Kursinformation

Course summary: The main goal of the sociology course aims to show the different factors, dimensions and aspects of social structure and stratification, social inequality, change and issues based on present day international tendencies. The course analyses sociological factors and processes on three main levels: firstly on the basic level of theoratical-social aspects, secondly on a regional level and thirdly on the global or international platform. Students should be able to percieve and analyse sociological processes as a determining factor of the political, economic and cultural dimensions of any society and that of the globalized world. The course aims to deliver a holistic approach in understanding social behaviour.

Course outline
Class 1	Basic terms. What is society and what sociology stands for? Social structure and stratification
Class  2	Sociological theories. Social change and social issues
Class  3	Inequality, poverty and deprivation EU/OECD/UN Special cases: Africa, South East Asia and China
Class 4	Social inclusion and exclusion. Special cases: sexism, gender conflicts and immigartion
Class  5	Migration and social data analyses of migration
Class  6	Population pyramids and social ratios, death rate, fertility rate - demographic transition
Class  7	Social conflicts and consequences
Class  8	Prejudice and stereotypes. A historical and present day comparison
Class  9	Sociology of culture: fashion and fashion setting
Class  10	The sociology of media and the Internet. Information based society
Class  11	The sociology of deviant behaviour: crime
Class 12	The sociology of deviant behaviour: addiction, psychoactive substances, suicide.
Class 13	The sociology of the globalized world. Special cases: terrorism, fundamentalism, extremism, proxy wars, virtual reality
Class 14	The sociology of the postmodern: the question of the fourth industrial revolution, economic crises and future of the labour force

Evaluation: assigment (research essay, case study, review essay etc.) and exam paper based evaluation. Students have to be hand in an assignment based on a chosen topic, as part of the evaluation. Beside this work, students have to write an exam paper that is supposed to check the overall knowledge one gained from the course. The two marks add up the final evaluation of the students' work.

Required Texts:

1. Introduction to sociology OpenStax College Rice University ISBN
-101938168011  https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/OpenStax%20Sociology.pdf

2. Introduction to Sociology 2e Open Textbook Library https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=62

Office Hours: Every Monday: 3pm-4pm, online on Google Meet. Please send an e-mail fo appointment to: bugovics.zoltan@ga.sze.hu