Introduction to Sociology is structured around the following six main themes:
- Intellectual attitudes to enter the sociological field
- Entering the sociological field: What is sociology
- The main strategies of a sociological research
- Society and social interaction
- Socialization
- Groups and organizations
Bonus theme: Deviance, Crime, and Social Control
This course combines a set of transversal and pluralistic pedagogical strategies, such as professor’s formal lectures, students’ discussions on mandatory readings assigned, small groups’ presentations, and in-classroom examinations. All lectures (e-books, journal articles, books’ chapters, encyclopedia entries, news articles; short videos) and assignments will be posted on the course’s OER website.
This course requires active student’s engagement on the topic of discussion.
It is every student’s moral obligation to cope with the mandatory reading to intellectually contribute to class discussions.
- Ruggiero, Vincent R. “Characteristics of Effective Thinkers.” In A Guide to Sociological Thinking. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 1996, pp. 19-34. Sage Knowledge, doi: 10.4135/9781483327464. [Off-campus login needed]
- Conerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 1 “An Introduction to sociology,” pp. 7-33. [Open Access]
- Lundy, Garvey F. “Haitian Revolution,” in Encyclopedia of Black Studies, edited by Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage, 2005. Read “Haitian Revolution” pp. 259-262 [Off-campus login needed]
- Dillon, M. (2019). Introduction to sociological theory : Theorists, concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-first century. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Read Introduction and “Societal Transformations and the Origins of Sociology,” p. 17-29. [Off-campus login needed]
- Problem to be studied: The mainstream history of sociology within Western modernity and its shortcomings
- Guidelines and details to be communicated
- Conerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 2 “Sociological research,” pp. 35-61. [Open Access]
- Topic: To be determined
- Guidelines and details to be communicated
- Conerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 4 “Society and social interaction,” pp. 96-118. [Open Access]
- Visiting Virtual Guest Speaker: Paul C. Mocombe, PhD. Associate Professor of Philosophy and Sociology, West Virginia University; President/CEO, The Mocombeain Foundation, Inc.
- Topic: The United States of America as an anomic society
- Guidelines and details to be communicated
- Materials to read for the group presentation:
- Jacobs, K. Anton. “Anomie,” in The Sage Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Adam Possamai & Anthony J. Blasi. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage Publications, 2020. [pdf download]
https://youtu.be/HV0cS1TGve4?si=ewE7xuBbOPnZ0guFConerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 5 “Socialization,” pp. 118-141. [Open Access]
- Topic: Socialization in a metropolis: Case study of New York City
- The guidelines and details will be communicated via email to the group
- Simmel, Georg. “The Metropolis & Mental Life,” in Georg Simmel. On Individuality and Social Forms, Edited and with an Introduction by Donald N. Levine, 324-339. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, [1908] 1968. [pdf download]
- Conerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 6 “Groups and Organizations,” pp. 146-169. [Open Access]
- Topic: Understanding the behavior of our politicians through Max Weber’s Politics as vocation.
- Guidelines and details to be communicated
- Weber, Max. “Politics as Vocation,” in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, 77-128, translated, edited, and with an introduction by Hans Heinrich Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [1919] 1972. [pdf download]
- Conerly, Tonja R., Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang. Introduction to sociology. 3rd edition. Houston, TX: Rice University, Open Stax, 2021. Read chapter 7 “Deviance, Crime, and Social Control,” pp. 172-197. [Open Access]
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