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In this elective course, which is intended primarily for the students of the social sciences like philosophy, history and economics, our aim is to introduce some major issues, fundamental concepts, theories and methods applied in sociology as to help the students to form a basic idea of the subject matter of sociology in their minds. However, it must be noticed that within the discipline of sociology there is not a consensus even on the subject matter of sociology, and this course, being designed as an elective course, does not aim to cover all the crucial (and controversial) issues in the field. Keeping this in mind, we will try to discuss some basic topics (or rather, fields of specialisation) in sociology such as gender, family, deviance, stratification, political power, mass media, religion, as well as sociological research methods and theory.

Remember that each discipline has its own technical specialities and needs some effort to be understood on the part of the student. Never think "sociology concerns the things happening in everyday life in which we all live. So we can make sense of it without further studying." In most cases the reverse is true and sociological knowledge does not correspond to what we think about social phenomena solely depending on our good common-sense. For this reason, attendance to the course is a must though it will not bring extra points to the student for that. Lectures may not cover whole of the assigned material, but it is strongly recommended the students to read them (about 200 pages). We want to urge the students taking this couse  to reading the assigned material carefully with a critical frame of mind. Besides, there may be some extra supplied reading material throughout the course which must be read by the students. There will be two mid-term exams (30 % each) and a final exam (40 %).

The reading material assigned for the course may not be found in the library, or the copies that you can find may have a different pagination. To overcome the eventually resultant confusion, the photocopies of the readings will be available at the photocopy section of the library (you can reach them either by course name or instructor's name).
 
 

1.    Introduction: What is Sociology? The study of the society, culture and individual.

Worsley, Peter, Introducing Sociology, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1980, pp. 19-38.

C. W. Mills, Sociological Imagination, Penguin Books, Harmondsworht, 1980, pp. 11-17.

 
2.    Types of Society
 
• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, Ch. 3, pp. 45-63.
• Barfield, Thomas J., The Nomadic Alternative, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993, pp. 4-18.
• Sahlins, Marshall, Stone Age Economics, Tavistock Publications, London, 1978, pp. 9-14.
 

3.    Deviance and Crime
 

• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp. 446-485.
• Garland, David, Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory, Clarenden Press, Oxford, 1991, pp. 28-41, 135-151.
 

4.    Methodology in Social Sciences
 

• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp. 502-553
 

5.    Social Inequality and Stratification

 
• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, Ch. 8, pp. 240-255.
• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp. 34-57, 77-80.
 

6.    Problems of Identity: Race, Nationality, and Ethnicity
 

• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, 210-222.
• Hutchinson, J. and Smith, Anthony D. (ed.s), Ethnicity, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, pp. 3-31.
 

7.    Sociology of Religion
 

• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp.405-427.
• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, 434-459.

8.    Political Power & The State: Political Sociology
 

• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, pp. 338-345.
• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp. 196-229.
 
 
9.      Sociology of Family
 
• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, 139-161.
• Bilton, T., Bonnett, K., Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Sheard, K. and Webster, A., Introductory Sociology, MacMillan Press, London, 1993, pp. 253-262, 280-301.

10.    Social Change
 

• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, pp. 520-529.
• Will be added later!.
 
 
11.    Issues of Population and Environment
 
• Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, Polity Press, London, 1998, pp. 529-535.
• Ward, David A. and Stone, Lorene H., Sociology, West Publishing Co., New York, 1996, pp.  422-440

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