Uniben Sociology and Anthropology Undergraduate Syllabus

All the students admitted into this Department either through the UME or Direct Entry, are required to take the following schedule of courses over a period of Four or Three Years respectively. 

  YEAR 1 (100 LEVEL)

FIRST SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDIT

SAA 111 Introduction to Sociology 3

SAA 112 Ethnography of Nigeria 3

Students must take 2 Elective Courses of 3 credits each from

2 other Departments. 12

GST 111 AND 112 4

Total 22

SECOND SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDIT

SAA 121 Introduction to Anthropology 3

SAA 122 Introduction to Psychology 3

Students are to take 2 Elective Courses of 3 credits each

from 2 other Departments 12

GST 121, 122 and 123 6

Total 24

The maximum credits that 100 level students can carry is 46; while the minimum credits required for promotion to 200 level is 20 credits.

YEAR II (200 LEVEL)

FIRST SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDITS

SAA 211 Sociological and Anthropological Analysis 3

SAA 212 Social Mathematics 3

SAA 213 Social Psychology 3

Students are to take 3 Elective courses of 3 credits each

from not more than two other Departments 9 plus GST III & 112 Direct Entry students (4)

18

SECOND SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDITS

SAA 221 History of Sociological and Anthropological

Thought 3

SAA 222 Social Statistics 3

SAA 223 Peoples and Cultures of Africa 3

Students are to take 3 Elective courses of 3 credits each from not more than two other Departments 9

plus three GST 121, 122, 123 for Direct Entry students (6)

18

The maximum credits that 200 level students will take is 45; while the minimum credits required for promotion to 300 level is 20.

YEAR III (300 LEVEL)

FIRST SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDITS

SAA 311 Sociological and Anthropological Theories I 3 SAA 312 Research Methods in Sociology and Anthropology 3 SAA 313 Social Change 3 SAA 314 Rural Sociology 3 SAA 315 Socio-Linguistics 3 SAA 316 Sociology of Deviance 3 SAA 317 Sociology of Organizations 3 21

SECOND SEMESTER

CORE COURSES CREDITS

SAA 321 Population Studies 3

SAA 322 Research Project Practicum in Sociology

and Anthropology 3

SAA 323 Political Sociology 3

SAA 324 Urban Sociology 3

SAA 325 Globalization and the Third World 3

SAA 326 Sociology of Mass Communication 3

SAA 327 Sociology of Health and Illness Behaviour 3

All students are also to take BUS 309 2

23

The maximum credits which 300 level students can take is 50, while the minimum credits required for promotion to 400 level is 20.

300 LEVEL OPTIONAL COURSES

1ST SEMESTER

SAA 319 The Genetics of Human Variations and

Diversities 3

SAA 330 Sociology of Law 3

SAA331 Sociology of the Aged 3

2ND SEMESTER

SAA 341 Sociology of Religion 3

SAA 342 Sociology of Literature 3

23

400 LEVEL OPTIONAL COURSES CREDITS

SAA 431 Medical Sociology/Anthropology 3 SAA 432 Museum Studies and Management 3 SAA 433 Collective Behaviour/Social Movements 3 SAA 434 Gender and Society 3 SAA 435 Sociology of Education and Employment 3 SAA 436 Palaeoanthropology 3 SAA 437 Kinship, Marriage, and the Family 3 SAA 438 Theory and Techniques of Archaeology 3 SAA 439 Sociology of the Third World 3 SAA 440 Ethnography of Sub-Saharan Africa 3 SAA 441 Applied Demography 3 SAA 442 Military Sociology 3 SAA 443 Culture and Communication 3 SAA 444 Sociology of Decolonization 3 SAA 445 Economic Anthropololgy 3 SAA 446 Marxist Sociology 3 SAA 447 Industrial and Labour Relations 3

I. DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSES

SAA 111 - Introduction to Sociology: The nature, definition, history, perspectives and application of sociology and other social science disciplines and the scientific method will be examined. Sociological concepts such as: society, culture: social structure, social roles and statuses, socialization, social institutions, social sanctions, social groupings, and community.

SAA 112 - Ethnography of Nigeria: The Nigerian peoples will be studied in the perspective of archeological, historical and ethrographic information. The political, economic, social and religious organizations of the culture life of existing ethnic groups in Nigeria and the changes from early times to present times will be considered. Societies to be studied include: Edo, Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Hausa, Fulani, Nupe, Biram, Kanuri, etc, etc.

SAA 121 - Introduction to Anthropology: Introduction to and survey of human origins and cultural achievements; Social Anthropology, historical, theoretical and methodological perspectives will be considered.

SAA 122 - Introduction to Psychology: Introduction to the relationship between the functioning of social systems and the attitudes and behaviours of individuals will be examined.

SAA 211 - Sociological and Anthropological Analysis: This course involves the review of the overall historical development of theories and methods in Sociology and Anthropology. The emphasis will be on the nature of society, culture, personalities, and the major forms of social structures and processes, the formations of human groups, social organizations, and social institutions such as the state, the nation, economies, etc, and the .forces of social and cultural changes.

SAA 212 - Social Mathematics: This course is divided into three parts as follows:

A. Descriptive Statistics: The sources and limitations of social statistics in Nigeria, functions of statistics in social research; presentation of data in various forms, e.g. bar chats, frequency distributions, averages, standard deviations, etc. B. Algebra: Introduction to sets and sub-sets, etc.

C. Co-ordinate Geometry: Cartesian coordinates, distance between points, equation of a straight line in the form of y= mx+c, etc,

SAA 213 - Social Psychology

This course is an introduction to the study of the relations between human behaviour and social systems. It reviews such issues as the development of human personality through socialization, values, beliefs, and norm, motivation and learning, and attitude formation, prejudices and stereotypes, discrimination; development and change of attitudes, role-playing, small group interaction and societal influences, social conflicts, collective behaviours and social movements.

SAA 221- History of Sociological and Anthropological Thoughts: The major objective of this course is the examination of the major scientific developments in these two allied disciplines from their origins till date.

The course will examine how the classical sociological and anthropological ideas and constructs emerged from the study and analysis of the various major political, economic and social events that occurred in history. It will also show how those concrete events were likewise influenced by sociological and anthropological ideas.

SAA 222 - Social Statistics: This course focuses on studying the place of statistics in social science inquiry, nature of measurement, presentation of data, central values, measures of deviation, correlation, sampling and sampling methods, simple probability theory, hypothesis testing, tests of significance and making inferences, will be studied.

SAA 223 - Peoples and Cultures of Africa: The study of the ethnographic descriptions of African societies and their cultures. Emphasis will be placed on the comparative analysis of kinship, family and marriage systems, economies, political and religious institutions, value systems, philosophies and cosmologies, and the problems of change and development.

SAA 311- Sociologica1 and Anthropological Theories 1: This course will begin by examining the scientific foundations of models, perspectives, and theories in Sociology and Anthropology. It will also examine the major models, perspectives, and theories in Sociology and Anthropology, such as evolutionism, structural-functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, social-exchange theory, ethno methodology, and the different strands of phenomenological and action theories, as well as their applications to contemporary problems in Nigeria, Africa and the world. :

SAA 312 - Research Methods in Sociology and Anthropology: This course seeks to teach students about the various scientific (quantitative) and non-scientific (qualitative) methods and techniques of conducting research in Sociology and Anthropology. It will examine the techniques of formulating social research questions, hypotheses and questionnaires as well as teach the strategies of conducting survey research, observation research, field research, techniques of asking questions etc. Finally, the course will also examine the techniques of data collection, collation, tabulation and analysis.

SAA 313 - Social Change: This course begins from the conceptualization of social change to teaching the students about the various causes and processes of changes in societies, cultures, social institutions and social structures. Causes, dimensions, types and consequences of changes in non-material culture (individuals, attitudes, ideas, behaviours) and in material culture (technology and organizations) will be studied. It will also examine the different explanations or theories of social change, such as evolutionary, functional, conflict, Marxist and radical or revolutionary theories of social change.

SAA 314 - Rural Sociology: This course seeks to examine the distinctive characteristics and social institutions of rural areas. It will identify and discuss the different types of rural areas in Nigeria in particular and the rest of the world in general. It includes the identification, evaluation and utilization of natural and human resources in bringing about social changes in rural communities.

SAA 315 - Socio-linguistics: Language will be studied as an aspect of human behaviour and culture. The emphasis will be on language as symbolic system and the social contexts of language usage in the study of anthropological and sociological problems.

SAA 316 - Sociology of Deviance: This course will focus on the nature, definitions and sociological aspects of deviant behaviours and society's reactions to deviance. Areas to be covered include the processes of becoming a deviant, the stigmatization of deviance, forms of deviance, the theories of deviance, and social control of deviance.

SAA 317 - Sociology of Organizations: Survey of theoretical and empirical analyses of complex organizations, structural properties of organizations and their consequences; Bureaucracies and complex organizations in various institutional settings and the relationship among organizations in the society will be studied. The emphasis will be on the analysis of major theoretical, and methological issues and problems of formal and informal organizations in the developing countries, with particular reference to Nigeria.

SAA 321 - Population Studies: The focus will be on the study of the nature and development of population studies, its scope and methods, some basic concepts of population analysis, introduction to population theory; problems of population in Africa; issues of population policies and world population trends. The sources of population data: population census, demographic survey Vital Registrations, etc, and Population theories will be examined.

SAA 322 - Research Project Practicuum in Sociology and

Anthropology: This course is a continuation of SAA 312. Students will be made to undertake a mini research work and writing Research Reports not exceeding 5,000 words. This will serve as a preliminary/training towards the final year research project work.

SAA 323 - Political Sociology: An examination of social and cultural contexts of political activities and behaviours, political organizations, trade unions, elites, the role of social movements and parties in political actions and participation.

SAA 324 - Urban Sociology: This course will examine the distinctive characteristics of urban settlements across the world with particular reference to Nigeria and Africa. It will examine the emergence of urban settlements in various parts of the world. It will also examine the morphologies and growth of urban areas. It will also discuss the social problems that are associated with urban areas such as towns, cities, metropolosises and megalopolosises.

SAA 325 - Globalization and the Third World: This course will discuss the processes of decolonization and the emergence of the Third World, the characteristics of Third World peoples and their cultural profiles. The course will also examine the cultural, economic (trade), industrial and social consequences for North-South and South-South patterns of relationships, especially in the context of a one-World order.

SAA 326 - Sociology of Mass Communication: This course seeks to pursue and accomplish three inter-related objectives. Firstly, it will examine and demonstrate how the organized social institution of mass communication uses the media (newspapers, newsmagazines, radio, televisions, cinemas, the internet, bill-boards, and hand-bills) to gather and disseminate information to large, heterogeneous, and widely dispersed audiences within countries and across the whole world.

Secondly, the course will also examine the sociological relevance of the various public policies and laws that govern mass communication and the mass media. And, thirdly, the course will critically examine the impact of mass communication on the political institutions, economic, social, educational, external relations, environment and cultural affairs of modem societies, with particular reference to Nigeria.

SAA 410 - Research Project Work l: This course involves preparing students for their project work. All the lecturers in the department are involved.

SAA 411 - Sociological and Anthropology Theories 11: This course is a continuation of SAA 311: Sociological and Anthropological Theories I. As a result, the present course will continue to examine the basic issues and problems relating to the dominant systems of modem sociological and anthropological models and theories, including evolutionism, structuralism, functionalism, conflict, dialectics, social exchange, symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, etc, etc. It will also emphasize the application of sociological and anthropological models and theories to analysis of contemporary social and cultural problems.

SAA 412 - Demographic Analysis: This course is a continuation of SAA 321-Population studies. That is, it further examines Population processes, i.e., fertility, morality and migration including measures and factors effecting them in sub-Saharaan Africa and the World. Also to be examined are nuptiality, race and ethnicity, households and families, urbanization and population distribution, population composition- age and sex structures of populations including their statistical and graphical presentations. Population projection - components, methods and demographic activities/parameters requiring projection.

SAA 413 - Industrial Sociology: The analysis of major management theories. The process of industrialization in developing countries. Industrial work groups and informal organizations. Relations between workers and management.

SAA 414 - Urbanization and Labour Migration: This course is a continuation of SAA 324: Urban Sociology. The present course will seek to emphasize the dynamics and problems of rapid industrialization and urbanization in the world in general and in the Third World countries in particular. The course will critically examine sociological and economic theories about effects of the concentration of industries, commerce, and government's public administration activities in some large cities and their pull effects on labour migration from small towns and villages. It will also examine the environmental, social, cultural, and political correlates of the phenomenon of pseudo-urbanization in Third World countries, with particular reference to Nigeria.

SAA 415 - Social Stratification and Mobility: This course will, focus on the nature, definitions, dimensions, determinants, theories, forms and approaches to the study of social stratification. The concepts of social differentiation, social inequality, social classes and class consciousness will be examined. Social mobility and its impact on stratified structures, the consequences of social stratification in Nigeria, African and global stratification will also be treated.

SAA 416 - Criminology: This course will examine the theories of criminal deviance and the factors favorable to criminality and· the process of criminalization in society. The uses and limitations of crime statistics, typology of criminal behaviours, the development of criminal careers, the society's reactions to the treatment of criminals and juvenile delinquents, the measures of crime and delinquency prevention in society.

SAA 420 - Research Project Work II: The aim of this course is to produce a piece of completed original researched essay in Sociology and Anthropology conducted under the supervision of a member of staff.

SAA 421 - Anthropology of Cognitive Systems: A course in symbolism and the study of meanings and perceptions, culture, and cognitive processes. Emphasis will be on belief systems, philosophy and language.

SAA 422 - Sociology of Ethnic Relations: This course will examine the concept of ethnicity and ethnic relations in Nigeria and other developing countries.

SAA 423 - Personality and Motivation: The course attempts to familiarize students with major issues in personality and motivation, including theory and practice of personality measurement; the structure of personality and psychopathology.

SAA 424 - Sociology of Development: This course will examine the theories of development and underdevelopment, undertake a socioeconomic analysis of the concept of development and its relation to growth. Sociological implications of development and underdevelopment and its effects on society and family structures. The impact of colonial policies on post-independence Third World countries.

SAA 431 - Medical Sociology/Anthropology: The sociology of health and illness behaviour as it relates to social structures, the sociological significance of health and illness, medical care, traditional and modern forms of health delivery systems in Africa, their respective uses and social effects; public health policies in Nigeria, the hospital as a social system, and the mental hospital as a total institution.

SAA 432 - Museum Studies and Management: This course will examine museums and their place in modern societies.

SAA 433 - Collective Behaviour/Social Movements: This course will deal with the· ways in which collective behaviour emerged as a response to problematic circumstances and situations. The course will also examine co-coordinated and organized social movements. Some responses such as demonstrations, riots, lynching, fads and crazes of fashions, rumors, booms, panics, rebellions, and revolts will be studied.

SAA 434 - Gender and Society: This course seeks to study gender - based affirmative actions. It focuses mainly on the psychological and behavioural effects of affirmative action on women. It will also study the distinction between the terms “gender” and “sex” and draw attention to the socially constructed aspects of the differences. between women and men in order to understand identity and personality issues. The symbolic connotations of cultural ideas and stereotypes of masculinity and feminity at the structural level of sexual division of labour in institutions and organizations will be explored.

SAA 435 - Sociology of Education/Employment: This course deals with the structure and functions of educational institutions including those designed for (I) the transfer of old knowledge (2) the transfer of the skills to produce new knowledge (3) the norms of social participation (4) education as a social institution and a social process (5) the role of education in social stability and change (6) a comparison between various educational systems; (7) education and African social and cultural development, and (8) the politics of education.

SAA 436 – Paleo-anthropology: Study of the fossil evidence of the evolution of the primates with special reference to the hominid. A survey of the evolution of the human species as revealed by the fossil record.

SAA 437 - Kinship, Marriage and the Family: Analysis of the principles of kinship classification and of the types and functions of groups formed on those principles. Study of marriage as a social institution.

SAA 438 - Theory Techniques of Archaeology: The basic techniques and theories of archaeological investigation and analysis will be presented. It will outline major prehistoric periods in Africa, Europe, Asia and America participation in archaeological field excavations or museum research under supervision of staff archaeologists.

SAA 439 - Sociology of the Third World: Decolonization and the emergence of the Third World. The characteristics of the Third World peoples, their cultural profiles. The north-south interaction and conflicts.

SAA 440 - Ethnography of Sub-Sahara Africa: This course seeks to examine the social, economic and political institutions and the cosmology of the peoples of the different geo-cultural areas in subSaharan Africa. Among such cultures to be studied are: Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Massai, Nuer, Tutsi, Hutu, Zulus, Kikuyi, etc.

SAA 441 - Applied Demography: This course will examine some basic concepts of demography and population studies. It will also focus on current issues in demography relating to reproductive health, family planning, safe motherhood, etc. Other areas of interest include FGMFenal genital mutilation, sexually transmitted infections (STI’ S) especially HIV/AIDS; population and environment, population, food and nutrition.

SAA 442 - Military Sociology: This is a comparative study of the structure of the Nigerian and British armies. The fighting formations, the training units, the service units, military organization problems, history of Nigerian Army. Traditional military system of Hausa, Benin, Yoruba, Zulu and Ashanti states. Military and politics, Military and Research, peace and war. The Nigerian civil war, military in politics in South America, Nigeria and selected African countries.

SAA 443 - Culture and Communication: An Examination of human communication from the perspective of linguistic anthropology. A treatment of social structure and socio-structure behaviour as essentially communication phenomena.

SAA 444 - Sociology of Decolonization: Meaning of colonialism, comparative study of ancient Middle -Age and modern forms of colonialism and decolonialism, colonial and post colonial experiences of USA, India, Africa, China and Japan, Decolonization and process of change, evolutional and revolutional psychological problems of decolonization, Neocolonialism.

SAA 445 - Economic Anthropology: Cross-cultural study of economic behaviour and institutions in pleasant societies, contemporary economic systems and' the factors of change will also be analyzed.

SAA 446 - Marxist Sociology: This course focuses on the fundamentals of Marxist theory and methods and its historical development and presents the continuing debates among the Marxists and the differences between Marxist and other schools of sociological and anthropological thoughts. Dialectical method of acquiring scientific knowledge about society will be considered and evaluated.

SAA 447 - Industrial and Labour Relation: This course examines such concepts as industrialization, labour management relations as group relations; the interrelation of industry and community, technology and the structure of controls in industry.