Sociology
This course provides a comprehensive understanding of society, its structure, institutions, social behavior and wide understanding of topics that affects people on local, national and international level. Law is born in the society and it is a tool to control and regulate the society. The course provides an interdisciplinary approach to analyse and interpret the law, the legal phenomenon, the relationship between these two and also their relationships with the society. To briefly introduce social research as a means of understanding social reality. Overall, this course aspires to provide intrinsic understanding of correlation, connection and association of law and society in order to augment to students' ability to study law in the social milieu.
University of Mumbai · B.L.S. Semester 3 · 4 modules · 36 topics · 36 written.
Module 1 — Introduction to Sociology
- 1 Meaning and Definition
- 2 Nature and Scope of sociology — Specialistic and synthetic schools
- 3 Relevance of Sociology to Law
- 4 Theoretical Perspectives — Evolutionary, Functionalist, Conflict, Social Exchange
- 5 Basic concepts
- 1.5.1 Society (Meaning & Characteristics, Types of Society, Pluralistic Nature
- 1.5.2 Social groups (Meaning & Characteristics, Types of & Groups
- 1.5.3 Norms, Values, Community, Associations, Institutions, Status and Role, Socialization, Culture, Social structure and Social system
- 1.6 Social Institutions
- 1.6.1 Marriage (Meaning, Functions of Marriage, Forms of Marriage, Recent Trends of Marriage)
- 1.6.2 Family — Meaning, Functions of Family, Theories of Origin of Family, Types of Family, Changing Patterns of Family
- 1.6.3 Kinship (Meaning, Types of Kinship, Degrees of Kinship, Kinship Usages, Kinship & Descent)
- 1.6.4 Political Parties and Voting Behavior, Pressure group, Welfare State
- 1.6.5 The concept of Economic system, Social Importance of Work and Occupation, mechanization of Work and the Decline of Traditional Skills, Property, Division of Labor as a socio — economic system, Social
- 1.6.6 Definition & Characteristics of Religion, Social Functions of Religion, Structural aspects of Religion, Theories of Origin of Religion, Organization of Religion — Church, Denomination, Sect Cult
- 1.6.7 Media — Meaning, Characteristics, Functions, Mass media andits impact
- 1.7 Social Stratification — caste, class, sex and gender, race and ethnicity
Module 2 — Crime, Deviance, Disorganization and Social Control
Module 3 — Social Processes and Change
- 3.1 Social Processes — Competition, Conflict, Accommodation, assimilation, tolerance, compromise, super-ordination and subordination, integration, isolation etc
- 3.2 Change — Social change
- 3.2.1 Meaning, Characteristics, factors or causes of social change, processes of social change (Westernization, Modernization, Industrialization, Sanskritisation, Liberalization, Globalization)
- 3.2.2 Theories of social change: Evolutionary Theories, Cyclical Theories, Functionalist Theories, Conflict Theories)
- 3.3 Social Research — Nature and Purpose, Types of methodology — comparative, descriptive, diagnostic, exploratory, experimental
- 3.4 Research methods — documentary, empirical and survey method
- 3.5 Tools of data collection — observation, interview, questionnaire and schedule, case study, sampling, Stages of data collection — conceptualizing problem, laying down hypothesis, defining the variables, choosing the tools of data collection, phase of data collection, data analysis
Module 4 — Law, Society and Social Thought
- 4.1 Relation of law and society
- 4.2 Law and social change
- 4.3 Sociology of legal profession
- 4.4 Legal Pluralism
- 4.5 Contributions of Classical Social Thinkers
- 4.5.1 August Comte: Positivism, Law of three stages, Social Staticsand Social Dynamics
- 4.5.2 Emile Durkheim: Theory of Religion, Theory of Suicide, Division
- 4.5.3 Karl Mar: Historical and Dialectical Materialism, Theory of Social
- 4.5.4 Max Weber: Social Action and types, Power and Authority, Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism, Bureaucracy