Books for sociology preparation:

Paper I
1.

NCERT 11th to 12th Std. Sociology Book

2 IGNOU notes (especially for thinkers )

2.

Haralombus

3.

Giddens, Anthony, Capitalisation and Modern Social Theory,

4.

T.B. Sociology: A Guide of problem and Literature

Paper II
1.

IGNOU notes (especially for thinkers and topic on Indian system)

2.

Caste its 20th Century Avatar M.N. Srinivas

3.

Singh Modernisation of Indian Tradition

4.

Singh Social tradition in India

5.

NCERT texts books on sociology

Emergence of socio: Ignou BA (only source which makes sense)

2)Positivism and methods: Blue Haralambos
3) Thinkers: First Ignou and then Blue Haralambos (Ritzer confuses me. Not apt for UPSC, though a
very insightful analysis)
4) Relation with other disciplines: MP's dictation (read once and make short notes)
5) family: IGNOU, Blue Haralambos and Giddens
6) Power: Blue Haralambos
7) Stratification: Blue Haralambos (only upto half if that chapter and selected topics afterwards)
8) Religion: Blue Haralambos
9) Economic system: Orange Haralambos and Giddens
10) Social Movements: Giddens
11) Poverty and exclusion: Giddens
12) Social Change: IGNOU BA

GNOU BA: Ghurye, Caste, Tribe, Village, Industrial, Agrarian class structure, Middle classes, Family
and Kinship, popolation dynamics
Social Background of Indian Nationalism by Desai: Very good book for Marxist perspective. And
written in very simple language that it can be completed in 3-4 days
Modernisation of Indian tradition by Singh: Few selected chapters

MP's Notes: Other thinkers, caste, land reforms, land tenure, social movements in India, Classes in
India, Family, Power (other topics in this block), Green revolution, CDP, Cooperative movements and
other topics which I could not find anywhere
Neera Chandoke: Education, Secularism, Middle class, Social Movements
Veena Das: Informal Sector (book is good but it is written in a literature review way)
SC Dube: Indian society

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 havesignificant
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