IGNOU BOOK | Sociological Theories[ English medium] BSOC-133

Product Overview & Details

BSOC-133 Sociological Theories is a sociology course that introduces the major thinkers, concepts, and theoretical perspectives used to understand society and social relationships.

Main topics generally covered

• Meaning and Nature of Sociological TheoryMeaning of theory
• Importance of theory in sociology
• Relationship between theory and empirical research
• Major approaches to understanding society
• FunctionalismSociety as a system of interconnected parts
• Social order and stability
• Social functions and institutions
• Major ideas of Émile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons
• Manifest and latent functions
• Conflict TheorySociety as an arena of inequality and conflict
• Power, class and social change
• Karl Marx's ideas on class struggle, capitalism and social change
• Contributions of later conflict theorists
• Symbolic InteractionismMeaning and symbols in everyday life
• Self and society
• Social interaction
• George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer
• How people construct social reality through interaction
• Max Weber's Sociological TheorySocial action
• Types of social action
• Verstehen
• Authority and legitimacy
• Bureaucracy
• Rationalization
• Feminist Sociological TheoryGender inequality
• Patriarchy
• Gender and power
• Feminist approaches to understanding society
• Critique of traditional sociological theories
• Contemporary Sociological TheoriesStructuration
• Practice theory
• Social construction of reality
• Postmodern perspectives
• Developments in contemporary sociological thought