Learning Goals

A. The discipline of sociology. Students will learn:

• how sociology differs from and is similar to other social sciences;
• how sociology contributes to a social scientific understanding of social reality; and
• to apply the sociological imagination, sociological principles and concepts to one's life.

B. The role of theory. Students will learn:

• the role of theory in building sociological knowledge; and
• the historical context of times and cultures in which theories were developed.

C. Empirical science. Students will learn:   

• the principles of scientific methods in sociology;
• the basic methodological approaches in building sociological knowledge;
• to evaluate media information; become critical consumer of information.

D. Learn the relevance of culture, social change, socialization, stratification, social structure, and institutions, and differentiations by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and class.

E. Culture and social institutions. Students will learn:  

• how social change affects social structures and individuals; and
• how culture and social structure vary across time and place.  

F. Individuals and society. Students will learn:  

• how the self develops sociologically.
• how social interactions and the self influence society and social structure.

G. Understand the difference between macro and micro levels and the connections between the two levels.

H. Diversity of American society. Students will learn:

• the significance of global variations by race, class, gender, and age.
• how to appropriately generalize or resist generalizations across groups

I. Critical thinking. Students will learn:

• underlying assumptions in particular theoretical orientations or arguments;
• how patterns of thought and knowledge are directly influenced by social structures;
• opposing viewpoints and alternative hypotheses on various issues.

Unless otherwise noted, all pages within the web site http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/ ©2015 by Robert O. Keel.
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