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CSS written syllabus
CSS Anthropology Syllabus
Anthropology is a 100-mark Group VII optional subject in the CSS written exam, examined in one three-hour paper. Below is FPSC's official syllabus, word for word: every section, topics and suggested readings.
- Marks
- 100
- Papers
- 1
- Time
- 3 hours a paper
- Group
- Group VII
- Subject code
- 49
The paper
100 marks- I.Anthropology
- •Definition of anthropology, its historical development and recent trends
- II.Social Anthropology
- •Definition of culture, its characteristics and functions
- •Relationship of anthropology with other social sciences
- •Sub fields of anthropology:
- a)Biological Anthropology,
- b)Archaeology,
- c)Linguistic Anthropology
- d)Socio-Cultural Anthropology
- •Institution of Family and Marriage (Definitions, types, structures, functions, family organization)
- •Kinship and Social Organization (Definitions, types, functions, kinship terminology etc)
- •Economic Organization: (Definitions, evolution, substantivism versus formalism, reciprocity, production, consumption, distribution, barter and primitive economic systems)
- •Political Organization: (Definitions, evolution of political system, characteristics of (band, tribal, chiefdom and state societies), theories of the origin of state societies (internal conflict theories, external conflict theories, population and irrigation theories, institutionalization of leadership and the emergence of state, system theories), origin of civilization, the politics of identity, ethnicity and ethnic relations, nationalism, modernism, post-modernism etc.
- •Religion: (Definitions, evolution of primitive religions, functions of religion, comparison of devine religions and other world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism etc)
- •Contemporary Human Problems: Poverty, social inequality, political instability, population problems, ethnic violence and terrorism etc.
- III.Urban Anthropology Rural-urban migration, expansion of cities, major environmental issues, sanitation problems, urbanization and development, establishment of slums and squatter settlements, refugees, yankees, betties, gypsies, wars and conflict, conversion of power from feudal to industrialists, institutionalization, education system, and change in the mode of production (agriculture to capitalists), poverty (theories and remedies), management of city life (psychological, cultural, economic, political, religious, physical, environmental, ecological, demographical, lingual etc.), Karl Marx and conflict theory, problems created by the mechanization and automation.
- IV.Socio-Cultural Change Definitions, difference between social and cultural change, various dimension of cultural change, barriers to cultural change including (culture, psychological and political), internal dynamics for change, external dynamics for change, population incease and change, diffusion of innovations, socio-religious barriers in accepting the innovations and new ideas, media and cultural change, dynamics of change in Pakistan (Trends and prospects)
- V.Ethnicity and Race Theories related to ethnicity and race, ethnicity and racism, nations and nationality, ethnic conflict, degree of social variation, rank societies, caste and class societies and social stratification etc.
- VI.Anthropological Theories
- •Contributors: (Edward Burnett Taylor, Lewis Henry Morgan, James Frazer, Karl Marx, Edmund Leach, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Alfred L. Krobber, Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski, Clifford Geertz, Talal Asad, Akbar S. Ahamd, Ibn Khaldun, Shah Walliullah)
- •Classical Theories: (Degenerations, Evolutionism, Neo-Evolutionism, Diffusions)
- •Modern Theories: (Functionalism, Structural-functionalism, Class struggle, Structuralism, Historical Particularism, Feminism, Culture and personality)
- •Current Trends in Anthropological Thoughts: (Post Modernism, Romanticism, Poetics and Politics of Ethnography)
- VII.Anthropological Research Methods
- •Meaning, definition, types and aims of anthropological research
- •Qualitative and Quantitative research
- •Purpose of research, research question, variables, hypothesis, research objective(s), research design, sampling, field data collection, tools of data collection (questionnaire, interview, participant observation), data classification, data analysis, and reporting.
Suggested readings
- 1.AnthropologyWilliam A Haviland
- 2.Cultural AnthropologyOnrad Philip Kottak
- 3.Diffusion of InnovationEvert M. Roger
- 4.Socio Cultural Dynamics and impact of Technological ChangeG. M. Foster
- 5.Pakistani SocietyAkber S. Ahmed
- 6.Economic AnthropologySutti Ortiz
- 7.Political Anthropology: An introductionTed. C. Lawellen
- 8.Pukhtun economy and societyAkber S. Ahmed
- 9.Principles of AnthropologyEliot Dismore Chapple and Carleton Stevens Coon
- 10.Anthropology and Modern lifeFranz Boas
- 11.Anthropology and Contemporary Human ProblemJohn H. Bodley
- 12.Sindh and the Races that inhabit the Valley of the IndusRichard Burton
- 13.The People of PakistanYu. V. Gankorvsky
- 14.Anthropology and DevelopmentJean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan
- 15.An Introduction to Theory in AnthropologyRobert Layton
- 16.Anthropological TheoryJohn R. McGee and Richard L. Warms
- 17.Anthropology in PakistanStephen Pastner and Louis Flam
- 18.Anthropology (13th edition)Carol R. Ember, Melvin R Ember and Pet N Peregrine
- 19.Other CulturesJohn Beattie
- 20.A Hand Book of Social Science ResearchBevelry R. Dixon, Gary D Bouma and G.B.J. Atiinson
- 21.Frontier Perspectives: Essays in Comparative AnthropologyClarlies Lindholm
- 22.Generosity and Jealousy: The Swat Pukhtun of Northern PakistanClarlies Lindholm
- 23.Friend by Day and Enemy by Night: Organized Vengeance in a Kohistani CommunityLincoin Keiser
- 24.A Punjabi Village in PakistanZekiye Eglar
- 25.The social organization of the Marri BaluchRobert Niel Pehrson
- 26.Introducing AnthropologyPark, MA 2007
- 27.Peoples and Cultures of AsiaScupin, R 2005
- 28.Outlines and Highlights for AnthropologyScupin, R and Decorse, CR 2010
- 29.Economic AnthropologyStuart plattner
- 30.Economies and CultureRichard Wilk
- 31.Introduction to Anthropology of ReligionBrian Moris
Past papers
FPSC's Anthropology papers from 2016 to 2026, as text. Open a year, or see them all.