Themes of lectures

Week 1. Introduction to Sociology: problems and perspectives.

Sociology offers a distinct and highly illuminating perspective on human behavior. Learning sociology means taking a step back from our own personal interpretations of the world, to look at the social influences which shape our life. Sociology as a social science. Object, subject and tasks of Sociology. Methodological basis of Sociology and its links with other social sciences (anthropology, history, political science, economy, philosophy, psychology). Sociological approach. Sociology and a ‘commons sense’. Sociological questions (comparative, developmental, theoretical questions). Developing a sociological outlook. Practical significance of sociology: understanding social situations, awareness of cultural differences, assessment of the effects of policies; the increase of self-knowledge (self-enlightenment), the sociologists’ role in society).

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #1, P. 7-25

Week 2. Culture and Society.

Concept of culture: culture consists of values held by a given group, the norms they follow and the material goods they create. Theory of evolution. Sociobiology. Cultural diversity. Cultural identity and ethnocentrism. Cultural universals: language, semiotics and material culture. Types of pre-modern society (hunters and gatherers, the pigmies, the original ‘affluent societies’; pastoral and agrarian societies; pastoral societies, agrarian societies. Non-industrial civilization or traditional states; feature of the traditional state. Societies in the modern world: the industrialized societies; the third world societies.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #2, P. 29-58.

Weeks 3-4. Socialization and the Life-cycle.

Socialization as a process whereby the helpless infant gradually becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which she or he is born. Examples of ‘unsocialized’ children. The early development of the infant: perceptual development, crying and smiling, infants and caretakers, the development and social responses. Concept of maternal deprivation. Theories of child development. Freud and psychoanalysis. Personality development and Oedipus complex. The theory of G.H.Mead: Symbolic interactionalism, social self and generalized others. Jean Paget’s theory on cognitive development. The stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, formal operational). Agencies of socialization: family, peer groups, schools, mass media etc. Resocialization. The life course. Adolescence. The young adult. Mature adulthood. Old age.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #3, P. 59-88.

Weeks 5-6. Sociology of deviant behaviour: conformity and deviance

Concept of ‘deviance’. Nature and reasons of deviant behaviour. Social norms and deviance. Positive and negative deviance (violation of law, terrorism etc). Deviant and Delinquent behaviour. Biological context, individual factors, social basis of deviance. Types of deviance. Structural functionalism and deviance: theory of suicide by E. Durkheim, Merton’s strain theory, deviant subculture. Analysis from the standpoint of symbolic interactionism: Labelling theory. Medicalization of deviance. Control theory. Deviance and inequality. Deviance and Power. Deviance and capitalism. Deviance and Gender. Crimes and law. Official and non-official control over deviant behaviour.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #5, P. 113-159.

Week 7. Social structure of society: stratification of society

Concept of social structure. Relationships or bonds between groups of individuals (e.g. societies). 'Structure' ("the macro") and "agency"("the micro"). Social structures as an entity or groups in definite relation to each other, as relatively enduring patterns of behaviour and relationship within a society. Norms and values as basic units of social structure. Social stratification: strata (levels) of society. System of social stratification (slavery, caste, estates, class). Theories of stratification in modern societies. Karl Marx’s theory: the nature of class, the complexity of class systems. The theory of Max Weber. Status. Party. Erik Olin Wright’s theory of class. Frank Parkin: a Weberian approach. Classes in modern industrials societies (the upper class, the middle class, the working class). Gender and stratification (class divisions and gender. The debate continues). The changing class system. Social mobility. Social stratification in Kazakhstan.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #7, P.211-250.

Week 8. Ethnicity and race.

Ethnic groups, minorities and race in plural societies. Minorities, race and biology. Ethnic antagonism, prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes and scapegoats. Ethnicity and childhood. Ethnicity and nation. The attitudes of majority. Sociological interpretations. General factors. A historical perspective. Ethnic relations in historical perspective: some examples. Civil rights movements. Racial problems in western countries. Ethnic relations in Kazakhstan.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #8, P. 251-283.

Week 9. Groups and organizations.

Forms of association. Primary and secondary groups. Formal organizations. Bureaucracy: M.Weber’s view of bureaucracy. Formal and informal relations within bureaucracies. Bureaucracy and oligarchy. Japanese corporations. The implications of the Japanese system for organization theory. Influence of organizations in the modern world. Professionals. Information technology. The physical settings of organizations. Surveillance and discipline in organizations. Carceral organizations: the development of carceral organizations. Non-bureaucratic organizations: self-help groups.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #9, P. 284-307.

Week 10. Politics, government and the state.

Characteristics of the states. The political apparatus. Territory. Law and the use of force. Modern states: definitions, citizenship rights/ Political parties and voting in Western countries. Party systems. Voting and class. Party politics: breaking the mould in the late twentieth: the theories of state overload and legitimation crisis. Assessment of the theories. The political participation of women. Non-institutional political action. Democracy: types of democracy (representative multiparty systems, representative one-party systems, participatory democracy). The universal appeal of democracy and the decline of monarchies. Democratic elitism and pluralist theories: Democratic elitism; Max Weber’s view, Joseph Schumpeter’s ideas. Pluralist theories. Criticism and evaluation of the theories. Politics and international domain. Nationalism and the modern states. The European Community and the changed map of Europe. Kazakhstan as a nation-state.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #10, P. 308-350

Week 11. Kinship, marriage and the family.

Kinship. Clan groups. Family relationships: family as a social institute. Structural functional analysis: functions of family. Stages of family life: courtship, marriage, children upbringing. Nuclear and extended families. Marriage and culture. Marriage and race, ethnicity. Marriage and social stratification. The Family and marriage. The development of family life.Marriage and Gender. Monogamy and polygamy. Polyandry and polygyny. Endogamy, exogamy. Incest. Origins of the changes. Changes in family patterns worldwide: direction of changes. Divorce and separation. The growth of divorce. The experience of divorce. Uncoupling. Transitions in divorce. Line-parent household. Re-marriage and step-parenting. The dark sides of the family. Alternatives to marriage and the family.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #12, P. 389-423.

Week 12. Work and economic life.

Concepts of work and occupation. The division of labour. Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Industrial division of labour: Taylorism and Fordism. Work on the assembly line. The limitations of Fordism and Taylorism. Fordism and after: Post-Fordism and flexible production. Automation. Low-trust systems, high-trust systems and group production. Industrial democracy. Corporations and corporate power: types of corporate capitalism. Trade unions and industrial conflict. The development of unions. Recent developments. Unemployment, women’s work and industrial economy. Secondary labor market. The informal economy. Primary labor market.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #15, P.490-526.

Week 13. The Development of Sociological theory.

Early origins: August Compte (1789-1875), Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), Karl Marx (1818-1886), Max Weber (1864-1920). Later developments: functionalism, structuralism, symbolic interactionalism. Marxism. Main theoretical dilemmas in sociology: 1. human action and social structure; 2. Whether societies should be pictured as harmonious and orderly or marked by persistent conflict; 3. Analysis of modern social development; 4) gender and sociological analysis.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #22, P. 705-731.

Week 14. Methods of organization of research and methodology.

Social and natural sciences. Position of researcher: subject-object relations. Social reality and obtaining knowledge about it. Validity and reliability of data. Research methodology – philosophy of research. Positivism, Interpretativism, Critical Rationalism (Karl Popper). Constructivism in social sciences. Feminism and Sociology. Phenomenology. Post-structuralism, post-modernism. Formulating research questions, aims and methods of research. Testing hypotheses. Use of theories. Main stages of research.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #21, P. 675-691.

Week 15. Qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Collecting data. Data analysis. Quantitative method. Concepts. Variables: dependent and

independent. Operationalization of variables. Control over variables. Processing of data. Statistics and analysis of secondary information. Objectivity and its limits. Use of computer programs in data processing. Conducting survey. Principles of compilation of questionnaires. Open-ended and close-ended questions. Formulation of correct questions. Sampling: random sampling and improbability sampling. Qualitative methods: participant observation and interviews as ways of in-depth understanding of human behaviour. Greater critical attention to the role and position of a researcher. Language, signs and meaning as holistic and contextual approaches to analysis in contrast to reductionism and isolationist. Conducting interviews: selection, technical equipment, selection of interviewees. Preparation to fieldwork. Ethics in social sciences.

Reading materials:

Giddens, Anthony. Sociology. Second edition. Polity: 2001. Chapter #21, P. 691-704.