Importance of social research in the Social Sciences and Sociology; Proposal writing: statement of the problem, objectives, hypotheses, operationalization of key concepts, Literature Review; Types of research; quantitative and qualitative research paradigms, research design/plan; Sampling Procedures; Sources of data: primary and secondary; Methods of data collection: questionnaires and interview guides design, observation participant, observation, use of key informants, content analysis, focus-group discussions, advantages and disadvantages of the methods for data gathering, etc.

Group dynamics from a social psychological perspective: intra-group process; the dimension of group structure; communication; role; influence and power structure; collective influence on individual behaviour; de-individuation and the spread of group effects; intra-group and inter-group conflict and its resolution; organizational behaviour; social influence processes and social exchange; environmental influence on social behaviour and the social developmental implications of social psychology.

The field and definitional issues; Strategies of enquiry: problems with social psychological research; Social learning: the humanizing process; Social perception: impression formation, social attribution; Social motivation: the achievement motive and its practical implications; Social cognition: cognitive consistency theories; Interpersonal attraction; Social attitudes: attitude measurement: attitude formation and attitude change; communication: persuasive communication; Dissonance: concept, nature, effects: Prejudice its causes, consequences and cure or prevention; Aggression: frustration-

Meaning of perspectives in social theory; Structuralism versus agency/action debate in Sociology; Philosophies of positivism and phenomenology and their influence on sociological theories and research methods; Structural functionalism: from Durkheim, Parsons, Merton to Alexander; Marxism and Conflict Theory: from Marx, Neo-Marxism (Althusser, Lukacs, Gramsci) to Critical Theory; ―Non-Marxist‖ Conflict theory: Dahrendorf and Coser.; Historically-Oriented  Marxism (Dependency and  World  System  Theory) Symbolic Interactionism: Mead, Blummer and Goffman; Ethnomet

Nature of social thought and social theory; Context and development of Sociology; Founders of Sociology: Comte, social context, major ideas and evaluation of Comte‘s contribution to social theory; Herbert Spencer, social context, major ideas and evaluation of Spencer‘s contribution to social theory; Emile Durkheim, social context, major ideas and evaluation of Durkheim‘s contribution to social thought; Karl Marx, the context, major ideas: the notion of dialectics; historical materialism, social classes and their transformation, vision of a new society, Marx‘s analyses of political economy a