This course will introduce learners to the basic nature of society and its impact on an individual through the lens of Sociology and Anthropology. It will focus on some foundational sociological/ Anthropological concepts such as social structure, environment, social organization, social institutions, social role, social relations, social change and social problems. All these key terms would be examined with reference to modern social theories and methods, which barely 200 years ago, helped shape sociology and anthropology as unique human disciplines. Historically, both these disciplines were distinct from the earlier disciplines of economics, philosophy and psychology because they directly confronted data from social life and collective social processes in the 'field', in order to critically analyze, and discover patterns and meanings in them. The enormous diversity of people around the globe could thus be organized conceptually and theoretically through statistical surveys, questionnaires and interviews, not only to make sense of the basic oneness of humanity but also to shape policies and programmes to help improve the fast deteriorating social conditions under modern urban and industrialised ways of life. The irreducible subject matter and unit of study for sociology and anthropology therefore was neither the abstract atomized individual nor the crowd but the empirical relationship between the individual and his/her social context which had to be unearthed and examined afresh by the scholar without getting misled by more obvious, subjective explanations. Students of the course will be led through a variety of experiences of observable social phenomena such as caste, class, gender, race, sexuality, religion, globalization, poverty, crime, work and many such others, in order to arrive at the basic scientific principles of society.
Build knowledge of human society and cultures (intercultural knowledge and competence)
Identify, evaluate and debate key social issues and themes through sociological/anthropological perspectives
Critically examine theoretical perspectives about society and its various dimensions and be able to apply them to current issues
Critically evaluate how their own ideas about class, caste, gender, sexuality, race etc. are socially constructed and transformed
Conduct basic empirical studies of a social issue through Sociological/anthropological research methods