My Second Optional : History

History Syllabus for Main Examination

Paper-I
Section-A
1. Sources and approaches to study of early Indian history.
2. Early pastoral and agricultural communities. The archaeological evidence.
3. The Indus Civilization: its origins, nature and decline.
4. Patterns of settlement, economy, social organization and religion in India (c. 2000 to 500 B.C.) : archaeological perspectives.
5. Evolution of north Indian society and culture: evidence of Vedic texts (Samhitas to Sutras).
6. Teachings of Mahavira and Buddha. Contemporary society. Early phase of state formation and urbanization.
7. Rise of Magadha; the Mauryan empire. Ashoka's inscriptions; his dhamma. Nature of the Mauryan state.
8-9 Post-Mauryan period in northern and peninsular India: Political and administrative history,. Society, economy, culture and religion. Tamilaham and its society: the Sangam texts.
10-11 India in the Gupta and post-Gupta period (to c. 750) : Political histroy of northern and peninsular India; Samanta system and changes in political structure; economy; social structure; culture; religion.
12. Themes in early Indian cultural history: languages and texts; major stages in the evolution of art and architecture; major philosphical thinkers and schools; ideas in science and mathematics.

Section-B
13. India, 750-1200 : Polity, society and economy. Major dynasties and political structurs in North India. Agrarian structures. " Indian feudalism". Rise of Rajputs. The Imperial Cholas and their contemporaries in Peninsular India. Villagle communities in the South. Conditions fof women. Commerce mercantile groups and guilds; towns. Problem of coinage. Arab conquest of Sind; the Ghaznavide empire.
14. India, 750-1200: Culture, Literature, Kalhana, historian. Styles of temple architecture; sculpture. Religious thought and institutions: Sankaracharya's vedanta. Ramanuja. Growth of Bhakti, Islam and its arrival in India. Sufism. Indian science. Alberuni and his study of Indian science and civilization.
15. The 13th Century. The Ghorian invasions. Factors behind Ghorian success. Economic, social and cultural consequences. Foundation of Delhi Sultanate. The "slave" Dynasty. IItutmish; Balban. "The Khalji Revolution". Early Sultanate architecture.
16. The 14th Century. Alauddin Khalji's conquests, agrarian and economic measures. Muhammad Tughluq's major "projects". Firuz Tughluq's concessions and public works. Decline of the Sultante. Foreing contacts: Ibn Battuta.
17. Economy societyand culture in the 13th and 14th centureis. Caste and slavery under sultanate. Tehnological changes. Sultanate architecture. [persian literature: Amir Khusrau, Historiography; Ziya Barani. Evolution of a composite culture. Sufism in North India. Lingayats. Bhakti schools in the south.
18. The 15th and early16th Century (Political History). Rise of Provincial Dynasties: Bengal, Kashmir (Zainul Abedin), Gujarat, Malwa, Bahmanids. The Vijayanagra Empire. Lodis. Mughal Empire, First phase : Babur, Humayun. The Sur Empire : Sher Shah's administration. The Portuguese colonial enterprise.
19. The 15th and early 16th Century (society, economy and culture). Regional cultures and literatures. provincial architectural styles. Society, culture, literature and the arts in Vijayanagara Empire.
Monotheistic movements: Kabir and Guru Nank. Bhakti Movements: Chaitanya. Sufism in its pantheistic phase.
20. Akbar: His conquests and consolidation of empire. Establishment of jagir and mansab systems. His Rajput policy. Evolution of religious and social outlook. Theory of Sulh-i-kul and religious policy. Abul Fazl, thinker and historian. Court patronage of art and technology.
21. Mughal empire in the 17th Century. Major policies (administrative and religious) of Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb. The Empire and the Zamindars. Nature of the Mughal state. Late 17th Century crisis: Revolts. The Ahom kingdom, Shivaji and the early maratha kingdom.
22. Economy and society, 16th and 17th Centuries. Population. Agricultural and craft production. Towns, commerce with Europe through Dutch, English and French companies- a "trade revolution". Indian mercantile classes. Banking, insurance and credit systems. Conditions of peasants, famines. Condition of Women.
23. Culture during Mughal Empire. Persian literature (including historical works). Hindi and relgious literatures. Mughal architecture. Mughal painting. Provincial schools of architecture and painting. Classical music. Science and technology. Sawai Jai Singh, astronomer. Mystic eclecticism : Dara Shukoh. Vaishnav Bhakti. Mahrasthra Dharma. Evolution of the Sikh community (Khalsa).
24. First half of 18th Century: Factors behind decline of the Mughal Empire. The regional principalities (Nizam's Deccan, Bengal, Awadh). Rise of Maratha ascendancy under the Peshwas. The Maratha fiscal and financial system. Emergency of Afghan Power. Panipat, 1761. Internal weakness, political cultural and economic, on eve of the British conquest.


Paper-II
Section-A
1. Establishment of British rule in India: Factors behind British success against Indian powers-Mysore, Maratha Con federacy and the Punjab as major powers in resistance; Policy of subsidiary Alliance and Doctrine of Lapse.
2. Colonial Economy : Tribute system. Drain of wealth and "deindustrialisation", Fiscal pressures and revenue settlements (Zamindari, Ryotwari and Mahalwari settlements); Structure of the British raj up to 1857 (including the Acts of 1773 and 1784 and administrative organisation).
3. Resistance to colonia rule : Early uprisings; Causes, nature and impact of the Revolt of 1857; Reorganisation of the Raj, 1858 and after.
4. Socio-cultural impact of colonial rule: Official social reform measures (1828-57); Orientalist-Anglicist controversy; coming of English education and the press; Christian missionary activities;Bengal Renaissance; Social and religious reform movements in Bengal and other areas; Women as focus of social reform.
5. Economy 1858-1914: Railways; Commercialisation of Indian agriculture; Growth of landless labourers and rural indebtedness; Famines; India as market for British industry; Customs removal, exchange and countervailing excise; Limited growth of modern industry.
6. Early Indian Nationalism: Social background; Formation of national associations; Peasant and tribal uprising during the early nationalist era; Foundation of the Indian National Congress; The Moderate phase of the Congress; Growth of Extremism; The Indian Council Act of 1909; Home Rule Movement; The Government of India Act of 1919.
7. Inter-War economy of India: Industries and problem of Protection; Agricultural distress; the Great Depression; Ottawa agreements and Discriminatory Protection; the growth of trade unions; The Kisan Movement; The economic programme of the Congress' Karachi resolution, 1931.
8. Nationalism under Gandhi's leadership: Gandhi's career, thought and methods of mass mobilisation; Rowlatt Satyagraha, Khilafat- Non Cooperation Movement, Civil Disobedience Movement, 1940 Satyagraha and Quit India Movement; State People's Movement.
9. Other strands of the National Movement:
a) Revolutionary movements since 1905; (b) Constitutional politics; Swarajists, Liberals, Responsive Cooperation; (c) Ideas of Jawharlal Nehru, (d) The Left (Socialists and Communists); (e) Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army; (f) Communal strands: Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha; (g) Women in the National Movement.
10. Literary and cultural lmovements: Tagore, Premchand, Subramanyam Bharati, Iqbal as examples only; New trends in art; Film industry; Writers' Organisations and Theatre Associations.
11. Towards Freedom: The Act of 1935; Congress Ministries, 1937-1939; The Pakistan Movement; Post-1945 upsurge (RIN Mutiny, Telangana uprising etc.,); Consititutional negotiations and the Transfer of Power, 15 August 1947.
12. First phase of Independence (1947-64): Facing the consequences of Partition; Gandhiji's murder; economic dislocation; Integration of States; The democratic constitution, 1950; Agrarian reforms; Building an industrial welfare state; Planning and industrialisation; Foreign policy of Non-alignment; Relations with neighbours.

Section-B
13. Enlightenment and Modern ideas
#1. Renaissance Background
#2. Major Ideas of Enlightenment: Kant, Rousseau
#3. Spread of Enlightenment outside Europe
#4. Rise of socialist ideas (to Marx)

14. Origins of Modern Politics
#1. European States System
#2. American Revolution and the Constitution.
#3. French revolution and after math, 1789-1815.
#4. British Democratic Politics, 1815-1850; Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, chartists.

15. Industriatization
#1. English Industrial Revolution: Causes and Impact on Society
#2. Industrialization in other countries: USA, Germany, Russia, Japan
#3. Socialist Industrialization: Soviet and Chinese.

16. Nation-State System
#1. Rise of Nationalism in 19th century
#2. Nationalism : state-building in Germany and Italy
#3. Disintegration of Empires through the emergence of nationalities.

17. Imperialism and Colonialism
#1. Colonial System (Exploitation of New World, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Tribute from Asian Conquests)
#2. Types of Empire: of settlement and non-settlement: Latin America, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia.
#3. Imperialism and Free Trade: The New Imperialism

18. Revolution and Counter-Revolution
#1. 19th Century European revolutions
#2. The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921
#3. Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany.
#4. The Chinese Revolution of 1949

19. World Wars
#1. 1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars: Societal Implications
#2. World War I : Causes and Consequences
#3. World War II : Political Consequence
20. Cold War

#1. Emergence of Two Blocs
#2. Integration of West Europe and US Strategy; Communist East Europe
#3. Emergence of Third World and Non-Alignment
4. UN and Dispute Resolution
21. Colonial Liberation

#1. Latin America-Bolivar
#2. Arab World-Egypt
#3. Africa-Apartheid to Democracy
#4. South-East Asia-Vietnam

22. Decolonization and Underdevelopment
#1. Decolonization: Break up of colonial Empires: British, French, Duth
#2. Factors constraining Development : Latin America, Africa

23. Unification of Europe
#1. Post War Foundations : NATO and European Community
#2. Consolidation and Expansion of European Community/European Union.

24. Soviety Disintegration and the Unipolar World
#1. Factors in the collapse of Soviet communism and the Soviet Union, 1985-1991
#2. Political Changes in East Europe 1989-1992
#3. End of the Cold War and US Ascendancy in the World
#4. Globalization

Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons (1902-82) was for many years the best-known sociologist in the United States, and indeed one of the best-known in the world. He produced a general theoretical system for the analysis of society that came to be called structural functionalism. Parsons' analysis was largely developed within his major published works: The Structure of Social Action (1937), The Social System (1951), Structure and Process in Modern Societies (1960), Sociological Theory and Modern Society (1968), Politics and Social Structure (1969). Parsons was an advocate of "grand theory," an attempt to integrate all the social sciences into an overarching theoretical framework. His early work"The Structure of Social Action"reviewed the output of his great predecessors, especially Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto, and Émile Durkheim, and attempted to derive from them a single "action theory" based on the assumptions that human action is voluntary, intentional, and symbolic. Later, he became intrigued with, and involved in, an astonishing range of fields: from medical sociology (where he developed the concept of the sick role to psychoanalysis-personally undergoing full training as a lay analyst) to anthropology, to small group dynamics to race relations and then economics and education. Parsons is also well known for his idea that every group or society tends to fulfill four "functional imperatives". adaptation to the physical and social environment; goal attainment, which is the need to define primary goals and enlist individuals to strive to attain these goals; integration, the coordination of the society or group as a cohesive whole; latency, maintaining the motivation of individuals to perform their roles according to social expectations. Parsons contributed to the field of social evolutionism and neoevolutionism. He divided evolution into four subprocesses: division, which creates functional subsystems from the main system; adaptation, where those systems evolve into more efficient versions; inclusion of elements previously excluded from the given systems; and generalization of values, increasing the legitimization of the ever-more complex system. Furthermore, Parsons explored these subprocesses within three stages of evolution: 1) primitive, 2) archaic and 3) modern (where archaic societies have the knowledge of writing, while modern have the knowledge of law). Parsons viewed the Western civilisation as the pinnacle of modern societies, and out of all western cultures he declared the United States as the most dynamically developed. For this, he was attacked as an ethnocentrist.Parsons' late work focused on a new theoretical synthesis around four functions common (he claimed) to all systems of action-from the behavioral to the cultural, and a set of symbolic media that enable communication across them. His attempt to structure the world of action according to a mere four concepts was too much for many American sociologists, who were at that time retreating from the grand pretensions of the 1960s to a more empirical, grounded approach. Pattern variables Parsons asserted that there were two dimensions to societies: instrumental and expressive. By this he meant that there are qualitative differences between kinds of social interaction. Essentially, he observed that people can have personalized and formally detached relationships based on the roles that they play. The characteristics that were associated with each kind of interaction he called the pattern variables.Some examples of expressive societies would include families, churches, clubs, crowds, and smaller social settings. Examples of instrumental societies would include bureaucracies, aggregates, and markets. Affectivity Vs affective neutrality : When actor is oriented towards maximum satisfaction from a given choice. Particularism Vs.Universalism: Situations are judged according to uniform criteria (universalism) and not according to actor or individuals relation with the given subject(particularism). Quality Vs Performance : Defining people on the basis of biological difference and performance is judging people according to their performance and capacity. Self orientation Vs Collective Orientation when the actor acts out of personal interest it is self orientation.

Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) was concerned primarily with how societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in the modern era, when things such as shared religious and ethnic background could no longer be assumed.
Along with Herbert Spencer, Durkheim was one of the first people to explain the existence and quality of different parts of a society by reference to what function they served in keeping the society healthy and balanced-a position that would come to be known as functionalism.
Durkheim also insisted that society was more than the sum of its parts.He argued that social facts had an independent existence greater and more objective than the actions of the individuals that composed society and could only be explained by other social facts rather than, say, by society's adaptation to a particular climate or ecological niche.
Division of labour
social fact
suicide
religion and society 

Durkheim Religion and society

Durkheim is remembered for his work on 'primitive' (i.e. non-Western) people in books such as his 1912 volume Elementary Forms of the Religious Life and the essay Primitive Classification that he wrote with Marcel Mauss. These works examine the role that religion and mythology have in shaping the worldview and personality of people in extremely (to use Durkheim's phrase) 'mechanical' societies.Durkheim was also very interested in education. Partially this was because he was professionally employed to train teachers, and he used his ability to shape curriculum to further his own goals of having sociology taught as widely possible. More broadly, though, Durkheim was interested in the way that education could be used to provide French citizens the sort of shared, secular background that would be necessary to prevent anomie in modern societies. It was to this end that he also proposed the formation of professional groups to serve as a source of solidarity for adults.Durkheim argued that education has many functions:
1. To reinforce social solidarity

• History: Learning about individuals who have done good things for the many makes an individual feel insignificant.
• Pledging Allegiance: Makes individuals feel part of a group and therefore less likely to break rules.

2. To maintain social roles

• School is a society in miniature. It has a similar hierarchy, rules, expectations to the "outside world". It trains young people to fulfill roles.

3. To maintain division of labour.

• Sorts students out into skill groups. Teaches students to go into work depending on what they're good at.

Durkheim Suicide view

Durkheim developed the concept of anomie later in Suicide, published in 1897. In it, he explores the differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, explaining that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. According to Durkheim, people have a certain level of attachment to their groups, which he calls social integration. Abnormally high or low levels of social integration may result in increased suicide rates; low levels have this effect because low social integration results in disorganized society, causing people to turn to suicide as a last resort, while high levels cause people to kill themselves to avoid becoming burdens on society. According to Durkheim, Catholic society has normal levels of integration while Protestant society has low levels. This work has influenced proponents of control theory, and is often mentioned as a classic sociological study.

Durkheim Division of labour

In his 1893 work The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim examined how social order was maintained in different types of societies. He focused on the division of labor, and examined how it differed in traditional societies and modern societies. Authors before him such as Herbert Spencer and Ferdinand Toennies had argued that societies evolved much like living organisms, moving from a simple state to a more complex one resembling the workings of complex machines. Durkheim reversed this formula, adding his theory to the growing pool of theories of social progress, social evolutionism and social darwinism. He argued that traditional societies were 'mechanical' and were held together by the fact that everyone was more or less the same, and hence had things in common. In traditional societies, argues Durkheim, the collective consciousness entirely subsumes individual consciousness-social norms are strong and social behavior is well-regulated.In modern societies, he argued, the highly complex division of labor resulted in 'organic' solidarity. Different specializations in employment and social roles created dependencies that tied people to one another, since people no longer could count on filling all of their needs by themselves. In 'mechanical' societies, for example, subsistence farmers live in communities which are self-sufficient and knit together by a common heritage and common job. In modern 'organic' societies, workers earn money, and must rely on other people who specialize in certain products (groceries, clothing, etc.) to meet their needs. The result of increasing division of labor, according to Durkheim, is that individual consciousness emerges distinct from collective consciousness-often finding itself in conflict with collective consciousness.Durkheim also made an association of the kind of solidarity in a given society and the preponderance of a law system. He found that in societies with mechanical solidarity the law is generally repressive: the agent of a crime or deviant behaviour would suffer a punishment, that in fact would compensate collective conscience neglected by the crime-the punishment acts more to preserve the unity of consciences. On the other hand, in societies with organic solidarity the law is generally restitutive: it aims not to punish, but instead to restitute normal activity of a complex society.The rapid change in society due to increasing division of labor thus produces a state of confusion with regard to norms and increasing impersonality in social life, leading eventually to relative normlessness, i.e. the breakdown of social norms regulating behavior; Durkheim labels this state anomie. From a state of anomie come all forms of deviant behavior, most notably suicide.

My First Optional : Sociology

Syllabus for Sociology :

Paper-I

General Sociology/Foundations of Sociology/Fundamentals of Sociology
1. 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.
(c) Sociology and common sense.
2. Sociology as Science:
(a) Science, scientific method and critique.
(b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
(c) Positivism and its critique.
(d) Fact value and objectivity.
(e) Non- positivist methodologies.
3. Research Methods and Analysis:
(a) Qualitative and quantitative methods.
(b) Techniques of data collection.
(c) Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity.
4. Sociological Thinkers:
(a) Karl Marx- Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
(b) Emile Durkheim- Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society.
(c) Max Weber- Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
(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.
5. Stratification and Mobility:
(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:
(a) Social organization of work in different types of society- slave society, feudal society, industrial /capitalist society.
(b) Formal and informal organization of work
(c) Labour and society.
7. Politics and Society:
(a) Sociological theories of power
(b) Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties.
(c) Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology.
(d) Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution.
8. Religion and Society:
(a) Sociological theories of religion.
(b) Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults.
(c) Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism.
9. Systems of Kinship:
(a) Family, household, marriage.
(b) Types and forms of family.
(c) Lineage and descent
(d) Patriarchy and sexual division of labour
(e) Contemporary trends.
10. Social Change in Modern Society:
(a) Sociological theories of social change.
(b) Development and dependency.
(c) Agents of social change.
(d) Education and social change.
(e) Science, technology and social change.

                                                     Paper-II

 

INDIAN SOCIETY : STRUCTURE AND   CHANGE
 
A. Introducing Indian Society:
(i) Perspectives on the study of Indian society:
(a) Indology (GS. Ghurye).
(b) Structural functionalism (M N Srinivas).
(c) Marxist sociology ( A R Desai).
(ii) Impact of colonial rule on Indian society :
(a) Social background of Indian nationalism.
(b) Modernization of Indian tradition.
(c) Protests and movements during the colonial period.
(d) Social reforms
B. 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: GS Ghurye, M N Srinivas, Louis Dumont, Andre Beteille.
(b) Features of caste system.
(c) Untouchability - forms and perspectives
(iii) Tribal communities in India:
(a) Definitional problems.
(b) Geographical spread.
(c) Colonial policies and tribes.
(d) Issues of integration and autonomy.
(iv) Social Classes in India:
(a) Agrarian class structure.
(b) Industrial class structure.
(c) Middle classes in India.
(v) Systems of Kinship in India:
(a) Lineage and descent in India.
(b) Types of kinship systems.
(c) Family and marriage in India.
(d) Household dimensions of the family.
(e) Patriarchy, entitlements and sexual division of labour.
(vi) Religion and Society:
(a) Religious communities in India.
(b) Problems of religious minorities.
C. 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.
(c) Education 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.
(c) Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture .
(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.
(c) Working class: structure, growth, class mobilization.
(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.
(c) Regionalism and decentralization of power.
(d) Secularization
(v) Social Movements in Modern India:
(a) Peasants and farmers movements.
(b) Women’s movement.
(c) Backward classes & Dalit 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.
(c) Population policy and family planning.
(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.
(c) Violence against women.
(d) Caste conflicts.
(e) Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.
(f) Illiteracy and disparities in education.