Understanding Society: An Introduction to Sociology



Sociology is a social science concerned with the study of social interactions in society. As a discipline it is concerned with how society is structured and how it works. Students are invited to recognize not one approach to studying society, but several alternative paradigms. This course focuses on (1) the basic concepts, approaches and methods in sociology; (2) the relationships between individuals, groups and organizations; (3) analyses of major social institutions such as marriage and the family; and (4) major issues in contemporary society such as deviance and social control, social stratification, mobility and inequalities, urbanization, modernization, modernity, social change, population and society, migration and ethnic relations, identity, and globalization. Special emphasis is given to examples from Hong Kong and China.