SOC1101 - 04 - Introduction to Sociology: Analysis of Society in Globabl Perspective

(SS) Social Science (SA) Social Analysis

Sociology is a social science, a discipline that attempts to systematically understand society and the human groups and institutions that comprise it. This course will provide the fundamentals of the discipline by exploring what society is, the groups and organizations that comprise it, how groups of people are divided within society, and how these different groups behave and interact. How do individuals learn how to behave "appropriately?" Who decides what it even means to be "appropriate?" What are the purposes of the major institutions we inhabit, from the political system to the educational system to the economy? Why is society stratified or divided along class, race, and gender lines? How and why are resources unevenly distributed and how do our institutions both reflect and reinforce these inequities? These are just a few of the questions that we will tackle over the course of the semester. We will read works by the major theorists who have sought to explain the world around us, as well as the works of researchers who systematically analyze data (i.e. observations) to test ideas about society. The overarching objective for this semester is for students to gain a grounding in sociology by meeting the following goals: 1) Recognize the groups, organizations, and institutions that comprise societies 2) Examine why societies are structured as they are, including the racial, ethnic, class, and gender stratification that exists 3) Understand the major sociological paradigms 4) Learn what research tools sociologists use to empirically examine the social world 5) Be able to apply the theories we learn to better understand contemporary events and social problems