Sociology I

Unit 1 — Nature of Sociology

Definition and meaning of Sociology, Subject matter and scope · Importance of studying Sociology, Sociology as a science · Sociology of commonsense · Relationship between Sociology and Law

• Meaning and Definition
• Nature and Scope of sociology — Specialistic and synthetic schools
• Relevance of Sociology to Law

Unit 2 — Basic Concepts

Society, Community, Association, Institution, Culture and Civilization, Norms, Values, Role, Status

• Basic concepts
• Society (Meaning & Characteristics, Types of Society, Pluralistic Nature
• Norms, Values, Community, Associations, Institutions, Status and Role, Socialization, Culture, Social structure and Social system

Unit 3 — Social Processes and Socialization

Cooperation, Conflict, Accommodation, Assimilation · Process, Agencies, Importance

• Social Processes — Competition, Conflict, Accommodation, assimilation, tolerance, compromise, super-ordination and subordination, integration, isolation etc

Unit 4 — Social Groups

Definitions, classification, roles

• Social groups (Meaning & Characteristics, Types of & Groups

Unit 5 — Social Stratification

Meaning, functions, types (caste, class, estate), social mobility

• Social Stratification — caste, class, sex and gender, race and ethnicity

Unit 6 — Social Institutions

Economic, Political, Religious, Educational · Inter-relationships

• Social Institutions
• 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
• Definition & Characteristics of Religion, Social Functions of Religion, Structural aspects of Religion, Theories of Origin of Religion, Organization of Religion — Church, Denomination, Sect Cult

Unit 7 — Family, Marriage and Kinship

Forms and functions

• Marriage (Meaning, Functions of Marriage, Forms of Marriage, Recent Trends of Marriage)
• Family — Meaning, Functions of Family, Theories of Origin of Family, Types of Family, Changing Patterns of Family
• Kinship (Meaning, Types of Kinship, Degrees of Kinship, Kinship Usages, Kinship & Descent)

Unit 8 — Social Control and Change

Formal/informal agencies · factors like biological, cultural, technological · concept of culture lag · Marxist theory of social change

• Social Control — Meaning and Purpose, Types of social control-formal and informal
• Change — Social change
• Meaning, Characteristics, factors or causes of social change, processes of social change (Westernization, Modernization, Industrialization, Sanskritisation, Liberalization, Globalization)
• Theories of social change: Evolutionary Theories, Cyclical Theories, Functionalist Theories, Conflict Theories)

Unit 9 — Gender and Society

Feminist theories · Gender Roles and Stereotypes · Gender and Law (Dowry, Domestic Violence, Workplace Harassment)

Unit 10 — Sociology of Law

Law and Social Change · Law as a social institution · Legal Pluralism · Crime, Punishment and Society · Intersectionality (Caste, Class, Gender)

• Relation of law and society
• Law and social change
• Legal Pluralism
• Crime and Social Deviance

Unit 11 — Legal challenges in social work and fields of social work practice

Child welfare · Women’s welfare