UGC NET Sociology Syllabus 2025 - Download Topic Wise Syllabus

Specification

Overview

Name of exam

UGC NET

Exam conducting body

NTA (National Testing Agency)

Exam Level

National

Number of papers

Two (Paper I and Paper II)

Mode of exam

Offline

Paper 2 - Number of Subjects available

(one subject chosen by the candidate)

85

Unit -1 : Sociological Theory

Indian Thinkers

• M.K. Gandhi

• B.R. Ambedkar

• Radha Kamal Mukherjee

• G. S. Ghurye

• M.N. Srinivas

• Irawati Karve

Classical Sociological Traditions

• Emile Durkheim

• Max Weber

• Karl Marx

Hermeneutic and Interpretive Traditions

• G.H. Mead

• Karl Manheim

• Alfred Schutz

• Harold Garfinkel

• Erving Goffman

• Clifford Geertz

Structure- Functionalism and Structuralism

• Bronisław Malinowski

• A.R. Radcliffe- Brown

• Talcott Parsons

• Robert K. Merton

• Claude Levi Strauss

Post Modernism, Post Structuralism and Post Colonialism

• Edward Said

• Pierre Bourdieu

• Michel Foucault

• Jurgen Habermas

• Anthony Giddens

• Manuel Castells

Unit - 2 : Research Methodology and Methods

Formulating Research Design

• Reading Social Science Research, Data and Documents

• Induction and Deduction

• Fact, Concept and Theory

• Hypotheses, Research Questions, Objectives

Conceptualizing Social Reality

• Philosophy of Science

• Scientific Method and Epistemology in Social Science

• Hermeneutic Traditions

• Objectivity and Reflexivity in Social Science

• Ethics and Politics

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

• Ethnography

• Survey Method

• Historical Method

• Comparative Method

Techniques

• Sampling

• Questionnaire and Schedule

• Statistical Analysis

• Observation, Interview and Case study

• Interpretation, Data Analysis and Report Writing

Unit -3 : Basic Concepts and Institutions

1. Sociological Concepts

• Social Structure

• Culture

• Network

• Status and Role

• Identity

• Community

• Diaspora

• Values, Norms and Rules

• Personhood, Habitus and Agency

• Bureaucracy, Power and Authority

2. Social Institutions

• Marriage, Family and Kinship

• Economy

• Polity

• Religion

• Education

• Law and Customs

3. Social Stratification

• Social Difference, Hierarchy, Inequality and Marginalization

• Caste and Class

• Gender, Sexuality and Disability

• Race, Tribe and Ethnicity

5. Social Change and Processes

• Evolution and Diffusion

• Modernization and Development

• Social Transformations and Globalization

• Social Mobility

Unit – 4 : Rural and Urban Transformations

1. Rural and Peasant Society

• Caste-Tribe Settlements

• Agrarian Social Structure and Emergent Class Relations

• Land Ownership and Agrarian Relations

• Decline of Agrarian Economy, Depeasantization and Migration

• Agrarian Unrest and Peasant Movements

• Changing Inter-Community Relations and Violence

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2. Urban Society

• Urbanism, Urbanity and Urbanization

• Towns, Cities and Mega-Cities

• Industry, Service and Business

• Neighbourhood, Slums and Ethnic Enclaves

• Middle Class and Gated Communities

• Urban Movements and Violence

Unit – 5 : State, Politics and Development

1. Political Processes in India

• Tribe, Nation State and Border

• Bureaucracy

• Governance and Development

• Public Policy: Health, Education and Livelihoods

• Political Culture

• Grass-root Democracy

• Law and Society

• Gender and Development

• Corruption

• Role of International Development Organizations

2. Social Movements and Protests

• Political Factions, Pressure Groups

• Movements based on Caste, Ethnicity, Ideology, Gender, Disability, Religion

• and Region

• Civil Society and Citizenship

• NGOs, Activism and Leadership

• Reservations and Politics

Unit – 6 : Economy and Society

• Exchange, Gift , Capital, Labour and Market

• Mode of Production Debates

• Property and Property Relations

• State and Market: Welfarism and Neoliberalism

• Models of Economic Development

• Poverty and Exclusion

• Factory and Industry Systems

• Changing Nature of Labour Relations

• Gender and Labour Process

• Business and Family

• Digital Economy, E-Commerce

• Global Business and Corporates

• Tourism

• Consumption

Unit - 7: Environment and Society

• Social and Cultural Ecology: Diverse Forms

• Technological Change, Agriculture and Biodiversity

• Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Ethno-Medicine

• Gender and Environment

• Forest Policies, Adivasis and Exclusion

• Ecological Degradation and Migration

• Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation

• Water and Social Exclusion

• Disasters and Community Responses

• Environmental Pollution, Public Health and Disability

• Climate Change and International Policies

• Environmental Movements

Unit - 8: Family, Marriage and Kinship

• Theoretical Approaches: Structure-Functionalist, Alliance and Cultural

• Gender Relations and Power Dynamics

• Inheritance, Succession and Authority

• Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction

• Children, Youth and Elderly

• Emotions and Family

• Emergent Forms of Family

• Changing Marriage Practices

• Changing Care and Support Systems

• Family Laws

• Domestic Violence and Crime against Women

• Honour Killing

Unit - 9 : Science, Technology and Society

• History of Technological Development

• Changing notions of Time and Space

• Flows and Boundaries

• Virtual Community

• Media: Print and Electronic, Visual and Social Media

• E-Governance and Surveillance Society

• Technology and Emerging Political Processes

• State Policy, Digital Divide and Inclusion

• Technology and Changing Family Relations

• Technology and Changing Health Systems

• Food and Technology

• Cyber Crime

Unit - 10 : Culture and Symbolic Transformations

• Signs and Symbols

• Rituals, Beliefs and Practices

• Changing Material Culture

• Moral Economy

• Education: Formal and Informal

• Religious Organizations, Piety and Spirituality

• Commodification of Rituals

• Communalism and Secularism

• Cultural Identity and Mobilization

• Culture and Politics

• Gender, Body and Culture

• Art and Aesthetics

• Ethics and Morality

• Sports and Culture

• Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism

• Religion and Economy

• Culture and Environment

• New Religious Movements

Sociology: Themes and Perspectives

Haralambos

Sociological Theory

George Ritzer

Trueman's UGC NET Sociology

S. Hussain

UGC NET: Sociology Exam Guide

RPH Editorial

Essential Sociology

Seema and Nitin Sangwan