The NCERT Class 11 Sociology book Introducing Sociology has 5 chapters across 102 printed pages, and the official PDFs are in the table below. It is one of the two Class 11 Sociology volumes — the companion is Understanding Society — and it covers the foundations of the discipline, from the meaning of society to the methods sociologists use to study it.
What this page adds beyond the PDF is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the topics, activities and end-of-chapter questions, counted from the book itself. Use the download table to open the chapter you need, and the breakdown after it to see what each one actually teaches.
Download the NCERT Class 11 Sociology book Introducing Sociology PDFs
The table below links each chapter’s own file on ncert.nic.in — the official NCERT PDFs, free to open, so what you download is exactly the textbook your school works from. NCERT publishes the book chapter by chapter, so the five files together make up the full volume.
| Ch. | Chapter | Pages | Official PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sociology and Society | 23 | |
| 2 | Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology | 16 | |
| 3 | Understanding Social Institutions | 23 | |
| 4 | Culture and Socialisation | 19 | |
| 5 | Doing Sociology : Research Methods | 21 |
What the book contains
Every number below can be checked by opening the PDFs — these counts come from the textbook itself.
- 5 chapters, each with its own official PDF linked in the download table above.
- 102 printed pages across the five files.
- 49 activities — the book’s marked in-chapter tasks, printed as Activity 1, Activity 2, and so on.
- 32 end-of-chapter exercise questions.
- No numbered section headings — the chapters move by topic, with activities marking the way.
Within each chapter the material runs by topic rather than by numbered sections — a heading such as “Social Stratification” or “Participant Observation” carries the argument, and the activities break it into manageable steps.
Because there are no numbered sections, there is no official section list to revise against. Tracking progress by the activities and the end-of-chapter questions is the practical way: if you can do the questions, you have covered the chapter. The directory below uses exactly that measure.
What’s inside each chapter
The directory below counts what the book actually marks: an activity is one of its printed in-chapter tasks (Activity 1, Activity 2, and so on), and a question is an end-of-chapter exercise. Because the book prints no numbered section headings, the directory counts these two instead of sections.
| Ch. | Chapter | Sections | Activities | Figures | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sociology and Society | — | 10 | — | 4 |
| 2 | Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology | — | 11 | — | 5 |
| 3 | Understanding Social Institutions | — | 13 | — | 7 |
| 4 | Culture and Socialisation | — | 10 | — | 6 |
| 5 | Doing Sociology : Research Methods | — | 5 | — | 10 |
If you came with a question already in mind — family and marriage, culture, research methods — this quick lookup tells you which chapter and pages answer it. The page references are to the official PDFs, so you can jump straight to the right place.
| If you are looking for | Chapter | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| What sociology is; sociology versus common sense | 1. Sociology and Society | pp. 1-23 |
| Social groups, stratification, status and role | 2. Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology | pp. 24-39 |
| Family, marriage, kinship, work and economic life | 3. Understanding Social Institutions | pp. 40-62 |
| Culture, identity, cultural change | 4. Culture and Socialisation | pp. 63-81 |
| Research methods, fieldwork, participant observation | 5. Doing Sociology: Research Methods | pp. 82-102 |
Chapter 1: Sociology and Society (pp. 1-23)
Students new to the subject should start here — it defines what sociology is and how it differs from common sense, maps the pluralities and inequalities among societies, traces the growth of sociology in India, and places the discipline beside economics, political science and history, with 10 activities and 4 questions to work through.
Chapter 2: Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology (pp. 24-39)
Read this before Chapter 3, because it supplies the working vocabulary the later chapters assume — social groups and their types, primary and secondary groups, community versus society or association, in-groups and out-groups, reference and peer groups, social stratification, status and role — with 11 activities and 5 questions.
Chapter 3: Understanding Social Institutions (pp. 40-62)
It examines the institutions that organise social life — family, marriage and kinship, variation in family forms including female-headed households, forms of marriage and the rules of endogamy and exogamy, then work and economic life and the modern division of labour — and with 13 activities it carries the heaviest activity load in the book, plus 7 questions.
Chapter 4: Culture and Socialisation (pp. 63-81)
It explains what culture is, its cognitive, normative and material dimensions, how culture shapes identity and how cultural change happens, with 10 activities and 6 questions.
Chapter 5: Doing Sociology: Research Methods (pp. 82-102)
Read it last, because it moves from reading sociology to doing it — methodological issues, objectivity and subjectivity, the choice of methods, participant observation and fieldwork, from Malinowski’s invention of the method to its difficulties and limitations — and with 10 questions it holds the largest share of the book’s exercise load.
Chapter study pages
Dedicated chapter study pages build on this breakdown, taking each chapter’s concepts and questions and turning them into revision notes. Chapters whose study page is not yet built are marked as such in the list below — the official PDF in the download table covers every chapter in the meantime.
| Ch. | Chapter page |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sociology and Society (coming soon) |
| 2 | Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology (coming soon) |
| 3 | Understanding Social Institutions (coming soon) |
| 4 | Culture and Socialisation (coming soon) |
| 5 | Doing Sociology : Research Methods (coming soon) |
How to study the Class 11 Sociology book
This book rewards a fixed order, because the chapters assume each other.
- Start with Chapter 1, Sociology and Society (pp. 1-23). It defines what the discipline is — the foundation everything later assumes.
- Go next to Chapter 2, Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology (pp. 24-39). It assumes no prior vocabulary, and Chapter 3 uses its terms constantly, so this is the bridge.
- Read Chapters 3 and 4 after that — Understanding Social Institutions (pp. 40-62) and Culture and Socialisation (pp. 63-81). They apply the Chapter 2 vocabulary to institutions and culture, and can be read in either order.
- Leave Chapter 5, Doing Sociology: Research Methods (pp. 82-102), for last. Methods and fieldwork make sense once you know what sociology studies and how its concepts work.
The workload is not spread evenly, which matters when you plan.
- Do the activities as you read — 49 across the book. They are the built-in check that you can apply a concept, not just name it.
- Use the end-of-chapter questions for revision — 32 in total. They are not spread evenly: Chapters 3 and 5 carry 17 of the 32, and Chapter 5 alone has 10.
- Expect to spend the most time on Chapter 3 — its 13 activities are the heaviest load in any chapter.
A chapter being in the textbook does not mean every part of it is examinable. Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical, so check the current official syllabus.
Related NCERT book pages
This page sits on the site’s Class 11 shelf, next to the other NCERT volumes.
- All NCERT book pages — the starting point for every class and subject this site covers.
- Class 11 books hub — every Class 11 volume in one place.
- Understanding Society — the companion Class 11 Sociology volume, for after you finish Introducing Sociology.
Sources and data verification
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
Where the numbers on this page come from, stated plainly.
- The counts describe the NCERT Class 11 Sociology textbook Introducing Sociology, official edition, with PDFs linked from ncert.nic.in.
- This page covers that one volume only — not the companion book Understanding Society, and not Class 12 sociology.
- The listing is maintained for the current academic session using NCERT’s official PDFs.
- NCERT settles textbooks, editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.
Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus.
Reference: NCERT Class 11 Sociology textbook Introducing Sociology, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Page references are to the official PDF.
Questions students ask about this book
How many chapters are there in the NCERT Class 11 Sociology book Introducing Sociology?
There are five: Sociology and Society (pp. 1-23), Terms, Concepts and Their Use in Sociology (pp. 24-39), Understanding Social Institutions (pp. 40-62), Culture and Socialisation (pp. 63-81), and Doing Sociology: Research Methods (pp. 82-102). Each chapter has its own official PDF in the download table at the top of this page.
Is the Class 11 Sociology NCERT book PDF free and official?
Yes — every PDF linked above is NCERT’s own file, hosted on ncert.nic.in, so it is the official edition and it is free to download. No login or payment is needed to open any of the five chapters.
Which chapter covers family, marriage and kinship?
Chapter 3, Understanding Social Institutions (pp. 40-62), is where family, marriage and kinship sit. It also covers variation in family forms, including female-headed households, forms of marriage, and the rules of endogamy and exogamy.
Which chapter explains research methods and participant observation?
Chapter 5, Doing Sociology: Research Methods (pp. 82-102). It covers methodological issues, objectivity and subjectivity, the choice of methods, participant observation, and fieldwork from Malinowski’s invention of it to its difficulties and limitations.
Which chapter covers culture and socialisation?
Chapter 4, Culture and Socialisation (pp. 63-81). It defines culture, works through its cognitive, normative and material dimensions, and looks at how culture shapes identity and how cultural change happens.