ИСТИНА

This presentation is about the experience of teaching Comparative Sociology in English at the Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Institute of Asian and African Studies as well as the sources used during the classes. The course has been elaborated for the students of MA Program 'Political Development and International Relations of the Asian and African Countries'. Due to the specialization of the students, specific curricular strategy has been developed. On the one hand, students study main topics of general Comparative Sociology course and, on the other hand, much attention is given to the analysis of the social trends and issues in the Asian and African countries. The course provides an overview of quantitative and qualitative research methods, potential Comparative Sociology strategies, family (marriage rate, cohabitation, fertility rate, out-of-wedlock births, childbearing, relative child poverty, public spending on family benefits, etc.) and demographic trends, inequality, labour market trends (variations in employment by region and country, labour market inequalities, employment opportunities for youth, unemployment, vulnerable employment, working poverty, etc.), ethnic relations (main patterns of interaction between ethnic majority and minority, problems of ethnic minorities, types of assimilation, forms of discrimination, types of nationalism, etc.), migration issues and main approaches to dealing with immigration. In addition, key concepts of globalization and forms of regionalism as well as different topics of political sociology (political socialization, political participation, social movements, new forms of civic engagement, studies on the effects of political regimes on volunteering, necessary conditions and barriers to democratization, etc.) and security threats are addressed. Environmental issues are also discussed.