Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of social structure and stratification and how it organizes society into structured patterns and hierarchies, influencing individual access to resources and opportunities.
- Examine the dialectical relationship between the individual and society, focusing on the interplay between personal experiences and broader societal forces, as highlighted by C. Wright Mills' sociological imagination.
- Analyze how social structures and stratification influence processes of cooperation, competition, and conflict within society.
- Contrast the functionalist view of social stability and cohesion with the conflict perspective's focus on power dynamics and inequality.
- Discuss Durkheim's concepts of mechanical and organic solidarity and how division of labor fosters social cohesion.
- Explore Marx's concept of alienation, where workers lose control over their labor and its products in capitalist systems.
- Examine structured inequalities in society based on class, caste, race, gender, and other social divisions.
- Investigate how societal norms and socialization processes maintain social order and influence individual behavior.
- Analyze how technological advancements can alter the necessity and nature of social cooperation.
- Explore how cultural shifts and social change impact social structures and individual agency.