Course Description: Sociology is a way of learning and thinking about social life. This is a broad field, and the specific subject matter of sociology ranges from the extremely small (“micro” – individuals and their interactions) to the very large (“macro” – social institutions). Sociologists study a tremendous array of subjects and also use a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives to help them understand the social world. What sociologists all have in common is our sociological imagination: a critical way of looking at our lives and the world around us, questioning current common sense to unveil the workings of society, and seeing the connections between individual lived experiences and the social structures in which they are embedded. Because we see and understand social structures with our sociological imaginations, we often question the status quo and become advocates for social change. This course teaches you to see the world as a sociologist, to consider how the structures of society shape and are shaped by individuals. This includes how one’s categories of personhood (e.g. race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, nation/ality, geographic location, citizenship
status) can impact their treatment by social institutions (e.g. governments, schools, prisons, workplaces, places of worship, the military), resulting in social problems (e.g. inequality, poverty, racism, sexism, war, deportation, ill-health, environmental degradation), collective actions (e.g. protests, legal contestations, im/migration, diasporas), and social change and transformation. Rather than viewing relationships among these things as “natural” or inevitable, sociologists argue that they are socially produced. In other words, they are historically and
culturally contingent, and based on how power operates in and across societies.
Student description: This class teaches you to see the world as s sociologist and think about social life. Sociology ranges from individuals and their interactions to social institutions. Students learn to look at their world through a social lens, rather than individually. They learn to look at how personhood is socially induced instead of “natural.”
