Course: Introduction to Sociology CRN #: 20505 3 credit hours
Days: Monday and Wednesday (8 weeks)
Instructor: Susan E. Claxton
Office Hours: Posted on Door Location: F-142a
Prerequisites: READ 0099, ENGL 0099 or satisfactory placement scores.
Course Description
This course is a survey of the discipline of sociology. Topic will include sociological theory, methods, and selective substantive areas.
Text
Henslin, J. (2004). Essentials of Sociology.
Course Goals
The broad goals for this course are:
1. Each person who completes this course should have a basic understanding of research methods in sociology, theories of social behavior and social problems, and an understanding of the structure of society and culture.
1. Each person who completes this course should have an understanding of his or her perceptions of society and culture.
Course Objectives
1. For each student to develop, by reading and experientially learning, a functional understanding of sociological perspective.
2. Each student to develop, by reading and experientially learning, knowledge of current social psychological theory regarding effective societies and cultures.
COURSE REQUREMENTS
Textbook and Reading Assignments
It is the responsibility of the student to read and study all assigned material in the text. Handouts from the class should be studied thoroughly. The assigned material in the text provides a background for informed participation in class sessions. The student should be prepared for class by becoming thoroughly familiar with the assigned material.
Abstracts/Homework Assignments
There will be weekly homework assignments. Deadlines will be announced in class.
Class Meetings
Students are expected to attend and participate in class activities. Full participation involves taking part in class discussions, involvement in group activities, and completion of in-class assignments.
Since the instructor will be providing information to augment the text, if it is necessary for a student to be absent from class, the student should check with fellow students to obtain notes and assignments. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain information and assignments, not the professor. If an audio visual presentation is missed the student may request to view it as soon as possible (if it is still available). Daily grades can not be made up.
Exams
There will be 4 exams and a final. Exams will be based on information from class sessions, textbook, and outside reading assignments. Exams are to be taken on the day they are scheduled. Make-up exams are not allowed as I will drop the lowest test grade. Make-up exam for the final will absolutely NOT be allowed.
Grading System
Unit Exams……………………………………………..45%
Abstracts/Homework…………………………………...15%
Final Exam……………………………………………...20%
Daily Grade……………………………………………..20%
Total……………………………………………………100%
A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = below 60
Academic Integrity: These are in the College’s “Student Rights & Responsibilities” document. This can be accessed by using the following URL: http://www.highlands.edu/subwebs/academicaffairs/academicintegritypolicy.htm
DATES TO REMEMBER:
January 17 MLK Holiday No Class
January 19 Assignment One Due
February 2 Assignment Two Due
February 3 Mid-Term Last Day to Withdraw with a “W”
February 16 Assignment Three Due
March 2 Assignment Four Due
March 7 Final Exam/Last Day of Class
Disability Statement
Any student who feels they need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should make an appointment with the ACCESS Center to coordinate reasonable accommodations. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your specific needs.
Financial Aid Message: This message applies only to students receiving financial aid. Federal regulations state that if a student did not attend classes and received failing grades, then the grades were not earned and financial aid needs to be reduced accordingly. Please be advised that any student receiving a 0.00 GPA will be required to prove that the 0.00 GPA was earned by attending classes or completing requirements for each class. Students who have earned at least one passing grade for the semester will not be affected by this regulation. If a student has properly withdrawn from all classes, the student's financial aid should be adjusted from the time they signed the withdrawal form.
Course Outline/Student Guide
I. The Sociological Perspective
A. Students will identify key figures in the evolution of sociology
B. Students will distinguish the difference between applied and basic sociology
C. Students will be able to apply the three theoretical perspectives of sociology.
D. Students will identify the 8 steps of research
II. Culture
A. Students will define culture and its’ components
B. Students will be able to apply culture and its effects to their own lives
C. Students will distinguish between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
D. Students will distinguish between folkways, mores, and taboos.
E. Students will identify the 15 core values in U. S. society
III. Socialization
A. Students will discuss the Nature vs. Nurture controversy
B. Students will identify the components of Cooley’s looking glass self
C. Students will identify the components of Mead’s Role Taking
D. Students will identify the components of Piaget’s Developmental Stages
E. Students will identify the components of Freud’s development of personality
F. Students will identify the agents of socialization
G. Students will define resocialization and total institutions
H. Students will identify socialization through the life course
IV. Social Structure and Social Interaction
A. Students will identify the levels of sociological analysis
B. Students will discuss the “social construction of reality”
C. Students will discuss the need for understand the levels of sociological analysis
V. Social Groups and Formal Organizations
A. Students will discuss the importance of groups and their makeup
B. Students will identify the characteristics of a bureaucracy
C. Students will discuss group dynamics
VI. Deviance and Social Control
A. Students will define deviance
B. Students will be able to apply the various sociological perspectives to deviance and social control
C. Students will discuss reactions to deviance
VII. Global Stratification
A. Students will discuss factors of what determines social class from a local and universal/global perspective
B. Students will define social stratification
VIII. Social Class in the United States
A. Students will define social class
B. Students will identify sociological models of social class
C. Students will discuss consequences of social class
D. Students will discuss social mobility
IX. Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity
A. Students will identify and discuss the theories of prejudice
B. Students will discuss global patterns of intergroup relations
C. Students will discuss inequalities bases on race and ethnicity for the future.
X. Inequalities of Gender and Age
A. Students will identify issues related to inequalities in sex and gender
B. Students will identify changes and challenges facing politics in relationship to sex and gender
C. Students will identify issues related to inequalities in age
D. Students will identify changes and challenges facing politics in relationship to age
E. Students will discuss global perspectives of age, sex, and gender.
XB. Sociology and Heath
A. Students will be able to identify the Historical Patterns of Health
B. Students will be able to discuss issues in health care
C. Students will be able to identify threats to health
D. Students will be able to apply the symbolic interactionist perspective, the functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective in the discussion of health and medicine
XI. Politics and the Economy
A. Students will define power and authority
B. Students will discuss the different types of government
C. Students will discuss world economic systems
D. Students will discuss capitalism in a global economy
XII. Marriage and Family
A. Students will discuss marriage and family in a global perspective
B. Students will discuss marriage and family in a theoretical perspective
C. Students will identify trends in U. S. families
D. Students will discuss future trends of marriage and family
XIIB. Sociology and Sexuality
A. Students will be able to discuss sexuality for a sociological perspective
B. Students will have a sociological perspective on heterosexuality and homosexuality
XIII. Education and Religion
A. Students will discuss education in from a global perspective
B. Students education from a sociological perspective using the three major theories
C. Students will discuss problems in the U.S. concerning education and their solutions
D. Students will define religion
E. Students will discuss religion from the three major sociological perspectives
F. Students will discuss the future of religion
XIV. Population and Urbanization
A. Students will identify factors that influence population growth
B. Students will discuss development of cities—urbanization
C. Students will discuss problems and social policy dealing with urbanization
XV. Social Change: Technology, Social Movements, and the Environment
A. Students will discuss how social change transforms society
B. Students will identify the process of social change
C. Students will discuss how technology changes society
D. Students will discuss the “Growth machine” vs. the Earth.