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IGNOU Notes: Sociology

Has anyone brought IGNOU Notes? Well, what are the approximate cost when you bring the relevant Xerox?
What are the necessary portions? Which is relevant- ESO or MSO? Are friends the only source to get them from Delhi? (When you don't want to pay hefty IGNOU official price.) Same the case for Haralambos and Holborn (Big Blue Book- costs a fortune for jobless fellow)?
Sociology fellows please Enlighten.
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Comments

  • edited July 2013
    @HatasEngineer IGNOU ESO notes are around 4000 pages in total, so no matter where you buy the entire set from (delhi or elsewhere), it's gonna cost you around the same (do the math according to bulk photocopy rate). The only way it can cost you less in Delhi is that maybe photocopiers will tell you that so-and-so Blocks are considered compulsory and so-and-so Blocks can be skipped safely as per Mr. Upendra and all.

    My personal advice is that don't get print-out or photocopies of all the 6 semesters at once.
    Do ESO-12 and ESO-16 first. ESO-12 is "Society in India" and ESO-16 is "Social Problems in India". These two units cover major chunk of Paper-II and are India-specific and hence cannot be covered by Paper-I textbooks like Haralambos.

    Unless you are preparing for 2014, or beyond, don't worry about MSO. You don't need them, and neither do you have the time.

    After you are done with ESO-12 and ESO-16 and any one Paper-I textbook such as Haralambos, check whether you need to take print out of ESO-11(The Study of Society) and ESO-13(Sociological Thinkers). Since they are not India-specific and overlap a lot with what you would have already read, you might cursorily read them in pdf format itself (I am guessing that you are aware that all IGNOU notes are freely available on their website and that you have the PDF's but you want to study the hard copies). Ditto for ESO-14(Stratification) and ESO-15(Religion).

    As for the "big blue book", if you are preparing for 2013 and not 2014, and you haven't started Paper-I yet, you might need to reconsider your strategy dude! There is not enough time (unless you are done with the GS syllabus and have 4 months just for Sociology) for the blue book; you might need to go for the Orange book which costs much less and is less bulky. Don't worry about people saying that the Orange book was last published in 1980 and that you need the blue book. The truth is that nothing in the syllabus is post-1970: even Michel Foucault, the most important social theorist of past 50 years, is yet to arrive in the syllabus.

    Yes, there are topics like globalization and environment, which aren't explicitly spelled out in the syllabus but questions are asked in Paper-II about them. But, in my opinion, Anthony Giddens is a much better book for such topics than the Blue book. It costs around 900 but again don't buy it in advance. Do it only after you are done with Orange book and IGNOU ESO.

    Hope this helps in getting you out of your "hatasha" :)
  • Thank you a lot @skylax for detailed enlightenment. I am preparing for 2014 and have basics of Sociology. I am using the Orange book now. I hope the IGNOU Notes are available in the Regional centers (If yes, it would be great) . I am from Odisha so it's a little difficult to collect materials. So should i go for ESO or MSO then? ESO is really good and MSO a bit thought provoking?
  • you can call jawahar book depot and they will deliver it to you. The entire BA set cost me around 700 a year back.
  • @corona
    All the BA ESOs for 700. Thats nice. Were the xerox good and complete. Will they deliver me at Odisha.
  • Oh so you are preparing for 2014, no problems then :) I think you had better make a trip to Delhi and get rid of all your worries. Get the ESO pack, MSO pack, UIAS notes, and I guess you can get pirated edition of blue book also quite cheaply. Enough time to read all of them too.

    Else you can ask some friend of yours to do it for you, or you can inquire if these shops ship the material or not (but I am guessing they probably don't).
  • @corona
    All the BA ESOs for 700. Thats nice. Were the xerox good and complete. Will they deliver me at Odisha.
    they quality of paper is not your standard A4 type..a little low but the printing is very clear and readable. look up for their contact at http://www.jawahar-book-centre.com/ and ask the details
    they will charge extra for delivery
  • edited July 2013
    I also have sociology as my optional and preparing for 2014. I enquired in jawahar book depo about the cost of sociology ma and ba notes and they told me Rs1200 for each , including courier charges.As I read here that last year cost was 700 so thought of taking a view of the fellow aspirants before purchasing should I buy them at this price.Also need suggestions whether ignou notes would be sufficient for paper 2 or do i need to go through some other notes like upendra sir or mohapotra sir notes.Please help .
  • @mini well there's no harm in going through the texts available.. moreover ignou books i suppose are sumarized of the textbooks of indian thinkers who have written extensively in the topic.. wat u can do is read ignou notes anad then collaborate with the handwritten notes of either upendra sir or mohapatra sir which u can get in xerox shop in delhi.. and try to frame the answers in our own way.. see wat stands out is the approach that u put in sociology.. writing skills matter here as well... u have to give relevent case studies citing examples from nso or whereever its relevant :D happy reading
  • @mini and ya as for the cost of the ba/ma ignou material.. i actually enquired in safdarjung enclave ( where upendra sir lives) the ba and ma booklets will cost u around 900 bucks.. i personally dnt like jawahar book store.. the kinda give inflated bills.. never have bought from there .. rather buy from ORN or MN
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