Page 200 - SYU Prospectus

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2018-19

SOC 305 Class, Status and Power in Chinese Society
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course introduces students to one of the most important arenas of social inequality,
namely, social class. It will cover topics such as key concepts and major theoretical perspec-
tives in class analysis, the role or power in constructing and maintaining such inequality, and
consequences of social inequalities on life chances and life styles. This course aims to
promote a scholarly understanding of class that will help students think critically as they try to
make sense of inequality in the world around them. A comparative approach will be adopted.

SOC 306 Social Stratification
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course introduces students to the key sociological concepts and theories concerning
social stratification. It aims to assist students in developing specific knowledge and analytic
skills necessary to evaluate the sources, patterns, and consequences of social stratification
systems in contemporary society. Inequalities in wealth, prestige and power among social
groups are examined in depth through historical and cross-national comparisons.

SOC 321 Economic Sociology
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to provide students with valuable understandings of economic life from
sociological perspectives and approaches. Firstly, the brief history of economic sociology as a
fast-growing subfield within contemporary sociology is introduced, including its history,
developments and new directions. Secondly, distinctive principles, theoretical debates and
research paradigms of economic sociology are elaborated. Thirdly, a variety of economic
sociology topics and empirical studies are addressed, including impacts of social capital on
economic action, the role of state in economy, exchange in human goods, ethnicity and the
economy, connections of culture and economy, sociological studies of consumption, dynamic
relations between family and business, sociological implications of informal economy, social
meaning of money and so on. Here the central issue is to demonstrate how social forces
constrain or facilitate economic activities. Economic sociologists believe that economic action
is embedded in or integrated into given social, political, cultural and institutional process. Such
a viewpoint will lead students to seeking for alternative explanations of economic activities
beyond narrowly defined assumptions of neoclassical economics.

SOC 331 Western Classical Social Thought
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course enables student to master the philosophical basis and development of
western classical social thought. After completing this course, students will be familiar with the
main philosophical sources of western classical social thought and the relevant issues and
proposed answers that are considered as significant and influential in the field of western
social philosophy.

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