NCERT books Class 12 Sociology come as two separate textbooks: Indian Society and Social Change and Development in India — 15 chapters across 256 printed pages in all, and both are linked on this page. This directory is maintained for the 2026–2027 academic session.
The split matters more than it looks. Each book restarts its chapter numbering at 1 and paginates from page 1, so a chapter number alone is ambiguous — both books have a Chapter 3.
If you know only that your work is “Chapter 3” or “page 40”, the table below tells you which book to open before you click anything.
The two Class 12 Sociology textbooks at a glance
The table below renders one row per book: how many chapters it holds, how many printed pages it runs, and the route to its own book page. Every count is taken from the official editions on ncert.nic.in.
| Book | Chapters | Printed pages | Book page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Society | 7 | 128 | Indian Society (coming soon) |
| Social Change And Development In India | 8 | 128 | Social Change And Development In India (coming soon) |
How to tell which NCERT Class 12 Sociology book you need
Match your situation to one of these three rules.
- Your teacher named the book. If the assignment says Indian Society, it is the first book; if it says Social Change and Development in India, it is the second. Open that one.
- You have only a chapter number. Chapter numbers restart at 1 in the second book, so a chapter number alone is ambiguous: both books have a Chapter 3 (NCERT, pp. 35–52 and pp. 31–40). Treat any citation that gives only a chapter number as incomplete — every citation should name the book.
- You know only the topic. Use the topic-based lookup below — with a theme alone (demography, media, social movements), you can name the correct book without opening either PDF.
Topic lookup: which book holds which theme
| Topic you were set | Book to open |
|---|---|
| Demography, population, literacy, sex-ratio | Indian Society (Book 1, Chapter 2) |
| Caste system, tribe, family and kinship | Indian Society (Book 1, Chapter 3) |
| Market, capitalism, economy | Indian Society (Book 1, Chapter 4) |
| Inequality, exclusion, disability | Indian Society (Book 1, Chapter 5) |
| Cultural diversity, regionalism, religion | Indian Society (Book 1, Chapter 6) |
| Colonialism, social reform, cultural change | Social Change and Development in India (Book 2, Chapters 1–2) |
| Panchayati Raj, rural society, land reforms | Social Change and Development in India (Book 2, Chapters 3–4) |
| Industrial society, work, working conditions | Social Change and Development in India (Book 2, Chapter 5) |
| Globalisation, the media | Social Change and Development in India (Book 2, Chapters 6–7) |
| Social movements | Social Change and Development in India (Book 2, Chapter 8) |
One keyword is a trap: caste. Caste is taught in both books — as the caste system, an institution, in Indian Society (NCERT, p. 36), and as caste-based movements in Social Change and Development in India (NCERT, p. 121). The chapter title, not the keyword, decides the book.
Question and activity weight is uneven between the two books: most in-text questions sit in the first book, while the second book carries more activities. Of the 57 in-text questions in the pair, 42 sit in Indian Society; of the 52 activities, 32 sit in Social Change and Development in India.
That uneven weight matters for revision planning: budget more question practice from Book 1 and more activity review from Book 2.
What each of the two books covers
Indian Society (Book 1) builds the conceptual vocabulary of sociology: demography and population policy, caste and tribe, family and kinship, the market as a social institution, inequality and exclusion, and cultural diversity and regionalism (NCERT, pp. 5–116).
It ends with the project-work chapter “Suggestions for Project Work” (NCERT, pp. 117–128), which sets out research methods and possible themes for small projects — the second book has no equivalent chapter.
You can open Chapter 1 of Indian Society itself — the official NCERT PDF — to confirm what the book contains before you go any further.
Social Change and Development in India (Book 2) applies those concepts to how Indian society changes: colonialism, 19th- and early 20th-century social reform movements, Panchayati Raj, rural transformation (land reforms and the Green Revolution), industrial society and working conditions, globalisation, the mass media, and social movements (NCERT, pp. 1–128).
Where Book 1 describes institutions as structures, Book 2 follows the same institutions in motion — as forces of change and development.
The second book is published as its own PDF series on the same official server, and Chapter 1 of Social Change and Development in India opens from this link.
Related resources on this site
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.
Both book pages are linked from the table above: Indian Society and Social Change and Development in India. Each book’s own page is where you go for its chapter-level detail.
If that guess was wrong, step up to the Class 12 hub — every subject this directory indexes for Class 12 — or start over at the books root for all classes.
Sources and data verification
- Where the figures come from: the official NCERT Class 12 Sociology textbook editions this directory indexes — Indian Society and Social Change and Development in India — as published on ncert.nic.in.
- What the dataset covers: both books — 15 chapters across 256 printed pages, 57 named syllabus sections, 52 activities. This directory does not publish a figure or table index for the subject.
- Academic session: the session this listing is maintained for is named in the introduction at the top of this page.
- Who settles what: NCERT settles textbook editions, contents and official PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations. Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus before treating any chapter as examinable.
Frequently asked questions
How many NCERT books are there for Class 12 Sociology?
Two: Indian Society (7 chapters) and Social Change and Development in India (8 chapters). Together they carry the 15 chapters of Class 12 Sociology across 256 printed pages, and the table above links both.
Which NCERT book has the chapter “Social Movements” for Class 12 Sociology?
The second book, Social Change and Development in India — “Social Movements” is its Chapter 8 (NCERT, pp. 109–128). It covers the features of a social movement, the sociology of movements, their types, and the ecological, class-based, caste-based, tribal and women’s movements.
Are the Class 12 Sociology textbooks available as free official PDFs?
Yes. NCERT publishes every chapter of both books free on ncert.nic.in, in PDF series that run lesy101–107 for Indian Society and lesy201–208 for Social Change and Development in India. Chapter 1 of each is linked above.
Why do both NCERT Class 12 Sociology books start with Chapter 1?
Because they are two separate books, each with its own numbering and pagination. A chapter number alone is therefore ambiguous — “Chapter 3” exists in both books — so name the book whenever you cite a chapter.
Which book should I open if my teacher only said “the chapter on globalisation”?
Almost always the second book, Social Change and Development in India: globalisation is the subject of its Chapter 6 (NCERT, p. 76), and Chapter 7 connects globalisation to the media. The exception is a market-focused task — Indian Society’s market chapter also discusses globalisation as the interlinking of markets (NCERT, p. 63). Match the chapter title, not the word.
Reference: NCERT Class 12 Sociology textbooks, official editions on ncert.nic.in.