I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Introduction to Sociology

2. Course Prefix & Number:
SOCL 1401

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

This foundation course is highly recommended as the starting point from which students may logically proceed to higher level sociology classes. Students will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of the sociological perspective, including culture, socialization, organization, authority, deviance and inequality. Using the scientific method, students will hone their critical thinking skills by interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating the social world.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

St. Cloud State University, Soc 160 Principles of Sociology, 3 credits
Bemidji State University, Soc 1104 Introduction to Sociology, 3 credits

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 2 – Critical Thinking
• Goal 5 – History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate reading and listening skills	synthesize class lectures, read a college-level text, write and present a paper on an assigned outside sociology reading
Apply abstract ideas to concrete situations	apply sociological theory to contemporary social issues and events in human history
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	compare and contrast the experiences and life chances of individuals based on their social groups membership(s)

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Identify and explain key concepts in Sociology. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Apply key concepts in Sociology to real world examples. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Identify and explain major theoretical perspectives in Sociology (MnTC Goal 5);
• Analyze social phenomena using theoretical perspectives. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Apply a Sociological Imagination to social issues. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Identify and explain the causes and consequences of social inequalities. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Compare and contrast societies based on social structure, institutions and culture. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Identify and describe the research methods used in Sociology. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Identify ways to exercise the civic roles of being a United States and world citizen. (MnTC Goal 5);
• Imagine and seek out a variety of possible goals, assumptions, interpretations, or perspectives, which can give alternative meanings or solutions to given situations or problems. (MnTC Goal 2);
• Analyze the logical connections among the facts, goals, and implicit assumptions relevant to a problem or claim; generate and evaluate implications that follow from them; (MnTC Goal 2) and
• Recognize and articulate the value assumptions, which underlie and affect decisions, interpretations, analyses, and evaluations made by ourselves and others. (MnTC Goal 2).

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. The History of Sociology
• The Enlightenment period in which science emerged
• Founders of sociology and their key contributions
• Noted 20th Century sociologists and their key contributions
• Theoretical perspectives: The functionalist and conflict approaches to understanding social phenomena
• Critical thinking skills and intellectual commitment.
2. The Circle of Culture
• Elements of culture are institutions, values & norms, language and symbols, art and architecture, technology
• Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism
• Subcultures and countercultures
3. Societies
•  Humanity’s ancient African origins
• Six survival strategies: Hunter-gatherers, Pastoralists, Horticulturalists, Agriculturalists, Industrialists, Post-Industrialists
• Opportunities for sustainable civilizations
• The Institution network
• Status and role
4. Socialization
• Nature vs. nurture
• The agents of socialization
• Re-socialization in “total” institutions
• Cooley and Mead on “The Self”
• The Existence, or not, of “free will”
5. Social Interaction
• Human social interaction
• Obeying authority symbols
• Goffman’s symbolic interaction
• Stanley Milgram’s shocking experiments
• The social construction of reality
6. Social Organization
• Groups are the basic unit of analysis
• Defining leadership, power and authority
• Informal groups
• Formal groups
• Bureaucracy, Merton’s dysfunctions of bureaucracy
• Secret organizations
7. Social deviance as social construction
• Cultural barriers to understanding deviance
• Sociological theory and deviance
• Types of crime, white collar vs. street crime
• “Corrections” racism and classism in the justice system
• The medicalization of deviance
8. Stratification
• Measuring inequality
• Theoretical explanations for inequality
• Capitalism, socialism and communism
• The unequal distribution of wealth in the United States
• How inequality is maintained
• Caste systems and class systems
• Marx on class consciousness and false consciousness
• Microcase statistical correlation of social variables

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions

Gary Payne, Introduction to Sociology, Rethinking Civilization, Gull River Publications