This course introduces the students to the basic concepts and techniques of statistics that are widely used by the sociologists. It will provide the foundation training in statistics, and develop a strong theoretical background and the requisite skill to take research method and advanced statistics courses at the higher level. The course is broadly divided into two sections – descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. It will primarily emphasize on graphical representation of data, measures of central tendency and dispersion, normal distribution, correlation, regression, sampling, and hypothesis testing.

This course introduces students to SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), to be able to use it for simple statistical analysis. The first phase of this 1 credit Lab work will enable students to prepare data base(declaring value names and labels, measurement scales, missing values, width, column etc), conduct data entry, data editing, and cleaning (sorting, merging, computing new variables, recode, etc.). In the second phase, the students will explore the database and conduct some descriptive statistics (frequency, standard deviation, variance, mean, median, etc.). The students will also be introduced to conduct cross-tabulation in order to analyze simple bivariate relationships. Finally, students will learn to create and interpret graphs and bars along with different tables generated with SPSS.

Sociology is the study of social structure. Central to the field is the recognition that social forces external to individuals shape the structure and process. As a discipline, sociology aims to identify, understand and explain these forces. This course attempts to introduce perspectives, concepts, and the theories of social structure. First part of the class will be devoted to various sociological theories of social structure and the rest of the will try to explain the changing nature of Bangladesh social structure based on the theories discussed during first part of the class. Particular emphasis will be given to historical forces that shaped and are shaping Bangladesh social structure.

This course will provide an introduction to the theory and methods of social psychology.

Social psychology focuses on topics relating to the formation of the self and the ways in which the self and social contexts interact and change each other. To start, we will cover methods of empirical research and key social psychological theories, followed by socialization processes, the complex nature of the self and identity, influence processes, impression management, group dynamics, aggression, prejudice, altruism, deviance, interpersonal relationships, power and status, helping attitude and conflict. These issues eventually commend to the understanding of theories of personality development, learning and leadership, which are integral parts of identity construction within the social context. Being familiar with the methods of social psychological research and orientation with recent experiments, students will be able to judge complex situations and relate them with theoretical explanations.

This course introduces major concepts, issues and research findings in terms of gender and social structures. Aspects of society examine education, work, family, law, government and the media.  Discussions would include interrelationships between gender, class, age and race. Discussion on historical evolution from Women in Development to Gender and Development (from WID to GAD), empowerment, women’s movement and organizations, UN conventions and their implementation in Bangladesh will equip students with a better understanding of gender roles and responsibilities conceived from a global base.

The course looks at the contemporary social problems in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world from the perspectives of various institutions, and organizations entrusted with maintaining law and order in the society. It attempts to formulate an intensive theoretical background based on elaborate discussion on social pathology, value conflict, deviance, social disorganization and various other perspectives of social problems. It will focus on the various aspects of culture, social inequality, ethnic and religious groups, special interest groups, social and political norms that give rise to social problems. It also seeks to understand how issues like crime, poverty, unemployment, drug abuse, violence, discriminations and urban problems can be addressed. Available data on these problems will be explained in the class and ways to solve the problems will be discussed.

This course focuses on the dimensions of family life from the macro and micro perspectives. Demographic transitions such as birth, marriage, death as well as the rise of reproductive technologies and structural and socioeconomic changes like large-scale entrance of mothers into the paid labor force, welfare reforms, revolution in divorce rates, dowry problems etc. determine the course of family life. In this course, students will be able to grasp these shifts and to assess the impact of the family for greater good. Family will also be examined critically as a penetrating agent of social inequality. It reveals the differences in family formation and structure within the context of developed and underdeveloped societies. Comparing traditional families with alternative forms of family are the additional focus of this course.

The course examines the inquiries into the nature of social structure made by the founders of sociology in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It focuses on the worldviews and writings of Comte, Specner, DuBois, Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Merton, Pareto, Simmel, Wollstonecraft, Ibn Khaldun and others. Also emphasizes on the application of classical theory to such contemporary social issues as the shift from modernity to post modernity, globalization, and social inequality. Attention will be given to the applicability of classical theoretical tradition in Bangladesh and other non-western contexts.

This course involves designing research techniques that provide the core of contemporary empirical inquiry into social phenomenon. Developing insights and critical thinking about the diverse methodologies and attaining confidence in the ability to choose one is the most important objective of this course. It acquaints students with a broad view of research designs and an understanding of the assumptions that inform each of these designs. It will not only provide information on quantitative or qualitative methods and guidelines on report writing on quantitative or qualitative findings and the art of presentation, but will highlight the mixed method approaches, arts-based research practices, constructionist research methods etc. and eventually make students able to look beyond conventional methods to address complex research questions and to review reality. The strengths and limitations of each method for studying different types of research questions will also be discussed in this course and simultaneously practical, in-depth solutions will be offered.

The aim of this course is to review on a comparative basis certain selected classical and modern theories regarding social change and conflict. The course will further focus on issues related to economic and socio-cultural change and transformation. It will discuss the implications of such changes for different groups in a society. Both macro and micro aspects will be covered as it will look into the materials from both advanced as well post-colonial societies.

The course analyzes the ability of various contemporary theoretical perspectives to interpret the changing nature of society. It covers neo-Marxism (Gramsci, Lukacs, Habermas, Althusser) symbolic interactioism, exchange theory, rational choice theories (Mead, Goffman, Blau, Homans), phenomenological and ethno methodological perspective (Edmund Husserl, Alfred Shultz, Harold Garfinkel) contemporary feminist theory (Wollstonecraft, Kate Millet, Juliet Mitchell, Iris Young, Alison Jaggar, Dorothy Smith, Bandana Shiva), postmodernism (Baudrillard, Foucault, Bauman, Lyotard, Bourdieu), integrative development (Giddens, Ritzer, Coleman, Beck) and post colonialism.

This course surveys and analyzes theories of inequality with particular emphasis on the work of Marx, Weber, Dahrendorf, Lenski, Poulantaz, Davis and Moore, Rosenfield, Mills, Dahl, Mosca. It focuses on class, gender, age and race inequalities and the relations among status, power, and social mobility. The course will deal with the impact of inequality and poverty at the individual level.  Special emphasis will be placed on both advanced and post-colonial societies.

This course provides an in-depth knowledge and advanced level skill in applying various quantitative methods to social research. Topics include problem-solving with multiple regression along with dummy variables, regression diagnostics, categorical variable models, structural equation models, factor analysis and others. How to theoretically determine the appropriateness of various procedures given the research problem; how to correctly apply the procedure once one is chosen; and how to clearly and accurately interpret and present the results – are the critical skills that this course is opt to teach the students. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the relationship between observation and statistical reasoning, to determine variance through regression techniques, to separate partial and multiple correlationship between variables, to specify causal modeling, to derive structural equations and to use path analysis and to perform factor analysis.

This course presents students with statistical tools useful for decision-making. In this course, we will cover statistical models relevant to major functional areas. Anticipated areas to be covered include: descriptive and inferential statistics, test of hypothesis, correlation and regression analysis, structural equation models, factor analysis and others. In addition, statistical model building and multiple regression models will also be discussed. Application of data analysis is the core part of this course. Upon completion each student is expected to learn the use of computer software for data analysis and decision making; and to improve skills for handling real life world data.

The course offers an interdisciplinary analysis of political, economic, and social developments in the third world, with particular emphasis on the environment and women. It includes theories of modernization, dependence, and the postcolonial state as they apply to economic development, poverty, and political mobilization. Key focus will be given on the challenges posed by globalization, emergence of social justice movement. Critical assessment of the debates on theoretical approaches of globalization proposed by Rostow, A.G. frank, Samir Amin, Hamza Alavi, Robertson, Giddens, Wallerstein strengthens the understanding of students about globalization.