Course Objectives

Sociology emphasizes the social reality of the world we live in. It focuses on how groups influence our realities, those interpretations and pressures that affect how we behave and act with others. Participants will develop an understanding of the many social forces that impact our lives on a daily basis. Specifically, students should be able, at the conclusion of the course, to:

• explain many of the social forces that influence peoples' behavior
• define and explain basic sociological concepts
• explain social phenomena using fundamental sociological theories

Required Text plus movies

• Thio, Alex. 2005 Society: Myths and Realities, An Introduction to Sociology (Penguin Academics
  Series) ISBN 0-205-48050-0
• You will be assigned two movies to watch: The Gods Must Be Crazy & Roger
  and Me (both are available at the Teaching and Learning Center and at most local video stores).

Grade

Your grade will be based on three major components:

• Exams (70% of grade): There are three exams, each worth 100 points. Exams will be a combination of Multiple choice, True/False and short answer essay. Exams will be available within a 48 hour time frame. You will be responsible for taking these exams during the time frame allowed so please be sure that your internet provider works and you are aware of the date and times of the exams.  It is best to not wait until the last few hours to try to complete the tests. Although exams are open book, they are also timed.  In order to complete the exams during the allotted time, you will need to study and know the material prior to beginning the exam.
  
  Exam Dates are follows:
  
  Exam One: May 28-29
  Exam Two: June 7-8
  Exam Three: June 18-19
  
  
  
• Personal Journal (15% of grade):  Each week you will have one or more questions to answer in your personal Journal. These questions are in response to the material covered. Journal grades will be based on organization and comprehension of material. Late entries will be penalized. (There is a section below that discusses Journal exercises in more detail which includes due dates of assignments).
  
  
• Discussions (15% of grade):  Discussion is very important in this class and your grade will be based on content of discussion, timeliness of posting (if you post your discussion late, after the other group members are almost finished, you will be penalized), and how often you respond to other group members' posts. It is very important to be respectful of others' opinion and viewpoints. Failure to do so will be reflected in your discussion grade.

Course Activities

***PLEASE NOTE: The content of the course that you are responsible for has been shortened. Several Units (6, 9-14) have been omitted. Also, due to the fact that a different textbook has been assigned, all reading assignments will be located in the calendar rather than in the Units themselves. Please ignore all references to Charon textbook. Thio (Myths and Realities: An Introduction to Sociology) has been used to replace Charon.

Readings

Readings are assigned for each section of the semester. You will be required to read from your textbook and additional readings. The additional readings will be supplied on-line. And it will be your responsibility to read in preparation for the class activities as well as the tests. It is suggested that you keep a notebook and take notes for each chapter of required reading. This is the best way to comprehend the material since you will not attend classroom lectures.

Study Guide

At the beginning of each section (example: Unit One: Part One) there is a list of key terms that will be discussed. These will constitute your review lists for the tests.

Journal

The journal is a place for you to respond to specific questions posed by the professor. The intent of this is for you to use the sociological imagination and sociological terms in seeing and understanding your world. The questions will be based either on application/observation or reflection.

*You will be expected to post your journal entries by the end of the assignment block. If the assignment has not been entered by noon at the beginning of the next assignment block, you will be penalized.

Web Search

Occasionally you will be asked to conduct web searches. The purpose of this exercise is to discover how certain issues are defined or debated in public. This will help you see real life applications to the concepts learned in class. Sometimes a search will be made to obtain information that is not otherwise available in the textbook or on-line readings. Often, this will require you to click on a link that will lead you directly to the page where the reading is located. Make sure to read the assignments carefully.

Discussion

The format is threaded discussion. You will be given an issue or question and asked to respond. Your response is available for other students to see and reply. As students respond to one another as well as the initial question, "threads" of discussion are created. The purpose of this exercise is to get you to interact around some of the central issues of sociology. Student interaction provides additional insights and the students themselves become one another's teachers. The professor monitors the discussion.

*You will be expected to post your online discussion as soon as it is assigned and to reply to other students' posts by Saturday at midnight (end of the week).

Watch and respond (movie)

Two movies are required for this course; The Gods Must Be Crazy and Roger & Me. Both are available in the Teaching and Learning Center and in most local video stores.

Grading Scale *

A+=100-97
A = 96-91
A- = 90-89
B+= 88-87
B = 86-81
B- = 80-79
C+ = 78-77
C = 76-71
C- = 70-69
D+= 68-67
D = 66-61
D- = 60-59
F = 58 and below

If you prefer to view online content while offline, you may download the text of each unit here. All fiels are in the Adobe PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader to read. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you may download it for free here.

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Unit 7
Unit 8
Unit 9
Unit 10
Unit 11
Unit 12
Unit 13
Unit 14