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personal and future professional practice. A brief
discussion of the survey of social problems in
contemporary Ethiopian society will also help them
understand their nature, causes and types; and their
relations to health and disease.
The lecture notes are organized into seven chapters: the
First Chapter introduces important introductory issues
such as the definition, subject- matter, theories, history
importance and basic research methods of sociology,
and its relationship to other disciplines. Chapter Two
discusses the concepts of society and culture that are
central to sociology. In Chapter Three, the concept of
socialization is discussed. Here, the meaning, bases,
necessity, goals and types of socialization are important
issues of the chapter. Chapter Four deals with some
aspects of social organization and social interaction.
Three important dimensions of social processes,
namely, social stratification, social mobility and social
change will be discussed in Chapter Five, while an
overview of social pathologies (focusing on Ethiopia)
and methods of social action and intervention will be
dealt in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters, respectively.