Reasoning and Comprehension

XH – B1
(Compulsory for all XH Candidates)

This part is to test the candidate’s ability to comprehend and interpret written information – skills
that are critical to research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The section will not directly
test language competence in terms of grammar, vocabulary etc. The focus is instead on
criticalreasoning (similar to what is often found in exams like LSAT, GRE, GMAT etc.) and analysis
of the text and its stylistic and rhetorical structure.

Questions of this section XH-B1 will test the following skills:

• Reading Comprehension – ability to understand complex language material in short paragraphs

and answer questions regarding them.

• Expression – questions on stylistic and rhetorical aspects of a short passage including

corrections or modifications of particular sentences.

• Analytical reasoning – ability to understand relationships in statements or short passages and

being able to draw reasonable conclusions/inferences from them.

• Logical reasoning – Thinking critically to evaluate or to predict an argument, identify the main
and supporting arguments, predict outcomes etc.
 XH - C1 Economics

C1.1 Microeconomics: Theory of Consumer Behaviour: Cardinal Approach and Ordinal

Approach; Consumer Preferences; Nature of the utility function; Marshallian and Hicksian
demand functions; Duality Theorem. Slutsky equation and Comparative Statics. Homogeneous
and Homothetic Utility Functions; Euler’s Theorem. The Theory of Revealed Preference: Weak
Axiom of Revealed Preference and Strong Axiom of Revealed Preference, Theory of Production
and Costs: Short-run and Long-run Analysis, Existence, Uniqueness and Stability of Market
Equilibrium: Walrasian and Marshallian Stability Analysis. The Cobweb Model, Decision making
under uncertainty and risk. Asymmetric Information: Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard.
Theory of Agency costs. The Theory of Search, Non-Cooperative games: Constant sum game,
Mixed Strategy & Pure Strategy, Bayesian Nash Equilibrium, SPNE, Perfect Bayesian Equilibria.,
Theory of Firm: Market Structures — Competitive and Non-competitive equilibria and their
efficiency properties. Structure-Conduct-Performance Paradigm, Factor Pricing: Marginal
productivity Theory of Distribution in Perfectly Competitive markets; Theory of Employment in
Imperfectly Competitive Markets — Monopolistic Exploitation, General Equilibrium Analysis.
Welfare Economics: Fundamental Theorems, Social Welfare Function. Efficiency Criteria:
Pareto-Optimality.

C1.2 Macroeconomics: National Income Accounting: Closed Economy Concepts and

Measurement and Open Economy Issues, Determination of output and employment: Classical &
Keynesian Framework, Theories of Consumption: Absolute Income Hypothesis, Relative Income
Hypothesis, Life Cycle Hypothesis, Permanent Income Hypothesis and Robert Hall’s Random
Walk Model; Investment Function Specifications - Dale Jorgenson’s Neoclassical Theory of
Capital Accumulation and Tobin’s, Keynesian Stabilization Policies, (Autonomous) Multipliers
and Investment Accelerator, Demand and Supply of Money, Components of Money Supply,
Liquidity Preference and Liquidity Trap, Money Multiplier, Interest Rate determination, Central
Banking, Objectives, Instruments (Direct and Indirect) of Monetary Policy, Prudential Regulation,
Quantitative Easing (Unconventional Monetary Policy), Commercial Banking, Non-Banking
Financial Institutions, Capital Market and its Regulation, Theories of Inflation and Expectations
Augmented Phillips Curve, Real Business Cycles, Adaptive Expectations Hypothesis, Rational
Expectation Hypothesis and its critique. Closed Economy IS – LM Model and Mundell Fleming
Model: Monetary and Fiscal Policy Efficacy. The Impossible Trinity.

C1.3 Statistics, Econometrics and Mathematical Economics: Probability Theory: Concepts

of probability, Probability Distributions [Discrete and Continuous], Central Limit Theorem, Index
Numbers and Construction of Price Indices, Sampling Methods & Sampling Distribution,
Statistical Inferences, Hypothesis Testing, Linear Regression Models and the Gauss Markov
Theorem, Heteroscedasticity, Multicollinearity and Autocorrelation, Spurious regressions and
Unit roots, Simultaneous Equation Models – recursive and non-recursive. Identification Problem,
Differential Calculus and its Applications, Linear Algebra – Matrices, Applications of Cramer’s
Rule, Static Optimization Problems and Applications, Input-Output Model, Linear Programming,
Difference equations and Differential equations with applications

C1.4 International Economics: Theories of International Trade, International

Trade under Imperfect Competition, Gains from Trade, Terms of Trade, Trade Multiplier, Tariff
and Non-Tariff barriers to trade; Dumping and Anti-Dumping Policies, GATT, WTO and Regional
Trade Blocks; Trade Policy Issues, Balance of Payments: Composition, Equilibrium and
Disequilibrium and Adjustment Mechanisms, Foreign Exchange Market and Arbitrage, Exchange
rate determination, IMF & World Bank.
C1.5 Public Economics: Market Failure and Remedial Measures: Asymmetric Information,
Public Goods, Externality, Regulation of Market – Collusion and Consumers’ Welfare, Public
Revenue: Tax & Non-Tax Revenue, Direct & Indirect Taxes, Progressive and non-Progressive
Taxation, Incidence and Effects of Taxation, Public expenditure, Public Debt and its
management, Public Budget and Budget Multiplier, Tax Incidence, Fiscal Policy and its
implications, Environment as a Public Good, Market Failure and Coase Theorem, Cost-Benefit
Analysis.

C1.6 Development Economics: Theories of Economic Development: Adam Smith, David

Ricardo, Karl Marx, J. Schumpeter, W. Rostow, Balanced & Unbalanced Growth, Big Push
Approach, Indicators of Economic Development: HDI, SDGs, MDGs, Poverty and Inequalities –
Concepts and Measurement Issues, Social Sector Development: Health, Education, Gender,
Fertility, Morbidity, Mortality, Migration, Child Labor, Age Structure, Demographic Dividend,
Models of Economic Growth: Harrod-Domar, Solow, Ramsey, Technical progress – Disembodied
& Embodied, Endogenous Growth Models.

C1.7 Indian Economy: Economic Growth in India: Pattern and Structure, Agriculture, Industry &
Services Sector: Pattern & Structure of Growth, Major Challenges, Policy Responses, Rural &
Urban Development – Issues, Challenges & Policy Responses, Flow of Foreign Capital, Trade
Policies, Infrastructure Development: Physical and Social; Public-Private Partnerships, Reforms
in Land, Labour and Capital Markets, Poverty, Inequality & Unemployment, Functioning of
Monetary Policy in India, Fiscal Policy in the Indian context: Structure of Receipts and
Expenditure, Tax reforms-Goods and Services Tax, Issues of Growth and Equity, Fiscal
Federalism, Centre-State Financial Relations and Finance Commissions of India; Sustainability
of Deficits and Debt, The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2003,
Demonetization and aftermath. India’s balance of payments, Composition of India’s Trade,
Competitiveness of India’s exports, India’s exchange rate policy.
 XH – C2 English

C2.1 Multi-genre literatures in English—poetry, the novel and other forms of fiction including the
short story, drama, creative non-fiction, and non-fiction prose—with emphasis on the long 19th
and 20th centuries

C2.2 Especially in a comparative context, anglophone and in English translation, literatures from
India and, extending to some degree, the larger Indian subcontinent

C2.3 Literary criticism and theory; critical and cultural intellectual-traditions and approaches
widely referred to and used in the discipline of English

C2.4 History of English literature and English literary studies

C2.5 Research approaches and methodologies, including interpretive techniques responsive to

literary forms, devices, concepts, and genres

Note:
(i) The five units above list aspects the question paper will include rather than signal separate
modules or sections; these five units listed are not necessarily exclusive to each other either. The
question paper will also not be divided into sections corresponding to the above aspects; and,
(ii) While the paper will test candidates for a reasonable breadth of disciplinary knowledge, it
would prioritize conceptual depth and methodological sensitivity demonstrative of disciplinary
training over information wherever possible.
 XH – C3 Linguistics

C3.1 Language and Linguistics: Language spoken, written and signed;

description and prescription; language and cultural heritage; language and social
identity; language as an object of inquiry – its structure, units and components;
design features; writing systems; biological foundations and language faculty;
linguistic competence and performance; levels of grammar; contrast and
complementation; rules - context dependent and context free; levels of adequacy
for analysis; interdisciplinary approaches; schools of linguistic thought
(European, American) and the Indian Grammatical Tradition.

C3.2 Levels of Grammar and Grammatical Analysis:

A. Phonetics and Phonology: vocal tract anatomy; phonation; articulatory

parameters; classification of sounds; gestural theory of speech production;
cardinal vowels; secondary and co-articulation; suprasegmentals - length, stress,
tone, intonation and juncture; IPA; basic physics of sound and of phonation and
articulation; acousticcues for speech sounds; organisation of phones into
phonemes; phoneme inventories and cross-linguistic properties; syllable
structure and phonological properties; principles of phonological analysis -
phonetic similarity, contrastive and complementary distribution, free variation,
allophones; linear and non-linear approaches; levels of representation;
phonological rules; distinctive features (major class, manner, place, etc.); feature
geometry; rule ordering, markedness and unspecified featural values; core
principles of lexical phonology, optimality theory, autosegmental phonology and
prosodic morphology.

B. Morphology: Concepts of morpheme, morph, allomorph, zero allomorph,

conditions on allomorphs; lexeme and word; types of morphemes – structural and
functional; affixes vs clitics; grammatical categories; morphological theories -
generative, lexicalist, process and distributed morphology; identification of
morphemes and parts of speech; alternation; morphophonology; inflection vs.
derivation; conjugation and declension; word creation and word formation rules
and processes; creativity and productivity, blocking, bracketing paradoxes,
constraints on affix ordering; mental lexicon; lexical categories; valency changing
operations.

C. Syntax: Basic syntactic units and their types: word, phrase, clause, sentence
and their description and generation; grammatical and case relations; key ideas
fromsyntactic theories, Generative Grammars including Minimalist Program,
HPSG, Relational Grammar and Lexical Functional Grammar; phrase structure
rules (including X-bar theory); universal grammar and cross-linguistic properties;
idea of grammaticality judgements; solving the language acquisition problem;
diagnostics of structure; syntactic phenomena such as movement, binding,
ellipses, case-checking, islands, argument structure etc.; unergatives and
unaccusatives.
 D. Semantics and Pragmatics: Types of meaning, lexical
andcompositional; syntax-semantics interface (semantic roles, binding, scope,
LF etc.);sense and reference, connotation and denotation, lexical semantic
relations (homonymy, hypo/hypernymy, antonymy, synonymy, ambiguity);
prototype theory and componential analysis; sentence meaning and truth
conditions, contradictions, entailment; basic set theory; propositions, truth values,
sentential connectives; arguments, predicates, quantifiers, variables;
in/definiteness, mood and modality; language use in context; sentence meaning
and utterance meaning; speech acts; deixis; presupposition and implicature:
Gricean maxims; information structure; politeness, power and solidarity;
discourse analysis.

C3.3 Historical Linguistics: Neogrammarian laws of phonetic change such as

Grimm’s, Verner’s, Grassmann’s Laws; genesis and spread of sound change;
split and merger; conditioned vs. unconditioned change; lexical diffusion of sound
change; analogical changes and paradigm levelling; relative chronology of
different changes; study of sound change in progress; morphosyntactic
(syncretism, grammaticalisation and lexicalisation) and semantic change
(extension, narrowing, figurative speech); linguistic reconstruction - external vs.
internal: the comparative method; lexicostatistics; language contact and dialect
geography – borrowing and impact of borrowing; pidgins and creoles; bi- and
multilingualism as the source for borrowing; dialect geography - dialect atlas;
isogloss, focal, transition and relic areas.

C3.4 Sociolinguistics: Micro-and macro approaches to language in society;

linguistic repertoire language, dialect, sociolect, idiolect; diglossia; taboo, slang
and euphemism; elaborated and restricted codes; speech community and
communicative competence; ethnography of speaking; lingua franca; diasporic
language; linguistic variables and their co-variation along linguistic/social
dimensions; language policies and development (especially inIndia); language
contact and outcomes (language loss, pidginization and creolization); code-
mixing and code-switching; language movements – state and societal
interventions; script development and modifications; linguistic minorities;
language ecology and endangerment linguistic vitality, language endangerment
(EGIDS scale), parameters of endangerment, documentation and revitalisation.

C3.5 Areal Typology, Universals, Cross-linguistic Features:morphological

types of languages agglutinative, analytical (isolating), synthetic fusional
(inflecting),polysynthetic (incorporating) languages; formal and substantive
universals, absolute and statistical universals; implicational and non-implicational
universals (Greenberg); linguistic relatedness—genetic, typological and areal
classification of languages; universals and parametric variation; word order
typology; salient features of South Asian languages - Indo-Aryan, Dravidian,
Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-Burman language families; Linguistic Survey of India;
contact induced typological change.
C3.6 Methods of analysis:
Experimental and non-experimental methods; sampling and tools; identification
of variables and their variants; data processing and interpretation; quantitative
analysis of data; ethnomethodology; participant observation; field methods and
elicitation; document creation; ethics.

C3.7 Applied Linguistics

(Can be expanded to include Interdisciplinary areas that focus on language and
Language Teaching depending on interest and requirement.)
Example: Psycholinguistics: the study of how humans learn, represent,
comprehend, and produce language. Topics include word recognition and
storage, sentence production and comprehension, reading, speech perception,
language acquisition, neural representation of language, bilingualism, and
language disorders.
 XH – C4 Philosophy

C4.1 Classical Indian Philosophy

C4.1.1 Orthodox Systems: Sānkhya- Puruṣa, Prakṛti, Guṇas, Satkāryavāda, Mokṣa

(Kaivalya), Pramāṇas and Theory of Error, Yoga – Pramāṇas, Theory of Error, Iśvara, Citta,
Kleśa, Aṣṭānga-yoga, Kaivalya (Mokṣa), Nyāya – Pramāṇas, Hetvābhāsa, Iśvara,
Asatkāryavāda, Theory of Error, Navya-Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika – Parataḥprāmāṇya, Padārthas
(categories), Theory of Atomism (paramāṇuvāda), Mīmāmsā– Dharma, Apūrva, Mokṣa,
Pramāṇas (both in Kumārila and Prabhākara), Anyathākhyāti, and, Vedānta– Advaita
(Adhyāsa, Brahman, Iśvara, Ātman, Jīva, Mokṣa, Viśiṣṭādvaita (Tattva-traya, Mokṣa, and
Refutation of Māyāvāda), Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Pramāṇa in Advaita and
Viśiṣṭādvaita.

C4.1.2 Heterodox Systems: Cārvāka – Pramāṇa, Indian marerislism and Hedonism,

Jainism- Pramāṇas, Syādvāda, Anekāntavāda, Padārtha (categories), Jīva and Ajīva, Mokṣa,
Mahāvrata, Aṇuvrata, and, Buddhism – Ti-piṭaka, Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Mādhyamika,
Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda, Pañca-skandha, Anityavāda, Anātmavāda, Doctrine of
Momentariness, Doctrine of Dependent Origination, Pramānas, Doctrine of Two Truths,
Doctrine of Tri-kāya, Ṣaḍ-pāramitās, Brahmavihāras, Pāñcaśīla, and Bodhisattva Ideal, and
Upāyakauśalya.

C4.1.3 Upaniṣads, Bhagavadgītā, and Dharmaśāstras: Philosophy of the Upaniṣads – Pure

Monism, Brahmam and Ātman, Pañca-kośa, Parā-vidyā and Aparā-vidyā, Meaning of
Dharma, Ṛta, Purusārtha, Śreyas and Preyas, Varṇāśrama-dharma, Dharma- Svadharma and
Sādhāraṇa Dharma, Ṛna, Yajña, Karma-yoga, Sthitaprajña, Lokasaṃgraha, and Law of
Karma.

C4.1.4 KāṣmiraŚaivism, Śaivasiddhānta, VīraŚaivism, Śāktism and Vaiṣṇavism:

KāṣmīraŚaivism – Pratyābhijña school, Śiva and Śakti, and Conception of Kriyā,
Śaivasiddhānta – God (pati) and Divine Power (śakti), Proofs for God’s Existence, Bondage
and Liberation, VīraŚaivism – Philosophical basis of VīraŚaivism, Śāktism - Philosophical
basis of Śāktism, and Vaiṣṇavism – Philosophical basis of Vaiṣṇavism.

C4.2 Contemporary Indian Philosophy

C4.2.1 Vivekananda: Notion of God, Freedom and Karma, Nature of Soul/self, Practical
Vedanta, and Universal Religion. Aurobindo: World Process – Involution and Evolution, Four
Theories of Existence, The Supermind, Integral Yoga, and Gnostic Being. Iqbal: Nature of
Intuition, Nature of Self, and Notion of God. Tagore: Humanism and Nature of Man, Notion of
Religion, and Nationalism. K. C. Bhattacharyya: Concept of Absolute and Its Alternative
Forms, and Notion Subjectivity and Freedom. Radhakrishnan: Nature of Ultimate Reality,
Religious Experience, Intellect and Intuition, Hindu View of Life. J. Krishnamurti: Notion of
Freedom, Choiceless Awareness, Truth is a Pathless Land, and Notion of Education. Gandhi:
Notion of Truth, Non-violence, Satyagraha, Swaraj, and Trusteeship. Ambedkar: Annihilation
of Caste, Neo-Buddhism, Democracy, and Natural Rights and Law. M. N. Roy: Radical
Humanism and Materialism.
C4.3 Classical and Modern Western Philosophy

C4.3.1 Metaphysics: Pre-Socratic Philosophy of Thales, Anaxagoras, Anaximenies, Ionians,

Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Democritus. Metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle: The
question of Being (to on/ousia): Being as Idea in Plato's Phaedo, Republic and the Sophist,
Being as synthesis of hyle [matter] and morphe [form] in Aristotle's Metaphysics and Physics.
Problem of evil and existence of God in St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Thomas Aquinas
Metaphysics in Modern Philosophy: Substance, Mind-Body Dualism, Attribute, Parallelism,
Pre-established harmony, the existence of God, Problem of Solipsism, Self and Personal
Identity, Rejection of Metaphysics, Phenomena and Noumena, Transcendental Deduction of
Categories, Being and Becoming, Absolute Idealism

C4.3.2 Epistemology: Plato and Aristotle’s Theory of Knowledge, Doxa, Episteme, and
Sophia, Method of Dialectics, Theoretical and Practical Reason, Theory of Causation,
Descarte’s Method of Doubt, cogito ergo sum, Innate Ideas and its refutation, Principle of Non-
contradiction, Sufficient Reason, and Identity of Indiscernible, Locke’s Three Grades of
Knowledge, Berkeley’s Critique of Abstract Ideas, Hume’s Impressions and Ideas, Induction
and Causality, Kant’s Copernican Revolution, Forms of Sensibility, Possibility of Synthetic a
priori Judgments. Hegel’s Dialectics, Spirit, and Absolute Idealism.

C4.3.3 Ethics: Concepts of Good, Right, Justice, Duty, Obligation, Cardinal Virtues,
Eudaemonism; Intuition as explained in Teleological and Deontological Theories; Egoism,
Altruism, Universalism, Subjectivism, Cultural Relativism, Super-naturalism, Ethical realism
and Intuitionism, Kant’s moral theory, Postulates of Morality, Good-will, Categorical
Imperative, Duty, Means and ends, Maxims; Utilitarianism: Principle of Utility, Problem of
Sanction and Justification of Morality, Moral theories of Bentham, J. S. Mill, Sidgwick; Theories
of Punishment; Ethical Cognitivism and Non-cognitivism, Emotivism, Prescriptivism,
Descriptivism.

C4.3.4 Social and Political Philosophy: Plato’s theory of Justice and State, Aristotle’s
definition of State and Political Naturalism; Classical Liberalism and Social Contract Theory
(Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke); Marx’s Dialectical Materialism, Alienation, and critique of
Capitalism.

C4.3.5 Logic: Truth and Validity, Nature of Propositions, Categorical Syllogism, Laws of
Thought Classification of Propositions Square of Opposition, Truth-Functions and
Propositional Logic, Quantification and Rules of Quantification; Symbolic Logic: Use of
symbols; Truth Table for testing the validity of arguments; Differences between Deductive and
Inductive Logic, Causality and Mill’s Method.

C4.4 Contemporary Western Philosophy

C4.4.1 Frege’s Sense and Reference; Logical Positivism’s Verification theory of meaning,
Elimination of Metaphysics; Moore’s Distinction between Sense and Reference, Defense of
common-sense, Proof of an External World; Russell’s Logical Atomism, Definite Descriptions,
Refutation of Idealism; Wittgenstein on Language and Reality, the Picture Theory, critique of
private language, Meaning and Use, Forms of life; Gilbert Ryle on Systematically Misleading
Expressions, critique of Cartesian dualism; W.V.O. Quine’s Two Dogmas of Empiricism; P.F.
Strawson’s concept of Person; Husserl’s Phenomenological Method, Philosophy as a rigorous
science, Intentionality, Phenomenological Reduction, Inter-subjectivity; Heidegger’s concept
of Being (Dasein), Being in the world; Sartre’s Concept of Freedom, Bad-faith, Humanism;
Merleau-Ponty on Perception, Embodied Consciousness; William James’s Pragmatic
Theories of Meaning and Truth, Varieties of Religious experience; John Dewey on Pragmatist
Epistemology with focus on Inquiry, fallibilism and Experience, Education; Nietzsche on the
Critique of Enlightenment, Will to Power, Genealogy of Moral; Richard Rorty’s Critique of
Representationalism, Against Epistemological method, Edifying Philosophy, Levinas: Ethics
as a first philosophy, Philosophy of ‘other’; Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance, Principle of Justice;
Nozick’s critique of Rawls, Libertarianism: Charles Taylor’s Communitarianism, critique of the
Liberal Self, Politics of recognition; Martha Nussbaum’s Liberal Feminism and Capability
Approach; Simone de Beauvoir on Situated Freedom and Ethics of Ambiguity; Code and
Harding on Situated Knowledge and Strong and Weak Objectivity; Gilligan and Noddings on
Ethics of Care, Debate between Care and Justice.
 XH – C5 Psychology

C5.1 Research Methods and Statistics

C5.1.1 Approaches to research: Philosophical worldviews & criteria involved in approach.

Research design: quantitative & qualitative, mixed methods.

C5.1.2 Designing research: Research problems, purpose statement, Variables and

Operational Definitions, Hypothesis, Sampling.

C5.1.3 Nature of quantitative & qualitative research: Structured, semi-structured interviewing,

self-completion questionnaires (Survey), observation, Experimental, Quasi-experimental,
Field studies, Focus groups discussions, Narratives, Case studies, Ethnography.

C5.1.4 Ethics in conducting and reporting research

C5.1.5 Statistics in Psychology: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion. Normal

Probability Curve. Parametric and Non-parametric tests Effect size and Power analysis.

C5.1.6 Correlational Analysis: Correlation [Product Moment, Rank Order], Partial correlation,
multiple correlation. Special Correlation Methods: Biserial, Point biserial, tetrachoric, phi
coefficient. Regression: Simple linear regression, Multiple regression. Factor analysis:
Assumptions, Methods, Rotation and Interpretation.

C5.1.7 Experimental Designs: ANOVA [One-way, Factorial], Randomized Block Designs,

Repeated Measures Design, Latin Square, Cohort studies, Time series, MANOVA, ANCOVA.
Single-subject designs.

C5.2 Psychometrics: Foundations of Psychological measurement; Basic components: scales

and items’ Construction and analysis of items: Intelligence test items, performance tests,
Ability & Aptitude test, Personality questionnaires. Method of test construction,
Standardization of measures: Reliability, Validity, Norms, Application of assessment and
measurements in Tests— Applications of psychological testing in various settings-
educations, counselling and guidance, clinical, organizational and developmental.

C5.3 Biological and evolutionary basis of behaviour: Heredity and behaviour Evolution and
natural selection, Nervous system, structures of the brain and their functions, Neurons:
Structure, functions, types, neural impulse, synaptic transmission. Neurotransmitters.
Hemispheric lateralization, The endocrine system types and functions, Biological basis of
Motivation: Hunger, Thirst, Sleep and Sex. Biological basis of emotion: The Limbic system,
Hormonal regulation of behaviour. Methods of Physiological Psychology: Invasive methods –
Anatomical methods, degeneration techniques, lesion techniques, chemical methods,
microelectrode studies, Non-invasive methods – EEG, Scanning methods, Muscular and
Glandular system: Genetics and behaviour: Chromosomal anomalies; Nature-Nurture
controversy [Twin studies and adoption studies]

C5.4 Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting: What is sensation, sensory thresholds
and sensory adaptations, Vision, hearing, touch and pain, smell and taste, kinesthesis and
vestibular sense, Perception: role of attention; organizing principles of perception, gestalt
perception, depth perception and illusions, Theories of learning: classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, social learning theory, cognitive learning, Memory: encoding, storage,
retrieval, Information processing theories of memory, Retrieval in Long term memory,
reconstructive nature of long-term memory, Forgetting: encoding failure, interference theory,
memory trace decay theory, the physical aspects of memory.

C5.5 Cognition: Thinking, Intelligence and Language: Basic elements of though: Concepts,
Propositions, Imagery. Current paradigms of cognitive psychology – Information processing
approach, ecological approach, Problem solving: Methods of problem solving, Strategies and
obstacles, Role of Metacognitive processing, decision-making: choosing among alternatives,
Intelligence: Theories of intelligence (Spearman; Thurstone; Jensen; Cattell; Gardner;
Stenberg) and Emotional Intelligence; Measuring intelligence, Individual differences in
Intelligence; Role of heredity and environment, Difference between Intelligence, Aptitude and
Creativity.

C5.6 Personality: Theories of personality: Psychoanalytic, behaviourist, social cognitive view,

humanism and trait and type theories, Biology of personality and Assessment of personality.

C5.7 Motivation, Emotion and Stress and Coping: Approaches to understanding motivation:
instinct, drive-reduction, arousal, incentive, humanistic, Achievement motivation, Intrinsic
motivation, aggression, curiosity and exploration, Emotions: nature of emotions; biological
basis of emotions, Theories of emotions: James-Lange, Canon-Bard, Schachter and Singer,
Lazarus, Definition of stress; what are stressors; cognitive factors in stress, Factors in stress
reaction: General adaptation syndrome; effect of stress, Coping with stress: problem-focused
coping; emotion-focused coping, REBT and meditation

C5.8 Social psychology: Social perception: Attribution; impression formation; social

categorization, implicit personality theory, Social influence: conformity, compliance and
obedience, Attitudes, beliefs and values: Evaluating the social world, attitude formation,
attitude change and persuasion, cognitive dissonance, Prejudice, discrimination, Aggression,
power and prosocial behaviour, Belief systems and value patterns. Group dynamics,
leadership style and effectiveness, Theories of intergroup relations and conflicts.

C5.9 Development across the life span: Nature versus nurture in human development,
Prenatal development: Chromosomes, Genes and DNA. Physical, cognitive and psychosocial
development in infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood, Theories of aging, Moral
development.

C5.10 Applications of Psychology: Psychological disorders: Conceptions of mental disorders;

Assessment and diagnosis, DSM and Other tools, PTSD and Trauma; Psychotherapies:
Psychodynamic, Phenomenological/Experiential therapy; Behaviour therapy; cognitive
therapy; biological therapy, Applications of theories of motivation and learning in School:
Factors in educational achievement; counselling & guidance in schools, Application of theories
of motivation, learning, emotions, perceptions, group dynamics & leadership to organizational
set up, Issues of Personal space, crowding, and territoriality.
 XH – C6 Sociology

C6.1 Sociological Theory

C6.1.1 Classical Sociological Traditions: Emile Durkheim (Social Solidarity, Social Facts,
Religion, Functionalism, Suicide, Anomie, Division of Labour, Law; Max Weber (Types of
authority, Social action, Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Bureaucracy, Ideal type,
Methodology); Karl Marx: Class and class conflict, dialectical and historical materialism,
capitalism, surplus value, alienation)

C6.1.2 Structural-Functionalism and Structuralism: Bronislaw Malinowski; A.R. Radcliffe-

Brown, Talcott Parsons (AGIL, Systems approach), Robert K. Merton (Middle range theory,
reference groups, latent and manifest function), Claude Levi Strauss (Myths, Structuralism)

C6.1.3 Hermeneutic and Interpretative Traditions: G.H. Mead, Alfred Schutz

(Phenomenology); Harold Garfinkel (Ethnomethodology); Erving Goffman (Symbolic
interaction, dramaturgy); ∙Clifford Geertz (Culture, thick description)

C6.1.4 Post-Modernism, Post-Structuralism and Post-Colonialism: Pierre Bourdieu, Michel

Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, Anthony Giddens, Frankfurt School

C6.1.5 Conflict theory: Ralf Dahrendorf; C Wright Mills

C6.1.6 Indian Thinkers, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Radha Kamal Mukherjee, G. S. Ghurye,
M.N. Srinivas, IrawatiKarve,

C6.2 Research Methodology and Methods

C6.2.1 Conceptualizing Social Reality: Philosophy of Science; ∙Scientific Method and

Epistemology in Social Science; Hermeneutic Traditions; Objectivity and Reflexivity in Social
Science; Ethics and Politics of research

C6.2.2 Research Design: Reading Social Science Research, Data and Documents; Induction
and Deduction; Fact, Concept and Theory; Hypotheses, Research Questions, Objectives

C6.2.3 Quantitative and Qualitative Methods: Ethnography; Survey Method; Historical

Method; Comparative Method

C6.2.4 Research Techniques; Sampling; Questionnaire and Schedule; Statistical Analysis;

Observation, Interview and Case study; Interpretation, Data Analysis and Report Writing

C6.3 Sociological Concepts

C6.3.1 Sociological Concepts: Social Structure; Culture; Network; Status and Role; Identity;
Community; Socialization; Diaspora; Values, Norms and Rules; Personhood, Habitus and
Agency; Bureaucracy, Power and Authority; Self and society

C6.3.2 Social Institutions: Marriage, Family and Kinship; Economy; Polity; Religion; Education;
Law and Customs

C6.3.3 Social Stratification: Social Difference, Hierarchy, Inequality and Marginalization: Caste
and Class; Status and Power; Gender, Sexuality and Disability; Race, Tribe and Ethnicity

C6.3.4 Social Change: Evolution and Diffusion; Modernization and Development; Social
Transformations and Globalization; Social Mobility –Sanskritization, Educational and
Occupational change

C6.4 Agrarian Sociology and Rural Transformation: Rural and Peasant Society; Caste-
Tribe Distinction and Continuum; Agrarian Social Structure and Emergent Class Relations;
Land Ownership and Agrarian Relations; Decline of Agrarian Economy, De-
Peasantization and Agrarian Change; Agrarian Unrest and Peasant Movements; Feudalism,
Mode of production debate; Land reforms; Panchayati Raj; Rural development programmes
and community development; Green revolution and agricultural change; Peasants and
farmers movements

C6.5 Family, Marriage and Kinship; Theoretical Approaches: Structural-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

C6.6 Indian Society / Sociology of India: Colonial, Nationalist, Indological perspectives

(G.S.Ghurye); Structural-Functional approach (M. N. Srinivas); Dialectical approach (A. R.
Desai); Subaltern studies (R. Guha); Non Brahmin perspectives (Phule, Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar); Feminist perspectives (LeelaDube, SharmilaRege); Social Institutions – Family,
Kinship, Household, Village and Urban Settings; Social Stratification – Caste, Class, Tribe and
Gender; Tradition and Modernity (M.N.Srinivas, Yogendra Singh, Dipankar Gupta); Peasants
and agrarian sociology (Andre Beteille, AR Desai, D.N.Dhanagare); Village studies;
Communalism and Secularism

C6.7 Social Movements

C6.7.1 Introduction to social movements: Nature, Definitions, Characteristics; Social

Movement and Social Change; Types of social movements (Reform, Rebellion, Revival,
Revolution, Insurrection, Counter Movement)

C6.7.2 Theories of Social Movements: Structural –functional; Marxist; Resource Mobilization

Theory; New Social Movements

C6.7.3 Social Movement in India with specific reference to social basis, leadership, ideology
and actions: Peasant movement; Labour movement; Dalit movement; Women’s movement,
Environmental movement
C6.7.4 Social Movements, civil society and globalization: Social movement and its relationship
with state and civil society; Social movements and impact of globalization: Debates; Issues of
citizenship

C6.8 Sociology of Development

C6.8.1 Perspectives on the Study of Development: Definitions and Indices; Liberal, Marxist,
and Neo-Marxist Perspectives (Dependency theory, World Systems); Epistemological
Critiques of Development

C6.8.2 State and Market: Institutions and ideologies: Planned Development and Society;
Globalisation and Liberalization

C6.8.3 The Micro-Politics of Development: Transforming Communities:

Maps and Models; Knowledge and Power in Development; Re-inventing Development:
Subaltern Movements; Post-colonial development; Decentralization and devolution;
Participatory approaches

C6.8.4 Sustainable development: Post-sustainable development; Development, violence and

inequality; Post-structural perspectives (Escobar); Alternative development paradigms;
Feminist critique; Human development.