Intro to Sociology

The Sociological Perspective and Methods of Inquiry

Social Structure: Culture, Institutions, and Society

Social Relationships: Self, Groups, and Socialization

Stratification and Inequality

Students will identify sociology as a scientific field of inquiry.

1.2

Students will compare and contrast the sociological perspective and how it differs from other social sciences.

1.3

Students will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the major methods of sociological research.

1.4

Students will identify, differentiate among, and apply a variety of sociological theories.

2.1

Students will describe the components of culture.

2.2

Students will analyze how culture influences individuals, including themselves.

2.3

Students will evaluate important social institutions and how they respond to social needs.

2.4

Students will assess how social institutions and cultures change and evolve.

3.1

Students will describe the process of socialization across the life course.

3.2

Students will explain the process of the social construction of the self.

3.3

Students will examine the social construction of groups and their impact on the life chances of individuals.

4.1

Students will identify common patterns of social inequality.

4.2

Students will analyze the effects of social inequality on groups and individuals.

4.3

Students will explain the relationship between social institutions and inequality.

4.4

Students will assess responses to social inequality.

1.1.1

Scientific method

1.1.2

Hypotheses

1.1.3

Independent and dependent variables

1.1.4

Scientific study of society

1.2.1

Impact of social context on human behavior

1.2.3

Sociological imagination

1.2.2

Social construction of reality

1.3.1

Surveys and interviews

1.3.2

Experiments

1.3.3

Observations

1.3.4

Content analysis

1.3.5

Research ethics

1.4.1

Functionalist perspective

1.4.2

Conflict theory

1.4.3

Symbolic interaction

2.1.1

Nonmaterial culture, including norms and values

2.1.2

Material culture

2.1.3

Subcultures

2.2.1

Ethnocentrism

2.2.2

Cultural relativity

2.2.3

Culture shock

2.2.4

American values

2.3.1

Social institutions such as: family, education, religion, economy, and government

2.3.2

Social statuses and roles

2.4.1

Shifting historical context such as: industrial revolution, urbanization, globalization, the internet age

2.4.2

Countercultures

2.4.3

Social movement

3.1.1

Primary agents of socialization: family, peers, media, schools, and religion

3.1.2

Deviance and conformity

3.2.1

I & me

3.2.2

Role-taking

3.2.3

Generalized other

3.2.4

Identity

3.3.1

Reference groups

3.3.1

Primary and secondary groups

3.3.3

In-groups and out-groups

4.1.1

Privilege

4.1.2

Power

4.1.3

Racial and ethnic inequality

4.1.4

Class inequality

4.1.5

Gender inequality

4.2.1

Life chances

4.2.2

Social problems

4.2.3

Inter- and intra-group conflict

4.3.1

Distribution of power through social institutions

4.3.2

Potential of institutions to produce, reinforce, or challenge inequality

4.4.1

Individual responses to inequality

4.4.2

Group responses to inequality such as social movements

4.4.3