Revision summary
Globalisation widened Indian sociology toward migration, cities, and world-system links. Village, caste, and kinship were not deleted. Burawoy and Wallerstein supply the translocal frame. Census and NFHS still anchor large-scale structure. Comment: changed scale and topics; same object of patterned relations.
Model answer
Introduction
Globalisation densified cross-border flows of capital, media, and labour. Indian sociology’s scope has widened from village and caste monographs toward migration, cities, and world-system links. The classic object—structured relations among groups—has not been replaced.
Body
What changed in scope
- Village studies after M. N. Srinivas remain, but call centres, campuses, and diasporas entered the field.
- Immanuel Wallerstein and later global ethnography, after Michael Burawoy, made the local a node, not an isolate.
- Gender, informal labour, and media, which Ann Oakley-style questions demand, are now ordinary Indian topics.
- Comparative work uses Census and NFHS beside transnational care chains.
What did not dissolve
- Caste, kinship, and the state are still core. Globalisation reorganises them; it does not delete the syllabus object.
- Auguste Comte’s named science still studies order and change, now at several scales.
Comment
- Scope has changed in scale and in topics.
- It has not changed into a residual cultural studies of malls.
- The risk is chasing funder themes and losing the village file that still holds most lives.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD GLOB[Globalisation] --> SCALE[Translocal cities media] IND[Indian sociology] --> CAST[Caste village state] SCALE --> IND CAST --> IND
Conclusion
In globalisation, Indian sociology’s scope has changed toward translocal work, cities, and inequality in a world market. Caste and agrarian structure remain inside that scope. Comment: expansion of field, not a new discipline. Keep the joint map Durkheim and Weber taught, now with a world-system edge.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Discuss the importance and sources of hypothesis in social research.
Next question in the 2020 paper (Q5). View answer →
-
Is village sociology obsolete?
No. Agrarian class and jati still organise a large population. The village is now also wired.
-
Did globalisation create Indian sociology?
No. It changed the questions. The discipline predates 1991.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2020 · Q1(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
How did the intellectual forces lead to the emergence of sociology ?Discuss. -
2020 · Q4(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
According to Durkheim, "The major function of education is the transmission of society's norms and values." Discuss. -
2020 · Q5(c) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
What are the problems in observing social facts in Durkheim's views? -
2020 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Does the institution of marriage continue to be sacred in Indian society? Comments. -
2020 · Q6(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
According to Mills, "Elites rule in institutional terms rather than psychological terms." Comment. -
2020 · Q7(c) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
Critically assess the Marxian theory of 'Alienation'." -
2019 · Q1(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Discuss the historical antecedents of the emergence of Sociology as a discipline -
2019 · Q1(c) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
What is the Marxist concept of 'fetishism of commodities'?
More from this paper
Q1(a) · UPSC Mains 2020 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
How did the intellectual forces lead to the emergence of sociology ?Discuss.
Sociology
Intellectual forces made society worldly, comparable, and criticisable. Montesquieu, Smith, Rousseau, and Comte prepared comparison, market, inequality, and a named science. Marx, Durkheim, and Weber filled the space with class, social facts, and action. Nisbet’s conservative problems also fed the tradition. Ideas licensed the discipline; industry made it urgent.
Q1(b) · UPSC Mains 2020 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Is sociology a value-free science ? Discuss.
Sociology as Science
Weber: value-relevance in questions; value-discipline in proof. Marx, Gouldner, and Harding reject a personless science. Oakley: the interview is already a moral relation. Census categories carry values into counts. Verdict: not value-free; yes to disciplined demonstration.
Q1(c) · UPSC Mains 2020 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Methodology is a system of rules, principles and procedures, which forms. scientific investigation. Comment.
Sociology as Science
Methodology is a system of principles, rules, and procedures. It forms scientific investigation by making claims checkable. Durkheim and Weber wrote method as discipline. Blumer and feminist standpoint show theory inside procedure. Census and NFHS are procedures, not theory-free machines.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.