Theme VIII. Groups & Organizations
1.From the micro to the macro level examine the types of groups, social influence in groups. 2.Explore formal organizations and bureaucracies, including diversity within organizations, and theoretical perspectives on groups and organizations.
Recommended Readings:
1.Bales R. F., Interaction Process Analysis ( Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1950).
2.Bass B. M., Leadership, Psychology, and Organizational Behavior ( New York: Harper, 1960).
3.Bennis W. G., Schein E. H., Berlew D. E., and Steele F. I., eds., Interpersonal Dynamics ( Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press, 1964).
4.Blau P. M., The Dynamics of Bureaucracy ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955).
5.Blau P. M., Exchange and Power in Social Life ( New York: Wiley, 1964).
6.Bonner H., Group Dynamics: Principles and Applications ( New York: Ronald Press, 1959).
7.Browne C. G., and Cohn T. S., eds., The Study of Leadership ( Danville, Ill.: The Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1958).
8.Cartwright D., and Zander A., eds., Group Dynamics: Research and Theory, 2nd ed. ( Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson, 1960).
9.Cartwright D., ed., Studies in Social Power ( Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1959).
10.Festinger L., Schachter S., and Back K., Social Pressures in Informal Groups ( New York: Harper, 1950).
11.Goffman E., The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life ( Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959).
12.Golombiewski R. T., The Small Group ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962).
13.Hare A. P., Borgatta E. F., and Bales R. F., eds., Small Groups: Studies in Social Interaction ( New York: Knopf, 1955).
14.Hare A. P., Handbook of Small Group Research ( New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1962).
15.Heider F., The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations ( New York: Wiley, 1958).
16.Hollander E. P., Leaders, Groups, and Influence ( New York: Oxford, 1964).
17.Homans G. C., The Human Group ( New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1950).
18.Homans G. C., Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms ( New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1961).
19.Jennings H. H., Leadership and Isolation, 2nd ed. ( New York: Longmans, Green, 1950).
20.Klein J., The Study of Groups ( London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956).
21.Kuhn A., The Study of Society: A Unified Approach ( Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1963).
22.Newcomb T. M., The Acquaintance Process ( New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1961).
23.Olmsted M. S., The Small Group ( New York: Random House, 1959).
24.Shepherd C. R., Small Groups: Some Sociological Perspectives ( San Francisco: Chandler, 1964).
25.Sherif M., and Sherif C. W., Reference Groups ( New York: Harper and Row, 1964).
26.Sprott W. J. H., Human Groups ( London: Penguin Books, 1958).
27.Staats A. W., and C. K., Complex Human Behavior ( New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1963).
28.Stogdill R. M., Individual Behavior and Group Achievement ( New York: Oxford, 1959).
29.Thibaut J. W., and Kelley H. M., The Social Psychology of Groups ( New York: Wiley, 1969).
30.Walker E. L., and Heyns R. W., An Anatomy for Conformity ( Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962).
31.Zaleznik A., and Moment D., The Dynamics of Interpersonal Behavior ( New York: Wiley, 1964).
Theoretical questions
- The scientific methods of sociology.
- Stages of socialization.
- Social ideas of Auguste Comte.
4. Sociology as a science.
5. Social ideas of Emile Durkheim.
6. Anticipatory socialization and resocialization.
7. Social ideas of Auguste Comte.
8. Development of culture (cultural universals, innovation, diffusion).
9. Agents of socialization.
10. Sociology as a science.
11. Social ideas of Maxs Weber.
12. The role of socialization in a human society.
13. The scientific methods of sociology.
14. Social ideas of Karl Marx.
15. Elements of culture (language, norms, sanctions, values).
16. The problems of subcultures, countercultures and culture shock in sociology.
17. Social ideas of Herbert Spencer.
18. The role of socialization in a human society.
19. The scientific methods of sociology.
20. Social ideas of Karl Marx.
21. The problem of suicide in sociology.
22. The main categories of sociology.
23. Social ideas of Emile Durkheim.
24. Elements of social structure (statuses, social roles and groups).
25. Social ideas of Auguste Comte.
26. The role of social institutions in a modern society.
27. Attitudes toward cultural variation (ethnocentrism and cultural relativism).
28. Sociology and the social sciences.
29. Elements of culture (language, norms, sanctions, values).
30. The problems of social interaction and reality in sociology.
31. The main categories of sociology.
32. Agents of socialization.
33. Development of culture (cultural universals, innovation, diffusion).
34. Durkheim’s Study of Suicide.
35. The meaning of ascribed and achieved status. Master status.
36. The role of social institutions in a modern society.
37. Social ideas of Herbert Spencer.
38. Conflict view to the social institutions.
39. The problems of social structure and modern society.
40. Social ideas of Karl Marks.
41. The problem of anomie in sociology.
42. Interactionist view to the social institutions.
43. Social ideas of Maxs Weber.
44. Functionalist view to the social institutions.
45. Development of culture (cultural universals, innovation, diffusion).
46. Describe Veblen's evolutionary perspective.
47. According to Veblen, what are the prime movers in the evolutionary process?
48. What is the make-up of the "Leisure Class"? What is their function?
49. How is the rule of elites legitimated?
50. What is "conspicuous consumption"? What relationship does it have to modernity?
51. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Explain Veblen's response to this aphorism?
52. Compare and contrasts Sanderson's theory with Harris's Cultural Materialism.
53. According to Sanderson, what is the driving engine behind sociocultural evolution?
54. According to Sanderson, why did capitalism become dominant in the 16th century?
55. Discuss the expansion and deepening of the capitalist world system.
56. What are the three forms of globalization? How are they related?
57. What is the civilizing process? What are the similarities and differences between it and rationalization?
58. Why is Elias classified as a Weberian?
59. According to Elias, how has the centralization of power caused the civilizing process?
60. What is Elias's evidence for the civilizing process?
61. What is the monopoly mechanism?
62. Why is Postman considered a Durkheimian? What elements of his theory do not fit this mold?
63. How has the socialization process changed in the 20th century? How have these changes affected childhood?
64. How has television affected social and political discourse in modern American society?
65. In what sense is technological change "ecological" in nature?
66. Compare and contrast technocracy and technopoly.? Which do we live in?
67. According to Foster, what is the major cause of the environmental destruction around us?
68. In what ways has our production system become hostile to the environment?
69. What is the relationship between capitalism and imperialism?
70. According to Foster, why has American imperialism been unleashed in the 1990s?
71. Discuss Fosters' analysis of the 911 attacks. How does this fit in with the nation's current view?
72. According to Foster, why did America go into Iraq? How has his analysis held up in recent years?
73. Social Change & Global Perspective
74. Collective Behavior & Social Movements
75. Population, Urbanization, & Environoment
76. Government & Politics
77. Economy & Work in society
78. Role of religion in society
79. Role of education in society
80. The role of family in socialization
81. Defining race and ethnicity
82. The problem of global stratification in Sociology
83. Hawthorne experiment
84. Environment: the impact of isolation
85. The problems of Sociobiology
86. Self-identity and socialization
87. Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of sociology.
88. Scope of the subject of sociology and comparison with other social sciences.
89. Sociology and common sense.
90. Sociology as Science
91. Science, scientific method and critique.
92. Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
93. Positivism and its critique.
94. Fact value and objectivity in Sociology.
95. Non- positivist methodologies.
96. Research Methods and Analysis
97. Qualitative and quantitative methods.
98. Techniques of data collection.
99. Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity.
100. Sociological Thinkers
101. Karl Marx - Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
102. Emile Durkheim- Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society
103. Max Weber- Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
104. Talcolt Parsons - Social system, pattern variables.
105. Robert K. Merton- Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups
106. Mead - Self and identity
107. Stratification and Mobility
108. Concepts- equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation
109. Theories of social stratification- Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory
110. Dimensions – Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race
111. Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility
112. Works and Economic Life
113. Social organization of work in different types of society- slave society, feudal society, industrial /capitalist society
114. Formal and informal organization of work
115. Labour and society
116. Politics and Society
117. Sociological theories of power
118. Power elite, bureaucracy, pressure groups, and political parties
119. Nation, state, citizenship, democracy, civil society, ideology
120. Protest, agitation, social movements, collective action, revolution
121. Religion and Society
122. Sociological theories of religion
123. Types of religious practices: animism, monism, pluralism, sects, cults
124. Religion in modern society: religion and science, secularization, religious revivalism, fundamentalism
125. Systems of Kinship
126. Family, household, marriage
127. Types and forms of family
128. The problems of lineage and descent
129. Patriarchy and sexual division of labour
130. Contemporary trends
131. Social Change in Modern Society
132. Sociological theories of social change
133. Development and dependency
134. Agents of social change
135. Education and social change
136. Science, technology and social change
137. Society, community, association, institution
138. Culture-culture change, diffusion, Cultural-tag, Cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, acculturation
139. Social Groups - primary, secondary and reference groups.
140. Social structure, social system, social action
141. Status and role, role conflict, role set.
142. Norms and values-conformity and deviance.
143. Law and customs.
144. Socio-cultural processes: socialisation, assimilation, integration
145. Socio-cultural processes: cooperation, competition, conflict
146. Socio-cultural processes: accommodation, social distance, relative deprivation
147. Social stratification: forms and functions
148. Types of society: tribal, agrarian, industrial and post-industrial
149. Marriage: types and norms, marriage as contract, and as a sacrament.
150. Family: types, functions and changes.
151. Kinships: terms and usages, rules of residence, descent, inheritance.