INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES

BS Sociology Semester 1 (Morning)

Introduction to Sociology 1
Course Outline

Lecturer: Asma Asad

Topics

1. INTRODUCTON

a. Definition – Understanding Sociology

b. Sociology and other Social Sciences
c. Sociology and Common Sense / Stereotypes
d. Origin and Development of Sociology
e. Important Concepts - Social Problem v Sociological Problem
f. Sociological Perspectives
i. Structuralism
 Structural Functionalism
 Social Conflict

Ii. Social Action

 Symbolic Interactionism
Iii. Feminism

2. CULTURE

a. Understanding Culture
b. Cultural Components
c. Cultural Diversity

3. SOCILALIZATION

a. Understanding Socialization and its significance

b. Agents of Socialization
c. Theories of Socialization
 Sigmund Freud
 The Looking-Glass Self – Charles Horton Cooley
 The Social Self – George Herbert Mead
d. Socialization through the Life Course
 4. SOCIAL INTERACTION

a. Understanding Social Structure and its significance

b. Importance of Status
c. Importance of Role
d. Theories of Social Interaction
 The Social Construction of Reality – Peter Burger and
Thomas Luckmann
 Ethnomethodology – Harold Garfinkle
 Dramaturgical Analysis – Erving Goffman
e. Significance of Non Verbal Communication

5. GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS

a. Importance and Types of Groups

b. Group Leadership and Styles
c. Studies of Group Conformity - Influence and Power
 Solomon Asch
 Stanley Milgram
 Irving L. Janis
d. Formal Organization and its Types
e. Bureaucracy and its Characteristics

6. DEVIANCE

a. Understanding Deviance, Crime and Social Control

b. Types of Crime
c. Sociological Explanation of Crime
i. Structural Functional
 Emile Durkheim’s explanation
 Structural Strain Theory- Robert K. Merton
ii. Social Conflict
iii. Symbolic Interactionism
 Labeling Theory - Edwin Lemert and Erving Goffman
 Differential Association Theory – Edwin Sutherland
 Control Theory – Travis Hirschi
a. Criminal Justice System

Suggested Readings

Anderson, Margaret L. and Frederick H. Taylor. Sociology: The Essentials

Brown, Ken. An Introduction to Sociology
Kendal, Diana . Sociology in Our Times
Macionis, John J. Sociology