Syllabus (SOCIOLOGY)

Course Type: MAJ-12

Semester: 7

Course Code: BSOCMAJ12T

Course Title: Studying Everyday Life

(L-P-Tu): 5-0-1

Credit: 6

Practical/Theory: Theory

Course Objective: Emphasising on a micro perspective alongside the more commonly found macro-structural analysis of sociology is a key to understand social life and reality in a more rounded and complementary manner and this is one major objective of this course. Another o

Learning Outcome: This course introduces ‘social’ in everyday life through micro and macro perspectives. It familiarises the students with the nuances of everyday life and studies the patterns of structure that constructs the social reality. It should succeed to focus o

Contents of the Course

1. Conceptualising Everyday Life

The concept of everyday; Concept, types and importance of social interaction; Verbal and non-verbal communication; Importance of language in communication; Nuances of everyday life; Lived experiences and everyday life

2. Everyday Life and Theorising

Erving Goffman (‘The presentation of self in everyday life’); Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (‘The Social construction of reality’); C. Wright Mills (‘The sociological imagination’)

3. Culture and Everyday Life

Culture: Basic idea and characteristics; Consumerism; Globalisation and culture

4. Key Sites of Everyday Life

Home; Street; Market; Work

5. Objects, Artefacts and Everyday Life

Their uses and symbolic significances

6. Media and Everyday Life

Popular culture and mass media representations; Audience; Social media and transformation of everyday communication

Readings and References

1. Jacobs, Norman. 1960, ‘Introduction to the Issue “Mass Culture and Mass Media”’, in Daedalus, 89(2): 273-277.
2. Arendt, Hannah. 1960. ‘Society and Culture’, in Daedalus, 89(2): 278-287.
3. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M. Kellner (eds.). 2006. Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
4. Berger, Peter L. 1963. Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin.
5. Livingstone, Sonia. 2003, ‘The Changing Nature of Audiences: From the Mass Audience to the Interactive Media User’, in Angharad N. Valdivia (ed.): A Companion to Media Studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
6. Harlambos, M. and R. M. Heald, 1980. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
7. McLuhan, Marshall. 1964. Understanding Media: Extensions of Man. Cambridge: The MIT Press..
8. Giddens, Anthony. 1986. Sociology: A Brief but Critical Introduction. London: Macmillan.
9. Giddens, Anthony. 200 Sociology (6th Edition). Cambridge: Polity Press.
10. Macionis, John. 1987. Sociology (Fourth Edition). Prentice-Hall.
11. Inglis, David. 2005. Culture and Everyday Life. London: Routledge.
12. Brooker, Peter. 2003. A Glossary of Cultural Theory. London: Arnold.
13. Davis, Kingsley. 1981. Human Society. Delhi: Surjeet Publications.
14. Inkeles, Alex. 1964. What Is Sociology? New Delhi: Prentice-Hall.
15. Mills, C. Wright. 2000. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
16. Holmes, Mary. 2009. Gender and Everyday Life (The New Sociology). London: Routledge.
17. Certeau, Michel de. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
18. Certeau, Michel de, Luce Giard and Pierre Mayol. 1998. The Practice of Everyday Life (Vol. 2: Living and Cookingi). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
19. Gardinar, Michael E. 2000. Critiques of Everyday Life. London: Routledge.
20. Smith, Greg. 2006. Erving Goffman. London: Routledge.
21. Berger, Peter and Thomas Luckmann. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: 1971.
22. Goffman, Erving. 1963. Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the social Organization of the Gatherings. New York: The Free Press.
23. Goffman, Erving. 1956. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Social Science Research Centre (Monograph No. 2).
24. Goffman, Erving. 1971. Relations in Public: Microstudies of the Public Order. New York: Basic Books.
25. Highmore, Ben. 2002. Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
26. Truzzi, Marcello (ed.). 1968. Sociology and Everyday Life. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
27. Williams, Raymond. 1981. Culture. London: Fontana Press.
28. Bennett, Andy.2005. Culture and Everyday Life. London: Sage.
29. Corrigan, Peter. 1997. The Sociology of Consumption: An Introduction. New Delhi: Sage.
30. Douglas, Jack D (ed.). 1970. Everyday Life: Toward the Reconstruction of Sociological Knowledge. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.