Introduces fundamentals of social life. Presents significant research and theory in areas such as culture, social structure, socialization, deviance, social stratification, and social institutions.

What you learn in this course will benefit you by helping you by teaching you to critically evaluate research on social issues, by giving you new concepts and tools to understand the many social problems we face in the U.S. and the world today, and by giving you an opportunity to think about your own life in new ways.

You will learn by reading in your textbook, by completing practice exercises to test your understanding, by keeping a personal blog about what you are learning, and, most importantly, by interacting with your classmates, discussing your thoughts, reactions, and questions as you each learn about sociology for the first time.

Entry Level Competencies:

There are no official prerequisites for SOC 200.  However, the course is a sophomore-level course and requires significant reading and writing.  If you are new to the English language or are a native speaker currently placed in developmental English classes, you will likely find it difficult to succeed in this class.  I recommend that you take the course at another time, once your English skills have improved enough that you can take full advantage of the course materials and really do your best.

If you complete this course and do well, you will be able to:  

• understand and apply the three major theoretical perspectives in sociology;
• explain how sociologists use scientific research to study social life;
• understand and apply major sociological concepts;
• better understand diversity and see social issues from other people's points of view; and
• use the sociological imagination to better understand your own life.

OpenStax College. (2012, June 12). Introduction to Sociology. Retrieved from the OpenStax-CNX Web site: http://cnx.org/content/col11407/1.7/

Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11407/latest/.

The work is licensed by Rice University under a Creative Commons Attribution License and is an Open Educational Resource.

Your course grade will be determined by how well you show your understanding of course material through your work on assignments and exams, according to the following:

Your final grade will be based on the following scale. Please note that you must also pass at least ONE of the two proctored exams in order to pass the course, regardless of your scores on the other assignments.

There are two exams in this course.  You will take the exams online.

Last Updated: September 10, 2014