CSO103 - Introduction to Comparative Sociology, Updated Partial Course Outline and Reading List

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY ~ CSO 103.

[Partial Course Outline and Reading List, Updated in November 2016]

PROF. MAURI YAMBO

INTRODUCTION

CSO 103 is a first year course designed to introduce students to aspects of social structure common to all societies. The idea is to highlight concepts which serve as templates for a comparative or cross-cultural study of selected societies in today’s world.

CLICK HERE To Read More About The COURSE OUTLINE. 

CLICK HERE To Go To The READING LIST

APPENDIX

1. LECTURE NOTES:
1.1. Yambo, Mauri (2012) “Components of Social Control” (Topic 3)
http://mauriyambo.blogspot.co.ke/2012/05/components-of-social-control.html

1.2. Yambo, Mauri (2016) “Topic 4: Social Differentiation, Stratification and Class”
http://mauriyambo.blogspot.co.ke/2016/03/social-differentiation-stratification.html?q=topic+4

2. FINAL EXAMINATION PAPERS IN CSO 103:
2.1. Past Final Examination Papers (Batch 1):  http://mauriyambo.blogspot.co.ke/2013/04/cso103-introduction-to-comparative.html?q=cso+103

Social Differentiation, Stratification and Class ~ CSO 103, CSO 501

INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY:

LECTURE NOTES

By Prof. Mauri Yambo

TOPIC 4:  SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION, STRATIFICATION AND CLASS

-     Introduction: Conceptualizing Social Differentiation

-     Patterns and Sources of Social Differentiation

-     Evolutionary Universals

-     Social Stratification

-     The Nature of Social Class and the African Experience

-     Conclusion.

4.1. Introduction: Conceptualizing Social Differentiation

Differentiation and evolution are conceptual twins in many conversations about growth, structure and change, over time. Since Darwin, the two processes have been acknowledged as conjoined features or happenings, in the course of time, of all biological organisms. In turn, both social structure and societal change have been treated by influential sociologists (as we see in the next paragraph) as analogous to those observed in biology; hence the widely used phrase: organismic analogy. In this analogy, differentiation is an all-encompassing process: it pertains to and features in all forms of structuration. But not everyone is in agreement with this perceived correspondence or analogy of differentiation and evolution in long-term social change, on the one hand, and biological change, on the other.

For example, Steward (1976: 11-15), focusing on cultural evolution, points out that:

Click Here to Read the Whole Paper

Africa's Emergent Middle Class

In April 2011, AfDB published an interesting new research report on Africa's class structure, with particular reference to a burgeoning Middle Class. All key observers of the African continent -- which, suddenly, is no longer 'Dark' but resource-rich -- are, it seems, captivated by this rapidly visible class, and intrigued by what it all means for the future prosperity of a troubled Global Village.

The typical model of a class structure is a pyramid. Only in developed countries such as the US is it a diamond. Trends in Africa suggest that the diamond motif is soon to reveal itself. Not only that: the size of Africa's Middle Class, as defined, threatens to surpass in the near future, if it has not done so already, the entire population of Western Europe (or EU) -- not to mention the US itself. And it is practically neck-and-neck with China's.

There'll still be debate, of course, about real purchasing power and relative baskets of goods, but when did all that social change sneak in? How is it even possible? [Click here to read the report]