Course Objective
The objective of this course is to familiarize the students with some fundamental insinuations of society and orient them to develop knowledge about theoretical analysis of institutional relationships and processes.
I. Introduction
A. Meaning of Institution, Definitional problems
B. Institution through Time and Space
C. Institutionalization, process of institutional Growth
D. Micro and Macro Level Institutions
II. Micro Social and Cultural Institutions
A. (i) Marriage: Origin, Basic Functions and Dynamics; Types of Marriage, Social Implications of Divorce, Widowhood, Remarriage, Remaining Single
(ii) Sexuality: Homosexuality, Heterosexuality, Bisexuality, Trans-sexuality; Significance of study of Marriage in Sociology/Anthropology
B. The Family and Household: Meaning of the Term: Family as a Genealogical Unit, Household as the Functional Dimension of Family, Simple and Complex Households, Nuclear and Extended Families: Household as a Reproductive, Economic and Political Unit; Relationship of Household with other Broader Organizations such as Community and the State; Household Dynamics: Views from Modernization, Functionalist, Conflict and World System Perspectives; Functional Importance of Family and Households; Family Values and Violence
C. Kinship: Kinship as a System of Kin-based Affinity and Relationship, Kinship Structure or the Order of Kin-Based Affinity and Distance, Fictive Kinship, Kin Relation, Cohesion and Divisions:; Kinship Loyalties, Political Processes and Economic Development, Technology and Dynamics in Kin Relation: Beyond Biology and Descent as of basis of Kinship, Kinship as Culture of Relatedness
D. Community as Institution: Why Community is an Institution; Various Meanings of the Term : Community as Place to Live, Community as a Spatial Unit, Community as a Way of Life, Community as a collective Identity, Community as a Unit of Development, Community as an Arena of Social Interaction; Community as Persisting Social System: the Functional Paradigm; Political, Economic, Normative and Pattern Maintenance Components of the Community; Conflict, Violence, Structural Inequality and Differences: the Conflict Paradigm: Local Community and Larger Society: Effects of National and Global Forces on Community Based Way of Life of People
III. Macro Social and Cultural Institutions
A. Economic Institution and Social Cultural Life: Economy as an Adaptive Component of Social System, Economic System as a System of Production, Distribution and Use of Goods and Services in Society; Changes in Economic Institution and Related Types of Human Relationship through Time: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic technologies and Socio-Economic Organization; Social Correlates of Foraging, Agriculture and Industrial Systems; Features and Conditions of Growth and Development of Feudal, Capitalist and Socialist Modes of Production; Connection Between Local and Global Economies : Market Based Analysis and Analysis Based on Inequality and Exploitative relations.
B. Political Institution and Social Cultural Life: Concept of Power and Politics; Politics in Tribal and Din Based Groupings of Human Collectivities; The Nation State: Meaning and Nation Building Processes; Types of State Control: Coercion and Hegemony; Patterns and Processes of Use of Power in Despotic/Dictatorial, Liberal Democratic and Socialist forms of Political Regimes and Critique; State of Development and Predation; Imported Democracies and Primordial Loyalties: The context of the Third World; Social Movements and Intensity of Change of Political Regimes; Authority Structure and Hierarchies at Household and Local Community.
C. Religious Institution and Social Cultural Life: Religion as s System of Belief in Super Natural Being; Rites and Rituals as One Dimension of Manifestation of Practice of Religion, Variations of Views about the Effect of Religion: religion as a Promoter of Social Morality and Cohesion (Durheim), Religion as an Ideology Formed for Legitimizing the Structure of Social Inequality (Marx), Religious Values and Their Impacts on the Operation of Economic Activities (Weber); Diversity of Religions and Religious Beliefs as Factor of Conflict and Cooperation among Groups of Population
IV. Ties that Bind: Individual, Society and Culture
Debate on Primacy of Society and Culture and the Over-socialized Conception of Man; Nature/Nurture Debate; Linking History and Biography; Mechanisms of Social Control; Collective Good, Social Justice and Individual Freedom
V. Ties that Repel: Inequality and Social Mobility
Dimension of Social Stratification, Intensity of Stratification, Inequality and Stratification and Differentiation by Age, Gender, Caste, Ethnicity Class, and Income; Global Inequality and Stratification, Inequality and Stratification and Life Chances, Inequality, Stratification and Conflict
VI. Social and Cultural Change
Causes of social and cultural change: Technology; Market, Mass Media, Modernization and Globalization; Globalization Vs Localization, the State and Planned Social Change, Intensity of Social Change; Social Movements, Reform and Revolution
VII. Utility of Sociology/Anthropology and Study of Social Institutions
- Comprehension of Self as a Social Cultural Being
- Comprehension of Society and Social Change
- Individualism and Equality
- Anthropology and Sociology of Sense