Instructor :
Prof. Ahonaa Roy
Motivation :
This is an introductory level course on sociology. This course will give you an overview about origin of sociology as an discipline and will revolve around theories given by various sociologists and philosophers.
Pre requisites :
None
Course Content and Structure :
1. The birth of sociology as a discipline from French and Industrial Revolution, to
2. The founding Fathers of sociology [August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim]
3. Karl Marx
4. Max Weber
5. The World Wars
6. Sociology in the post World Wars [ a brief introduction-touching upon, Foucault and gender theory / the foundation of feminist theory and other civil rights movement ].
Note: The content of this course depends on the professor who is teaching you the course.
Weightage :
50% Midsem + 50% Endsem
Feedback on lectures, tutorials and exams :
Lectures: Initially, the professor did not agree to provide slides or notes during or after the lectures. But later on, TAs started preparing notes during the lectures and shared those after wards. Nevertheless, it is advisable that you should prepare your own notes during the lectures. The professor focused more on discussion with students and what students understood from the content rather than covering a large amount of content. She frequently used to ask anyone to explain about what they understood about a particular theory and some other related questions. The course is more of a two way interaction rather than one way. The discussions often help to understand the course content in a better way.
Exams: The course did not have “exams” as such but had two assignments, one before midsem and the other before endsem. Each assignment had a weightage of 50% in the overall grade. In the midsem assignment, there were two questions for which one has to write an answer of 1000 words each. In the endsem assignment, there was only one question for which one has to write an answer of 1500 words. The questions tested your understanding about the theories learnt in the course and their application to the issues in contemporary India. About 3 weeks time was given to prepare your answers.
Moreover, professor used to discuss the assignment questions during the lectures to clarify doubts. Make sure that you write answers based on your understanding of the topic.
This course can be very interesting as well as easy if you follow the lectures and read the references provided by professor.
Attendance :
Attendance was not compulsory.
Difficulty level :
2
Grading Stats :
The grading was pretty good in our year. Around 85% of the class had 8 & above.
References :
1. Anthony Giddens – Sociology
2. Sociological Theory – Bert N. Adams and R A Sydie
3. Few notes from other sources [uploaded by Prof.]
We thank Samyak Vishal Jain for this review.
Department Academic Mentorship Program 