COURSE DESCRIPTION

Social Forces is the first core course in the Sociology and Anthropology major and is designed to introduce students to the disciplines and key thinkers through classic texts, ethnographic narratives, and case studies. This course draws on some foundational concepts in the disciplines of sociology and anthropology—society and culture, individual and the collective, and conflicts and solidarities. Students will be trained in the foundations of sociological and anthropological analysis and urged to systematically examine how individuals shape and are shaped by social structures at a local, regional, and global level. The course will extend the analysis of contemporary puzzles and dilemmas such as the following: How do power relations emerge in society? When and why does a social conflict arise? How are these conflicts navigated by individuals? How do they come together in groups and associations? The course will engage with classic and contemporary thinkers from India and elsewhere on themes including but not limited to the origins of sociology and anthropology as disciplines, the colonial roots of anthropological knowledge production, power, self and society, and associational life.