Lecture Schedule & Note

Department of Humanities & Social Sciences

Spring 2020

Cours
e Code Course Title Course Instructor
SS-304 Sociology Umar Rafique
Session
No. Top Da
ic te
1 Sociological perspective
 Introduction to Sociology
 Personalized and sociology approach
 Sociological Imagination

Topics/Questions Allocated Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples

/ Activities Time
(Mins)
Course outline 10 Discussion of Course outline
Introduction to 15 Sociology is the scientific study of human
Sociology social life, groups and society.

Sociology, a social science that studies

human societies, their interactions, and the
processes that preserve and change them.
It does this by examining the dynamics of
constituent parts of societies such as
institutions, communities, populations,
and gender, racial, or age groups.

Origin 10 Sociology is a distinct discipline after the

19th century.
Sociology as a scholarly discipline
 emerged, primarily out of Enlightenment
thought, as a positivist science of society
shortly after the French Revolution.
Its genesis owed to various key
movements in the philosophy of science
and the philosophy of knowledge, arising
in reaction to such issues as modernity,
capitalism, urbanization, rationalization,
secularization, colonization and
imperialism.[

Factors lead to the 10  Industrial Revolution

development of The Industrial Revolution, now also
sociology known as the First Industrial Revolution,
was the transition to new manufacturing
processes in Europe and the United States,
in the period from about 1760 to
sometime between 1820 and 1840. This
transition included going from hand
production methods to machines, new
chemical manufacturing and iron
production processes, the increasing use
of steam power and water power, the
development of machine tools and the rise
of the mechanized factory system
 Imperialism
Ideology of extending a country's rule
over foreign nations, often by military
force or by gaining political and economic
control of other areas. Imperialism has
been common throughout recorded
history, the earliest examples dating from
the mid-third millennium BC. In recent
times (since at least the 1870s), it has
 often been considered morally
reprehensible and prohibited by
international law.
 Success of Natural Sciences

Is Sociology 10 ● Common sense is what people develop

Common Sense? through everyday life experiences. Common
sense is what people develop through
everyday life experiences. It is the set of
expectations about society and people’s
behavior that guides our own behavior.
● These expectations are not always reliable
or accurate because without further
investigation, we tend to believe what we
want to believe, to see what we want to see,
and to accept as fact whatever appears to be
logical..
● Sociology as a science attempts to be
specific, to qualify its statements, and to
prove its assertions.
● Upon closer inspection, we find that the
proverbial words of wisdom rooted in
common sense are often illogical. Why, for
example, “he who hesitates is lost”? when
“out of sight, out of mind”?
● Sociology as a science is oriented toward
gaining knowledge about why and under
what conditions events take place to
understand human interactions better.

Sociology and 5 ● Sociology is commonly described as one of

Science the social sciences.
● Science refers to a body of systematically
arranged knowledge that shows the
 operation of general laws. Sociology also
employs the same general methods of
investigation that are used in the natural
sciences.
● Like the natural scientists, sociologists use
the scientific method, a process by which a
body of scientific knowledge is built through
observation, experimentation,
generalization, and verification.
● Sociology as a Social Science
● The social sciences consist of all those
disciplines that apply scientific methods to
the study of human behavior. Although there
is some overlap, each of the social sciences
has its own area of investigation. It is helpful
to understand each social science and
examine sociology’s relationship to them.

Its concepts, terms, typologies and

generalizations leading to theories, emerged from
the very beginning. Moreover, there are striking
similarities between sociology and other social
sciences: man as a principal ingredient of their
subject matters, applications of some
methodological tools like observation,
comparative method, casual explanations, testing
and modification of hypothesis etc.

When so much is common to sociology on the

one hand and the other social sciences it is
understandable that there is some amount of
commonness in the studies as well as mutual
borrowings in the form of data, methods,
approaches, concepts and even vocabulary.
In brief, sociology is a distinct social science, but
it is not an isolated social science as the current
trends indicate that every social science is
depending more and more on inter-disciplinary
approach, that is, historians and sociologists, for
example, might even work together in curricular
and search projects which would have been
scarcely conceivable prior to about 1945, when
each social science tendered to follow the course
that emerged in the 19th century; to be confined
to a single, distinguishable, though artificial, area
of social reality.

Sociology is the study of human social

relationships and institutions. Sociology’s subject
matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion,
from the family to the state, from the divisions of
race and social class to the shared beliefs of a
common culture, and from social stability to
radical change in whole societies. Unifying the
study of these diverse subjects of study is
sociology’s purpose of understanding how human
action and consciousness both shape and are
shaped by surrounding cultural and social
structures.

Sociology is an exciting and illuminating field of

study that analyzes and explains important
matters in our personal lives, our communities,
and the world. At the personal level, sociology
investigates the social causes and consequences
of such things as romantic love, racial and gender
identity, family conflict, deviant behavior, aging,
and religious faith. At the societal level,
sociology examines and explains matters like
crime and law, poverty and wealth, prejudice and
discrimination, schools and education, business
firms, urban community, and social movements.
At the global level, sociology studies such
phenomena as population growth and migration,
war and peace, and economic development.

Sociologists emphasize the careful gathering and

analysis of evidence about social life to develop
and enrich our understanding of key social
processes. The research methods sociologists use
are varied. Sociologists observe the everyday life
of groups, conduct large-scale surveys, interpret
historical documents, analyze census data, study
video-taped interactions, interview participants of
groups, and conduct laboratory experiments. The
research methods and theories of sociology yield
powerful insights into the social processes
shaping human lives and social problems and
prospects in the contemporary world. By better
understanding those social processes, we also
come to understand more clearly the forces
shaping the personal experiences and outcomes of
our own lives. The ability to see and understand
this connection between broad social forces and
personal experiences — what C. Wright Mills
called “the sociological imagination” — is
extremely valuable academic preparation for
living effective and rewarding personal and
professional lives in a changing and complex
society.

Students who have been well trained in sociology

know how to think critically about human social
life, and how to ask important research questions.
They know how to design good social research
projects, carefully collect and analyze empirical
data, and formulate and present their research
findings. Students trained in sociology also know
how to help others understand the way the social
world works and how it might be changed for the
better. Most generally, they have learned how to
think, evaluate, and communicate clearly,
creatively, and effectively. These are all abilities
of tremendous value in a wide variety of
vocational callings and professions.

Sociology offers a distinctive and enlightening

way of seeing and understanding the social world
in which we live and which shapes our lives.
Sociology looks beyond normal, taken-for-
granted views of reality, to provide deeper, more
illuminating and challenging understandings of
social life. Through its particular analytical
perspective, social theories, and research
methods, sociology is a discipline that expands
our awareness and analysis of the human social
relationships, cultures, and institutions that
profoundly shape both our lives and human
history.

● Sociology is the study of human social

relationships and institutions. Sociology’s
subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime
to religion, from the family to the state, from
the divisions of race and social class to the
shared beliefs of a common culture, and
from social stability to radical change in
whole societies. Unifying the study of these
diverse subjects of study is sociology’s
purpose of understanding how human action
and consciousness both shape and are shaped
by surrounding cultural and social structures.
● Sociology is an exciting and illuminating
field of study that analyzes and explains
important matters in our personal lives, our
communities, and the world. At the personal
level, sociology investigates the social
causes and consequences of such things as
romantic love, racial and gender identity,
family conflict, deviant behavior, aging, and
religious faith. At the societal level,
sociology examines and explains matters
like crime and law, poverty and wealth,
prejudice and discrimination, schools and
education, business firms, urban community,
and social movements. At the global level,
sociology studies such phenomena as
population growth and migration, war and
peace, and economic development.
● Sociologists emphasize the careful gathering
and analysis of evidence about social life to
 develop and enrich our understanding of key
social processes. The research methods
sociologists use are varied. Sociologists
observe the everyday life of groups, conduct
large-scale surveys, interpret historical
documents, analyze census data, study
video-taped interactions, interview
participants of groups, and conduct
laboratory experiments. The research
methods and theories of sociology yield
powerful insights into the social processes
shaping human lives and social problems
and prospects in the contemporary world. By
better understanding those social processes,
we also come to understand more clearly the
forces shaping the personal experiences and
outcomes of our own lives. The ability to see
and understand this connection between
broad social forces and personal experiences
— what C. Wright Mills called “the
sociological imagination” — is extremely
valuable academic preparation for living
effective and rewarding personal and
professional lives in a changing and complex
society.
● Students who have been well trained in
sociology know how to think critically about
human social life, and how to ask important
research questions. They know how to
design good social research projects,
carefully collect and analyze empirical data,
and formulate and present their research
findings. Students trained in sociology also
know how to help others understand the way
 the social world works and how it might be
changed for the better. Most generally, they
have learned how to think, evaluate, and
communicate clearly, creatively, and
effectively. These are all abilities of
tremendous value in a wide variety of
vocational callings and professions.
● Sociology offers a distinctive and
enlightening way of seeing and
understanding the social world in which we
live and which shapes our lives. Sociology
looks beyond normal, taken-for-granted
views of reality, to provide deeper, more
illuminating and challenging understandings
of social life. Through its particular
analytical perspective, social theories, and
research methods, sociology is a discipline
that expands our awareness and analysis of
the human social relationships, cultures, and
institutions that profoundly shape both our
lives and human history.

Online Quiz 15 Practice Quiz (to assess their

understanding).

Post Session Instructions:

Preparing for next session: The students must study the reading material provided on Google
Classroom and prepare to discuss in next class.