CBSE-2017 Syllabus for Sociology Classes XI and XII

Rationale

Sociology is introduced as an elective subject at the senior secondary stage. The syllabus is designed to help learners to reflect on what they hear and see in the course of everyday life and develop a constructive attitude towards society in change; to equip a learner with concepts and theoretical skills for the purpose. The curriculum of Sociology at this stage should enable the learner to understand dynamics of human behaviour in all its complexities and manifestations. The learners of today need answers and explanations to satisfy the questions that arise in their minds while trying to understand social world. Therefore, there is a need to develop an analytical approach towards the social structure so that they can meaningfully participate in the process of social change. There is scope in the syllabus not only for interactive learning, based on exercises and project work but also for teachers and students to jointly innovate new ways of learning.

• Sociology studies society. The child's familiarity with the society in which she/he lives in makes the study of sociology a double edged experience. At one level sociology studies institutions such as family and kinship, class, caste and tribe religion and region-contexts with which children are familiar of, even if differentially. For India is a society which is varied both horizontally and vertically. The effort in the books will be to grapple overtly with this both as a source of strength and as a site for interrogation.
• Significantly the intellectual legacy of sociology equips the discipline with a plural perspective that overtly engages with the need for defamiliarization, to unlearn and question the given. This interrogative and critical character of sociology also makes it possible to understand both other cultures as well as relearn about one's own culture.
• This plural perspective makes for an inbuilt richness and openness that not too many other disciplines in practice share. From its very inception sociology has had mutually enriching and contesting traditions of an interpretative method that openly takes into account ‘subjectivity’ and causal explanations that pay due importance to establishing causal correspondences with considerable sophistication. Not surprisingly its field work tradition also entails large scale survey methods as well as a rich ethnographic tradition. Indeed Indian sociology, in particular has bridged this distinction between what has often been seen as distinct approaches of sociology and social anthropology. The syllabus provides ample opportunity to make the child familiar with the excitement of field work as well as its theoretical significance for the very discipline of sociology.
• The plural legacy of sociology also enables a bird's eye view and a worm's eye view of the society the child lives in. This is particularly true today when the local is inextricably defined and shaped by macro global processes.
• The syllabus proceeds with the assumption that gender as an organizing principle of society cannot be treated as an add on topic but is fundamental to the manner that all chapters shall be dealt with:
• The chapters shall seek for a child centric approach that makes it possible to connect the lived reality of children with social structures and social processes that sociology studies.
• A conscious effort will be made to build into the chapters a scope for exploration of society that makes learning a process of discovery. A way towards this is to deal with sociological concepts not as givens but a product of societal actions humanly constructed and therefore open to questioning.

Objectives

1. To enable learners to relate classroom teaching to their outside environment.
2. To introduce them to the basic concepts of sociology that would enable them to observe and interpret social life.
3. To be aware of the complexity of social processes.
4. To appreciate diversity in society in India and the world at large.
5. To build the capacity of students to understand and analyze the changes in contemporary Indian society.

Class XI (Theory) 3 Hours and 80 Marks

Unitwise Weightage

Introducing Sociology-34 Marks

Understanding Society-46 Marks

Class XI (Practical) 3 Hours and 20 Marks

Unitwise Weightage

Project (undertaken during the academic year at school level) -07 marks

Viva-based on the project work-05 marks

Research design-08 marks

Introducing Sociology

Unit 1: Society & Sociology and Relationship with other (Periods 22) social sciences

• Introducing Society: Individuals and collectivities. Plural Perspectives
• Introducing Sociology: Emergence. Nature & Scope. Relationship to other disciplines

Unit 2: Basic Concepts- (Periods 22)

• Social Groups
• Status and Role
• Social Stratification
• Social Control

Unit 3: Social Institutions- (Periods 24)

• Family and Kinship
• Political and Economic Institutions
• Religion as a Social Institution
• Education as a Social Institution

Unit 4: Culture And Society (Periods 20)

• Culture. Values and Norms: Shared, Plural, Contested
• Socialization: Conformity, Conflict and the Shaping of Personality

Unit 5: Practical Sociology: Methods & Techniques (Periods 22)

• Tools and Techniques: Observation, Survey, Interview
• The Significance of Field Work in Sociology

Understanding Society

Unit 6: Structure, Process and Stratification- (Periods 22)

• Social Structure
• Social Processes: Cooperation, Competition, Conflict
• Social Stratification: Class, Caste, Race, Gender.

Unit 7: Social Change (Periods 22)

• Social Change: Types and Dimensions; Causes and Consequences.
• Social Order: Domination, Authority & Law; Contestation, Crime & Violence
• Village, Town & City: Changes in Rural & Urban Society

Unit 8: Environment And Society (Periods 18)

• Ecology and Society
• Environmental Crises and Social Responses

Unit 9: Western Social Thinkers (Periods 24)

• Karl Marx on Class Conflict
• Emile Durkheim on Division of Labour
• Max Weber on Bureaucracy

Unit 10: Indian Sociologists (Periods 24)

• G. S. Ghurye on Race and Caste-10 Marks
• D. P. Mukerji on Tradition and Change
• A. R. Desai on the State
• M. N. Srinivas on the Village

Class XII (Theory) 3 Hours and 80 Marks

Unitwise Weightage

Indian Society-32

Change and Development in Indian Society-48 Marks

Practical Examination 20 Marks and 3 Hours

Unitwise Weightage

Project (undertaken during the academic year at school level) -07 marks

1. Statement of the purpose: 2 marks
2. Methodology/Technique: 2 marks
3. Conclusion: 3 marks

Viva-based on the project work-05 marks

Research design-08 marks

1. Overall format: 1 mark
2. Research Question/Hypothesis: 1 mark
3. Choice of technique: 2 mark
4. Detailed procedure for implementation of technique: 2 mark
5. Limitations of the above technique: 2 mark

B & C to be administered on the day of the external examination

INDIAN SOCIETY-Marks 58

Unit 1: Introducing Indian Society- (Periods 10)

• Colonialism, Nationalism, Class and Community

Unit 2: Demographic Structure And Indian Society- (Periods 10)

• Rural-Urban Linkages and Divisions

Unit 3: Social Institutions: Continuity & Change (Periods 14)

• Family and Kinship
• The Caste System

Unit 4: Market As A Social Institution (Periods 10)

• Market as a Social Institution

Unit 5: Pattern of Social Inquality & Exclusion (Periods 24)

• Caste Prejudice, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes
• Marginalization of Tribal Communities
• The Struggle for Women's Equality
• The Protection of Religious Minorities
• Caring for the DifferentlyAbled

Unit 6: The Challenges Of Cultural Diversity- (Periods 12)

• Problems of Communalism, Regionalism, Casteism & Patriarchy
• Role of the State in a Plural and Unequal Society
• What We Share

Unit 7: Suggestions For Project Work (Periods 18)

CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Unit 8: Structural Change (Periods 10)

• Colonialism, Industrialization, Urbanization.

Unit 9: Cultural Change- (Periods 12)

• Modernization, Westernization, Sanskritisation, Secularization.
• Social Reform Movements & Laws

Unit 10: The Story Of Democracy (Periods 22)

• The Constitution as an instrument of Social Change
• Parties, Pressure Groups and Democratic Politics
• Panchayati Raj and the Challenges of Social Transformation

Unit 11: Change And Development In Rural Society (Periods 10)

• Land Reforms, Green Revolution and Agrarian Society

Unit 12: Change And Development In Industrial Society (Periods 14)

• From Planned Industrialization to Liberalization
• Changes in the Class Structure

Unit 13: Globalisation And Social Change- (Periods 12)

Unit 14: Mass Media And Communication Process- (Periods 12)

Unit 15: Social Movements- (Periods 22)

• Class-Based Movements: Workers, Peasants.
• Caste-Based Movements: Dalit Movement, Backward Castes, Trends in Upper Caste Responses.
• Women's Movements in Independent India.
• Tribal Movements.
• Environmental Movements.

Recommended textbooks

1. Introducing Sociology, Class XI, Published by NCERT
2. Understanding Society, Class XI, Published by NCERT
3. Indian Society, Class XII, Published by NCERT
4. Social Change and Development in India, Class XII, published by NCERT