Credit Hours: 3

Course Objectives:

This course will introduce students to the discipline of Sociology, its perspective, its basic concepts and principles, its methods of analysis and its major sub-fields. Through this introduction it is expected that students will begin to think in ways that take into account the social realm of thought, including the impact of social forces, social constraints, and social structure on an individual’s thoughts and behaviours. The goals of the course are to encourage students to begin to think critically about the social world, to examine various life issues with a sociological lens, to ‘problematize’ social issues, and to spark the sociological imagination – “the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society” (C. Wright Mills, 1959).

Contents:

Nature, scope and subject matter of Sociology, Brief historical development of Sociology, Introduction to Quranic Sociology, Society and community, Relationship with other social Sciences, Social Interaction Processes The study of social life, Exploring the global village, Sociology as a science, The Sociological imagination, The development of Sociology, Sociology, Structure and function of social institutions, Inter-relationships among various social institutions, Elements of culture, Organization of culture, cultural relativism, sub cultures, ethnocentrism, Socialization and personality, Role and status, Socialization, Culture and personality