• The major change that has taken place in the nature of the state from personalised and minimal rule to modern centralised and often secular control.
• The evolution of an older ordering of society in tribes, castes and guilds to new social groups, institutions and organisations.
• The role and function of religion in a non-western context; its importance as a centre of social life; its role as an intermediary between state and people; and its emergence in political movements.
• The change in the role of the family from provider and support system for most people to real or attempted marginalisation by the state.
• The changing position of women, who have so often been identified with culture and tradition but who have also been the focus of reformers concerned to draw them into participation in the new state.
• The relationship between identity and the individual; the politics of group identity; the role of the more powerful 'Other'; the individual and the group; and the emergence of individuals.
  

During the classes we also look at the following skills:

• reading
• note-taking
• essay writing
• giving an oral presentation
• time management