The basic premise of sociology is that human behavior is largely shaped by the groups to which people belong and by the social interaction that takes place within those groups. The main focus of sociology is the group not the individual. The sociologist is mainly interested in the interaction between the people – the ways in which people act towards respond and influence each other. Sociology is characterized by its approach to phenomena (the approach to science) and by its subject matter (human interaction). It is rightly defined as scientific study of human interaction. Sociology is about society, its constituent institutions, their inter relationship and the actors. Sociologists study the patterns in social interactions.
| Unit 1 | Theory & Methods | How do different sociologists interpret society? How do sociologists study society? What types of information and data do sociologists use? |
| Unit 2 | Culture, Identity and Socialisation | What is the relationship between the individual and society? How do we learn to be human? |
| Unit 3 | Social Inequality | What is social stratification? What are the main features of social inequality, how are these created? |
| Unit 4 | Family | What are the different types of family? How are family roles changing? What are the changes affecting the family? |
| Unit 5 | Education | What is the function of education? What factors help to explain differences in educational achievement? |
| Unit 6 | Crime, deviance and social control | What are crime, deviance and social control? What are the patterns of crime? What are the explanations of crime? |
| Unit 7 | Media | Who controls the media? What is the influence of the media? |