MODULE 1: SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS, PERSPECTIVES AND METHODS 1. Sociology as a Discipline (a) Development of Sociology as a discipline. (b) The development of Sociology in the Caribbean. 2. Fundamental Concepts: Social order (structure, function, power); social change; status and roles; values, norms and sanctions; social group (primary and secondary, in-group and out-group); socialization (types and agents - school, family, peer group, mass media, religion); culture (elements and characteristics); 3. Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology (a) Consensus/Functionalist. (b) Conflict/Marxist. (c) Interactionist. (d) Feminist. 4. Culture and the Social Order (a) Caribbean socio-cultural diversity: continuity and change, conflict and assimilation, creole and plural societies; (b) Caribbean popular culture, for example, music, dance, art, theatre or folklore (historical background and social context). 5. Principles of Scientific Research (a) Sociology as a science. (b) Ethical issues in research. 6. Research Methods (a) Positivism and interpretivism. (b) Quantitative, qualitative and triangulation. (c) Surveys and sampling methods. (d) Document studies. (e) Observation (participant and non-participant). (f) Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies: MODULE 1: SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS, PERSPECTIVES AND METHODS 1. Family (a) Family types in the Caribbean: nuclear, single parent, extended, joint, matrifocal, reconstituted, other. (b) Theoretical perspectives: consensus, interactionist, conflict and feminist. (c) Changing Caribbean kinship patterns (rates of marriage and divorce, men and fatherhood, female-headed households, single-parent households), the impact of slavery, indentureship, industrialization, migration and contemporary factors. (d) Issues facing Caribbean family: (i) domestic violence, poverty, the changing role of women and men in the family child abuse, conjugal separation, divorce, teenage pregnancy, sexual orientation and social pathology. 2. Religion (a) Types of belief systems, for example, animism, naturism, polytheism, monotheism. (b) Organization of religions groups: church, cult, denomination, sect. (c) Theoretical perspectives: Consensus, Conflict, Interactionist and Feminist. (d) The emergence, character and dynamics of: (i) One World Religion; (ii) Two Afro Caribbean Religions; (e) Issues associated with religion in the Caribbean: for example, prejudice, discrimination, intolerance, secularization. 3. Education (a) Theoretical Perspectives: consensus, conflict, interactionist and feminist. (b) Development of education in the Caribbean. (c) Establishment and expansion (post-emancipation, post-independence, decolonization and regionalism). (d) Education in the twenty-first century, for example, distance learning, use of modern technology. (e) Issues in Caribbean education, for example, inequality, underachievement, delinquency, dropouts and globalization. MODULE 3: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 1. Concepts of Stratification in a Comparative Perspective (a) Class. (b) Colour. (c) Race. (d) Ethnicity. (e) Caste. (f) Gender. (g) Status (ascribed and achieved). (h) Mobility (horizontal, vertical, intergenerational, intragenerational). 2. Types of Stratification Systems (a) Open. (b) Closed. 3. Theoretical Perspectives (a) Consensus/Functionalism (b) Conflict/Marxist. (c) Interactionist. (d) Feminist. (e) Caribbean theorists: M.G. Smith, George Beckford, Edward Brathwaite 4. Evolution of Caribbean Stratification (a) Plantation Society (ascribed status, closed system). (b) Post-Emancipation (very limited mobility). (c) Post-World War II (beginning of achieved status). (d) Post-Independence (achieved status, open system). 5. Impact of Stratification system on Caribbean Societies (a) Social (marginalization of the lower class; crime; gender). (b) Economic (ethnicity; class; gender). (c) Political (ethnicity; class).