The UGC NET exam comprises of three papers. Paper 1 is General Paper on Teaching & Research Aptitude and paper 2 contains questions from the subject paper. There will be questions from topics such as Sociological Concepts, Social Structure, Theories of Socialization and Interactionist.  Paper 3 contains essay type questions from the subject paper. Candidates have the choice option in this section. Some of the major topics in the Sociology stream are Rural Sociology, Sociology of Development, Gender and Society and Industry and Society. Total marks allotted for this section is 200.

Syllabus for paper 2

Basic Concepts

• Institution
• Culture
• Community
• Association
• Norms and Values

Social Group

• Meaning
• Primary- Secondary
• Formal- Informal
• In-group- Out-group
• Reference Group

Social Institutions

• Marriage
• Family education
• Economy
• Religion
• Polity

Meaning and Nature of Social Research

• Nature of Social Phenomena
• The scientific Method
• Objectivity and Subjectivity, fact and Value in social phenomena

Social Structure

• Status and role, their interrelationship
• Role set
• Status Sequence
• Multiple roles
• Status Set
• Role Conflict

Socialization

• Resocialization
• Adult Socialization
• Agencies of Socialization
• Anticipatory Socialization
• Theories of Socialization

Social Stratification

• Social differentiation, Inequality and Hierarchy
• Forms of Stratification
• Theories of Social stratification
• Social Mobility

Social Change

• Concepts and Types
• Diffusion
• Revolution
• Change in structure and Change of Structure
• Evolution
• Progress
• Transformation
• Dialectical Theory
• Cyclical Theory

Functional

• Malinowski
• Durkheim
• Parsons
• Merton

Sociological Theory

• Structural
• Radcliff Brown
• Nadel
• Levi- Strauss

Conflict

• Karl Marx
• Dahrendorf
• Coser
• Collins

Interactionist

• Social Action: Max Webber. Pareto
• Symbolic Interactionism: G H Mead, Blumer

Statistics in Social Research

• Correlational analysis
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Reliability and Validity
• Measures of Dispersion
• Test of Significance

Quantitative Methods

• Survey
• Hypothesis and Sampling
• Participant Observation
• Content Analysis
• Life history
• Research designs and its types
• Techniques of data collection: Observation, questionnaire, Schedule interview
• Case study
• Oral history

Phenomenology and Ethenomethodology

• Neo functionalism and Neo Marxism
• Structuration and Post Modernism

Conceptualizing Indian Society

• Contemporary Issues: Socio-Cultural
• Cultural Diversity
• Family Disharmony
• Inequality of Caste and Gender
• People of India: Groups and Communities
• Poverty
• Theoretical Perspectives
• Unity in Diversity

Issues Pertaining to Deviance

• Tradition and Modernity in India
• Problems of Nation Building
• Challenges of Globalization

Part 3 will contain descriptive type questions from any of the electives listed below.

• Rural Sociology
• Industry and Society
• Sociology of Development
• Population and Society
• Gender and Society

Questions in this section are further divided into two sections. The total marks allotted for first section is 160 and next section contains a single question for 40 marks.