Introduction To Sociology Study Guide PDF

# Introduction to Sociology ## Study Guide **Unit 1-9** **Code: 5551/4687** **Department of Sociology, Social Work and Population Studies** **Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad** ## Course Team **Course Title:** Introduction to Sociology **Course Code:** 5551 **Chairman Course Team:** P...

# Introduction to Sociology ## Study Guide **Unit 1-9** **Code: 5551/4687** **Department of Sociology, Social Work and Population Studies** **Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad** ## Course Team **Course Title:** Introduction to Sociology **Course Code:** 5551 **Chairman Course Team:** Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Saif **Course Development Coordinator:** Dr. Rukhsana Masood **Course Committee:** 1. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Anwar Punjab University, Lahore. 2. Prof. Dr. Karam Ellahi, Peshawar University, Peshawar 3. Prof. Ishfaq Hussain Mirza, Arid Agricultural University, Rawalpindi 4. Dr. Muhammad Latif Virk, UGC, Islamabad **Course Editor:** Abdul Wadood ## Contents ### Part One: Organization of the Course 1. **Structure of the Course** 2. **How to Use Reading Material** 3. **Study Chart** 4. **How to Attend a Tutorial** 5. **Methods of Assessment** ### Part Two: Course Introduction 1. **Course Introduction** 2. **Objectives of the Course** ### Part Three: **Unit 1. Sociology and Its Importance** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **What Is Sociology** 5. **What Is Science?** 6. **Is Sociology A Science?** 7. **The Development Of Sociology** **Unit 2. Culture** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **Meaning And Nature Of Culture** 5. **Development Of Culture** 6. **Elements Of Culture** 7. **Cultural Integration** 8. **Cultural Variation** **Unit 3. Society** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **Description of Society** 5. **Hunting And Gathering Societies** 6. **Horticultural And Agrarian Societies** 7. **Agrarian Societies** 8. **Industrial Societies** **Unit 4. Social Interaction** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **The Study Of Day To Day Social Life** 5. **Nonverbal Communication** 6. **Interaction In Space And Time** 7. **Social Interaction And Social Processes** **Unit 5. Social Groups And Organizations** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **Social Group** 5. **Voluntary Associations** 6. **Bureaucracy** **Unit 6. Socialization** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **The Definition Of Socialization** 5. **Impact Of Isolation** 6. **The Early Development Of The Infant** 7. **Theories Of Child Development** 8. **Agencies Of Socialization** **Unit 7. Conformity And Deviance** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Learning Objectives** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **What Is Deviance?** 5. **Biological Explanation** 6. **Socio-Psychological** 7. **The Sociological Explanation Of Deviance** 8. **White Collar Crime** 9. **The Criminal Justice System** **Unit 8. Social Stratification** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **System Of Social Stratification** 5. **Theoretical Perspective Of Social Stratification** 6. **Social Mobility** 7. **System Of Class And Caste In Pakistani Society** **Unit 9. Dimensions Of Inequality** 1. **Introduction** 2. **Objectives Of The Unit** 3. **Major Topics** 4. **Concept Of Inequality** 5. **Poverty And Inequality** 6. **Inequality By Gender And Age** ## Part One: Organization of the Course ### 1.1 Structure of the Course The course has been structured to make it as easy as possible for you to complete the required coursework. This course consists of eighteen units. Each unit consists of a study material of one week if you study 12-16 hours in a week. This will include studying the prescribed reading material and carrying out the various self-learning assessments. We have organized this course to enable you to acquire the skill of self-learning. You will find a course introduction at the end of this part, which will provide you an overall view of the course. This study guide has been written to enhance the foundation of sociological ideas and issues, which are presented in the textbooks. ### 1.2 How to Use Reading Material As this is a course through distance education, we have organized the required coursework in the following manner to help you in evolving a self-learning process in absence of formal classroom teaching. 1. **A detail course description** 2. **Objectives of the Unit** 3. **The major Theme of the unit is divided into sub-Themes.** They are listed in the beginning of every unit. A brief and simplified introduction of major topic is given in the study guide so that you can get acquainted with the material. 4. **Required reading for each unit is listed as compulsory and suggested reading.** 5. **At The end of every unit we have given you few self-assessment questions for each topic or theme.** These questions are not only meant to facilitate you in understanding the required reading but also to provide you an opportunity to assess yourself how far you have learned. ### 1.3 Study Chart Although you choose your own way of studying The required reading material, you are advised to follow the steps, which are given in the study chart. 1. **Step 1:** For clear identification of your reading material, thoroughly read description of the course. 2. **Step 2:** Read carefully the way the reading material is to be used. 3. **Step 3:** Complete the first quick reading of your required study materials. 4. **Step 4:** Carefully make the second reading and note down some of the points you were not able to fully understand. 5. **Step 5:** Carry out the self-assessment question with the help of your study material. 6. **Step 6:** Revise your notes. It is quite possible that many of those points which you did not understand previously become clearer to you during the process of carrying out self assessment questions 7. **Step 7:** Prepare yourself for the tutorial meeting, ie, note down the points for discussion with other members of your group and with your course tutor. 8. **Step 8:** Make a third and final reading of your study material. At this stage, students are also advised to keep in view the homework assignments. These assignments are compulsory for the successful completion of the course. ### 1.4 How to Attend a Tutorial Before attending the tutorial you are required to prepare yourself in the following manner to get maximum benefit. The first tutorial is an 'introductory tutorial' for which you are required to do following work: 1. **Step 1:** Go through first part of the study guide, which includes: * **Organization of the course;** * **Structure of the program** * **How to use the reading material and** * **Assessment** 2. **Step 2:** Read carefully course introduction. 2-3 times to have a better understanding of the course. It will give you an overview of the whole course. Make notes of those points which you could not fully understand or wish to discuss with your course tutor. * In tutorials 2-9 you will complete coursework containing 18 study units. The way we have arranged these tutorials, it will give you an opportunity to discuss two units in one tutorial. Please see schedule of the semester. 3. **Step 3:** Read summary of the main Themes of the concerned units around which the units is constructed. 4. **Step 4:** Study required reading and make notes of those points you are not able to fully understand and wish to discuss with your course tutor. ### 1.5 Methods of Assessment For each course the registered student will be assessed as following: **Assignments** Assignments are those written exercises which students are required to complete while being at homes or places of work after having studied their required material prescribed in the study guide. They are designed in a way to motivate the students in reading the required readings and enabling them to relate their reading with their own objective. For this course you will receive 'FOUR' assignments. After completion, you will send these assignments to your tutor within a time schedule for assessment and necessary guidance. The tutor is supposed to return the same after marking and providing necessary academic guidance and supervision. The successful completion of assignments will make you eligible to take final examination to be held at the end of the semester. To qualify each assignment, you have to obtain a minimum 40% marks. **Workshops** Workshops are compulsory component of the M.Sc. programme. These will be organized by the university near the end of every semester for every course. Detail of these workshops will be sent to you with the course materials. **Final Assessments** Final examination (a three hour written examination will take place at the end of the semester). These two components contribute 30:70 to get students final course grade. The condition to qualify each component are given below: 1. **A minimum of 40% in each assignment** 2. **A minimum of 33% of the final written examination** 3. **An aggregate of 40% of the both components ie assignment and final examination** 4. **To take final examination the student has to pass assignment component** The grade will be determined as follow 40% - 54% C 55% - 69% B 70% - Above A ## Part Two: Course Introduction ### Course Introduction It is in the nature of many introductory courses in an academic discipline that it looks at the relevant subject matter from different points of view. The first of these involves asking the question: **What is it that the discipline studies?** In the case of sociology, looking at the sort of issues with which sociologists concern themselves can provide the answer to this question. The main concern of sociology is that it can help people to understand their own lives in a better way. It does so by opening up new perspectives on the sources of our own behavior and deepens a sense of cultural settings different from our own. It explains the relationships between personal experience and external events, between self and society. Learning sociology means taking a step back from our own personal interpretations of the world, to look at the social influences, which shape our lives. It does not mean that sociology deny the reality of our individual experience. Rather, we obtain a richer awareness of our own individual characteristics, and those of others, by developing sensitivity towards the wider universe of social activity in which we are all involved. In the first part of this course we look at the basic concerns of sociology, discussing its status and relationship to other subjects in the social science, the origins of sociology as a social science. The brief introduction of major development of the sociology is given in the first Unit. ### Objectives Of The Course 1. **To provide students with a historical understanding of the key stages in development of the sociology.** 2. **To provide students with an ability to understand how the sociological imagination distinguish sociology from the other social sciences.** 3. **To enable students to know how people interact with each other in everyday life.** 4. **To encourage students to think, evaluate and compare arguments about forms of social relations and social structure.** In Unit No. 2 and Unit No. 3 students learn how social life is organized. For this, we start our exploration of the diverse field of Sociology by looking at the interconnections between individual development and culture. To a large degree culture determines how members of society think and feel, it directs their actions and defines their outlook on life. Culture also defines accepted way of behaving for members of a particular society. Such definitions vary from society to society. We shall look at the different types of societies and their main characteristics in Unit No. 3. When members of society start living together they need one another in many situations. The result is social interaction. The mutual and reciprocal influencing by two or more people of each other's behavior is called social interaction, we will study form and process of social interaction in Unit No. 4. When people bound together in relatively stable patterns of social interaction and share a feeling of unity they make social group. In Unit No. 5 we will discuss that how do various types of group form and work. Human being is the only creation of Allah who knows nothing at the time of birth but weep. He is totally dependent on other and can learn nothing without being taught. We will study how socialization is accomplished in Unit No. 6. The process of socialization helps the man to learn how to live in a particular society. But inspite of this learning some people violate social rules and behave differently. When a considerable member of people view a certain behavior as reprehensible and beyond the limits of tolerance it is called Deviance. Unit No 7 deals with this concept. In Unit No. 8 we will study various perspectives about stratification with reference to Pakistani Society. Unit No 9 deals with the concept of inequality and different dimensions of inequalities, Many factors interact to generate changes in behavior, culture and society over a period of time. Unit No, 10 to Unit No. 13 will deal the concept of social change. Mass Communication Development and Population.. Unit No. 14 to 18 discusses several important social institutions: The family, Religion, Education, Economic and Political institution.