SOC 110 - Introduction to Sociology

1. Distinguish key concepts, principles, and major sociological perspectives.
   1. Apply the major sociological perspectives.
   2. Explain the history and development of sociological thought and key aspects that make it a social science.
   3. Describe and give examples of the sociological imagination.
2. Apply scientific methods of inquiry to examine sociological phenomena.
   1. Explain the importance of empirical evidence when using the scientific method.
   2. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of major methods of sociological research while applying ethical standards.
3. Outline the relationship between culture, institutions, and society.
   1. Describe the significance of the components of culture, including language, norms and values, and analyze how culture influences our behaviors and worldviews.
   2. Examine how social institutions and cultures change by analyzing social change, collective behavior and social movements, including movements advocating changes in education, work and environmental quality.
   3. Examine how social institutions, such as family, education, religion, economy, government, and political systems, respond to social needs and are experienced differently by individuals and groups due to social location.
4. Examine social stratification and inequality.
   1. Identify the concepts of power, privilege, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sex, health, and age.
   2. Identify prejudice and discrimination at both an individual and structural level within social institutions.
   3. Explain the relationship between social institutions and inequality, and the potential of institutions to construct, reinforce, or challenge inequality.
5. Relate social relationships to the self, groups, and socialization.
   1. Describe the process of socialization, including the social construction of the self, across the life course by agents of socialization, including family, peers, media, schools, and religion.
   2. Discuss the history, construction, and management of deviance and deviant identities.
6. Develop competence in writing and/or verbal communication skills.
   1. Demonstrate ideas in written formats that reflect basic sociological concepts and principles.
   2. Use sociological concepts and critical thinking to explain human behavior and experiences.
   3. Construct questions about sociological content