Introduction to Sociology

First-year students are introduced to basic concepts of the science of sociology as well as to the main theories of the classics of sociology (Comte, Marx, Weber, Elias, etc.). Furthermore, the course reviews a series of topics and issues from the broader fields of knowledge of modern sociology. Indicatively, sections such as: the processes of socialization and the forms of formal and informal social control as well as the concept of social class are examined; the development of political institutions and bureaucracy as a response to the needs of post-feudal, industrial society; the social stratification of industrial societies; the role of the mass media in shaping public opinion and the construction of behavioral patterns; the family as an institution of social reproduction and its transformations; the concept of crime and delinquent behavior; the social construction of gender, etc.