For REQUIRED SYLLABUS information that is to be included on all syllabi starting Spring 2018, 201830 go to https://internal.cccs.edu/wp-content/uploads/documents/GT-SS3-Required-Syllabus-Info.docx.:

 1.     Explain the basic insight of sociology, including the meaning and importance of the sociological imagination.

 2.     Compare and contrast major theoretical perspectives in sociology, including conflict theory, functionalist theory and symbolic interactionism and the contributions of Durkheim, Marx and Weber.

 3.     Explain the primary research methods used for sociological research, as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

 4.     Analyze the importance of culture in local and global societies, including the ways in which culture affects human interaction and how humans change culture.

 5.     Explain how key agents of socialization contribute to human development.

 6.     Identify the ways in which individuals conform to social structure, including statuses, roles, groups and formal organizations.

 7.     Apply theories of deviance in order to understand the relationship between norms and social control.

 8.     Explain social stratification locally and globally, and as it relates to social class, gender, aging, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I. The sociological viewpoint

      a. The sociological imagination

      b. The history of sociology

      c. Major perspectives; Social Conflict, Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism

 II. Sociological analysis

      a. Basic concepts of social research

      b. Major research methods

 III. Culture

      a. Elements of culture

      b. Cross-cultural comparisons

 IV. Socialization and social control

      a. Nature and nurture

      b. Development of the self

      c. Agents of socialization

 V. Social groups

      a. Concepts of social organization

      b. Formal organizations

 VI. Deviance

      a. Deviance and social control

      b. Theories of deviance

 VII. Social stratification

      a. Stratification systems

      b. Social mobility

      c. Local stratification

      d. Global stratification

      e. Theories of social class

 VIII. Race and ethnic Relations

      a. Concepts of race and ethnicity

      b. Racism, prejudice and discrimination

      c. Minority-majority group relations

 IX. Inequalities of gender and sexual orientation

      a. Concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality

      b. Sexism and heteronormativity

 X. Age

      a. Social effects of aging

      b. Ageism and its consequences