Chapter 3: Sociology thinkers

This chapter focuses on various scientists, writers, philosophers, literature giants who spoke about sociology in their books and research. We touch upon Karl Marx, Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, Mead, Emile Durkheim and many more.

Chapter 4: Stratification and mobility

Here we learn about inequality, dimensions and social mobility of the society from a sociology perspective.

Chapter 5: Research methods and analysis

In sociology, to analyse the data, we need numerous quantitative and qualitative metrics, which you will learn here.

Chapter 6: Works, economic life, Religion and society

There are two types of work and economic lifestyles. One is a formal one, and the other one is informal. The chapter talks about these two, and in addition to that, it focuses on labourers, organisations and many more.

Chapter 7: Politics, society, Social change in modern society

You learn concepts like ‘how citizenship works. You know about democracy, bureaucracy, protests, collection movements and many more.

Chapter 8: Systems of kinship

It talks about family, marriage, types of family, mortgages, educational change and many more.

Paper 2

The primary focus of Paper 2 is on Indian specific sociology concepts (like the structure and the change over the decades).

Chapter 1: Social change in India

Here we talk about the vision of Indian society after Independence, how our laws changed, about industrialisation, about politics, society and prevalent dynamics.

The challenges of social transformation are a core concept that focuses on the development crisis, caste and ethnic conflicts, illiteracy, poverty, and many more.

Chapter 2: Introducing Indian society

It talks about the different perspectives and structural functionalism of Indian society, their ideologies, and Marxist sociology.

Concepts about Indian nationalism, Social background, modernisation, tradition, protests, social reforms, etc., are also inclusive (i.e.How colonial rule changed India both for better and worse).

Chapter 3: Social structure

Just as the name suggests, here we discuss the political systems in India. The concept concentrates on the caste system, social classes, tribal communism, LGBTQ and many more.

It talks about kinship in India, Religion, culture, society and many more.