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MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE
COURSE OF STUDY
DATE REVISED
COURSE NUMBER AND NAME: SOC 2113 Introduction to Sociology DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM: Social Studies INSTRUCTOR NAME/S: Nora Todd Anita Johns Karla Smith SEMESTER CREDIT HOURS: 3 CONTACT HOURS PER WEEK: LECTURE: 3 LABORATORY: PREREQUISITE COURSES: None COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to give the student an introduction to Sociology and its development. Emphasis is placed on how culture is built and how customs and behavior patterns are developed and the functions and importance of Social institutions.
COURSE OBJECTIVES/EXIT COMPETENCIES
Unit I - The Sociological Perspective Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Define sociology and differentiate between sociology and the outer social sciences in term of the patterned social regularities each focuses upon.
- Discuss what is meant by the term "Sociological Imagination."
- Describe the impact of the Industrial Revolution on traditional values and beliefs.
- Identify the major contributions and key concepts associated with each of the following individuals: Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Parsons, Merton.
- Recount the historical development of sociology in American focusing upon the role played by Albion Small, W. I. Thomas and the University of Chicago.
- Contract functionalism and conflict theory, and explain the distinctive way in which each would understand the same social phenomena.
- Discuss the major contemporary interactionist perspectives: symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, and dramaturgy.
- Explain how theory and practice are connected in social science.
- Contrast basic or pure sociology with applied sociology and not the different context where each is practiced.
Unit III - Culture Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Discuss the difference between society, culture, material culture and non-material culture.
- Define and discuss the difference between values, subculture, and counterculture.
- Discuss the role language plays in the development of human culture.
- Explain what is meant by cultural relativity and ethnocentrism.
- Identify instances of cultural lag in contemporary American society.
- Understand and explain the roles of innovation and diffusion in the process of cultural evolution.
- Describe the basic relationship between the individual and culture.
- Explain the factors that lead to the emergence of subcultures.
- Describe the universals of culture.
- Define and distinguish between the following terms: norms, ideal norms, real norms, folkways, mores, laws, sanctions, informal sanctions and formal sanctions.
- Explain the "symbolic" nature of culture.
Unit IV - Socialization and Development Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Discuss the relative importance of socialization and biological inheritance in the formation of personality.
- Describe the influential "sociobiological" approach to human behavior patterns.
- Discuss the effects of extreme social deprivation during early childhood.
- Distinguish between the "self" and the "personality."
- List and explain the stages of cognitive and moral development.
- Summarize the basic concepts of the symbolic interactionist theory of self.
- Describe Sigmund Freud's influential theory of the structure of the self.
- State the general contributions of Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson to our understanding of human development, as well as critique the kind of "stage models" they have created.
- Rate the relative roles of the family, schools, peers, and the mass media in shaping the behavior of the young.
- Understand and explain the kinds of resocialization required by marriage, parenthood, and old age.
Unit VI - Deviant Behavior and Social Control Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Define "deviance" and give examples of behaviors that are deviant in groups they belong to.
- List the major social functions and dysfunctions that deviance can serve.
- Differentiate between the various types of sanctions that social groups may employ.
- Contrast the basic assumptions behind biological, psychological, and sociological theories of deviance.
- Explain how cultural goals and unequal opportunities can work together to produce crime.
- Outline, in their own words, the way in which juvenile delinquency is connected by control theorists to attachments to parents, teachers, and peers.
- Define the five "techniques of neutralization" and give original examples of each.
- Discuss the ways in which illegal or unconventional behaviors may be learned from deviant role models.
- Explain why labeling theorists think that the experience of getting caught and branded as a wrongdoer, rather than deterring further deviance, makes it more likely.
- List the factors that determine whether a deviant label will be applied in a particular instance of rule breaking.
Unit VII - Social Stratification Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Explain how social differentiation, social evaluation, inequality, and stratification interrelate.
- Differentiate between the various dimensions of social mobility, including the horizontal- vertical and the intragenerational-intergenerational dimensions.
- List the factors that determine one's chances of upward mobility.
- Compare and contrast caste, estate, and class systems.
- Describe the distribution of wealth in the United States and consider its relation to the American ideology of equal opportunity.
- Compare and contrast Mill's concept of "power elite" and Domhoff's notion of a governing elite.
- List and define three dimensions of stratification stressed by Max Weber.
- Summarize and critique the functionalist theory of stratification.
- Discuss the main points of capitalist class structure as depicted by Karl Marx.
- Describe the key features of the modern conflict theory of stratification.
Unit IX - Racial and Ethnic Minorities Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Identify the major ways in which "race" has been defined throughout human history.
- Differentiate between "races" and "ethnic groups."
- Discuss how prejudice and discrimination may be related - or unrelated - to each other.
- Define "institutional discrimination" and apply the concept to the experiences of an American minority.
- Define and give at least one historical example of each of the major patterns of intergroup relations: assimilation, pluralism, subjugation, segregation, expulsion, and annihilation.
- Summarize the various means by which blacks have been maintained in a subordinate status since the seventeenth century.
- Contrast the different groups that make up the Hispanic population of the United States - Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, South and Central Americans, and Cubans.
- Discuss predictions concerning the size and composition of the minority population of the future.
- Explain the social and economic effects for the United States - both postive and negative
Unit X - Gender and Age Stratification Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Distinguish between "sex" and "gender."
- Provide examples of patriarchal ideologies from different societies.
- Summarize the sociobiological argument concerning behavioral differences between the sexes and the problems with this argument.
- Briefly summarize what cross-cultural research on male and female roles reveals.
- Contrast the functionalist and conflict interpretations of the development of male domination in human societies.
- Describe how parents' behavior, children's books, and adolescent peers contribute to gender-role socialization.
- Explain how gender equality benefits men as well as women.
- Describe how women's increased labor force participation is changing family life.
- Define and differentiate between age grading, life course, rites of passage and age norms.
Unit XII - Religion Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- List and explain the four main social elements of religion, using examples.
- Differentiate between supernaturalist, animist, theist, and "abstract ideals" forms of religious belief.
- List and explain the functions of religion according to the structural-functionalist perspective.
- Give examples of how religion may serve to justify political authority and social stratification.
- Summarize Karl Marx's understanding of the role of religion in capitalist societies, and contrast it to Weber's theory.
- Summarize the features of each type of religious organization: universal church, ecclesia, denomination, sect, and cult.
- Discuss secularization as a trend in American religious life.
- Describe recent trends in the relative sizes and growth, if any, of major religious groups in this country.
- Enumerate the possible positive and negative consequences of "television evangelism."
- Outline some of the social, political, and economic differences between the members of various religious groups in the United States.
Unit XIII - Education Upon completion of this unit the student will be able to:
- Distinguish between "socialization" and "education."
- List the manifest functions of formal education and explain why each is important.
- Give examples of organized activist groups that have sought to influence the curriculum of American schools.
- Discuss two latent functions that the nation's schools perform.
- Explain how schools can serve as a means of social control.
- Summarize the conflict theory arguments concerning "tracking" and "credentialism" in our educational institutions.
- Explain how the causes of racially segregated schools changed in the 1970s and the 1980s.
- List seven social consequences of dropping out of high school.
- Define "functional illiteracy" and explain why it is a matter of concern.
CONTENT OUTLINE WITH CALENDAR
WEEK 1 I. The Sociological Perspective A. Sociology as a Point of View B. The Development of Sociology C. Theoretical Perspective 2 II. Doing Sociology: Research Methods A. The Research Process B. Objectivity in Sociological Research C. Ethical Issues in Sociological Research 3 III. Culture A. The Concept of Culture B. Componenets of Culture C. Culture and Adaptation D. The Symbolic Nature of Culture E. Subcultures 4 IV. Socialization and Development A. Becoming a Person: Biology and Culture B. Deprivation and Development C. Concept of Self D. Theories of Development E. Early Socialization in American Society F. Adult Socialization 5 V. Social Interaction and Social Groups A. Understanding Social Interaction B. Types of Social Interaction C. Elements of Social Interaction D. The Nature of Groups E. Small Groups F. Large Groups G. Bureaucracy H. Institutions and Social Organizations 6 VI. Deviant Behavior and Social Control A. Making Moral Judgments
B. Mechanisms of Social Control C. Theories of Crime and Deviance D. The Importance of Law E. Kinds of Crime in the United States F. Criminal Justice in the United States 7 VII. Social Stratification A. The Nature of Social Stratification B. Stratification Systems C. Dimensions of Social Stratification D. Theories of Stratification 8 VIII. Social Class in the United States A. Studying Social Stratification B. Social Class in the United States C. Income Distribution D. Poverty E. Government Assistance Programs F. Worldwide Comparisons G. Consequences of Social Stratification 9 IX. Racial and Ethnic Minorities A. The Concept of Race B. The Concept of Ethnic Group C. The Concept of Minorities D. Problems in Race and Ethnic Relations E. Racial and Ethnic Immigration to the United States F. Racial and Ethnic Group in the United States 10 X. Gender and Age Stratification A. Are the Sexes Separate and Unequal? B. What Produces Gender Inequality? C. Gender-Role Socialization D. Gender Inequality and Work E. Age Stratification F. Theories of Aging 11 XI. Marriage and Alternative Family Life Styles
REFERENCES/TEXTBOOKS:
Brinkeroff,et.al.,Sociology,4th ed., Wadsworth, 1997. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, SUPPLIES, AND EQUIPMENT: Students are not required to purchase any supplies except the normal notebooks, pens, pencils and scantron answer sheets. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Please see official absentee policy in the catalog. INSTRUCTOR'S OFFICE LOCATION AND PHONE NUMBER: Harry Bennett, G-128; 897- L. A. Drago, G-130; 897- David Dedeaux, G-124; 897- INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL HELP: The instructor is available for assistance during office hours which are posted on the instructor's office door at the beginning of each semester. COURSE ASSIGNMENTS/PROJECTS: Each instructor makes his/her own assignments each semester. These normally take the form of a research paper or outside readings and reports. Individual instructors determine how any assignments will apply to the final grade. INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS: Each instructor employs his/her own method of instruction. The method most often employed is lecture with the use of audio-visual elctronic equipment when possible. COURSE EVALUATION/GRADING: The basic grading scale on test is: 93 - 100 A 83 - 92 B 70 - 82 C 60 - 69 D Below 60 F REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION: If you have a disability of any kind and will need reasonable accommodations or assistance in
the classroom or with this course, please see the instructor.
