Sociology is one of the most popular areas for CAT reading comprehensions. A few years back, a passage appeared from the book, ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ (a book on anthropology, a sub-set of sociology) in CAT RC section. Similar other passages have appeared from other famous books and magazines. Considering the complex nature of these sociology texts, it makes complete sense that you read a few books from this area.
In this article, we list down top sociology books for your CAT preparation.
Why Read Sociology Books?
No doubt, the most obvious reason for reading Sociology books are the related CAT RCs and their weightage in the exam. However, there are also other great benefits of reading the subject. By reading Sociology, you will:
Learn about different cultural and economic backgrounds, which will ultimately contribute to your work in diverse environments.
Get an understanding of varied social systems and evolving societies.
Widen your perspectives about common social problems and learn to critically analyse any given data.
Be equipped with the skills to communicate complex ideas in simplified ways.
Top Sociology Books for CAT
Here are the best five Books to read:
1. Introduction to Sociology by Anthony Giddens
As the title suggests, this is the perfect text for you to explore the subject of sociology. This would provide you the basic information related to the subject and let you know how sociology dwells on the real-life issues.
2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
In Outliers, Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success. Throughout the publication, Gladwell repeatedly mentions the "10,000-Hour Rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. The book is a wonderful combination of interesting case studies and motivating examples.
3. Collapse by Jared Diamond
Written by a Pulitzer award winner, the book reviews the causes of historical and pre-historical incidences of societal collapse particularly those involving significant influences from environmental changes, the effects of climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, and how different societies responded to such threats. Certain passages of the book have also featured as CAT RCs.
4. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
This book shows the dark side of an all American meal. Written by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, it examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry. In a way, this book goes beyond your CAT preparation, and in fact exposes you to information you might have never ever thought about.
5. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell:
This is a perfect choice for sociology lovers. A mixture of sociology and anthropology, this irrefutable classic dissects commonalities in religious and folk narratives and characters from various eras and geographic locales.
Beside the above-listed books, there are several other great books to choose from. If you wish to learn more about sociology, you can pick up the following ones:
Additional Texts on Sociology:
- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
- Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam
- Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn
- The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
- The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
- The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo
- Guyland by Michael Kimmel
- Rules of the Sociological Method by Emile Durkheim
- The Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx
- The Lonely Crowd by Reuel Denney, Nathan Glazer and David Riesman
- The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills
- Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault
- Stigma by Erving Goffman:
- The Social Construction of Reality by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann
As you know, CAT RCs are fetched from a variety of subjects and fields of study. So, here we have given links for the list of books belonging to other important areas of CAT RCs.
Other articles in this series
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